Page 14 of The Lands Defying
He smiles, nipping at it.
Asshole.
I allow myself to relax against him, and he brings his arms around me, hand running up my naked back and once again, he trails his fingers against the scars he cannot see.
It reminds me of his own.
Is it wrong of me to feel closer to him after that? That we both have something that’s a reminder, but also something we will overcome?
“How is your back?” I ask, sinking more into his body and placing my head in the crook of his neck.
“Fine,” he says, even as his body tenses. I go to sit up but he stops me on a sigh. “There is some pain, but nothing I cannot handle.”
Are we being more honest with each other, more than ever now? Is this our something new?
“I’m glad,” I tell him, and I am.
Never again.
He shifts beneath me and moves a hand to run it over my wrist, where red marks from the terbium cuffs once were. “You don’t hide these ones?”
I shake my head. “I can’t.” He tenses at that. “I don’t know why but I can’t.” I shrug. “I don’t mind, they are a reminder to never be shackled again.”
He growls beneath me and holds me closer. “Never.” His magic comes around me next and I huff.
“So possessive.”
“Protective,” he corrects.
“Commanding.”
“Assertive.”
I bite at his neck in reprimand, and he groans beneath his breath. “Annoying.”
“Adorable.”
I hide my face more as my cheeks heat, but he chuckles like he knows anyway.
I sigh into him and eventually say, “We have to get up, don’t we?”
He follows my sigh with one of his own. “There is much to do.” I nod. “If I could keep you in this bed forever, I would.” I’m suddenly hauled over his shoulder as he walks toward the bathroom. “But there is blood to be spilt, and we are first in line.”
That we are.
“Ready?” Darius asks me, and I take in a shaky breath.
We are in his bedroom, sitting in the bed, crystal between us. I asked Darius to grab it, and he went without another word.
Did I worry the whole time he was gone that he would go back to the basement? Yes, but he came back to me quickly, and now we are sitting across from each other as I prepare myself.
I didn’t want to do this in front of others again, and Darius didn’t even question me, didn’t even ask why.
I wanted privacy in case I react the same as before, and doing that in front of Darius doesn’t seem to bother me.
He’s seen me at my worst, seen me at my lowest, and yet he’s still here, wanting me anyway.
The amount of weakness I have shown in front of others recently is nerve racking. Being wolves, we never show weakness in risk of being challenged. And though living in Eridian with my pack was peaceful, an Alpha does not show that weakness.
