Chapter Fifteen

It had been a miracle 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.

Sasha didn't move. Her eyes didn't open, and she didn't move even as I lightly slapped her cheek and yelled her name.

I pressed my ear to her chest, my heart sinking at the silence there.

"No, no, no, Sasha! Wake up!" Aurora cried as I began chest compressions. "Sasha!"

I gave Baer a stern look as Aurora tried to pull my mate towards her and interrupted the chest compressions. He quickly grabbed his mate, wrapping his arms around as he pulled her away. She cried out and struggled against him, trying desperately to reach Sasha again.

"No! Let me go! I have to wake her up! She can't die! She can't die! Not like this! Let me go!"

"She isn't going to die!" I snapped at her. "I won't let her!"

I counted in my head as I pumped her chest with the ball of my hands. I bent down and listened, my eyes level with her chest to check for a rise and fall. It took all I had not to lose complete control and shift to my wolf, as she still wasn't breathing yet.

‘Save her!'my wolf howled in my mind.

‘I'm trying,'I growled back.

"One, two, three, four," I counted out loud as I continued the chest compressions and prayed to The Fates to not take away my mate just as I found her. I promised them that I would protect her from all the dangers from here on out if only they would not snip her string and take her away from me.

I bent down and pressed my lips to hers. I knew that the breaths were no longer taught for CPR anymore. I had learned that when I was fifteen and the school made us all take a class to learn it. But I hoped that maybe I could bring her back like they did in fairy tales. A hope that maybe in this realm, that magic did exist, and a true love's kiss was all she needed to come back.

"Come on, Sasha," I whispered to her as I returned to chest compressions. "Don't leave me like this. You're a god damned warrior princess! Fight to live! Don't give up!"

Her body heaved beneath me. I quickly pulled back. My hands cupped her head and helped tilt her to her side as she began to cough and puke up the water that had filled her lungs.

Aurora let out a cry of relief, her body going slack in Baer's grip as she watched her cousin take in gulps of air.

I grabbed my mate in my arms the moment I could and held her tight. My wolf howled, rejoicing in the moment. Everyone's joy at her recovery was overwhelming.

As I drew back to look into her eyes, I paused, my brows drawn together in confusion.

"What happened?" she asked, looking back at me before slowly turning to face her cousin and Baer.

As she turned, I watched the blackness in her eyes retreat, fully gone the moment she faced the others. My gaze moved down along her body, noting the retreating darkness throughout her veins. A detail I had missed as I had worked to save her life. A detail I knew all too well what it meant.

There had been a powerful magic in the water before. It had come from Sasha's direction. I thought that adrenaline had been the origin of the magic that saved us both, but the darkness in her veins gave another answer.

"You're alive," Aurora cried, breaking free of Baer's hold and wrapping Sasha in her embrace. "Thank The Fates, you're alive! I'm so grateful!"

I sat back from the cousins, my gaze inspecting every inch of my mate for more signs of darkness. My inspection landed on the birth marks at the base of her neck, the four crescent-shaped markings seeming to pulse as the last of the darkness seemed to pull towards them.

"You're naked," Aurora suddenly said, as she looked over Sasha's shoulder towards me. She leaned back, her hands on Sasha's arms as she looked down at her cousin. "Holy shit! You're naked too! Baer! Don't look!"

I fell back as Aurora lifted my mate in the air, covering as much of her as she could before running back towards camp.

I stared at them, uncertain if anyone else had seen what I had or if what I had seen had even happened at all.

‘Who cares,'my wolf growled stubbornly. ‘Mate is alive. That is all that matters.'

‘You aren't at all concerned about the effects of dark magic on her?'I asked.

‘All that matters is that she is alive,'he replied.

Baer cleared his throat, my gaze moving away from the girl's direction and to him.

"You going to go and get dressed? Or you going to just sit there naked and wet till the sun comes up?"

I looked back down at myself and sighed.

"Not like no one has ever seen me naked. But it does seem close to sunrise. So, we should at least go back to camp and rest," I said, choosing to not mention the darkness I saw in Sasha's veins. "What was the deal with Aurora's reaction? Don't you all shift together?"

Baer shrugged. "Yeah, but Sasha is always private with her shifts. I think she's a little self-conscious of her birth mark personally. Our first shift one of the others pointed it out and ever since then she has always shifted separately and joined us in wolf form to run."

I frowned, the conversation inadvertently back to the very thing that was concerning me now.

"The Fates give us all choices you know," Baer suddenly said.

"What?" I looked back at him with a deeper frown.

"Choices. Everything The Fates do involves choices. Our paths aren't set in stone like a lot of people like to act. It's string, and string can be pulled and plucked but they all end the same way."

"What are you getting at?" I asked.

"I'm just telling you; we all have choices we have to make when it comes to our fate. You and Sasha are no different. All you can do is hope that you make the same choices, despite the obstacles that The Fates may throw your way."

We walked the rest of the way to camp in silence, Baer's words now mixed with my concerns of the darkness I saw in Sasha.

What choices were The Fates putting before us now? Was this proof that not only were we destined to be mates, but that we would also be enemies, should we make the wrong choices?

I knew a riddle of a seer when I heard one, and it was clear that Baer was trying to tell me something that The Fates weren't ready for me to fully understand just yet.

As we reached our tents, Baer cleared his throat and waited until Aurora unzipped the flap and allowed him inside. I could see Sasha already asleep, her face so peaceful, yet my mind was jumbled with questions. Questions that now evolved around choices that I would face.

‘The only choice is our mate,'my wolf interrupted my thoughts. ‘All other choices are wrong.'

‘Not if Sasha turns to dark magic. They aren't all like Alkmene. In fact, Alkmene isn't even always like Alkmene.'I argued. ‘I have to think about more than just myself. We have a pack and coven of our own to protect. I can't take a dark witch as my mate.'

‘She isn't dark,'my wolf growled.

I shook my head. ‘Not yet anyway. But I know what I saw.'

I could feel his unrest at my response as I zipped my tent and found myself a pair of sweatpants to wear until the sun rose.

‘Don't worry,'I said to him. ‘I won't make any decisions without evidence that she has fully gone to the dark side and it's the best choice for everyone.'

I could feel him grumbling in my mind, though I could tell that he wasn't fully satisfied. It was at least enough to keep him off my back for now.

"Fates," I whispered into the darkness of my tent. "Whatever plans you have for me, don't keep me waiting for answers for too long. I'm not the most patient guy around, though, I think you already know that."

I felt a gentle breeze push against my tent, as if The Fates were responding to my prayer. One could only hope that is.