Chapter Twenty-Eight

Iwatched as Baer whispered something into Rory's ear. Usually, I would look away and give them some sense of privacy, but whatever he had said to her put a frown on her face as she looked back over at me.

"What?" I asked. It was clear that whatever he had said had something to do with me.

I looked back to where Ayden was trailing behind us with his mystery book, a similar frown on his face, before he caught me watching him. I looked back at my cousin and her mate.

"Okay, seriously, what is going on?"

"Are you feeling okay?" Rory asked me.

I looked between her and Baer, my brows furrowed as I did. "Have I said something to make you question that? Or has someone mentioned something to say otherwise?"

My eyes narrowed again at Ayden as he suddenly jogged ahead of us and avoided my eyes.

Rory grabbed my hand as I was about to go after him. I had told him about the darkness in my dream in confidence, yet clearly he said something to Baer and then Baer said something to my cousin.

"I'm fine, Rory," I said quickly. "There's nothing to worry about. I'm fine."

"You keep saying that, but I heard you and Ayden early this morning. And I can clearly see the bags under your eyes now, no matter how hard you try to hide them." She gave my hand a tight squeeze. "We're not judging you. We just want to know if there is something wrong. If there is anything that we can help you with."

I gave a laugh and kept it as humorous as possible with the situation. What did they think they could do for me? I could appreciate the sentiment, sure, but it was pointless.

I had a voice in my head of a being I couldn't even remember the features of. I could barely recall the exact details of the shadows swirling around him as he spoke to me. The only thing I could absolutely remember was the isolation from my wolf and the tingling of my birthmark after I woke up.

None of those things could be helped with by my cousin or her mate. I thought that Ayden was helping me keep him out of my head. Our mate bond had kept the voice away up until last night with that dream. A dream that I couldn't even be certain was a dream or if it was some ancient and dark magic that separated my consciousness from my body.

‘Maybe you should talk to them,'my wolf said softly. ‘Rory is the next Crete Witch Leader. She has powerful magic that could protect you better.'

‘She wouldn't have any way of protecting me from magic she knows nothing about,'I argued back.

"All any of us can do is keep moving and find Minerva. We find Minerva, we find out what the darkness from your dad's vision was all about and then we beat it, and everything will be done and over with. Until then, I'm fine, because there is nothing else to be done."

They both exchanged a look with each other before frowning back at me again. Their looks prickled at my nerves. There was pity in them. Why would they think they had to pity me? I didn't need pity, and I didn't need them worrying about me like this. I couldn't afford to have them distracted the next time we were attacked by some creature with some unknown way of fighting it off.

I looked towards Ayden and gave a low growl as I quickened my steps to catch up to him. He had made it a bit farther up the way, that damn book of his no longer in his hands as he bent down looking at something on the path.

I didn't give much thought to what he was doing or what it was that had taken his attention this time. He'd been distracted by everything that moved and every flower or herb we passed by since early this morning. I had thought it was cute at first, but now it feels more like he's trying to avoid me by sending my own cousin to question me and my feelings.

"Ayden," I snapped at him as I came close enough.

"Shh," he hissed back.

I stopped in my tracks as my jaw fell open. Did he really just shush me?

"Excuse me?" I said again with more of a growl to my voice. "We need to talk."

He stood up suddenly and covered my mouth with his hand, his eyes locked onto mine as he again shushed me. It took my wolf taking control to prevent me from biting his hand as he kept it pressed to my lips.

‘Something is happening, Sasha, listen to him and be quiet,'my wolf scolded as she slowly relinquished control.

"Be quiet and get low," Ayden whispered, his eyes shifting around us to the trees.

I bent down with him, the others still too far behind us to see what was happening.

"What is it?"

Ayden pointed to the ground behind him, the dirt in the path disturbed and a small footprint just barely visible on the path. I frowned for a moment before my eyes widened with realization.

A human footprint. The first that we've seen that didn't belong to us. And it was fresh.

"What? How?" I whispered excitedly.

Ayden pressed his finger to my lips again as he looked around us. I could feel the vibrations in the earth from his magic as he reached out through the ground around us, checking for any sign of who the prints may belong to.

I held my breath as I waited. My neck prickled as I heard Rory and Baer coming closer, their own chatter quieting as they noticed us here.

"What's going on?" Baer asked in a hushed tone, his eyes scoping along the trees and grasslands around us.

I pointed to the prints. "That."

Both he and Rory rushed over and kneeled to see the print before all our gazes landed on Ayden as we waited for what he had to say.

‘There is a very faint scent of magic here,'my wolf said to me.

‘Yes,'I replied. ‘I can smell it, but only barely. It's far to faded to say that anyone is close. This print, it looks fresh.'

Ayden let out a sigh and shook his head at us. "No one but us and some animals are nearby. I reached out for miles, but these prints are fresh."

"Do you think they belong to Minerva?" Rory asked, as we all stood up.

"Who else could it be?" Ayden replied. "We haven't come across any other people here."

"Didn't you say your uncle was brought here by your ancestor?" Rory pointed out. "We can't be certain that it wasn't another ancient who lives here."

Ayden shook his head adamantly. "No, I can't explain it, but I know it has to be the witch. Something deep inside me recognizes her somehow. Maybe it's my uncle's stolen magic calling out. But I know it's her."

He looked at me, his eyes filled with so much hope. "We're on the right path."

I slowly smiled as I realized that I felt it as well. The strong sense that we were going the right way. A sense I had often felt myself as we traveled, though I had worried it meant I was feeling myself fall into some dark fate. But to hear Ayden say he felt it chased away the dark fears as we both smiled with relief that the journey was almost over.

Never mind what we may find in the end. What we may have to do when we faced off with the witch who had affected both of our families in some way? We would get to that when it was time, but for now we couldn't help but be excited at the closing end to our long travels.

"Well, what do we do now?" Baer asked, breaking the moment with his question.

Ayden turned and pointed ahead of the path to where buildings stood in the distance. I squinted just enough to see hay stacked roofs and white stone buildings. Far from the ingenuity we had seen in the last forgotten city we encountered.

"There is a town ahead. By the time we reach it the sun will be setting so we should make camp there. If we're lucky we'll find more provisions and beds to use there like the last time." He said with a point of his finger. "Let's get a move on so that we have enough light to explore it first. Who knows, maybe this place will have electricity."

"Somehow I doubt it," Rory said as she and Baer took the lead.

I fell into step with Ayden, giving as much space between us and them as I could. Just because we had that distraction didn't mean I didn't have words to say to him.

"I don't need them worrying about me anymore," I said sternly.

"Why are you telling me this? I don't control their feelings," he replied.

I scoffed. "I know you sent them to me. I know you told them about that dream and the voice. You told them everything that I trusted you with and all it did was make them worry more about me. And now, more than ever, we all have to be at our best."

"How do you expect to be at your best when you are dealing with everything by yourself and not talking to your cousin about any of it?"

I looked over at him and shook my head. "I thought I was dealing with it with you. My mate."

I watched as he closed his eyes, regret flashing across his eyes.

"And what if I need their support? It's hard to be the only one who knows what you are going through when I can't help you. I reached out for more support because I thought it was the right thing for you."

"Oh," I said, a sense of anger rising in my chest. "I'm so sorry that I've inconvenienced you with my problems. I promise, it won't happen again."

I began to stomp away from him as the anger in my chest grew hotter. Behind me, I could hear Ayden's steps quicken to keep pace with me.

"That's not what I said! Rigel! Stop!" He reached out and grabbed my arm to stop me, but I ripped myself out of his grasp.

"No," I said firmly. "You're right. Everything I piled on you, it wasn't fair. You already almost died because of me, and it's only going to distract you more knowing about everything else. I won't trouble you with any of it anymore. Not until we are done with Minerva and whatever else. Then, we can decide where to go with this bond from there."

I stormed off before he could reply, as tears threatened to pool in my eyes.

‘You didn't even give him a chance,'my wolf said with a whimper.

‘You heard him just as well as I did. He can't handle our problems; he'd rather my cousin take care of it.'

My wolf huffed in my head, an image of her shaking her head with the sound appeared in my mind.

‘That is not what he said, Sasha. And if you were thinking clearly you'd know that.'

I shook my head and pushed her back from the front of my mind. Of course, she wouldn't understand. She only saw the best in him. That's all she wanted to see, because to her, our mate was perfect and saw us as perfect. But that just wasn't the case, she'd have to learn it sooner or later.