"Stop staring at me like I'm going to break.".
Before I could stop them, sharp and brittle as glass, the words fled me. My chest heaving, the weight of the past few days avalanche-like on me. Dax leaned against a tree, arms folded, his golden gaze unflinching and his expression invisible.
He replied squarely, pointing to the homemade bandage on my side: "You're bleeding." And your legs seem to be shaking. Keep pushing yourself like way, and you will break.
I hated the way his directness tore through the thin veneer of control I clung to. I have no luxury of breaking.
" Clearly,' he said, his voice tinged with contempt. "Because stubbornness alone will keep you alive out here."
I looked away, not letting him glimpse the tears about to flow. Not cry. Not today. Not directly in front of him. But the pain in my chest, the link still frayed but not completely severed, tore at my will.
Dax answered, "Zaia," gentler this time. I turned nothing. I could not.
"What?I caught me shaking in voice.
"Sit down before you fall down."
The silence in his tone mirrored the sharpness of his words, and for reasons I couldn't explain it broke me. Holding my knees to my chest, my legs buckled and I dropped to the floor. The quiet hung between us, weighty and oppressive.
My voice muffled, I said, "I didn't ask for your help."
Sitting opposite from me, he answered, "No, you didn't; however, you will need it if you are going to survive out here. Whether or not you find appealing.
I let me remember for the first time since I left the Crescent Moon Pack. Sebastian's face still showed coldness as he broke the link we were supposed to be sharing. The way Cassandra gripped him, her expression joyful, as though she had won a prize.
Not for me, the mate link was not something one could readily reverse. I felt it still, a weak hum in my chest like a thread stretched too far but not quite snapped. It was a nasty reminder of what I had lost.
"What kind of Alpha turns away his Luna? Dax's words drove me back to the here-now.
I looked up, shocked. His demeanor was austere, yet there was something in his eyes—an echo of suffering I too well knew.
I remarked, my voice flat: "The kind who never deserved one in the first place."
Dax slanted forward with his elbows on his knees. He said, shockingly, "You're not weak."
I gave him a blinking glance. "What?
"He rejected you, hence you believe you to be weak. But he is the weakest of them.
I have nothing to say about that. Too complicated to untangle, the weight of my sadness, my wrath, and my dread spun inside me.
"Why do you give a damn? My voice just above a whisper, I asked.
Dax did not reply for a time. His jaw tightened as his eye strayed toward the horizon. Let's pretend I understand what it's like to be kicked out. to have what you have ever known snatched from you.
His voice reflected my own, and for the first time I saw him not only as a renegade but as someone carrying his own wounds.
A low, guttural cry sounded in the distance before I could reply. Dax froze, his eyes narrow and he jumped to his feet.
"They found us," he said, his voice dark.
"Who? "I questioned, wriggling to stand despite the pulsating agony in my side.
His voice low, he replied, " rogues who don't play by any rules". "They will split you just for stepping on their territory. Stay behind me.
I started to object, but the sound of branches breaking close silenced me. My wolf whirled uncomfortably, and I could feel danger prickle up my spine.
Rising from the darkness, the renegade wolves had terrible eyes. Three of them were there; their snarls sounded like a death knell over the air.
Dax was not slow. He leaped for the closest assailant, shifting mid-step and his huge wolf form became a swirl of dark hair and teeth.
My instincts took over, and I changed too, neglecting the agony blazing in my side. I meant not to be a victim once more.
The struggle was violent and disorganizing. While I held my own against another, Dax battled with accuracy and intensity, killing one renegade. I just avoided the third wolf's strike as he barreled toward me though; he was bigger and stronger.
I turned in time to watch Dax crash into the third rogue, his teeth sinking into her shoulder as a piercing cry tore across the air. Blood splattered the ground; the surviving rogues ran into the forest, their cries dying into the evening.
Dax turned around, blood coating his arms and face. With the back of his palm he cleaned his mouth, staring at me. "You alright? \\"
I nodded, though my legs felt like gelatin. You did not have to do it.
He gave a shrug. "Did not really have any option. You are not precisely in fighting shape.
I ought to have been annoyed, but instead I discovered myself just slightly smiling. "Thanks," says
His manner eased, the strain in his shoulders releasing. "Don't discuss it."
Another howl cried in the distance, this one deeper and more frightening than the last before we could get going.
Dax closed his eyes and tightened his jaw. "We have to relocate. Today.
"For what? They're gone.
"That wasn't them," he answered with grimace. " Something else is hunting us.