Page 74 of The Alpha Wolf Defying Fate

I realized then that with us both fighting, we would certainly die. Morus would win and there would be no way that we could save Sasha from that darkness.

“Give in,” I coughed out in pain.

‘What?’my wolf responded, shock rattling his voice in my head.

“We’ll die if we don’t. We have to give into the shift.”

“Ayden! What’s happening?” Aurora cried out, the magic that held her in place now gone as Morus and Sasha disappeared.

A dark growl ripped through my chest as she touched me. Everything hurt. Her touch felt like a million knives slicing thru my skin. That pain left nothing but a fight in my wolf. A fight that was now viewing anyone and anything as a threat.

“Rory, get back!” Baer growled out, his arms wrapping around his mate’s waist as he pulled her back from me. “He’s not in control. That guy did something to him. And that magic isn’t wearing off just because he’s gone.”

A howl escaped my mouth as my head suddenly jerked backwards. The pain is still as excruciating as ever. My wolf was still fighting it. He was still refusing to be forced to take control of our body without my consent.

‘Listen to me,’I begged him, no longer strong enough to speak out loud.‘You have to let the shift happen.’

‘No,’he growled.‘I can’t do that. I can’t let him control us.’

I shook my head, blood dripping from my aching jaw as it began to extend into the shape of a snout.

‘If you don’t let this happen, we are going to die. We will die and no one will be able to find Sasha and save her. You have to trust me on this.’I pleaded as my arm popped out-of-place then back in before popping out once more.

I couldn’t even scream with the pain shooting through my jaw as it was shifting. I could only fall to my side and let out pathetic whimpers like a beaten pup.

‘Please,’I said again to my wolf.

‘What if we can’t shift back? What if you fade into our mind and I lose control?’

I could feel my wolf’s genuine fear then. It wasn’t the fear of being controlled at all. It was the fear of losing control and forgetting who we are.

‘You would never do that,’I assured him.‘I know you wouldn’t. We’re a team. We’ve always been a team. I’ve known you since the moment I was born, and you are as much a part of me as I am of you. I trust you. I trust you as much as I trust myself, because you are me.’

My words must have been what he needed to hear. That reminder that even if we gave into this small control, we were still in charge of ourselves. That we were a team and had been since the very first shift. Since before I could ever hear him in my mind, I knew him and could feel him inside me.

I understood his fear. It was my own fear as well, but that fear couldn’t outweigh the fear of losing Sasha forever. Even if I had to fade into nothingness and lose all of who I am, it would all be worth it as long as I could save my mate and make sure that she returned to her family safe and unharmed.

My body’s pain slowly eased as my wolf and I both stopped fighting the shift. It still didn’t feel right. There was still some aching that shouldn’t have been there, but as I panted and laid on my side, the shift continued on with full acceptance of my wolf and me.

I opened my eyes to look up at Baer and Aurora. Both stared at me with horror and pain in their eyes.

I doubted that either of them had any idea what was happening. It was unheard of anymore to come across cursed werewolves who didn’t have any control over their shifts anymore. Not since my grandfather’s time.

Even the bitten wolves didn’t have this hard of a time shifting. I couldn’t imagine what was running through their minds as they watched me roll and twist in a pool of my own blood and skin.

I tried to tell them that I was fine, that I would be okay, but only a low whine came out.

“Shh,” Aurora said, tears streaming down her face as she looked at me. “You’re going to be okay. We are all going to be okay. Just hang in there, Ayden.”

I tried to reach out for her tether, for anything that I could use to tell her that I was fine, but the reach for my magic gave way to nothing. Not even the connection to the elements that I had learned from my uncle was there. I had no way of communicating with either of them. No way to devise a plan or to inform them of what we were up against.

Suddenly, the full understanding of what Morus had done to me slammed into my skull like a bullet. I was completely cut off from anything but my wolf. I was little more than the natural animals found in human zoos around the world.

‘Ayden,’my wolf whined in my mind as the shift finally ended.

‘I’m still here,’I said, equally relieved as my wolf by that fact.‘I can’t do much more than speak to you though it seems. Can you get us up?’

I felt our body move as my wolf tried our legs. They shook beneath the weight of our body as we stood up, but it was all we needed. As long as we could move, we could get to Sasha. As long as we could stand, we could do something to destroy Morus and set our mate free of his clutches.

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