Page 54 of The Alpha's Fated Bond

I exchange a look with Patrick. “The first step is to kill Karina’s people here, and then we will lead the pack to a safe location. There are a few options we can consider, one of them being to disappear in human cities. Karina’s people will not be able to find us—”

“You want us to hide like cowards?!” Nathan jumps to his feet, outraged. “She killed my parents!”

“Technically, she killed all of our parents,” Patrick says quietly. His eyes linger on mine, but he doesn’t say anything further.

“Even with all the forces that we have, combined,” I begin cautiously, “we are nowhere near the level Karina is at right now. And even if we, by some twist of fate, are able to take down her army, she has covens of witches working for her.”

“And we have the Silver Wolf!” Nathan snarls. “That’s gotta mean something!”

“What if Sophia doesn’t want to fight?” Patrick interjects tersely. “This is not her battle, Nathan. You can’t force someone to fight your battle for you.”

Nathan’s face loses color. “What are you saying?” He looks at me and then back at Patrick. “Are you saying we’re just going to hide? Are you saying we’re not going to get our revenge? She took everything from us! Why doesn’t Sophia want to help us?”

“Sophia hasn’t said that,” I defend my mate. “I haven’t asked her. I don’t want to put her in a position where she has to do more than she already is doing.”

Nathan gives me an astounded look. “More than she already—This is her pack! She should care what happens to—”

“It’s not her pack!” I snap at him. “Not yet. Sophia is already putting in a huge effort to save our pups. You’re asking me to squeeze her till we get everything of use out of her and leave her a dried husk of herself. She is not like us! Why don’t you understand that? This is not her fight. This is our fight.”

“You went looking for the Silver Wolf so that we could face off against Karina!” Nathan raises his voice. “Sophia is the Silver Wolf! You have to force her to do this. Why are you giving her a choice at all?!”

A hush falls over the whole room.

I stare at Nathan, stunned. He has never acted like this.

“Your parents would be ashamed of you,” I murmur after a prolonged silence. “I didn’t expect you to be so selfish as to disregard the life of another just so you can get what you want.”

Nathan’s face turns white as a sheet, and Saul stirs. “Alex…”

I lift my hand to silence Saul. “Your parents were good, honest people, Nathan. They believed in fairness. Yes, you lost them. You suffered. But you lost them more recently than the rest of us lost ours. Your grief is fresh. Which is why I’ll forgive you for your words.”

Anger is bubbling inside me. “You were just a toddler. You don’t remember everything that happened. And you weren’teven here when it did. But we remember. I remember Jared trying to protect his mother as Karina’s men pushed him away and violated her. I remember Patrick fighting them off as his father lay bleeding on the ground, his mother already gone. I remember being forced to look at my parents’ dead bodies when I was helpless, a child. Do not underestimate our thirst for Karina’s blood.”

The silence in the room is heavy as I bring up the memories everyone has tried to bury over the years. That’s really all we can do to move forward, to pull ourselves out of the dark past that sticks to us.

“We want revenge. We want Karina’s head. I want that. But I will not let my mate be destroyed in this quest. I am trying to protect the one good thing I have left in my life. And you seem determined to burn it alive. You went against my wishes and forced Sophia to unlink your sister. I should’ve struck you down then and there. I may be your friend, and I may have looked after you as a child, but you forget that I am still your Alpha, Nathan. And you disobeyed me.”

I take a step forward. “You’re not a child anymore. You grew up at some point. So, understand this: my mate’s life is not something for you to treat carelessly. She is my whole world. It doesn’t matter if she’s the Silver Wolf or if she has no wolf at all. She is precious to me, and I am not going to let you hurt her.”

I glance around the room.

“If you guys still want to go after Karina, we will. But Sophia will not be involved. I will not put her safety at risk.”

Patrick breaks the heavy atmosphere in the room, clearing his throat. “We can decide what to do later. First, we need to dealwith Julia and focus on unlinking the rest of the pups. Once that is done, we can figure out our next step. Whatever you decide, Alex, we’ll stand by you. You’ve sacrificed enough for us. I’m not going to ask more of you.”

Jared lifts his hand in the air, nodding. “Seconded.”

Saul lifts his chin in agreement. “With you till the bitter end. Or sweet end. Wherever we end up.”

Nathan is silent, and I can tell that my words have cut the boy deeply. But since his parents’ deaths, he has become more hard-hearted, with a streak of selfishness and stubbornness that I’ve never witnessed in him before. Some of it stems from grief, some of it from anger at the world. I can understand his desperation to have the blood of his parents’ murderers on his hands.

The others file out of the room, and Nathan doesn’t utter a word as he walks past me, his hands clenched by his sides. Patrick stays behind, shaking his head slowly. He waits for the others to go before finally setting his gaze on me.

“You’re going to tell me I was too harsh?” I ask, raising an eyebrow.

“No,” he says simply. “Nathan deserved to be put in his place. He’s acting out far too much. You never should have brought him into the circle in the first place. I warned you. He’s too young, too hot-headed.”

“He’s also a genius,” I remind my childhood friend.

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