Page 6 of The Hidden Falling
Damn they’re fast.
“We’re ready to port. Where are you?”Josh asks me down the link.
“Oh, you know, just having a little race with a family of bora,”I snark at him, trying to concentrate on not falling on my ass.
“Rhea, I don’t think now is the time to get cute.”Cute? The cheeky fucker.“Are you coming to where we are to port, or do you want us to come for you?”
I push forward.“Have you got Sarah?”
“Yes, and the omega. Sarah passed out after a little chase, and I grabbed her. She’s fine. It will probably be easier to get her to Eridian while she’s unconscious anyway.”
“Okay, I’ll be there shortly,”I tell him.“Get ready to port straight away.”
Sprinting in between a narrow gap in the middle of two trees, I make a wide turn to loop back on myself. Heavy breathing reaches my ears from behind me, a second before a mouth is about to clamp onto my ankle. I spin around, sending my foot out with the turn and colliding with the side of the mouth that’s trying to bite me.
The momentum sends me crashing against a tree, the rough bark digging into my hands as I stop myself from face planting it. Ignoring the pain, I push myself off, and carry on looping back around toward Josh.
Still hearing the sounds of the bora chasing after me, I pull in some extra speed from my wolf, allowing me to soar across the dry, forest floor. My wolf is resistant at first, but an extra nudge from me has her releasing some of her strength into me.
Rounding another cluster of dead trees, I see Josh and the guys waiting for me, all touching one another, ready to port. My breathing comes in fast pants, and my legs feel like a newborn deer as I sprint directly to them.
An older bora suddenly jumps through the trees ahead of me from the side, its spiked tail high, ready to meet me head on. I curl my hand around the hilt of my blade so it’s pointing toward the ground, ready to defend myself. A flash of steel catches my eye as it flies in front of me. I follow its path as it hits its target, right in the side of the bora’s head. It comes to a sudden halt, sliding across the ground in front of me. Dead. I’m glad Seb has good aim.
As I leap over the dead bora, I see the orbs of its essence start to float upwards from its body, heading toward the thick tree branches above, casting a warm white glow.
“Hurry, Rhea!” Taylor demands, bringing my focus to him as he looks behind me. The rest of the family of bora come into sight, charging straight for us.
I sprint the last few steps and reach for the hand Taylor holds out for me. Once our hands connect, and I hear the shattering wails of the bora, grieving the loss of one of their own, as we port out of The Deadlands to safety.
Three
Rhea
Wearriveatthebottom of the cliff within seconds, the bora’s wails still ringing in my ears, tearing at my soul. Although the bora would have ripped me to shreds and the young one had attacked me first, it was still a living, breathing creature with a family it was only trying to protect.
Taylor lets go of my hand, noticing the blood from where the bark dug into my palm. He turns his own hand over, looking at the red there, then looks to the top of my arm, scrutinizing the wound.
“I’m fine,” I reassure him with a small smile. “Just a scratch.”
I look over at Josh who cradles a still unconscious Sarah in his arms. He looks down at her, examining her face before looking up to the top of the cliffs. Blowing out a breath, I follow his gaze and listen for any sign the creatures are above us. We ported quite far into The Deadlands, so I don’t think the bora would know where we are, but it’s always safest to make sure. With no sound reaching us, we’re confident nothing has followed our trail and start toward home.
“Alex? You and Finn stay here a little longer to make sure we are not being followed.” He nods and turns to set up a post with Finn, both of them effortlessly shifting into their wolf.
Taylor walks next to me, constantly scanning the forest as he shoves the now useless port stone into his pocket. I see him looking at the wound on my arm again subtly, but I don’t call him out on it. He trains us to the best of his ability to keep us safe, so he takes it personally when one of us gets injured.
Shame we can’t protect ourselves from trees though.
“What was that young bora doing on its own anyway?” Colten muses aloud behind me. “That young they don’t leave their family to pee on their own, never mind wander so far away.”
I was wondering the same thing. It’s so out of the norm. I can’t imagine why it did that, or why the rest of its family didn’t notice sooner. They are notorious for protecting their young.
“Maybe something spooked it,” Hudson suggests. It would make sense, but what could have spooked only one bora? A family of bora can be up to twenty large. They are ruthless together and have no sense of self preservation when protecting their family, making them dangerous. Most times it’s better to run than take them all on.
A throat clears, bringing my attention to the omega male. The hood of his cloak is still down, making his dark hair hang loosely to his jaw. He looks me in the eyes briefly before dropping his gaze to the floor. “We have been in The Deadlands for hours, and it has been restless. Edward told me there wouldn’t be an issue, but we fled from many creatures and barely had any time to stop and catch our breaths. It wasn’t as safe as what Edward told me that area would be.”
Looking at him closely, I see the tiredness in his eyes, the exhausted slump of his shoulders I didn’t notice before. “I’m sorry you’ve had a hard time. Activity has been increasing in The Deadlands, and it’s worrying.”
The Deadlands has its fair share of deadly creatures. They aren’t usually this aggressive or sighted as close to the edge of the cliffs as they have been these last couple of weeks. I have people checking the perimeter weekly to see if any creatures are trying to come down into the valley. Thankfully, they haven’t.
