Page 82 of The Alpha's Fated Bond

I don’t care if my tone is harsh. I have to do this.

Magic. Dark magic.

I can see it. There are dark threads wrapped around the chains.

I don’t know if this is how magic usually works or if it’s different for witches. Lily told me she can’t see the magic like I can. It sure is helpful. It’s harder to remove the traces of this magic, though, because I have to physically remove the threads from the chains, and my hands burn each time I touch them. But I don’t stop.

My mother is unconscious. She has silver fur, like mine, but it looks borderline gray because of how dirty it is. I get the feeling she hasn’t shifted in years. She’s lying on her side, ribs sticking out. There is a can of dog food in the corner of the room. It’s too far away for her to be able to reach it. It’s almost as if it was placed far away from her on purpose.

My body quivers with rage.

That bastard. Hasn’t my mother been through enough? Did he really have to treat her like this?

I turn my attention back to the chains, and like I did with the undead wolves, I tear away the black magic, ignoring the sensation that my hands are on fire. My body is tiring out, but I don’t care. I want these chains off her. I want her freedom. I want her away from this hellhole.

There are tears in my eyes as I grit my teeth. “Drew!”

He knows exactly what to do without me uttering the words. He grabs the chain around my mother’s four legs and breaks it off. The dark magic has been removed from it, so his hands don’t burn.

I’m panting by the time I’m done with the chain on her legs. Finally, I turn my attention to the collar around her neck. I’m crying now. I can’t help myself.

“You’ve gotten this far, Sophia.” Drew pats my back. “Just a little bit more, and she’ll be free.”

“I know,” I choke. “Look at her, Drew. Look at what he did to her. Why did you ever serve such a horrible man?”

“I don’t know,” Drew murmurs with a bone-deep weariness in his voice that makes me regret my words.

“If he were still alive—” I push through my tears, a terrible fury building up within me— “I would torture him to death. I would do to him what he did to my mother. Even that wouldn’t be enough. The fact that he’s dead is not enough. I should have made him suffer.”

Drew is silent, but his expression is hard.

By the time I manage to get rid of the magic on the collar around my mother’s neck, I’m exhausted. I let Drew break it off her, and I gather my unconscious mother in my arms. She’s still in her wolf form, but when the restraints finally fall away, I feel her body begin to change shape. Moments later, a woman is resting in my lap. Her silver hair is matted and dirty, and her cheeks are hollow. She’s wearing what looks like a hospital gown, tattered and torn. There’s dried blood on the edges of it, and Drew frowns, his nose twitching. Almost immediately, a lot of horror crosses his face, but he tries to hide it.

Too late. I saw it.

“What is it?” I demand.

He shakes his head. “It’s not important, Sophia.”

I growl at him. “Let me be the judge of that.”

His expression is uneasy. “That blood. It’s yours.” After a pause, he adds, “And hers. This is what she was wearing when she gave birth to you.”

The meaning behind his words doesn’t register on me for a full minute. I stare down at the dried blood on the makeshift hospital gown. And then it hits me. My mother was imprisoned immediately after giving birth to me. All these years, she’s been like this, without even a heartbeat of reprieve.

I want to throw up. Cradling her in my arms, I take in her scent, finding some measure of comfort in it. This is my mother. This is the woman who gave birth to me. And she has spent her life since then in conditions like this.

“Her breathing is too shallow.” Drew looks concerned. “We have to do something.”

“The food…That rabbit meat we dried. Do you have it? And some water?” I ask him, lowering my mother again so her head is in my lap. Drew takes out the food, but she can’t chew anything. She’s in no state of health. I force a few mouthfuls of water down her throat, and she stirs slightly.

I remember how I healed Nathan. Maybe if I try healing her…But I don’t even know what I’m healing. She’s dehydrated and malnourished. Those aren’t things I can heal, are they?

What about a boost of energy like Lily gave me when I was unlinking the children? That could work, couldn’t it? It gave me my energy back.

Closing my eyes, I try to push my magic into my mother’s body, but it doesn’t work. Frustrated, I try to focus, wishing I’d asked Lily how she did it. I can feel how weak my mother is and how delicate her core is. I try to warm it up, to give her some energy. My magic follows my desires. That’s what it seems like; I can feel the energy leaving me and going into her.

More. Just a little bit more.

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