“Yeah …” her voice trails off. But her downcast eyes tell me she doubts that.
“I just need to decide if this is the type of information that is going to make or break us.” I bite my lip, staring off into the wall.
One thing is for certain, Renall of Warrior Clan is the first man to win my heart and subsequently break it.
ChapterThirty-Two
AUTUMN
Thousands of thoughts and images plague my mind after Onai leaves. One after another of a Guardian falling from the cliff to her death. I attempt to take a nap, but all I can see when I close my eyes is a pale face, eyes closed, body limp.
How could one fall to their death and be unconscious? By accident? Could she have tripped, and her head hit a rock and she tumbled over? Maybe in her panic she couldn’t call her affinity to help her? Nothing that comes to mind eases my worry. The truth is, if these rumors are valid, then who did I give my heart and body to? Is this the real Renall? Despite my doubts and fears, I opened that door and let him in, but how well do I even know him? In my grief, was I just clinging to the next person who came along?
The real question is, can he do that to me? The man who has risked his life to leave the cave, saved me from the hunters, brought me back to his home, and risks his life on trial while possibly losing me in the process. Will he do this to me?
The bond is quiet tonight, I find myself unconsciously searching it for answers. Renall hasn’t returned home after the trial. Onai left after bringing me dinner. She couldn’t wait past dark, her father’s rules. With our bond being so calm I’m starting to worry. Does he know that I know? Is he out searching for answers, or has something happened to him too?
The absence of pain or the earth-shaking heartbreak of the bond breaking is the only thing consoling me that he is still alive. But if he is alive, what is preventing him from coming to me, especially when he must feel my contemplation through the bond? Worry mixed with confusion churns in my gut. If only I can talk to him, I could hear his side of things and decide whether I can live with this. Whether I can stand being with a murderer …
My feet pace a line in front of the door because I know that any moment now Renall will return, and I will bombard him with all my questions. Any moment now. But as my feet trace their way back and forth for the thousandth time, I realize something must have happened to him. Maybe there is a physical limit to the bond that he has passed over the threshold, and I’m unable to feel him anymore. I need to find him. I need to get to Renall. I must know the truth.
I quickly toss a few items in my small backpack in case he traveled farther than I thought. Maybe he is waiting to escape with me during the night. I pack the few things and the remainder of dinner he never came home for, slip on my black hoodie, and slide out the door. The key is quietly twisted and locked behind me so others will assume I’m still inside.
My footsteps are silent in the night as I trek across the ledge, keeping to the shadows between the moon rocks. The moon rocks illuminate the central cave floor, but only filter up to a few spots on the second-floor ledge, making my search stealthy. The cave is empty save for a couple on the third floor in their doorway, but they are … indisposed. I make my way across to the steps and down to the first floor, turning down the corridor toward the waterfall and the exit. My eyes dart around the cave a few times looking for Renall, but I have this underlying feeling that he’s not inside. Even though he shouldn’t be allowed to leave, there’s this tingling feeling in my gut guiding me to him … and it’s leading me outside.
The corridor is dark and growing colder the farther I get from the cave. Snores and the occasional moan start to trickle to a hush. That’s when I hear the soft footsteps behind me. I freeze, leaning against the shadow of the wall. The footsteps cease. Did I imagine them? Slowly, I step away from the wall and scoot deeper down the hall. There’s no mistaking the crunch of rock behind me. I slink against the wall, inching farther and farther toward the waterfall. Through the darkness, my eyes notice long, stealthy shadows silently inching closer. Is that a snout? My heart stops.
The wolves know I’m out of my room and alone. Flashbacks of the massacre in the cavern fly through my mind. Gods. There’s no use hiding, wolves can see through the dark. I dash out from the wall and into a run.
A rumbling growl echoes in the corridor around me. The growl is predatory, like a laugh causing a tremor to trickle down my spine. They can’t catch me. This can’t be happening right now. Where is Renall?
The growl breaks into three distinct voices, footsteps resound in the air around me. I swing my arm as I run, causing dirt to fly away from the wall and pelt them. It doesn’t stop the sound of their footsteps behind me, though.
The thrum of the waterfall is deafening as I approach, my face is misted with water. I’m almost to the entrance, and my heart pounds in relief. Suddenly, I’m pushed to the dirt with claws digging into my shoulder. I whip around, swinging my elbow into their jowl.Crack. The onyx wolf only growls again. His narrowed, yellow eyes are all I can see as he materializes into the darkness around him. His two front paws on my shoulders are now pinning me to the ground.
“Get your hands off of me!” I yell, attempting to squirm out of his grasp. Two more wolves step out from the shadows behind him.
“You need backup, Leland?” I bark a laugh. “What’s the matter? You can’t rape a girl on your own?”
In a flash of wind, the onyx wolf transforms on top of me into human form. I don’t know which one makes me more afraid. His eyes hold the same predatory desperation as his wolf form. This is a man who played by the rules and lost—so now he just takes. There will be no mercy, no patience. My hands tremble, my heart stammers in my chest.
“We know you haven’t mated.” He sneers, his breath is warm on my face—it smells like old meat. “So we decided to take matters into our own hands,” he states it calmly, which is more of a threat to me than he will ever know. It’s creepy and evil and my heart freezes in my chest.
Goosebumps prickle along my arm when I realize something else. “Wait, I can understand you … you speak English?”
“There are many things I would do for my mate.” His eyes soften minutely, and for a second I think I can understand him. A man who felt the immense pain of the bond breaking. I’ve felt that pain too.
“You want a mate that bad? Why would you want to do it like this?”
“This is only the first of many—I can make it up to you once the bond shows you my heart.”
“Gods, that’s so manipulative.” I struggle underneath him.
No. No, if this happens, I will be tied to Leland forever. I need to do something quickly. My hand reaches for the earth and my power dives in, and vines stretch up from the floor knocking Leland off of me.
The other wolf behind him reaches for me as I flip onto my knees and out of his grasp. Crawling away from him, I send spiraling tendrils of ivy creeping across the hallway floor, twisting among their feet. The wolf tears my vines apart with his snarling teeth. Crap. But with each attack, he meets it with his teeth, tearing it to shreds as I desperately attempt to crawl to the waterfall. My hand is so close, I can feel the dirt under my fingers grow damp.
A hand grabs my foot and drags me under him. Leland’s on top of me again. “Didn’t think we would let you get away that easy, did you? An untrained Guardian doesn’t stand a chance against a wolf.”
