Page 23 of The Alpha's Fated Bond

I let out a shuddering breath. “He said he would stay away from Hilda.”

That takes Patrick by surprise. “He did? Now, I did not expect that.”

“What do you mean?”

“During the argument we had last night,” Patrick explains, “I told Alex that if he wants you to stay with him, he’s going to have to choose between you and Hilda. He kept telling me that he couldn’t choose one or the other because Hilda is like familyto him and you are his mate. You see, he doesn’t look at her that way.”

“But she looks at him that way,” I reply grimly. “And she’s not exactly hiding it.”

Patrick looks away from me for a moment. “She wasn’t always like this.” A soft sadness crosses his face. “She’s younger than us by quite a lot. Alex and I both started looking after her, but she always preferred Alex, so I stepped back. She was a sweet kid in the beginning, but as she grew up, she became more and more possessive where Alex was concerned. Once she reached puberty, and started dating around, Alex never paid any attention to it. Nobody would dare mess with Hilda because of him. But I guess…”

Patrick still has a sad look in his eyes as he falls silent once again. I wait for him to speak, and he does after a minute or two.

“Hilda wasn’t happy with the situation, so she started flirting with me. I didn’t know what her intentions were at the time, but she was quite persuasive. She can be a charming little thing, and it didn’t take her long to have me eating out of her hand. We went out for a few weeks, and then I discovered that she was just using me to make Alex jealous. When that didn’t work, and Alex actually gave us his blessing, she had a tantrum.”

He has an incredulous look on his face. “When I found out what she was trying to do, I was disgusted, and I broke things off. I tried telling Alex, but he never believed me. We had a falling out because I broke it off with her. Hilda claimed that I’d been using her to have a good time when I had actually fallen for her pretty hard.”

There must still be some feelings there, I can tell. But I keep my opinion to myself.

“Alex has a blind spot when it comes to her,” Patrick says quietly. “To be fair, he should’ve warned you about her on our way here. He should have at least mentioned Hilda. But I guess there was so much else going on that he simply forgot. But that is not to say that Alex doesn’t love you, Sophia. In his eyes, she is truly nothing more than a little sister. But yes, he needs to figure it out that you have to come first now. I don’t know what you said to him this morning—”

“We had a fight,” I interrupt, wetting my lips. “If you can call it that.”

“Whatever happened has him devastated,” Patrick replies cautiously. “I don’t have any pity for Alex at the moment, though. He needs to get his priorities in order. What did you say to him?”

I don’t want to get into too many details, but I tell Patrick the gist of the words that were spoken. By the end of it, Alex’s childhood friend looks distressed.

“Of course he won’t toss you aside, Sophia. Not for one minute should you believe he would do that.”

I press the heels of my hands against my eyes and lean back in the chair. “You think I’m overreacting, too? Lily sure does.”

Patrick doesn’t respond immediately. When he does, his words are carefully chosen. “I can understand your feelings. And I’ll be honest with you, not just because you’re Alex’s mate but because you agreed to help save the pups when you really didn’t have to. You’re hurt by Alex’s actions, and I understand that. But he lovesyou. He cares deeply about you. And if you were to ask him to let you leave, he would. He wouldn’t stop you.” Patrick makes a sound of frustration. “He’s being an idiot right now, that’s all. He is not trying to use you, Sophia. And he’s not trying to completely isolate you and corner you.”

The anger and hurt inside me lessen upon hearing this.

“I think the exchange of words you had this morning has given him a wake-up call with regard to many things. Just because my friend can be a fool sometimes doesn’t mean he’s trying to manipulate you. But I guarantee that from now on, he’s going to be much more careful.” His voice is sincere and I look at him. He meets my gaze. “I know you have trust issues, Sophia. So does Alex. Both of you need to look past your problems and your issues and work as a team together. Once you wear his mating mark, you’ll be partners in every sense of the word. You will feel what he’s feeling, and you’ll realize the depth of his love for you.”

I rub my hands over my face before resting my elbows on my thighs.

“Do you understand what I’m saying?”

I nod.

“And about him not letting the pack know who you are: it is a necessity at this point. I guess you two were too worked up to have a proper conversation about it this morning, but Karina still has her people in the village here. One slip of the tongue is all it’s going to take. Once Alex gives you his mating mark, you become leverage for the Queen to use against him. All she has to do is imprison you, and Alex is her puppet. He will lose every ounce of autonomy he has sought to secure. You are Alex’s biggest weakness right now, and he knows it.”

I stare at him. “He’ll never be able to declare me as his mate, then.”

“That’s not true.” Patrick shakes his head. “This is one more reason why you have to grow stronger with your magic. Once the children are freed from the link, there will be a rebellion, Sophia. I don’t think we’ll be able to stay here any longer because I don’t believe Alex has any intention of using you to go after Karina. He knows your aversion to bloodshed and violence, and he’s not going to put you through that.”

My head jerks back at his words.

Alex never told me that. My understanding all this time was that once the children were safe, he fully intended to take Karina down.

“He said that to you?” I ask Patrick, wanting confirmation.

“Like I said,” Patrick shrugs, “he just wants to save our pack and leave this place. I don’t know what his plan is, but it’s no longer to seek revenge.”

There is no accusation in Patrick’s voice, no anger that Alex has changed their plans because of me.

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