Page 64 of The Lands Defying
“Hello, wolf,” he says, his tone controlled but somewhat soft. “Ready to come and see the lands?”
A snarl responds, and I walk toward where I see his back, anticipation running through me at seeing her.
I just need to see her, I need her to come to me.
“Runa?” I call, holding on to Darius’s arm as a pair of blue eyes look toward me from the darkness.
I suck in a sharp breath, tears stinging the back of my eyes. I have felt her within me for so long, but I’ve never seen a part of her until now.
I stare, transfixed as Darius releases a rumbling purr. It’s not one I hear from him a lot, so that must mean…
“Your wolf?” I manage to whisper, and he chuckles.
“He’s waiting to meet her too.”
“I am waiting to meet them both.” I take a step forward, and the blue eyes blink, and then they’re gone.
“Wait,” I call, panic thrumming through me as I look around the space.
In the next moment, I’m looking at Darius’s chest, my palm still out. I look around and notice we are back in the wooded area.
A dejected sound escapes me, and then a hand is on my nape, hauling me into a strong chest.
“Progress,” he reminds me.
And though I don’t agree, we don’t have time.
He knows that.
I know that.
And everyone else will if I can’t get my shit together.
Nineteen
Rhea
We carefully head down the steep incline to the bottom of the rocky hill we are on. Slowly and carefully I shuffle down, gripping boulders and trees as I go so I don’t hurl myself down to the bottom.
“This isn’t exactly safe,” Colten says, losing his footing and slamming chest-first into a tree. “Fuck.”
I laugh, grabbing onto a groove on the boulder as I look to where I’m heading next. “We used to climb the cliffsides, this is nothing.”
“Sure,” Colten groans. Hudson arrives at his side and peels him off the tree in the next moment. “I can do it,” he snarls, and Josh and I share a look while Taylor huffs out an annoyed breath.
“Sure, pup, this way.” With a hand on the top of his arm, Hudson guides Colten to another tree, his face set in a steely concentration.
I huff out another laugh.
“What’s so funny?” Josh says, letting go of a branch and jogging down to another tree.
“Colten has been trained to be an Elite, but Hudson is always helping him. Colten acts like he hates it, but we all know better,” I say quietly.
Josh snorts. “I’m not sure if they think we don’t notice, or they don’t care if we do.”
I shrug, letting go of the groove and joining him against the tree with a laugh. “This is ridiculous,” I blow out a piece of hair from my face.
Josh grins. “Nothing like going downhill first thing in the morning.”
