Page 147 of The Lands Defying
I want to touch him everywhere.
He gentles the kiss after a while, slowing down as he saviors me before he pulls back. Our breaths mingle with each other, eyes locked like he doesn’t want to look away from me. Like I could vanish at any second.
Gods, I’ve missed him. “I’ve missed you,” I whisper against his lips, unable to stop myself from saying it.
He releases a heavy breath, stroking my hair, and running his fingers through the strands. I didn’t even notice it was wet.
“You have no idea how mad I’ve been without you,” he grunts, his body tensing and I stroke the pulse over his neck, trying to comfort him. “I don’t.” His body shakes and he leans his forehead against mine. “Rhea…you wouldn’t fucking wake up. No matter what I did. You wouldn’t wake...up.” He shakes more forcefully, a growl beginning in his chest. “Fuck.”
Suddenly, his power explodes out of him, spreading out in every direction.
I feel my body tingle in its presence, watching as it flows out of him in thick strands. I’m not scared, not one bit.
Not when the walls shake, not when stone crumbles down, and not when small cracks appear in the ground.
Two black mass-like tails appear from behind his shoulders, and I smile softly, reaching for them with a hand. I gently touch his power, and he shivers at my touch, as the end of a tail wraps around my hand.
“It’s okay,” I tell him quietly, even though I’m not sure I understand, but he shakes his head with a groan and pulls me close again, using his hand on the back of my head to guide me back to his neck.
His power comes around me, cocooning us from the shoulders down and I feel like I’m finally home.
“It’s okay, Darius, I’m here.” He shakes his head.
He says the next words like they tear from his throat. “I couldn’t find you, little wolf. I tried, but I couldn’t find you.”
The devastation in his tone fills me with heartbreak. “I know you tried. I felt you.” And I did. I remember a hand trying to grab mine, and I knew it could have only ever been him.
“I wasn’t enough.”
I pull back and put my hands on either side of his face. “Darius…you...you are enough,” I tell him, emotion clogging my throat as I try and find the words. “I wanted to come back to you. I fought with everything I had to get back toyou.” He stills, eyes intently on mine. “Let that be enough to show you what I think of you.”
He pulls my head back into his neck, but I don’t miss the flash of emotion in his eyes that he’s trying to hide from me. “I don’t deserve you. I never will.” The words are so quiet, I can barely hear them.
I sniffle, about to refute his words when I look up as soft light flutters down.
“Wisps,” I say on a gasp as I watch them all come closer, my eyes wide. “I thought they were all gone.”
Darius looks up before his eyes come back to my face. “So did I. After the barrier…” he trails off, and my eyes come back to him as he swallows. “They have been here, waiting.
“Waiting for what?” I wonder.
“You. Us.” My brows furrow and he continues. “You love them.”
I nod. “I do.” I reach up and stroke a small one when it’s close, and it wiggles.
“That’s because they are a part of you,” he tells me, and lifts his own hand. I watch in awe as a small, black ball forms in his palm. It glows gently, the shape almost stretching before it rises and hovers.
“What?”
“Watch,” he says, and then all of a sudden, black wisps come through the openings between the water pouring down. So many of them, more than the blue-green wisps I’m so used to.
They swirl around us, before mingling in with the others, creating a circle of blue and black lights around us.
“Wow,” I breathe, leaning my head on Darius’s shoulder as I watch them. He purrs, running a hand up my back.
Then the wisps suddenly part, and my mouth drops open as they merge and change shape. Legs, torso, arms and…
I gasp, sitting up straighter in his arms. “That’s us.” Darius nods, but he’s not looking at them, his eyes are solely on me as I smile.
