sighting of the woman?” I ask Leo. We’re on the deck of Rhea’s cabin, leaning against the wall while Leo sits on the top step, arms dangling between his legs while we both look out over Eridian.
From here we can see the main housing cabins surrounding us, and the place at the center that Rhea calls the gathering, where I first saw the pack. We’ve been here for over a week now. Taylor, Zaide and Damian have been taking some of the men with them to search The Deadlands, making sure the Elites are safe. The only way they can get back here is on foot since our port stones have been drained of magic since entering through the invisible barrier, so we have to be careful they don’t get lost.
I still don’t understand how the barrier around Eridian drained those stones. I haven’t come across a barrier like that apart from when the Highers’ witches get together to create one, and that’s only possible if the witches rank at a high level. The Highers have the strongest witches in Vrohkaria, except for the ones that live in the southwest woods with their coven. But hey refused to bend to the Highers’ will and law, and they still don’t cooperate now. So how did Eridian get its barrier? From those witches?
“Nothing. Nothing at all,” Leo grumbles, finally answering me. “This whole search and rescue is fucking pointless. We were never going to find her in the first place, or Rogures.”
“I agree, but it’s either I become a Higher or this, and I need to get rid of the Rogures before I commit to anything. The lands across Vrohkaria are going to shit with no end in sight, and the people are fighting amongst themselves then pointing fingers at who they think is to blame. If we can’t find a solution, there will be nothing left by the time the Rogures destroy everything.” I couldn’t give a fuck about becoming a Higher, It was something my father wanted me to be, and at the time, I agreed. But things change. The lands fucking changed. “We are the Elites, we are supposed to protect Vrohkaria, and we haven’t managed to do that.”
The taste of failure is bitter and leaves anger in its wake. The Elites’ purpose is to protect, and we can’t even do that.
“We can only do so much, Darius. You can’t shoulder the full responsibility of the Rogures on your own,” he sighs, scanning the area and watching Rhea’s pack get on with their daily chores.
“I swore I would get justice for my family, and I will. Nothing will get in the way of that.” We’ve had this same conversation many times before. Leo tells me I’m taking on too much, and I reply that it’s my responsibility as the Alpha of the Elites. It only leaves us both pissed. I shake my head and watch the people mulling about, changing the direction of the conversation. “There is something not right about this place, and I can’t figure it out.” Eridian shouldn’t exist. No record or map shows life in The Deadlands throughout the history of Vrohkaria. Eridian is an anomaly, and not knowing how it came to be angers me.
“I know, it’s definitely not normal,” Leo says. “But if you can’t figure it out, we have no chance of doing so.” We watch the pack give my men a wide berth as they move around the center, scurrying off with their pups as soon as one comes in sight. Jerrod looks in the direction a mother and son ran, pausing as he watches the now empty space before carrying on. “Why do they act like that? It’s like they have never seen another person.”
“I don’t know, and I don’t believe the bullshit Rhea told me either.” The lies that come from that woman’s mouth just show the type of wolf she is.
She has tells when she lies, and over the past week, I’ve figured them out. She’s naive to think she can hide from the Alpha of the Elites.
He scoffs. “You would have to be a fool to believe what comes out of her mouth.”
I nod. I don’t believe half the shit she said to me in her office that day. I think she knows it as well, but what is she hiding that she can’t just say? What’s the problem with declaring to the Highers where they live? It doesn’t make sense. They could even live a better life than they are now. It isn’t a shit hole here, but it isn’t anything that’s considered as standard in the lands either. Even the way the pack is structured and works is strange.
“It’s time to start asking more questions. She thinks I’ve dropped it by leaving it alone for a few days. She should have realized that I’ve just been observing. She has no idea that the men have been reporting back to me daily.” Stupid wolf. She thinks she’s safe in her own home. She will soon understand nowhere is safe for her anymore. Not from me. I have her scent. Earth and rainwater, with hints of a wildness that I can’t pinpoint where I have scented it before. Either way, I can track her anywhere if she is close enough, and my wolf likes the thought of that.
“Want me to come with you?” Leo stands and shakes out his arms, still observing Rhea’s pack.
“No. Go and wait for the men at the bottom of the cliffs where they left yesterday,” I tell him. “They will be back soon.”
I’ll admit, I’m still shocked at what I saw when we went atop the cliffs where The Deadlands are. The cliffs encase an odd rectangular valley below, that is what they call Eridian, that protects the life that flows through it. Tall, healthy trees grow in the valley, and there are two different sized lakes with the bluest water I have ever seen. There are strange birds and some unusual animals that live there. Further along, there is an opening that looks like water spilling over the edge toward the Unforgivable Sea, the only opening in the valley.
There are waterfalls coming out of the cliff sides that surround Eridian, and when you look toward the center of the valley, there’s a ring of what I now know are lilk trees, their colors vibrant amongst the normal greens of the other trees. That’s the protection circle that surrounds Eridian. Everything about this place is unnatural. I refuse to believe this has been here all this time.
I walk down the steps of Rhea’s home, our temporary resting place, and make my way down the dirt path. Leo goes off to the right toward the forest outside the barrier, heading to the cliffs. There are some creatures and animals in the forest, but nothing like in The Deadlands, so he has nothing to worry about. I continue forward, then veer off to the left when I pick up Rhea’s scent, a beacon to my wolf who stirs in excitement.
He likes being near the little wolf, when all I want to do is strangle the life out of her, but maybe do it while I’m inside of her. I shove that thought away. Whether they were trainees or not, the fact is that the little wolf killed some of them and even dared to try and kill all of us. That can’t be forgotten, no matter how I forget about everything and anything when I look into her eyes.
Those fucking eyes.
I continue on, eventually coming up to the lilk trees. I study them as I pass through the invisible barrier, feeling a caress against my soul that I always feel when crossing it. My wolf, Drax, practically fucking purrs at the feeling, contentment oozing from him, and I growl within myself at him. I pick up speed, heading into the forest and opening my senses around me. Nothing in particular reaches me as I track down the little wolf, only the usual sounds of animals skittering about.
It isn’t long until I hear her footsteps up ahead, quiet, but not quiet enough to hide from me. I stalk through the trees, excitement running through me at seeing the spark in her eyes when she sees me. I don’t think she even knows she does it, but she does. Her reaction to me intrigues me like no other, and my reaction to her makes me want to kick my own ass.
From the first moment I saw her in The Deadlands, everything within me wanted to hunt her. To get to her. Her eyes were wide, lips parted, chest heaving, and I wanted nothing more than to pin her to the ground and watch her eyes go wide for a different reason.
Drax was also riding me hard. He wanted to tear out of my skin and run to her, and it took a lot of my control to get him under wraps.
Our reaction to her isn’t normal.
I follow the sounds of her steps, light and delicate, until eventually I see her up ahead, her hand on one of the trees with her eyes closed. I stop and watch her closely. The steady breaths she takes, the stance she is in and the round curve of her ass in her shorts as she stands still. I tilt my head.
What the fuck is she doing?
I stalk forward, silent and sure, until I’m at her back and feel the heat of her body soaking into mine. I lean forward slowly until my lips are next to her ear. I see her still, her breath hitching, and it causes me to smirk, knowing she feels my presence. “What are you doing, little wolf?” I murmur, my bottom lip touching her ear as they move.
She spins, and I move my head back while she glares up at me, her ice-blue eyes so full of anger it gets me hard. I want to see tears in them again. I want to see them shine like the clearest glass as they water. I want it.
I crave it.
Fuck.
She crosses her arms over her chest, and my eyes flick down on their own accord. Her breasts strain against her dark t-shirt, rising softly with her breaths, and I can’t help but imagine how they would feel in my hands. How they would look with my teeth marks on them. I clench my jaw and will my cock to go down.
This attraction I have to her is going to end up being a pain in my ass.
I drag my eyes away and up, slowly looking over her throat and pausing before coming back to her eyes. She scoffs at my perusal, giving me a hard look before turning and walking away from me. I chuckle under my breath. Doesn’t she know never to turn her back on a predator?
And I’m not just any predator.
Catching up to her in a few short steps, I place my hand in between her shoulder blades and shove her forward against the nearest tree. She makes a small sound that I ignore while I keep her pinned there. I like her helplessness under my touch. “I wasn’t done talking,” I say, my voice low. I dip down so I can see her eyes from the side while she spits curses at me.
“You asshole! Get off of me!”
“Now where is the fun in that? Are you going to be a good little wolf and have some manners?” I ask her, smirking at the tiny growls she makes.
Adorable.
I find nothing adorable.
I growl to myself.
“You’re talking to me about manners?” She brings her head back, trying to hit me, and I bring my free hand to her ponytail, wrapping my hands in the strands and then wrenching her head back.
I look down into her seething eyes and smirk. “Are you going to be good?” She says nothing, so I tug on her hair more and press her more firmly into the tree.
The breath wooshes out of her as we lock eyes, and I get lost in their depths. Her pupils start to dilate, and I know her wolf is watching me from within her. I let Drax come to my own eyes, showing both of them that I’m not fucking around.
Finally, after a tense moment, she slumps forward. I shake her head a little, wanting words. “Yes,” she grits out between clenched teeth, I release her, watching as she straightens her clothes. Anger pours off her in waves that makes me run my tongue over my teeth in anticipation of how she will react.
I may tower over her with my six four frame, but she’s a little fighter.
I examine her tattoo that I saw when we first encountered each other with interest. It’s on her right forearm and the language is old, so extremely old that I can’t make out what it says, but the runes on her wrist I recognize. They symbolize the old wolf Gods, Zahariss and Cazier. “Why do you have the old Gods on you?” I nod at her arm when her eyes meet mine in question.
She brings her hand up to touch it, and she shrugs. “Why wouldn’t I? We are wolves, are we not?” She scuffles a booted foot in the dirt.
“There are different kinds of wolves, and no one follows the old Gods anymore. They follow the Highers rule. You’re what? Late twenties, and you follow the old Gods?” I tilt my head at her. “That doesn’t make any sense.”
“Twenty-eight, and I’ve always followed them. The whole pack does. We give our blessings to them for the life we have here and the food they provide us. They are the land we walk upon after all. They also gave us our wolves, so why wouldn’t we give thanks to them and honor them?”
“The legends state they had gone mad, especially the male, Cazier. Between Zahariss and him, the lands started to rot with their madness, and they disappeared, leaving us with no explanation. Why would anyone want to honor Gods that were out of control and abandoned us?” I walk deeper into the forest before looking over my shoulder when she doesn’t follow. I look from her to the spot next to me, my meaning very clear. She huffs before stepping beside me, keeping some distance between us. So I immediately close that distance, not letting her get what she wants.
“You’re ridiculous,” she mumbles under her breath before answering me. “I don’t know about them abandoning us, but they have given us the gift of our wolves. How can we not honor them for that and all they have created?” she says, trying again to move away, but giving up when I again move closer. “Legend does state that Cazier did go a little mad because he couldn’t be with his mate, and Zahariss wasn’t doing well without him. He lived in the below while she lived on the lands. It was pretty much impossible for them to even be next to each other for long periods of time. She walked above, and he traced her footsteps below. They were so close to each other, but never touching. I feel sad for them and the life they led. Wouldn’t you go a bit mad being separated from your mate? Not being able to go to them?”
“I don’t know, and I don’t particularly care either. Having a mate is of no concern to me, especially if it turns you mad.” I lift a shoulder. I don’t care for or want a mate. Having your life intertwined with someone else’s without your control? Fuck no.
“Do we actually agree on something? I’m shocked.” I believe her on this. Her eyes are wide as she looks at me, and her brows scrunch together as if she truly can’t believe we agree on something.
I grunt and move on. “So you follow the old Gods because they gave you your wolf?”
She nods. “I do, and so do my pack. The Gods may not be here with us, but they are here in everything we see and touch.” She runs her hand on the leaf of a bush as we pass. “Do you not feel it?” she asks, and I give her a look. “You’re missing out. Though I guess it’s all blood and guts with you being an Elite and all.
“We are Elites. We do what we must.” I tell her, ignoring the way she side-eyes me. “Did you know we would be in The Deadlands?”
Her eyebrows raise at my question, and I continue to watch her as we walk. She shakes her head slowly. “It was a chance meeting, and we acted. How would we have any idea you were in there? We had been in The Deadlands for a few days to collect Luicium.” At my confusion she adds. “The glowing liquid from some of the dead trees. We put it in jars and use them as light in places around Eridian. Anyway, we were just in the same place at the same time, that’s all.”
She’s lying. I can tell by the way she avoids my eyes when she’s done talking, pretending to watch the ground while she walks, and the way her fingers twitch at her sides while she speaks.
What are you hiding, little wolf?
“What do you know of Rogures?” I ask, instead of calling her out on her bullshit. For now. Being out here, I would be surprised if she knew how the rest of Vrohkaria suffers while she stays with her pack in their own little oasis. The thought quickly angers me.
“I know of them,” she says slowly. “We have had some come here into the forest. We got rid of them, but the sightings have increased over the last year.” She shakes her head and stops to look at me. Bright, innocent eyes hold mine. “Where did they even come from?”
“No one knows. That’s another reason we are in The Deadlands. We’re looking for rogure dens as well as this missing woman. We have no idea where they came from and neither do the Highers.” She looks away. “I’ve been taking my Elites all over Vrohkaria to different parts of the lands to try and find their original den or find a way to stop them. All we know is that they are plaguing the lands, killing and mauling anything in their sight with no sign of slowing down.
“I hate them,” she mutters. “They destroy everything.” Sadness flashes across her face quickly before it’s gone. “I can tell you I haven’t seen any dens in The Deadlands in all the years I’ve lived here though.”
“All the years you’ve lived here? I thought you have always been here?” I question, looking at her dead in the eyes.
“I have,” she waves her hand at me. “I just meant since I’ve been alive.”
Hmm. “What about your parents? Have they seen any dens before? Where are they anyway?”
“The only family I have left is the one I choose,” she says coldly, all emotion gone from her face, and my brows furrow. “No one alive in Eridian has seen any rogure dens. We are thorough in checking our perimeter for them. Many years back, a pack of them came into the valley and killed many of us. Since then, we have taken no chances. Some appeared a few months ago, but there were only a few of them, their pack small. We don’t know where they came from, and we haven’t seen any since.”
We stop, and I fold my arms over my chest, ignoring the way her gaze moves to my arms. “I’m surprised they have even been this deep into The Deadlands. We never see any come out of there, and you clearly don’t see many come in here. How nice it must be to stay away from the lands that are being plagued by them. Living your life out here peacefully while others suffer and die.”
“You think we don’t suffer?” she hisses at me, eyes narrowed as her anger takes over, and mine rises to the challenge. “You don’t know the fucking meaning!”
I scoff at her, looking her over like the unimportant bitch she is. “So, you think you can be attacked here a few times by Rogures and think that’s suffering?” My hand whips out, and I grab her by the jaw, digging my fingers into her skin. She winces, but otherwise doesn’t make a single sound. That just pisses me off more. “Do you hear babes being ripped from their mothers’ arms? Mauled alive while their mother tries and fails to save them? Do you hear the screams of people running for their lives, only to be hunted down and ripped apart?” I shake her chin. “You live here in your own little paradise, peacefully passing the fucking time while the whole of Vrohkaria is out there suffering every fucking day! Do you know the number of people that could have been saved if you had declared to the Highers where you fucking live!”
I growl at her before raising my other hand pushing her chest. She falls to the floor, landing on her ass as I tower over her. “What—”
“Many could have been saved and been brought here if you weren’t such a selfish bitch, keeping Eridian to yourself,” I cut her off, and hurt flashes through her eyes at my words. good. “Hundreds could have lived here happily instead of rotting in the ground. More deaths are on your soul it seems than just my trainees.” Her hands clench at her sides. “When we leave here, I’ll be taking you to the Highers, and you will tell them about this place. You will stand there, in front of them all and the public who join, and you will tell them how you kept a safe haven hidden from everyone when you could have helped your own people!”
Helped my fucking family.
Her eyes flash up at me, her jaw clenched, but she doesn’t utter a single word. I look at her in disgust and turn my back on her before I kill her too soon. I walk away from her while Drax nudges me to go back, but he can fuck off. The more I think about her not declaring this place to the Highers, the more I want to tear the whole fucking valley apart. The number of people that could have lived here, that could have been kept safe inside the barrier while we try to search for a way to stop the Rogures… It would be invaluable, and she just kept it to herself. Not caring about the rest of Vrohkaria wasting away and dying. It’s people like her that are the fucking problem. Selfish, self-important and only looking out for themselves while leaving the rest of us to rot. She will soon be in shock when we get back home. Her whole life is about to change.
Eridian is soon going to be overrun by people, and there is not a damn thing she can do about it but sit back and watch her home be taken over.
All the while, she will be left in my hands to be dealt with as punishment for murdering my men.
