Page 2 of The Alpha's Fated Bond

“We haven’t rested since we set out,” Patrick groans, sitting on a log and rubbing his left leg. “We need a break, Alex.”

Saul nods. “I have to get some shuteye, boss. Or I might just roll over while we’re running and start snoring. Have fun dragging me along with you.”

Nathan, the youngest of the group, doesn’t say anything, but he slumps against one of the trees, pulling one leg to his chest, and resting his arm on it. His eyes flutter shut.

They’re right. They need to rest.

One look at Sophia confirms that she desperately needs to shower, too. Unlike us, she’s been in her human form most of the time and going six days without a shower with all sorts of dirt covering her. She’s been sniffing herself doubtfully lately.

I can hear the bubbling of a spring nearby. It’s not so far that we will be out of reach of the others in case of an emergency, but it will give us some privacy.

“Okay. Let’s head a bit more downwind, and then we’ll take a couple of hours to rest.”

We move away from the bodies of the dead wolves till we find an empty clearing. “You guys stay here.”

I put my hands on Sophia’s shoulders from behind. “Let’s go.”

“Where?”

I nudge her to begin walking in the direction of the spring. “You probably want to get cleaned up. I know your obsession with being clean.”

Her cheeks turn red, but she doesn’t deny it. I expected her to give me a snarky response, so her silence troubles me.

As we walk together, I can feel the awkwardness between us. I haven’t had a chance to talk to her since she killed Robert and I took her away with me. Our relationship isn’t the strongest; she’s willing to give me a chance, though, and that’s all I can expect at this point. I have never courted her properly. Instead, from the moment we met, I kept letting her down, desperate to get rid of this bond between us so I could focus on the needs of my people, who are suffering.

I told her how I truly feel, but words aren’t enough for a wounded heart. I glance at the hair on her head and wonder if she thinks I only want to be with her because of her status as a silver wolf. She hasn’t said that, but my own thoughts are all tangled up. I don’t want to make the situation worse by opening my mouth.

“I’ve never been this far away from town,” Sophia says quietly.

“You want to leave Oakrest, didn’t you?” I ask her, grateful to have something to talk about. “You wanted to leave the South Alliance. That’s why you were taking part in those illegal cage fights: to save up enough money.”

“Yeah,” she admits, but her voice sounds uncertain. “I just thought I would be happy when I left.”

She trails off, and my heart sinks. Is she unhappy? Is she second-guessing her decision to be with me?

It’s almost as if she can read my thoughts because she looks up at me, her eyes weary. “So many people betrayed me. Rita, Drew, Noah, even Eve to an extent, and then my own Alpha. Maybe I should have expected it from Noah and Robert. And I didn’t really know Eve that well, either. But Rita and Drew…They were people I cared about deeply. You said everything in Oakrest was a setup, right?”

That’s not exactly what I said, but she’s close enough.

“I don’t think Drew betrayed you,” I say, wrapping my finger around one of the loose strands escaping from her braid. Drew was Sophia’s next-door neighbor in the apartment complex she lived in. She used to look after his son.

“All these years, he had me believing it was someone else who was responsible for his mate’s murder.” I don’t think Sophia is speaking to me. It seems more like she’s talking to herself. “It was him all along. He killed half his family just because the Alpha ordered it. I still can’t reconcile with that truth. I want to wake up one day and realize it was all just a dream.”

“Even me?” I ask, unprompted.

Her eyes move toward me, and her smile is small but genuine. “No, not you. I’m glad I met you.”

Does she really feel that way, or am I simply her sole means out of that place? Am I the only person left in her life that she can trust to some extent?

While the bond between us does exist, it’s not as strong as it should be. Our beasts are not in harmony. My wolf has not succeeded in gaining her animal’s trust and affection, as is typically done during courting. It’s my own fault and something I’ll have to fix myself over time. I can also understand the kind of grief she is going through, the dilemma she is facing. I wish I could control these depressing thoughts. But for now, I’m just grateful she chose to come with me.

“Drew didn’t betray you, Sophia,” I tell her again. When she gives me a disbelieving look, I finally explain what really happened that day. “When I went into the woods, I heard him trying to lead Alpha Black away from you.” Sophia’s expression twists at the mention of her Alpha. She doesn’t look very convinced, however, so I add, “He was trying to guide Robert in the wrong direction. Drew saw me there, Sophia. We made eye contact, and he kept trying to convince Robert to wait till nightfall to go after you. He told him that he had been misinformed by his spy.”

“But you told me—” She struggles to speak, as if trying to pick the right words. “You said I’d been set up. Something like that, at least. What did you mean?”

I recall the unsettling conversation I overheard between Alpha Black and Drew, the man Sophia had considered her friend all these years. I couldn’t figure out what they were saying at first.None of it made sense. Until it did. And disgust and horror filled me.

“I don’t know how to tell you without upsetting you,” I begin cautiously.

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