Page 103 of The Alpha's Fated Destiny

"Our attacks…" one of the witches closest to Karina speaks up, strain in her voice. "Their brains should be turning to liquid, but nothing is happening!"

I know the jig is up when Karina makes an outraged sound. "She's blocking it! She's doing something! Grab the Silver Wolf! Go after her first!"

The soldiers move at her orders, and that's when I pour the last remaining magic into the orb, creating the portal.

"Come on!" I yell at my companions. "Let's get out of here!"

The others are on their feet, rushing toward me and Karina screams, "Stop her!"

But the witches can't interfere with the portal when I have set up a barrier that doesn't allow any magic to enter. It's a trick I learned from one of the younger witches in Marlene's coven. I didn't know that it would actually come in handy at some point.

The tugging sensation of the portal begins and I warn, "Be prepared to shift and run. Don't stop. We're not going that far!"

True to my word, the portal drops us a short distance from Karina. We can still see the group of witches, but it takes them a few minutes to see us because trees are blocking their line of sight. Using that to our advantage, we shift and begin running. As we do, I use my magic to wipe out our scent. Karina's people will be able to follow us, but not for long if our scents are missing. I make sure to linger at the tail end of the group to wipe out each individual wolf's scent.

I keep looking over my shoulder to make sure they’re not on our trail, my anxiety thrumming through me.

We keep running for a couple of hours before we come to a stop.

I quickly draw up a barrier to hide us from the outside world, before shifting back and letting out a ragged breath. "We're in the clear."

Hands on my knees, I catch my breath, the combination of running in my wolf form and casting such strong magic, taking its toll on me.

Logan approaches me. “What’s wrong?”

Gasping for breath, I gesture at him with one hand to give me a minute.

The others are looking around, worried.

When I finally feel able to speak, the first thing I do is reassure them. “Even if they come by here, they can't see us or hear us. I can maintain this barrier for at least thirty minutes at most, but we don’t need that long.”

“What were you doing back there?” Jared asks curiously. “I felt the pain, but then it was gone.”

“I put up a barrier. There are different sorts of barriers. I put up a really strong one. It prevents any magic from reaching us. It also prevents any from going out. I dropped it immediately when I touched the portal. It was a huge gamble.” I give him a weak smile. “Massive fucking gamble.”

Saul looks at me. “What are we going to do about Alex? Karina said she has him stashed…”

“Don't believe everything Karina says,” I cut him off, tense. “Alex is more resourceful than she thinks. He won't succumb to whatever she is trying to do to him. I know him.”

“Are you saying we shouldn't go look for him?” Nathan curls his upper lip. “Because that's not happening.”

I give him an annoyed look. “Calm down. I didn't say that. We have to look for Alex. But we also have to prevent this war, and to do that, we have to stop the attack on the humans in the next few hours. Help isn't coming. The packs in the South will be too busy defending themselves to come all the way here, and by the time they do manage to arrive, it will be too late. So I have another idea.”

All eyes are on me.

“Patrick, you, Jarad, Saul, and Nathan go look for Alex. Logan and I will head to the human city and warn the government of the impending attack. That way, they will be able to evacuate their people in time.”

When nobody says anything, I feel nervous. “I’m not saying it's the best plan. But it is the only option I see right now. At least this way, they will know that it is only Karina who is trying to attack them and the South Alliance is standing by their side to protect them. It might ensure that the humans don’t see us as the enemy . Karina doesn't speak for the entire shifter community. If we can get the humans to realize this, our common enemy will become Karina.”

“The idea is fine,” Patrick says slowly. “But you are batshit crazy to believe for even a second that I’m going to abandon you to go look for Alex. He will kill me. I'm coming with you.”

Nathan makes a sound of agreement. “We can warn the humans and then go look for Alex. I don’t like the idea of separating. You’ll be too vulnerable.”

Jared and Saul both nod silently.

“If anything happens to you, Alex will not take it well,” Patrick agrees. “We'll go with you to the humans. We'll warn them, and then we'll begin searching for Alex.”

I look around at the faces of the men who have sworn their loyalty to Alex. “He could be suffering right now. Aren't you angry that I am not prioritizing him at this moment?”

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