The dark eerie route kept drawing darker as we walked through, our footsteps no longer sounded as heavy as they had been during the day.
I could tell everyone was at the edge, a tiny bit of fear lingering in our minds. Killian was not an exception, despite how highly spirited he posed to be, I could still sense the tense air around him.
Of course, he knew Darius was right, the lane was dangerous and it was only a matter of time before rogues started lurking at us. He was well aware that we should have camped quietly at the point where Darius had suggested, but he was too held up with anger and jealousy to admit it.
I turned around slightly to see Darius walking behind us, though he kept his distance. I had thought he would retreat since Killian had already let him off the hook but he didn’t, and I knew it was because of me. I could tell he was enduring Killian’s arrogance towards him for the sake of me and the kids. I couldn’t be more grateful for the man that he is.
Suddenly, a strange cold air washed over us with a siren sound.
“Did anyone hear that? I’m not the only one that heard that noise, am I? Darius spoke up immediately.
“Stop talking, sometimes you observe things without saying a word, do you want to get the attention of whatever it is to us?” Killian growled at him. It felt as though Killian was always looking forward to an opportunity to yell at Darius for no good reason.
He didn’t stop walking, he only snapped his head around for any sight of danger before continuing the journey while we followed him behind like lost sheep who needed his direction to be able to make it out alive.
My heart was beating rapidly against my chest with every step we took, I knew obviously that Darius was right, something was lurking around us, and through the siren sound, I could tell that it was something dangerous, maybe rogues, and there would definitely be lots of them.
If only Killian would set his fury aside and see things clearly.
Suddenly, the siren sound came again, and this time, it was louder than the last time.
“I hear it too, I think it’s the rogues, we have been specked,” Greene quickly spoke up.
“Yeah and I can tell there are a bunch of them, we can’t engage them all in a fight, we need to do something,” Darius chipped in.
“Killian,” I called softly, turning towards him. He might be mad at me but hopefully, there’s still a part of him that still cared for me a little bit.
“You are ignoring these constant signs of danger out of anger and it will cost us a lot, please do something,” I whispered in the softest voice that I could muster.
I watched as his eyes twitched slightly in consideration, he exhaled a deep breath and stopped walking.
“Alright listen,” he turned around to face us.
“We are almost at the community that I detected Aragorn is hiding, it’s just a few kilometers away and we’ve come too far to camp somewhere here and hide from rogues,” he stared from each of us to other, the raging anger in his eyes was gone.
“Now we are going to run as fast as we can, don’t stop running until you are in the next community, the rogues will back off once they detect a community ahead,”
That posed a huge threat for me, I was extremely tired from the nonstop walk to this point, and finishing it off with a run was a heavy task to uphold.
But then again, I wanted to show Killian how willing I was to do anything to rescue my children.
“Let’s do it then,” I spoke up with so much confidence and strength and Killian turned towards me swiftly. “Can you do this? I can take you on my back,”
I couldn’t help the laughter that bubbled out of my mouth as his words hit my ear. He wanted to take me on his back? How hilarious could that be?
“Thanks for the offer but I can handle myself,” I replied.
“Alright then, is there anyone who is against the plan?” He asked, snapping his head from each of us to the other.
No one spoke up.
Of course no one will speak up, not like we had any say over his decision.
I turned towards Darius and he had a neutral look on his face. Even if he had any objection, it would only infuriate Killian the more and worsen the situation. This journey was a lot harder for him.
I wished there was a way I could reach out and hold his hand. He was going through all this because of me.
“Since we are all in agreement, shall we head off?” And in a flash, he leaped into his wolf form.
Darius nodded at me and quickly changed into his wolf form, Greene followed suit and I did too.
Killian turned towards me, his crimson eyes piercing deep into mine. Almost immediately, I felt a wave of trance wash through me, followed by Killian’s voice sounding directly into my head and buzzing deep through my entire system. I suddenly realized that he was trying to communicate with me through the mind.
“Come closer,”
I couldn’t comprehend why Killian was acting so complicated. One minute he was mad at me, yelling, and pledging that I wasn’t his responsibility, and then the next minute, he becomes protective of me and acts totally sweet.
I was suddenly snapped out of my deep thought as a wild rogue jumped out of the bush and lunged towards us, Killian was swift enough to attack it before it got to any of us, I watched in horror as his hands forcibly disappeared through its skin and in a second, reappeared with its heart in his hands dripping blood. It fell to the floor with a heavy thud.
Killian let out a loud growl, signaling us to move along. Greene was the first to take off, followed by Darius before me. He waited for us to take the lead before running behind us in a bid to face any rogue wolf that would attack.