Page 22 of Bound By My Alpha Mate

“I’ve already allowed the mother to die. How much worse can your wrath be if I let the same fate befall the child?”

“Muriel, please,” I said, lowering my voice. “It’s not your fault that Sibyelle died. The blood loss would have killed her no matter what you did.”

“I could have prevented it had I agreed to help earlier.”

“Maybe.” I sighed. “But you can help the baby now. Please.”

“My magic can only do so much. It cannot give warmth and nourishment to a premature infant.”

“I’m sure you can do something, anything to help. Lothair isn’t here. My father doesn’t want to have his hands full. And I have no idea how to take care of a baby.”

The unicorn slowly turned her head to me. Heavy bags under her eyes betrayed her exhaustion. “Fine,” she croaked. “I’ll see the child.” It was becoming clear that Muriel was rapidly losing the willpower to resist. That wasn’t necessarily a good thing for us.

I detached her cables from the hook in the stone, leading her once more through the tunnel, following the sound of the infant’s cries. My father was already standing impatiently. “What’s wrong with her?” he demanded.

Muriel dragged her feet toward him as if David’s mere presence drained her life force. She raised her bound hands to gently touch the baby’s cheek, looking down in hardened neutrality, but after leaning her ear to the child’s chest, her expression softened into sympathy. “Her heart is beating too fast. She’s pale, and her limbs are undoubtedly cold and weak. If I had to guess, I’d say she’s suffering from congenital heart failure. It’s a common defect in premature infants,” said Muriel.

“Fix her,” demanded my father.

Muriel glanced at me, reminding me of what she had said just minutes ago. There was only so much she could do. All the same, she loosened the blanket as my father continued to hold the child, then placed a hand on her tiny chest. The unicorn closed her eyes.

Even from where I stood, I could feel the warmth of Muriel’s magic suffusing the infant’s body, attempting to mend the fragility of her little heart.

The chamber fell silent, only for shouting to ring out through the distant tunnels, followed by the harrowing pop of a gunshot.

We all stiffened, staring in the direction of the commotion. A racket of footsteps warned of our forces mobilizing against some unseen enemy. My father shoved the infant into my arms. “Hold her,” he snarled, barely giving me time to get hold of the child before he stormed out of the room.

My heart was pounding almost as fast as the baby’s. It wasn’t my own surprise and excitement I could feel; the adrenaline of my fated mate made my breath quicken and my blood pump hard. Our irresistible magnetism warned me that she was close, and I immediately knew exactly who had barged into the mine that evening.

I started to charge toward the tunnel before realizing I still had Muriel’s cables as well as the infant in my hands. Stupid of me to take the little girl right into danger, especially when there were guns involved. God, what if she got shot? I turned to Muriel, extending the infant to her.

“I cannot take her,” Muriel said, backing away.

“Please.”

“No, Colt. I will not be seen by Lothair clutching his dying infant.”

She had a point, but as chaos unfolded further down the tunnel, I couldn’t rationalize. “Please! That’s my fated mate—your daughter! I have to do something!”

Muriel’s expression immediately lost its softness, rare anger flickering in her eyes. “What are you going to do, betray your father? Are you planning to deliver a shocking display of bravery at the last minute just to woo my daughter, to trick her into thinking you’re worthy of her? I won’t condone you manipulating her, and I won’t be responsible for the life of that child.”

I couldn’t tell if the fury in my heart belonged to Kiara or me. “Fine! You don’t have to be responsible for anything.” With the child in one arm, I threw the cables attached to Muriel’s handcuffs to the ground and headed for the tunnel. I wrapped the blanket tighter around the frail little girl. Clutching her close, I prayed that Muriel’s brief sharing of magic had been enough to mend her heart, at least for now. I prayed that by bringing her with me, I wasn’t escorting her to her death. But I couldn’t just leave the baby by herself, and I couldn’t just stay in another room while my mate stupidly charged into a mine full of wolves and dragons who were hunting her.

Muriel could decide what to do with her newfound freedom. I was going to see Kiara, no matter what.

Chapter 15

Kiara

The reason we hadn’t smelled any wolves or dragons in the rest of Dalesbloom territory was that they were all here at the mine. And we barged in right as they were mobilizing their patrols.

Aislin, Billie, and I tried to use the presence of silver to our advantage, but it only masked our scents for the wolves. Dragons prowled the mountain-cradled pit in their beast forms, but they were creatures of the day; at night, they couldn’t distinguish us well in the dark. All the same, they could smell us, so we tried to stay downwind as we scaled the pit toward the entrance of the mine. I sensed my mother within that cavern. The intense, bodiless sorrow resonated stronger the closer I got, warning me that this was where my fated mate was located, too. We made it as close as a dozen yards from the entrance before a group of wolves and dragons came outside, being instructed by a human to form groups for their patrol. Hiding behind a boulder, we observed as long as we could but knew we were running out of time. At any moment, one of the dragons might detect us, and if we were caught before even making it into the mine, we would stand no chance.

“You don’t have to follow me in,” I told Billie and Aislin. “Maybe it’s best you head back to your Alphas and tell them where my mother is being kept.”

While Billie looked nervous about being so close to the villainous pack she had left behind, Aislin snorted, confidently unbothered. “We’ve already come this far. No point in abandoning you. We got your back, Kiara.”

That was more than I ever expected from them. Or anyone, really. My prolonged stare at Aislin almost softened—I was touched by her and Billie’s support—but I couldn’t afford to get distracted now. “Be careful, then. They won’t kill me right away, but you…”

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