Accidental Surrogate for Alpha

Accidental Surrogate for Alpha by Caroline Above Story Chapter 176

#Chapter 176 — Bound Trigger warning — Assault (non-sexual)

Ella

“It’s all right, Ella.”

The first priest says, approaching me as one might a skittish horse — with slow, measured movements and hands exposed to show he holds no weapon.

“We only want to protect you.”

“Protect me from what?” I question shakily, my back flush against the locked door.

“You have a very powerful magic inside you, and if it’s allowed to come out you’ll be exposed.We can’t let that happen.” He explains, using a tone much too gentle to be trustworthy.

It’s as though he’s trying to trick me, to convince me he’s kind when he truly intends malice.

“I don’t have any magic.” I insist, wishing that I did.

Maybe if I was magic I might be able to put a stop to the things happening here — to protect the others without bringing harm to myself.I was so preoccupied with this statement that I almost missed the second piece of information.

“Exposed to what?”

“You do, it just hasn’t shown itself yet.”

The second priest sighs, keeping his distance but watching me with sharp eyes.

“At least not in ways you understand.Tell me, have you never noticed how much stronger you are than your peers? That you can hear and smell things from much greater distances? That you can run faster, jump higher, suffer greater injuries with less pain?”

He inquires, his hawkish gaze searing into me, “do they not follow you? Gravitate to your side and obey you as a leader?”

My head spins, making me dizzy with the possibilities.He guesses correctly, but that can’t be because I have some sort of special power.It’s just the way things are…isn’t it? “And exposed to a world you cannot yet join.”

The first man adds.

“It must happen when the time is right – but that time is a very long way off.”

“I don’t understand.”

I squeak, a sense of pure dread settling in the pit of my stomach.

“We know, Ella.”

The second man proclaims, “And I’m sorry that this must happen, it will not be pleasant, but it is necessary for the future of our people.”I shake my head, fighting back tears.

Their words are triggering every alarm bell in my young mind.I know what men do to little girls under the guise of necessity, the pretense of helping or protecting.

And I know exactly how unpleasant things can get.

My blood runs cold, and my pulse races, triggering a strange new energy deep in my bones.

of electricity, a wild thing writhes just beneath my skin, feral

my body shuddering

look at each other

was spot on — another week

“I’m sorry, child.”

first priest professes gravely, closing the distance between

this

I’ve ever experienced before, takes

me to run, to get

men intend will be far worse than anything the doctor or dormitory matron have

there isn’t

two attackers far larger and stronger than I am bearing down on me.I try to scream, but the second priest clamps his

sink my teeth into his

wrenches me away from the door, propelling me further into the

grabs my legs, and I’m lifted

their hold, my screams muffled and garbled

mouth, the metallic tang fanning the flames in my already

fighting for air and struggling to focus on my

how to fight them — I’m powerless in their strong grips, and they seem

in the wind for all the

keening pierces the

thick with grief and pain

voice, tinged with

“It’s too much.”

“Just a little more.”

second voice, floating

“We’re so close.”

idea where these sounds are coming from, and the

task with single-minded focus, and i’m nothing more than a pawn

thrust onto the floor and pinned

on my kicking legs,

it’s pearlescent sheen glimmering like moonlight, glowing in the

soft and airy, but when they begin wrapping it around my body, it tightens around me with the unyielding force of

fabric, winding it round and round like

arms are locked against my sides

and soon they’re wrapping my head, as if they intend to

mouth, the priest finally removes his hand from

scream escapes before the moonlight closes over my gaping lips, locking my face into

able to breathe, though I don’t

my nightmares come to life – my mind is awake but

there motionless, my brain screaming at my nerve endings and muscles to move, to do something – anything! But nothing happens because this isn’t a dream from which

rummaging around outside the walls of my silken prison, and I strain to identify the sounds: the clink of glass? The

herbaceous fragrance a moment before drops of moisture seep through the silk and

or crystals placed in deliberate

that foreign electricity in my veins warning me that

I’m running out of time, but I refuse

chant then, speaking a language I do