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 – ”

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

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

grim. “Once, Ella,” she says, her face hard. “There is a way that I can interfere physically in your world once in your life. And I will never, ever be able to do it again. Are you sure that you want it to

is nothing else – – no other situation that I could

price,” she says, looking clearly into my eyes. “You will…not be able to call upon me again. Ever, Ella. It is the last time we will speak outside of one of my

for this magic is…. our

it, child,” she says softly to me. “I just wanted

should think about it more – that

nod. I let her know that I know the price,

my forehead. “It will be all right.” And for a moment the press of her kiss against

until, slowly, her lips grow warm and corporeal against

gnashing inside me

at my mother, then – knowing it is done – knowing that she has used the magic of our bond to unbind my wolf and her gift.

begins to fade from my sight. “You will always have a piece of me,” she says, reaching out hand to point towards my chest, where her gift grows warm.

quite suddenly,

back to myself realizing

though that felt like a few long minutes with my mother, only seconds have

And I hold onto it, and access its strength, and let it burn through

Sinclair

away from Hank who sits limp on the ground outside the clinic, holding

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

That it can’t-

She’s locked in my sight now, her form growing continually larger as I stream

that she hears me – she her hesitate in her