Sam on the back of Kade who’s still in his wolf. Axis seemed to want her close and refused to move until Sam was safely on his back. She seemed to know what he wanted straight away, and she hopped onto him without question, without fear, which makes me think they have done this often. Sam kept staring at Darius, her face pale and hands shaky as she gripped the wolf’s fur tightly, so we hung back from them to give her space. She’s been sleeping for a little while now, exhaustion winning out over her fear of Darius being near her. Seeing her look so small and fragile cracks my heart open.
She’s not the only one exhausted though. I haven’t slept properly since the news of the Elites from Illium, and after my heat and today’s emotional strain, I’m ready to fall flat on my face. I yawn, bringing a hand up to cover my mouth as I sway to the side before I right myself. Just a little further, Runa. Not long now. I feel her grumble inside me, her last reserves of energy running low as well.
We come to the part of the river where we collect water, and I see Josh up ahead, his gray eyes showing their relief before they quickly change to concern as he looks at me. He comes forward, running a hand over Kade’s muzzle, careful not to disturb Sam, before he comes at me. Without warning, he scoops me up into his arms, and I go without protest, snuggling into his familiar chest and his comforting scent. I know Josh will get me home. I breathe a sigh of relief at the pressure being taken off my body. Again, without warning, I’m jostled and ripped out of Josh’s arms and moved into another. My eyes spring open, and I glare at Darius. Josh’s growl is ferocious at me being taken so roughly from his arms, and Darius growls back at him, unbothered.
Darius doesn’t look at me as he walks toward my home. “Just what do you think you’re doing?” I grind out, wriggling about and trying to get him to drop me. His hold tightens as he ignores me.
“You can’t just grab at her when you want,” Josh barks at him. “She’s not a fucking toy to be passed around.”
Darius stills, his head turning toward Josh with a move that is all animal. “I will do whatever I want, and she is to be whatever I want her to be.” His tone is cold, his eyes sharp toward Josh, and my muscles tense at his sudden display of hostility.
I push out of Darius’ hold while he’s distracted by Josh, landing on my feet and stumbling a little. I rub my temples, just wanting the day to be done, but know it’s not over yet. I open my mouth to cuss him out when Sam whimpers from Kade’s back. My head swings her way, and I walk to her as Kade lets out a low growl. It’s not for me this time, it’s in displeasure that Sam is upset.
I reach their side and I grab Sam’s hand, holding hers as she sleeps as we continue on. We leave Josh and Darius behind to size up each other’s dicks, my focus on getting Sam home.
Josh has always been my protector since we left our old home. He’s my brother in every way but blood, I don’t think Darius sees it as that though. It’s amusing and ridiculous that he seems to feel possessive of his toy.
When we hit the lilk trees, I try and guide a sleepy Sam off Kade’s back, watching as she opens her sleepy eyes and snuggles closer to him, not letting go. “Come on,” I tell her gently. “Kade will be back shortly. You know we can’t go wolf inside Eridian.”
She lets me take her off his back and I cradle her against me as Kade nuzzles her cheek. I hold Sam tightly as we walk, keeping silent as we pass a few people from the pack who visibly relax at seeing her. I give them a reassuring nod and continue.
I guide her past the gathering and up to the path that leads to my cabin, Taylor, Seb, Hudson and Colten already there and waiting. They all let out a breath when they see us, and Taylor opens the door, letting us walk past as they stay outside. Padding down the hallway and through the open doorway of my sitting room, Sybill flies off her seat, rushing toward us and grabbing Sam in a tight hug as they both cry, holding one another close.
“Mom,” Sam cries, burrowing her face in her shoulder.
“I’m here, I’m here,” Sybill tells her over and over again.
I swallow the lump in my throat at seeing them embrace, at the look of sheer relief and love on Sybill’s face to have her back in her arms. A mother holding her daughter so close, like she’s afraid she will disappear. I give them a few moments together in peace as I turn to collect myself. That was me and my mom before it was stolen from us.
I take a seat across from them as they sit, huddled close together. I want to give Sam some time but it’s important I know what happened. I hear my door open, and Josh rounds the corner with Darius on his heels, their mouths both set in a tight line. Sam lets out a squeak, her body shaking as she sees Darius and hides her face from him.
I look to Darius and back to her, my brows scrunched in confusion. I know she’s not great near males, but we and the Elites have been eating at the gathering for a while now, and she has been getting better in their presence. So what happened? “Sam?” I say gently. “What’s wrong?” I stand and put myself between them, blocking Darius the best I can from her view. She doesn’t answer me.
“Are you hurt?” Sybill asks her, moving her daughter back a little so her gaze can roam over her. Sam shakes her head, eyes to the floor as she gets as close to her mom as possible. She squeezes her eyes shut and opens her mouth to speak, but no sounds come from her.
She’s petrified.
I kneel before her, looking at Josh and Darius before asking. “What are you scared of Sam? Nothing will hurt you here. I promise.”
Her bottom lip trembles, and tears fall from her eyes. “There… there was a man in the forest,” she whispers, her voice trembling.
I nod. “Yes, some of the Elites are camping in the forest while some of the females are in heat,” I tell her gently.
She sniffles, shaking her head. “He was shocked to see me there at… at first, but then he told me to go with him,” she whispers, and my blood turns cold, ice dripping into my veins as I still. The whole room stills. “I didn’t want to, so I turned to come back home when he tried to grab me,” she cries. “I was near the… the river so I ran across it when he tried to get me again. He started following me, and I heard strange noises, like whispers of voices all talking at once.” She shivers, her breath hitching as more tears fall. “I ran,” she sobs, her body curling in on herself. “I just ran and ran, and I didn’t stop until I was at that statue.”
Sybill pulls her closer as a deep, growl echoes throughout the space. I hold my hand out, waiting for him to come to me, knowing he needs to be close. “Kade, calm. She’s already scared,” I urge him down the link. This time it isn’t shut down.
I hear him take a deep breath before he puts his hand in mine, the warmth of his skin heating my own as I pull him down to the floor, his knees landing next to me. Sam’s red rimmed eyes look up, and as soon as she sees Kade, she falls into his arms, burrowing into his neck. He pulls her close without question, and I see him swallow as her gut-wrenching sobs increase in volume, barely taking a breath between them.
The room is deathly quiet apart from Sam, and I lift my hand, rubbing soothing circles on her back while bringing my other hand to the back of Kade’s nape, squeezing there lightly. He sighs, squeezing Sam closer, and we wait until her sobs calm down. I can feel Darius’ eyes on us, watching everything we do, listening to what we’re saying. His eyes are like a caress on my body as he stands at the back of the room, guarding yet imposing. I want him to hear this though, because I will rip apart whichever Elite attempted to grab her, and I will happily give them to Kade after I’m done with them. Because his eyes are deadly, dangerous and volatile.
“What did he look like, winglet?” Kade whispers against her hair.
“He was… was as tall as Josh, dark hair and his eyes were dark, but not. They changed color.” Changed color? Was his wolf coming out? “They went to a lighter brown, then blue, darker I think. I don’t really know. I just wanted to get away from him. I didn’t like him or his smell.”
“His smell?” Kade rumbles, pulling her back slightly to look down at her.
She nods. “He smelled bad. He smelled of iron, but bad iron and old.” She shakes her head and looks at me as she shakes in Kade’s arms. “I haven’t smelled it before, I can’t really tell you.”
My brows furrow and I try to recall if I’ve smelled anything along the river like that, but I can’t. I look at Josh who shakes his head, telling me he didn’t smell anything either.
“Thank you for telling me.” I drop my hands from Sam and Kade and stand, turning to Sybil. “You’re both welcome to stay here if you like. Use the spare room at the back of the cabin.”
“I’ll think about it, Alpha. Thank you,” Sybill murmurs, her eyes never leaving Sam’s.
“Are you going to stay home?” I ask Kade, and he looks down at Sam, her eyes slowly shutting, her body snuggling against him. She’s so tired.
“I’ll stay until she is settled,” he whispers, and I get up, touching my cheek to his before walking into the hallway with Darius and Josh on my tail.
“I want that Elite found,” I whisper hiss at Darius as soon as we make our way outside of the cabin. Josh shuts the door behind us, standing beside me as Taylor, Seb, Hudson and Colten come closer, no doubt they listened to everything at the door.
“That’s all well and good,” Darius drawls. “But I don’t have an Elite with me that matches the description of height, eye color, hair color and smell.” He shakes his head before folding his arms, looking down at me. “He wasn’t one of my Elites.”
“That’s not possible,” Taylor starts. “You guys are the only newcomers here. Who else could it have been? The only scents around here are the packs and Elites. We check the perimeter daily and no one has been in here.” Taylor would know, he is responsible for this after all.
“It’s not any of my Elites. I would know,” Darius tilts his head. “You also didn’t smell what she claims to have smelled by the river, and neither did I. Maybe she just got scared and imagined it.”
“Are you fucking stupid!” I growl at him and he scowls. “That girl knows what is and what isn’t scary to her, and a man scared her. She didn’t just imagine it, she’s thirteen.” There is no way she did. I saw the fear in her eyes as she told me. There was someone here. Someone is in Eridian, and if Darius is right, it wasn’t any of us.
Then who was it and how did they get in? I rub my arms, my body still feeling cold to my bones.
“Do you know what she meant by the smell?” Josh asks, scratching his chin in thought.
“I’m not sure,” I reply, then look at Darius. “Have you?” I haven’t been through all of Vrohkaria like he has. I’ve only been through a little portion of the lands and through The Deadlands to here. If anyone knows this smell, surely, he would.
His eyes turn unfocused for a second before he shakes his head. “No. Only old blood comes to mind when she mentioned bad iron, and you would find that on a rotting corpse, which is not something I’m assuming she came across,” he pauses in thought before continuing. “I’ll have my Elites that are not in The Deadlands search the forest and have Maize scry it as well if your adamant someone was really here.”
I ignore his last words. “She won’t be able to scry inside the lilk trees, but she could do the forest. Where is your witch anyway?” I ask Darius, looking around to see if I can spot her.
“Probably with my men in their cabin.” His reply is blunt, and I can’t help but look him over to see if he is affected by that. He isn’t.
“I’ll talk with whoever is searching the forest, I can help them look and we can speak to the ones camping out there too,” Taylor tells Darius, and they walk down the deck steps.
“Wait,” I call out and they both turn. To Darius I ask something that’s been niggling at me. “Why are you helping?”
He thinks for a moment. “If someone was here, it might be the person who helped the missing woman in The Deadlands.” His stare pins me to the spot, and I swallow, knowing that won’t be the case. “We are on a time limit to find her, and my patience is running out. Rogures are slaughtering everything they can throughout Vrohkaria as we speak. We are needed out there, not wasting our time here.”
So there is a time limit like Hudson said.
I fling my arms out. “Then why don’t you just leave? Go back?” He’s the Alpha of the Elites, he can go back when he wants.
“I need to find this woman who has either been taken or is trying to escape her responsibilities,” he grinds out, his jaw ticking.
Responsibilities? Like what? Being in a fucking hole on her back for how many years for sick fucks to rape?
I take a deep breath “She is most likely dead. I’ve told you neither she or the other person would not survive out in The Deadlands. The search for her is useless.”
He looks at me curiously, his jaw ticking. “I have some time left, the Highers sent us here personally and their request needs to be fulfilled before we return home. Either she is found dead or alive, or we go back empty handed with no answers, which isn’t an option.” With that he turns and walks toward Leo, Damian, Jerrod and Zaide, who are waiting further down the path. Taylor scowls at him before following them to organize a search in the forest. Seb, Hudson and Colten lag behind them, making sure the healers’ cabin is off limits discreetly when they return to Eridian and, no doubt, search here too.
“I have a bad feeling,” I whisper to Josh. “Who is here and how did they find us? Why did they try to grab Sam?”
He squeezes my shoulder gently as we look over Eridian from my deck. “I don’t know, but I don’t like it. Will Solvier know?”
“I’m going to find out, he knows all who enter here.” I chew the inside of my lower lip as I rack my brain for the smell Sam mentioned. I don’t recall one exactly like it, but I may have smelled something similar before.
I pray to the Gods I’m not right. Because if I am, I don’t want to think about what would happen.
What it would mean for Eridian.
