Page 21 of The Alpha Wolf Defying Fate

I shook my head.‘Like I said, never going to happen.’

‘And like I said, bud. Never say never.’

Chapter Ten

Sasha

Layinginmytent,I stared up at the view through the netting, my eyes gazing at the stars as I went over my conversation with Ayden.

It was surreal to me. The fact that not only had I opened up to him where I had refused to do so for Rory, but also that he had believed me. He had believed me about the voice in my head and he even encouraged me to push back against it and not allow it to paralyze me with fear.

He had been so adamant that it wasn’t my nature to bow down to any danger. Especially one that had been created in my own head, and God help me, his words had been far more encouraging than I had ever expected from anyone.

My smile began to fade as I thought more about the encounter. My mind shifted to the prophecy I had received about us. It warned of darkness surrounding him and our paths being those of enemies on opposite sides.

If Ayden was destined for so much darkness, then why did his words of encouragement bring so much light to the darkness I had felt around that voice in my mind? Why would he even bother to encourage me at all, to be the best version of myself if he was the evil I would someday have to face off with?

What if the prophecy had been all wrong?

My good mood began to fall at the thought.

What if I was the one who would be surrounded by darkness? What if the prophecy had been a warning of the danger that I would impose on the world?

‘Hush, Sasha,’my wolf said.‘You can’t think that way.’

“That’s easier said than done,” I replied out loud. “But the prophecy spoke of darkness, and it named both Ayden and me. There isn’t any mistake as to who is involved. Just a question as to which of us will fall into the darkness.”

‘You are being ridiculous, Sasha. When have you ever done anything that can be deemed evil?’

“I have a mysterious voice in my head that told me how to kill those wisps back in the forest,” I argued.

‘And how is that evil? You used that knowledge to help the others.’

“But I didn’t do anything else to help after that!”

I felt my heart begin to pound against my ribs and my breathing becoming shorter as I took heaving breaths to fill my lungs.

“Ayden didn’t hesitate to help me though. He held me and fought off the wisps with one hand. I didn’t even fight back when that one latched onto me. It wasn’t even hurting me. I lost no blood in that entire fight.”

I felt the tent begin to shrink around me, my clothes somehow feeling too tight around my neck.

‘Sasha, calm down. Breathe.’My wolf tried to calm me as my panic set in.

“What if Ayden was all wrong? What if I’m not as strong as he believes I am? What if my destiny is to lead them all over a cliff and watch them all perish?” I pulled at my collar as sweat beaded along my forehead. “I should never have come on this mission. I was wrong to believe that I was the good guy in all this.”

I couldn’t hear my wolf’s voice, though I knew she was trying to tell me I was wrong. But how could I not be right?

Between Ayden and me, he was the one most likely to put himself in the line of danger. Between him and me, he had been the one who thought of all our safety through the forest. And between us both, it has been him who lent us a hand in our mission, when he could have gone off without us the moment we crossed the portal into the forest.

He was completely selfless, whereas I only had been thinking about my wants and needs in our mission.

It was me who insisted on following Uncle Brady’s research when Rory and Baer had discovered it. They were fine to just let it go as Brady had done, but I had insisted we complete it where he had left off. It was me who convinced them both that it was The Fates who led them to the books and journals so that we could finish what he had started. And it had been me who hid the entry that marked the end of his research with the visit to the Goddess’s home and their warning for him to step back from his search.

And for what? To prove myself worthy of taking over the leadership of my family’s pack from my mother? To make a name for myself as the one who saved the world from darkness?

It was all selfish. Nothing I had done, up until now, has been anything but a step to getting what I wanted over the safety of anyone involved.

Wasn’t that the making of any good villain? To be so focused on their goals that they would do anything and everything to get what they want, despite the consequences.

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