Chapter 33

Sophia Hope

"He's been keeping a very close eye on you."

"Alpha Black?"

This time when Alex pulls me along with him, I don't fight him. He heads straight into the forest. "We have to run."

"Alex, I don't understand what you're talking about. Why would Alpha Black want to—"

"I don't know!" Alex roars. "But he's already here! I don't know what the fuck is going on, but you're tangled in the middle of some sort of very messed up web. We have to get you out of here."

Alpha Black is in town? How did he get here so quickly? I thought he was supposed to arrive tonight.

"What about the others?" I ask.

"Don't worry about them. They know what to do," Alex says furiously. "They're creating distractions so we can get away."

"How do you know I was set up?" I keep running along with him, but I need to understand.

"The documents I found in Mathew's office. It didn't register on me at the time," Alex explains, his voice hard, "but the information was too explicit. Mathew had no business knowing all that. He knew the orphanage you went to, the brand of scent blockers you're taking. It was all in there. And the man he was talking to on the phone, I recognized his voice when I was in the forest just now. It was your Alpha. I saw him talking to your neighbor."

"W-Wait a minute!" My mind can't make sense of this. "You recognized Alpha Black's voice? You saw him with Drew?"

"Mathew was talking to someone on the phone when I took his phone from him. I heard the man's voice, but I couldn't place it. Nathan and I went into the forest to figure out an escape route, and I saw your neighbor, Drew, talking to someone. I don't know what they were discussing, but I heard the other man's voice and recognized it. My suspicion was confirmed when Drew called him ‘Alpha.'"

"Drew was talking to him?"

That can't be possible. It doesn't make sense. Alpha Black betrayed Drew. He destroyed Drew's life.

I'm missing something here.

Alex comes to a halt and catches me by my upper arms, pulling me onto my toes. His face is in mine, his expression fierce. "Right now, Sophia, you cannot think about anyone or anything but this. All you need to be worried about is getting away from here. That's it. We will discuss everything later. We need to run. Focus on that."

I nod jerkily. He's right; this is not the time to be distracted. We can dissect it all later. But I do ask, "Are you sure they won't come after us?"

"They shouldn't. Not yet," Alex reassures me. "Nathan and Jared are arranging diversions. The pack security will be looking in those places. In the meantime, Saul is watching Eve. I couldn't find my phone—"

"You left it at my place. I have it; it's in my pocket."

"Great."

Alex takes it from me and places a call, turning on the speaker so I can hear, too. When Saul picks up, Alex demands, "Update?"

Saul sounds unsettled. "Something is definitely going down tonight. The shops are closing up because of the storm, but the pack security team is heading into the forest. Alpha Black is here; he's making them go look for the black wolves. The Alpha Successor is going with them. I think the distractions have worked; they're not moving in your direction."

"What about the girl?" Alex asks.

"I don't know where Eve is. She noticed me watching her. By the time I caught on, she'd disappeared."

"And Julia?"

"Still at the motel. I'm heading toward you now. Something is off in this town. I don't think it's wise to stay here."

"We'll meet you at the lake. Just go straight there."

Alex ends the call and looks at me. "Our first rendezvous spot is at Lake Mist. If my men don't get there within ten minutes after we do, we'll head to the next one. We cannot stop moving for more than ten minutes at a time. I don't know if the Alpha is looking for us or for you, but getting you out of here is our priority."

The wind is picking up, and Alex's hand tightens around mine. We start off again. My legs are getting tired from running, but I don't complain.

What is so special about me that has Alpha Black doing all this? Or is it just that he hates me so much that he wants to completely destroy me?

I don't want to wait around to find out.

By the time we reach the lake, it has started raining. We brave the elements and take shelter under the trees surrounding the water. Alex checks his watch. "Okay. Ten minutes. Let's wait here."

"I don't understand any of this," I murmur. "Even Noah was desperate to get me away from Oakrest tonight. Almost as if he didn't want me to run into his father. I wish I knew why."

Alex's voice is dark. "Let's hope you never find out. As soon as we cross the border into the North Alliance, you will be safe."

"What about the Queen?"

Alex gives me a grim smile. "Don't worry about Karina. We'll deal with her later."

His phone buzzes, and he shows me the screen. It's Jared. Alex presses the phone against his ear. "Jared, what is it?"

All he gets back is static. I can hear the noise from where I'm standing next to him.

"There isn't a good signal out here," I tell him. "You have to head deep into the forest for any reception."

Alex shakes his head at my words and is about to end the call, but I stop him.

"You won't be that far away. You need to know your men are safe. I'll be fine here. Nobody will see me." Alex hesitates, but I urge him to go. "Nothing's going to happen to me. They're not even coming in this direction, remember?"

"Alright," he agrees reluctantly. "Just don't move from this spot."

He walks into the woods, shouting into the phone, "Jared?"

His voice grows weaker as he moves further and further away from me, and I feel a sense of discomfort.

Shivering, I lean against a tree, thinking over what Alex told me.

Why is Alpha Black here in the first place? Why was Noah so scared of me meeting him?

There's something I'm missing. If only I could figure out what it is, I have a feeling I'd be able to piece everything together.

"Sophia!" My head swivels to the left when I hear somebody calling my name. "Sophia!"

Drew bursts from the trees, completely drenched from the rain, and I nearly jump out of my skin.

"There you are!"

"What are you doing here, Drew?"

"Trying to save you!" He approaches me. "Noah found out that you left. Come on! He knows you're at the lake. He captured one of Alex's men!"

I freeze in fear. "What?"

Drew holds out his hand. "Come with me! We have to get out of here!"

I'm about to go to him when I look in the direction Alex disappeared. "I have to wait for Alex."

"There's no time! We can find him later." I've never seen Drew look so on edge. "Noah is pissed, Sophia. I don't know what happened between the two of you, but he is out for blood. We need to go!"

Fearing the worst, I take one step toward Drew, but then my wolf digs in its heels, instantly suspicious, recalling what Alex told me. "You were with Alpha Black."

Drew blinks at me. "What?"

"You were with the Alpha this afternoon, weren't you?"

"Who told you that?" Drew sounds outraged. "I would never—"

"Alex saw you. You knew Alpha Black was coming to town."

"I don't understand what you're trying to say." Drew looks confused, making me doubt myself. "Even if he is in town, what do you want me to do? Avoid him?"

"It's one thing to be unable to avoid him but an entirely different matter to have a conversation with him in a secluded part of the forest." My heart is racing as I level the implied accusation toward him, an accusation that even I don't wholly comprehend yet. "What were you talking about?"

"Nothing. We just ran into each other."

But he doesn't meet my eyes, and my heart sinks.

Drew is my friend. I was there for him when he was at his lowest, when he couldn't look after himself and Tim. I've loved them like family. I don't want to look at him with suspicion in my heart; I don't want to even consider such a thing. But I'm picking out pieces and slivers of our conversations from the past few weeks, things I didn't pay attention to before but are now sticking out to me.

"You told me you didn't want to retraumatize Tim by talking about Katie," I breathe, my chest tight. "But I found out that you punish him for talking about his mother. Why? And you're a construction worker. Where are you going at all hours of the night, leaving your child alone at home?"

I don't know why I'm mentioning all this right now, but it's eating at me. The itch in my brain is growing increasingly painful. This is neither the time nor place for this conversation, except that I need answers right now.

"What's going on, Drew? I want the truth."

"If Tim said something to you, he's just a kid. He's making things up," Drew says, looking past me and into the forest.

"You're lying," I realize with a stab of agony. "Why would you prevent Tim from talking about his mother? You're such a loving father toward him. Why would you hurt him like that?"

"This is hardly your business, Sophia," he says in irritation.

"It's not, but I have to know. It's driving me crazy! This whole town is driving me crazy!" I grip my hair with both hands, feeling a painful pulsing sensation within me. "All these secrets, all these lies. Nobody is who they say they are! I'm so sick of it all!" It feels like my heart will burst. "I want somebody to be honest with me for once! I don't want to keep looking at everyone and wondering what they're really up to or if I can trust them! Including you, Drew! Tell me why you were out in the forest with Alpha Black today!"

As soon as the words are out of my mouth, I feel a strange sense of relief. But Drew has had enough. A determined look in his eyes, he strides over to me and grabs my wrist. "Stop wasting time. We have to go!"

He starts to drag me away, so I slam my knee into his abdomen. He stumbles back, not having expected that.

"What is wrong with you?" he snarls. "I'm trying to help you!"

"I don't think you are!" I shout back, but I don't want to believe it. I don't want to believe that Drew is an enemy, but it seems like everybody I know has been wearing a mask around me. "Give me answers to my questions, and I'll happily go with you."

Frustration brews on Drew's face. "You don't understand…" He's looking around anxiously. "We have to go, Sophia. I wish I could explain everything to you, but I don't have that much time. I messed up, okay? But I'm trying to put things right. Please let me do that."

I shake my head. "I'm not going anywhere without Alex."

"Sophia, you and—"

Over the sound of the rain pounding the ground, I hear a sharp, whistling sound. Suddenly, Drew's eyes turn wide as his body jerks forward. Letting out a groan, he drops to all fours, and to my utter horror, I see a black arrow protruding from his back.

"Well, well. So, you really were trying to betray me."

A man emerges from the shadows, an umbrella over his head. When he tilts the shade up, I recognize him.

Alpha Black.

He looks older than how I remember him, but he's just as terrifying. "It seems our little conversation from this afternoon did not set you straight, Drew."

Robert Black is a large man with a domineering visage. When he looks at me, my blood runs cold. He's a ruthless leader with a cruel streak that I was at the receiving end of for the first sixteen years of my life.

"You've grown up, Sophia." His eyes run over my whole body, lingering in a way that makes me want to cover myself with my hands. It's unsettling.

"Alpha Black," I mutter. "Why are you here in Oakrest Town?"

He raises a brow. "Is that how you show your Alpha respect?"

"Do you want me to roll out the red carpet?" I sneer. I'm no longer a frightened sixteen-year-old.

His lips curve slightly. "It seems you haven't been completely broken like I hoped." He sounds disappointed. "But then, I always say that when you want something done right, you should do it yourself."

I glower at him. This man makes my skin crawl. "Why are you here?"

"To bring you home, my dear girl. I raised you, fed you, and groomed you. Now it's time for you to pay your dues."

My dues?

His eyes settle on my hips. "You've grown into yourself. Not a beauty like that mother of yours, but you'll do." He chuckles. "At least you've got strong, child-rearing hips."

I want to throw up. What the hell is he talking about?

Drew digs his fingers in the dirt, gasping in pain. "Run, Sophia. You have to run!"

"Oh, do be quiet." With his foot, Alpha Black presses down on the arrow protruding from Drew's back, and my heart nearly stops when Drew screams in pain.

"Leave him alone!" I shout, horrified.

The Alpha gives me a cold smile. "You shouldn't feel so sorry for him. Men like Drew are loyal to no one. You've been comforting him all this time, and yet, you don't even know that he was the one who brutalized his own mate."

Every inch of me goes still. My eyes shift toward Drew in disbelief. "No. No, Drew loved Katie. She was his mate! You're lying to me!"

Alpha Black chuckles, looking down as he grinds the arrow once again, making Drew's body jerk in response as he coughs blood. "Well? Am I lying, Drew? Tell her. Tell her how you ripped your wife apart while your son watched. Tell her how you obeyed orders like a good little soldier." His eyes lift toward me, and the enjoyment in them turns my veins to ice. "You should ask him about how his mate clutched his feet, begging for the life of her unborn child."

I see the tears spill from Drew's eyes, and I feel sick to my stomach. How can it be? I've seen Drew weep over Katie. I saw how broken he was. And all that time, he had killed her himself? And made his son watch?

Alpha Black chuckles once again. "You see, Sophia, you don't have a very good understanding of how members of the pack security team are chosen. They are the most vile and violent shifters among the pack. The Alpha gives them direction and a purpose. Your precious Drew was the most violent of the bunch. He had a taste for human blood. Liked butchering them."

No.

"Sometimes people only show you what they want you to see."

Once again, Elsa's words float in my head. She called me na?ve, and I felt insulted. But she was right. I was na?ve. And foolish.

"He was quite young when I recruited him," Alpha Black tells me. "You were never allowed out of the orphanage grounds, so you wouldn't know, but Drew used to work in the town where you were born. Everybody who works on the security team in Oakrest was sent here from the same town you lived in. Drew was one of them. The one thing I ask in return for all the privileges these men get is complete and utter loyalty. But you weren't completely loyal, now, were you, Drew?"

There's no response from the ground.

The Alpha sighs. "What a disappointment. You had such potential. But then, perhaps it wasn't your fault. The woman you chose was too nosy. Too caught up in her morals. If she hadn't tried to interfere in my plans, she would still be alive, and you would have your…What was it again?" Alpha Black laughs cruelly. "Oh, yes. You were going to have a daughter, weren't you?"

Drew lets out an agonized whimper, and despite my shock and horror at his past actions, my heart breaks for him.

"Stop it!" I scream.

I'm overwhelmed by all of this, by Drew's true self, by the way the Alpha of this pack is taunting a man who killed half his family under his orders. I cannot wrap my head around what Drew did. He could have taken his family and fled. He could have bought his way out of the Alliance. He could have done a lot of things. But kill his mate? And his unborn child? Why was that the only course of action he saw?

"You're a monster," I spit at the Alpha. "You're the worst kind of monster there is. You made him murder his family!"

"I never said that." Alpha Black smiles broadly at me, as if this whole thing is just some sort of big joke to him.

"You just said that you ordered Drew to murder his mate!"

"Did I?" He shrugs.

Didn't he?

"Unfortunately," he continues, "it seems that Drew here doesn't seem to understand how lenient I've been with him all this time. And neither did he learn his lesson the first time around." There's a strain of anger in the Alpha's voice now. "Drew hid from me the fact that you found your fated mate. He also conveniently did not disclose to me that my own son was pursuing you. And—" his eyes narrow in fury— "this fool was encouraging you to be with your mate when he was fully aware of my plans for you."

His plans for me? My heart drops to the pit of my stomach. "What are you talking about?"

Alpha Black shrugs. "The shifters of this town had two orders: break you and make sure you never engage in any relationship. They were allowed to treat you in any way that would break your spirit. But like your mother, you're very stubborn, Sophia." There's a flash of irritation in his eyes. "I was starting to sense that, after his punishment, my control over Drew was fading. He was tasked to befriend you, but I was receiving fewer and fewer reports. So, a couple of months ago, I sent someone I trusted to your town. But with all the deaths happening here and the arrival of your fated mate, I knew it was only a matter of time before you slipped from my grasp. So, I've come to bring you back home."

I take a step back. "I'm not going anywhere with you."

"My dear girl," Alpha Black laughs, "you don't have a choice. Very soon, you will receive my mating mark. Your mother rejected my mark. She refused to be obedient. You're young; I can still force you into submission. Hopefully, you won't be as foolish as her. I would hate to have to lock you up as I did her."

I'm stunned into silence. He locked her up?

When I speak, the words are ripped from me. "You said my mother died in childbirth. You always told me I killed her. Are you saying she's alive?"

The monster before me smiles again. "Yes. But we'll see for how long. She refused to be my broodmare, so I decided to use you instead. Why do you think I let her give birth to you?"

I think I'm going to be sick. He looked at an infant, newly born, and decided to impregnate her when she got older?

"Why?" It's so hard to keep my voice calm, but I have to keep him talking. I need answers from this man. He knows everything; I just want to know about my mother.

My question takes Alpha Black by surprise. "You really don't know? I guess you're not as smart as I was beginning to give you credit for. You never figured it out in all these years?" As soon as the words are out of his mouth, his expression changes into one of annoyance. "Don't tell me. You still have not managed to shift?"

"My wolf is latent—"

"The fuck it is!"

He keeps talking, but I feel that strange buzzing sensation in my head again. I stagger back, trying to think past the pain. I see his mouth moving, but I can't hear a word he's saying. The buzzing is too loud.

His words finally reach me. "She must've done something to you. To prevent this from happening. That bitch! When I see her, I'm going to beat her within an inch of her life!"

He's talking about my mother. She really is alive!

"Where is she? What have you done to her?"

Alpha Black regains his composure and then holds out his hand. "If you want to know, all you have to do is walk over to me. You accept my mating mark willingly, and I will let you see your mother on occasion."

I stare at his hand, and my body moves of its own accord. One step, and Drew shouts, "No! Don't do it, Sophia! She wouldn't want this for you!"

I hesitate at his voice, coming to a halt as if awoken from a trance.

"Will you just die already?!" Alpha Black kicks Drew in the side before turning his attention back to me. "Come, Sophia. It's time to go home."

"Think about your mate," Drew says through a coughing fit, blood staining his mouth. He's barely able to speak. "You can't leave with Alpha Black. You don't know this man. He won't…He's lying to you!"

"Drew's right. What if you are lying to me?" I stare at the Alpha. "What if my mother is dead, and you're just telling me I can see her so that I'll go with you? How do I know you're telling the truth?"

"I can take you to her," he offers, "but you have to come with me."

My heart and mind are at war. I want to see my mother. If she's been alive all this time, I need to see her. I need to make sure she's okay. I need to find out what is happening.

Before I can take another step forward, an arm wraps around my waist, and I'm pulled back into a familiar chest.

Alex's voice growls next to my ear. "She's not going anywhere with you."

Alpha Black narrows his eyes. "So it's you then, Stone? Karina's little pet project. Does she know you're down here breaking Alliance laws?"

I shouldn't be surprised that the two of them know each other. After all, as Alphas, they must've crossed paths at some point during gatherings of the three Alliances.

"My mother's alive, Alex," I whisper hoarsely. "He knows where she is."

Alex's eyes are fixed on the man facing us. "He says that, but what if he's lying to you? And do you really think he's going to let you see your mother even if she is alive? He's going to use her against you. Dangle her life in front of you to force you to do what he wants. That entire family is fucked up in the head."

He's right.

What was I thinking, even considering going with Alpha Black?

"If I were you, Stone, I would shut my mouth and move on. I'll be kind enough to let you return to your territory unharmed. This is a pack matter, after all."

"That's correct." Alex straightens up, his arm not moving from my waist. "This is a pack matter. Between me and my mate. You have no say in it. According to the rules of the three Alliances, fated mates are allowed to cross borders. Sophia is mine. She's allowed to leave the South Alliance. She's no longer part of your pack."

"Only if she accepts you," Alpha Blocks bites out. "And if she's a smart girl, and ever wants to see her mother alive, she will reject you on the spot."

"She's not a fool." Alex shoves me behind him protectively. "Even if her mother is alive, the kind of person you are, you're never going to let her see her. And if you haven't killed her mother all this time, there must be a reason. You need her for something."

He's hit the nail on the head with his words because Alpha Black's expression turns furious. "You are trespassing in my territory, Stone. You know what that means, don't you?"

"I came to retrieve my mate." Alex shrugs. "I'm allowed to do that."

"Only if you get permission from me."

"Oops?" Alex sneers. "In any case, she's with me now, and Alliance rules dictate that you cannot stop her from leaving."

"And who's going to stop me from getting rid of you here and now?" Alpha Black scoffs.

Before I can so much as blink, his entire body morphs into a large, brown wolf.

"Stay back, Sophia!" Alex growls. He takes a step forward, and his own form changes into that of a massive, black wolf.

They're going to fight to the death, I realize, my heart sinking.