I stride purposefully over to Alex.
“No, Sophia! Absolutely not,” Alex snarls. “I’m not giving you—”
I ignore him, grabbing his shoulders and pulling myself up onto my toes.
“Sophia—?”
I let instinct guide me to where the spot for the mating mark should be, and without a second thought, I sink my teeth into his neck, giving Alex my mating mark: the mating mark of the Queen of the South Alliance.
Chapter 22
Sophia
For a moment there is silence in the room. Nobody seems to understand what I just did.
And then Alex’s eyes lock onto mine. “Sophia, what did you do?”
“I gave you my mating mark.”
My whole body feels different. I have always been able to feel Alex within me somewhere, but just a thread of his existence and his heightened emotions. This is different. It’s more extreme. I can feel his presence now as a part of me, melded with my soul.
“There!” I turn to look at Karina. “Alex didn’t give me his mating mark. I gave him mine. Now, Alex Stone is no longer the Alpha of the Moonrise Wolf Pack in the North Alliance. He and his people now belong to the South.”
“What?” Karina hisses. “What kind of ridiculous gesture is this? The mating mark is always given by the man.”
“Not necessarily,” one of the delegates from the Central Alliance points out. “While it is more common for the male to give to give the female his mating mark, female Alphas often give theirs, and the same standards hold. Queen Sophia is bringing her mate into her pack, and not the other way around. And since she has played your little game quite well, according to the rules of our kind, Alex Stone is now the Alpha Consort to the Queen of the South.”
Karina glares at me. “I won’t allow you to—”
“Are you threatening the leader of the South Alliance?” Brian asks coldly. “Because I don’t think you can handle the consequences of that.”
“She cannot—Alpha Stone murdered one of my people!”
“You have no proof of that,” I hiss at her. “The only person you claim is a witness is dead.”
“Hilda called me herself!”
“How do you know she wasn’t lying?” I challenge her. “How do you know she isn’t the one who killed Julia and she was lying to protect herself? How do you even know that Julia is really dead?”
Brian nods. “It is just that one girl’s word that you have, Karina. And even if he did kill her, I don’t see Alex Stone killing somebody for no reason.”
I don’t know what happened to Karina’s people who did witness Julia’s death, but if they haven’t made it all the way here yet, they’re probably dead. I can hope, at least.
“What about your people?” I whisper to Alex.
“Our packs have blended as a result of our mating. She can’t touch them,” Alex replies in a low voice, and I feel a stab of relief.
Karina has run out of reasons to hold us here.
I squeeze Alex’s hand. “If that is all, we will be taking our leave.”
We both know that this is not the right opportunity to go after Karina. Alex gathers my mother in his arms, and we walk away.
Karina doesn’t stop us. She can’t.
The representatives of the South and the North follow us. We walk through the halls of the palace till we reach the entrance. I still don’t fully understand what has happened, but I know that we have to keep moving. We can’t stay here.
Brian suggests the same thing. “Karina isn’t going to forget this slight, Sophia. You and your mate should leave this place. The rest of us will stay here for a few more days to assess the situation.”