Page 86 of The Alpha's Fated Bond

Lily leans closer to me, taking my hands and putting them around her neck. “Do it. I dare you.”

Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, I squeeze her neck as hard as I can. Suddenly, I hear my mother gasping for breath.

Lily lets out a strangled guffaw. “Go ahead. Let’s all watch your mother get choked to death. Go on! Why are you stopping?”

I immediately let go of Lily’s neck, and she rubs it, laughing all the while. “Get it? Whatever you do to me is going to happen to her. That little piece of metal is linking our lives. I got the idea from Queen Karina. Her way was interesting, but not very innovative.”

My goal is now to get rid of whatever that band is around my mother’s neck without touching it. I focus all my remaining energy, but once again, I get thrown back by an electric shock. I can’t see any magic on the band, but I can feel it.

“What have you done to her? What is that?!”

“Unfortunately for you,” Lily folds her arms over her chest, “it’s not something you can remove. That collar is built from my magic. I brought it into existence. You can’t use your magic to undo it. You’re not that strong of a witch, yet. Although, to be fair, even if you were the most powerful witch in the world, you still wouldn’t be able to undo it.”

I stare at her, trying to understand what she’s saying. She brought it into existence?

She must have seen the confusion in my eyes because she smiles broadly. “Do you remember all the times I told you to meditate with me to reach your core and all that other garbage? Well, that’s what it was: garbage. I was merely learning the patterns of your magic pathways so that I could create something you couldn’t destroy. And here it is. You will never be able to remove that collar. The only person who can remove it is me.”

My chest tightens in frustration and fear, and Lily claps her hands before looking at Noah. “See that look on her face? She understands. She’s not as dumb as she appears.”

I see Noah’s hands stroke Lily’s hair, and I want to throw up.

“What do you want from me?”

“Initially,” Noah says, walking over to me and squatting by my side. “I simply wanted to use your powers. But now? After you humiliated me in front of the entire pack by running away with another man, I want you to suffer. You’re going to attend the Winter Banquet with me and my fated mate here, and you’re going to watch as your fated mate gets executed. And then, you’re in for a lifetime of what your mother endured. Perhaps even worse. We’ll see.”

Dread fills me as Lily points at my mother. “That collar is controlled by me. One wrong move during the banquet, any attempt to draw attention to yourself or to let anybody know that you are the Silver Wolf, and I will blow off that old hag’s head. After all the effort you put in trying to save mommy dearest, I’m sure you don’t want her to die. And I can promise you that it will be a painful death.”

My body goes limp. What am I supposed to do now?

There is no way I’m going to let Alex die. What if I wait to find an opportunity and kill Lily? Once she’s dead, the collar should stop working. But then, my mother will share the same fate.

There has to be something. I’m the Silver Freaking Wolf! Everybody else thinks that’s a big deal; maybe I should start thinking along those lines, too. Lily is just a witch. I already know that there is a vast difference in our magical abilities. I’m not going to take Lily at her word that I can’t get rid of her collar. I’ll just have to come up with a way.

But for that, I need to have strength. I’m far too weak right now. And these two are not going to let me recover my strength.

There has to be something I can do! I’m not going to give up so easily. Not when I finally have my mate and my mother. I didn’t come this far to throw in the towel.

I glance toward Drew’s body, and anger burns my heart.

He didn’t deserve to die, despite what he did in his past. He was dealt a shitty hand. He had to hurt people he loved simply to protect his son, and he lost his entire family. Maybe he’s at peace now, but Tim is an orphan. No matter the situation, I believe that given time, Tim would have forgiven his father, andDrew would have had some of his family back. But Lily and Noah took that opportunity away from him. Noah’s father took away Drew’s family, and Noah took away Drew’s life, along with any chance of reconciliation with his son.

My hands tingle with my magic as my wolf snarls inside me. I want their blood. I want both Noah and Lily to suffer.

But for now, I have to keep my mouth shut. I need to recover my strength.

They haven’t won yet.

***

Noah and Lily have attempted to goad me several times, but I spent my entire childhood surrounded by bullies. I know how to shut down and not retaliate. It’s a survival skill I learned far too young.

It takes us a couple of days to reach the territory of the Cross River Wolf Pack. Just stepping foot in it gives me an idea of how much luxury Queen Karina has bestowed upon her own pack. The town closest to the territory line looks like a well-developed city with skyscrapers and fancy houses like I’ve never seen before. There are landscaped parks on every corner, the whole town looking like something out of a luxury resort magazine. There is somebody waiting to greet Noah and his party. Nobody gives us a second look since my mother and I are with Noah.

I don’t see any sign of Alex, and I’m beginning to feel anxious. Is he really planning to show up here to attack Karina? Why is he taking such a risk? Why didn’t he tell me so I could help?

I don’t even know if he is unharmed after the attack on the village. I haven’t felt anything from him aside from his anguish when we entered the tunnels. I still don’t know what that was about, and I can’t help but worry about him. I never realized how much I’d begun to depend on Alex before now, when I’m alone with my mother, captives of two psychopaths. If Alex were here, he would know what to do. Even if he didn’t, his presence alone would be reassuring.

My mother is able to walk now, but she’s not altogether there in the head. She doesn’t look at anyone, her eyes remaining unfocused. She doesn’t seem to be listening to anything I try to say to her, almost as if she can’t comprehend the words. It’s as if she’s in a waking yet comatose state, unable to communicate, unable to think or feel. It doesn’t help that Lily has been setting off her collar at random intervals just to entertain herself. I can’t imagine torturing another living being as a form of amusement. It’s frightening, and it makes me sick to my stomach, that I ever thought Lily was someone I could call a friend.

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