Page 18 of Rising Reign (The Wolves of Crescent Creek #3)
ENDER
I kicked my feet out and took a swig from the whiskey bottle before handing it to Rhys. His nose wrinkled as he took it. “You couldn’t be bothered with glasses?”
I sent him a droll look. “I hauled these two chairs out here so your delicate ass wouldn’t have to sit on the ground. Isn’t that enough?”
Rhys let out a huff. “So undignified.” But he swallowed down a shot of whiskey. “At least you had the decency to bring the good stuff.”
“What’s the point in drinking anything else?” I stared out at the forest as the creek bubbled in front of us.
“This is your stewing spot. I recognize it.”
I sent a glare in Rhys’s direction. “Spying on me?”
“Can’t help it,” he muttered. “I’ve gotten partial to you staying alive.”
“I do a pretty damn good job of that, so you can relax.”
“Not lately,” Rhys argued. “There have been a few too many close calls, and you’ve been asking me for too many favors.”
My hackles rose at that. “If you don’t want to help, then don’t.”
“That’s not it, and you know it.”
I huffed out a breath. “It’s been coming from all sides lately. You fight off one attack, and another surfaces. Feels like there’s nothing I can do to stop it.”
Rhys was quiet for a long moment, the only sounds those of the creek and the animals darting through the forest. “You’re more on edge than I’ve ever seen you. You’re usually ice cold, but you nearly bit my head off in there.”
I knew he was right. Letting my temper or Rhys’s goading get the best of me wasn’t like me. I prized myself on my ability to blank every hint of expression from my face, never giving away what I cared about or who.
“You love her,” Rhys said quietly.
I grabbed the bottle from him and took a healthy swig. The familiar burn lit down my throat, but I needed more. I wanted something that burned me from the inside out, something that would rival the emotional toll currently ravaging my system.
“I can’t,” I rasped.
“Ender…”
“I fucked up.”
“We all do,” Rhys assured me.
I shook my head and took another swig of the whiskey.
“You don’t get it. I was so damn cruel to her.
And it wasn’t just you I went to when I was looking into her.
There were others. I’m why Bastian found her.
Why she was tortured not once but twice.
I called her a liar and a traitor. I accused her of working with that monster. ”
Rhys went quiet again, and I didn’t blame him. It was a shitstorm of epic proportions. “You tell her you fucked up?”
“Yes, but?—”
“You learn from it?”
My back teeth ground together. “It’s complicated. ”
“You keep shutting her out, and all she wants is for you to let her in,” Rhys surmised.
“Stop using your hocus pocus on me,” I bit out.
“I’m not. I just know you, End. And I know you don’t want to let anyone close enough to hurt you. The only one who gets in your head is Brix, and that’s only because of what you went through together.”
I knew he was right, but I didn’t have the first clue how to change it. I was who I was. The need to protect myself was practically in my DNA at this point.
Rhys grabbed the bottle and took another swig. “You want to soul-bond with someone, you have to let them in. You have to take that leap, knowing they will likely hurt you, but it’ll also be worth it.”
A burn lit along my sternum, but I shoved the sensation down. “And you’re so good at that? I’m not the only one who’s running.”
Rhys’s eyes flashed a brighter shade of gold. “Don’t start. This isn’t about me.”
My molars clenched even harder because I knew he was right. I knew I had to figure out my bullshit. “I don’t know if I can,” I finally admitted.
“You’re going to have to figure out a way. If you don’t, you’ll lose everything.”
I stiffened, panic lighting through me. “You know something.”
Rhys turned his gaze to the forest. “I’m here to make sure you all take the steps you need to take.”
My panic grew because Rhys had called and steered me away from a certain course of action more than once, saving my life. So, if he was here telling me I needed to do certain things…I had to listen.
Rhys clapped his hands on his thighs before standing. “She’s here. It’d be best if you two talked.”
I saw no sign of Wren, scented nothing in the air, but a handful of seconds later, she appeared in the distance. As she approached, she studied the two of us carefully, her gaze finally holding on Rhys. “You don’t need to leave on my account. ”
Rhys’s mouth pulled into a charming smile, and he reached for her hand, bowing to brush his lips across the back of it.
A growl tore from my throat on instinct, and there was nothing I could do to hold it back. The idea of Rhys’s mouth on Wren… His lips touching her. The urge to strike out and send him flying was almost more than I could take.
Rhys chuckled low in his throat, his eyes gleaming with amusement. He released Wren’s hand and turned back to her. “Don’t worry, we’ll have plenty of time together. We start your training tomorrow.”
Then, he was gone. And I was left alone with the one woman I’d done everything to avoid.