Page 67 of The Alpha's Fated Bond

I’m catching up to Julia. I’m inches away from her.

She reaches the teens first, though, but as she goes to attack them, her body is thrown backward, as if an invisible wall is standing between her and the kids. Taking advantage, I jump on her, tearing out her throat. Her screams are terrifying, and her body jerks as she tries to fight me off and fails. I sink my teeth even deeper, and she finally goes still.

When I look up, I see Sophia standing in the same place where I left her, watching me.

It’s over.

It’s finally over.

Julia is dead.

The relief that fills me is practically euphoric. Years of being harassed by this woman, years of being controlled by her, and now she’s gone. I feel like I can breathe again, as if my soul has finally been freed.

My eyes focus on my mate. She is the most beautiful woman in the world to me, but in her wolf form, she’s absolutely stunning. Her fur shimmers under the moonlight; she looks like an ethereal being.

I make my way over to her and rub against her affectionately. Her wolf rumbles in approval, and I lick her ear and then the corner of her mouth. She huffs happily before shifting into human form. I follow suit.

I can feel the eyes all around me. Pack members who were not here before have now arrived, and they are watching the scene playing out before them in awe. Julia is lying dead in the middle of the street, while I stand next to Sophia.

Nobody utters a word, and the silence is heavy. Julia’s death is going to have consequences, and everybody here is aware of that.

Nathan hobbles over, and I realize that the arm he had seemingly lost is now attached to his body.

“You did that?” I look at Sophia in amazement.

She nods. “I had a little help from your healer. Don’t ask me how I did it, though. I was just desperate to get his arm back.”

“I can’t believe it grew back.” Nathan flexes his arm, testing it out. “It still hurts, but I’ve got my arm back.”

Sophia suddenly nudges me. “Alex…”

I look down at her before following her gaze. The soldiers and the nannies have disappeared.

Alarm fills me.

“The children!” I roar. “Get to the nursery!”

The rest of the pack is behind me, Sophia by my side, as I race toward the heart of the village.

The door to the nursery is wide open, and I smell blood. Fearing the worst, I barge in, only to see Jared, Patrick, and Saul struggling with three soldiers and two nannies. It looks like they are fighting, but in actuality, my men are holding Karina’s people down. It is one of the nannies who is bleeding, her claws out; the other one is stained with what seems to be her own blood.

“They’re trying to kill themselves!” Saul grunts, pinning down one of the soldiers. Jared and Patrick are holding down the other two, having released the nannies when we entered. Nathan seizes the one with the blood on her neck and claw. The other nanny is backing away, her eyes darting around desperately.

These must have been their instructions from Karina: to commit suicide if they spotted even a hint of a rebellion. And eliminating Julia was definitely an act of rebellion. Too many of our pups are still linked to these people for us to let them succeed.

I begin walking toward the unrestrained nanny, who cries out, “Don’t come any closer! I’ll slit my throat!”

“No, you won’t,” I scoff. “You had the opportunity to do so and didn’t. You don’t really want to die. If you did, you would have completed the job the first time around.”

The woman is sweating profusely, desperation etched in every line on her face. Her body is trembling as her back presses against the wall.

“S-stay away from me.”

“Sorry,” I say simply. In an instant, I have her in my grasp. Shoving her down to the floor, I pull her hands behind her backand look at the pack members gathered around us. “Get the iron chains!” When none of them move, I growl, “Now!”

One of the men hesitates. “Alex, what are you doing? If anything happens to them, our pups will die! Don’t do this!”

“If I don’t do this, they’re going to kill our children,” I snarl. “Julia is dead. Do you think Karina is going to let any of us live? Now get the chains before we really do lose our pups!”

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