Page 25 of The Hidden Falling
The male hits Kade in the side of the head with his fist, knocking him to the left momentarily, but Kade goes for him again, rabid sounds leaving him as I watch on in terror. I dig my fingers into the dry earth beneath my hands as the male keeps knocking the wolf back every time he gets close. He’s toying with him, like he did me, and Kade just keeps going back for more. Every blow he receives adds another injury to his body. He won’t stop, he won’t let up. He’s acting like a crazed beast whose only desire is to tear the male into pieces. Blood pours from different places on his body where he’s been hit and cut as the ground turns wet beneath them. Kade’s dark, gray fur is even darker from all the blood.
Kade tries to tear into the males’ arm after he’s been flung back again, but the male slices across his shoulder, making him yelp in pain. I will my body to move and rush forward toward him, managing to grab the slick fur on his back to try and get him to stop, but he just pushes his body hard into me, forcing me to let go. I’m knocked into a tree, and I hiss as the rough bark slices into my arm and the side of my face. I bring my hand up and feel blood seeping from the cuts.
“Kade,” I whimper, pain radiating through my chest as he continues, my soul screaming at the savage growls tearing out of him. “Please… please stop,” I beg. Tears sting the back of my eyes at the sight of him so out of control. My vision blurs as I push off the tree, my movements sluggish and slow as I stagger toward him. It feels like the forest is closing in around me, the dark, twisted branches wrapping around my heart and squeezing until they pierce it, making me bleed out. “Carzan, enough,” I plead, my breathing erratic as my knees give out. I land hard on the unforgiving ground, and my knees burn with pain. “Please!” I scream at him, the raw sound tearing from my throat. He has to stop, he’s losing too much blood. He’s going to get himself killed.
He. Has. To. Stop.
The male snaps his head toward the sound of my scream, looking at me on my knees, and then to the tears in my eyes. He grunts and looks away as Kade attacks him again, but this time, he grabs Kade by the scruff of the neck and pins him to the floor on his stomach, his knees straddling the wolf on either side. He did it so effortlessly, handling the five-foot wolf with ease.
“Shift,” the male demands of Kade, while the wolf’s cold stare is aimed at me. Kade bites at air around him, saliva dripping from his mouth and onto the ground. The male puts his free hand on the back of his head and forces it down. “Shift, now,” he orders in a deep growl, the dominance radiating from him far superior to Kade’s young wolf.
Unable to resist the order, Kade’s pupils start to shrink, the bleeding silver around his irises pull back, and his dark blue eyes start to lighten to his normal shade. His body convulses. Bones start to move, fur starts receding into skin, and his teeth shorten. It doesn’t take long for a male to appear where the wolf once was beneath the dark-haired male. Panting for breath, Kade’s fingers dig into the ground, his face twisted in pain from his injuries and being commanded to change against his will. I sit up on my knees and take in Kade’s bloody and bruised body as the fight drains from him, and he slumps into the ground.
“Now, why don’t we start with you answering some questions,” the male aims my way. “Who the fuck are you, and what are you doing in The Deadlands?”
I stay silent, biting on the inside of my lower lip as I wonder how to answer him, how to get Kade away from him. He stares at me, waiting for me to respond. When I take too long, he grabs a fistful of Kade’s hair and snaps his head back, exposing his neck. I jolt when his blade comes up and presses against his throat, and my fingers curl, digging into my palms. I swallow hard. The male presses the blade into his skin a little more, and Kade’s eyes fly to mine.
I find exhaustion, defiance and an apology in his blue orbs, telling me everything that he can’t say. I bring my shaky hands to rest on the top of my thighs, clenching them into the soggy material of my pants as I try to reach him through the link, but it’s still not open.
“Hmmm, do you need some more motivation?” A cruel smirk slides on the male’s face, and in the next moment, Elites are coming out from within the trees, dragging my pack members with them.
My eyes widen slightly before I force my face to go carefully blank at the sight. I don’t look at them, choosing to keep my focus on the male who is obviously in charge. I see another dark-haired male dragging Josh forward out the corner of my eye, forcing him to his knees to the right of me. I glance in his direction and notice his hands are tied behind his back with rope that glows, cutting into his skin. I grind my teeth.
“It’s okay,”Josh tries to reassure me, his link finally open.“If we can find an opening, get Kade and run toward–”The link suddenly shuts down, and my eyes look to Josh as his face twists in pain. What’s going on?
“It’s rude to have a private conversation. If you have anything to say, you can answer my questions,” the asshole murmurs, and my eyes go back to him. How did he know we were talking? He wrenches Kade’s head back further, causing a cry of pain to slip from his lips. My insides revolt at the sound, and I can’t contain the warning growl that slips free. Runa bristles at what the male is doing to her pup, and the leader looks from Kade to me, confirming he has the advantage here. “Well?” he demands.
My eyes flash as Runa forces herself through my eyes, and I reel her back in. We can’t win here. There are too few of us, those that are here are tied up, and I’m completely exhausted. I also can’t risk Kade. Nothing is worth risking Kade. Reluctantly I grit out, “My name is Rhea. We live in The Deadlands.”
“Rhea,” he tests my name with distaste, and I suppress a shiver. “What do you mean you live in The Deadlands? Nothing can live here, it’s uninhabitable. It has been for all of time. Don’t fucking lie to me.”
“I’m not,” I rush out, my gaze going to Kade. His form slumping little, causing the blade to slice his skin. I close my eyes briefly. “There is an area where we live that is full of life,” I answer quickly as I panic seeing the blood that seeps from Kade’s throat. I tell him anything to let him go.
“You’re full of shit, nothing like that is in here,” he growls. Moving the blade from Kade’s neck, he aims it to the back of his shoulder, the tip pressing down through his t-shirt and against his skin. “Did someone send you to try and kill us? You must be fucking stupid to try.”
“No, no one sent us to kill you,” I answer. It’s the truth. We weren’t told to kill them, that was our decision. “I’m not lying. The Deadlands are our home.” He pauses, looking at me to continue. Fuck “I… if I come with you to the Highers, will you let them go? I was the one who set the trap stones, and I caused the bora to come for you.” I ignore the Elites’ hard stares on my face at my confession. “I knew what they would do when they found you. Some of your men died, and that’s on me and me alone.”
He lets out a mocking laugh. “You think you can bargain with me? In your current position? Oh, little wolf. You are all going to pay for the deaths of my trainees.”
My brows furrow. “Your trainees?”
“I’m the Alpha of the Elites,” he says casually, and my face pales. He’s not just the leader of this team… he’s the fucking Alpha. I start to tremble. “The men that were killed were my trainees. How do you feel about cutting short lives that should have long lived?” he sneers, and the men around him growl in response.
I look down, unable to look at the loathing in his eyes. I did what I had to do, what I felt like I had to do to protect my pack. We were backed into a corner. I acted with what I thought was the only option. They wouldn’t have stopped looking for Sarah as they are relentless at their tasks. They have gotten this deep into the forest and survived. It was only a matter of time before they stood atop the cliffs looking down at Eridian. Now, all that we had done didn’t matter in the slightest. I killed people, young people, for nothing. Because now we are in the grasp of the Alpha of the Elites, the Highers most fierce weapon, and I have no idea the outcome. I failed. I failed them all.
Forgive me Zahariss.
“Nothing to say?” he asks, his voice condescending. I shake my head, still looking down, trying to not let the guilt drown me, trying not to let the situation suffocate me. Shove it down Rhea. “Pathetic,” he spits, and I can’t help my slight flinch at his words.
“Pathetic, can’t even get your wolf to come out. How you were born is a fucking miracle! You should have been strangled as soon as you came out of your whore of a mother’s cunt! Aww… are you crying? Poor pathetic little girl. Do you want mommy? Well, mom–”
“Rhea!” Josh shouts, and I blink, looking up toward him. His eyes are wild as he struggles against the male holding him, trying to stand to get to me as the others do the same. I shake my head and press my knuckles into my eyes, shaking off the memory.
It has been a long time since I was sucked into a memory like that.
I clear my throat and drop my hands back to my thighs. “I’m okay,’ I whisper to Josh. I then look to the Alpha and say, “I accept sole responsibility for what I did to your Elites.I accept your decision, but leave the rest out of it.”
“Why are you accepting sole responsibility when all of you were involved?” he questions me, brow raised.
