Accidental Surrogate for Alpha

#Chapter 373 – Burn Out

Roger

Less time probably passes than it feels like. Because it feels like hours of being seared by fire, of the Priest hurling spells at us.

And it’s not fire alone – it’s flames first, and then slicing spells that cut at us, and then wind – and ice – and something that feels like acid in the air that creeps into our lungs and makes us hack –

But slowly, slowly he burns himself out. And our men fall, screaming. But in the end, it’s me who prowls towards him in my wolf’s body, ignoring the aches and pains that come with every step. It’s me.

I step over my brother’s limp form, doing my best to ignore the fact that what breaths pulse from Dominic’s lips are short and shallow. That his eyes are shut, that whole swathes of his skin are burned away.

I only have eyes for him, this cornered Priest, at the end of this. Because it is the end. And I have him trapped.

Then, because I want him to see me in a form he can understand, I shift back into my human body, wincing as I do so, as the pains of my flesh reform themselves on hands instead of paws, on my legs instead of my haunches.

“Tell me” I command, as I stand before him, cowered in his corner.

“I will tell you noth-”

But I roar, allowing my nails to arc into claws that I slash across his face, opening four deep wounds across his cheeks, his nose, his lips. He shrieks in pain and covers his face before looking up at me.

crouching down in front of him, unblinking in my determination and my fury. “Because while you may be prepared to die for your god,” I say, holding up my hands so he can see my weapons there, “I don’t think

his eyes shift then to focus on my claws as the blood drips down his face. As he

That’s up to me.

say again, gentler

a little more courage and hate in himself as he snarls the words at me, as he winces at the feel of

face – raking some in the

deep, severing several fingers

falling flat to the floor next to the curled

I roar, leaning over him now, “Or by your God’s own name I will do it AGAIN! And I will keep doing it until you are nothing but

pain now that I don’t know if his words are shaking in

has the

command, but the priest cries out in fear now, working to

he cries. “He

face so

were supposed to hold you here – “he grits his teeth now, finding some level. of frustration in this, almost not believing that we found a

– because frankly, I don’t care. Instead, I raise a fist to shoulder height and then smash it, again and again,

use my claws to cut his throat, watching as the blood flows quick. And then, as his hands fall limp at his side, I open the

to darkness. For what? For the chance to wield some spells? To feel, for a

magic leaves the house. I don’t know what it was – wards to tell him where we were? Further protections? It doesn’t matter. But I know, instantly, that everything is gone. That it