68

68
There’s something wrong with her eyes.

“Are you looking for Alex?”

I take a step toward her. “You kidnapped my mate. I want him back.”

“I’m afraid I can’t do that.” Karina smiles at me again.

My eyes narrow into slits. “Are you willing to start a war with the South Alliance? Kidnapping my consort is grounds for a war.”

Karina’s smile broadens. “A war? Me? You are the one who just crossed into the North Alliance without asking. You do know there is protocol, don’t you? You have to ask permission before entering my territory.”

I sneer at her. “Don’t make me laugh. If you want to play that game, you entered the South Alliance to kidnap Alex. I don’t play politics, Karina. I want my mate.”

Karina arches a brow. “Fine. Then let me be blunt as well. You and your mate humiliated me at the banquet. Did you think I would ignore a slight like that?”

“Humiliated you? You were trying to capture me. And when you couldn’t have me, you were attempting to force me into captivity by capturing Alex. You were in the wrong the whole time!”

Karina shrugs. “It’s a pity you’re not interested in playing politics. You won’t go very far in life, Sophia. If you don’t want your mate to suffer, you will surrender willingly.”

She brings out a collar and leash and throws them at my feet. “You humiliated me. Now it’s your turn to live a life of humiliation.”

My companions snarl at the insult. I don’t even bother looking at the collar and chain at my feet.

“I decline.”

Karina chuckles. “You can stop acting tough. You’re barely just an adult. I fear the South Alliance leaders were hasty in choosing you as their queen. You have no experience. And from what I’ve heard, you don’t even have an education. The only thing you have is your mate. You will never see him again.” She gestures with her hands. “You’re free to look around, but you won’t find him. It’s better to surrender.”

I stick my hands in my pockets, rocking on my heels. “You’re right. I don’t have much of an education, and maybe the Alphas of the South were a little hasty in choosing someone so ignorant as me for their leader. But the fact is, I am still the leader. I know about the war that you are planning. I know you want to control me so that you can win this war. That’s not going to happen.”

I bare my teeth at her. “Uneducated and inexperienced as I may be, I do understand responsibility. And as the Queen of the South Alliance, I’m pretty sure I should be preventing a war from breaking out, no matter the personal cost to me.”

Karina narrows her eyes and I continue with a shrug. “At least, that’s what Alex would tell me to do. But I have no intentions of making any sort of personal sacrifice. Alex is, and will always be, my first priority. That does not mean that I am going to let you start a war that will ruin our lives. I am not going to surrender to anybody.”

Karina scoffs. “Is your little speech done?”

I don’t bother with a response.

She lifts her hand and points to the left. “You see that? That is where the human city is. My soldiers are going to reach it within another couple of hours. They’re going to destroy that city and kill all the humans. I know you were trying to stop the attack. But how will your soldiers make it to the North when every pack in the South Alliance is currently under attack?”

A smile blooms on her face.

Every pack?

I exchange a quick look with Patrick, whose body is stiff.

“It seems that the only ones who can protect the humans from the big bad queen is your little party of six.” Karina laughs. “Against my entire army. What a joke.”

She’s clearly enjoying this. “So, who will you choose? Alex or those humans? You should keep in mind that the place where I have stashed your precious mate is one that can traumatize him for life.”

Her smile is a little unhinged and my heart flutters in panic.

“What did you do to him?” I demand.

“I had years to work on him,” Karina informs me. “I had years to develop a form of torture that can break his mind. Alex tries to be all tough and strong in front of you, but you don’t know his deepest, darkest fears. I do. Because I created those fears. I put them in his heart. I put him in a place that he considers his personal hell. Every minute there is worse than physical torture for him.”

She’s giggling now. The mere sight is enough to make my blood run cold.

“So, who will you choose, Sophia?” Karina studies me, delighted. “The humans and this war, or Alex?”

When I’m silent, she presses, “Let me explain your options to you. If you choose to prevent this war, not only will your mate resent you, but by the time you find him, if you ever do that is, he’ll be a shell of himself. Don’t think that just because you have faith in him, he’s going to survive. And even if you do prevent the war, I am the only one who knows where he is. Walking across the North Alliance will not help you find him. His location is rather unique. I will never tell you where he is, Sophia. And I made arrangements that even if something were to happen to me, he will not die. I want him to live like this, stuck in a place where all he knows is torment.”

I want to rip out her tongue, claw out her eyes.

“But, if you choose to surrender, I will allow you to see him occasionally. How does once a year sound?”

A cold, tight knot forms in my gut, and my pulse races as I stare at the woman before me. My heart is racing. My response is on the tip of my tongue, but I press my lips together.

The smugness in her eyes as she gazes back at me infuriates me. She knows she has me by the throat.

“Do you ever shut up?”

Karina’s eyes narrow into tiny slits. “Excuse me?”

I infuse my voice with every bit of irritation and disgust I can muster up in this moment. “You just keep yapping and yapping. Do you think I’m so stupid that I will believe anything you have to say? I’m not going to hand myself over to you just because threaten Alex’s life. For all I know, you’re lying through your teeth.”

“You…” Karina glowers at me, two spots of color on her otherwise pale cheeks.

I pick up the collar and leash and throw them at Karina's face. "Don't insult me by underestimating my mate. Alex is more resilient than you will ever understand."

Patrick and Jared grunt in approval at my words. Nathan is pale but he stands taller.