Page 62 of The Alpha Wolf Defying Fate

Rory grabbed my hand as I was about to go after him. I had told him about the darkness in my dream in confidence, yet clearly he said something to Baer and then Baer said something to my cousin.

“I’m fine, Rory,” I said quickly. “There’s nothing to worry about. I’m fine.”

“You keep saying that, but I heard you and Ayden early this morning. And I can clearly see the bags under your eyes now, no matter how hard you try to hide them.” She gave my hand a tight squeeze. “We’re not judging you. We just want to know if there is something wrong. If there is anything that we can help you with.”

I gave a laugh and kept it as humorous as possible with the situation. What did they think they could do for me? I could appreciate the sentiment, sure, but it was pointless.

I had a voice in my head of a being I couldn’t even remember the features of. I could barely recall the exact details of the shadows swirling around him as he spoke to me. The only thing I could absolutely remember was the isolation from my wolf and the tingling of my birthmark after I woke up.

None of those things could be helped with by my cousin or her mate. I thought that Ayden was helping me keep him out of my head. Our mate bond had kept the voice away up until last night with that dream. A dream that I couldn’t even be certain was a dream or if it was some ancient and dark magic that separated my consciousness from my body.

‘Maybe you should talk to them,’my wolf said softly.‘Rory is the next Crete Witch Leader. She has powerful magic that could protect you better.’

‘She wouldn’t have any way of protecting me from magic she knows nothing about,’I argued back.

“All any of us can do is keep moving and find Minerva. We find Minerva, we find out what the darkness from your dad’s vision was all about and then we beat it, and everything will be done and over with. Until then, I’m fine, because there is nothing else to be done.”

They both exchanged a look with each other before frowning back at me again. Their looks prickled at my nerves. There was pity in them. Why would they think they had to pity me? I didn’t need pity, and I didn’t need them worrying about me like this. I couldn’t afford to have them distracted the next time we were attacked by some creature with some unknown way of fighting it off.

I looked towards Ayden and gave a low growl as I quickened my steps to catch up to him. He had made it a bit farther up the way, that damn book of his no longer in his hands as he bent down looking at something on the path.

I didn’t give much thought to what he was doing or what it was that had taken his attention this time. He’d been distracted by everything that moved and every flower or herb we passed by since early this morning. I had thought it was cute at first, but now it feels more like he’s trying to avoid me by sending my own cousin to question me and my feelings.

“Ayden,” I snapped at him as I came close enough.

“Shh,” he hissed back.

I stopped in my tracks as my jaw fell open. Did he really just shush me?

“Excuse me?” I said again with more of a growl to my voice. “We need to talk.”

He stood up suddenly and covered my mouth with his hand, his eyes locked onto mine as he again shushed me. It took my wolf taking control to prevent me from biting his hand as he kept it pressed to my lips.

‘Something is happening, Sasha, listen to him and be quiet,’my wolf scolded as she slowly relinquished control.

“Be quiet and get low,” Ayden whispered, his eyes shifting around us to the trees.

I bent down with him, the others still too far behind us to see what was happening.

“What is it?”

Ayden pointed to the ground behind him, the dirt in the path disturbed and a small footprint just barely visible on the path. I frowned for a moment before my eyes widened with realization.

A human footprint. The first that we’ve seen that didn’t belong to us. And it was fresh.

“What? How?” I whispered excitedly.

Ayden pressed his finger to my lips again as he looked around us. I could feel the vibrations in the earth from his magic as he reached out through the ground around us, checking for any sign of who the prints may belong to.

I held my breath as I waited. My neck prickled as I heard Rory and Baer coming closer, their own chatter quieting as they noticed us here.

“What’s going on?” Baer asked in a hushed tone, his eyes scoping along the trees and grasslands around us.

I pointed to the prints. “That.”

Both he and Rory rushed over and kneeled to see the print before all our gazes landed on Ayden as we waited for what he had to say.

‘There is a very faint scent of magic here,’my wolf said to me.

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