Accidental Surrogate for Alpha novel Chapter 205

Ella

I stare at the black phone screen in shock and confusion, trying not to jump to the wrong conclusion. One moment Sinclair was there, talking to me as if everything was normal, and the next I heard a terrible boom and saw a blinding light. Then the line disconnected. It didn’t look or sound like a car crash… it seemed… it seemed like some sort of explosion.

Maybe it was just the call getting interrupted, some sort of weird static… or a sound on the radio. My wolf suggests, even as I frantically attempt to call him back. The line doesn’t even ring, I simply hear an error tone and a voice telling me the call can’t be completed.

I untangle myself from the sleeping pups, waking a few of them but too alarmed to pause and apologize. My heart stops beating, and my lungs stop pumping. This isn’t happening. This can’t be happening. It’s just a problem with the phone. I think desperately, stumbling out of the blanket fort, gasping for air. Isabel looks over when she hears one of the rudely awoken pups emit a cranky cry, her attention quickly zeroing in on me.

“Ella, what is it?” She asks, looking between me and the pups. “Is it the baby? Are you sick?”

“I ca… I can’t breathe.” I wheeze, pressing my hands to my breast in a feeble attempt to make my body start working again.

Isabel tries to guide me to a chair but I push her off, gasping. “Get the King.” I beg, “Henry… get everyone.” The room is spinning before my eyes, and I reach out to the she-wolf to steady myself, certain I’ll topple over at any moment. Isabel shouts an order to one of the guards and he takes off at a run.

“You’ve got to calm down, Ella.” Isabel says sternly, pushing me into a chair and forcing my head between my knees. “You’re alright, you’re just having a panic attack.” Though her voice is cold, warm hands rub my back.

I shake my head violently. “No… you don’t understand.” I hiss, between gulps of air. “It’s Dominic… I think… I think something happened.”

She goes very still, “what do you feel?”

“Nothing,” I reply hurriedly, trying to feel him through our bond even though I know he’s too far away to sense. “I mean, not… not different.” Tears are spilling from my eyes, and my voice is shaking over every syllable. “We were on the phone and then there was this huge boom and a flash of light… like an explosion and the call dropped, I can’t get him back. It says the line is dead.”

Isabel exhales a breath I hadn’t realized she was holding. “That could be nothing. And when my mate died, I felt like my soul had been ripped out of my body and torn to pieces.”

“Were you together, when it happened?” I ask urgently, “were you chosen or fated?”

“We were together.” Isabel admits reluctantly, as if I’m forcing her to remember things she’d rather not. “I saw it happen, and yes, we were fated.”

“I’m sorry.” I hiccup, “I didn’t mean… I’m just trying to figure this out.”

“It’s okay.” Isabel answers, though her shoulders are rigid. “I understand.”

“I’ll go get Dad.” Roger announces, taking off towards the palace entrance.

An hour later I’m doing breathing exercises while we watch one of Gabriel’s aerial drones zoom across the foreign landscape. Any other time I would be fascinated to discover the secrets of the hidden territories, but now I can only wring my hands and pray. The search seems to go on forever, and my nerves are fraying more and more with every moment that passes. Finally a few specks appear in the distance, and I recognize the salt flats Sinclair had shown me out the window on his drive. The specks grow larger and larger as the drone flies… and then we see the flames.

The room is deathly silent as the cars come into view… what’s left of them at least. Where there were once shiny SUVs, there are now only mangled and charred husks of metal, centered in the middle of a blasted crater of earth. “No.” I gasp, counting them, trying to figure out if there was any way the men might have escaped. The drone flies lower, and when I see the burnt outline of an arm hanging out of one of the shattered windows, I clench my eyes shut. I’m rocking back and forth on the sofa, refusing to look at the screen, to witness the horror tearing through the room.

Pounding footsteps charge for the door, and when Roger’s scent fades I understand he must have stormed out. I peek at Henry, hoping he’ll tell me this isn’t real. But when I look… I barely recognize him. His face is grey and pallid, and all the strong steadiness I’ve come to expect from him is gone. He’s sunk in on himself, his expression one of a man whose just had his whole world shattered. I swing my gaze to Gabriel for help, but the King stands in front of the screen with his hands in tight fists and tears in his eyes. They all believe it. They all think he’s gone.

“No.” I insist, refusing to accept this. “No, he might have escaped somehow. He’s not…” I can’t bring myself to say the word. It’s too terrible to contemplate.

“I’m so sorry, Ella.” Gabriel says, in a voice like gravel. “I don’t want to believe it either, but I’m afraid he’s gone.”

“No!” I cry, shaking my head. “Why are you saying that! He can’t be gone! Do you have any idea what he’s survived? What he’s overcome? He’s not dead!” I explode, spinning in place, searching for anyone who will agree with me. When I find none, I stop and dig my heels into the ground. “I won’t lose him, I can’t!”

Before I can say another word, pain rips through my belly, clenching and white hot. My lips part on a silent cry as I double over, clutching my stomach. Black spots take over my vision, and the carpet zooms up to meet my face. Then all is quiet.