Page 10 of The Alpha's Fated Destiny

I stare at the comatose woman.

But then maybe Sophia is right. Perhaps I have given up on her mother Maybe that’s why accepting Elsa’s words at face value was so easy. But…I should never have confided in Elsa first. I should’ve gone straight to Sophia. After all, it was her mother's life on the line. Who are we to make decisions for her?

“Everything all right?” Elsa looks up at me.

I close the door behind me and lean against it, my hands in my pockets.

“Is it ever? I hurt her. Again. Can't seem to stop sticking my foot in my mouth.”

Elsa studies me. “Sophia?”

"She says I should have gone to her when the representative from the Central Alliance approached me. That I shouldn’t have kept that conversation a secret from her.”

Elsa's expression grows tense. "It was for her own good. There's no point in giving her false hope. They will not help.”

“This isn’t about your bias against them, Elsa," I say abruptly, shutting her up.

Her face turns white.

"I'm not biased…"

“It’s been twenty years since you reached out to them, Elsa," I respond, feeling even more foolish over my decision. “Twenty years is a long time. A lot of things have changed. Sophia is aSilver Wolf who is no longer in touch with her roots. There’s a chance they would have wanted to connect with her. Don’t you think so?”

Elsa opens her mouth and then snaps it shut before looking away. “Do you think they would help Sophia when they abandoned her as an infant? When they cast me out of my own coven when they didn’t even have the right to do so? They will never help her."

Maybe Elsa doesn’t see the hatred within her, but I see it.

My heart sinks.

What have I done?

I let myself be influenced by her and, in the process, made a grave mistake.

Elsa looks disappointed. "I know you don’t believe me, but I have lived in the Central Alliance for most of my life. I was around nineteen when I left that place. You don’t know how they treated the Silver Wolves there. There has always existed one Silver Wolf in each generation. The way they were treated was atrocious. They had no autonomy. Their decisions were made for them. They were like caged birds, fed and cared for, but with no right to make even a single decision for themselves. Their mate, the number of children they were allowed to have, the amount of time they could spend with their mate, it was all decided by their caretaker."

Tension fills me at her words. It doesn't sound like a very comfortable life.

"Even if they agree to help Grace," Elsa saysgrimly, "it would come at a great price. They might even force Sophia to stay with them. They can force the two of you apart as well. You don’t know them like I do. This is not bias, Alex. This is experience.”

Maybe she’s right. Maybe they’re not trustworthy. But the person who should’ve made that choice is my mate. Not me and Elsa.

“Be as that may," I say, heavily. "It should have been her decision. This is her mother’s only chance right now. You cannot expect Sophia not to take it.”

“Of course I don’t expect her not to take it!” Elsa says, angrily. “But the cost is too high. I have to protect her. This is what her mother would have wanted."

I run my fingers through my hair, wishing I knew the right thing to say.

“Either way, she knows now, and she sees it as a betrayal that we kept this from her.”

There’s a stubborn glint in Elsa's eyes. "We were doing this for her. She doesn't know the world the way we do. We need to protect her."

Even though I want to agree with her, Sophia is also right.

"If she wants to talk to the leader of the Central Alliance, then I'll go with her," I decide. "I'll discuss with her what to expect, and we'll handle the situation accordi…"

"You don't understand!" Elsa gets to her feet with a growl. "She should never go there. Why are you deliberately putting her in harm's way? We have to keep her safe!"

"She's not a child anymore, Elsa." I raise my voice, mimicking my mate's words. "We keep treating her as somebody we have to protect when she’s more powerful than both of us. If anything, Sophia needs our support, not our protection.”

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