Chapter 150
Accidental Surrogate for Alpha
Chapter 150 - Flight Ella
"Ella, Ella wake up."
Sinclairâs urgent voice invades my dreams, just as the ground begins to tremble beneath my feet.
As Iâm wrenched awake, I realize the ground wasnât trembling at all, instead my sleeping body was
being shaken by my mate.
Sinclairâs handsome face hovers above my own, his eyes glowing as his hand rests on my shoulder.
"Come on baby, we've got to go."
"Iâ what? What do you mean?" I mumble groggily.
"We're under attack, we have to go, sweetheart." Sinclair explains, pulling me up.
"There's no time to take anything with us, just get dressed."
"But I donât understand, under attack from who?" I ask, feeling as though my mind is dragging.
When we went to bed tonight weâd been overjoyed with our victory at the press conference, thinking we
were out of the woods at long last.
We made love and I passed out to the blissful sound of Sinclairâs contented purrs.
What heâs saying simply doesnât make any sense.
"The Royal Army, I promise I'll explain everything later, but right now I need you to just do as I say."
He strides to the closet in a flash, returning with my warmest sweater and a pair of fleece lined
leggings, as well as my coat and a pair of boots.
Clearly sensing that Iâm too shocked and drowsy to keep up with the crisis threatening us, he dresses
me with cool efficiency, only pausing to retrieve a pair of thick wool socks from the dresser before
lacing up my boots.
Sinclair returns to the closet to dress himself while I sit on the edge of the bed in a daze, belatedly
realizing he forgot to provide me with underwear.I open my mouth to tell him as much, but he simply
scoops me up in his arms, "We'll buy you some once we're safe, trouble."
He promises, then sweeps me out of the room.
Sinclair carries me down to the mansion's basement level, surrounded by guards.
Hugo comes running up to us just before we enter an evacuation tunnel I didnât know existed.
"I got word to Roger and your father.Theyâll meet us there."
"Where's there?"
I ask anxiously, my wolf reaching out to Sinclairâs to try to get a sense of his feelings.
Once again I realize heâs blocking off his emotions from me, only this time heâs not letting the good
things shine through.I canât get any sense of his feelings at all, feeling as though Iâm reaching into an
empty void.
"We're leaving the continent."
Sinclair informs me tightly.
"Leaving the continent?" I repeat, stunned.
This is unfathomable to me, Iâve never been off the continent in my entire life, and the idea that Sinclair
would be leaving his pack behind just doesnât compute.
If the situation is severe enough to force us out of Moon Valley, why wouldnât we just go to another
territory, a neighboring pack?
"Things are bad baby."
Sinclair murmurs, not slowing his pace as we continue through the tunnel at a jog.
The tunnel lets out into a darkened garage, and we pile into a collection of jeeps reinforced to look
more like army tanks than standard vehicles.
As we speed out of the city, Sinclair is in constant communication with his men, going over our route
and making preparations for the journey ahead.
It's not until the logistics have all been sorted out that he finally turns to me.
He rumbles with concern and drags me into his lap, and I tuck my head against his shoulder.
Sinclair takes a deep breath, then tells me.
"The Prince has taken over the united packs, Ella.The King is dead, the Alpha council are all dead.It
would seem our decision to call him out and the threat of losing his position pushed him over the
edge.Heâs deployed the royal army to lock down Moon Valley, and likely sent assassins to take out the
betas of the other packs so they canât coordinate against him as a shadow council.By this time
tomorrow, he will have total control of the pack armies as well as his own."
"Oh my Goddess."
Tears burn in my eyes.
This was everything we'd been afraid of, only worse.
All the shifters and humans left in the Valley would â "Wait!" I exclaim frantically.
"Cora! We have to take her with us!"
"Roger and Dad are picking her up on their way out of the city."
Sinclair informs me gently, purring to try and ease my distress.
"She'll be okay, and sheâll be with us soon."
I feel so grateful for my mate in this moment that I could kiss him, but heâs holding me too tightly to
move.
Instead I kiss his neck and thank him profusely as he cuddles me like a human security blanket.
When Iâm done showing my thanks, Iâm able to turn my thoughts to the future.
"Dominic, what are we going to do?"
"we're going to go west, to the hidden territories." Sinclair answers decisively.
"I have some allies there, and the Prince will have his hands so full just trying to suppress the unrest
his coup will cause that he wonât be able to spare forces to come after us."
"where are the hidden territories?" I ask, trying to imagine which points on the human maps might align
with such a name.
"Between here and the Veran continent." Sinclair shares, confusing me to no end.
"But there isnât anything between here and Vera." I remind him, trying to figure out if heâs lost his mind
or perhaps Iâve lost mine.
"Only the ocean."
"Thatâs why theyâre hidden, trouble." Sinclair explains, pressing a few kisses to my forehead.
"The lands were previously uninhabited, and were settled by wolves who were tired of having to keep
their true natures secret - they wanted to live away from humans, so they formed a federation of shifter-
only societies.Shifters have always had more advanced technologies, so this all happened before the
human populations began exploring the world, and when they started, the wolves in the hidden
territories made sure the continent couldn't be found."
"But now we have satellites and cross the oceans in airplanes and everything." I say, not entirely
understanding how this could be possible.
Then again, I went my whole life living with shifters right under my nose and never knew they existed,
so I suppose it shouldnât seem quite so outlandish.
"Yes, but we have shielding technology that makes it impossible to detect the territories from all
sides.The shields project whatever images one would expect to see from their particular perspective,
so from above it simply looks like more water." Sinclair explains, rubbing my belly and making Rafe kick
up a storm.
"Okay."
I can accept this explanation, since Iâve seen first hand how far ahead shifters are when it comes to
technology, but this doesnât account for everything.
"And what about boats? If theyâre sailing along and the captain only sees open ocean ahead, why don't
humans sail into them?"
"Because it doesnât just look like open ocean, the shields project the image of a massive storm so that
sailers wonât enter the territoryâs waters, theyâll sail around the storm and if they get too close their
equipment starts going haywire."
Sinclair tells me, seeming more and more relaxed the farther we get from Moon Valley.
Instead of simply clutching me against his chest his hands are gradually beginning to explore my body,
though I suppose this could be another comfort mechanism â ensuring that Iâm whole and unharmed.
"Thatâs where all the human legends about the Dark Triangle come from."
My jaw drops with amazement, every child in the world has heard tales of that mysterious point in the
ocean where magic seems to routinely disappear ships and aircraft.
"You mean weâre going there? To the Dark Triangle?"
I exclaim with excitement, momentarily forgetting my distress due to the sheer astonishment of hearing
Iâm going to a mythical land.
Sinclairâs lip quirks, "If Iâd known thatâs all I needed to say to ease your mind I would have started with
it.Yes, sweet mate, weâre going to the Dark Triangle."
He confirms, "though the people there might be offended if you call it that.In truth we'll land in a territory
called Vanara.It will be very different from home, but it will be safe."
"I...are weâ"
Iâm not sure how to ask my next question, and in the end I just blurt it out.
"Is this forever?"
"No."
Sinclair replies firmly.
"Once we arrive Iâm going to rally the Alphas of the federation to move against the Prince.Iâll take
whatever support they're willing to give, and I'll use my spies back home to form a citizen army...a
rebellion.When the time is right we'll return."
He pauses and looks down at me with regret.
"At least I will."
"You mean...alone?" I inquire, aghast.
"yes."
He sighs, and he opens a floodgate of emotion to me, revealing how much he hates this thought.
"Because when I go back, Iâll be going to war."