Chapter 12

Alex

I narrow my gaze at the man. "This girl happens to be my mate. You'd better step back before I start wondering why she's in this state."

"I saved her from those witches." The scraggly-looking man spits out. "She was already at death's door. If I hadn't intervened, they would have sucked her dry like they have so many others before her."

His voice is hoarse as if he hasn't used it in a while.

I don't know if he's lying or not, but he was acting protective of her before. However, that doesn't mean I'm going to trust him.

"You've done your part." I hold Sophia close to me. "I don't know what your problem with these witches was, but it would be best if you escape. I'm taking my mate to a healer."

The man stops me, his eyes narrowed into slits, his voice suspicious. "You say she's your mate. Where's your proof?"

"You can't smell her on me?" I demand, enraged that he's asking for proof when Sophia smells like me from head to toe. "Why do I need to give you any sort of proof? Who the hell are you?"

He takes a step back and looked around at the carnage he caused. When he looks back at me, there's a hint of confusion in his eyes. "I don't know."

"What?"

He moves toward me, and when I raise my upper lip in a snarl, he stops. "Your mate is not well."

"I can see that. I have to get her to a healer…"

"A healer can't fix what's wrong with her." He points at Sophia's neck. "You can. She's not wearing your mark."

For a moment, I don't follow, and when I do, I feel irritated. "That's because I am wearing hers."

He looks at me like one would at an idiot. His gaze is pitying, with a hint of disgust. "She still needs yours."

His voice is confident.

"You expect me to take advice from somebody who doesn't even know who he is?" I scowl at him.

He shrugs. "I promised to save her if she rescued me. I did my part. Let her die if you want. She's your mate, not mine."

When he turns around, I feel uncertainty creep in. "If-if I'm already wearing her mating mark, why does she need to wear mine?"

He stops in his tracks and looks of his shoulder. "Balance. The mark of a female does not provide the balance."

Right now, I am willing to try anything. "Are you saying that if I give her my mating mark right now, she'll survive?"

"Why do you think she's in this condition to begin with?" The man looks mildly annoyed. "Why take a mate when you can't even protect her?"

His words make me flinch, and I look down at Sophia. Her skin is clammy, her color almost gray. She's struggling to breathe.

Why didn't anybody tell me I had to give her my mating mark as well? Surely somebody must've known!

I'm not going to waste any more time. This is the only chance I have. Even if I don't want to listen to this man, there is no way I can get her to a healer in time. Tilting her head back to expose her neck, I sink my teeth into the spot where my mark should always have been.

When I pull away, there's no change in her color.

But then, I feel a throbbing sensation inside me. The thread that binds us is glowing brighter and brighter.

Sophia is breathing better, but she doesn't wake up. There is something else I notice. The bond between us is enveloped in something sturdy now. My head lifts to look at the man standing across from me. He was right. But how did he know what to do?

"Do you also have a mate?"

The man's hand automatically goes to his neck and he looks shaken. "I don't know. I don't remember anything."

"Were the witches holding you captive?" I question. "You said that Sophia had to rescue you."

"I was…" He looks around once again, as if very unsure of himself. "I don't remember anything but being restrained. They used my blood. They tried to use me for other things, but I killed one of them. Then they only used me for my blood."

"What were they doing with your blood?"

He shakes his head. "I don't know. All I remember is that room, that stone chamber. I begged them to kill me, but they wouldn't."

From the state of him, he's probably been the witches' captive for years. And they probably only fed him enough for him to keep alive. Were they planning to do the same to me? Where did Sophia fit into their plan? Had she also been restrained?

I look down at my mate. Her color is returning. Our journey to the Central Alliance will undoubtedly be dragged out now, but I'm not going anywhere till she's recovered. And I'm sure as hell not staying in this place.

My mate in my arms, I begin walking. The man starts to follow me.

"Where are you going?" I come to a halt, turning to stare at him.

He shrugs. "I don't know."

"Surely you must know something."

He hesitates. "I was a…"

He pauses, his expression strained as if he's trying to think. "I was a mercenary. I know that…I think. But I have no place to go."

He had saved Sophia's life, but our experiences with people joining us on our journeys had not exactly turned out well in the past.

"I'm sorry." I take a step away from him. "I can't risk my mate's life any further. Thank you for saving her, but you'll have to find your own way to wherever it is you're going. Even if you don't know where it is."

The man stares at me, his feet glued to the ground, and he looks lost. If Sophia had been awake right now, she would've taken pity on him, and asked him to join us. It's the same way we welcomed Tina into our fold.

My heart hardens.

I don't waste any time and begin walking.

When I look over my shoulder, he's still standing in the same spot, in the middle of all that carnage, looking lost.

*****

Sophia's injuries are severe, but not life-threatening. While she's unconscious, I find a small brook and use the clear water to clean her wounds. She has plenty of them. Fortunately, it doesn't look like she had been restrained in the same manner that I had been. There are no marks on her wrists or her ankles. Iron restraints leave their marks.

I want to go hunt for some meat for her, but I can't bear the idea of leaving her alone. All our belongings, including the rock that Brian gave us to find our way to the Central Alliance, are back at the village. I don't want to return there, either.

For now, I've settled into my animal form, and lie wrapped around her, trying to warm her up. Despite how alert I felt, I must have been more tired than I realized, because when I open my eyes, Sophia is looking at me from across the clearing.

She's already started a fire, and there is a large, skinned boar roasting on it.

I shift back instantly. "You went hunting?"

Sophia blinks. "Hunting?"

Her voice is clear, with no trace of the weariness that I had been noting for the past two days. "The meat was already cooking when I woke up. I thought you…"

The look on my face has her going still.

I am on my feet and by her side in a heartbeat. Grabbing her by the upper arms, I study her, my eyes roaming over every inch of her. "Are you hurt anywhere? Did he do anything to you?"

"Who?" Sophia doesn't free herself from my hold, but she looks confused. "Who are you talking about, Alex?"

My mouth is dry, my heart pounding. "When did you wake up?"

"Just a few minutes ago. I felt so much better. I've been so tired lately, and when I woke up, it felt like my body just recovered from a long illness. The meat was already cooking, so I thought you'd put it on and fallen asleep. I was just watching over it for you."

I release her, looking around. "It must've been him."

"Him?"

How did that man get past me? Even if I was asleep, my wolf is always alert. For him to be able to sneak past my wolf's defenses means he's more dangerous than I thought.

"You rescued a man, Sophia." I look at my mate.

For a moment, she gazes at me, an uncomprehending look in her eyes. And then, my words finally seem to register with her. I see the color drain from her face, and when she staggers, I catch her.

"I thought…I thought it was all just a bad dream." She looks down at her feet. "My injuries…there are no injuries on me. I was badly injured in the dream, I mean, in the…" She's struggling to form the words. When she looks up at me, devastation is all over her face. "I thought I was going to die. Are you saying none of it was…"

"It wasn't a dream, Sophia. We walked into a den of dark witches. They must've drugged us. I woke up chained in a cave."

Sophia presses the heels of her hands against her temples, looking unsettled. "That's why I couldn't find you. I was in another hut. They wanted something from me. They pretended you were out hunting or something. But I knew. I knew you wouldn't leave me alone like that."

Her hands drift down to settle on my chest. "That field …Alex, that field has dead people buried in it. I tried to get away from them, and I found a cave. They hurt me when I was running away."

Her words are stumbling over one another.

I remember the slashes on her back. They had begun to heal at an alarming speed and I had assumed it was because of the mating mark. I must have been right since they are almost gone. The other wolf had been right. I had just needed to give Sophia my mark.

I tell her what happened, and her hand touches the mating mark on her neck. "So that's what happened. Why didn't anyone tell us?"

"I don't think they knew." I watch her caress the mark and a wave of possessiveness moves through me. "It's so rare for a female shifter to give her mating mark, that it must not be common knowledge."

"He saved me then." Sophia lowers her hand. "That man asked me to release him. He promised to save me. I had no choice but to trust him. I had to pick the lesser of two evils, and I chose him. But I don't remember what happened after. I must've passed out. Are you saying he killed all those witches?"

"Slaughtered is more like it," I mutter, recalling the vicious nature of those killings. "I told him not to follow us, but he must've set up the fire and prepared the meat."

"So why not stay?" Sophia looks around the clearing.

"Because I told him to stay away from us. He didn't even know who he was, Sophia. We cannot risk another incident like Tina."

"Do you really think he's going to be like Tina?" my mate asks me. "Just think about it—from what you are saying, and from what I saw, he's been imprisoned here for a very long time. I doubt he's looking to stab us in the back, or that he's working for Karina, or anybody else for that matter."

Even though she is making sense, I am simply not willing to take the chance. "I'll go and hunt down something else. I don't know if he's tampered with the meat…"

Sophia stops me with a frown on her face. "Now you're being ridiculous. We don't have time to waste, Alex. Let's just eat and resume our journey. We have to go back to the village as well. Brian's tracking stone is in my bag there."

"Absolutely not!" I thunder. "I'm not taking you back there. We'll find our own way to the Central Alliance."

Sophia narrows her eyes at me. "Taking me?"

Her voice is cool. "Why do you think I'm asking you? I'm telling you, Alex. With or without you, I am going to retrieve that stone. You are my mate, but you don't get to boss me around."

I've clearly stepped on her toes. "Sophia, that is a dark witches' den. Even if they are dead, there must be some lingering dark magic in the air there. It's not…"

My mate holds up her hand, stopping me mid-sentence. "Not worth it? I hope that's not what you were going to say. We don't have much time, and we already wasted a lot of it getting entangled with these dark witches. I need that stone, Alex. So, either you come with me, or I go alone. But either way, I'm going."

Lately, Sophia has been so accommodating that I've forgotten her stubborn nature. She's used to doing what she wants, and although she's been taking my opinions into consideration, I keep forgetting how strong-willed she is. She does what she wants.

"Then let me go."

She sits down by the fire and begins breaking of chunks of the meat. "Why? Do you have some gift I don't know about that that protects you from dark magic?"

The taunting tone makes me frown. "I'm trying to protect you."

"Thanks." She raises her brows. "But I feel much better now. I don't need protection all the time, Alex. Let's just eat and go collect our belongings."

It's clear as day to me that Sophia isn't in the mood to listen to me today. She's also pissed because I tried to tell her what to do. Today's going to be fun.

I would rather not eat this boar meat, but she's already chomping down on it.

"This is really good." Sophia looks surprised. "How come you don't ever catch boar for us? It's always rabbits or deer."

I feel a little miffed. "Rabbit meat is good for you. Boar meat has a lot of fat."

She stares at me as if I've said the most ridiculous thing she's ever heard. When she looks away, I can see her rolling her eyes. "Sure."

The fact that she enjoys the food that somebody else hunted down for her makes me feel irritated. Ever since Sophia left the South Alliance to come to the North, there has been a massive shift in her behavior. She has become almost subdued. I didn't notice it at the time. We had so many things happening then, but her normal feisty nature had faded into the background.

Ever since our mating, I've begun to see the old Sophia again—the one who will argue with me and stand up to me. That was the woman I fell in love with, but damn if she doesn't make me want to strangle her.

We finish the meal, and I'm pretty sure it's noon by the time we begin our journey back to the village. The place has been destroyed. The dark witches' prisoner must've done a number on it after we left. The huts have been crushed and the remaining bodies have been torn apart. It troubles me that someone who is capable of such horrifying violence managed to creep up on me while I was asleep.

Sophia lets out the sound of dismay. "Everything is destroyed. How are we supposed to find our things?"

We walk through the village. It's going to take us a long time to recover our belongings.

The thought has barely registered in my mind when I hear something. I hold up a hand, stopping Sophia in her tracks. "Wait here."

Sophia obeys me, thankfully. I walk around the corner and see a man's back as he rummages through the debris of one of the huts.

"Did you do this?" I ask, recognizing him. He turns around to face me and I blink in surprise. The once wild-looking man has chopped his hair off. He's taken a bath . He must've stolen some clothes from the witches, because he's wearing a billowing green tunic and pants that are too short and loose on him. Everything is held together with the help of a belt. He almost looks presentable now.

He's much older than I had first assumed. I would assume he's in his late forties or early fifties.

"Did you leave us food?" I ask.

He shrugs. "You have a problem with that?"

"I have a problem with you sneaking around when I'm trying to protect my mate."

"By sleeping?" the man mocks. me. "Some protecting you were doing. You didn't even wake up."

I flush in embarrassment. "I was tired."

He turns his back on me. "I hope that's not how you usually protect your mate."

It's like he's deliberately antagonizing me.

I stride over to him, and grab him by the front of his shirt. "Don't tell me how to protect my woman. I don't need tips from you. Just stay away from us."

The man pushes me off. "Get out of my way. I'm looking for something."

"Alex!" Sophia's voice reaches me, and before I can tell her to stay there, she's already rounded the corner and she's staring at both of us. "You're the man from the cave!"

The man stares at her, but his eyes are gentle. "You've recovered, little wolf. Did you eat?"

Sophia smiles at him. "Thanks. And yes, I did. You were the one who left us that meat, weren't you?"

He nods. "You should eat more. You're too thin."

My mate crosses her arms over her chest. "You're one to talk. Have you seen how thin you are?"

The man looks down at himself and shrugs, saying gruffly, "I've been here for a long time. They only fed me when I was on the brink of death."

Sophia steps forward. "Did you do all this? What are you looking for here?"

"My things." The man returns to rummaging through the rubble. "Something to tell me who I am. I must be someone."

There's a hint of desperation in his voice, and despite the situation, I feel some level of pity for him. Not knowing your own identity must be daunting indeed.

However, Sophia speaks what's on my mind. "If you've been here for so long, don't you think they would have erased everything about your existence?"

Her words may sound harsh, but her tone is soft.

The man stops digging, and for a moment, I think I see his hands tremble.

"I must find out who I am. I should have kept some of them alive."

"What's done is done," I tell him. "You're alive, and that's what should be important to you."

He looks at me and then Sophia. "But what if I had a mate?"

"If you had a mate," I point at the center of my chest. "You would feel that bond."

The man's quiet and the last lingering hope flickers out in his eyes. "There's nothing." He sinks to the ground. "I feel nothing."

Sophia exchanges a look with me and I know what she's thinking. My mate has a bleeding heart so I don't give her the opportunity to speak. "At least you've escaped. Use that fact to begin your life anew. Come on, Sophia. Let's get our things and leave. Your mother doesn't have that much time."

She shoots me an evil look, and I refuse to feel guilty for using her mother against her, but my mate has the habit of taking in strays.

We look through the rubble and although most of everything we find has been destroyed by the mercenary, we do manage to recover some clothing and the rock. It's cracked, but it might still be usable.

I end up giving the one extra set of clothes I have with me to the man. He's become silent.

I can read the desire in my mate's eyes to take him with us, but I'm not going to take the chance.

"Come on." I take her hand and pull her behind me. "We have to get going."

"Alex." Sophia's voice is soft and pleading. "Look at him. He's got no one."

It's not like I don't have a heart. We could probably drop him off in pack territory but… I turn to face my mate at the edge of the forest, my tone grim. "Sophia, can you afford another betrayal? What if he sabotages our journey? What if your mother suffers as a result? Will you be able to live with yourself?"

When she turns pale, I press. "We don't know this man. He might recover his memories and choose to see us as enemies. He's dangerous and he's a mercenary. We don't know whether the witches have fucked with his head. He could turn on us at any moment."

She lowers her gaze and I feel like a monster.

"I know you're worried about him, but he'll survive. Your mother is the main focus for now. We cannot allow any further distractions."

"You're right," she whispers hollowly. "I know you're right. I just feel horrible leaving him alone like that."

"I know you do, but he's a grown man. He'll figure it out. Trust me. Now come on. We have a lot of time to make up for."

Looking over my shoulder at the remains of the ruined village, I hope this is the last time we see that man.