Accidental Surrogate for Alpha

#Chapter 376 – The Cost Ella

My internal screaming continues, echoing through me as I grab whatever bond I have to my Goddess mother and pull on it as hard as I can –

And I’m still screaming, there, in my mind and honestly maybe from my throat as well, I’m too far beyond myself now to know – when suddenly…

…She’s here.

My mother’s presence materializes first in my mind as she reaches for me, worried.

“Ella!” I hear her say, her voice chiming against my own frantic screams, “Ella, I am here!”

Shocked shocked to feel her, shocked that it worked – I find myself thrown out of my meditative state and into my own body, which is still freezing cold. But when my eyes fly open I gasp to see that she’s-

She’s actually here. Not just present in my mind – but standing before me. And as I blink frantically, letting my eyes adjust, I realize that she’s not… physically here. Not in the way she was when we met her in the desert. But she’s here in her spirit – she presents herself before me in an echo of her true form, a glowing, beautiful specter that reaches her hands out towards me.

“Mother!” I gasp. “Mom please – I need my baby – please release me -”

“Ella,” she says, coming forward and reaching for me, though her hands can’t quite touch my face. I feel her, though something about her touch tingles against my cheeks as she tries and fails to take my face in her hands. ” I don’t understand, child – I don’t know what’s happening -”

And then I’m sobbing, looking up at her, desperate for her to know but so cold now so incredibly cold – and unable to find the words to express it all-

“Close your eyes, darling,” she murmurs, looking down at me with her beautiful, glowing face. “Show me.”

And I do. I press my eyes shut and, sobbing, I press my thoughts – my memories – my fears – my ideas everything forward towards her. And I hear her gasp at first in shock, and then coo with understanding. –

“All right, Ella,” she says softly, and I open my eyes again to see her shaking her head at me. “Your gift is bound, my love and I cannot – ”

at her in desperation. “Do something melt this ice, unbind my gift – go out

her grief on the goddess’s face, her desire to help as well as her hesitation. We are from different realms – I know she is bound by rules different than me – but I can’t believe that

I can interfere physically in your world once in your life. And I will never, ever be able to do

else – – no other situation that I could imagine that could be worse – ” Please, mother,

“You will…not be able to call upon me again. Ever, Ella. It is the last time we will speak outside of

realize that the price for this magic is…. our bond. She looks steadily

wanted you to know what

her, knowing I should think about it more – that I should

part of me does. Sharply, I nod. I let her know that I

“It will be all right.” And

tingle until, slowly, her lips grow warm and

to me, her teeth ripping and gnashing inside me at the injustice done to her, in her eagerness to get out of here, to help our

knowing it is done – knowing that she has used the magic

have a piece of me,” she

quite suddenly, she is

I blink back to myself

even though that felt like a few long minutes

that I have to get to my son. Now. So I reach within myself, accessing the gift burning now, hot within me. And I hold onto it, and access its strength, and let it burn through me – through my mind, my heart, my

Sinclair

of rage, dashing away from Hank who sits limp on the ground outside the clinic,

wounds on my skin stretch horribly, as I feel my inner organs shift into my wolf form and the injuries in them scream in protest against it. But I’m in full panic now, running on fear and adrenaline, pushing myself to go after my son even though my body screams in my mind

That it can’t-

the pain, sprinting towards the priestess who carries my son. She’s locked in my sight now, her form growing continually larger as I stream towards her, as I ignore my pain and hurl my body into

see the moment that she hears me –