Chapter 9

Sophia

Alex had everything in hand before we even reached the Red Rock Wolf Pack. It astounds me that we've not even been here a day, and he already has everything organized. I should pay more attention to what he's doing.

"Ready to go?"

It's dark outside and Alex is waiting outside the house where Elsa and my mother will be staying. I wanted to say goodbye to my mother before I left.

I close the door behind me and look around. Alex's men are stationed all around the house. I let out a breath of relief.

Throwing one last look at the house, I begin walking toward my mate.

He smiles down at me. "She'll be fine. Nobody will be able to get to her as long as she's here. Now come on. We have to travel under the cover of darkness."

"It's just us?" I look around, surprised. "I thought you wanted to take a few soldiers."

"I was planning to, but it would be faster with just the two of us. Besides, we'll be crossing the border from the South, so we don't have to worry about Karina attacking us."

He has a point, but I still feel a bit wary. However, the idea of more protection around my mother is also reassuring.

"So, what's the plan?"

"We're going to leave here and use the free zones to travel. We're not going to let anybody from the Red Rock Wolf Pack know about our departure."

"And they won't suspect when they don't see us for days?" I stare at him.

"They'll think you're holed away looking after the pack affairs, which is what Patrick and the others will be doing in your stead."

That is something that had worried me, but then, Robert or Noah's people aren't going to seek me out for now. If there is anybody planning to get rid of me, they'll take their sweet time. With all the soldiers swarming the town, they'll need time to come up with a plan.

I reach into my pocket and bring out the rock that Brian gave me. "This is going to help us navigate our way in the Central Alliance."

"Is this the one that Brian gave you?"

Alex studies the rock, picking it up and sniffing it.

"He told you?"

My mate nods.

"I checked the maps," I tell him. "Well, I had a little help from Jared too. We're going to be traveling for less than a week. We're not that far away from the Central Alliance. Once we get the cure or the medicine, whatever it is, my mother will be fine. She'll wake up."

Hope is budding within me.

It's finally happening.

I catch Alex looking at me and for a moment, I see a troubled expression on his face.

"What is it?"

He shakes his head. "Nothing. Let's go."

I let out a deep breath before shifting into my wolf form.

It's time to go save my mother.

***

We move under the cover of darkness, and whenever we stop to rest, I put up a barrier. While it does give us time to rest peacefully, the more magic I use, the weaker I get. Because of my growing exhaustion, we've had to stop every couple of hours. Alex isn't complaining, but he's definitely concerned.

He's skinning a couple of rabbits as I splash water on my face at the stream where we've stopped. I look down at my reflection in the clear water and the strain around my eyes is obvious. I'm just so tired.

I've even begun sleeping more, and Alex has had to shake me awake so we can get moving again. It's becoming more and more frequent that I struggle to wake up.

My hands are trembling, and I clench them into fists, glancing over my shoulder warily. I don't want Alex to notice this. I don't understand what is going on with me. Elsa believes that it is the result of our mating bond. I don't want to believe that. I don't want to believe that something that brings me so much joy is capable of sapping my life energy.

Because that is what it feels like right now.

Using even the slightest bit of magic is draining me now. I'm a little more stable in my wolf form, but in my human form, I'm fighting sleep at every moment.

It has to be something else. Maybe Tina did something to me. Maybe she put some sort of curse on me. However, no amount of searching reveals any trace of her magic. Desperation to not jeopardize this mission has me keeping my mouth shut. I know Alex will prioritize my safety and health. And I can't let that happen. My mother is running out of time now.

"Sophia?" I hear Alex call out my name.

"Coming!" I get to my feet and close my eyes when a wave of dizziness washes over me. When I open my eyes, my vision is blurry, but gritting my teeth, I return to the firepit where the rabbits are roasting. I sit down beside Alex, leaning against his hard body. He's studying the map in his hand.

"Everything okay?" I ask.

"I was looking at the map I got from the town's general store." He presses a kiss on the top of my head, absentmindedly. "There's something wrong with it."

"What do you mean?"

He pauses for a second before laying the map down on the forest ground. He then picks up another map and holds it out to me. "See for yourself. We passed three specific locations marked on this map that I found in Robert's office. None of these locations are on the map I got from the shop."

I straighten up, alarm bells ringing in my head. "What?"

"See for yourself." Alex points at the location where we are supposedly standing on the store-bought map. "Do you see the stream here?"

He's right. I don't.

Bodies of water, even ponds, are carefully marked for travelers.

"On the other hand, look at the map you're holding." He places his finger on a spot. "See this cross? We're here. It shows the stream. It shows the massive boulders we just passed around seven hours ago. But on this map," he holds the store-bought map, "there's nothing."

"It's a fake?" I ask, slowly, troubled. "You think the store owner screwed you over?"

"No." Alex shakes his head. "I went to multiple stores, and all the maps were the same. I was looking for the most updated version of the map. The man behind the counter I got this fromtold me that Robert had taken part in a survey of the South Alliance, along with the other territories, and he had recalled all the existing maps and replaced them with updated ones."

"Only, the ones he released were not real," I murmur, slowly, realizing what Robert did. "The one you found in his office is the actual one."

"Seems so." Alex looks confounded. "I don't understand why, though. Seems like a useless thing to do."

I stare at Robert's map, my eyes narrowed. "What are these crosses on it?"

I trail my finger along them, as if connecting the dots. "They go all the way to the Central Alliance border. What if…when did the shopkeeper say Robert changed the maps?"

"He didn't." Alex picks up the fake map. "But it should be indicated somewhere on the back."

Sure enough. The date is printed in fine print at the bottom.

"That's the year I was born," I say, uncertainly. "The same…"

"The same year your parents came to the South Alliance," Alex breathes. "This can't be a coincidence."

"What's this?" I point at something on Robert's map. It's also marked with a cross.

"I don't know. But if we follow this map, we'll have to walk through this area." Alex sets both maps side by side and then frowns after a couple of minutes. "I don't want to call it a fake map, because this also leads to the Central Alliance, but the path is different. It's not moving through the free zone. It's almost as if Robert was trying to hide something and changed the maps."

I wet my lips. "The one he had shows a quicker route. Or am I wrong?"

My mate glances at me before focusing on the maps once again. "You're right. If we had followed the updated map," his head lifts up and he looks down the way we came, "we would have gone deeper into the forest. It would have increased our journey by at least a week, and we would have missed this area."

He points at another area on Robert's map that has a cross marked on it.

I sigh. "This is just worrisome. What was Robert trying to hide? Maybe we can come back someday and explore this area. But for now…"

My mate pats my hands. "Don't worry. I'm not focused on digging up Robert's secrets. We have more important things to deal with. For now, we'll follow his map, though. We can't afford to waste any more days."

I give him a grateful look and then lean up to kiss him on the mouth.

His hands immediately discard the map and come to wrap around my shoulders. Despite my exhaustion, I laugh, batting the roaming hands off me when they grope my ass. "Don't even think about it!"

"I'm always thinking about it." He bites my earlobe. "If I could, I would keep you naked all the time."

He has me under him now, wickedness dancing in his eyes, the matter of the maps all but forgotten.

I push him off me, but not before he steals a couple of very heated kisses from me that have my blood humming in anticipation and need. "Behave yourself."

Alex snatches the maps from the forest floor, folding them. "Nah, not interested."

I know he's trying to distract me and it's kind of working.

The sun is setting when he removes the cooked meat from the fire, and we dig in. I'm too tired to continue, so I curl up in his arms.

Sleepy, I ask, "What were Brian and you talking about before we left?"

"When?" Alex puts his arm under my head to cushion my head.

"When I was saying goodbye to Elsa. You said something about murders and witches."

Alex is quiet and when he doesn't speak for a long time, I wonder if he's fallen asleep. But then he says, "Karina has been killing humans and seizing their territories in the North. She's also robbing them blind and emptying their bank accounts. The witch covens in the North are also vanishing or swearing their allegiance to her. I told Brian this. Patrick and the others brought over the evidence we've been collecting. If we allow Karina to continue down this path, it will lead to a war between the humans and the shifters, and the humans have more dangerous weapons."

My blood runs cold. "Why would she do that? Doesn't she know the consequences?"

"I guess she doesn't care," my mate murmurs. "I can't really tell what is going on in Karina's mind. But she has always been greedy and desperate for power. Whatever her reasoning is, it's going to cause the destruction of all of us. I don't know if the Central Alliance knows about this, but they can no longer hold a neutral stance when it comes to the actions of the North. They will have to step in, as will you."

I'm silent, absorbing this new information.

Finally, I say, "I always got a crazy vibe from her."

Alex chuckles. "That's one way to put it."

I pat his hand, which is around my waist. "We'll deal with her. Let's just save my mother first. Then we'll go kick Karina's ass."

He kisses my cheek. "Sounds like a date."

Unable to fight sleep any longer, I doze off, wrapped in my mate's warm embrace. In my dreams, I see witches running around in panic while Karina is banging on someone's door, a mask on her face.

***

The next morning, we resume our journey. Due to the frequent breaks we are forced to take because of me, I am plagued with the constant worry that I am holding us back. We need to move faster. But Alex doesn't take no for an answer, and whenever I begin to slow down and stumble while running, he forces me to rest.

According to the map, we have finally reached the area that Robert had crossed off in his version of the map. To my surprise, it's a small village, surrounded by a few open fields.

We've been running for a couple of hours now, and when we see the small, thriving village in the distance, the idea of taking a quick rest and getting a hot meal is tempting.

Alex doesn't argue with me, and as we get closer, he says, "I didn't know the South Alliance had villages in the free zones."

I am equally confused. I believed that the free zones belonged to no territory. "Well, those rules don't apply to humans, right?"

From where we're standing, we can only see older women. Some are carrying baskets on their backs as they head to the open fields nearby. It's a quaint-looking place.

"Do you think we can get something to eat here before we continue?"

Alex shrugs. "I don't see why not. You don't sense anything off about this place, do you?"

"Nothing. They seem harmle…" My sentence cuts off as we get closer.

I lift my arm, stopping him.

"No. There was a barrier. No wonder I couldn't sense anything. They're witches, Alex."

Alex frowns. "It makes sense that there are so few of them. They must be a coven."

"I thought covens were bigger than this." I look curiously at the village. "There must be less than fifty residents in this village."

"Sometimes covens also go extinct due to lack of births," Alex tells me. "Witches are females. They have to mate with humans to have children, but human males are not allowed within their covens. It's been this way for as long as I can remember."

"So, what do we do?" I hesitate. "Should we continue on?"

Alex doesn't get the opportunity to answerbecause two of the elderly women have already spotted us and arenow walking toward us.

"Visitors?" one of them asks with a sweet smile. "What a lovely surprise."

"We were just leaving," I begin hastily, but the other one's eyes turn wide as she looks at me. "Nonsense. Our little village is eager to welcome travelers. Stay. Have something to eat."

"Come share a meal with us." Her friend smiles warmly. "Young blood revitalizes this place."

They're just old women, and they seem so excited at the prospect of having visitors, that I don't have it in me to say no. One look at Alex has me realizing that he, too, doesn't know what to do.

"Maybe a meal would be nice," I relent.

"Come on then." The two women turn around and begin shuffling toward the village huts. They're talking amongst themselves now. "Call Ariana. She makes the best beef stew. I'll go start up the bread."

"You could have said no," I murmur as we follow after them.

"So could you," Alex whispers.

I give him a grumpy look.

The two elderly women had worn looks of childlike excitement and I didn't have the heart to say no to them.

As we enter the village, I see more women. They're all old, past their sixties. All of them are carrying the same basket on their backs, no matter what they're doing. It's a handwoven straw basket that people usually wear to carry crops in. I've seen pictures of them in history books but this is my first time seeing one in person.

This whole village is quite old-fashioned. The huts are not made of wood or bricks but mud with straw roofs. It's almost as if this place is stuck in ancient times.

We are led to one of those huts where a mat has been placed on the floor. One of the women sits with us, eagerly asking questions about our travels and where we came from. Alex and I try to answer her questions to the best of our abilities, without revealing too much.

Three more women enter the hut, and soon, the mouth-watering smell of beef stew and fried vegetables fills the air. My stomach rumbles in appreciation.

"It's so refreshing to see new people in the village." One of the women who arrived later shuffles forward, carrying a pot of food.

I try to help, but Alex and I are told to sit.

"I feel so refreshed already, just hearing of your travels. Shifters rarely travel by our village anymore." The woman who baked the fresh bread sits down heavily on the ground across from us.

"Really?" I lean forward. "How long has your coven been here for?"

"Oh." The women exchange smiles before turning their attention back to me. "We've lost count. Centuries. We're one of the oldest covens."

Alex is served a big helping of food while I look at our hosts. "So there are no young witches here?"

Sadness flickers in their eyes. "We're too far away from human cities. We had young ones, but they were more interested in the world beyond our village, and they left. Now it's just us."

"Just the six of you?" Alex sounds surprised. I understand his surprise because I remember seeing a lot of women.

"No." They chuckle. "There are quite a few of us. Right now, some are in the forest, picking herbs, and some are in the fields, harvesting."

"What do you grow?" I ask.

"Everything. The fields provide us withnourishment. We have everything we need in this village, as did our ancestors before us. Now, eat. You've been traveling for a while now. Some good hot food will warm your tired bones."

The food is delicious and although the witches keep us engaged in conversation, but I can feel my eyes drooping.

I would like nothing more than to curl up in a soft bed and sleep.

My vision blurs from exhaustion and the spoon falls from my grasp.

***

When I wake up, it's to an unfamiliar ceiling.

There is straw beneath me.

My stomach is churning and I force myself into a sitting position before turning to the side and throwing up.

I don't know what is in my stomach but each time I throw up, my skin crawls.

Gasping for breath, I try to reach for Alex, needing him.

Something's wrong with me.

Something is very wrong with me.

But when there's no response from beside me, I turn my head, only to realize that my mate is nowhere to be seen.