Page 8 of The Alpha Wolf Defying Fate

He looked away, his eyes looking anywhere but at us as he gave his answer. “Because she wasn’t just a dark witch. She was our ancestor. The first moon witch, Alkmene.”

“Of course, you have yet another dark witch in your lineage,” I growled. “And you two still think we can trust him?”

I rolled my eyes as Rory nodded without a word. It seemed that I was the only one who saw the obvious pattern with the Ayden’s bloodline. They were far too susceptible to the darkness. And to trust him as we go up against the ultimate darkness, it was insane. Pure insanity.

“Why did she take his magic?” Rory asked, seeming to me more concerned with that part of the story than the fact that he was related to yet another dark witch in history. “And why didn’t he get it back?”

Ayden shrugged with his hands now in his pocket. “That’s not my story to tell. All I can say is that I have knowledge of this place, and my family has done more research since my uncle was last here. We wanted to be prepared just in case we ever had to make another journey within this place. Or anyone else in our future bloodline finds themselves wandering around the Forgotten Forest.”

“So that’s how you knew to have us all ground ourselves,” I said finally. “Then what else did your family learn? What else is your coven keeping from the world that should be knowledge for everyone?”

“What hasyour packand coven been hiding from the rest of us, Rigel?” Ayden countered. “Whatdoesyour family know that should be shared with the world?”

I frowned at him. I wasn’t sure what he meant by that. Our family had an open-source library and a school open to all packs and covens to attend. We didn’t hide knowledge, at least not knowledge that affected everyone.

There was of course, some instances where it was simply pack business and didn’t need to be shared across borders. Like this quest against Minerva. It had been our pack that had been targeted on more than one occasion by the dark witch. So, it was natural that we kept those instances of failed defenses to ourselves.

Ayden scoffed at my silence, then turned to Rory. “Here,” he drew a sigil with a stick on the ground. “Draw this symbol in all four points, east, west, south, and north. It has to be exact. Once it’s drawn, you can relax your hold on the magic here. This symbol creates a ward that grounds anyone who is within it. It will help us save energy.”

Rory nodded after inspecting every curve and dotted line of the sigil. “Got it.”

“We’ll have to make camp here,” Ayden continued. “It’s not impossible to navigate the Forgotten Forest at night, but it’s not exactly ideal. There are still beasts who live here, but the symbols will keep them away as well. And if they don’t then, I can handle them.”

“Who elected you leader?” I demanded. “We can handle the creatures in the night. We need to keep moving so we don’t lose Minerva.”

Ayden shook his head. “If you want to continue on, be my guest. But I for one don’t want to deal with something like a chimera or a basilisk in the darkness of a forest that has no intention of allowing me to freely pass through it. And as far as leadership is concerned, I don’t give a rat’s ass who is in charge. But I know this place better than any of you and if I were in your shoes, I’d listen to the guy who knows what the hell he’s talking about.”

Rory nudged me as I scowled back at Ayden. I hated that he made sense. Hated that I was agreeing with him. I hated everything about anything to do with him. Especially that I liked the way he took charge, at the way he challenged me.

To be honest, I always had enjoyed that about him in the deepest reserves of my mind. I would never admit it to anyone, though. I’d never show that kind of weakness.

“Fine,” I said as I grabbed a stick. “I’ll help with the sigils then.”

Chapter Five

Ayden

Iwatchedasthetwo cousins worked on the sigils I had shown them. My gaze locked more firmly on Sasha and her movements.

I couldn’t help myself. My eyes were drawn to her. My body craved her touch. The moments when she was in my arms, no matter how brief, I could feel the bond tightening between us. It drove me to her and set my body on fire.

She bent over as I watched them, her jeans tightening against her rounded ass and leaving little to my imagination. I could feel the blood in my body all rushing to a singular location, my own jeans tightening against my body as a result.

I let out a cough, turning away before anyone could notice, though the look on Baer’s face as I glanced his way told me that he knew all too well what I was going through, and as much as he may have empathized with me, I found more amusement in his eyes than I’d like to see.

“I’ll go and gather some wood,” I called out as I left the area the girls were completing.

“Yeah, I’m sure you will,” Baer called back with a chuckle.

I cursed under my breath as I went into the forest. I found the roots of the forest beneath the earth to ground myself in place and followed the links to the animals and creatures who lived here.

To my relief, nothing dangerous was close by. None seemed aware yet of our presence in this realm, and if the wards did their job, they never would.

Once I was certain that all was safe and I found myself a decent distance away from the others, I released my control over myself to the wolf. Just enough to feel everything I had been holding back with the bond.

Image after image of Sasha appeared in my mind. The way she smelled, the softness of her lips as she leaned towards mine. So close to tasting her, though my mind did well to imagine what flavors I would have found.

Pomegranates and honey, just like she smelled. The taste coated my tongue as my pants grew tighter.

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