Chapter Eighteen

The sky was bright above us. Hot even. I shaded my eyes with my hand as I squinted ahead along the path, a sense of foreboding clutching my heart.

We had been continuing down this path for so long now, I was beginning to lose track of time. Had it been months now since we entered the realm? Or simply weeks?

The path just went on and on. There were no forks in any of the roads. Not a single path breaking away from the main strip we traveled. There wasn't even any reason for us to actually believe we were going the right way.

Except for this feeling of dread that we were.

A shiver ran through my body then, my teeth grinding together at how weak it all made me feel.

The feeling of being on the right path should have pleased me. I should be filled with excitement. I should be ready for the fight that I had prepared so much for. The completion of a quest that my family couldn't complete.

Instead, I felt this icy grip around my heart at the thought that maybe Ayden was right and the only reason my elders couldn't complete this mission was simply because I hadn't yet been the threat they saw coming.

"Sasha, earth to Sasha. Come in, Sasha," Rory's voice sang in my ear.

I turned to look at her with a frown. The fear and dread pushed to the back of my mind as I peered back at my cousin.

"What?"

"There you are," she chuckled. "I've been trying to talk to you for a while now. Where's your head at?"

I looked down at my feet on the path, wondering if I should even try to tell her.

The other day when she caught up to me in the trees, I had broken down and told her what Ayden had said to me. I couldn't hold back, but there were a few things I didn't disclose to my cousin.

I didn't tell her about the voice. How even as she sat and listened to me, the voice whispered to me. How even now I can feel the hum of his presence along the edges of my mind, encouraging me to continue forward.

Even as I told her about the fears that I had about Ayden being right and that I felt that I was the darkness too. I held back my strongest evidence of the possibility from her. I let her spit and curse Ayden for putting the idea in my head, despite the fact that it hadn't been a new thought for me. Simply just an affirming thought as he spoke it out loud.

"I've just been wondering if we're even sure the path is the right way to travel," I answered her question.

She smirked, clearly catching the hint of a lie in my words. "I think that Ayden made a good point about sticking to a worn path. We're unfamiliar with the land here and unsure if there's any enchantment like the Forgotten Forest."

"What if there is an enchantment on the road?" I argued, her smile only growing more amused.

"Come on, Sasha," she said. "What's really bothering you? We both know it's not the road."

I sighed and looked towards the two men leading the way ahead of us. They seemed to have grown closer in our travels. I had noticed recently that they acted more like lifelong best friends than simple traveling companions. I even began to suspect that Baer had wanted this friendship far longer than the time we all joined together.

Just the way they both seemed to click. So alike and yet different all at the same time. It was clear they at least had been destined for this friendship. Much like Ayden and I had been destined to be mates.

Why hadn't they been friends like this in school, though?

‘Because you and Ayden were rivals,'my wolf inserted. ‘And Baer was infatuated with Rory. He couldn't risk falling into the bad graces of the Rigel pack's future alpha because it would affect the views of Rory in the process.'

A tinge of guilt squeezed my heart. ‘You're saying that I kept them apart? Like a villain in a fairy tale. I'm the wicked witch after all.'

"Sasha!" Rory snapped her fingers in front of my face.

I jerked back and looked at her with confusion as she frowned back at me.

"You zoned out again. Is this still about what Ayden had said to you? I told you that he's full of shit. You don't have an evil bone in your body, Sasha."

"How do you explain the way I killed the kelpie?" I asked.

It was one of the truths I had admitted to her when we talked. Something, it turned out; she had already known. Had seen it in my veins as I laid on the shore half dead from the near drowning.

"Survival," she answered quickly. "And a blessing from the gods that you weren't effected by the dark magic's pull."

It was exactly the same as what she had said before as well.

"I guess," I said, still not thoroughly convinced myself.

"Hey," she said, her hand wrapping around my arm to stop me in mid-stride.

I looked towards the guys and saw them continuing to walk ahead. Baer's head turned slightly to check on us, showing that he knew we had stopped. My gaze moved to Ayden in the hope of finding that he also was concerned about us. That he had also noticed that I was no longer following, but I was sorely disappointed.

Ayden's focus and attention were firmly forward. The only movement of his head was slight as he scanned his surroundings. I could just vaguely make out his voice over the breeze in the air as he said something to Baer that caused him to nod to in response.

"Sasha," Rory said, her hand tightening around my arm. "I need you to hear this, so listen closely."

I sighed and nodded as I moved my attention from Ayden's back to look at her. "I'm listening."

Rory gave a soft smile, her hand cupping my cheek lightly. "You are not darkness. You survived darkness before you were even born. You are light. You are the light that chases away the darkness in the smallest of ways. I've seen it."

"I know, you told me," I said, ready to pull away.

"No," she said firmly. "I'm not talking about the river. I'm talking about all of our life. I'm talking about growing up with you. The way your parents' faces light up when you enter the room. The way the pack's mood can be shifted by the smallest of jokes you tell them. Even when you would compete ruthlessly in school, you still managed to do it with a smile that brought out the best in whoever was fortunate enough for you to grace them with it."

She moved her hand from my cheek to my chin and lifted both sides of my lips up into a grin. I couldn't help myself but smile for real as I watched her expression of full concentration mold my lips into the smile she spoke of.

I wasn't aware of the special smile she mentioned, a smile I didn't know I had. My own memories of school days revolved more around my competition with Ayden and trying to be better than him at whatever I saw him succeeding in. I had no memory of ever brightening anyone's day with a simple smile.

"There," she said at the sight of my amused grin. Her eyes lit up as she smiled back at me. A smile I found far brighter and more beautiful than my own. "There's a glimmer of that light I'm talking about."

"Are you sure you aren't the one full of this light you are talking about?" I teased. "After all, your dad has that fire magic."

She chuckled back at me and shook her head. "I know I have the reputation of being the sunshine in my family. But I have nothing inside of me that comes close to the comparison of that bright beautiful light you carry inside you and spread with such ease. That's why there is no way that you are darkness. It just isn't physically possible for anything dark to survive inside you with a light that bright."

I could feel her words warming my heart. The icy grip of fear easing its grip on my chest. I could almost swear that the dark voice in my mind had grown fainter at my cousin's words.

I smiled a little brighter as I felt the darkness recede in my mind, my hands reaching out to hold my cousin's hands.

"Thank you, Rory," I said. "I needed to hear that."

And it was true. While I still felt the fears at the edges of my mind, her words had chased them back some. I at least could think of other things than the worry of what we would find at the end of the road.

I turned and looked ahead of us, noticing that Baer, along with Ayden, had stopped. Their gazes locked on both of us as we stood still on the path behind them. Ayden's gaze locked more firmly on me; his head tilted slightly as if to ask if I was okay.

It surprised me to see some concern in his expression towards me. Especially since he had barely spared me a glance since he brought up the possibility of me being the evil half in our destiny as enemies.

‘He is our mate,'my wolf sighed lovingly. ‘He never believed that. Not really.'

‘No,'I disagreed. ‘He meant it when he said it. Even if I had to force it out of him. Ayden doesn't say what he doesn't mean.'

My wolf huffed. ‘Then he didn't believe it for long. You should have let him have more time to think before making him talk to you.'

I couldn't argue with her there. I had asked for it. Demanded it really. But what did they want from me?

He hadn't spoken to me for days after we had slept together. I thought he was reconsidering rejecting the bond. I needed to know what he was thinking.

Did I regret it now? Maybe.

It had hurt me deeply to hear, but I wasn't sure that I would have been grateful to not ever know that he had thoughts of me as a monster. That it hadn't ever crossed his mind.

Rory nudged me before linking our arms together.

"Come on. It's almost time to make camp. Let's get a little further before the sun sets." She glanced at Ayden, then back at me. "And maybe you two can have another chance to chat. I think he owes you an apology. But don't feel like you have to immediately accept. Make him work for it a bit, first."

I laughed with her as we slowly made our way towards the men. Baer's eyes twinkled as he watched us, while Ayden's eyes seemed to burn with desire as he stared at me.

It shocked me for a moment as I registered the look in his eyes. It sent little tremors throughout my body that I couldn't ignore. But it also begged the question.

Was it me he wanted? Or was it just the mate bond driving us to follow the instincts of our wolves?