Page 71 of The Alpha's Fated Destiny

“Try it,” Alex snarls. “We’ll see what happens. The only way you are separating my mate and I will be over my dead body.”

Cyrus narrows his eyes. “Don’t think that cannot be arranged.”

I step in front of Alex, my blood boiling now. “How dare you threaten my mate? My bond with Alex is not under discussion.”

My grandfather gives me a haughty look. “It is only the Central Alliance who can train the Silver Wolf to reach her full potential. If you stay here, you will become strong—stronger than you can even imagine. I will train you myself. However, in exchange, you will have to give up every relationship outside of the Central Alliance.”

“Let me make this clear, Alpha Cyrus,” I take a step toward this man, who disgusts me to the very core. “I am not here to continue the line of the Silver Wolf. If you had cared so much about continuing that bloodline, that ‘special breed’ as you put it, you would have come for me the minute I was born.”

I see the anger in his eyes, but I’m not done.

“It’s evident to me that you have no intention of giving me the cure. I was warned that this would happen. Of course, had I known that the man who had turned his back on my mother when she had been tortured for three decades, was the leader of the Central Alliance, I would never have made the effort to travel here.”

“Grace chose…”

“My mother did not choose to be tortured!” I spit out. “She did not choose to be shackled to a wall like an animal. She did not choose to be starved and beaten for decades. She did not choose to have her mate killed and her child stolen from her. She would’ve stayed within the safety of your pack had you allowed her to love the man she wanted. She’s not at death’s door because of her choices. If she’s there, it’s because of you. Because you wanted to control her every action. Because you wanted to break her till she opened her legs for the man you chose, till she drew the exact number of breaths you wanted her to breathe.”

Alpha Cyrus’ face contorts in anger, but I refuse to back down. “Your only daughter is dying. Do you want to know the state she was in when I found her? Her bones were poking out of her flesh. When I managed to shift her back after sharing my life force with her, she was a shell of herself. She had retreated to somewhere deep inside her mind to protect herself. I don’t know what kind of person my mother was. I never met her. But those who knew her told me she used to laugh, that she was filled with life and joy. That she was precious. And I know she didn’t deserve the treatment she received. She didn’t deserve to be discarded by the Central Alliance simply because she refused to live in the cage they had built for her.”

My grandfather opens his mouth in fury, and I hold up my hand. “Don’t bother explaining why you think she deserves all this suffering. All I know is that I am grateful to her for not giving birth to me in this place.”

I give the man before me a cold look. “And don’t worry, I won’t ask you for help. I am the Silver Wolf, after all. I will find another way to save my mother, even if it means sharing half my life force with her. You see.”

I’m standing inches from him now, my eyes flashing with hatred. “Even if she dies. Even if I fail, and she dies, she’ll do so knowing that her daughter did her very best to save her. But she’ll also die, knowing that her father, the one who held her in his hands as a child, turned his back on her because of his ego. I wonder, grandfather, how many times my mother hoped you would come for her? I wonder how many times she cried herself to sleep waiting for you, thinking that you would save her simply because she was your daughter and not the Silver Wolf. She’ll die knowing you never came, that you never looked at her and saw your child. You only saw the Silver Wolf.”

Kian steps forward, his voice hard. “You’re crossing a line here, Queen, Sophia…”

“I don’t believe I was talking to you,” I retort. “I was talking to my mother’s father. I was reminding my grandfather that he doesn’t deserve the title of either father or grandfather. My only intention in coming here was so that I could get the cure, and perhaps give my mother a better life than the one she’s lived so far. But I will not beg. He doesn’t deserve it. I will keep looking for ways to save her. You can keep your worthless pride and shove it up your ass, Alpha Cyrus.”

Furious at my insult, Kian rushes toward me. However, before either Alex and I can react, Logan stops his attack with one hand. He flips the man’s wrist and tosses him on the ground before stepping on his throat. “Don’t attack her. I don’t like it.”

He begins to press down on his throat, and no matter how hard Kian tries, he can’t escape his hold.

“Logan, stop!” I order. But the mercenary doesn’t seem to have any intention of listening to me.

“He was going to hurt you.” His voice is hard. “He cannot be allowed to live.”

Alex grabs him by the back of his shirt and pulls him off Kian. My mate then proceeds to look down at the man on the ground. “You’re lucky all he did was throw you to the ground. I would have ripped your head off. Attack my mate again and you will be nothing but a corpse.”

He crouches down and grabbing a fistful of Kian’s hair, he slams his head back into the marble two times, causing the marble to crack.

“Enough!” Cyrus raises his voice and soldiers come pouring in from every direction. Alex releases Kian, scoffing. “Didn’t even put a fight. This is the man you want to replace me with? Sophia will eat him alive.”

Despite the situation, my lips twitch in amusement at my mate’s scathing reply.

“How dare you come in here and harm my people!” Cyrus explodes.

“Let’s get one thing straight.” I point toward Kian, who is being held up by two of the soldiers. “Your man tried to attack me. Did you expect my mate not to defend me?”

“You were insulting me,” Cyrus says, furiously. “Nobody has ever talked to me in that manner.”

“Get used to it then,” I shoot back, rudely. “You don’t deserve my respect. You are a terrible father. My mother will die knowing that. She will die, knowing that she had no value in her father’s eyes as his child. I think you can bear to hear a few insults. We are done here.”

Turning around, I begin to walk out the same way we came in and I hear my grandfather declare, “You have revealed your identity to the alliances. They will stop at nothing to get their hands on you. You are not making the right choice. There’s still time to change…”

I whirl around to glare at him. “You’re right. There are going to be many people gunning for me. But unlike you lot, I’m not a coward. I have responsibilities toward my mother and toward the South Alliance. And don’t pretend to worry about me. My mother was tortured for years and you never lifted a finger to help her. You don’t have to be concerned that I will be waiting for your handouts, either.”

However, my grandfather doesn’t have any plans of letting me go.

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