Alec’s

"Are you sure you are ready for this?" King asks, as I shove my clothes inside my suitcase.

Stopping, I stare at him for a minute. "No, but it's the only way to get what I want."

I've gone over my decision over and over again. I'm not one to reconsider something I've already decided. I make a decision and stick to it. When it comes to Alec, though, I have to think things through. I have to look at all the angles. I have to exhaust all the possibilities.

I'm doing this for his pack, in exchange for my freedom was the best possible outcome. I could involve the council like I'd threatened, but deep inside I know that they are a bunch of sexist assholes. They would probably have sided with Alec. Threatening him with the council was just me calling his bluff.

The council's attitude is also one of the reasons why I've never come out to them as the alpha of the hope pack. I didn't want to deal with them constantly challenging me or looking down on me because I am a

woman.

The council has been there for years. It was established after the first bloody war between the three supernatural species. The deities of the individual species didn't like that their children were fighting and killing each other. Through an oracle, they commanded them to stop their war and find a way to coexist or else the deities would send their wrath upon them.

At first, they didn't listen. The wolves wanted more territories, the vampires wanted more blood, and the witches and warlocks wanted more power. It was chaos with the wolves' attacking vampires and witches for their lands. Vampires attacking witches and humans for blood, and witches and warlocks using vampires and werewolves as blood sacrifices to strengthen their magic.

The god and goddesses had enough and wreaked havoc on them. Diseases, death, hurricanes, storms, floods, drought, you name them. They were suffering, they were dying, and so they had to concede to what the deities wanted. With the help of the oracle, who was given instructions by the deities, they formed the first council.

It was a great story. A great part of our history. The only thing I didn't ever fucking like was that the council consisted of only men, even though two of their deities are females. It's been that way for thousands of years. Only men sit on the council and let me tell you, from what I've heard, those men are sexists as hell.

"Sadie?" his voice pulls me back to reality.

"What is it?" I ask.

Shaking my head to clear it, I continue packing. I'm already done with Aspen's clothes, and they were currently sitting in a little pink suitcase that she chose herself.

She was so excited when I told her that we would be travelling. We rarely left the pack, and if we did, it was at night. I was always afraid that someone would recognize me or her. A part from her hair color, she was the spitting image of her father. It wouldn't be hard for someone to connect the dots.

"I'm really not sure about this, Sadie," King sits down on my bed, his intense gaze burning through me. "I feel like you going to that pack will bring about something. I just don't know what."

"Stop worrying," I tell him, before sitting down next to him. "It will be over very quick. I'm just going to help them, get what I want and then be back before you know it. Besides, Raven will be there." We had agreed that King would be the one staying behind while Raven travels with me.

With how powerful I'd gotten, I don't really need her to accompany me, but I thought it would be nice to have someone I trusted with us. It would make going back to Alec's pack a bit easier. "Fine, but just know that I'll be there in a heartbeat if you need me."

"I know" I say before zipping up my suitcase. "Now I'm done."

I'd just finished the sentence when Raven walks in. "Are you done? Because I am, and I'm looking forward to going back and seeing my mom's grave. It's been years."

When Raven had helped me that day in Alec's office, she had been labeled as a wanted person too. Just like me, she left everything of her old life, including her mother's grave, when we fled. Over the years, I asked her to go back and visit her mother's grave when she talked about missing her, but she never did. She insisted that our safety was paramount and she didn't want to risk ever getting caught.

It's one of the reasons why I decided she would be the one to accompany me instead of King.

"Yes, I am done," I answer standing up. "Let me just get someone to bring our luggage down."

Minutes later, a guard comes in to take our luggage. We leave the room and follow behind him. I'd told one of the omegas to tell Martha to meet us at the front.

Given Martha has been her nanny since she was around eight months, she is coming with us. I trusted no one in Alec's pack to look after my sweet baby

Aspen's body collides with mine the moment she sees me. She was a bubble of excitement and joy.

"I get to fly, mommy," she gushes with happiness. "I've always wanted to fly in a plane."

Everyone's eyes were on her as she rocked back and forth on her feet. It's like she couldn't stand still in one spot because of her excitement.

Picking her up by her armpits, I hug her close, peppering her cheeks with kisses. Her joyful laughter and giggles bring warmth to my cold heart. Her beautiful smile is everything to me. She was my whole damn world.

Aspen was the reason why I was doing this. She's the reason why I agreed to help Alec. She doesn't deserve two parents who hate each other and were forced into a mating. I know the goddess made a mistake pairing us, and I am going to fix her mistake.

Aspen deserves to see me happy with a man that genuinely loves. A man whose heart beats only for me. She deserves to know what a true mating is. A mating of unconditional love. She'll never get to see that if I don't break the bond with Alec.

"Are you all ready?" his deep voice asks, as he stops beside me.

I stiffen as his scent fills my nose and the bond comes to life.

I grip and hug Aspen tightly in my arms, using her as my anchor. An anchor that will keep me intact and stop me from succumbing to the mate bond that was relentless in its pursuit of making me surrender to its will.

"Yes," I answer softly.

His eyes were firmly fixed on Aspen. A kind of longing was present there, but I ignore it.

"Okay, let get going then," he finally says, after a while.

I walk and get into the car unable to shake the feeling that this trip was going to change everything I knew and believed.