Alec’s

“What about the warrior? I know I charged Micah with them, but have they arrived?” I ask Jason as we walk side by side.

I fist my hand in an attempt to suppress the pull of the bond. Every fiber of my being was against leaving Sadie.

“No, but it won’t be much longer. An hour or so,” Jason answers before stopping.

I halt in my steps and turn to look at him, wondering why he stopped.

“Is something wrong?” he asks, his eyes looking at me in worry. “You seem tensed.”

I grit my teeth against the need and pull to turn around and go back to Sadie’s room. I honestly don’t understand why this is happening. Why is it becoming so hard? Is it because we are in close proximity?

The need to be around her has gotten stronger since we came back here. It feels like my entire being is being consumed by this need. The need to be near her, as if she’s the very air I breathe.

“Nothing; let’s just go,” I tell him, and I begin walking once again.

Every step take away from her feels heavy. Like my feet have been filled with lead. My body is screaming against me leaving, especially when my mate is in a delicate state. It’s as if the very fabric of my being is fighting against me. Against walking away from this hospital.

We get outside, and I rush to get away from the suffocating atmosphere. I quicken my steps, hoping that the need to stay will Lease if I can just put some distance between me and Sadie.

“Will you slow down?” Jason’s pants, trying to catch up with me.

I don’t stop, though. He can either hurry up or stay behind. Right now, it’s none of my f*g **business.

Within minutes, I am pushing the door to the pack house open. Nothing and no one register in my head as I make my way towards my office.

I open the door to my office only to find Piper seated in one of my chairs.

“Alec!” she breathes in a relieved tone. She jumps on me, hugging me tightly as if we’d not seen each other in years.

I hug her back before stepping away from her. I round my desk and drop down on my chair. It wasn’t even mid-morning, and I was already exhausted.

Is this how it’s going to be? Constantly fighting against the mate bond? It’s tiring and frustrating. I honestly don’t know how long I can keep up with it.

“Hi, Piper. How was your trip?” I lean against my chair just as Jason walks in.

The pull is still there, but it has dulled. It isn’t as strong as it was back in the hospital. The mate bond is still buzzing, though.

Its energy is there. It’s hard to explain how it feels, but it’s like every cell in my body is buzzing with an electric current or something. I never felt this way with Lola. Sure, I could feel the bond, but it wasn’t this all-consuming. I never once felt like my

entire being was being lit up.

“Alec?” Her voice interrupts my thoughts.

I shake my head in an attempt to bring my focus, back to the present. My mind is consumed with nothing but thoughts of my mate. D***n, this is so different from what I experienced with Lola.

I have alpha friends who found their mates long before I did. They used to talk about how it felt to find their fated. I once

RG.

found it odd that I didn’t feel the same with Lola, but I was so in love with her that I pushed those doubts away.

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Looking back now, I realize that it’s because of that love that I made excuses and believed in them. Aside from being in love with Lola, I was in desperate need of the cure to the curse. I made myself believe that once we marked each other, the bond would grow stronger.

“Alec, is there really a need for Calvin to stay in the dungeon?”

I sigh once again as Piper’s voice pulls me from my thoughts.

“You know I can’t,” I reply, taking in a deep breath. “He plotted against me; that’s a crime that can’t go unpunished.”

“B-but what he did led you to your true mate and stopped you from taking an impostor as a mate. That has to mean something,” she tries to reason, her desperation clear in her eyes

“It doesn’t work that way, Piper. He conspired against an Alpha and his actions led to a sequence of events that nearly destroyed Sadie’s life. Imagine if Sadie had actually died three years ago.”

Her eyes fill with tears. She’s my sister and I know her. I know her. I know that, despite the truth of my words, she’s determined to save her mate.

“Please, Alec. You have your mate, and you know how strong the bond is. It’s stronger for me because Calvin has already marked me. I can’t see him suffer. I just can’t.”Còntens bel0ngs to Nô(v)elDr/a/ma.Org

My heart constricts at the pain in her eyes, but there is nothing I can do. Calvin connived with another to drug an alpha. That isn’t a small crime. Besides, Sadie deserves justice.

I know it’s not enough to undo everything I did to her, and Calvin isn’t wholly to blame for the torture I put her through, but at least she deserves to get some form of justice.

“I know, Piper, but I can’t and won’t allow it.” I tell her this time with authority. “Calvin has to pay for his crimes. Sadie paid

go scot-free?” for a crime she didn’t commit. Do you think it’ll be fair to her to let Calvin

She goes to say something, but I interrupt her.

“Besides, Sadie is now an alpha, and this is as much her decision as it is mine. She has the right to decide what to do with Calvin, given that his actions had the biggest impact on her.”

She slumps in her seat in defeat. She knows what I said is the truth. Being an alpha gives Sadie the right to make decisions concerning what to do with Calvin. That is something I refuse to take from her after everything else I have taken from her.

“What will happen to him?” she whispers.

“I don’t know,” I answer. “It’s mainly up to Sadie, but for now, hell stay in the dungeons until a sentence has been made.”

This time, she doesn’t stop the tears from falling. They run down her cheeks freely. I hate seeing her in pain. I hate seeing her like this, but I just can’t do anything concerning this matter.

I can’t, and I won’t take this away from Sadie. I know it will not absolve me from my own mistakes, but I won’t make things difficult for her. I won’t stand in the way of her getting justice,

I love my sister and would do anything for her. Anything but this. Anything but releasing Calvin from the dungeons. She needs to understand that what he did didn’t just affect me.

“Is there really nothing you can do?” she asks, her words breaking as she says them.

1 sigh. I feel like we are going around in circles now, and it’s beginning to frustrate me.

“No,” I answer, “And even if there was something I could do, I wouldn’t do it. I know he’s your mate, but you have to

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understand that his actions made me hurt my mate. It’s because of his actions that I am here in this mess with my mate hating my guts

My words make her cry harder. Running my hand down my face, I stand up, about to go comfort her, when a scream stops me in my tracks.

“Mommy!”

I hear Aspen’s voice, and she sounds terrified.