Page 23 of The Lands Defying
My cheeks heat.
Bastard.
His warmth leaves my back, and I turn and watch him stride over to Taylor, a blade in his hand as he talks about Gods knows what.
It’s strange watching him converse with my pack, especially when Anna joins the conversation.
The head of the Elites and runaway pack members.
Who would have thought we would be here like this.
A chuckle brings my attention to the ground, back to Sebastian who has a huge grin on his face. “I love pissing him off.” He sighs like it’s the most majestic thing while I give him the stink eye.
“Idiot.” I kick his shin, and he pretends to howl in pain before he shifts, his wolf leaping toward me.
I sidestep him, grabbing his tail and giving it a little pull, and laugh. He spins, snapping his teeth playfully at me and I chuckle, stroking my fingers through the light gray fur on his head. He nudges me, tongue out and I coo down at him.
“Who’s such a good wolf?” His tail wags, his eyes lighting up and I do laugh, then. “Aww, you just want attention don’t you?”
“Umm, Rhea, what the fuck are you doing?” Damian says, and I eye him.
“Telling this big baby what a good boy he is.” Red colors his cheeks, and I smirk. “Go and get the other big baby,” I tell Seb.
“Hey!” Damian says, stepping forward. “I’m not a baby—oof.”
Seb knocks him down, and then another wolf is there. Damian’s is brown in color, a few streaks of bronze. He’s larger than Seb, but not by much.
They start nipping and pouncing on each other when I spot Jerrod and Zaide. They walk over to where Darius is, and I don’t miss the way Anna throws them a glare.
I need to take those ingredients for poison away from her.
Leo chuckles as he slides up next to me. “They are like twins.” He’s looking at Seb and Damian, and I nod. They kind of are. Their personalities are similar.
I smile. “They get along well, considering.”
“Considering what?” he asks.
“That we are enemies?” I question, like it’s obvious.
“Is that what we still are?” I look at him, but he’s looking over both my pack and Elites.
I look too.
There is no fighting, not a real fight anyway, and they are talking and listening, generally being in each other’s company.
“No, I guess we aren’t enemies anymore.”
“Good,” Leo says, and I raise an eyebrow at him. He hated me on sight, was someone who also didn’t trust a word out of my mouth. He answers the question in my eyes as I feel Darius stare on me. “We have to be a unit in the coming war.” My stomach drops thinking about the bloodshed to come. “But more than that. You are his.” He nods his head over to Darius, but I don’t look. “And we look after him, so we also look after you now.”
Just like our pack. Who they care for is an extension of ourselves.
“In the basement…” he trails off when I hold a hand up to stop him.
“Darius explained, you don’t need to.” And I don’t want to relive it.
He nods. “I know, but I wanted to say that he does truly regret what had happened, what he did. He was protecting us.”
“I know,” I whisper.
