Chapter 20

Sophia

The tension in the ballroom is palpable.

I feel stark relief upon seeing Alex in the doorway, even if he doesn't know I'm here. I still need a little bit more time to work on my mother's collar. I focus my attention on it, grateful that Alex's appearance has distracted the man from the Central Alliance standing next to us. I would not put it past Lily to kill my mother to prevent her from slipping from her grasp. As it stands, my mother is the biggest leverage they have on me.

"Where do I begin?" Alex drawls. "You threatened the lives of our children. Let's start with that."

Karina does not look phased in the least. "How nice that you showed up here, Alex. Now I don't have to send a search party after you. And I did nothing of the sort."

"Linking the lives of our most vulnerable pack members to those of your soldiers and nannies isn't endangering their lives?" Alex demands. "Restricting parents, especially mothers, from bonding with their children? Killing parents who raised a fuss because they wanted their children with them? How are we supposed to react to that?"

"Each Alliance has different rules," Karina shoots back. "These are mine. I am simply protecting the next generation. If the packs don't harm my people, the children are absolutely safe."

"How do you explain murdering the parents who wanted their children with them?"

"Unfortunate decisions on their parts." Karina shrugs. "Those who break my rules are not allowed to live. And they tried to attack my people, thereby endangering the lives of the other children. Did you expect my people to sit still and do nothing? They were protecting the rest of your young ones."

"Bullshit," Alex says with barely restrained anger. "You annihilated an entire pack because it did not want their children under your control. You wanted to have power over the lives, decisions, and resources of everyone in the North Alliance, and to achieve that, you leveraged the lives of our young ones. Do you think the other Alliances will let you do the same to them?"

My eyes widen when I see the entire ballroom filling with soldiers coming through every entrance. Alex did say he had trained soldiers who were waiting to be summoned, but I didn't know about the sheer number of them.

Clearly, neither did Lily or Noah. The latter's jaw is tense, and I hear him mutter, "You said there weren't many fighters."

Lily's fingers dig into her dress. "There weren't. There should have been no more than a hundred soldiers. These are in the thousands."

"With the Silver Wolf in my control," Karina begins in response to Alex's query, "I don't think anybody will have much of a choice—"

"In your control?" Alex sneers. "And where exactly is this Silver Wolf?"

Karina gives him an angry look. "I'm very disappointed in you, Alex—"

He doesn't let her finish her thought. "You were right about one thing, Karina. The Silver Wolf does exist. I know this because she is my fated mate."

I see Katrina's face turns red with anger as Alex's words register on her. Clearly, she didn't know that little detail. But she did know where I was; I recall Lily telling me that it was Hilda who contacted Karina. She must not have told the Queen about Alex and me being fated mates.

Alex continues, "With her powers, she was able to undo the links between our pups and your people." A flurry of voices erupt at his declaration, but he's not done. "My mate," he says deliberately, holding Karina's gaze, "offered to do the same for every pack in the North Alliance if they would stand with me. And since she is my mate, you have no right to the Silver Wolf."

"You have no proof that the Silver Wolf is your mate." Karina is furious now. "And your pack has been labeled as traitors!"

"Traitors?" Alex scoffs. "Would you mind telling me why?"

"You killed Julia!"

"Where's your proof?"

Karina opens her mouth, and then an evil smile forms on her lips. "The girl, Hilda. We can bring her here, and she will be my witness."

My body stiffens, but then I see Alex's face spasm with pain. His voice is quiet but harsh. "Hilda died in the attack that your soldiers launched on my village."

Hilda is dead?! I'm overcome with shock. Something tells me that that's not the whole story. I recall the feeling of anguish that I felt as we left through the tunnels. Hilda must have died at that moment. Although I never liked her, I can understand my mate's pain. After all, he did raise her.

"How convenient that your men killed your only witness," Alex is saying. "Who else are you going to get to testify that my pack is behind Julia's death?"

If they were alone, Karina probably would have killed Alex on the spot, but in front of all three Alliances, that's going to be hard to do.

The Alphas from the North Alliance are all wearing blue armbands, and one of them steps beside Alex. "You have no witness, Karina. You cannot annihilate an entire pack without a witness to corroborate what you're saying."

"If I were you, Thomas," Karina says in a deadly voice, "I would choose my words very carefully. You don't know what kind of surprise you could walk into when you return to your pack."

The threat is obvious to everyone.

The children. She's referring to the children.

My blood boils. Lily looks positively gleeful right now.

As my anger burns at this injustice, I can feel my whole body tingling with magic. I still don't have complete control of my powers, and I'm starting to realize they are linked to my emotional state.

"Guards!" Karina suddenly shouts. "Seize Alpha Stone and the soldiers he brought with him. Put them all to death."

The guests stir. Till now, the other Alliances have ignored the elephant in the room, but to hear Karina order the execution of an Alpha and thousands of soldiers is a whole different thing. Especially now that she's claiming to have control over the Silver Wolf and threatening to invade the other two Alliances.

Alex looks like he expected this. "Do you really think I'm going to go down like this? This isn't only about the injustices you have imposed on the North Alliance. You're now actively trying to imprison my fated mate. I'm not going to sit by and let that happen."

Karina sneers at him. "You have betrayed the North Alliance. What I do with the remaining members of your pack is up to me. Execute them or imprison them."

This woman is something else. She's so drunk on her power that she doesn't really care who sees her do what. I can tell Alex is gearing up for a fight, but Karina's soldiers pour into the ballroom from every direction. My heart is thudding loudly, fear filling me. I can't let Alex get hurt. Although he has a large army with him, Karina's people still have the advantage of numbers. On top of that, if she orders the rest of the Alphas of the North to kill him, they will have no choice. Their pups' lives are at stake.

The tingling sensation is growing with each breath I take, and I can't control it anymore. I step forward, but Lily grabs my wrist, hissing, "Don't even think about it."

I give her a brief look before using my wrist to toss her in the air with my full strength. She goes flying and falls in the middle of the room.

Uh oh.

All eyes are on us now. Alex's voice is fierce and shocked at the same time. "Sophia?!"

I wince when I try to speak.

His gaze shifts to Noah, who is still standing a few feet from me despite the fact that his mate is lying injured on the marble floor. Alex growls, "You bastard."

Noah grabs my arm and begins dragging me away. But Karina has realized what's going on, and she shouts, "Capture that woman!"

Her soldiers are now coming for me, and Alex roars with rage. Shifting into his animal form, he runs toward me, plowing through the men and knocking them aside. He's about to reach us when Noah grabs me by my hair, yanks my head back, and presses his claws against my neck.

"One more step, Stone, and she's dead."

Not fucking likely. I grab his wrist, sending an electric shock through his system. He stumbles back, and Alex is by my side in a heartbeat.

I tell him, "I need time. You have to buy me time."

I grab my own throat. The mute spell. It's gone! How did that happen?

The confusion is clear in Alex's wolf eyes. I point toward my mother. "I can't explain right now. I have to help her."

The whole ballroom has erupted into chaos. Alex and I both know that we are in a dangerous situation. Neither Noah nor Karina will let us leave here peacefully.

"Silence!" Karina shouts, her voice amplified by magic. She glares at Noah. "What is going on? You said she was an attendant!"

Noah is silent as he stands up again. Karina studies him for a moment, and realization dawns in her eyes.

"It seems you have brought me the Silver Wolf." She begins to smile. "And here I thought my soldiers were bringing her to me. I thank you for your gift—"

"She's not a gift to you, Queen Karina. She's from the South, and she is my father's murderer. You have no jurisdiction in the South Alliance." Noah's words are sharp.

"But she is the mate of one of my Alphas. That means she belongs to the North."

"She not his mate yet," Noah counters. "She's not wearing his mating mark. Therefore, she still belongs to the South, and since she is from my pack, she belongs to me. According to pack law, I can choose her punishment for killing my father."

"Your father imprisoned my mother for years and wanted to use me as a broodmare!" I snarl at him. "Robert Black isolated and tortured both me and my mother. And he tried to kill my mate! I had every right to seek revenge!"

Noah glowers at me, and the Alphas from the South blink at each other in shock. The representatives of the Central Alliance are not looking happy, but they're holding their silence for now.

"Lies—" Noah begins.

"I have proof!" I shout.

"Enough!" Karina's voice booms in the ballroom. She glares at Noah. "It seems your father wasn't the man we believed him to be. Imprisoning another shifter?"

"Isn't that what you're planning to do to her?" Noah counters with a sneer.

Karina's eyes narrow into slits. "You don't think I'm going to let you walk out of here with the Silver Wolf in your hands, do you, Alpha Black?"

"You're going to let me do whatever I want," Noah sneers, his mask of politeness long gone. "If you harm or try to take one of my people, you are inciting a war with the South. Do you really want to go down that path?"

Karina's face is white with fury. Alex shifts into his human form and looks at the other leaders of the North Alliance. "Today, she's going after my mate. Tomorrow, it's going to be yours. You can either stand here and let this happen, or you can do something about it right now."

There is hesitance on the faces of the men looking at Alex. One of them speaks up, his voice defeated. "It will take her one phone call, Alpha Stone, to wipe out our entire nursery. How can you expect us to risk our children?"

I have to agree with them. However, the reaction of the leaders from the South Alliance takes me by surprise.

"The Silver Wolf is from the South?"

"If the Silver Wolf is from our Alliance and she is as powerful as Karina claims, she's no ordinary wolf."

"Why should she be under any pack when she is so powerful?"

Alex takes advantage of the growing confusion and whispers to me, "You never should have come here! And why did you attack Lily?"

"You should have told me what you were planning!" I retort. "And Lily's a traitor! She's Noah's fated mate! A lot has happened. Now is not the time."

He's silent, but his expression twists in anger as he looks at Lily. All of a sudden, she jumps to her feet and strides toward us, rage all over her face.

"I warned you, Sophia! I told you what would happen!" With a vicious look in her eyes, Lily lifts her hand and aims it at my mother. But nothing happens. She goes still, confusion on her face now. "What's happening?" She lifts her hand once more, but again, nothing.

"You were right," I tell her. "Whatever that thing is, I can't touch it. But I can wrap my own magic around it. And you cannot control my magic."

She gives me an enraged look, and then her expression relaxes. "Maybe not, but there is something else I can do."

Her lips start moving, and she points a finger in my mother's direction. My mother's eyes widen, and she collapses to the floor, gripping the metal band around her neck. It's strangling her! My magic protected her from Lily's spell, but it can't prevent the metal band from contracting.

"Stop it!" I scream.

Lily laughs hysterically. "Yes! Cry! Beg me! Watch her die!"

The leaders of the Central Alliance are heading toward us now, but before they can do anything, a hooded figure appears out of nowhere, and almost as if a barrier gets placed in front of Lily, she is shoved backward. This time, she stays on her feet, glowering at the person now standing protectively in front of my mother.

"That's quite enough, Tina."

I know that voice. My fingers dig into Alex's arm, Drew's words ringing in my ears.

"Elsa disappeared the same night you did."

It's Elsa!

She removes her hood and looks straight at Lily. "I knew you'd been led astray, but this is far enough. I'm not going to let you kill my oldest friend."

Wait. It can't be.

I look between Lily and Elsa, and it hits me that their features are remarkably similar.

Elsa's daughter's name is Tina. Is Lily actually Elsa's daughter?

My suspicions are confirmed when the girl I know as Lily gives Elsa an annoyed look. "Fancy seeing you here, Mom."