Page 3 of The Alpha Wolf Defying Fate

Ayden Fairchild-Humphris of the Voland Coven, the moon witch destined to bring chaos to my life, now made to be my mate. The Fates were always said to have some twisted sense of humor, but I always chocked it up to exaggerated tales.

And now, thanks to his distraction, Minerva had gotten away yet again. It had taken us weeks to track her to this alley. A month before that to even know to come to this middle of nowhere town. It was a cruel twist of fate that Ayden had been here right at this exact moment, as we had nearly completed the very mission that Uncle Brady had started.

All of his research from twenty years ago pointed to a darkness, with the witch Minerva, at its center. Research that he had hidden away for years, only for Rory and Baer to stumble upon it during one of their late-night library rendezvous.

We hadn’t told our parents about our discovery. We had decided that The Fates wanted us to finish what our parents could not, and we knew that despite being adults, they would not have allowed us to do so without a fight.

And now, thanks to Ayden, we lost our chance with only this small and not so promising lead, as to what the witch was doing in this alley at all.

“I don’t know what you mean,” the vampire said, his voice shaky with nervousness.

Baer’s large body blocked his path, his arms crossed over his chest, while Rory admired some potion bottles along the shelves with interest.

“Wow,” she whispered. “I’ve never even heard of some of these. What are Reapers Bells?”

Ayden’s eyes snapped towards my cousin, an obvious recognition in his widened moonlit eyes.

“Well now,” he said, his head slowly turning to the vampire. “You have some very interesting items here. Now let’s see.” He began to run his fingers along the shelf that lined the counter before chuckling darkly as he stopped. “Just as I thought. Tell me, what do you think the council will think about you dealing in wolfbane as well as human anatomy.”

I creased my brows as I looked at the item. He paused at the jar’s label, nearly illegible.

Type O Negative, female, freeze-dried.

“I bought those items in a perfectly legal manner,” the vampire argued, though his eyes shifted nervously between both doors.

“And the reaper bells? What legal manner did you come across them?”

Rory and I both exchanged glances then, curious as to what it was about the strange herbs that triggered Ayden’s line of questioning. We were here about Minerva, not some weird illegal herbal sales.

“What the hell does this have to do with why we’re here?” I asked. “If all you’re worried about is some plants and human blood sourcing, then get out of our way so we can ask him the real questions.”

“Back off, Rigel,” he growled back at me, his eyes never leaving the vampire behind the counter. “I know exactly what I’m doing.”

“As if I would trust you! You probably purposefully let Minerva get away. Don’t think I didn’t notice you didn’t rush at the smoke like the rest of us. Now for all I know, you’re trying to lead us as far from her as possible.”

“Do you ever shut the hell up?” He snapped. His arms reached out over the counter and jerked the clerk over as he yanked on his shirt. His eyes glowing brighter than the moon in the sky outside and his teeth elongating as his wolf seemed to begin to take over. “Where did you get those herbs? Did she sell them to you? Answer me now!”

I stepped back as the pulse of his aura swept over the store, only Baer seemed to withstand the heavy atmosphere of his power. The power of an Alpha King. One of only three knowns to exist in this era. I gritted my teeth against submitting to the power, my own alpha side growling at the mere idea of bending a knee to anyone, least of all him.

‘Mate is powerful,’my wolf said with admiration and pride.‘The Fates has greatly blessed us.’

‘No, we haven’t,’I snapped at her.‘Don’t forget. He is destined for darkness. For all we know, he is exactly what Uncle Brady was searching for.’

I could hear her let out a low whimper, doubt pressing into my mind from her. My eyes ran along Ayden’s arms, taking in the muscles as they flexed in use, holding up the vampire. I couldn’t help but wonder what they would be like wrapped around me. The strength of them holding me in the air as his lips explored my body.

“There is a portal to the Forgotten Realm,” the vampire cried out, breaking the trance of thoughts my wolf had been slipping into my mind.

I shook my head to rid the thoughts, doing my best to hide the blush that I could feel burning against my cheeks.

“How?” Ayden demanded, as the rest of us exchanged more confused glances.

“The Forgotten Realm?”

“Isn’t that just some old bedtime story?” Baer asked.

“I don’t know if I’ve ever heard of it at all. What story?” I asked as I looked between Rory and Baer.

“Where?” Ayden continued to question. He was completely ignoring us and our questions. He shook the vampire when he didn’t answer right away, his fingers shifting to claws that dug into the papery thin skin of the undead creature. I could feel his magic then. The strange magic that only he possessed. The very magic that I suspected of darkness, despite its lack of the dark scent when he used it.

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