Accidental Surrogate for Alpha

#Chapter 331 – Protecting my Own

Sinclair

I growl down at the man before me, who is younger than I thought he would be, for one with

such power. He has thick black hair and a day’s worth of stubble on his thin cheeks. The man

glares up at me with dark, angry eyes and opens his mouth to speak but before he can, I slap him

– hard with an open palm.

–

The man gasps with surprise and pain, his eyes going wide as he stares down at the floor, and I

smirk. I doubt this man has been slapped anytime recently, if ever. He has the smug look of

someone used to being in charge.

But he’s in my house now.

“You’ll speak when we tell you to speak,” I growl, and then I turn to the head of my

–

reconnaissance team, who is standing against the wall, his hands on his knees, panting a little.

Craig isn’t a small man to see him so undone by the efforts suggests that this diminutive priest

is, indeed, powerful in other ways.

“How did you catch him?” I snap. Craig looks up at me and does his best to straighten up.

“We followed the leads, sir,” he replies, looking me in the eyes, “that we gleaned from the

conversation with the other priest, who wished to remain anonymous. They were…fruitful. We

found this one’s lair, for lack of a better word. It was actually in a sewer -in an abandoned

maintenance room. He was living there doing…” Craig hesitates and then shrugs. “Forgive me, Sir,

for the dramatic language, but ‘arcane magics‘ are the only words coming to my mind now. Lizard

skins…and and snail shells, in jars – he had a cauldron –”

“Thank you,” I say, interrupting and nodding towards the head of my investigative team. “You.

will give your details to Alastair, as soon as you can. For now, though I want everyone here for

the interrogation.” I lean forward towards the priest, who watches me with wary eyes and a

clenched jaw.

I continue, lowering my voice and slowing my words, “will be long,

need

a brave man, then, by baring his teeth at me

then I step away, secretly grateful for

this man’s head off. Roger

arms crossed as he looks down at the man strapped

And what your people want

a too–wide expression that shows all of his teeth. “No,”

his voice now. Roger stares at him blandly for a moment and then shifts his eyes

member of the reconnaissance team standing behind

against the

priest’s body, making him shriek and twist in pain, but my man,

priest goes a little slack in his chair, panting.

the chair to

with

priest looks up at Roger again and just huffs a short, humorless

shaking his head and holding his

growing on his face. “You

as a

upstairs –

my heart stops as I recognize it, instantly,

Ella

just sitting here, tense, in my rocking chair by Rafe’s basinet, one hand on the edge

always is – shushing him quietly as he falls asleep when

–

sound at the glass of his window

curiously, expecting a little bird – maybe a squirrel –

flooded me when I saw a black–masked face calmly tapping on my window, grinning

as I froze, as he quietly pointed

coming for him.”

–

fast – the man pulled

window –

know how he did it – it should have

the room through the hole he made with his fist, the rest

of the window cracking and shattering around him

–

an instant later, my instincts came back to me,

my child’s rolling basinet behind me and screamed –

back into the corner now, Rafe in

at the foot of the window. As he stands, my heart jumps when

–

–

more men behind him, working their way up

fast –

lead is on his feet now, grinning at me, starting to