Page 113 of The Lands Defying
He’s huge, taller than me if I were standing.
His eyes stay locked with mine, and I can’t help but feel safe with him as I cough up more blood. My hands tingle and pinpricks of pain travel from my fingertips to the tops of my arms. I take in a wet breath, and the wolf whimpers again before his massive head turns and looks behind him.
I slowly look around too, the space looking empty. I look up and see a soft light far above, but enough that for some reason, it’s able to shine down here.
There is nothing else in here but me, and the wolf.
Where am I?
The wolf turns his head again and sits on…nothing?
Am I still floating?
I wiggle my fingers, and then my hands, the feeling of numbness fading into more pain as I wiggle my toes next. Carefully. Tentatively.
The wolf shuffles closer, that nose of his nearing my chest where the pain is the strongest, and a soft cry leaves my lips.
Please don’t touch there, it hurts!I scream in my head and Runa releases a startled cry. The wolf’s eyes snap to mine and I freeze.
Did he hear me?
He moves his head back and stands, his large paws walking on nothing as he pads alongside my body and walks around my feet. That’s when I see it. His tails hanging low, two of them.
Two tails.
My body flinches, more blood spluttering from my mouth and white, hot pain cascades through me at the movement.
Gods it hurts.
The wolf comes around to my other side and licks at my face softly as I try to move my head away from him. For some reason, I know he won’t hurt me, but I’m unsure what is going on, and how I’m going to get out of here.
Darius must be losing his mind, and Kade and Josh? Are they okay?
“Josh?”I try down the link, but I’m met with emptiness, a block.
Panic threatens to overcome me but the wolf’s wet nose comes to the side of my neck next, and takes in a deep breath, nuzzling into the crook of my shoulder and I relax, my body limp.
I move my hands, stretching out my fingers, clenching and unclenching before I gingerly move my arm toward the wolf. He sits and lowers his head again, moving until my palm meets the center of his forehead.
Tears slip from my eyes and a whimper escapes me as my fingers glide gently through his soft, black fur. I trace the crescent moon next, feeling a slight tingle from it.
A low growl comes from my right suddenly, and I grip the black wolf’s fur tightly on its neck, the sound scaring me which causes my body to lock up. Pain thrums through my chest, piercing and sharp, and the dark wolf next to me growls.
It’s not at me though, it’s for the pain I’m in. I don’t know how I know; I just do.
I swallow more blood, the metallic taste rolling my stomach and I run my tongue over my teeth.
“You saved me, didn’t you?” I croak to the wolf in barely a whisper. He makes a gentle purr-like sound as his eyes once again hold mine. “When I was little,” I start, trying to catch my breath through the pain. “I was running away from the Highers. I saw you in the woods behind my house. You walked past me and stopped them from getting to me, didn’t you?”
He just stares at me before nudging his head into my palm, but I know it to be true.
How is this possible?
Another growl from the darkened space has my muscles tensing once again and I cry out, my eyes squeezing shut.
The wolf barks at the darkness, and a deep growl replies. It is so much deeper than this one’s, so much more aggressive.
I open my eyes and look where it came from. I sense something there, moving, watching, and I feel so fucking helpless.
