Page 31 of The Alpha Wolf Defying Fate

Let go of the magic? The magic that saved us? Was I even still holding onto it? I didn’t think so.

“Sasha! Wake up! Wake up!” A voice cried out. It sounded so far away. I couldn’t place who the voice belonged to at such a distance.

“Come on, Sasha. You can’t die. Not like this. Breathe.”

I shook my head in confusion. I was breathing. This unfamiliar voice made no sense.

‘You aren’t breathing! Sasha! Let go of the darkness! It’s holding you back!’my wolf cried out again.

I looked down at my head, suddenly more aware of my surroundings, as I saw the dark ribbon in my hand. The entire world around me was white. A world of light as I held onto the strand of darkness, its smoke drifting around my hand like an obedient pet greeting its master.

“What?” I asked, my voice echoing around me. “Where am I?”

“The in-between,” my wolf whimpered. “We’re dying Sasha.”

I turned to see the beautiful hazelnut wolf sitting behind me. Her head drooped as she whimpered. Her blue eyes looked back at me, tears glistening before falling down to her paws.

“No,” I said with a shake of my head. “No, I killed the Kelpie. I fought back. We can’t be dying.”

“But we are,” my wolf snapped. “We are because you won’t let go of that darkness. It’s holding us back! It won’t let us go back to our mate.”

I looked back at the ribbon in my hand, the wisps of smoke caressing my wrist and hand. I looked around in the direction where the ribbon stretched beyond my body; it reached so far from where I stood. I could feel something at the other end of it calling me to join it.

“Sasha, don’t,” my wolf growled. “Let it go! Don’t let it consume you! You have to resist it.”

I looked back at the wolf again, her eyes filled with fear and sadness. My grip of the ribbon loosened.

‘Don’t let go,’the dark voice echoed in the direction the ribbon led.‘You’re so close.’

“Don’t listen! The darkness doesn’t hold your best interest.” My wolf’s nose nudged my side encouragingly. “Think of what is most important, Sasha. Rory, your family, and our mate. Let go of the darkness. Do it for all of them. Don’t kill us.”

‘It won’t kill you,’the dark voice chuckled.‘You can live forever. The magic will keep you young and alive for all of time.’

“We are dying as we speak!” My wolf growled at the voice.

‘Sometimes death is just a new beginning.’

“Enough!” I cried out, my hand releasing the darkness.

I watched as it shot from my head, rushing to where it came from as I fell back towards my wolf.

“I refuse to be controlled,” I whispered to the void as the world of nothing began to fade away.

I could still feel a link to the darkness even as I released it, its presence somewhere deep inside my mind, just as it had been before I called upon it.

My hand reached for my chest as I felt pressure there, my lungs beginning to burn once again.

“Come on, Sasha, don’t leave me,” Ayden cried out, his voice sounding far closer than it had before. “You’re a fucking warrior princess. You don’t just die like this. You fight!”

I smiled as I felt myself falling back into myself, his words reminding me of just who I am, like they always did. My eyes flew open, burning from the river water as I rolled to my side and coughed and gagged up every bit of water my lungs held. The marks on the back of my neck were now burning hot.

Chapter Fifteen

Ayden

Ithadbeenamiracle when my hands grabbed hold of her wrist. She was so still in the water by the time I reached her. Her body was limp and heavy as I pulled her up to the surface.

Aurora and Baer were there immediately to help me drag her to shore. Aurora’s eyes were so filled with tears it was a wonder she could even see at all.

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