Chapter Six

Iwant him. I don't want to want him, but I do. I want him more than I've ever wanted anyone in my entire life.

Even now, as I rested in my tent, I'm thinking about him and the way it felt with his arms around me. Imagining what it would be like to feel his skin pressed against mine.

"Fucking hell," I groaned to myself as I pulled my pillow over my face. "This can't be happening."

I could hear my wolf chuckle in the back of my mind. She was taking far too much pleasure in my torture. Then again, in her opinion, I was putting myself through this torture unnecessarily by resisting the mate bond.

"There has to be some kind of cosmic mistake happening," I told myself for the millionth time now.

But it had to be a mistake. There was no way that I was mated to Ayden. Not when the very fates who determine these bonds had sent me a prophecy all those years ago. A prophecy that is completely hypocritical to pairing us as mates.

I rolled over onto my side and thought about that day. The day that I had my first and only vision from The Fates.

It had been so public. Right there on the stage at graduation. The Fates had spoken through me. My voice distorted as it echoed over the crowd.

Ayden had been standing right there beside me when it happened. I still remember the horror on his face as I came back and stared at him with a newfound distrust.

The Fates had prophesied that Ayden would be my death. That he would be the death of everyone and everything that we knew.

I could still remember the words as they had flowed from my lips and to everyone in attendance at our graduating class ceremony.

In the whispers of the ancient woods,

Where shadows dance and secrets brood,

A prophecy unfolds, dark and dire,

Of a soul enshrouded in consuming fire.

Ayden Fairchild, bearer of fate's scorn,

Shall tread a path where darkness is born.

To all he touches, peril shall cling,

A harbinger of chaos, an unholy king.

To those closest, his danger shall bind,

Leaving shattered hearts and souls confined.

Shifters and witches, beware his name,

For he heralds naught but sorrow and shame.

In the crucible of destiny's flame, Sasha, hear and heed the silent claim.

For sworn enemies shall you become,

Bound by threads of fate, by fates undone.

Yet in the depths of this deceitful plot,

Truth shall rise, dispelling every knot.

For in the union of your powers combined,

Light shall conquer, darkness resigned.

So stand firm, brave souls, in the night,

For the dawn awaits, casting out the blight.

Though shadows may linger, hope shall prevail,

And Ayden Fairchild's tale, a legend's veil.

He and his family had fled before the ceremony was completed after that. I hadn't seen him again till tonight.

Some of the pack members had begged my parents to go after him and kill him before the prophecy could be completed, but they had refused.

Mom told the pack that it would be war if we acted. His pack was powerful, as was his coven. There was also the connection he had gained to the Alaskan packs, given that his aunt came from the north.

It would have turned into an all-out civil war, and no one would come out the winner in the end.

My eyes closed tightly as I remembered my own voice echoing with the packs to demand that we end the danger before it poses a threat. Yet, here and now, camping with him, and a mate bond revealed between us.

What would have happened had I faced him on the battlefield after our birthdays and we felt the bond appear? Would we both have fallen into the hands of each other's packs as we tried to understand the twists of fate?

Why would The Fates give me such detailed and publicly announced prophecy if they intended for me to be mated to the one they deemed my enemy?

‘Maybe the prophecy wasn't what you thought it to be?'My wolf attempted to reason.

I shook my head. "There is no way to misinterpret something that calls out both of us by name."

‘What if,'my wolf began, but I shook my head.

"There is no ‘what ifs'. There simply has to be a mistake."

‘Maybe then, Rory might have better answers,'my wolf pressed. ‘After all, she is one of the most powerful Seers of your generation. You should talk to her.'

I nodded and rolled back to my back. "That's not a bad idea. I'll do that tomorrow. Maybe The Fates told her something she can share with me about all this when they spoke to her and Baer."

I closed my eyes and forced myself to fall asleep then. Even still, Ayden's face appeared in my dreams.

His eyes, his lips, his strong arms wrapped around me, his presence making me feel safe against the darkness that surrounded us. Darkness that I stared into with more fear than I had ever felt, yet in his arms I felt the darkness pushed away.

"Sasha, wake up."

I bolted upright at the sound of my name, the darkness and Ayden's arms disappearing as the light of day trickled through the thin fabric of my tent.

Aurora leaned inside my tent, a frown on her face as she looked me up and down.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

I shook my head, then nodded all at once.

"Which is it? Yes or no?" she asked again.

I shook my head. "I have no idea, Ror. I'm so confused."

She looked over her shoulder, a space between her and the tent's opening revealing a shirtless Ayden as he brushed his teeth by the burned-out wood of last night's fire.

"We have some time if you want to talk about it," Aurora whispered as she looked back at me.

I nodded and made room for her to come inside and sit.

I waited until she zipped the tent closed to begin, my silencing charm that Abuela Alma taught me about activating the silence of our conversion to the outside world.

"Okay, speak," Rory said.

"Why would The Fates give me that prophecy at graduation only to turn around and then reveal that I am to mate with Ayden? What purpose could that possibly serve them? I mean, we almost went to war over that prophecy. It could have been a massive World War Three of supernatural proportions, yet they had planned for him and me to be mated and enemies at the same time? Why? Did they say anything to you and Baer as to what they were thinking?"

My words came out rushed, the bottled-up feelings spilling out to my cousin and best friend. I hadn't even realized how bottled up I had been until that moment when the words wouldn't stop spilling out of my mouth.

Rory held up her hand, waving me to slow down.

"I have no idea why you received that prophecy. What I can tell you is that you and Ayden are mates. That is no mistake. However, if you keep resisting it will only make things harder for all of us. You know how both of our parents tried and failed to reject their mate bonds. You really think you will be any different?"

I shook my head and sighed. "Is there anything else at all you can tell me? Any hint you can give me? I need more than this assurance that it's not some big mistake."

"No, you don't," she said.

"What?"

"You don't need anything more. You're worried that it was a mistake, and I've told you that it's not. You don't need to know anything else. Not at this time anyway."

I watched as she turned her face and stared off in that strange way that seers often did when there was more they wanted to say but have said all that The Fates will allow them to. I sighed in defeat and nodded.

"Fine, I get it," I said. "I guess I'd better get out there and start taking down my part of the camp then."

Rory nodded and moved to crawl out of the tent before pausing just before opening the zipper.

"Just, don't fight the desires. If you do, your wolf could take over and trust me, you don't want to be marked and mated that way. Keep some control, and you'll be okay."

With that, she opened the tent and crawled out. I followed behind and watched her join Baer in tearing down their tent. The two looked so happy together. They had been that way ever since they discovered they were, in fact, mates. Something that we all long suspected for as long as I could remember.

They hadn't had any dangerous mission surrounding them. They hadn't had any dramatic fall out that resulted in one of them hating the other.

From the very beginning, they were best friends and as they sat together on Rory's eighteenth birthday, they held each other's hands and prayed to be mates. A prayer they soon celebrated for coming true.

I had always held some jealousy for that. Had always wanted to find a mate who would love and care for me as strongly as Baer did for Rory. After some time, I began to think that maybe I didn't have a mate out there. That maybe I was destined to walk this path alone, take a chosen mate who also was destined to walk their path alone.

I had often caught myself praying to The Fates to send me a strong mate to help me lead rather than a mate who wouldn't be able to so much as stand up to me, much less lead an entire pack.

I supposed they had answered my prayer, just as they had answered Rory and Baer's prayers. It just wasn't what I would have chosen for myself.

My gaze moved over again to Ayden, his back to me as he shook out his shirt and began to pull it over his muscular back. I bit my lip as I watched that rippling skin disappear beneath his shirt. My head turned away quickly as he looked over his shoulder at me.

I found myself wishing that I had more time to admire his bare back. A desire to run my hands along the muscle there, to feel where it was hard and soft along his body.

Then Rory's words came to the forefront of my mind.

Just give into the desires.

I looked back over at Ayden as he threw his backpack over his shoulder and nodded for Baer to come over, their voices carrying over the wind with plans of how to navigate the forest without getting lost.

Despite myself, I didn't hear much of what they were discussing, my mind clouded by the desires that plagued me even now.

‘Maybe Rory has a point about denying the bond,'I thought to myself.

‘Yes, I agree,'my wolf nearly purred as she watched Ayden.

"Sasha," Ayden called out, my trance breaking as I saw all eyes now on me.

"What?" I asked quickly, hoping that I hadn't been too obvious in staring at Ayden.

"Those sigils I showed you. We are going to try and write them on each of us. If we walk in a diamond formation, each representing a direction, it should work to keep us from being separated by the forest." Ayden explained.

I looked over at Rory and Baer and saw them drawing the sigils on each other. I looked back at Ayden and frowned.

"Who's going to be north?"

He smirked. "Me. You get to be east."

Before I could object, he grabbed my wrist and began to draw the sigil on my skin. I stared on with annoyance. Annoyance at him for stealing the lead again, and annoyance at myself for enjoying the way he takes charge despite my desire to do so myself.

‘This bond shit is annoying,'I grumbled to my wolf.

‘Speak for yourself.'