Page 63 of The Hidden Falling
“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 youthinkyou 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.”
