in mine as she sits on the bed, rubbing my thumb in soothing motions over the back of her knuckles as she looks up at me with an apology in her eyes. Josh sits on a chair next to the bed like I am, his eyes not once moving from her.
“I’m so sorry,” she whispers, a tear falling from her eye.
“What happened?” I ask.
She looks at Josh before her eyes fall to her lap. “When they took me, they put me in a room and my father came.” She swallows roughly and her hand shakes in mine. “He… he started shouting, screaming even. He said awful things. He went to hit me, but his second in command reminded him that I can’t have any more injuries when I go in front of the council.” She shakes her head. “They said they would hurt you all if I didn’t agree with what my father said. I didn’t know what to do, I was so scared. I… I didn’t mean to betray you when they took me to the hall, I vow it. I didn’t know what to do… I didn’t—”
I knew there had to be a reason why she did what she did, but her words have shoved out any doubt left in my mind about it. I shift to the edge of my seat and move some of her dark hair behind her ear. “It’s alright now, I’m sorry too. I said I would keep you safe and I didn’t.” I clear my throat and try to get rid of the feeling of someone choking me. Another failure. Push it down Rhea. “Can you forgive me?” I ask her.
“You have nothing to be sorry for,” she sobs, and I see Josh clenching his hand. “I betrayed you all by going along with what my father wanted.”
“You did what you had to do, what you thought was best, I can’t blame you for that.” A sob passes her lips, and I lean forward, gently wrapping my arms around her, the need to ease her making me not able to help myself. I hold her as she cries, my eyes connecting with Darius as he leans beside the door, his jaw ticking as he watches us.
Josh shifts in his seat, his knuckles white as he watches Sarah. She quiets after a while, then she leans back and wipes her face. She settles back in the bed and looks over toward Darius near the door. She tenses slightly, but then lifts her chin.
“Are you going to take me back?” Her voice wavers, but it’s still strong. Brave girl. Josh tenses as he waits for his answer, his face hardening.
“No, I’m not,” Darius tells her, and the room relaxes.
“But you’re the Highers’ weapon,” she says. “You… you could have told them I’m here, told my arranged mate I’m here.” Josh flinches, a growl rumbling in his chest.
“I’m not their weapon to do with as they please anymore. A lot has happened and changed.” Darius’s eyes come to mine as he speaks. I look away.
“Did you know my father sold me?” she asks him, and I freeze along with Darius.
“Sold you?” His brows furrow, and I look at Josh as he practically shakes with rage.
“He sold me to the Highers. To be used as they see fit. But not before my father let my pack have their share first,” she chokes out, and I slump back in my seat, my own eyes stinging with her words. “I overheard that they have done deals with others too, but I don’t know who. They didn’t exactly tell me what they were doing.”
I know what happened to her. I saw the evidence on her body when she came to Eridian, then she told me some of it, but hearing her own father was aware? He was a part of it? And that others have done the same too?
“What the fuck is wrong with people?” I whisper to myself before getting up and starting to pace the room. My emotions run high, wanting to burst out of my skin. “What happened to what wolves are meant to be?! We are protectors, providers, defenders. When did the wolves of Vrohkaria turn into monsters?” I shake out my hands, feeling the need to do… something.
“What did they want from you?” Darius asks Sarah, keeping his eyes on me. “The Highers?” I wait for her answer, as this is also what she hadn’t told me.
Sarah looks toward me. “They said I was a suitable candidate to potentially produce a pup to be an Heir. I was to be given to the Highers after my arranged mating to the Aragnis pack. I don’t know anything more than that. Just that I was to be taken somewhere.”
I look at Darius, his face a picture of disgust. “Why is producing an Heir important? What does he want with Heirs?” I ask him.
“He mentioned to me about creating stronger pups to defeat the rogures, but this obsession he seems to have had for a long time, doesn’t make it feel like the only reason he has.” He folds his arms, the muscles bulging in them. “Before you arrived in Wolvorn, no one ever mentioned the Heirs, unless it was a passing conversation about them not being around anymore. The people were glad they weren’t around because that meant they were safe.”
“But they aren’t safe. Not from the Highers or the rogures,” I growl.
“I know,” he says bluntly.
“Do they know I’m gone?” Sarah asks from the bed.
“Not yet,” Darius answers. “And when they do, they won’t know where you are, I will make sure of it. Come, little wolf,” he says to me. “We have a lot to discuss.” Darius walks out the open doorway and enters the hallway.
I move over to Sarah and press my cheek to hers. “You’re okay now, if you’re in danger here I will have you moved to Witches Rest.” Her eyes widen. “Josh will explain.”
I move as Josh stands, coming over to me and pulling me close, kissing the top of my head. I tense under his touch, my arms hanging loosely by my sides. I hear a growl from the hallway, and I roll my eyes, pulling back from Josh to see Darius scowling at us.
“I’ll talk to you later,” I tell Sarah, and follow Darius out and down the hallway.
He continues ahead of me, silent in his steps. I follow quietly as we get further and further away from the rooms on this level. Darius takes a right and descends down some steps. I look out the small windows as we continue down, seeing gardens at the back of the keep that I haven’t been to on this side. We eventually come to a door at the bottom, and Darius moves the bolt attached to it and opens it up.
We step out into the open, the smell of all the various flowers hitting my senses with their sweet, earthly smell. Darius follows a stone path further into the gardens, leading me toward the back of the enclosed keep. He pushes open an iron gate that has ivy clinging to it, ripping it apart as he pushes the gate open fully. I duck my head, feeling the ivy tickle my face as I go through.
Once out on the other side, weeping willows surround us, their leaves swaying in the slight breeze as Darius walks through them. I let my hand stroke them, feeling their life within like a pulsing heartbeat. We continue over grass, Darius quiet and me curious, if not slightly nervous at being back here on our own.
Why is he taking me out here?
We come to an open, circular space within the willow trees, the sun shining down on us and creating shadows of branches under the trees. The grass tickles my ankles as I step into the area, the strands longer here. Darius pauses and I stop, looking him over as he folds his arms.
“Zaide is staying back to either try and find where the memory crystal is, or grab it if he can,” he says. “He’s trying to ask a female that Charles brings to his office to speak to her.”
My nose scrunches in disgust. “Will he be able to stay there long?” He shakes his head.
“Just as long as he can until it becomes suspicious. I won’t have him put himself in danger for it, he can handle himself well though.”
I take a breath before my next question. “My pack? Kade?”
“We have brought records here, so we can look through them for your pack’s names. Kade is still at Wolvorn. They say it’s for his own safety.”
My stomach drops. “Safe?” I scoff, unease slithering inside of me. “He’s not safe there, what are they doing to him.” I stare off into the distance, dreading what he may be going through.
“Nothing good, Rhea,” My eyes swing back to him, and a knot forms in my stomach. “I met Aldus there,” Darius says, changing the conversation. I have a feeling he knows what’s going on, but won’t tell me. I don’t know whether I’m thankful or pissed. “He said the memories you changed keep appearing and are held behind a block so he becomes violent. Aldus and Maize are having to keep removing the block you have put there to get to his memories.”
I close my eyes briefly. “I only ever blocked his memories as a child because his nightmares were terrible. He would scream for hours or be still and quiet after sleep when he would finally let himself rest. I didn’t… change his memories.“ God, Carzan, I’ll come as soon as I can.
“I thought as much,” he says, easily, and I have to stop the skip of my heart that he believes me. That he may actually be on my side, even if I don’t want him to be. But this is bigger than my issues with him. Than us. Lives hang in the balance and I need to shove down what’s going on between me and Darius the best I can. “Did you know about Sarah’s father?” he asks.
“No, I didn’t,” I answer, folding my own arms. “I knew her pack was doing… things to her. She was a mess when we got her, her injuries then…“ I trail off. “I had no idea her father was involved.”
He looks away from me, his jaw ticking. “How many more people have they done this to?” he wonders out loud.
“A lot,” I tell him softly, thinking of how many innocent beings are being taken from their homes. “The Highers have been taking them for years, I didn’t know. I thought it was just me when I was younger. I never imagined this is what was going on.”
“And how do you know, now?” he demands, and I scuff my boot into the ground.
“I can’t tell you that.” He raises an eyebrow, but I can’t tell him about Edward being the one who told me what was really happening, it would put him in danger. The less people who knew about him, the better. Though I haven’t heard from him once, and I’m getting worried. He said the Highers were leaving him out of decisions, being kept out of the inner workings. Are they getting suspicious of him? “I’m serious, Darius, this is something I can’t tell you. I’ve had help with bringing people to Eridian over the years, getting them to safety there. They even helped me. I didn’t know Eridian even existed. I probably would have been dead a long time ago if I wasn’t told about it. I can’t tell you who I had help from, just that they are on my side and it’s less dangerous for them if less people know.”
He examines my face closely. “You trust them?” he finally asks.
“I would trust him with my life.”
“Him?” His arms flex.
“It doesn’t matter.”
“It fucking does,” he growls while I hold his stare, unflinching no matter how my insides swirl at his possessive tone.
“Listen here you big, fucking asshole babysitter,” I snap, taking a few steps toward him. He watches my every move, his eyes bleeding black, a wolf ready to pounce. But I don’t falter until I’m four steps away from him. “I am not yours to be possessive over, or claim, or protect. We have been through this.“ He dips his head slowly, never once taking his eyes off me. The move was so animalistic, I have to work hard to control my breathing as my heart speeds up.
“You are what I say you are.” His voice is quiet, full of gravel and a threat that I don’t know about.
“No.” I shake my head harshly. “I will not become some plaything to you, I am my own being!”
“You’re my being.”
My bravado falters at that for a moment, the words dragging that hope, that yearning that’s deep within my soul that I have kept buried for years until him. How can he say such things to me after what he has done? Why does he have to be the one saying this to me?
“You know the connection cannot be helped, that’s all this is, Darius,” I say tiredly. “It’s not real. I won’t let it be, not with you.” His whole body tenses. “It will go, I’ll make it so. I will drag it out, I will pull it out, I will tear it out piece by piece.” My heart cannot take anymore.
I’m on my back in the next second, he moved so fast I had no time to react. My hands are pinned by my wrists at the side of my head and his face is inches from mine, his nostrils flaring. “You even attempt to rid anything,” he snarls down at me, his eyes fully black now. The only color left the green of his pupils. “I will chain you in my room, I will lock you in there, never letting you out, never letting you feel the sun on your skin until you see fucking sense.” His eyes burn into mine as I stay frozen beneath him, his power coming out and floating around the back of him. “You drag it out, I’ll shove it back in. You pull it, I will push it. You tear it, and I will grab every, single piece and put it back together again.”
I flex my hands in his hold, and he growls. It’s low, full of dominance, and I can’t help my reaction. I slump in the grass, my body limp in his hold. The purr that comes from him is full of satisfaction as his power moves over my sides, the coolness settling me.
“I do not want it, Darius.” I whisper the words softly, letting some vulnerability show in my voice. His eyes bounce between mine. “I have never really gotten what I want in my life, I’ve not asked for much, if anything for myself. But this, I want this.” He presses his weight further into me, making me completely immobile as he slips between my thighs. “I want to not have this connection to you, I want to not be tethered to you. I don’t—“ My lips begin to tremble as desperation rushes through me. “I don’t want it to be you.”
Silence. Utter silence surrounds us. The branches cannot even be heard with the rustle of leaves from the wind. Darius’s eyes start to move then. He slowly peels them from my eyes, trailing down the bridge of my nose until his eyes connect with mine once more. His power comes to his hands, and I feel its calmness against me. I suck in a sharp breath, my lips parting as it caresses my skin. The call of my own comes, greeting him and I have to close my eyes as the feeling of home rushes through me.
Why does he make me feels so good, but hurt me so bad? His power connecting with mine is like finding water after having none for days. Finding the sun after beings kept away.
It’s not fucking fair. But then. When has my life ever been?
“Open your eyes, little wolf.” I do. With his power connecting with mine, I’m unable to deny him. “You feel that?” he asks, pushing more power against me and I breath out a shaky breath. I feel it all. “That is something neither one of us can deny. It’s a higher power, more than me and you combined. Whether from the Gods or something else, it is the path they have chosen. I will not come off that path.” My eyes sting, and I bite the inside of my cheek. “You may have not asked for much in your life, you may have not been given the choice. You also have no choice here,” He says, and a noise leaves me. It’s sad, resigned. “But it doesn’t have to be terrible, it doesn’t have to be hateful. I’m a selfish asshole. I’m not good at sharing, not good at compromise, and especially not good at letting things go that I deem mine.” He dips his head, running his nose up the side of my neck. “And I won’t, Rhea,” he says, and I tense in his hold. “I won’t let you go again.”
I sit down in the grass, running my fingers over the strands as Darius sits a few feet away from me, watching me closely. After he let me up, we were silent for a long time. The sun is close to setting now, but I haven’t felt the need to break the silence. Not after everything he said to me.
He won’t let me go, he won’t let me choose. I can’t say I’m surprised. Darius isn’t the type of male to let something go. As he said, he’s selfish. Even though his words wanted to burrow under my skin, wanting to feel content with the fact that he will be a constant thing according to him, I can’t let them. Too much has happened.
He eventually breaks the quiet first. “The Highers, especially Charles, have a lot of followers. Even though there is an uprising happening at the moment, some people are demanding that the Highers step down as they are not fit to rule Vrohkaria,” Darius tells me, and I can’t help but feel a sliver of hope that some are rebelling. “Despite the fact that they won’t let anyone have a safe haven inside the castle walls from the rogures, they still have alliances amongst the packs.”
“Probably packs that some have given their children up to gain titles, power and authority.” Pieces of shit. “How deep does this go? How many are on Charles’s side?”
“A lot,” he says.
“Charles and the other Highers have been kidnapping children for years, and no one knew apart from those involved. Then Sarah tells us a deal was made with her father for her, and she has heard of others who have done the same. All involved deserve to die for what they have done.”
“You want to go around packs and kill the ones involved?” He tilts his head, waiting for my response, but he hasn’t outright shut me down.
“Some gave their children up for their lives to be comfortable while their child lives in misery. They abuse, rape and break their own flesh and blood, their own pack members. They don’t deserve to live, Darius. How can they stand there and watch their child get taken, watch as their pack rape others. It’s sick,” I spit. “The Elites were made for hunting Heirs, yet you think they were made to protect the lands. What will you do? Will you turn a blind eye to it now that you know?”
Shadows dance at the back of him as his nostrils flare. “I can’t turn a blind eye to it, I told you that. But I also know that right now, we can’t take Charles down, or his followers when we find them without evidence to show people. We don’t have the power to fight them and win right now.”
“We are Canaric wolves, we are Heirs. How can we not be powerful enough?” We are practically second to the Gods.
“I’ve recently remembered my powers as have you, yet yours is volatile.”
“How do you know that?” I ask tentatively.
“I can sense it, it’s inside of you, wild, untamed. It’s why you’re tired all the time, why you have outbursts.” He tilts his head, smirking. “Why you can’t hit me with it.”
I scowl. “I’ll get the hang of it, it will just take a little time. That’s all.” I don’t like that he knows I’m not in full control. Not being able to stand equal against a male like Darius is a death sentence. Or a whip against your back. Though I don’t think many can stand equal to him. Unless you are a Higher.
“It also takes your wolf.”
I pause. Intelligent fucker. “Yeah, that’s out of the question, so I will just have to learn without her.”
He lifts his palm, shadows of black mist dancing around his fingers. “You need to bond completely with your wolf, but you aren’t. When was the last time your wolf came out?”
“When was yours?” I counter. My wolf is a sore spot, and it seems he knows it when his eyes light up.
“A few weeks ago. Rogures attacked a small village near the Unforgivable Sea. Not many have seen my wolf and lived.”
“Why is that?” I wonder.
“It’s not your average wolf.”
“We are not normal, but Canaric.”
He clenches his hands and the mist moves up and around his back. Two thick tendrils of darkness spread out from behind him, looking like tails swishing back and forth. I lean closer, just slightly as I look at those shadows in fascination.
“I may be Canaric, but even my wolf hasn’t been seen before. It’s not in Vrohkaria history anyway.” Those tails sway back and forth and Darius stands, moving closer to me.
I rise too, feeling my own power within, swirling and bashing against my insides, reacting to his. “Why is your wolf different? Are there others? Like the one I saw?”
He stops in front of me, the green of his eyes glowing slightly. He reaches out his hand and grips my chin. It’s a firm hold, but not painful. “Maybe, but I think you know why mine is different.”
My markings appear, I feel the warmth of them before they settle upon my skin. Darius’s own markings pulse within the tattoos on his neck, and up to just below his jaw. “I don’t know why.”
His eyes glow brighter as he drops his hand, but he doesn’t step away. “Your wolf needs to come out.”
“She won’t, she can’t,” I reluctantly admit. Runa moves restless within me, my power floating around her. The grass at my feet grows, the stalks becoming larger as nerves settle within me. Darius looks down and watches.
“You won’t be able to control it unless you become one with her. You will be of no help against the fight with the Highers when it comes. Be of no help to get your broken pack back. To get Kade back.”
Rage rushes through me and I raise a hand, a ball of power pushing out of my palm as I lay it against Darius’s chest. He’s forced a step back until his power rises to meet mine. Darkness encases us, the black mist swirling violently around us and only the green glow of Darius’s eyes is visible. My breaths come out in pants as ice-blue tendrils come from my sides, and lash out. It connects with Darius’s barrier around us, sparking every time it comes into contact with it. The flashes of blue light us up with every hit, and I see Darius watching curiously.
“I can try and force her out,” he tells me after a moment. He catches a wayward tendril in his hand and wraps it around his fingers, playing with it. Completely unaffected. “She won’t like it, but if there’s no other way, it will have to be done.”
I’m already shaking my head before he finishes. “That’s cruel.”
“That’s survival, little wolf. If you don’t get to grips with your power you will die. You could kill innocents. Is that what you want?”
More power unleashes from me, a wave of it smashing against the sides of the barrier. “No.” I stumble back against the black, feeling his magic soak into me and calm some of my own power. “Of course not.”
“Then let me help you get her out. It might not work the first time, but we have no other options here. I need you to be as strong as you can be to face the Highers when the time comes.”
“I already got one, I don’t need to drag her out.” His eyes sharpen at my words. Shit.
A rumbling comes from his chest, and he steps forward. His eyes bounce between mine before they light up in recognition. “Higher Aiden,” he murmurs, and I swallow. “Did you kill a Higher, little wolf?”
“I…”
“You did, didn’t you?” His tone has dropped now. He licks his lips. “How did you do it?” He asks, taking another step closer.
“I didn’t-”
“When did you do it?” Another step. “Did you make him bleed?” The air turns heavy as desire pours off of him.
“I didn’t do anything.”
“Tell me. I’m not angry. Far from it.” His eyes flicker black.
I take a breath. “I found him drunk,” I whisper. “I followed him and slit his throat.”
“Fuck,” he whispers, lowing his hand to adjust himself. My eyes track the movement. “Do you know how fucking hard I am for you right now?” I shake my head, eyes glued to his obvious erection. “You being murderous always turns me on. It’s the way your eyes shine, so full of rage and hate.”
“They were full of rage for him,” I admit. “For what he was a part of. I will take every last one of them out.”
He takes a deep breath. “If you don’t want me to take those shorts off and fuck you, little wolf, I would stop mentioning it now.” I swallow the moan that rises, even as heat pools in my stomach.
“This is fucked up,” I tell him.
“Nothing is fucked up when it comes to you.” I inhale shakily and clear my throat. It would be so easy for me to offer what he wants, I have no doubt he would jump at it. I squeeze my thighs together.
“So now you know I can take a Higher down,” I say, steering the conversation to safer waters.
“You caught him unaware, Rhea. It won’t always be like that. Their power is above the norm, especially Charles. You can sense it on him, I know you can.”
Of course I can, but I thought that was normal. Most Highers are usually wolves with witch’s blood in them. But Charles is different. “What is he?” I ask.
“Powerful, more so than he should be.” Darius slams into me unexpectedly, holding my throat in his hand and pinning me to the barrier.
I push a hand into his chest, my power rushing into him and he growls. “Stop fucking fighting.” I can’t, it’s all I’ve known. “Trust me.”
That’s laughable.
My fingers dig into his chest as my hair rises around me. My eyes begin to change, I can feel it happen, and Runa whines inside of me. Blue strands come through the ground at my feet and rise above us, surrounding us as they move violently. My powers shoot out around the barrier, pinging around it as I try to escape. Darius brings the darkness closer to us, tighter.
“Get off me,” I demand, forcing more power into my palm at his chest. Trying to get every scrap of it to do my bidding.
“No,” he growls back, shadows covering his body, protecting him.
Blue and black collide around us, sparks and tendrils roaming wildly within the barrier he created. Shadows grab my wrists, holding them down on either side of me and I start to thrash in panic as hot pain enters me. I squeeze my eyes shut as a gritted scream comes from me, taking my breath away. Then lips touch mine.
Soft, but then more demanding, rough.
I whimper, opening to him to distract me. Letting his tongue dance with mine, I falter in my struggle, the pain receding to a dull ache as he devours my mouth. My body relaxes back against his barrier, those shadow hands now rubbing soothingly at my temples. A pitiful sound comes from me as my magic fizzles out, and Darius makes a noise at the back of his throat at the sound.
He nips my bottom lip, breaking the kiss to rest his forehead against mine. “Trust me,” he whispers against me, and I open my eyes. Those silver flecks are back, and I’m unable to do anything but watch them float.
“I can’t,” I choke out, shaking my head against his. His eyes shutter, and he exhales roughly. Giving my jaw a small bite, he releases my throat and steps back. Light surrounds us again as he calls off his barrier and I stumble forward.
Darius catches me, lifting me as my markings begin to fade, my eyes heavy as I rest my head on his shoulder. He holds me close with an arm under my legs and an arm around my back as he makes his way over to a willow tree. I try to struggle, to get him to let me down, but my body feels like stone. He sits down, being gentle with me, and he gets me comfortable in his lap. My head feels fuzzy, and I couldn’t even move if I wanted to. But his scent around me wraps me up in a delusional sense of safety, in a fake attempt at comfort. I’m too weak to reject it as I burrow my face in the side of his neck. His palm comes to the back of my head, gently massaging there and making a small, satisfied moan come from my lips at the feel of it.
He chuckles against the top of my head and rests his free hand on my thigh. “Rest, little wolf, I’ll keep you safe.” He keeps saying that.
I try to snort, but I don’t think even a small sound escapes me as my body goes limp and I fall asleep in the arms of my own personal enemy.
