Cloaked in Blood

by T. F. Walsh

  Marcin shook his head and took my hands in his, his touch burning hot against mine. “Nobody knows about the cave. Only me.” He leaned in and kissed me on the nose before heading for the door, his steps wavering sideways for a moment. “If you’re that insistent, then meet me near the shed behind the castle in fifteen minutes while I shake off the guards outside. Bring a snow jacket and hat.”

  He was completely insane, but if it meant healing him, I’d do anything it took, no matter how psychotic he was acting.

  • • •

  Behind the castle stood a one-story brick building with no windows. Trees shrouded the backside of the structure that could easily be mistaken for a tool shed. This had to be the place Marcin mentioned. Everything else was contained within the walls of the castle.

  The roller door on the building was pulled up, and inside sat five snowmobiles, all in red. A smile slid across my lips—best way to trek through the snow, rather than on foot.

  Inside, a shadow moved about amid the vehicles.

  “Marcin?”

  “Good. You’re here.” He stepped out of the corner, rigged up in a snow jacket and goggles over his eyes. As he stepped closer, his chest worked hard for each rapid inhale, and his skin glistened with perspiration.

  “For fuck’s sake. Tell me where this place is, and you can go back to bed.”

  He shook his head. “You’ll get lost.” He handed me gloves and goggles. Then he studied me and smiled. “You look cute in that hat.”

  I adjusted the beanie over my ears and couldn’t stop the fire burning my cheeks. Okay, we were on a rescue-style mission, not getting all hot and geeky over Marcin.

  Geared up, I retreated as Marcin climbed onto the middle snowmobile, kick-started the motor, and reversed out of the building. He patted the seat behind him. “Climb on.”

  “Why don’t you want anyone to know about your secret cave?”

  He gazed back momentarily. “You know that lookout we discovered in Turkey?”

  “Yeah.” During a long walk through the woods back home, Marcin and I had stepped out onto a ledge no larger than a small hatchback car. It overlooked the Black Sea in the distance, the sun was rising, and the world was silent. I wanted to believe we were the first to ever uncover that spot, the first to take in the view from that angle, the first to share a kiss on the lookout. And we made a promise to keep that location our little getaway. Our place to visit when the real world got too much.

  “Well.” Marcin’s voice sliced through my memory, and he was now facing the front, gripping the handlebars. “This cave is my haven.”

  A warm tingling spread through me. This location was his special place for escape, and I understood perfectly well why he wouldn’t want to share it with anyone else. “Thanks for letting me join you.” I climbed on. “Let’s get this done before Father puts out a search party.”

  The seat beneath me purred and vibrated. Marcin reached back and grabbed my arms, wrapping them around his waist. “Hold on.”

  He revved the engine, and we drove away from the shed. The wind tugged on my clothes, but with my snow jacket, only my legs felt the chill. I ducked behind Marcin to stop the biting cold from hitting my face.

  We powered down a hill, my body pressing tight against Marcin’s back. Despite the layer of clothing between us, my wolf still reacted, shoving me forward, insistent we sidle up closer to him. Well, only way that would happen was if we were naked. But I wasn’t going there.

  I stared at the trees we passed, a deer a few trees away, and the white plume behind us. The snow sparkled like a million stars in the night sky. For those few moments, I let myself pretend we weren’t rushing to find a miracle cure to save Marcin’s life, my family wasn’t in mortal danger from Levin, and Father wouldn’t mate me off with someone else purely to secure himself a bigger army. Those gargantuan problems were an anaconda around my chest, squeezing the life out of me, making breathing a chore. I wasn’t asking too much and just wanted to enjoy a ride through the woods with my soul wolf without the world on my back.

  An hour later, my legs were numb from the vibration, and my insides were shaken up from the bumps and mounts we’d raced over. We pulled over near a monster pine, its trunk twice my width. It loomed over us like Father might do if he found out I helped Marcin.

  “We walk from here. It’s not far.”

  I removed my goggles and swung my leg over the seat, but the stiffness in my back had me tripping sideways as I caught myself. A thick wall of trees formed a barricade in front of us, and a steep hill rose beyond them. “How did you find this place?”

  “Exploring.” He opened a compartment on the side of the snowmobile and wobbled on his feet, but held on to the machine for balance.

  “Shit. This was a mistake.”

  He didn’t stop and pulled out his backpack. “Let’s go.”

  I tracked alongside him, going at a slower pace than usual. He wheezed, and we stopped every few steps. At this pace, we might reach the cave by morning. As much as I detested the idea of going into a dark enclosure, for Marcin, I’d do anything. Weaving around a cluster of trunks, we commenced our climb, my boots sinking into snow to my ankles.

  Marcin wavered a few times, and I stayed close in case he fell or slipped. If he collapsed now, we were in deep shit, stuck in the middle of nowhere. Could I even find my way back? The fresh snow covered our tracks, and then what? Worse yet, what if someone followed us? The assassin maybe or that Hooked Nose guy from the woods who looked ready to rip me apart.

  Marcin used trees to pull himself up and spoke without looking my way. “You,” he inhaled deeply, “have been gone two days.”

  I was unsure how to respond. So I went for part truth. “Been busy. Plus, didn’t want to bug you while you weren’t feeling well.” The lie burned my throat on the way out.

  The stare he cut me as he stopped for a moment was filled with disbelief. “Don’t lie to save my feelings. I can take it.”

  I continued walking, using a low-hanging branch to stop myself from tumbling. Snow slapped me in the face from the tree. That was the universe punishing me for lying.

  “You okay?” he asked.

  “Yeah, thanks. Listen, let’s just focus on getting up this freakin’ mountain and not worry about anything else. Couldn’t your haven be somewhere easier to reach?” My foot skidded out from under me again, and I landed on all fours. Calling on wolf strength, I pushed myself to my feet and slugged it higher, passing Marcin. I offered him my hand. “Let’s go.”

  He might be staring at me as if he’d never accept in a million years, but his body wasn’t cooperating, so I reached over and snatched his hand and drew him behind me. I could do this.

  Two hours later, we reached the crest, and we were both exhausted. I was on my knees, while Marcin leaned against a tree, wheezing heavily. Why had I agreed to this insane trek anyway?

  Behind us lay an ocean of snow-topped trees. The castle was a tiny spec.

  “Let’s take a break.”

  As if my words were a challenge, he straightened his back. “We’re almost there.” He pointed down the other side of the hill we’d scaled and into a valley of pines.

  “I don’t see a cave.”

  “It’s there.”

  I took his hand and placed it over my shoulders, taking some of his weight, thankful to be going downhill. Then he stopped in the valley and dropped to his knees alongside a massive boulder sticking out of the ground. Behind it, the mountain rose sharply with trees growing at a steep angle.

  Marcin scooped armfuls of snow, shoveling them aside. I fell down alongside him and did the same, quicker so he’d get the hint and back off.

  On our next scraping, we exposed a layer of thick branches. I rolled them aside, revealing more rock and a gaping hole in the side of the mountain.

  “Y ... You ...” My lunged seized up. Darkness swallowed everything in the pit. Goddess help me, I hated dark, confined places. “That’s no bigger than a rabbit’s warren.” I t
rembled at the notion of going in there, but I kept telling myself this was for Marcin.

  It could barely fit Marcin if he went in feet first. He stood and kicked his foot into the fanglike icicles hanging over the mouth of the cave. He glanced over his shoulder at me, an eyebrow arched. “Are you all right?”

  My voice spiked. “This isn’t a cave. It’s a freakin’ hole in the ground. A grave.” Every time I inhaled, it rattled on the way down.

  “It’s okay. I’ll go. You stay here and wait.”

  His legs wavered, and he collapsed back down onto his knees. I jumped up and took his elbow, helping him to his feet. “You can’t even stand up, how are you going to do this alone? I’ll do it.”

  Then my sights returned to the opening in the ground, along with the way the land dipped inward. My skin rippled with pinpricks at the notion of going down there. An invisible hand squeezed my heart.

  But staring at a frail Marcin, he somehow looked smaller. Or maybe it was his drooped shoulders, the life fading from his eyes. Goddess, I was insane for even considering this.

  “How far in are these plants?”

  “It’s not too far. Just down the tunnel.”

  I released a long exhale. Why hadn’t I asked more questions about this place? I could have gotten Zeki or even Aisha to join us. My sister was a spider when it came to climbing.

  “Seems I’ve discovered a small chink in your armor.” The corner of his mouth curled upward in a sexy way that should have had my knees weak, but the dread clinging to my skin had me locked in place.

  His words were broken by a sudden explosion of coughs, and he stumbled on his feet.

  “Shit, Marcin.” I pushed one leg closer. My hands fisted in my pockets, heat collecting across the nape of my neck. Just get it done.

  Marcin’s life was on the line. The reality struck like a hammer to the chest. My words vanished, and my sight fastened on the black hole, seemingly calling my name.

  Fire slinked up my legs, and I was overheating. My clothes suffocated me, and my focus kept dipping to the hole behind him.

  Just get this done.

  Marcin was right behind me. He’d gone down this hole before and survived; plus he called it a haven. But what haven looked like a pit? Maybe looks were deceiving. And Marcin didn’t seem like the daredevil type. Surely, this seemed worse than it was. I remembered the potted plant hidden in a dark corner inside the castle, and somehow it survived. It pulled through. Maybe I would survive this too.

  I lowered myself to my butt, the cold seeping through my clothes, and shuffled closer. My legs sunk into the darkness. Beneath them, the stone floor plunged downward. Beyond that, the inky darkness was a curtain. Black, just like the prison I’d been locked in back home. Closing in around me. Constricting my airway. Goddess, I’m going to die.

  “You’ll land on a ledge. It’s safe.”

  Okay, don’t overthink it, don’t ... I held my breath and shimmied forward, lowering my body slightly. I was in the hole up to my elbows. I crunched my eyes tight and shuffled even closer.

  I can do this. I can do this.

  A warm kiss landed on my brow. I opened my eyes to find Marcin’s face inches from mine, his exhale caressing my cheeks. “You’re doing wonderfully. Just a bit more.”

  His smile had this calming effect on my nerves. If I didn’t do this, Marcin might pass out in the tunnels, and I’d have no way of finding him. I inched deeper, the gaping mouth of the cave now reaching my neck.

  Then my feet skidded on a slick section of the stone. My body lurched downward, hands jutted out for leverage. I found none and fell. Screams echoed as the cave swallowed me whole. Darkness engulfed me, compressing me. Wind rushed up around me, ripping my clothes, pulling my hair.

  My heart banged behind my breastbone. Why had I agreed to this? Stupid Marcin. Stupid me.

  The flush of cold wind slapped me in the face as I flew through the air and landed with a thud on my side, my body rolling in momentum. When I came to a dead stop, goddess knows where, my heart was scaling my throat. I could have crashed into a wall or fallen off a ledge or landed in the lap of a bear or viper or ... I had to get out.

  Ten feet above me, the entrance to the hole blared with light. Lucky I hadn’t broken a bone or my neck on the way down. A figure blocked the light. Marcin. I climbed to my feet. He better not be coming down here.

  Then his large figure rushed downward. A loud thud sounded, and Marcin was already staggering to his feet, groaning with pain. I pulled him to his feet by his arm.

  “Are you insane? Why did you come down? How the shit are we going to get you back up?”

  “I never said I wasn’t coming.”

  My body shook with fire racing through my veins. “And you said we’d land on a ledge.”

  His flashlight switched on, pointing to the ground. “It’s a ledge.”

  I was pacing and couldn’t even remember starting. “This was a mistake. We have to get out. I’m serious.” On either side of me, darkness leached closer, encasing the walls, the path, everything. A few paces away, the ledge we stood on turned pitch black, vanishing into a sheer drop off. Oh, my goddess. “We could have died.”

  Marcin stepped in my path and gripped my shoulders. “We’re still alive.”

  Each inhale hiccupped on the way down. Get it together. Marcin was the one on death’s door, not me. I pushed back my shoulders and took the flashlight from him. “Okay, which way? We’ll do this quickly.” I lifted the light and pointed it down a passage. The tunnel was, at least, seven feet in height and wide enough for several people to walk alongside each other.

  I pushed one foot in front of the other, then another, and soon we were walking deeper into the mountain where the land sloped downward, mustiness permeated the air, and the dripping sound of water echoed around us.

  “How are we meant to climb back out by the way?”

  “With a bit of hard work, but it should be doable.” He kept bumping into me, unable to walk straight. I wrapped my arm around his, drew him closer, and we plodded along slowly.

  “What do you mean, should be?”

  He glanced over, smirking.

  Oh goddess, I’d definitely entered a cave with a maniac. Surely, I could scale that entrance. But what about Marcin? He was getting weaker by the moment, and no way could I lug him up with me.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  Marcin

  Fear crippled anyone who let it into their heads, so it surprised me that someone as strong as Selena carried such a phobia. But she faced her demons, one step at a time. I’d guided several newbie pack members who were too scared to run alone in the woods or insisted they could only hunt alone. One time, a wulfkin broke into a cold sweat each time he had to transform into his wild side. The poor guy associated the change with losing control as he had when a child. They were afflictions of the mind caused by a traumatic event, but mostly treatable with time and persistence. Some wulfkin could never completely get over their trauma.

  Selena gripped my arm against her, leading me forward. My legs ached like hell, and each step resembled walking on nails. Perspiration rolled down my spine, and my vision kept blurring. But if Selena could face her fear, I could do this. The idea of not joining her had crossed my mind, but what sort of wulfkin would I be if I let her go alone in a strange cave?

  A loud splintering echoed overhead.

  Her voice trembled. “What was that?”

  “The land moves all the time. It’s normal.”

  “Yeah, but being down here isn’t.”

  I wanted to laugh, but it hurt too much, and in all honesty, focusing on Selena took away from the gravity of what was coming my way. Death if we didn’t get there in time. I focused on each excruciating step and inhale. We had to make it.

  “Maybe we should leave.” Her soft voice called to me. She kept the beam and her attention on the path ahead of us, not on the crevasses in the walls we passed, or the narrow tunnels filled with darkness.

  “We’ll
be quick.”

  When we reached a three-way passage, Selena halted. “Which way?”

  “Down the middle.”

  She took the lead, and while my inner wolf nudged me to take charge, my energy was spent. My feet dragged behind me with my mind wandering to the notion of dying, here in a cave, next to Selena. Not how I intended it to happen, and of all the things to take me down—a stupid bear trap.

  “Talk to me,” I said, needing to change my thoughts. “Anything.”

  “Hmm. Remember that time you flipped out because one of my cousins refused to give you access to their room in Turkey?” She arched an imperious brow.

  “He stole my boots.”

  “What?” She cut me a glare that could freeze fire. “As if he’d want your boots. Come on, Marcin. You were cocky back then and refused to accept that poor Murat hated anyone going into his room. You intended to prove a point.”

  “Bull. He took my boots.” On my first day at their mansion, the little bastard had whispered that by the end of the day my boots would be on his feet. And then he stole them. I resisted the urge to break down his door and rip his legs off. “I climbed to his window and saw him lying on his bed, wearing them.”

  Her eyes widened. “And this whole time, I figured you strolled around barefoot for a few days just to prove your point.”

  It killed me knowing he’d stolen what belonged to me. Later in the week, I broke into his room, retrieved my boots and took every pair Murat owned, and tossed them over a cliff. Not a proud moment. What guy owned sixteen pairs of shoes anyway?

  Selena stopped. “Dead end.” The ball of light from her flashlight bounced across the stone wall at the end of the tunnel. “We must have missed a passage.” Her attention dipped to the heap of loose rocks piled into tiny mounds near the walls.

  I took her hand in mine and guided the beam toward a thin breach in the wall.

  Shadows galloped across her pale cheeks. Not a word fell from her tight lips, but the way her shoulders slumped, the fear behind her gaze blazed awake. “You’re completely and utterly insane.”

  “It’s just on the other side of his wall.” I let myself lean into the rock divider, each punishing breath shallow and raspy. Had one lung given out already?