Page 10 of The Hidden Falling
He could force me to become a Higher, and there is nothing I can do about it, regardless of being Elite. Before my father died, he nominated me to become one. That nomination remains and can be called upon at any time. If I refuse, the Highers will call upon the oath my father made on my behalf, and force me to take a seat amongst them while using my men to make me bend. I have too much to do before he calls upon that nomination. He’s backed me into a corner, and he fucking knows it. So, what choice do I have? Become a Higher or do as he’s ordered.
“Fine,” I state reluctantly, grabbing the sketch off his desk. “I will go, and you can keep the word Higher and my name out of your mouth.” Getting up in one smooth motion and pocketing the sketch, I walk to the office door with Leo following behind me.
Charles’ voice makes me pause as I reach for the door handle. “Keep me updated on your progress, son. You have four months. This alliance is extremely important. It will help us all and put the people’s minds at ease.”
I say nothing, opening the door and walking out, Leo following at my back.
I grit my teeth in frustration, walking with measured steps down the winding hallways toward the entrance hall before reaching the castle doors. Hemsworth, the castle attendant, opens the doors when he sees me, nodding his head respectfully. I pass without saying a word.
“Why did you agree?” Leo asks, catching up to walk beside me when we are further into the castle courtyard, passing sellers and their goods. “You could have said no.”
“No, Leo, I couldn’t. You know I promised my father I would help Charles in whatever he needed when I became Alpha of the Elites, and he would also use you to get what he wants. It’s either helping him or becoming a Higher myself. He has the power to make it happen. The laws state that he can induct me whenever he wants, and there is nothing I can do about it. I need to get rid of the Rogures before they destroy us all and avenge my family for what they did to them. If I have to find this fucking woman to achieve that, I will,” I grunt, walking quickly through the courtyard, ignoring everyone staring around us.
It isn’t hard to move easily through the people considering they give the Elites a wide berth. They know what we could do, what we are capable of, even though all we do is protect them. But they still fear us.
There’s a crowd forming around some men that are shouting about the Highers’ not protecting them against the Rogures, and how it’s strange that these creatures never attack the castle. The Highers’ guards soon appear and push through the listening crowd, most likely to arrest them and take them to the cells beneath the castle to await sentencing for their slander.
“I know, brother,” Leo replies, his tone low as he watches a guard tackle a male to the ground. “But to send you there for a girl who is probably already dead is fucked. We did our rite of passage in The Deadlands, and we barely made it out alive. That was what, nearly twenty five years ago? Imagine how bad it is now.”
“I know, but we had to go deep in The Deadlands for that. I doubt we will go deep enough for the more deadly creatures to give us much trouble. We will find her body, somehow, and get back home.”
“Let’s hope so. We could take some trainees as an exercise, if they volunteer,” Leo muses, cocking his head in thought.
“I’ll think about it, it might be a good lesson for them if we aren’t going to go that deep. I’ll talk to everyone when we get back,” I tell him, making way toward the castle gates to head back to Vokheim keep.
My men aren’t going to be happy with the news, but ultimately, Charles is the leader of Vrohkaria and what he says goes. To refuse him would cause more problems that we don’t need right now.
Five
Rhea
Throwingwoodinthefire pit, I stand up straight and wipe the sweat from my brow. I’ve been working around the settlement all morning, doing chores and dealing with squabbles amongst some of the members.
We don’t get them often, but they do happen every now and again. It doesn’t help that some of the females are going into heat soon. It’s hard to balance the added workload on top of our usual daily work, especially with tensions running so high.
I’ve made sure we separated the male and females, so they work at opposite ends of the Eridian, and we rotate when needed so they are near each other as little as possible. The males won’t be shifting into wolves until the female’s heats are over, unless they are far out in the forest and well away from the large three story cabin that we allocate the females to during their heat. If they choose a male to help them during that time, they go to their own cabin.
The males are also running high on testosterone, and with the number of people who will be otherwise occupied for a few days, we have to pick up the slack of those not around to help keep our home running.
With the last log placed into the pit for tonight’s dinner, I sit down on the ground, my back to the wooden bench behind me. I take out the small blade that I’ve had with me since I left my old pack. I trace my fingers over the hilt, feeling the carved words‘we bleed wolf’in my family’s language beneath my fingertips.
Grabbing a broken piece of wood that was left on the ground, I begin to cut into it. I started doing this years ago, randomly, not really sure what I was doing at all. My first carving was of a wolf that took me many tries and several weeks to complete. I’ve been carving for years now. I’m not great at it, but that’s not the point of why I do it.
The motion of my hands moving with practiced ease as I carve at the wood calms me. The methodical movement helps me to process my thoughts when I have a lot on my mind. It has become a ritual of sorts.
After sending Ellian back to his home with a port stone, my focus has been concentrating on Sarah. She’s still recuperating in the healer’s cabin, slowly recovering from her injuries even after two moon cycles. They’re healing well, but they will definitely scar as they have been left untreated for too long. If she would have been able to shift when she was injured she would have been fine, but her body has been changed without her permission, and she will have to learn to live with the physical scars as a reminder of what she went through. She will eventually learn that those scars show her strength, but it does take time, and that amount of time differs from person to person.
Once Sarah told me her story about how she ended up the way she was and who did that to her, she retreated into her own mind, staying very quiet. I don’t pressure her to speak, to tell me what she’s thinking, sometimes speaking to our demons is the only way we can process things.
Her injuries weren’t just external. Anna examined her after our talk, and she was torn in places no woman should ever be. It was clear she had been raped. Many times. Sarah told me they gave her some kind of drug that paralyzes your body, but you’re awake and completely aware of what’s going on around you. She could see, hear and feel what they were doing to her, and all she could do was lay there and hope it was over soon.
I shake my head as fury coats my skin. I take a deep breath to calm myself, shaving the wood into a rounded shape at the top with a little too much force. It’s hard to hold onto anger with no real release. It’s draining when all you want is to unleash it on the person responsible, but the situation makes it so you can’t. The kind of anger that you’re terrified to finally let out, dreading the outcome after holding it in for so long.
If I let out that anger, it wouldn’t just affect me. If I followed my instincts to tear apart all the people responsible for the suffering of my pack members, it would affect them all, and I can’t do that to them. Edward mostly sends wolves that need to escape a life of abuse to Eridian. I can’t just throw our home away, our safety, for revenge, and I can’t let others do that either. They would know we have a settlement somewhere, and we need to remain hidden. That’s why once you’re in Eridian to stay, you’re in, and you don’t leave. Apart from myself and my closest pack members who I trust when we venture out into The Deadlands.
If anyone left after they lived in Eridian, they could risk the whole settlement and the people that live here.
I can’t risk that.
