long grass, Josh on my right with Anna, Taylor, and Sebastian a bit behind to my left. Hudson and Colten bring up the rear. The dull, green stalks come up to my shoulders, our heads peeking out so we can see ahead of us in the dark night, the moon lighting our way.
It’s been a long two months since the cuffs on my wrists were removed, but the thin, red scars haven’t faded, no matter how much I try to hide them like the others. They are a constant reminder though, to never be shackled again. I vow to keep that promise to myself.
I glance at Josh and notice the tension lining his body, eager to reach our old home in Zakith. He’s bristling under the surface with anger, his desperation to get to Sarah. We have to be careful though, there are only a few of us and a lot of them in the pack at our old home. If we are going to be successful will come down to if she is even still here, all of us knowing how much time has passed with what Patrick told me. How he would have her tied to his bed. I swallow at the thought and pray that he hasn’t touched her. She had gone through enough, and even though she agreed with her father, Alpha Christopher, in the great hall about us kidnapping her, I know deep down she must have felt she had no choice.
It’s the only explanation. The only one I want to think about, otherwise the betrayal will cut deep. Some deeper for others.
My power flows inside of me, free but somewhat controlled, only flaring up and becoming an issue when my emotions run high. I imagine it like a ball, twining and thriving inside, its tendrils whipping around sporadically. I’ve managed to do a few things with my magic, and I learned I have a knack for a little healing, also growing plant life occasionally, along with a few other things that I’m still trying to wrap my head around. My control is good with some things, others? My power is volatile, wild, and I never really know what I’m going to get when I use it. It’s like you suddenly have another limb you need to learn to move as you see fit, only it doesn’t always do as you say.
I’m still new to this, and Belldame has helped me as much as she can. But she’s not exactly equipped to help an Heir, she only has some knowledge from the Heir’s before me and my mother.
But like she told me, every Heir is different and each one has had some sort of difference with their power.
Belldame thinks that I can’t fully grasp my power in a very controlled manner because I’m still not wholly connected to Runa, who still refuses to come out. She thinks once Runa and I can completely be in sync with each other, the rest will fall into place. For that to happen, we need time together as a wolf. Runa seems a little more settled now that I have my power running within me, but it’s disconnected of sorts from her. She feels it around her, just not with her, together.
We’re about an hour away from my old home deep inside Zakith, the territory of the Aragnis pack. It’s strange being inside my home lands, recognizing areas and remembering my childhood when I was free, innocent. I’m sure Josh feels the same, seeing the familiar scenery. We used to play in these fields as kids, trying to sneak up on each other and tackling each other to the ground. I instinctively move closer to him at the memory, wanting to feel him close. He glances over at me, his eyes guarded, tension lining his whole body. He moves away from me, pain entering his eyes, and I look down, hating what we have become but knowing it had to be done or he would have been killed.
I move my hand against the grass, wishing times were easier and more simple, but knowing it could never have been that way. I had so much love for Zakith. Then all of a sudden, it changed so quickly and it was filled with so much darkness. Pain, sorrow, and heartbreak. Am I ready to face this? Probably not, but Sarah may be in there, and we need to save her. I don’t know if my whole family is back in Zakith, if Kade is, but I hope he is so we can grab him too.
I reach out again for his blood link, and once again feel a sharp knife to the heart when it’s not there. I don’t know why I keep trying, knowing it will hurt me every time. I look ahead and push it to the back of my mind. Not now, Rhea, don’t go there.
The Aragnis pack was eighty-seven strong when I was younger, it’s probably a lot more now, and the chances of us trying to get Sarah out silently are slim. We were the largest pack in the lands of Vrohkaria when I was younger, well-respected and loved. I’m not sure if that’s changed. I never asked Edward to update me on my old home, the pain was too much.
“Not long now,” Josh whispers so we can all hear. “We will stake-out at the top.” He points to a hill I know all too well ahead of us, it looks over the whole village. “It’s better to take a couple of days to learn their routine, but the scouts will probably come across us.”
I nod. “We have to be quick and take the opportunity. We can’t risk being seen before we have even gotten close to the Alpha home.” Josh ignores me.
“Are you sure that’s where Sarah will be?” Anna asks, and I look over at her.
“I hope she isn’t, but I know Patrick, he will have her there.” I try not to shiver at the thought but fail. Josh growls low, but I don’t look at him. I don’t want to see the look on his face, it would break me. “Are you all sure you want to be here, the risk is high.”
“Sarah is pack, and we will get them all back, no matter how long it takes,” Sebastian snarls, and I could hug him for his loyalty.
He’s right, we will get them back, I won’t stop until they are all safe with us back at Witches Rest and until we find a new home and start again.
I have no idea where we will go, but I’m sure we will find somewhere. Eridian isn’t an option anymore, but there has to be a safe place for us to live. We can’t stay with the witches forever.
“I can try and scry when we get to the top of the hill, but it won’t be a powerful one. Other witches may pick up on the power surge otherwise, and send a direct link to the Highers’s witches.”
We don’t want that. “If you can be subtle about it, I don’t see why you can’t—“
A howl behind us cuts me off, and we all quiet down, ducking low in the long grass. Then another howl joins the first, until there is a chorus of them ringing in my ears, their sound sending chills down my spine. “Rogures?” I ask Josh through the link.
“Fuck, sounds like it,” he hisses, and I try to hide my surprise that he has spoken to me.
Shit, not good. They might run through here and find us. I point to the hill and Josh nods, putting his anger behind him for a moment and taps the others to get their attention. We start shuffling forward slowly, our heads low as we aim for the hill. If we can hide from the rogures, we can continue on with the plan. The other problem is that if the Aragnis pack also heard the howls, they will be coming in our direction to take them out.
Gods, what if there is a horde of them? Do we stay and help or port out of here? There are still innocents in that pack.
I’ve not taken seven more steps before I feel it.
Power.
Heady, strong, and accompanied by a scent I know too well. My eyes go wide as I stop in my tracks, my head turning behind me while my heart pounds within my chest. Runa sits up, her eyes alert to the newcomers.
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
“Go to the hill, I’ll stay back and distract them if I need to,” I say frantically to Josh. “They might not sense us here after taking Belldame’s potion to mask our scent, but he’s strong. You all need to get to the hill and stake-out as planned.” Josh’s eyes flicker for a moment, and I growl at him down the link. Now he chooses to care? “This isn’t about me, it’s about Sarah, and if he finds us, we’re completely fucked and have no chance. It’s me that has a target on my back. Just go, quickly for fuck’s sake.”
What are they even doing here?
I watch as Josh and the others move forward, Colten giving me a nervous look before he disappears through the tall blades of grass like the others. I take a deep breath and gently open my senses, keeping my dominance and power locked low to not give away my presence.
I listen intently, hearing feet shuffle, and then someone coughs, then gags. “Fucking Gods, I didn’t know I would be deep-throating grass,” Damian splutters. They must have ported in.
Leo laughs. “Get some practice in, I’ve seen the way you look at my ass sometimes.”
“The fuck I do, the only interest I have in your ass is kicking it,” Damian snarls and then the sound of flesh hitting flesh reaches me.
A low growl surrounds me, sounding like it’s right next to me and my heart rate speeds up. Darius. “Will you two fucking stop it, let’s hurry up and get rid of the rogures and leave.” I shiver at the sound of his voice, the deep cadence of it, my heart and mind warring within me in his presence.
It has been so long since I’ve heard it, since he spoke those words full of anger and coldness.
My hands press into the earth as Runa rallies inside of me, snarling and growling at the sounds of his voice.
At least I’m not the only one pissed at him. Hurt.
“It shouldn’t take long,” Zaide grunts, and I hear them moving from somewhere behind me, coming closer.
Too close. Gods.
I turn, facing their direction blindly, and looking at the stalks in front of me. They’re heading straight for us, and there is no way they won’t find me and then the others.
How can I be so unlucky, do the Gods really hate me?
Sweat beads at the back of my neck from the summer air, it clings to my t-shirt as I figure out a way to handle this. I’m not ready to see him, not ready to face him. My thoughts are conflicted with Darius, as are my feelings. I’m hurt, betrayal and anger running deep under my skin for what he did. Yet he mouthed sion to me, I’m sure of it. Why? Why did he have to do that and mess with my head? And how the fuck does he know that word?
Decision made, I send a little power into the earth when I hear them come even closer to my position, just enough to do what I need to, but hopefully not enough to suspect I’m here.
I hear a squeak, then the sound of a blade being drawn. “Shit, something just touched me,” Damian whines. Another squeak. “Get it off, get it off!”
“There’s nothing there, brother,” Leo laughs.
“Here,” Jerrod says as I hear grass being sliced. “There’s nothing. Stop being a pup.”
“Something touched me, I swear!” Damian practically cries as the others laugh, even as another howl pierces the air.
I hear them move forward again, and I send more power into the ground, feeling the vibration of their footsteps above my magic. I breathe deep and keep a tight grip on it, slowly directing my power to the moisture in the dirt. Collecting it, I raise it to the surface directly under their feet to soften the ground. I can hear their footsteps more clearly now with sludge-like dirt beneath their feet.
“The fuck?” Damian grumbles, as I send more and more moisture underneath them, causing them to sink.
“Why are we sinking?” Leo asks, confusion evident in his voice.
I move my power to enter the grass stalks around them, traveling to the top as I bite my lip to keep control, my arms shaking from the effort. I feel their body heat against the stalks like it’s against my own, like I’m within the grass itself. With them occupied in trying to move around the sludgy ground, I strike, moving the stalks around them, wrapping them up in a cocoon.
“Whdafush,” a muffle comes from one of them, and I lift my palms off the ground. Carefully moving forward to not make the grass move unnaturally, I creep and hold my power around them, needing to escape toward the others and get away from them.
I move about twenty steps before a low growl and a blast of power flattens the tall grass in the area. Instinctively, I hunch down, losing my grip on my power and hold my hands to my face to not get whipped by the stalks. Shit, I do not want to see him, I don’t want to be near him. It looks like I have no choice now.
I plant my hands on the floor to rise, watching as they shake on the ground before looking ahead to see if the others have reached the hill. Darius has completely exposed the field, every stalk of grass now flat, and I see my pack’s heads peeking over the top of the hill.
“Go,” I command Josh down the link, and I watch as they move out of sight. Then, I turn slowly and face the Alpha of assholes. Who has gone silent.
They are all so silent.
My face is carefully blank, and I casually wipe the dirt from my palms on my leathers as I stand tall, refusing to cower or move from in between them and my pack. I don’t know if they saw them, but I won’t risk it. I may not be ready for this, but my pack comes before me.
I raise my eyes and look at Zaide first, still all dark hair and dark eyes, to the large red-haired male next to him, Jerrod. His hair is still long and in a plaited mohawk. I skip the male at the center and scan over Leo’s face, his wheat blond hair a little longer than I last saw him months ago, his blue eyes narrowed as he looks at me. I give him a hard look before I move my gaze to Damian. His brown hair is shorter, his blade out, hanging loosely by his side as he looks at me in surprise.
Another howl rents the air and we all tense until it stops.
Composing myself, my eyes finally move to the last male of the group, who hasn’t moved a single inch. His black boots are muddy as I scan up his dark, armored legs, stopping briefly at his thick thighs and then up his tapered waist. I swallow, and then continue up his torso, noting again his difference in the colors of the leather strap on his Elite armor, red and gold. My eyes trail up to the tattoos on his neck, knowing his Heir markings are hidden within them, and my own markings pulse gently with warmth, just underneath my skin at the thought.
I keep them at bay.
My hands fist at my sides as my gaze roams across the stubble on his face, his jaw more defined as I move up until I see the dark circles under his eyes. Then our eyes clash, ice blue to light green. My heart works overtime as we freeze in each other’s stare, locked in and unable to look away. It’s been so long since I’ve looked into eyes that remind me of newly sprouted grass after winter, so long since we have been in each other’s presence that it feels that even the air stills around us.
So many emotions blaze in his eyes, more than I thought possible for him, and I swallow roughly, my stomach dropping. Anger shines through the most, then lust next, he can’t hide that from me. I shuffle on my feet under his weighted stare, unable to help it and his eyes go to the movement briefly, a little concern bleeding through that I’m sure I imagined. He doesn’t break his gaze for long though, he’s unable to.
Both being Heirs, I’m sure we will always feel this connection to each other. If it were visible, I imagine it would be tendrils of our power flowing out and intertwining between us, tying themselves in a knot, tethering us together. If he was just an Heir, we could maybe loosen that knot, forever free from each other, just coexisting in the same space.
It isn’t that simple. The Gods didn’t want that for us, and their decision making needs to be reassessed as far as I’m concerned.
Darius tilts his head at me and I tilt mine right back, waiting for… something. But we just stare at each other in silence. It feels like so many unsaid words hang between us, invisible to the eye, but what is there that we can say? The asshole did what he did, and now he and his Elites have been hunting me along with the Highers. I’m enemy number one.
A traitor.
A Liar.
A manipulator.
I’m no one to him, and what I am, he doesn’t want. And neither do I.
How could I after what he has done to me?
Life can be cruel and unkind, I have known that first hand, but for the Gods to tether me to him in more ways than one? It’s borderline evil.
Darius suddenly straightens, and I tense. The soft glow of his black Heir markings appears on his neck, and I brace myself for whatever will come next. Prepare to escape him from capturing me and taking me back to the Highers. Black strands of power form out of his hand as he lifts it, and I watch on in awe of it, wondering how he has so easily harnessed his power before it shoots forward suddenly, splitting off into six pieces. I plant my feet more firmly on the ground before I bring my hands up to chest-height, then spread them out. A near transparent blue and silver barrier forms before me, stretching as wide as I can make it. Making a wall of my power.
Darius’s power crashes into my barrier, and I hold steady, adding more power into it as my own markings appear. His power collides with mine and It feels so intense that I nearly drop to my knees. I lock them, but fuck, he’s strong. It’s more than that though, it’s the feeling of rightness wrongness that makes a balance as neither my wall drops and his doesn’t penetrate it.
I chance a glance over my shoulder, making sure they can’t see my pack. That’s all it took for Darius, though, because when I turn back he’s right there, in front of me. Just on the other side of my barrier. I flinch. I didn’t even hear him move. I never hear him fucking move.
He presses his hand against it, spreading more of that dark smoke-like mist along it like a spider’s web. I inhale sharply as his eyes flare, feeling his power against mine so closely, colliding, crashing. Like a wave meeting the sand, coexisting together. Like meeting like for the first time.
I sink into that feeling, letting it wash over me. Its euphoric, intoxication tinged with darkness. It’s… home. One I never thought I would feel, one I had buried so deep down within that now I just feel…lost. So fucking lost in how I’m supposed to handle this.
He moves a little closer, his face inches from the barrier and I press more power into it to hold him off. “Found you, little wolf.” I shiver at the same words he told me in The Deadlands. Where the lands and the below first met.
I can’t help but think how different things would have been under different circumstances. How I’m unable to help wish for it in the dark of night, under the moonlight where no one is watching, where no one can feel my pain.
Too much has happened though, too much has been done and can’t be forgiven.
“What do you want?” I whisper, a torrent of emotions swimming through my head. “What are you even doing here?” I bring my arms down to my sides, sweat coating the back of my neck as I still hold the barrier, stopping Darius and his men from getting any closer.
The latter just stands back watching, letting their Alpha deal with the traitor.
“Rhea,” he rasps, looking me over and taking me in greedily. He examines every inch of me, his ravenous gaze roaming over my body, peppering my skin with goosebumps.
He pauses at my wrists, noticing the pale, red scars wrapped around them from the terbium cuffs. I see a flicker of something in his gaze before he reaches back up to my face and takes in my markings. His eyes flash with possessiveness as he traces the delicate swirls, curves and strands, starting from the middle of my forehead then out to my temples, gently caressing my cheekbones before his gaze connects with mine, bringing a snarl to my lips.
He has no right to look at me like that, like I’m something to him.
He cocks his head to the side, looking over my shoulder briefly, causing me to tense. “What are you doing back in your homeland, Lasandrhea?” That name spills from his lips and I flinch, hating that name and hating him for saying it. The name that was given by my parents has forever been tainted with pain and suffering.
“That’s none of your business,” I spit out.
“I told you once that you are my business.” He lied, everything he said to me and told me in Eridian is a lie. “Kade’s not here you know,” he murmurs, and I hold back from asking where he is, locking down the emotions threatening to rise within me. “But Sarah is.”
I narrow my eyes, ignoring him. “Again, what are you doing here?”
“Rogures have been scryed here, as you have heard. They will have to wait as I have come across the traitor of Vrohkaria though.” His eyes bounce between mine when he says the word traitor.
I look away, grinding my teeth. I’m not a fucking traitor. I’ve done nothing to these lands, yet my blood has been spilled again and again in the name of what? A crazed, obsessed Higher who, for some reason, thinks he can take what is mine from me.
“Nothing to say?” Darius asks impatiently, “Not going to deny it?”
I look back at him, eyes cold. “What would be the point? I tried to talk with you once, remember? I tried to get you to see that I wasn’t the bad guy.” I shake my head and back up a step. His fingers twitch on the barrier. “What I say means nothing, to anyone. You whipping me is proof of that.” His hands turn into fists. “No mercy. Just like you told me you have none, and just like I acknowledged that Vrohkaria doesn’t either.”
“Don’t move another step,” he says, his tone low.
“Why?” I shrug. “So you can take me back to the Highers?” He growls and I scoff. “So you can whip me some more?”
His jaw ticks. “Tell me what you know of the curse? People are suffering, it cannot continue, or is that what you want?”
I laugh at his words, but it’s sad, tired. Bone fucking tired. “All I want is for people to live, to thrive. That’s what Eridian is…. was. I took in people who were hurt from those that are the real monsters. They are worse than the rogures roaming these lands, you know what you are getting with them. The real monsters?” I shake my head. “They stand in front of you and offer fake kindness, fake comfort, only to grab your throat the next second and squeeze, just to see how long it takes for you to pass out without air, how much you can scratch and kick them before you go unconscious. They are the real monsters, Darius. Not me. I told you about those monsters back in Eridian. You haven’t been listening!”
His men approach the barrier as Darius vibrates with tension. They spread out, eyeing it for weakness. It’s there, it’s slowly appearing as my power wanes and the barrier flickers. The ripples start slowly as Darius’s power spreads along it, and panic rushes through me. I’m untrained in my powers, mere basics are all I know and more of an instinct, yet I know Darius probably has a full grip on his Heir powers, on his wolf. Though I haven’t seen it, I’ve seen them both connected together at once, in total synchronicity. Runa? She won’t even come out.
My barrier is weakening rapidly, and enough is enough, time to go. We will have to come back for Sarah, there is no way we can get to her now.
Another failure. I’m not surprised by it anymore.
“Heir of Cazier,” I say to Darius, and his eyes sharpen, his markings pulsing with mine and my words. I give him a wake-up call with my next words. I hope they eat him alive. “I told you I was a child when the curse was supposedly done at Wolvorn. I would have been around seven when the rogures first appeared in the lands. Instead of jumping the fucking beast and letting anger rule you, you would have figured that out.” His brows furrow, and he leans his palms on my barrier. “You would have noticed that it doesn’t add up, that it’s impossible.” I look at them all. “You all would have, and needless deaths wouldn’t have happened.”
Darius’s fingers dig into my barrier and I shiver as his raw power flows into it. His face looks pained and in thought, his nostrils flaring, and his eyes start to bleed black. They roam over my face, cataloging every detail.
“The crystal showed—“ he begins, but I cut him off.
“What it shows is a lie, it is impossible. How could a child do such a thing?” I shake my head angrily and grind my teeth at my emotions threatening to surface. “I lost everything when I was a child. I told you my parents were stolen from me, unjustly, but my childhood was also stolen, my innocence of youth was stolen,“ I snarl, and my barrier begins to waver in and out, the ripples becoming larger and larger. Darius’s stare never leaves my face, his eyes conflicted. “I thought we were the same, you and I,” I whisper to him, swallowing thickly. “I thought…” I stop myself from saying anything more and I see those flecks begin to appear in his eyes. “It doesn’t matter what I think,” I sigh, my shoulders slumping.
“Rhea—“
“No,” I whisper, my voice cracking and I fucking hate it. Hate how he can bring all these emotions to the surface. He doesn’t deserve anything from me. I can still feel the whip on my back, feel it slicing through my skin, feel my blood flowing from my body.
He did that.
He. Did. That.
Even though I find it hard to move, find it hard to step away from the pull that is him, I turn and run to the others who I know will be waiting for me, needing to get away from his presence and be able to fucking breathe freely again. I keep my hold on the barrier as long as possible, keeping them at bay as more of his power crashes against it.
My pack waits on the hill, all in position to be ported out. Calling on Runa for help, she wastes no time giving it to me, and I sprint toward Taylor who’s holding the port stone. Finally reaching them, the barrier breaks and I clap a hand on his shoulder. We are whisked into nothingness, landing just outside Witches Rest.
“Shit,” Josh shouts, hands in his hair as he pulls at it, pacing back and forth.
“We can try again soon, there is no way we could have done anything with them there.” I pant, reaching a hand out to him, to try and soothe him in some way. “We will get her, Jos—“
“Don’t,” he snarls at me, and I recoil back when he slaps my hand away.
“Hey!” Taylor snaps at him, coming toward me and glaring at Josh.
Josh shakes his head, his eyes full of rage as his blond hair comes loose from his bun. He gives me one last look before he turns and walks through the fog that leads inside the protected home of the blood witches.
A hand lands on my shoulder and I flinch, whipping around and only relaxing when I see its Colten. He eyes me with concern, but I just shake my head and follow Josh’s lead, heading to Belldame’s home and to the room I’m staying in.
My mind spins with too many thoughts and feelings, and I don’t want eyes on me right now, don’t want any conversations. I just want to wallow in misery for another failure. To ignore how Darius looked at me, how everything in me right now is screaming to go back, to be near him.
The tether pulls harder now toward him, and I need to ignore it. I have to.
Shove it down.
I enter my room and slump face-down on the bed, not even bothering to take off my clothes as Runa whines inside of me. I just need rest, then maybe I will have the strength to get up the next day and pretend I have my shit together, when really, I’m coming apart at the seams, bit by bit.
It feels like there is nothing to hold me together anymore, nothing to help patch up the invisible wounds and it’s all flowing out of me.
Danny and Josie’s lifeless eyes flash through my mind, then Kade’s words, Josh’s behavior.
I feel so alone I feel like I’m drowning.
Suffocating.
I whimper into my pillow before I bite my lip.
Keep it down, Rhea.
Just keep it down.
