Page 68 of The Alpha's Fated Bond

The man doesn’t go, but somebody else does. After a couple of minutes, I hear the sound of the chains clinking as they are dragged across the ground.

I secure the prisoners tightly before handing them over to Patrick and Jared. “Put them in the storehouse. Guard them.”

Turning my attention to the people crowding the nursery, I make sure most of the pack is here before I say, “I know you have questions.”

“She has silver fur!”

“What are you going to do about our children, Alex?”

“Is Sophia really the Silver Wolf?”

“How are we going to escape Karina?”

“Is that woman your fated mate?”

I lift my hand, putting a halt to all the shouting. “Yes, Sophia is the Silver Wolf, and yes, she is my fated mate. There isn’t going to be a special clothing store in this village; that was a story I made up to conceal Sophia’s true identity, to protect her. With respect to the pups, these past few days, Sophia has beenworking on breaking the links between some of your children and Karina’s people.”

Shocked gasps.

A young female pushes past the gathered pack. I recognize her as Denise. She’s a young mother; her child is barely two months old. The anguish in her eyes is raw.

“My Beatrice. Is my baby…?”

I look at Sophia, a question in my eyes, but she shakes her head. “I’ll need to see the child to confirm whether the link has been broken for her.”

The words are barely out of her mouth when Denise rushes past her toward one of the cribs in the corner. She lifts out a fussy infant and carries her back to Sophia. Tears in her eyes, her voice thick, she repeats, “My Beatrice?”

Sophia looks down at the baby girl and touches her stomach. After a moment, she removes her hand and looks at Denise with a smile. “She’s all yours.”

“Oh!” Denise slumps to the ground, a broken sob leaving her lips as she clutches her daughter to her. “Thank you! Thank you so much!”

Once the pack understands that Sophia has successfully unlinked this child, they begin crowding us.

“What about my son?”

“My Susan!”

“The twins!”

“Enough!” I roar, silencing the room. “Sophia is working as hard and as fast as she can. We’ll have a list of names of the children who have been unlinked out by morning. In the meantime, tonight, the nursery will be guarded.”

I know my packmates have more questions, but we don’t have time right now. Not only did we kill Julia, but Karina’s people have also been taken captive. We need to move fast. I cannot risk the Queen hearing about any of this.

We’re about to leave when Marjorie steps out of the crowd. Her eyes are glittering with unshed tears. “I don’t know what we did, but it must have been a good deed for the Goddess to have sent you to us. We needed an Alpha Female like you to help us out of these dark times.” She takes Sophia’s hands and kisses them. “I hope you and Alex, together, lead this pack into glorious days once again.”

The rest of the pack echoes Marjorie’s sentiments. I can tell that Sophia is overwhelmed, but she doesn’t push them away or tell me she wants to go. She listens to what each and every person has to say. I notice that she doesn’t make any promises; all she does say is that she will do her best.

By the time the nursery clears out, more than two hours have passed. My mate leans against me, clearly exhausted.

“What now?” she asks, looking up at me.

I choose my words carefully. “We might have a couple of weeks. I’ll contact the rest of the packs and see if they’re willing to help. In the meantime, once all the children are unlinked, I think it would be best if we evacuate them to secure locations. I have bought apartments in the cities under false names; they will besafe there. And I still need to recall my units. We’ll have to go against Karina in one fell swoop.”

“Don’t you worry she’ll learn that Julia is dead?” Sophia sounds uncertain.

“She may, but not yet. As long as her people are in our custody here, she’s not going to find anything out—unless she decides to drop in for a visit. Let’s hope she doesn’t do that.” I wrap my arm around Sophia’s shoulder. “Let’s go home. We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow.”

But if I thought I would get any sleep tonight, I’m proven wrong when the alarm sounds in the middle of the night and a frantic Patrick shows up on my doorstep.

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