Page 48 of The Alpha Wolf Defying Fate

‘The maps were hand drawn,’my wolf reminded me.‘There might still be some similarities to what you’ve seen before.’

I nodded and leaned in for a closer look, taking up the seat at the desk to study the map.

The map marked the location as an island set between two other islands. One to the east and west and then two larger masses to the north and south. The land mass below held more hieroglyphic symbols. I noticed the ones to the north had ancient Greek letters. Just enough for me to make out the name of the city but the symbols on the island to the west bear a stronger resemblance to the ancient Minoan Language. I didn’t know much of it due to the lack of resources to learn it, but I recognized it from some of the oldest journals in my family’s library.

“Crete,” I smirked. “Sasha’s family’s namesake island. Then up here is Greece.” I said to myself. “And down here with the hieroglyphs must be Egypt. But there isn’t an island this close to Crete.”

‘Because the island was lost to history,’my wolf inserted.

“Right,” I said. “Well, I think we can count out Camelot then.”

Startled by a thud of a fallen book that grabbed my attention, my magic rushing out in search of a presence in the library with me that could have caused the book to fall.

“The hell?” My magic found no one in the building with me, my guard rising as I walked towards the tome on the floor.

The book was bound in leather, the pages’ edges appearing to be well worn from constant turning. As I picked it up and flipped through the pages, I was shocked to find it completely translated. The symbols of the area’s strange language were there, but beneath it, in fresh ink, were the words in modern English.

“Hello?” I called as I turned in full circle to see who might have been near.

Only my echo responded, not even a trickle of magic hanging in the air.

‘Ayden,’Sasha’s voice came to my mind.‘We found food. We have more than enough to keep us going. Come meet us at the fountain.’

‘On my way,’I responded as I gave the library one last quick look around.

I tucked the book under my arm as I left, not willing to leave behind something that could prove to be useful after all. I couldn’t explain the certainty that it was there for our benefit, but I felt not even a glimmer of doubt that whoever sent it was a friend.

I joined the others quickly by the fountain, the beautiful woman dressed in a long gown that hung from one shoulder. After seeing the map in the library, I held a newfound appreciation for the chiseled work of art.

“What did you find?” Baer asked as he nodded to the book under my arm.

I shrugged. “A book that I think might help me translate the language we are seeing here. Better still, there was a map back there. This place was once in the Mediterranean Ocean, smack between Greece and Egypt. I think that’s why we are seeing a mixture of the two different languages here.”

“Did you see the name of this place then?” Aurora asked curiously.

“I still couldn’t read it,” I admitted. “The best I can see is where this place had been before it was forgotten. I’m not even certain why it was forgotten to begin with. Especially given the technology these people had had. Did you all see the lighting in the buildings?”

Sasha nodded. “The crystals? Yeah, they seem to be solar powered. There was a sunroof in every building, and mirrors that reflected light from the larger crystal around the building.”

“Yeah,” Baer said with a shrug. “We saw that too. The mechanics behind it don’t seem all that ancient, although, not as advanced as what we have back home.”

“No,” I agreed. “But it sure as hell was more advanced than anything else from the time that it was in our world. It would have been an extraordinary place for its time. Hard to believe it was ever forgotten.”

“Sometimes,” Aurora whispered. “The world forgets things they’ve deemed a threat, and then they chop them up to myths and legends as if they had never existed at all.”

I nodded to that, about to respond, when the sound of an enormous bird’s call echoed through the city. All our gazes turned upward to the sky, a shadow of a gigantic creature circling the town square as it let out another loud squawk that echoed around us.

“What the hell is that?” Baer gasped as he pulled Aurora to his side and shifted his weight evenly.

I reached over for Sasha at the same moment, my mind speaking the creature’s name just as it dove directly for us.

“A griffin!”

Chapter Twenty-Two

Sasha

ThegriffinlandedbetweenAyden and me, his large wings pushing air out from beneath him and nearly knocking us all off our feet.

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