Page 94 of The Alpha's Fated Bond

He looks mildly annoyed, but not entirely shaken. He still believes he has me in his grasp.

But then Karina calls out, “Guards! Kill them all. And bring me the Silver Wolf!”

“Protect the Alpha Female!” Alex orders his soldiers.

Human forms are shed all around, and the once pristine and stunning ballroom is now a war zone filled with wolves. Alex shifts, too, and faces off against Noah’s wolf, who is determined not to give in. As they fight, I realize something.

Noah’s attacks are stronger than Alex’s.

That doesn’t make sense to me. Alex is a seasoned Alpha. He’s also larger in size than Noah.

So, why is my mate on the defensive?

The same thing happened before, when Robert and Alex were exchanging blows the night Robert died. And when Noah attacked Alex in the woods back in Oakrest, Noah brutally injured Alex.

“Sophia!” Elsa shouts my name, and I turn my head to see my mother lying on the floor. There’s a small sheen of energy around her body. It’s very faint, but I can see the telltale glow.

The seed of suspicion planted in my mind, I look at Noah and notice that his entire wolf body has a similar glow. I stare at it, trying to understand what it means. The minute my brain connects the dots, a vicious fury washes over me.

That bastard! He’s using my mother! Somehow, even in the state she’s in, he’s able to draw power from her.

I remember how, during Julia’s fight with Alex, something snapped within me, and suddenly, I could feel him inside me as I wrapped him in my own strength. I don’t know if I can do that again, but I have to try.

Noah throws Alex to the ground, and his paw lifts, his sharp claws ready to dig into my mate’s chest.

My whole world goes quiet.

I remember this feeling, too. I experienced it when Robert nearly killed Alex. I’m not going to have the same thing happen again. The bloodlust within me grows exponentially, and my bodystarts to shift. Throughout it all, my gaze is fixed on Noah and Alex. It’s as if time has frozen for me.

I don’t pay attention to the shocked gasps around me, to Karina’s screams, to the shouting.

My entire world is centered on these two wolves grappling with each other.

Let him have it all. Everything. Let him have everything.

Alex’s fur begins to glow, and it becomes brighter than Noah’s. He throws Noah off and goes on the offensive. His attacks are stronger now. Alex is an experienced fighter who is calculating on the battlefield. With my power coursing through his veins, he’s moving faster than ever, his attacks on a whole other level.

All this time, I never really understood what kind of power the Silver Wolf is supposed to give to someone. I’m starting to figure it out now, though. I have the ability to increase a shifter’s strength and speed. I can give them a massive boost. But as I do, I feel the impact on myself. It tires me out.

My mother is coughing up blood now, and I cry out in alarm.

Both Alex and Noah glance in my direction. That’s when Noah realizes that I’m the reason why Alex is suddenly able not only to match him, but to attack him. Without missing a beat, he starts running toward me.

Alex is right on his heels, but Noah is going to get to me first.

That’s when I hear a hoarse voice cry out softly, “No!”

My heart squeezes at the sound. I’ve never heard that voice before, but it’s familiar, as if my body knows it, as if I’ve heardit many times previously. My head swivels around, and I see my mother reaching out to me with one hand, fear and anger in her eyes.

Luckily, Noah stumbles. And as he does, Alex sinks his teeth into his underbelly. Noah’s scream of agony is satisfying, but it also reaches his mate, who leaves the battle with her mother and runs over to him, her face white as a sheet. Noah is bleeding on the floor, and as Tina reaches his side, Karina’s soldiers surround us.

“That’s enough!” The Alphas from the South Alliance step forward, their stances threatening. “Put a stop to this, Queen Karina, or we will get involved. The girl—The Silver Wolf belongs to the South Alliance. We will not let anybody touch her.”

I shift back into my human form, as does Alex.

Karina scoffs. “You will risk starting a war over this girl?”

One of them, the one speaking for the group, says harshly. “Why not? After all, you are also prepared to start a war over her, aren’t you?”

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