Page 19 of The Alpha Wolf Defying Fate

Her lips puckered into a pout, her arms loosening a bit, but not enough for me to pull free from her. I could see in her eyes that she wasn’t about to give up on me. And I hated it so much that I couldn’t just bring myself to tell her what had happened, how I didn’t feel anything at all.

But at that moment, all I wanted to do was hide away from her in shame. That voice in the back of my mind was like an annoying bee once more, telling me that she wouldn’t understand. That it was best to just keep it to myself. That they would all just judge me.

‘It’s wrong,’my wolf tried to argue with a deep growl.

‘But what if it’s not?’I argued back, my sight blurring with the threat of tears as I turned back to look at the strange plants and animals that we passed by.

Chapter Nine

Ayden

Thesunbegantoset on the western horizon as we reached the top of the hill to make camp for the night. I looked back at Sasha for the millionth time since leaving the Forgotten Forest. Her demeanor has not improved much at all.

Everyone could sense the change in her. The worry over what she had done, or rather, not done, in the forest.

She had shut down after revealing what the creatures were. She had stayed frozen in my arms and hadn’t moved a muscle to fight. Completely out of character for her. She hadn’t even fought me when I took charge and led us further away from the forest.

Even now, she stared off into the distance, completely detached from the rest of us. I could see Aurora becoming more and more concerned with her cousin. At first, she attempted to distract her cousin, then turning ultimately to question her about what exactly had happened in the forest. Though Sasha seemed to resist answering.

“Baer,” I said as I leaned towards the other man. “Go ahead and get everything set up for camp. I can feel a small pond nearby that has fish in it. You and Aurora should be able to catch us some dinner there.”

He looked at Sasha, then at me a few times before nodding. I watched as he retrieved his mate from her cousin’s side, Aurora resisting at first before Baer whispered in her ear and she looked back at me.

Finally, the two wandered off towards the pond and I made my move towards Sasha.

“Come with me,” I said, her eyes widening as she looked over at me, startled. “Now.” I quickly added as a precaution to her resisting me.

I took her hand and began to drag her away from our camp, a small patch of trees shielding us from view as I turned back to look her in the eyes.

“What the hell happened back in the forest, Rigel?” I asked, her eyes dropping down to her clasped hands as she fiddled with her nails. “Listen, I get it. You have that whole prophecy that says that someday we will be enemies, but the fact of the matter is, we are on the same side here. And if we are going to go up against some big, bad, darkness together, I have to know that you have my back. And I’m sorry, but the way you froze up back there, I’m having some doubts.”

She gasped, her eyes shooting up at me. “I told you how to kill them!”

“Yeah, about that. How did you know what those things even were? Let alone the way to kill them? And let’s not get it twisted. That was the only way you helped in that situation. You didn’t so much as shift a single nail during that fight. You and I both know that you are more than just brains and looks.”

“You wouldn’t believe me even if I told you,” she said, her eyes dropping again as she crossed her arms protectively over her chest.

I raked my hands through my hair and scoffed. “Have a look around, Rigel. We aren’t exactly in a very believable place right now. And let’s not forget, this isn’t even the first time someone in my family has been to this world. So, I think it’s safe to say that my reach of belief is pretty widespread by now.”

She looked up and around us. The trees above us sparkled as they had in the forest while a golden swan swam along the small lake beyond the trees. We could see Baer and Aurora attempting to fish at the far end from us, though it looked more like they had begun to play in the water together.

I shook my head and chuckled at the sight.

“I don’t think we should be expecting dinner tonight after all,” I commented.

I looked back at Sasha and saw her eyes sparkling with unshed tears then, my finger reaching out before I even knew what I was doing. I caught a single tear that escaped and wiped it away from her cheek as she looked back at me.

“You can tell me, Sasha,” I said softly. “After all, the most unbelievable thing about all of this, is the fact that you and I are actually working together on the same side for once. So, if we can manage that, then I can manage to understand whatever it is that’s going on with you.”

She choked on a laugh as she wiped the rest of the now falling tears from her cheeks. “I don’t know. I doubt that anyone will believe me.”

“Come on, just tell me, Sasha. I promise you that I won’t judge you. I just have to know that you are okay to keep going. That you aren’t going to lock up again like that when danger arises. And most of all, I gotta know if you are keeping anything from us about the Forgotten Realm.”

She let out a breath and shook her head. “No, I’m saying that I don’t know. I don’t know how I knew what those things were. A voice in my head just popped up and told me what to do to keep them off of me. Told me what they were and said that if one came near me, I just had to stab it through its head, and it would disappear. But I don’t know where the voice came from or why it warned me.” She physically shivered at the mention of the voice. “I didn’t mean to freeze up when you all needed me. I just couldn’t shake off the voice. It was so eerie and out of place in my mind. Even my wolf was shaken by its presence.”

My wolf let out a low growl in my mind, my brows drawn together. “Can you place the voice at all?”

She shook her head. “No, it almost seems familiar, but it’s as if I can’t grab hold of the memory it stirs. I can’t even pinpoint if the voice is male or female. And it’s constantly there now, buzzing in the back of my skull like old radio static.”

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