Page 36 of Bound By My Alpha Mate

“I don’t want to hurt her, okay? I’m done trying to please my father. I’ll never stand by his side again. Protecting my fated mate comes before everything else. You know what I’m talking about; you have to understand. Gavin, you found peace when you accepted Billie as your fated mate. Everett must have felt some kind of zest or appreciation for life when he got matched with you, Aislin. The bond changes everything.” I shook my head, worried that I was grasping at straws, but there had to be some way I could get them to relate to me! “When I lost Billie and Catrina, I lost parts of myself. I didn’t know what I was supposed to do, and I had no direction other than what my father told me. None of you wanted to have anything to do with me…and then I found Kiara. Granted, she didn’t want anything to do with me, either, but at least then, I knew what I had to do. She gave me a reason to break away from David. I know I have to prove myself worthy of her. That’s why I’m here. You don’t have to give me that chance. But whether you do or you don’t, it’s not going to change the side I fight for. I fight for Kiara.”

Aislin’s face gradually scrunched up as I spoke. Everett’s brows pulled together as I imagined him internally vacillating between being angry and trying to understand me. I didn’t think I had gotten through to them, but Gavin and Billie had both seemed to soften, so I sought their eyes instead. “Billie…You know I’m not a villain.”

All this time, there had been a wall between my adoptive sister and me. She’d put it up to protect herself, of that I was certain. I’d hurt her, manipulated her just like my father had, but surely she know me well enough to realize I’d never done anything to her out of malice. My entire body sank, imploring her to dismantle that wall.

Billie rubbed her arms indecisively. “It still hurts that you tried to mark me.”

“I know, and I’m sorry. I’ll never be able to take back what I’ve done.”

“Do you really mean it that you want to break away from David?”

I nodded. “Yes, I do. I’m done with him.”

“You promise?”

If only she knew how intensely my heart was pounding in my chest, begging for her to believe me. “Yes, Billie. I promise.”

The old Billie would have looked to her companions for reassurance, but in the time since she’d left Hexen Manor to pursue her own identity, she’d grown into a woman with confidence and certainty. She stepped forward and looked up at me, then wrapped her arms around me in a tight embrace, reminding me of when we were children. The alienation that had been plaguing me felt a little less intense. I hugged her back, relieved to have her forgiveness. “Thank you,” I murmured.

“Don’t thank me yet. We still have to get through David and Lothair,” said Billie. “But we’ll do it together. You and me.”

Just like before, when we were going to run away together.“Yeah. You and me.”

As Billie retreated, I looked at the other three, wondering if they would confront me with their personal qualms as well. But they simply backed away, returning to their spots on the couch in the living room. I hovered nearby, unsure of where I belonged, and ended up sitting on the very edge of the couch, looking across the room to the nearest window. The sun was on its way down through the trees.

“Sebastian will be back tomorrow morning to discuss a plan for raiding the mine in the afternoon,” Everett said, looking up from his phone. “I know it’s short notice, so it’ll just be us five. I’m not going to endanger any more of our packmates.”

“We’ll have more Mythguard operatives to help us, right?” asked Aislin.

“Yes. Even though Sebastian has to answer for the deaths of so many people here, he believes the lethality of Dalesbloom and the Inkscales merits an even greater force than was sent previously. We should be well-equipped to take them on tomorrow.”

Aislin shook her head. “It’s crazy—so many people have died, I feel almost numb to it now.”

“I’ll never feel numb to it,” said Billie.

Aislin sympathetically reached for Billie’s hand.

“Hey, how well do you two remember the interior of the mine? Can you draw us a map or something?” asked Gavin.

“I remember a bit,” said Aislin.

“I can help,” I offered. “I spent a lot of time in there.” They all looked over at me as if they’d forgotten I was in the room.

Everett got up and went to the nearby kitchen to get a pad of paper and a pen from a drawer. He placed them on the coffee table, and I knelt down to do a sketch, recalling the layout from memory. “This is the entrance. You know there’s a large communal space right by it; that’s where everyone was fighting,” I began. “There are a couple of tunnels branching off from there. One of them leads to areas where some of my packmates and the dragons slept. The other tunnel is where I stayed, and further inside is the chamber where my father slept and worked. Last I saw, he had a crate of handguns in there, but at this point, he has probably distributed them all. Past that chamber is the room where the girls and Muriel were kept prisoner. There are exposed silver veins there, so it’s a dangerous part of the mine for wolf shifters.”

“Got it. Does the mine go any deeper?” asked Everett.

“There are a few more tunnels, but they’re undeveloped and not safe to enter. You’re at an even higher risk of silver exposure there.”

“What are dragons susceptible to?” Aislin wanted to know.

I tipped back on my heels and thought. “Balsam resin and gold.”

“Well,” Aislin replied, “I don’t know where we’re gonna get balsam resin, but if anybody has any gold jewelry, you might wanna wear it.”

“Wait. Do you still have any of Muriel’s things?” I asked Gavin.

“Yeah. She had a whole basket of stuff that I didn’t bring to the service. It’s still in my car.”

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