Page 42 of The Alpha's Fated Destiny

"He didn't." Alex picks up the fake map. "But it should be indicated somewhere on the back."

Sure enough. The date is printed in fine print at the bottom.

"That's the year I was born," I say, uncertainly. "The same…"

"The same year your parents came to the South Alliance," Alex breathes. "This can't be a coincidence."

"What's this?" I point at something on Robert's map. It's also marked with a cross.

"I don't know. But if we follow this map, we'll have to walk through this area." Alex sets both maps side by side and then frowns after a couple of minutes. "I don't want to call it a fake map, because this also leads to the Central Alliance, but the path is different. It's not moving through the free zone. It's almost as if Robert was trying to hide something and changed the maps."

I wet my lips. "The one he had shows a quicker route. Or am I wrong?"

My mate glances at me before focusing on the maps once again. "You're right. If we had followed the updated map," his head lifts up and he looks down the way we came, "we would have gone deeper into the forest. It would have increased our journey by at least a week, and we would have missed this area."

He points at another area on Robert's map that has a cross marked on it.

I sigh. "This is just worrisome. What was Robert trying to hide? Maybe we can come back someday and explore this area. But for now…"

My mate pats my hands. "Don't worry. I'm not focused on digging up Robert's secrets. We have more important things to deal with. For now, we'll follow his map, though. We can't afford to waste any more days."

I give him a grateful look and then lean up to kiss him on the mouth.

His hands immediately discard the map and come to wrap around my shoulders. Despite my exhaustion, I laugh, batting the roaming hands off me when they grope my ass. "Don't even think about it!"

"I'm always thinking about it." He bites my earlobe. "If I could, I would keep you naked all the time."

He has me under him now, wickedness dancing in his eyes, the matter of the maps all but forgotten.

I push him off me, but not before he steals a couple of very heated kisses from me that have my blood humming in anticipation and need. "Behave yourself."

Alex snatches the maps from the forest floor, folding them. "Nah, not interested."

I know he's trying to distract me and it's kind of working.

The sun is setting when he removes the cooked meat from the fire, and we dig in. I'm too tired to continue, so I curl up in his arms.

Sleepy, I ask, "What were Brian and you talking about before we left?"

"When?" Alex puts his arm under my head to cushion my head.

"When I was saying goodbye to Elsa. You said something about murders and witches."

Alex is quiet and when he doesn't speak for a long time, I wonder if he's fallen asleep. But then he says, "Karina has been killing humans and seizing their territories in the North. She's also robbing them blind and emptying their bank accounts. The witch covens in the North are also vanishing or swearing their allegiance to her. I told Brian this. Patrick and the others brought over the evidence we've been collecting. If we allow Karina to continue down this path, it will lead to a war between the humans and the shifters, and the humans have more dangerous weapons."

My blood runs cold. "Why would she do that? Doesn't she know the consequences?"

"I guess she doesn't care," my mate murmurs. “I can’t really tell what is going on in Karina’s mind. But she has always been greedy and desperate for power. Whatever her reasoning is, it’s going to cause the destruction of all of us. I don’t know if the Central Alliance knows about this, but they can no longer hold a neutral stance when it comes to the actions of the North. They will have to step in, as will you.”

I'm silent, absorbing this new information.

Finally, I say, “I always got a crazy vibe from her.”

Alex chuckles. “That’s one way to put it.”

I pat his hand, which is around my waist. "We'll deal with her. Let’s just save my mother first. Then we’ll go kick Karina’s ass.”

He kisses my cheek. “Sounds like a date.”

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