the trees. I could really do with him being here right now.
I put my hand to the dirt ground, closing my eyes and opening my senses to feel for tremors. Nothing, not even a slight disturbance. I stand and sigh, rubbing the back of my neck as exhaustion hits me. “How’s the search going?” I yawn down the link to Josh.
“Nearly done. No strange smells around, and we haven’t seen anyone matching Sam’s description of the man she saw,” Josh tells me, and I slunk down on the ground with a grunt. How can someone just appear in Eridian and leave no trace? Better yet, what the fuck is anyone doing here in the first place?
This is really bad.
I rub my calves, groaning as I knead the muscle, trying to ease its soreness. They feel on fire and my feet are more than likely covered in blisters with how long I’ve been searching for Solvier. It’s way into the night now, and after searching for Sam all day and now searching for Solvier, I don’t want to move for a week after this. When is this shit going to stop?
I huff at myself. “A girl can wish.”
“What do you wish for?” a drawled voice speaks behind me.
I jolt, my head whipping around with a hand on my chest as I spot Darius behind me, head tilted with a small smirk on his face.
“You scared the shit out of me! What is wrong with you?” I’m already on edge as it is, and I don’t need my babysitter creeping up on me. I put my hands on the ground, heaving myself up. I hold my breath through the pain shooting through my body as I do and then start forward again.
“Hmm, there is nothing wrong with me. What is wrong with you?” he questions, striding beside me, those eyes of his roaming over me. I do the same with him. How does he look like he rolled out of bed on twelve hours sleep while I look like a shit mess?
His dark hair is messy, but in a way that looks natural to him, and those light-green eyes, though guarded, are full of life. No sign of exhaustion at all. I look over the thin white scar on his nose to a jaw I want to bite. My eyes lower to his neck, following the trail of tattoos until they disappear underneath the collar of his t-shirt. The sight of them makes me want to trace every one of those markings, find hidden treasure in them and translate the words he has hidden in the harsh lines and patterns. I hadn’t been able to get a closer look at them when he was naked. I was in too much of a daze during my heat to examine them closely, and there is no way I would ask him about them now.
He catches me looking at him and tilts his head down and toward me. I wave him off, not bothering to answer the question in his eyes and head northeast. Maybe Solvier went to his spot. I’ve caught him there a few times so hopefully he is. We walk… Well, he walks, and I shuffle on in silence. The sound of the night animals reaching us in the cool night. He stays close to me, his eyes roaming around us and alert. Even if he doesn’t believe Sam saw someone, his actions speak differently.
My foot gets caught on an exposed tree root, and I grunt, hands bracing for the fall, but it never comes. Darius’ arm shoots out, hand gripping my wrist as he pulls me back, yanking me toward him. I hit his solid chest, his scent wrapping around me immediately and filling my lungs. I slowly lift my head, and his eyes capture mine, and it’s all I can see. His eyes bounce back and forth, and black begins to spread slowly from the edges of his whites. I watch as Runa gets some energy and stirs inside me, and I feel my eyes start to change from his reaction. His brows lower in confusion, and I try to hold back so he doesn’t see. Glass-like flecks enter his pupils, the opposite to mine, and I follow each one of them, entranced as they float in the green and know his wolf is looking at me, just like Runa is looking at him. They’re unable to help themselves, just like us.
My soul glows as we watch each other, feeling a wash of… everything flow over me. It feels like his gaze traveling to the deepest part of me, examining every drop of my being, caressing every part of what is me. I suck in a sharp breath at this powerful, heady feeling, my forearm tingling as Darius’ eyes lower to my lips. He dips his head closer to me, stopping just a whisper of a breath away from his lips touching mine. We’re so close, our breaths intertwining, and I can’t move. I’m frozen from the intensity of his gaze and his closeness to me. A branch cracks and his head snaps toward it as he drops my wrist and takes a step back, taking his warmth with him.
I blink, coming out of the trance and clearing my throat, knowing whatever moment we had just now is gone. He scans where the sound came from, and once he determines it’s just an animal, we continue walking.
I cast glances at Darius out of the corner of my eye, wondering what he’s even doing here. How does he even keep finding me for that matter? I’m deep in the forest in the dead of night and have been gone for hours. Yet here he is, appearing out of nowhere, not making a single sound. It’s really beginning to annoy me. I’ve learned to home in on every little noise since I was little, yet I can’t hear him coming, and when he is around, all my focus is drawn to him without my control. I really don’t like it, yet all I feel from Runa is contentment in his presence most of the time. It’s the same feeling she gets when we are at the cave, and that worries and confuses me. I don’t understand it.
“What are you doing here?” I grumble, unable to stop my curiosity.
“I’ve spoken with my Elites apart from the ones in The Deadlands, and as I said, there is no one matching the girl’s description of this male. There is no scent, no trace and no tracks of anyone ever being there either.” He looks at me, brow lifting as we keep walking.
“Your point?” I grind out, looking through the trees ahead of me.
“My point,” he drawls. “Is that there is nothing there, and there was probably nothing there to begin with.”
I stop, hands on hips and heave out a sigh at him. “Darius,” I say, exhaustion showing in my voice. “I don’t care what you think you know. I believe Sam. The whole thing feels… off. Like there is a disturbance in the air, and I don’t like it.”
“Off how?” he folds his arms as some of his dominance hits me, and I don’t show just how that affects me. I don’t show that I want to wrap it around me like a second skin.
I rub my temples. “Just, I don’t know. It feels like something has shifted. Something has come into my territory and it’s wrong.” It’s like a vapor of rot intertwining with the air. Invisible to the eye, but you feel it all the same.
“You’re making no sense, you know that right?” He shakes his head, eyeing me like I’m crazy.
“I might not make sense to you, but I make sense to me. I need to find Solvier.” I pick up the pace again, pushing myself and scanning the trees with the help of the moonlight to catch sight of him.
“Who is Solvier anyway?” he wonders aloud.
“You could say he’s the guardian of the Eridian. He’s been here for a very long time.” Hundreds of years.
“How has he been here, and no one knew?” he questions, moving a branch out the way for me as I pass.
“How am I supposed to know? You’re the Elites. You’re supposed to know everything.” I roll my eyes at that. You can’t know everything. It’s impossible.
“The Elites record everything, and it’s combined with the Highers’ knowledge of Vrohkaria in their library. We didn’t know this place existed, so how would we know about a wolf guardian?” He says in a low tone. “Don’t get cheeky, little wolf, I may just spank your ass raw,” he warns, and I stumble over my feet.
“The fuck!” I splutter. “You wouldn’t dare.” My cheeks are blazing hot, and I look at him with wide eyes.
He drags me to him, my back to his chest as he rests his lips near my ear. “Are you playing with me again?” he murmurs in a low, husky voice, and goosebumps raise over my skin. A shiver runs through me as he inhales deeply at my neck, letting out a quiet grunt. He presses into my back more, and I feel his hardness beneath his pants. “It excites me when you do, you know that.” He takes another deep breath and nips at my skin. “Maybe this time we can fight until I quieten that mouth of yours.” He rocks into me, a whimper spilling from my lips.
Flashes of my heat run through my mind and wetness coats my panties at the memory of him moving inside me. His hands on my naked flesh, his teeth marking me, licking me, and a small sounding breath escapes me. A rumble comes from him, and he grabs my hips, pulling me further into him as he leaves a wet trail of kisses on my neck.
“Do you want to play?” he murmurs, his teeth scraping my ear.
Do I? We fucked during my heat. I chose to allow it, and he was an asshole when he left. I’m not in heat now though, and the cruel words he left me with in the cave stung, they cut deep. If he wants to use me as just a hole for him to fill as punishment, then so be it. But now is not the time, and I’m not under punishment. Not yet.
Bringing my hands up and over his on my hips, I find the will power to peel them off me and continue on. “You can do what you want, right?” I call back, not bothering to stop. “But right now, Darius, I have some things to do. You may think Sam was just imagining things, but I know this forest and something is wrong. I need to keep my pack safe from whoever is here. I can’t do that with your cock inside me.”
He catches up to me, his gaze on the side of my face. “You are mine, I have a responsibility to protect you from any threat that isn’t me. Your pack is an extension of you, so they will also be protected as long as you are.” I turn my head towards him, stunned at his words. “I don’t do well with sharing, little wolf, so if something is going to take your attention away from me, I will get rid of it.”
With Darius’ words running through my mind, we don’t speak as we reach the most northeast edge of the forest, stopping at a waterfall coming out of the cliffside. It’s one of the larger ones, and if you go through the water, there is a cave behind it where Solvier sometimes rests. He isn’t here though, and there is no sign that he has been in a while.
My shoulders slump with that knowledge. He would be around if Eridian were in danger, right? This is his home, and he protects it, meaning he protects us. He’s been distant, going away for much longer than usual. His behavior is odd, and I don’t understand why he’s not here if someone has entered Eridian. Is it really just Sam’s imagination and my paranoia?
At least everyone at home is okay. I spoke to Josh a little while ago, and he said all is fine, but they are keeping an eye on the Elites. Kade is still with Sam at the main cabin, not wanting to leave her as she’s having nightmares. Every time he tried to get up, she would scream, only settling when she’s curled up next to him. I’m glad she feels safe around him and that Kade’s helping her, I know he won’t leave her until she’s okay.
I bend and pick up a few stones from the ground, throwing them into the pool of water at the bottom of the waterfall, watching the ripples. I feel Darius’ stare on me as I continue throwing while he stands with his arms folded, the moonlight shining down on us.
“You said the Rogures are causing havoc across the lands,” I start, rolling a stone in my hand. “If you are trying to get rid of them, why have the Highers sent you here for one woman? Surely getting rid of the Rogures is more important?” Rogures are lethal. I’m glad we haven’t had more encounters with them, but I do feel for everyone in the rest of Vrohkaria having to suffer their wrath.
They are scary motherfuckers, and if I could help I would. But what could I do? Sure, I could open Eridian to refugees, giving them a safe place to live. The cost of that, however, is losing my family. My pack would have to return to where they escaped from and be put on trial. The pups would be taken and the Highers? They would punish them all. Especially if they get their hands on me.
We are lucky to have Eridian to protect us, but there are more monsters in Vrohkaria than just Rogures.
“The Rogures are my main concern, but the Highers think this woman is more important right now.”
“You don’t think so?” I ask, curious of his answer.
He shakes his head, not even hesitating as he answers. “No.”
I chew on my lip for a moment in thought. “I know you plan on taking me to the Highers, but what if I stay here and you bring people to me that need help? A safe place to come and stay. We could do it slowly, make room away from the center of Eridian and place them in new cabins, as long as the Highers don’t know.”
He shakes his head. “You are going to the Highers either way, and your punishment will be given to me. People will come to Eridian whether you like it or not.”
I clench my jaw and stare at the water. “It will do more harm than good,” I tell him. “I guarantee that. Just go home, Darius. Forget we exist,” I sigh and he grunts. “No one is stopping you.”
“If I could just go back empty handed, I would.”
“I guess the Highers do have control over the Elites,” I mutter.
“They don’t without my say so. They just want me to do something I want to avoid at all costs. My goal right now is getting rid of the Rogures, nothing else, and I won’t let anything get in the way of that. Even if I have to take a detour doing this shit.” I huff, and his next question catches me off guard. “How do you know anything about the Highers and Elites anyway? You’re all the way out here, practically in your own world. So how do you know so much about Vrohkaria?”
“Well…” I trail off. When his hard stare is still on me, refusing to let it go, I continue. “You know Colten came from the lands. We sometimes have others come here. They tell us things about what’s happening in Vrohkaria.” I chew the inside of my lip and look away from him as his face calls bullshit on my words. “Don’t ask questions I can’t answer, Darius,” I half plead and half warn him.
“So now it’s not just Colten? It’s others too?” He scoffs. “I know something isn’t right here, Rhea. I will find out what. One thing I know for sure is that I can’t trust a word out of your damn mouth. You’re the cause of whatever is happening here with your pack. They’re petrified more than not.”
Everything is your fault, you stupid bitch. If you would have just done as you were told and stopped, I wouldn’t have had to kill anyone. But you had to tell what you heard, didn’t you? You had to go and open that fucking mouth of yours and cause all of this. Cause your mother’s death!
I blink, willing myself out of the memory. Why am I having so many flashbacks? My hand shakes as I throw the next stone, watching as it sinks to the bottom of the pool, never to be found and forever stuck there, laying in eternal darkness.
Darius has moved closer now, watching me intently. Noticing my hands trembling, I shove them into my short’s pockets, looking out over the water that feels like it’s entered my lungs, drowning me in memories. “Some things may be my fault,” I agree on a whisper. “But all I’ve ever tried to do is protect them as best that I can. I’m not the bad guy here, Darius. I never was. If I start believing that I am, then there is no hope for my pack. Or Kade.” Or me.
We lock eyes, mine a little sad, his a lot curious. I start to feel that pull toward him again, locking us in the embrace of our stare.
“Who are you?” His question is genuine, wanting to know all the parts of me. I can see it in his eyes and the way he looks at me sometimes. The confusion, the curiosity, the need to yank out my soul and take a look for himself.
My reply is gentle, solemn and accepting.
“Someone you probably don’t want me to be.”
A gentle touch to my cheek has me leaning into it. It’s soft, reassuring and confusing all at the same time. It’s familiar, yet new to me. I’ve felt these phantom touches over the years, a light pressure surrounding me at times, but it’s gotten so much more frequent since the Elites appeared. Since he appeared. I watch as Darius’ head turns to the side suddenly, his brows scrunched as his eyes move around the space, searching for something. A see a flash of pale against him before vanishing into thin air.
Wisps float from the trees and into the night sky above us, both of us watching as they dance with each other, twirling and swirling near the water flowing down the cliffside. A few float down to me, tickling my skin before going over to Darius. He watches them slowly move closer to him. When they are in arms reach, he brings a hand up, holding it steady as a smaller wisp moves toward him. It hovers above his palm before jiggling playfully, its glowing body of essence moving gently from side to side.
Then the lands stop.
Everything stops.
My breath hitches as I take in his face. The lightness of his green eyes seems to glow, and the gentle smile on his face seems soft in the light of the wisps. He looks unnatural, peaceful. More. His face is gentle as he looks at them, and his lips move as he murmurs words to it. It’s a quiet sound I’ve never heard from him before, and it causes my chest to warm. I bring my hand toward it, rubbing gently as that warmth spears over my body from the center of my chest. Runa rubs against me, experiencing the same thing that I am. A small smile graces my face as I watch him, unable to stop it. Right now, he’s not the Alpha of the Elites, he’s just a male content in watching as the wisps play around him. The small one hovering above his palm twirls around him before shooting into the sky to join the others above us, glowing softly against the dark.
As we stand there, watching them under the night sky, the only thought in my head is one I never thought I would have. One I’m not sure how I feel about and not entirely sure if it rings true. But as I look back over at Darius, the heat spreads a little stronger within my chest and tingles spread along my forearm, making me wonder.
I look down at the delicate swirls and writing there, following down to the symbol of the Gods at my wrist, feeling those tingles beneath my touch. I move my hand back up over my skin and run my fingers over the empty space in the middle, the space left bare for your Vihnarn. The place where the sensation is the strongest.
I breathe deep, taking in the scents surrounding me, and the scent that is just Darius as my eyes slowly move back to him. I watch the small smile slip from his face, his lightened eyes darken to a coldness that causes the heat in my chest to evaporate, the tingles abruptly stopping. The softness in him turns to anger as I drop my hand from my arm, my own smile vanishing as I remember who I’m standing with, remember that this isn’t just a male, but the male who will be taking me to people I never wanted to see again in my lifetime.
“Under the moonlight, the darkest of nights shine the brightest,” I whisper to myself.
“What?” he asks, his jaw tightening.
I don’t reply as I silently pray to the Gods, staring at the man who may just be my downfall.
I pray that whatever they have in store for me, I can overcome it and come back home to my family. I pray that I can keep them safe and forget all about the male with light green eyes and a gentle smile that makes my soul scream in a way I have never experienced before.
And as I look back down at my forearm, I know that it will be an experience that I will never have with another, and I know most of my prayers will not be answered.
