Page 9 of The Alpha's Fated Destiny

I wait for him to leave before looking at Alex. "The other day, someone came here to meet with you. Who was it?"

Alex looks uncomfortable. "I was going to tell you but Elsa advised me against it."

"Tell me what?"

“One of the representatives of the Central Alliance came to meet me two days ago. They suggested that you should request an audience with their leader—that he might have a way to save your mother.”

My heart stutters. “What? Are you sure he said this?”

“Yes. But he wasn’t sure if their leader would help you. He told us we can try.”

“Why would you not tell me this?” I take a step back from him, feeling betrayed.

“Because Elsa believes he won't help you.” Alex grimaces. “She…”

“She told me that my grandfather refused to help my mother. But this is different. We are going straight to the leader of the Central Alliance. He might be more willing to help," I argue.

“There’s no guarantee…”

“None of what we have done has had a guaranteed outcome, Alex!" I burst out, feeling hurt. “The person you should’ve come to was me, not Elsa. All of you have given up on my mother. I haven’t. If you had talked to me—if you had just told me—I would have gone straight to the representatives and gotten more information out of them. How could you do this?”

I see the regret in my mate's eyes. “I wasn’t trying to go behind your back, Sophia. I just…”

“I know I’m not as experienced as you, Alex," I say through gritted teeth. "And maybe I don’t deserve this title that's being forced upon me. But I’m not a child. I don’t need you to make decisions for me. We're partners, or at least that's what I thought. I'm not holding my title against you, and I sure as hell do not expect you to hold my lack of experience against me. You should’ve trusted me and come to me.”

“I just didn’t want you to do anything…”

“Reckless?” I spit out. “That’s what you think of me, don’t you? That I rush into situations without planning them out. Not everybody plans things out with precision, Alex. I survived a long time on my own before you came along. You don’t need to hold my hand and cover my ears when you feel the need to protect me. I don’t need to be sheltered. This is my mother’s life we’re talking about!"

“Sophia…” Alex looks regretful, but when he tries to approach me, I take a few steps away from him.

“Don’t. I can’t even look at you right now. For one fucking minute, can you just get your head out of your ass? You don't always know better. You're not my keeper. You're my mate. I seem to know what that means. Maybe you need to think about what it means to you."

Turning on my heels, I storm off, leaving him behind.

Reckless, my ass!

Chapter 3

Alex

I rub my hand over Sophia’s mark.

It’s throbbing.

She’s upset with me. I wish it was just anger that she felt, but I can sense the hurt that I caused.

I keep thinking that with every milestone we cross in our relationship, things will just get smoother from here. But I can’t seem to stop being making an ass of myself. Compared to me, Sophia seems more emotionally mature when it comes to us. There is a steadiness within her that I can’t seem to grasp.

I survived a long time on my own before you came along.

The moment she uttered those words, an overwhelming fear had risen within me. Because if she were to complete that sentence and tell me that she could survive very well without me, it would have broken my heart. But even in her anger, she held back the cruel words that she had every right to say.

I make my way to Grace's room to check in on her. Elsa is sitting by her bedside.

I’ve not given up on her mother.

Have I?

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