Accidental Surrogate for Alpha

Chapter 348 – Underground

Sinclair

I give our troops outside of the sewer updates on our movements, letting them know when we take left and right turns, all the time following Roger, who steadily pads along, tracing the priest’s scent. The troops outside relay the information back to my father, in the bunker, who is able to trace our movement on the maps so that he, at least, knows precisely where we are at all times.

About half an hour later, Roger looks over his shoulder at me, his eyes suddenly fierce and I nod, understanding his message. We’re close very close now.

I raise a hand above my shoulder, making the signal that tells my troops to be on alert, ready for action. Behind me, I can almost feel their bodies tensing, becoming ready to react.

As a group, we continue to prowl through the sewers, making as little noise as we can. Roger turns a corner and I am just on his tail, looking around, when suddenly I see light again – bright golden light, a significant contrast to the grey mossy sewer around us. We pause for a moment and listen, hearing – god, what is that?

Some kind of clanging rings from an open door on the left almost exactly like the one we just left. Roger was right the priest needed to set up shop – again. A clanging comes from inside the room, hitting an unnatural pitch that hurts my ears – I see Roger visibly wince and move toward him, but suddenly quite suddenly –

A figure emerges from the room – And, as one, Roger and I act.

Roger is in the air almost instantly, a snarl ripping from his throat as he leaps for the priest. I shout a command for our troops to surround, to contain

The priest’s face is shocked, stunned as he spins towards us, as Roger’s body collides with his, Roger’s paws slamming into his shoulders and knocking the priest hard to the floor, holding him down in the slushy grey water –

get behind the Priest to block the obvious direction of his exit should he seek to run – and as I move past him I see the moment his face changes from surprise

own body tensed for any action, as Roger lowers his

his hand up,

of fire that blinds me, makes me turn my head away for a split second before I hear a yelp of fear and pain. And

priest

side and turns, predictably, towards me – away from the troops he can see ranging in the direction

slow and terrible grin spreading across my face as I focus my attention on him, resisting the horrible temptation

face, recognizing him instantly as the man we captured before

is, far bigger, and have no reason to shift my position before he tries to get past me, which he does next. But as the priest goes

growls another one of those arcane words and I feel a pulse of burning heat coming from his left hand, his wrist suddenly becoming white hot- way too hot for me to

but hold on long enough to spin him around, pushing him hard towards the door emitting the yellow light instead of the long corridor – if we can get him in there, we can trap

as he stumbles a few steps and then stops himself by grabbing the door frame. He sends a frantic glance over his shoulder towards us and then throws himself into the room, reaching for

for precisely that order. And they do – quickly, my men spread out around the door, ready to trap him in. As they get in order, as I

at the door, likewise assessing the situation in a flash. I reach out towards him, sniffing, smelling something strange, and as I lay my hand on his fur he looks up at me and

I breathe, starting to bend to look at him, but he snaps his teeth at me – clearly communicating to leave

to decide his limits