Page 271 of The Lands Defying
“Eyes sharp, ears alert,” Darius says as he lays next to me. “Call me through the link if you need me. I will be there no matter what, Rhea. I will always—”
I cut Darius off by leaning up on my elbow and sealing my lips to his. “I know,” I whisper against his lips before laying back down on the ground.
He has told me this many times now, in many different ways and I know he’s worried.
We all are.
I snuggle deeper next to him, surrounded by lesia flowers as we look up to the moon. I wanted to be close to him the night before we leave for Wolvorn and Darius always knowing, brought me here, which has become one of my favorite places in all the lands.
“Can we play here when we get back?” I ask him, and he moves so his arm is under my head as a pillow.
“Of course you can play here, little wolf.” I smile at that and sigh into him, because well, it’s freezing.
Runa runs through the flowers, and we both watch as Drax chases her, playfully nipping at her tail. I chuckle.
“She is so going to beat his ass soon.”
“Just the way he likes it.” I don’t have to look to know he’s grinning.
“Are Leif and his dad still in my cave?” I ask, watching our wolves play makes me think of them.
Darius nuzzles into the top of my head as I lean my head on his chest. “Yes. He’s fully recovered but I think he knows his son will be safe there.”
Thinking about that pack sends a pain through my heart. “It’s not fair.”
“I know,” he says, dragging me so I’m on top of him. Drax and Runa come over after a while and curl themselves around us.
Runa licks Darius’s cheek before mine, and then rests her head on his arm, opposite me. Drax comes to her back, laying down and resting his head on her shoulder. Darius calls his magic and twines it around them both and I sigh at the feel of them all.
I yawn. “I don’t want to sleep. I don’t want to miss anything.”
Darius purrs softly and runs a hand through my hair. “You will be back here soon enough.”
“Vow it?” I ask him, needing more reassurance. I feel like my future is but within my grasp, and once again, it will somehow get taken away from me.
“I vow it. I won’t allow anything to happen to you, Vihnarn. So rest easy,” Darius says, and the seriousness in his tone settles me a little.
It makes me believe that maybe, just maybe we have a fighting chance and that we will be back here, playing in the lesia flowers under the moonlight.
Just like we were always meant to be.
I lift my head from Darius, staring into my favorite eyes as he smiles sadly at me, raising a hand to trace along my jaw.
My throat clogs with emotion that this could be the last time we get to be like this.
Darius shakes his head.“Do not think like that,”he says in my mind.
“How do you always know?”
“I am your Vihnarn,”he replies, like that explains it, and it kind of does.
We are each other’s half.
“How can I miss you when you are still right in front of me?” I say aloud, my eyes taking in everything, down to the small scar on his nose.
He breathes deeply, his chest expanding. “Maybe we are missing all the time we spent being enemies, when we could have had this.”
“Maybe.” My hands come to the side of his neck, running my finger over the mark that calls him my Vihnarn as I watch.
