House of Leights (Secret Keepers, #3)(50)

The trees within Leights were consistent: huge, ancient, tightly-packed. I assumed there were villages somewhere in this land, hidden away, but so far, I’d not stumbled across anything more than a few animals.

I also heard no more crashes, and I wondered if maybe Chase had left or calmed down. Still, I continued to follow the path laid out for me by the trees.

Galinta…

The whisper of the name flittered across my mind, and I remembered Chase telling me about them. They were all around me, these ancient, godlike beings. It was overwhelming, trying to take it all in. Stepping cautiously, the path seemed a little darker than before. I ducked my head under a few low-lying branches. My skin felt sensitive and tight as I moved, cool air brushing across it, the feeling similar to the time I’d gone to the pyramids in Egypt with Gracie – like I was stepping through ancient air, filled with history and magic and energy, so much that it was literally seeping into my blood.

My stomach jumped. Strong. The tether in my center started to tug me forward. Chase. I ran. Not something I would advise when you only had branches to jump across and oftentimes the gap between was large enough to get your foot stuck and break an ankle. At that moment, though, I didn’t care. I had two ankles. Chase was more important.

I heard my name, like a whisper on the wind, so much pain in that one word that I misstepped. My new friend let out a low sound of alarm, taking flight just as I tumbled down. Rough bark bit into the skin on my hands, tearing more of my skin. My foot was screaming at me, because I had managed to wedge it in a hole, and it was being held at a crazy angle. I tried to roll over, hoping to dislodge myself.

I groaned as a sharp stabbing pain shot up from my ankle and through my shins. “Crap, ouch.” The discomfort increased the longer I was wedged in. I wanted to turn over so I could see what damage I’d done, but for the life of me, I couldn’t get my foot free. And I wasn’t quite brave enough to just yank it out, because it was killing me already.

There was a whisper from the trees around me, and my body tensed a heartbeat before warm hands wrapped around my biceps. My head jerked up to find Chase right before me. His eyes were wide and wild, the green dark.

“Maya…”

He breathed my name like it was a prayer, and I had never seen any human guy look at a girl the way Chase was looking at me. It sent my heart fluttering. He ran his hands up my arms until he was cupping my face. “I thought I’d lost you,” he murmured. “How did you make it out of the transporter?”

I had to swallow and clear my throat to be able to talk. It was overwhelming being with him like this. Just … so much of everything. I almost couldn’t handle the intensity.

“My connection to House of Leights,” I finally got out. “To this land and … to you. I managed to find a beam of light which took me back home.”

Home. There had never been a greater truth than that one. This was my home. In the trees. His face moved closer, and my heart was thundering so hard that I was at a very real risk of a heart attack. He adjusted my weight forward, taking the strain so he could lift me up. I heard him whisper words – not English – and my foot was suddenly free. Chase lowered himself down to rest against a nearby trunk, holding me close to his chest.

“Are you too hurt to move?” he asked me.

I shook my head, my face brushing his shirt. He stood then, carrying me with him. He walked along the branches more gracefully than I could walk on solid land.

“The Galinta tell me you were running, that’s how you got hurt.” He sounded upset.

I grimaced. “I needed to find you … tell you I was okay. The others said you didn’t take it well.”

Chase chuckled darkly. “Understatement, but sure, let’s just say I did not take it well. I sent you ahead to keep you safe, then Lexen tells me that you were attacked, hurt, and lost in a transporter.” I tilted my head back, resting it against his arm so I could see the play of muscles in the dark skin at the base of his neck. “I should have followed my instincts and kept you with me.”

His eyes met mine, and I was relieved to see that the shimmering light green had returned. He slowed, and my breath caught in my chest, the air almost visibly strumming between us, him looking all Tarzan and me looking like I’d been hit by a car. But in that moment, all that mattered was this feeling and how we could capture it.

His lips brushed against mine, but before I could kiss him back, that tether in my stomach sprang to life. There was an almost audible sound as the end which had been attached to the tree dislodged and slammed into Chase, tethering me to the overlord minor. As the two ends settled, it felt much more permanent than it had when I was tied to the Galinta.

“What … what just happened between us?” I asked, my voice barely a whisper. “Did you just feel that…?”

“Bond,” he finished for me.

“Bond,” I choked out. “We’re bonded?”

I knew he wasn’t lying. Firstly, why would he? Secondly, I could feel it. It was real, tangible.

“The Galinta have not blessed a union like this in a long time,” he said, voice low, eyes locked on mine. He started to walk again, apparently not needing to look where he was going.

“I don’t understand,” I said honestly.

He ducked down, stepping under the low-lying branches, ending up in a round clearing. We were still in the trees, but instead of tightly-knit branches, there was a large space. It had a floor of leaves and branches, and it felt like we could move about more freely.