Page 71 of The Hidden Falling
Josh thinks I haven’t noticed him sneaking in here for more than check ups, but I have. I won’t push him though. He will tell me when he’s ready if something is going on with them. I’m just glad Sarah seems to have someone close to her, especially a male with what she’s been through. I know Josh won’t hurt her, and I guess she knows that too.
I stand from my seat, giving Sarah’s shoulder a squeeze. “I’ll see myself out,” I tell them both, moving for the door. I go into the hallway of the cabin and pause to take a breath.
I don’t think it will be long before I’ll be leaving Eridian for who knows how long, I don’t even know when I’ll be back. I don’t know what my punishment will be either, but I’ll take it to keep everyone safe here. Edward told me about the trials that happen at the Wolvorn Castle, but he never went into details on what kind of punishments are given. Darius wants my punishment to be passed over to him, but will that be the outcome? Does he have the power to be granted that request by the Highers?
I guess time will tell what’s in store for me.
I walk to the front door, pressing my ear to it and listening for any signs of movement on the other side. When I hear nothing, I silently open it and close it behind me. I scan the area, seeing no sign of anyone before I make my way toward the gathering in the center.
I press my hands to the trees in greeting as I pass them until I reach my seat. I slump into it, stretching my feet out in front of me. The fire pit in the center is just a glow of embers at this time of night, the slight warmth from it reaching me. I take my knife from my boot, looking over the hilt and running my fingers over the familiar writing there.Arbiel Canna. We bleed wolf. It’s a vow to love and protect. A statement to be true to who we are, what we are.
My father gave me this knife as an early birthday present, he couldn’t wait to give it to me. I smile as I remember how mad Mom was at him, telling him he should have waited until my birthday later on in the week. She didn’t stay mad for long though. Dad and I went to pick her favorite lesia flowers, and she couldn’t keep the smile off her face when we gave them to her. I still remember how they smelled, how their pale blue petals darkened at the edges. I loved rolling around in them when I was a child. Mom would take me to the blooming meadow in our woods that was full of them, and tell me stories of the Gods while Dad was busy being Alpha of our pack. The pack that betrayed us, betrayed their Alpha.
The smile fades from my face as I remember what happened the day after Dad gave me that gift, after Mom sang me to sleep that night. If I had just stayed home instead of wandering into the woods behind our house… If I hadn’t overheard a conversation I shouldn’t have, would things be different now? Would Mom and Dad still be alive? Would I have been free?
My fingers grip the hilt of the knife tighter, remembering my mom’s screams as they came for us during the night. My dad hadn’t returned home, and I wanted him to come back and help. There were too many of them and they were too strong. I tried to get them off Mom with my knife, cutting one of them before I was grabbed from behind and hit in the head. When I woke up, I was alone in a room, a cage surrounding me. It was a little later after I had woken up that they came. They would taunt me with my parents’ deaths, saying it was all my fault, that I was to blame. And I should accept my punishment and do what they want.
I remember my own screams echoing in my ears at the pain they inflicted, my ankles and wrists raw from trying to get the chains off. My stomach felt like it was eating itself in hunger, my throat so dry that only cracked sounds escaping from me. Then came my fourteenth birthday, when Runa came to me. They were prepared for the day that my wolf would come, though they just didn’t think it would happen so soon. I didn’t either. I managed to bite and claw two of them, injuring them greatly, but I was restrained again quickly. I spent days in agony from then on, forced to stay in wolf form to see how much I could take, how much I could heal, if I showed anything out of the ordinary.
They finally let me shift back, but then Runa refused to come back out after all we had endured and knowing how much pain would come again. But then we were dealt more pain for not doing as we were told. It was a lose-lose situation, and both options were us suffering.
Runa growls at the thought within me, at the thought of them and the pain we endured for so many years. I don’t hate her for not coming back out, she was protecting us in the way she thought best. Being in human form was the lesser of two evils, they couldn’t do as much as they wanted to do to us in human form because I couldn’t heal as quickly. But it was still torture. Runa has been frightened to come back out ever since, fearing that what happened before would happen again. She knows we’re safe here in Eridian, that no one would hurt us here. But having just come to me for the first time when I was fourteen and then immediately experiencing that trauma, I wouldn’t want to come out again either. Innocents shouldn’t suffer at the hands of monsters.
I inhale sharply as the blade cuts my fingers, blood welling to the surface. I bring my hand up to my face, watching as the red liquid trails down my hand. Who knew something could hold so much power, yet also be an invisible burden?
I’m always at war with myself about if I did the right thing being in Eridian. Did I make the right choice hiding away from the whole of Vrohkaria, helping those who need it in secret when I can instead of the lands as a whole. But then when I look at the smiling faces of my pack and watch the pups play, smiles so wide on their faces as they laugh, I can’t say I regret it.
I shuffle forward in my seat before lowering myself to the ground and crossing my legs under me. I take my bloodied hand and press it to the earth, closing my eyes and murmuring a prayer.“Ir mal terria, dah vek et ce.”My blood pools on the ground, the soil gently letting it seep into the earth as my hand warms against it, the land saying its thanks. I open my eyes when the warmth leaves me, and bring my hand back up to look at it. There’s not a cut in sight, just the stain of my blood, and I let out a small smile.
Then the air changes around me, and I don’t move as I tense. I don’t even look in any other direction as the words come from me with a snarl on my face.
They’re low, deadly and vicious. A warning.
A threat.
“Who the fuck are you, and what do you want?”
Thirty Seven
Rhea
Howdidthispersonget through the barrier around Eridian, and how did they just turn up here unnoticed?
“Someone is here, an outsider. Make sure Axel, Finn, and Eliza stay close to the cabins. Those that were in heat came back to the main area this morning. Tell anyone who is able to, to go to the pups’ houses and protect them. Tell Kade to stay at home with Sam and Sybill, but you guys need to come down here.”I order Josh, knowing he’ll do what I say without a second thought. “Notify the Elites.”
I get up slowly from the ground and turn and face the intruder. My insides twisting at someone being here uninvited, it hasn’t happened before. The pack needs to be safe, and I don’t think this person is here to talk. The figure stands in between the trees, shadowed in all black with the hood of his cloak pulled low over their face. I can only make out the bottom of their chin as I face him. I suspect this is the man who tried to grab Sam. What are the chances that person that entered the forest a week ago, and this person inside the barrier are two different people? The chances are slim. The figure doesn’t speak, but I feel eyes boring into me, making my skin crawl. As I twirl the knife in my hand as anger takes over, causing me to growl low and deep from my chest.
“Who are you?” I repeat, walking forward until I’m at the end of the seats, making sure nothing is in my way. Still, they don’t speak, and it unnerves me.
I hear the crunch of twigs behind me, but I don’t look at the guys as they settle in around me. Josh stands to my left side, blade in hand as Hudson and Colten stand at my back. Taylor takes my right with Seb. The air is tense and full of violence directed toward the intruder.
Their gloved hand comes up and we all tense at the movement, but all they do is slip it inside their cloak. They pull out a small, dark crystal, holding it in their palm as they tilt their head to face us. As their body turns, I see Darius and his men entering the gathering, their postures as tense as mine.
Darius’ expression is hard, muscles straining against the fabric of his dark t-shirt, and his black blade rests in his right hand against his thigh. Leo has a bow aimed at the intruder, Zaide has his twin blades out and Damian and Jerrod have their weapons at the ready. I watch as Darius gets closer to the intruder, scanning them from head to toe before stopping a few feet away from them. Darius looks my way briefly, his eyes roaming over me, seemingly to check me over before turning back to the cloaked person. I watch as they silently stare at each other when I see movement to the right, a blur of long, dark hair between the trees surrounding the gathering.
“Who sent you?” Darius’ demands with a growl, and my head whips his way. What does he mean who sent him? Does he know who this is? My hand tightens around my knife at the thought.
The cloaked figure shrugs, before tossing him the dark crystal. Darius catches it with his free hand, never taking his eyes off the hooded figure who nods his head at it. Damian and Zaide walk closer to Darius, keeping his sides protected as Darius looks down at the crystal.
