Chapter 1

Alex

Blood splatters across my face as I attack the wolf that is aiming for the ashen-haired woman standing just a few feet from me. Her piercing gray eyes hold shock as she watches the battle going on around us. Her own hands are stained with blood.

In the blink of an eye, I rip off the head of the soldier from the Red Rock Wolf Pack. Are these men fools? They're trying to attack Sophia Hope, the sacred Silver Wolf. Shouldn't they have received orders to bring her back alive and unharmed?

I look around and see my men clashing with the soldiers, grim-eyed and relentless. We are fighting to survive. We cannot let the enemy live. And we cannot let them kill us. As it is, we are already severely outnumbered: five against twenty. These are not the best odds.

I stand in front of my mate, snarling at the approaching enemy.

Two large wolves jump at me, their brown fur already streaked with blood. Behind them, I glimpse Patrick struggling to stand, and a wave of rage washes over me as I realize that they've hurt my right-hand man and childhood friend. I leap forward, crushing one wolf's leg in my powerful jaw and tossing him aside. Being an Alpha, my strength and speed are greater than those of my pack. If I weren't so desperate to keep Sophia safe, the enemy wouldn't be a problem right now.

As the wolf I just attacked howls in pain, I feign to the right to make it seem like I'm aiming for his companion's throat. As soon as he tries to dive out of the way, I slash his vulnerable stomach, disemboweling him on the spot. The quiet gasp I hear from the woman behind me has me stiffening. But I have to do what I have to do.

Sophia isn't used to bloodshed. She doesn't like it. It is strange, considering that she is a wolf shifter like the rest of us. Plus, she has taken part in cage fighting for many years. Yet she always balks at the idea of killing someone. It's not as if she has been idle through this fight, though; she took on two wolves earlier and managed to kill one before I dealt with the other. However, she was unable to hold her wolf form for long. Not surprising considering she only managed to shift for the first time about a week ago.

My mate is brave, and I love her for it. Even now, she's trying to hide her aversion from the violence taking place in front of her. I dispatch the wolf whose leg I crushed before I face the remaining enemy. Patrick is back on his feet now, and he and Nathan are going after two of the brown wolves. I take a step forward to help them, but then I stop. I cannot leave Sophia by herself.

Jared, my other lieutenant, glances at me and huffs.

I get the message.

They've got a handle on the situation. I've killed most of the enemy soldiers, and they can take care of the rest.

I turn around and sniff at Sophia to make sure she is unharmed. She closes her eyes in response, and for a moment, she sways before steadying herself. Her smile is a flicker of movement, but that strained expression is back on her face almost instantly.

This isn't the first ambush we've experienced since we began the journey from the South Alliance to the border of the North Alliance. In these past couple of days, we've constantly had soldiers from Sophia's pack following us and attacking us. They're all desperate to get their hands on my mate and bring her back to their new Alpha.

Noah Black.

He and his father, Robert, tormented Sophia during her childhood. And now that Robert is dead, it only makes sense that his son would become Alpha.

We've learned that Robert Black was not the only person who had his eyes set on Sophia. His son, Noah, also knows about Sophia's true identity as the mystical Silver Wolf.

I had never heard about the existence of the Silver Wolf till the Queen of the North Alliance sent me on a mission to retrieve the female from the South Alliance. The prophecy that surrounds the Silver Wolf speaks of great power being granted to anybody who controls the wolf. All I have been able to determine so far is that the Silver Wolf is able to use magic, like witches. The prophecy that Queen Karina discovered claimed that the Silver Wolf would be the one to unite all three Alliances on this continent under one rule, and that would include the ever elusive Central Alliance.

It makes sense that people would be after Sophia, especially now that her identity has been revealed. I can only hope that Noah Black isn't so foolish as to let everyone know she is the Silver Wolf.

Just thinking about the man makes my blood boil. Up until a week ago, he was having Sophia drugged to make her amenable to his courting advances. That explains why Sophia was so easy to convince, especially since Noah was her childhood bully. I do wonder, if Sophia and I had not discovered our fated mate bond, whether he would have been successful in winning her over.

From the corner of my eye, I see a brown wolf sneaking toward Sophia. I move swiftly, attacking his face. Disorientated, he stumbles back; I slash his throat, making him slump to the ground, already dead.

"That's the last of them," comes a shout from the other end of the clearing.

I look over to see Jared walking in my direction, already having shifted back to his human form. His clothing is clean, a benefit of wearing the enchanted clothes that only wolf shifters are privy to. They disappear into our skin when we shift into our wolf form, and when we return to human form, they are back in their original state, no matter how roughly we have tussled with each other as wolves.

When Sophia first shifted six days ago, she wasn't wearing this special clothing. She never needed it before, having believed for her entire life that she had a latent wolf. I had to give her my shirt and pants, which are way too big on her. But somehow, she's making it work.

Looking at her now, I notice the way her jaw is tightly clenched as she takes in all the dead wolves.

It hits me that she may know some of them. After all, she has been banished to Oakrest Town since she was sixteen years old, and most of the men who have come after us are probably from the town's pack security team.

"Sophia?" I've also shifted back into my human form, and I approach her slowly. "Are you alright?"

Her lips are pressed together in a thin line, and she nods, a harsh, jerky movement. I wish she would tell me what she's thinking. She's become so quiet ever since we fled Oakrest Town.

"We have to keep going." I give her one last look before turning my attention toward my men. "We don't have time to hang around."

"We haven't rested since we set out," Patrick groans, sitting on a log and rubbing his left leg. "We need a break, Alex."

Saul nods. "I have to get some shuteye, boss. Or I might just roll over while we're running and start snoring. Have fun dragging me along with you."

Nathan, the youngest of the group, doesn't say anything, but he slumps against one of the trees, pulling one leg to his chest, and resting his arm on it. His eyes flutter shut.

They're right. They need to rest.

One look at Sophia confirms that she desperately needs to shower, too. Unlike us, she's been in her human form most of the time and going six days without a shower with all sorts of dirt covering her. She's been sniffing herself doubtfully lately.

I can hear the bubbling of a spring nearby. It's not so far that we will be out of reach of the others in case of an emergency, but it will give us some privacy.

"Okay. Let's head a bit more downwind, and then we'll take a couple of hours to rest."

We move away from the bodies of the dead wolves till we find an empty clearing. "You guys stay here."

I put my hands on Sophia's shoulders from behind. "Let's go."

"Where?"

I nudge her to begin walking in the direction of the spring. "You probably want to get cleaned up. I know your obsession with being clean."

Her cheeks turn red, but she doesn't deny it. I expected her to give me a snarky response, so her silence troubles me.

As we walk together, I can feel the awkwardness between us. I haven't had a chance to talk to her since she killed Robert and I took her away with me. Our relationship isn't the strongest; she's willing to give me a chance, though, and that's all I can expect at this point. I have never courted her properly. Instead, from the moment we met, I kept letting her down, desperate to get rid of this bond between us so I could focus on the needs of my people, who are suffering.

I told her how I truly feel, but words aren't enough for a wounded heart. I glance at the hair on her head and wonder if she thinks I only want to be with her because of her status as a silver wolf. She hasn't said that, but my own thoughts are all tangled up. I don't want to make the situation worse by opening my mouth.

"I've never been this far away from town," Sophia says quietly.

"You want to leave Oakrest, didn't you?" I ask her, grateful to have something to talk about. "You wanted to leave the South Alliance. That's why you were taking part in those illegal cage fights: to save up enough money."

"Yeah," she admits, but her voice sounds uncertain. "I just thought I would be happy when I left."

She trails off, and my heart sinks. Is she unhappy? Is she second-guessing her decision to be with me?

It's almost as if she can read my thoughts because she looks up at me, her eyes weary. "So many people betrayed me. Rita, Drew, Noah, even Eve to an extent, and then my own Alpha. Maybe I should have expected it from Noah and Robert. And I didn't really know Eve that well, either. But Rita and Drew…They were people I cared about deeply. You said everything in Oakrest was a setup, right?"

That's not exactly what I said, but she's close enough.

"I don't think Drew betrayed you," I say, wrapping my finger around one of the loose strands escaping from her braid. Drew was Sophia's next-door neighbor in the apartment complex she lived in. She used to look after his son.

"All these years, he had me believing it was someone else who was responsible for his mate's murder." I don't think Sophia is speaking to me. It seems more like she's talking to herself. "It was him all along. He killed half his family just because the Alpha ordered it. I still can't reconcile with that truth. I want to wake up one day and realize it was all just a dream."

"Even me?" I ask, unprompted.

Her eyes move toward me, and her smile is small but genuine. "No, not you. I'm glad I met you."

Does she really feel that way, or am I simply her sole means out of that place? Am I the only person left in her life that she can trust to some extent?

While the bond between us does exist, it's not as strong as it should be. Our beasts are not in harmony. My wolf has not succeeded in gaining her animal's trust and affection, as is typically done during courting. It's my own fault and something I'll have to fix myself over time. I can also understand the kind of grief she is going through, the dilemma she is facing. I wish I could control these depressing thoughts. But for now, I'm just grateful she chose to come with me.

"Drew didn't betray you, Sophia," I tell her again. When she gives me a disbelieving look, I finally explain what really happened that day. "When I went into the woods, I heard him trying to lead Alpha Black away from you." Sophia's expression twists at the mention of her Alpha. She doesn't look very convinced, however, so I add, "He was trying to guide Robert in the wrong direction. Drew saw me there, Sophia. We made eye contact, and he kept trying to convince Robert to wait till nightfall to go after you. He told him that he had been misinformed by his spy."

"But you told me—" She struggles to speak, as if trying to pick the right words. "You said I'd been set up. Something like that, at least. What did you mean?"

I recall the unsettling conversation I overheard between Alpha Black and Drew, the man Sophia had considered her friend all these years. I couldn't figure out what they were saying at first. None of it made sense. Until it did. And disgust and horror filled me.

"I don't know how to tell you without upsetting you," I begin cautiously.

Sophia balls her fists by her side. "I think the time to protect my feelings is long gone. I need to know the truth, Alex. I've had enough of lies."

She's right. I don't want to be another person in her life who keeps lying to her.

"I think you know part of it." I tuck my hands in my pockets, watching her expression. "Robert Black sent you to Oakrest to isolate you. Shifters don't take well to isolation."

"I know that already," Sophia cuts me off, blinking rapidly. "Noah told me a while back. The whole purpose was to punish me through isolation. It would have worked, too, if Elsa, Rita, and Drew hadn't been there for me. Drew let me maintain some physical contact to prevent my wolf from going mad. Of course, he probably didn't know that my wolf wasn't latent at that point. Or maybe even that much was under Alpha Black's instructions."

There is a heaviness in her voice, a thrumming listlessness, and I know where it's coming from. She's going to be analyzing every relationship she's had with anyone over the past nine years. She will pick them apart and try to see which interactions were real and which were fake.

"Don't." I wrap my hand around her wrist. "Don't drive yourself insane thinking about what happened and who did what to you. It's all in the past now. You need to move forward and leave the past behind—"

She yanks her hand away from me, her eyes sparking with anger. "The past? It must be so easy for you to say that. It's not in the past for me, Alex. My whole identity has been taken from me. I grew up around these people. I became who I am because of these people. And now I have to ask myself who really cared for me and who just used me for their own purposes. I have to reconsider every single person in my life. You have no idea what it feels like." Under the rage that I can see, there is pain. My heart aches as her voice cracks. "Don't you get it? I've never actually had anyone in my life. Everything has been a lie. It is messing with my head. Even if I want to, I can't stop thinking about it."

I realize I made a mistake. I can't force her to stop reliving what she has been through. The truth has just come out for her. Sure, it would be convenient for me if she could forget it all, but that's not possible. And I shouldn't expect it to be.

"I'm sorry. You're right. This isn't going to be easy for you. But I don't think that nobody cared for you, Sophia. Rita may have gone to Oakrest to spy on you, but you won her heart. You changed her mind. She died protecting you and your secret. Drew chose you over his safety and his Alpha. He put his life and his child at risk to keep you safe. I know you can't see all this right now, but it's true. Over time, you'll probably understand."

Her expression falls. "I didn't mean to snap at you…"

Her voice is small now, and I take her hands in mine. "You can snap at me as much as you want. Your whole world fell apart, Sophia, and that's a lot for you to deal with. But I will help you through it. I promise you that."

Her eyes fill up, and she looks away, not wanting me to see her cry. Her voice is rough as she whispers, "It'll take time, but I'll be fine."

"Are you just saying that for the sake of saying it?" I tilt her chin back toward my face with my finger. Her lashes are glistening with tears, and she gives me a weak smile.

"I don't have much of a choice, do I?"

"You do have a choice, Sophia. And you are not alone anymore. You have me by your side. If you're not happy in my pack, I'll take you somewhere far away. I will travel the world with you if you want me to. If it makes you happy."

"You make big promises, Alex." Her smile wobbles.

"I will keep every promise I ever make to you." I tuck the loose strands of her hair behind her ear, my eyes meeting hers. I can read the lack of faith in them.

"It's been six days. Six days is nothing in the grand scheme of things. You have to give yourself time and space to heal. Yes, I would like you to leave the past behind, and yes, I know it's not easy. So, you take your time. But Sophia, you should also look forward to what the future holds. Your mother is alive. You have me by your side. I'm sure life isn't as bad as it seems right now."

The corner of her lips curls up, and I glimpse the tiny spark of hope in those gray eyes. She doesn't say anything, though.

"Come on." I wrap my hand around hers as we resume walking again. "The stream is up ahead."

Sophia says, "You didn't finish telling me what I asked about."

She's referring to our conversation from a few minutes ago.

"He wanted to isolate you, Sophia, and he also wanted to wake up your wolf. For whatever reason, your beast was sealed away. Robert must've known it was not latent. And when you joined the boxing gym, it wasn't a coincidence. Robert wanted to make sure that all your escape routes were cut off. If you'd been implicated in the cage fighting ring, he would have had reason to lock you up. He fully intended to take you as his mate under pressure. If he had offered to save you in exchange for you being with him, you might not have had a choice. I have a feeling that Noah was planning the same sort of thing. That's why he had men watching your place all the time. He was waiting for one slip up so he could use your mistake against you."

Sophia's hand tightens around mine.

"Are you saying that Mathew was working with Robert?" Her question is simple, but her voice is quiet, and I cast a concerned look toward her. She's staring straight ahead with a death grip on my hand.

"That is what Robert said," I admit. "Robert was already on his way here, and when Mathew told him of his plan to trap you into work for him, Robert realized that he was losing control of Mathew. Of course, I don't know how Robert arrived so early. There's a chance that he was already near the town. But when I entered Mathew's room, he was on the phone with Robert. I heard his voice, and when I was in the forest, I heard his voice again, and I recognized it as the caller's. I was initially going to make sure that whoever the person was wasn't there to go after you, but when I saw Drew talking to him and referring to him as Alpha Black, it only took me a second to recognize him."

I let out a long breath. "But it was more than just that, Sophia. Robert also mentioned that the townspeople had one job, and that was to break your spirit completely. From the way he was talking, it seemed like they were all in on it. I overheard Drew say that everybody had been careful not to push you completely over the edge because they didn't want to break you and diminish your use for Robert. It didn't take me long to put two and two together. My gut tells me that every single person in that town was put near you very deliberately. They knew what you were all along."

Sophia laughs bitterly. "I really shouldn't have asked. Now I just feel worse."

"You're reclaiming your life, Sophia," I tell her gently. "Don't forget that."

She looks at me and asks, "What if I can't save the pups in your pack, Alex? I won't be useful to you then."

The words are a stab to the heart, but I don't let myself flinch. My voice is calm as I reply, "Then, so be it. We will look for another way. But that doesn't mean I won't want you by my side anymore. Whether or not you can use your powers doesn't matter to me. Don't think for a second that I want you here with me because of what you are. To me, you are Sophia, my mate and the woman I love. I've already told you this."

I see the flash of fear in her eyes, the doubt.

She swallows. "I keep expecting you to change your mind. I keep waiting for the inevitable."

The inevitable being me looking for a way to use her, like everybody else.

"I know you are," I say. "I wish I could prove to you that it's not going to happen."

When we left Oakrest Town, she was so happy, but within a matter of days, that happiness has faded away into a quiet, simmering fear.

Patience , I tell myself. You have to be patient with her. Some things have to be proven rather than spoken.

I decide not to continue this conversation as we reach the spring. Sophia is about to take off her clothes when she looks over her shoulder at me, flustered. "Can you turn around?"

She's pulled my shirt down so that her shoulders are exposed, all that soft, supple skin.

"What?" I ask, dazed at the sight of her.

"Turn around, Alex!" she bursts out, her face a bright red.

I should do as she says, but I can't resist the opportunity to tease her just a little.

"Why? I've already seen you naked."

"Alex!" If she turns any redder, she's going to start resembling a tomato.

"In fact," I take a step toward her, "Maybe I should help you out of these clothes."

"I will smack you so hard," she threatens me, and I chuckle, coming to a stop.

"Well, I don't think I want to get smacked around so soon in the relationship. Doesn't set a good tone."

"Why are you being so difficult?" The look on Sophia's face makes me want to roar with laughter. She looks so adorable, all flustered and worked up. She cannot voice that she's shy; she just wants to me understand her situation.

"Difficult?" I ask innocently. "Me?"

"Yes!" She glares at me. "Just turn around so I can take off my clothes."

I match her tone. "I just want to help you!"

"Alex!" She lets out a whine now, looking immediately embarrassed.

Laughing, I turn around. "Fine, fine. I'll behave this time."

She mutters some nasty things about me to herself, conveniently forgetting how sharp my hearing is. My grin just grows broader at each creative curse word I hear her utter. The splash of water indicates that she's in the stream now, and I hear her let out a sigh of relief. We don't have much time, and she knows it. Within minutes, the splashing stops, and I hear her exit the water. It's when I hear the rustle of the clothing that I turn around. "Alright, ready to g—"

My eyes widen at the sight of her naked, glistening body, waterdrops sliding down those deadly curves and crevices, her full breasts with those perky pink nipples pointing at me.

For a moment, I forget to breathe. She is stunning. Perfect hips, perfect breasts, that long gorgeous hair cascading over her shoulders. She looks like a nymph. My heart is beating wildly, my cock turning hard. She's both beautiful and desirable. All I have to do is take her in my arms —

"That's it!" Sophia growls. "You're so dead!"

I don't see the elbow coming my way till it makes contact with my stomach, and it's only then that I realize I already covered most of the distance between us. I let out a groan, doubling over. Her blow didn't really hurt, but it definitely knocked the wind out of me. She quickly puts on her clothes. "Pervert! I knew you were a perv the day I met you!"

"I'm your mate!" I protest. "You do know what that is, don't you?"

"Shut up, Alex!"

When I straighten up, she's blushing hard, a lovely combination of annoyance and embarrassment in her eyes. She buttons my pants, shooting me dirty looks as she does so. I grin, amused by her behavior. I don't recall her ever being this shy before. But then, I guess the dynamics between us have shifted now.

She's rolling up the sleeves of my shirt, and I take a step toward her, my wolf pleased with the display of dominance she just showed. However, it has to remind her who the real dominant is in this relationship. Grabbing her by the jaw, my mouth inches from hers, I murmur, "If you remain so shy, Sophia, you're going to make this a whole lot of fun for me."

She stares at me, and I can hear the way her heart is racing, that familiar musky scent of her arousal reaching me. I could take her right now and she wouldn't fight me.

She doesn't back down, though.

"Pervert."

I grin. "Only for you."

That has her flushing again, and she pulls away from me, storming off in the direction we came from. "You're so annoying."

"I'm still your mate!" I remind her in a sing-song voice as I follow after her, my arms folded behind my head.

She shoots me an evil look, making me laugh.

At least she's forgotten how upset she was.

I'm about to say something when I go still instead. The insects have fallen silent around us, as has the other wildlife. I can't even hear the chirp of a bird right now.

"Sofia." My voice is a warning growl.

She comes to a halt and looks over her shoulder at me, tense. "What is it?"

I scan the area around us.

"We're no longer alone."