Page 69 of The Alpha Wolf Defying Fate

I smiled and nodded. “It’s always been strange. My great-grandmother and her sister have strong intuitions, her sister’s is stronger though. That’s why she took the position of coven council leader. My great-grandmother took up leadership for the Montana branch and eventually my grandma and then my mother took over from them, though their intuitions aren’t quite as strong as their predecessors.”

“Where does your intuition stand compared to theirs?” Baer asked then.

The question startled me for a moment. I had never given it much thought before. I had always had a strong intuition, but I never compared it to anyone in my family before. My younger cousin Aylin and her mate were both strong with their magic and set to take over the coven from our grandmother, but it was still unknown if she would take the council position or if it would be me.

Aunt Nikini had stated there would be a test of both of our magic within the coming year. Only then would she truly know where each of us stood with our intuition and magic compared to the rest of my family.

I looked over at Baer and gave a small smirk. “Not sure where I am compared to any of them, but I was in the right place at the right time back in the alley, wasn’t I?”

Baer smirked back and nodded with a chuckle. “That you were, Ayden. Great timing for sure.”

We laughed as we finally reached the city’s outer edge. The girls stopped ahead of us.

Sasha looked back at me and tilted her head towards the decaying buildings and moss-covered ground. I knew without even asking what she was wanting me to do, and I was already way ahead of her.

I reached out through the roots of the overgrowth within the city. I pictured my wolf running over each connected and twisted path beneath the ground, his nose twitching as he scented out for any dangers within the city limits.

I found the rabbit-like creatures and birds sitting in the trees. Their tethers of life shimmered for a moment before my attention pulled back to the roots below to continue through the fallen city block by block.

‘Nothing but animals here,’my wolf said, though apprehension hung in his voice.

I hummed to myself as I drew back into myself, my own apprehension weighing on my mind with my wolf’s.

The others all watched me and waited for my verdict of the city. As the sun started to go down, it was clear that they were eager to locate a building where we could rest before continuing on the witch’s path.

“Come on,” I said as I pressed my hand to Sasha’s back gently.

Together we entered the fallen city, the overgrowth beneath our feet snapping and cracking with each step. I nodded to Baer at the first fork in the road. He gave a responding nod before taking the right path as I led Sasha with me to the left.

“This place is barely even a city anymore,” Sasha said in a whisper with a frown. “It’s nothing more than a shadow of its former glory.”

She frowned into the shadows of one of the doorways of a crumbling building. A tree branch reached out like a hand towards us, and the breeze moved around us, giving the impression of the branch’s twigs beckoning us over.

A chill ran down my spine again, my hand tightening around Sasha’s with a rush of protective energy from my wolf.

“Let’s keep moving,” I told her and pushed us forward along the broken path.

The shadows continued to shift and grow around us. The boughs above our heads grew thicker the deeper into the center of the city ruins we went. While smaller pathways emerged, we continued to follow the larger paths.

“It’s like we’re back in the Forgotten Forest again,” Sasha said, her voice still a whisper, as if she was worried that there might be someone out there listening to us.

I looked around us again and couldn’t help but agree with her. If not for the path beneath our feet never shifting, I would have thought the same thing. The trees held the same shimmering leaves as the Forgotten Forest, and the herbs and plants that sprouted along the path looked strikingly familiar to the very ones the shopkeeper had kept in stock.

We rounded a small bend in the road and the light spilled onto the path and chased away the shadows. Two figures stood ahead of us on the path; their shapes were impossible not to recognize.

“How did you two beat us here?” I asked as we approached Aurora and Baer.

Baer looked over at me and gave a cocky smile. “I guess we walked faster than the two of you.”

Aurora elbowed him and laughed. “Or the path we took was a literal straight line to this point. Regardless, you two should come and take a look at what we found.”

Sasha and I both frowned at one another before jogging the rest of the way up the path to meet the other two. We were both speechless after making a shocking discovery, unable to utter a single word as we gazed into the distance.

The path leading away from the ruins forked, just as it had inside the city. However, at the end of each path in the far-off distance stood a castle. The castles were equal in size as far as we could tell from here. Both reflected the setting sun’s rays off of white stone and spires with golden roofs.

They were perfect mirror images of one another.

“You see the issue?” Baer asked, after giving us both a moment to soak in the view.

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