Chapter 19 #2
Zera’s heart beat so hard she knew Maverick could hear it.
She looked up at him standing next to her, the golden rays of sunset hitting his strong jawline that hinted at a shadow of dark scruff.
His mussed hair whipped wildly in the wind, and her hands itched to run through and tame it.
Or tangle her fingers in it again while he ravaged her as he had last night.
Maverick hissed a breath. “If you keep staring at me like that, I’ll be tempted to whisk you into these woods and do just that.”
Heat flared within her core. He’d heard her thoughts through the bond, but she still couldn’t hear his.
Perhaps it was a wolf thing. She didn’t know—it had never been that way with her ex.
They’d never shared the level of closeness that she’d felt, heard, seen, and accepted wholeheartedly last night.
Her chest ached that she might’ve ruined that, but this little sliver of hope that he still felt the same way about her gave her some relief.
Or perhaps it was pure distraction because when she looked into Maverick’s eyes, she didn’t see desire or even the usual arrogance that danced in his expression. No, it was something else entirely. A deep-rooted fear as he watched the frothing waters in front of them.
It was a fear she recognized in herself, and her heart ached for him.
She looked at the water, and then a thought struck her.
Now that his team was on the other side, the arrogant armor he wore cracked.
He felt comfortable enough around her to let her see the demons he truly faced.
The water. Endless, lapping, and whirling water that threatened to consume them both.
She feared that the Whisper’s staff was so powerful that it might consume her if she wielded it, and if someone saw her use her true power, they’d hunt her for it. Water was that fear for him.
She didn’t say anything. Didn’t even utter the words of confidence she wanted to tell him.
The fact that he allowed himself to be this vulnerable in front of her in a way that he wouldn’t even with his closest allies meant something.
Even if he never forgave. It meant something.
She took his hand in hers, the warmth of their mutual touch sending a binding energy that snapped through their bond.
He had been there when she’d faced her worst fear, when she’d used her power and now was hunted. He had never once left her side, and she wouldn’t leave him now.
His hand closed around hers, and she rubbed gentle circles against his palm. It was a calm moment between them. A moment in which she could reassure him, giving him strength when he’d given her so much, as he was about to go into the viper’s den with her.
“You don’t have to do this if you don’t want to,” Zera said, knowing he was trying to build up enough gumption to cross. “You’ve already done so much. I can end this.”
He glanced in her direction, and he didn’t hide his fear when he trained his eyes back on the river in front of them.
In that moment, she knew he’d just shared a rare piece of vulnerability that he hadn’t ever shared before.
Fear of the water wasn’t uncommon among the werewolf species, but it was rare for werewolves to let anyone see it, so she vowed to keep this to herself.
She knew in her heart that Maverick knew it, too—even with the unknown of where their relationship stood.
A laugh loosened his chest. “I think I can manage one little river.”
He turned those piercing, storm-filled eyes on her with an intensity that made her stop and truly look at him. She saw his strength, his wolf power, but more importantly, she saw him in the same way that he did her. Two souls, two hearts. Beating as one.
“And I won’t leave your side,” he whispered. The sorrow in his voice and the longing in his eyes revealed what she knew he couldn’t bring himself to say. Not yet. Not while they were standing on the edge of fear and the unknown. She felt it in her heart. Love. Pure, unadulterated love.
“And I yours,” she said with a sad smile, knowing that this could be the last time they’d have a moment like this. “Go now. You can do this. I’ll be right behind you.”
She squeezed his hand, hoping it brought him the same confidence that settled within her as she turned toward the roaring waters.
Fear still gnawed at her gut, but it wasn’t the same.
It didn’t devour her like it had when she was trapped in her house.
This was a fear that equipped and secured her from deep within her soul.
Maverick’s grip tightened on hers for a moment longer before he let go and moved toward the rapids. The hiss of water snapped at his ankles like snakes, but he took a running start and lunged for the nearest rock.
Something stirred within her as she watched, a foreign energy that was both new and ancient, but she shrugged it off.
He crossed to another rock, and he was two rocks from the violent river’s center. She copied his movements and landed on the first rock. She took deep, controlled breaths as she kept an eye out for Maverick while keeping her footing.
Each step, each jump was a leap of faith that they would cross and make it to the other side to face the chaos and settle things. That they’d be able to bring Gareth to his knees as he had threatened to do to them.
The next stone in Maverick’s path was nearly half his height, and Zera had never seen a man who was otherwise so strong, so firmly grounded, balk at the water that rushed between the rocks.
Just breathe. She sent her thoughts through the space between them. She watched his whole body go rigid before his shoulders squared, and she knew he’d heard her. It brought her comfort to be able to help him through this.
He’d shown her patience during each day of training, walking her through a fighter’s stance, showing her how to dodge and punch with the techniques of a spy.
He’d taught her everything he knew, opened his heart, and confessed his darkest past. He’d held nothing back from her, and when it mattered most, she hadn’t trusted him enough to tell him the truth. Hadn’t trusted what they’d built.
Helping him now was the least she could do even if she never saw him again. The thought of that brought an ache to her heart.
She landed on the damp rock right behind him. Her hands scraped against the coarse stone as she crouched, keeping low to counter the unforgiving winds that blasted down the rapids.
The wolf spy balanced on the final rock. It was too narrow to get a running start, and so he swung his leg back and propelled his body forward toward the grass and rock and rubble that waited for him on the bank.
Zera held her breath.
He arched over the water, his boot-covered toes dipping into the rapids.
She loosened a breath when he made it the rest of the way, joining his team on dry land.
Zera didn’t even give herself a second to think about the distance before hurdling after him.
Step. Leap. Plant foot on solid stone.
That was all she could think about as she launched herself between rocks that were farther apart than she’d ever jumped before.
But now that Maverick was across, she didn’t have to worry.
He knew what he had to do. He was the only one who knew where Cole and her sister were, so if anything happened to her, he would take care of them. She knew that.
She drove her foot into the side of the rock and launched herself into the air toward the final stepping stone.
Time stood still. She soared over the water. Wind whipped past her ears, the only sound louder than her thunderous heartbeat. She couldn’t even see the rock anymore. She didn’t care. Whatever happened was out of her hands now.
A breath. An exhalation. A moment later, her foot finally planted on the rock, followed by her other foot.
Success. She let out a breath of relief.
It was a breath too soon. She stepped again and slipped on wet moss, pitching forward headfirst into the raging rapids.
She flailed her arms, searching for purchase.
Wrong move.
White liquid teeth hissed at her, and then she was falling deeper into the water.
Ice-cold talons gripped her. She gulped, choking down water.
Her nails clawed against rock that ripped by as the current whisked her away.
The ice broke away. Air. She gasped. Water engulfed her again.
Something hard slammed into her side. A rock in the water.
Her ribs seared with pain a second later.
She had to get out. Spinning. She was spinning through the water as it twisted her like a wet rag.
She had to find the bank. This couldn’t be her end.
Her eyes still squeezed shut, she searched by touch for anything to grab hold of. A tug within her chest was all she had to keep herself moving. Maverick. It was him keeping her focused. Searching. He was searching for her.
That ancient tug, not from the Whisper’s staff but from something deep within her, coiled again.
She didn’t have time to take notice of it, though, when a second later, she crashed into a hard wall.
Her hands ripped at the smooth surface, and she cursed the water when she found nothing to grab hold of.
The force of the current sucked her down deeper.
Cole’s sweet face, round cheeks, and tousled curls flashed across her mind. Air. She needed oxygen.
She willed her arms and legs to keep moving despite how much they ached. Her heartbeat slowed, but she knew she couldn’t give in to that deep black void that called to her from the back of her mind.
For her child, she would survive. For her son, she would do everything in her power to see him one more time. To make sure he was safe.
A prayer escaped her to any fae gods who would listen. Finally, her hands, still scratched, battered, and bruised, snagged on a crevice in the stone, and a whoosh from behind her sent an unfamiliar spark of energy through her body.