Page 149 of The Lands Defying
He’s hard, but he makes no move to do anything about it.
“Talk first,” he grunts, his eyes wandering to my heaving breasts. “Then I will fill you.” Gods. I clench my thighs together, and he smirks at me, noticing. He always notices. His nostrils flare before blowing out a breath. “In.” He nods toward the furs and I do as he says, laying down under them as he slides up next to me.
Then I’m on top of him, my legs on either side, my chest to his and my face in his neck.
I relax, my body melting into his as he grabs the fur to make sure we are covered. He moves my hair out of the way, stroking the back of my neck until his fingers rests on my pulse point. He seems to breathe me in.
“Why did you leave?” he asks, after a while of just being in each other’s arms. Heartbeat to heartbeat.
I take a breath. “Frederick said something about a crystal I had in Eridian.”
“What crystal?”
“I received it from Edward along with a letter telling me you were in The Deadlands.”
Darius is silent as he takes that in. “And the crystal could be the memory one?” He puts it together without me having to say it aloud.
He tenses as he waits for my answer, “I came to check it and the one he gave me isn’t there.”
“So he’s betrayed you?” he growls and I sigh.
“I don’t know, it hurts to think about it but only him, Josh and I knew how to get into my drawer. Edward taught us how to lock it with a rune.”
“I could have gone with you, to check.”
“I wasn’t thinking straight. I just needed to go and see straight away, and you would have waited until you knew it was safe for me to go.”
“Of course I would have.” I snort, my point proven.
“Where were you,” he asks. “After you fell.”
“I’m not sure,” I begin, remembering everything that has happened since I fell. “I really don’t know where I was, only that I was safe.”
His chin rubs against the top of my head. “Explain.”
I sigh, snuggling closer. “It was...blackness,” I tell him, and he tenses. “When I fell off the cliff, I thought that was it.” I swallow roughly, feeling my body hitting the surface all over again. “I was filled with relief that it was me and not Kade. He lost consciousness.” He growls but says nothing. “And then I thought selfishly that we didn’t have enough time, that it was unfair that I had finally found…”
“What,” he whispers.
I sigh, bracing myself for my next words. “That I had finally found someone who’s just mine, for me alone. That I wouldn’t get to have time with you.” Tears sting my eyes, and his hand comes to my chin, raising my head. My watery eyes meet his and they look so pained. “I’ve never had that with anyone, until you, and everything else that had happened, it just…didn’t matter anymore.”
And it didn’t.
“You are right to think that. I am yours, only yours. No matter where I am, or where you are.” His jaw ticks. “You will always be mine, and I yours. It’s infinite, Effiniar. Always,” he reassures me, and then places a gentle kiss on my lips before guiding me back to the crook of his neck. He must really want me to scent him. “What happened after?”
“I sunk.” His body turns stiff and I bring my hand between us and place it over his heart, rubbing circles there. “I sunk and it felt never-ending, but we both know how most never-endings work.” He holds me closer at that and I continue. “I didn’t drown, and I don’t know how long I was sinking for, but it was more like floating then. I was weightless and nothing surrounded me but black. And your wolf.” My lips quirk into a soft smile as he grunts.
“Draxton,” he tells me, and I memorize his full name. It suits him. “I couldn’t stop him from coming out, not that I would have. I had hope he would reach you, but I had no way ofknowing that. I just had to hope he would find you and keep you safe.”
“He did,” I tell him. If it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t have made it back here.
“Why didn’t you show him to me before?”
“I didn’t want to make you think I tricked you. I didn’t want to make you more upset than you already were after everything that had happened.”
“Because I would know it was you and him who saved me in the woods that day behind my house when I was little.” He nods. “Did you always know?”
“No, it wasn’t until I was in your cave and saw a carving of him.”
