Page 208 of The Lands Defying
Come on, come on. Zahariss, please!
It’s small at first. So small that I don’t even think I feel it.
But the next second, I do.
I gasp at the small pulse of life as it beats between my fingertips. Something new, yet so familiar that I haven’t felt in so long.
We don’t stop, and I put more of my power into the bark, feeling that pulse getting stronger and stronger as I feel myself depleting. Darius tenses, and I know he must feel it too when his eyes light up in surprise.
“It’s there,” I tell him, and then I close my eyes.
Please, Zahariss, protect your people. Use our blood and power to put back what was taken.
A heavy pulse happens on my palm, and my eyes spring open. I look to the ground, and I watch as a tiny line of power shoots to the next tree. I follow it, and watch it do the same until I can no longer see it. The line of magic gets brighter, giving off a light purple tint, and then I look to Darius’s side, watching as a line appears there.
But it’s not from the tree we are connected to, the power has come full circle.
Glancing ahead, some straggling Elites come barreling toward us, Darius’s barrier breaks for the final time, while beast and rogure follow.
Vallier, vallier, vallier.
As the men rush past us, Leo, Zaide, Jerrod, Maverick. Injured and young. They all come.
I look down at the magic and it’s slow, like waves rising. Just as I close my eyes, Darius reaches for me as the enemy is upon us, cocooning me in his embrace, protecting me, and I wait for the pain, the inevitable.
We are too late. We were too slow.
But all I hear is the whimpers of pain.
I peel my eyes open to find that the rogures and beasts have stopped.
No, not stopped.
They are denied access.
A rogure comes barreling forward as it hits a barrier. Ripples of violet are seen before they disappear again, and the rogure falls to the ground, twitching in pain.
I pant heavily, holding on to Darius while I reach out a hand slowly. The tips of my fingers feel it first, that same feeling of where the barrier once stood. Like it’s caressing my soul and I close my eyes, sinking into the feeling.
“We did it,” I say in a whisper, looking up and seeing the tree blooming.
Darius breathes heavily against me, clutching me tighter. “Youdid it, little wolf.”
He turns us and the Elites are there. Dirty and bloodied, they catch their breath as they nod at us in respect and relief.
Tingles spread through my chest as I look to where Drax and Runa stand, looking at Darius and I.
“Wedid it,” I say, looking up at him.
He rubs his nose with mine. “Now we need to kill them all and get them away from your home.”
“Our home,” I say somewhat shyly. He raises a brow and my cheeks heat.
“Ours,” he murmurs, nuzzling into my hair.
Sixty
Darius
