The Mystical Attraction of Alpha

Chapter 175 — Bound Trigger warning — Assault (non-sexual)

Ella

“It’s all right, Ella.”

The first priest says, approaching me as one might a skittish horse — with slow, measured movements and hands exposed to show he holds no weapon.

“We only want to protect you.”

“Protect me from what?” I question shakily, my back flush against the locked door.

“You have a very powerful magic inside you, and if it’s allowed to come out you’ll be exposed.We can’t let that happen.” He explains, using a tone much too gentle to be trustworthy.

It’s as though he’s trying to trick me, to convince me he’s kind when he truly intends malice.

“I don’t have any magic.” I insist, wishing that I did.

Maybe if I was magic I might be able to put a stop to the things happening here — to protect the others without bringing harm to myself.I was so preoccupied with this statement that I almost missed the second piece of information.

“Exposed to what?”

“You do, it just hasn’t shown itself yet.”

The second priest sighs, keeping his distance but watching me with sharp eyes.

“At least not in ways you understand.Tell me, have you never noticed how much stronger you are than your peers? That you can hear and smell things from much greater distances? That you can run faster, jump higher, suffer greater injuries with less pain?”

He inquires, his hawkish gaze searing into me, “do they not follow you? Gravitate to your side and obey you as a leader?”

My head spins, making me dizzy with the possibilities.He guesses correctly, but that can’t be because I have some sort of special power.It’s just the way things are…isn’t it? “And exposed to a world you cannot yet join.”

The first man adds.

“It must happen when the time is right – but that time is a very long way off.”

“I don’t understand.”

I squeak, a sense of pure dread settling in the pit of my stomach.

“We know, Ella.”

The second man proclaims, “And I’m sorry that this must happen, it will not be pleasant, but it is necessary for the future of our people.”I shake my head, fighting back tears.

Their words are triggering every alarm bell in my young mind.I know what men do to little girls under the guise of necessity, the pretense of helping or protecting.

And I know exactly how unpleasant things can get.

My blood runs cold, and my pulse races, triggering a strange new energy deep in my bones.

It pulses through me like a bolt of electricity, a wild thing writhes just beneath my skin, feral and rabid — begging to be free.

away!” I hiss, my

men look at each other with grim

on — another week and we’d be

“I’m sorry, child.”

gravely, closing the

would not do this if there

unlike anything I’ve ever experienced before, takes over my

to run,

whatever these men intend will be far worse than

isn’t anywhere to

bolted door at my back and two attackers far larger and stronger than I am bearing down

his palm,

away from the door, propelling me further into

my legs, and I’m

violently against their hold, my screams muffled and garbled as the priest

my mouth, the metallic tang fanning the

fighting for air and struggling to focus

to fight them — I’m powerless in their strong grips, and they seem completely unaffected by my

swaying in the wind for all

distant keening pierces the air, sounding very far

thick with grief and pain more complex than the sheer fright in

with concern, joins the

“It’s too much.”

“Just a little more.”

voice, floating above me,

“We’re so close.”

where these sounds are coming from, and the priests don’t seem to hear

focus, and i’m nothing more than a pawn in their game — tiny and helpless to stop

onto the floor and

my wrists while the other sits on my kicking

shimmering silk cloth, it’s pearlescent sheen glimmering like

it around my body, it

winding it round and

my arms are locked against my sides and my legs tightly

fabric’s punishing grip, and soon they’re wrapping my head,

over my mouth, the priest finally removes his

over my gaping lips, locking my face into the contours of

to breathe, though I don’t understand

– my mind is awake but

screaming at my nerve endings and muscles to move, to do something – anything! But nothing happens because this isn’t a dream from which I can wake, this is real, and it’s only the

clink of glass? The jostling of beads? novelebook A bottle uncorking? For all the

before

my body, stones or crystals placed in deliberate patterns on

to fight the cocoon, that foreign electricity in my veins warning me that I won’t be

I’m running out of time, but I refuse