Surrogate For Alpha Dom

Sinclair

I growl down at the man before me, who is younger than I thought he would be, for one with

such power. He has thick black hair and a day’s worth of stubble on his thin cheeks. The man

glares up at me with dark, angry eyes and opens his mouth to speak but before he can, I slap him

– hard with an open palm.

–

The man gasps with surprise and pain, his eyes going wide as he stares down at the floor, and I

smirk. I doubt this man has been slapped anytime recently, if ever. He has the smug look of

someone used to being in charge.

But he’s in my house now.

“You’ll speak when we tell you to speak,” I growl, and then I turn to the head of my

–

reconnaissance team, who is standing against the wall, his hands on his knees, panting a little.

Craig isn’t a small man to see him so undone by the efforts suggests that this diminutive priest

is, indeed, powerful in other ways.

“How did you catch him?” I snap. Craig looks up at me and does his best to straighten up.

“We followed the leads, sir,” he replies, looking me in the eyes, “that we gleaned from the

conversation with the other priest, who wished to remain anonymous. They were…fruitful. We

found this one’s lair, for lack of a better word. It was actually in a sewer -in an abandoned

maintenance room. He was living there doing…” Craig hesitates and then shrugs. “Forgive me, Sir,

for the dramatic language, but ‘arcane magics‘ are the only words coming to my mind now. Lizard

skins…and and snail shells, in jars – he had a cauldron –”

“Thank you,” I say, interrupting and nodding towards the head of my investigative team. “You.

will give your details to Alastair, as soon as you can. For now, though I want everyone here for

the interrogation.” I lean forward towards the priest, who watches me with wary eyes and a

clenched jaw.

and slowing my words, “will be long,

need be.”

by baring his teeth at me in a little snarl. But I

which makes him faulter. And then I step away, secretly grateful for it,

to rip this man’s head off. Roger steps in to take

commands, his arms crossed as he looks down at

people want with my

too–wide expression that shows all of his teeth. “No,” he

his voice now. Roger stares at him blandly for a

reconnaissance team standing behind the priest who whips forward

places it swiftly against the priest’s neck.

bolt flies through the priest’s body, making him shriek and twist in pain, but my man, well

away quickly. The priest goes a little slack in his chair, panting.

Roger says, kicking the leg of the chair to

want with my

as the priest looks up at Roger again and just huffs

priest says, shaking his

a smile growing on his face. “You are already…too late.”

as a crash of glass sounds and a scream

upstairs –

I recognize it, instantly, as Ella.

Ella

just sitting here, tense, in my rocking chair by Rafe’s

always is – shushing him quietly as he falls asleep when –

–

a little tapping sound at the

little bird – maybe a squirrel

I saw a black–masked face calmly tapping on my

gasped, my body turning to ice as I froze, as he quietly pointed to

coming for him.”

–

seemed to go so fast – the man pulled back his arm, and made a fist, and crashed

window

don’t know how he did it – it should have broken his hand –

room through the hole he made with his fist, the rest of the

of the window cracking and shattering around him

–

moment he hit the floor, only half an instant

my child’s rolling basinet behind me and screamed

the rocking chair away and back into the corner now,

foot of the window. As he

–

–

him, working their way up to the window and through it –

unnaturally fast –

lead is on his feet now, grinning at me, starting to prowl