Page 34 of The Alpha Wolf Defying Fate

“Well, if he was so scared of losing me then why is he acting so weird and avoiding me now?”

“Are you talking to me or yourself?” Rory asked from behind me.

I jumped at her sudden appearance, irritated that she had sneaked up on me at all. It was clear that my mind was too wrapped up within myself.

“Oh,” I blushed as I looked back at her smiling face. “Myself.”

“Well, had you been talking to me, I would say that all you have to do is just give me a sign if you are wanting to get him alone and I’d make sure Baer and myself disappeared for an hour or two so you can ask him yourself.” She smiled brightly. “But that’s only if you were talking to me. Otherwise, I’m sure your wolf has some thoughts of her own.”

I felt my wolf snicker in my head as I rolled my eyes. “Well, let’s say that I am talking to you now. How quickly can you make yourself scarce?”

Rory smiled and turned around to face the camp where Baer and Ayden were setting up the tents. I watched as she gave me a wink before whistling and gaining her mate’s attention.

With a wiggle of her finger, she disappeared into the trees with a giggle, and Baer was quick to drop everything, leaving what he was doing and followed her excitedly. I smiled as they both disappeared through the trees, and I turned my gaze to Ayden, finally catching his eyes on me. His eyes locked with mine before he turned to leave the unfinished tents.

“Oh no you don’t,” I called out, jumping over debris along the ground to reach him quickly before he disappeared.

I reached him before he could slip into the trees and disappear like Baer and Rory had. I held tight to his sleeve and glared up at him.

“What is going on with you? You haven’t talked to me since the other night by the river. Just tell me if you think it was a mistake instead of avoiding me like a pussy.” I demanded, rushing my words out before he could slip away from me.

He stopped and looked down at me. His eyes narrowed as he took all of me in, starting at my feet and climbing to the top of my head before settling on my eyes.

“Well?” I demanded again. “Say something, Ayden.”

“Did you ever stop to think that maybe I was keeping my distance for a reason? That maybe I had more on my mind than simply that you and I fucked? Maybe, just maybe, I saw something that has me second guessing everything I know, and I needed time to think things over for myself.”

My body jolted back at his words, my eyes widening as I began to comprehend what it was he was saying.

He saw. Through the darkness of that river, he saw what I had done to escape the kelpie. The use of forbidden magic, magic that I condemned his bloodline’s use of countless times. A magic that no one ever comes back from, even as I stood before him completely unaffected.

He knew what he saw.

I swallowed hard as I took a step back.

“I think you’ve had plenty of time to think by now. So, just say it. I’m a big girl, remember? A god damned warrior princess. You don’t have to coddle me with your silence, Ayden.”

I poked his chest with each word of what he had told me. The words that had reminded me to fight the kelpie. The words that had inspired me to live.

Ayden grabbed my hand, his grip tight as he towered over me, but I didn’t back down. I stood on the tips of my toes, my nose inches from his as we stared each other down.

“Say. It...” I growled.

His eyes narrowed down at me, his hand releasing mine as he stepped back the small distance, as if I was throwing daggers into his heart. Though that was nothing compared to the words he spoke next.

“Maybe we are meant to be enemies,” he said, his voice not quite a whisper, though not quite out loud.

“What?”

He looked away from me, as if his own words hurt him, though they couldn’t hurt him more than they hurt me. My fears that he had once banished now returned.

“You used dark magic. I could see it in your veins. It pulled back, but I know what I saw. That kind of magic doesn’t just let go of a person that easily.” He raked his hands through his hair before finally looking back at me. “You had that prophecy. It named us enemies. Not by riddle, but by our names. Maybe. Just maybe you received that prophecy because you are the darkness. You are the one who is destined to cast us all into war and discord. You are the evil we will find at the end of this path when we finally find that witch.”

I shook my head, tears threatening to fill my eyes as I took a few faltering steps back from him.

“No,” I gasped. “How can you say that? How can you think that?”

“How can I not?” he cried out. “When I watched the black tar of dark magic running through your veins. In your eyes! It was there. And then it wasn’t. As if hiding your true nature behind a disguise of innocence. What would you think if it had been me instead of you?”

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