Page 259 of The Lands Defying
He lands with athud, but instead of getting up, he pants heavily on the cold ground, staring up into the breacher that covers us from the heavy snowfall.
“I need to fight,” he says.
“No, you need to be here to protect others. That is your job as Alpha of Eridian when Rhea is away.”
“That didn’t work out so well the last time.” It didn’t.
“So change it this time. Get up, kid,” I growl, pacing back and forth. We have been sparring since that day in the cabin, making sure he gets his frustration out on me, and me alone.
I also won’t pass up a chance to hit the kid a time or two, to show him the Alpha he needs to be.
Rhea and her not-brother, but brother, Josh raised him, but they are far too soft on him. They have let him get away with too much for too long.
Well, I won’t let him get away with the attitude he has sometimes, and I certainly won’t let him get away with hurting Rhea.
Kade doesn’t move, so I walk over to him and kick his side.
“Oww,” he grumbles, his eyes flashing a moment, but after taking a deep breath, he gets himself under control.
Good, kid.
“Up, we do not have long before Rhea comes looking for either one of us, and you know she hates seeing us like this.”
“Practicing?” he says, still laying on the floor and catching his breath.
“We both know it is more than that, kid.” He averts his gaze.
What we do is a way to punish himself, let him wallow in self-loathing that I know all too well. But this way I can look out for the kid, for Rhea.
“Does she hate me?” he whispers quietly and I sigh, letting my head fall back on my shoulders.
I am not the male to talk about this with. Can’t he go to the blonde-haired bastard?
When he continues to look at me, I growl to myself. “She doesn’t hatemekid, so do you really think she would hate you?” he shrugs his shoulders when I look back at him.
I loathe this shit.
I go over and crouch beside him. “The only reason your head is still on your shoulders is because Rhea would be devastated if you were not of these lands.” He looks to me then, listening intently. “You hurt her bad, kid, we both have, but that female has the biggest heart of all the lands, and it is our job to make sure we take care of it, okay?”
He nods, moving to a sitting position, eyeing me for a moment.
“Are you two…mating?” he asks awkwardly, and I stare at him.
“She is my Vihnarn,” I correct him, my tone serious.
His brows furrow. “But what does she mean to you?”
“She means...” I pause, trying to find the words to describe what she means to me, but the closest thing I can think of is, “everything,” I tell him. “She means everything.”
He watches me intently, and I see the innocence of a young male peeking through as he thinks about my words.
“Does Mom think it’s everything?” he asks quietly, and protectiveness shines in his eyes for Rhea.
Maybe I can like the kid a little for that.
I shrug. Her actions say as much, and when we became one under the moonlight as we were always meant to be, it felt like I meant that much to her. But. “All I can do, kid, is make her happy, safe and give her everything she asks for. She knows I will spend the rest of my days giving that to her.”
“And she forgives you? For what you did?”
