Page 40 of The Alpha's Fated Bond

“One of the things that Karina has her people do is to make sure to stop any progress in the pack,” Jared says grimly. “When Alex started setting up businesses in the village, they were badly sabotaged to the point that a couple of buildings were burned down. That’s why Alex has started ventures in other territories. While Karina can interfere in isolated pack territories, she isn’t able to do much in cities where the human governments are in charge, even if those cities are part of a pack’s territory.”

Alex did tell me that he has businesses in other parts of the North Alliance, but I never asked him why. I should have.

“Right now, the soldiers have no way of sending a message to Karina about your and Lily’s arrival here. All telecommunications have been jammed by us. They can’t even let her know that Alex is back.” Jared’s expression is grim. “But this won’t last long. Karina is going to get suspicious and may decide to make an appearance to check on things. In the meantime, the soldiers have a simple order from her: if anything is happening that can financially benefit the pack, deal with it. They were most likely planning to either kill you and Lily or threaten you into leaving. The former would be my best bet.”

Jared’s tone is so matter of fact, it’s almost frightening. It’s bad enough that Karina destroyed their pack, which was once one of the strongest in the North. For her to try and stop them from trying to recover and grow is awful.

I simply don’t understand. “Why, though? She is the Queen of the North Alliance! She has what she wants! Why is she still after all of you?”

Why is she trying to make Alex suffer?

Jared lets out a heavy sigh. “She’s paranoid. When somebody seizes power that is not rightfully theirs, they’re always going to be paranoid. Alex is growing stronger than she ever anticipated. She can’t kill him without causing riots throughout her territory. As we speak, every pack within the Alliance that has been suppressed by Karina is watching Alex.”

Agitated now, Jared gets to his feet. “A rebellion is on the verge of happening. Everyone knows it. Karina crossed a line for each pack when she dragged their children into it. If Alex takes a stand against her, the others will as well, and Karina knows it. She is trying to find a way to remove Alex from the picture completely. That’s why she has been forcing Julia into Alex’s life: so that once Julia is the Alpha Female, she will be the one in power. Karina wants to make Alex a figurehead, putting all decision-making in Julia’s hands.”

I remember Julia.

My relationship with Alex has been far from smooth sailing. Littered with misunderstandings and miscommunications, and Alex’s desire to save the children of his pack, we’ve had a rocky start, to say the least. But one of the biggest hurdles while we were still in Oakrest was the arrival of Julia, his fiancée.

That is how she introduced herself, anyway. At the time, I didn’t realize how psychotic Julia actually was. She seemed like such a beautiful, sophisticated woman. Everything I was not. Alex later informed me about the true nature of their relationship. He toldme about the abuse he’d suffered at her hands after becoming the Alpha at the age of ten. Although he has tried to keep the majority of his experiences with her to himself, I’ve been able to piece together enough to know that she is the one person he hates desperately.

“You said that all telecommunications are jammed. What does that mean?”

Jared grins. “Nathan and Hilda, for all her faults, are both IT experts. Alex invested a lot of money in getting them educated. They have online university degrees and several certifications. Together, they’ve been able to create jammers around the village that prevent any sort of signals from coming through or going out. No telephone calls, no internet.”

“But isn’t that inconvenient for the rest of the pack?”

He chuckles. “It sounds like it would be, doesn’t it? But those who need or want phone or internet access have special devices they can use. Karina’s soldiers are not even aware that this blockage was created by us. They think the service is so bad because we’re located in such an isolated setting.”

I’m impressed. “Devious.”

“And now that Alex is back, the soldiers will not leave the nannies’ sides to try to send Karina a message.”

“So, how do they communicate with her?”

“She sends scouts. And we don’t keep the telecommunications systems down all the time. It’s usually just when there’s something we don’t want leaked immediately.”

I’m surprised Hilda is in charge of something so important, but I suppose I have a personal bias against her. She has been with this pack her whole life; obviously, they trust her.

I glance toward the door. “What do you think Alex is doing to those two soldiers? He can’t kill them because their lives are tied to the children’s, right?”

“Correct,” Jared replies, grimacing. “He can beat them up, though. I’m sure that’s what he’s doing. As long as they’re alive, the children are fine. I mean, Karina will not be happy, but there’s no way Alex is going to overlook the actions of those soldiers. Even if he has to suffer some form of retaliation.”

I remember hearing about one of those instances. Alex was whipped in public.

My resolve hardens.

No matter what, I want—no, I need to break the link between the children and Karina’s nannies and soldiers as soon as possible. I know Patrick told me that Alex has no intention of fighting Karina anymore, but I’m not going to let that woman live. She doesn’t deserve to live. She doesn’t deserve to be the leader of the North Alliance. That is Alex’s rightful place.

Once I find my mother, dealing with Karina is going to be next on the agenda. I have a feeling she’s never going to let Alex be until he’s dead and buried.

And I’m not going to stand by and let that happen.

***

Nathan shows up an hour later with some food. He relieves Jared, who is sent off somewhere else.

However, Alex does not return till late in the afternoon. And when he does, he looks exhausted and furious. The first thing he does is check on me.

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