Page 153 of The Lands Defying
“I found him hiding in here,” he begins, lifting a hand to stroke down the back of Leif’s nape. “When I got to his den…” He trails off and my stomach drops.
I pick Leif up and hold him to me, burrowing my face in his fur. “What happened?”
His face pinches. “Rogures.”
I close my eyes, a sob building as Darius sits up and holds me to him as Leif snuggles closer.
I loved that pack, I watched the mama swell with her babies, watched as her mate brought her food when she was too tired to leave her den. I watched when the pups were born.
“It’s not fair.” I sniffle into Leif’s fur as he gives me one last lick before running off. I watch with bleary eyes as Darius pulls me back down onto him and I spot Daddy wolf over by the lilk trees, that I am just now realizing are still blooming.
“He killed the rogures,” Darius tells me. “He took them away from the den to try and save his family but…” He was too late.
Leif goes to his dad, and he nuzzles him before the Alpha nudges him further into the trees, a slight limp to him as he goes.
“Thank you,” I say to Darius, and I feel him shake his head.
“You loved them, of course I would look after them. I couldn’t save them all, but I saved him and buried the others.”
He secretly likes them, I know he does.
We are quiet for a long while, both of us with our thoughts until Darius breaks the silence.
“Ask,” he murmurs against me.
“Did you break your vow?” He freezes for a moment and my heart drops.
Like he can feel it, he nuzzles the top of my head. “I didn’t expect that to be the first thing you ask,” he admits. “No, little wolf, I didn’t.”
I sigh in relief, and then, “Kade?” I begin, hedging the question.
I would have asked Josh down the link, but I soon realized he had blocked it.
Darius grunts, sitting up and taking me with him. The furs fall to my waist, and his hands run down my sides to clasp my hips. My own hands go to his neck, stroking his skin, keeping my eyes there.
“Look at me.” I do, raising my eyes to his gaze. “You should always be looking at me.”
“Like you do with me?”
“Always.”
I blush, and his lips tip up. “Adorable.”
“Ass.”
His smile fades, and I wait for him to tell me.
“Josh has been taking care of the kid.” The breath that releases from me is so full of so much relief that I sag against his chest. “He came here once, when you wouldn’t wake up,” he grits out. “It took everything within me not to take his head.”
“It wasn’t his fault,” I say, placing a kiss on his neck as tears sting my eyes.
“He has caused you nothing but pain since I met you,” he says quietly, but I hear the rage underneath.
“He’s just a kid,” I defend.
“He’s eighteen,” he counters. “He is old enough to get his wolf.”
“I know,” I tell him, my arms running over his chest. “I know I need to realize that he’s a man now, not the little kid I held in my arms that would wake up screaming from his nightmares.” Deep down I know he’s not a kid anymore, though Darius calls himthat. He is grown now, has a wolf like Darius says, and maybe I do need to stop defending him so much. But me falling isn’t his fault. “He’s mine, Darius. Through his faults, his mistakes.” I lift my head and stare at him. “He’s mine, just like you are.”
