Shit. “You’re claustrophobic?”
She nodded, finally looking up at me, her face white as a sheet. She was pale normally, but this was as if all the blood had drained from her face and she was about to pass out.
“I’m going to get you out of here, okay? I promise it’s going to be fine. But I’ve got to get you out of the way so I can move the rocks.” I scooped her off the ground, her terrified tremors making me move faster. To my relief, there was a dusty but solid chair in the corner of the room. When I tried to set her down, though, she clung to my shirt.
“Please don’t leave me,” she begged in a distressed whisper.
My wolf was not happy. Frankly, the man wasn’t too happy either. I was pretty sure I had a goose egg on the back of my skull from that landing.
“Shhh. I’m never leaving you again, hellcat. You’re mine. You know that? As soon as the full moon is here, I’m going to leave my bite on this beautiful skin. Where do you think you want it?”
It was not at all the appropriate time to choose where we wanted our bites, but I hoped the topic might distract her.
I had less than zero experience dealing with claustrophobia, so I was shooting from the hip.
“I would be happy…” She shuddered, trying to focus on something besides the fear that held her in its tightly clenched fist. “I would be happy to wear your bite anywhere.”
Her voice rose at the end, determination as she tried to rise out of it.
“That’s because you’re such a good mate. You know that? The Goddess made a mistake giving somebody as perfect as you to somebody as busted up as I am, but we’re absolutely not going to tell her that, okay? Because now that I’ve seen what life is like with you? I can’t go back. I’m addicted.” I smiled, stroking her cheek and holding her gaze.
She seemed to draw strength from the words, from my steadiness. After a moment, she shook her head. “I’m far from perfect, Luce. And I’m not sure I’ll really believe you’re mine until the bite is on my neck to prove it.” She fingered the area above her collarbone, and I leaned down to kiss it.
“Believe it, hellcat. You’ve been claimed by an alpha, and alphas don’t ever let go.”
“It didn’t stop my mother.” I almost didn’t catch her whisper, and confusion filled me at her words.
“What do you mean?”
She shook her head, closing her eyes, and I felt her panic start to descend again, her scent acrid with the weight of it.
Shit.
I had to change tactics, and quick.
“You told me you sensed plants in here before. Are there any close by?”
She squinched up her eyebrows, concentrating. “I’m not sure. It’s hard to tell. The power doesn’t want to talk.”
“Yeah? I bet you could find out what’s around. Why don’t you close your eyes and focus on that? You tell me every single plant you can reach in the area. I want every name.”
She closed her eyes immediately, and my wolf rumbled his pleasure at her submission. Wolves are so damn predictable.
“Every plant, you promise me?” I dropped a kiss on her forehead.
“The palms from outside are annoyed at us again.”
I chuckled, letting go of my grip on her jaw, slowly backing away at first, then more quickly turning toward the pile that stood between us and freedom. “Again? What did we do to the bastards to piss ’em off the first time?”
“I called them average palm trees. Apparently, they’re quite rare.”
“Who knew trees could be uppity,” I huffed, moving chunks of rock at top speed, piling them in the far corner, where there was no chance they could roll and hit my girl.
“Very uppity. There are also water lilies. I love lilies. Their scent is so sweet. It reminds me of summer.”
The way my heart clenched at the reference to lilies, I nearly faltered in my task. But then I remembered that Lilly was long gone, and Olivia needed me right now.
I’m going to fail her.
I shook it off and kept working, urging Olivia on any time she slowed in reciting the various plants. I could tell she was good and into it when she started telling me their scientific names a few minutes in.
“Oh shit, Dirge, I think they’re in that hole!” Shay’s voice rang out overhead, and I froze, looking up, finally gauging how incredibly far we’d fallen. It was a miracle we hadn’t both broken all our bones. I eyed the dangling roof material overhead, realizing the ancient leather had probably saved our lives.
“Stay back from the edge! If more rocks fall, we don’t have any cover!” I shouted, chucking the rock I was still holding to the corner and bracing myself over Olivia.
“We won’t come any closer. Are you injured?” Dirge shouted down, the sound getting swallowed up by the vast chasm of space between us.
“Just bumps and bruises. There’s a door in this room, and we’re nearly out.”
“That’s good, because the other path was a dead end. If we can’t get past here, I’m not sure we can make it any deeper into the temple.”
“We’ve got a door. Now we just have to figure a way back out.”
“We’ll keep looking from the outside. Do you have a flashlight?”
“Yeah, in my pack,” Olivia supplied, not yelling. Her eyes were still screwed tightly shut, her knuckles bone white where she gripped the seat of her chair.
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