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 – ”

sob, looking up at her in desperation. “Do something melt this ice, unbind my gift –

different realms – I know she is bound by rules different than me – but

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,

– – no other situation

looking clearly into my eyes. “You will…not be able to call upon me

I gasp as I look up at her, as I realize that the price for this magic is…. our bond. She looks steadily down into my eyes as she nods, realizing that I

she says softly to me. “I just wanted you to know what the cost was,

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

nod. I let her know that I know

darling,” she murmurs and then she leans forward and presses her lips against my forehead. “It will be all right.” And for a moment the press of her kiss against my forehead feels the same as her hands against my face

tingle until, slowly, her lips

gnashing inside me at the injustice done to

– knowing that she has used the magic of our bond to unbind my wolf and her gift. And in

a piece of me,” she says, reaching out hand to point towards my chest, where her gift grows warm. “Use

then, quite suddenly, she is

back to

few long minutes with my

I hold onto it, and access its strength, and let it burn through me – through my

Sinclair

brother lets out a roar of rage, dashing away from Hank who sits limp on the ground outside

my inner organs shift into my wolf form and the injuries in them scream in protest against it. But I’m

That it can’t-

it, forcing myself forward beyond 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

moment that she hears me – she her hesitate in her