To Shackle a Shrew (Southern Sanctuary Book 7)

by Jane Cousins

  “Where does it hurt?”

  “My back… low… I can’t see… no, don’t touch it, you’ll only get more dirt in it.”

  “You can have my t-shirt.” He offered.

  “Hold on.” She ripped off the two pockets of her white medical coat, folding them by instinct, assuming the internal pocket material would be relatively clean. Issuing a soft hiss as she pressed the material against the slash across her lower back. “There, I’ve got it for the moment. We need to get out of here.”

  “Not the way we came in.” Liam cleared his throat of some lingering dust. “It’s blocked.”

  “So we’re trapped… or rather, I’m trapped, you could change into your water form, get out, go for help.”

  “I’m not leaving you.” Liam breathed the words in a steely whisper against the skin of her temple.

  Logically Devon knew she should argue with him, but she didn’t want him to leave her alone. A small part of her was still scared that this was some fantasy her mind had conjured up. “So, what other options do we have?”

  “Do you trust me?”

  “Yes.” No hesitation, no attempt to hide her feelings.

  “Okay, then I need you to stay here. I’m going to change and look around.” His fingers drifted down over her cheek until they touched her lips and then his mouth followed. He kissed her. “I’ll be back to get you when I’ve found us a way out. Think naughty things about me while I’m gone, Princess.”

  Devon was about to scoff and issue a witty comeback when she sensed him turn liquid. For a second he squeezed her gently then glided down her body and was gone. She bit her lip to resist calling out after him.

  In sympathy, one of her curls came up to pat her cheek softly. Oh heavens, her cheeks, frantically she reached up with one hand to scrub the tracks of dried tears away. Had Liam felt them? Did he know what they meant? She took a deep breath, did she care? And the answer was obvious, no, she didn’t.

  Liam was alive, she hadn’t imagined it, he was alive and she loved him. Nothing could change that now, but nor did it change their future. He didn’t want to marry, had said so many times. Had deliberately kept his occupation a secret so she would remain contemptuous of it.

  If she did choose him to be her husband… would he just end up hating her? Could she change his mind? Try to convince him that ten years together in their life span was really only the equivalent of a short-term affair?

  A sudden aching pain stabbed through her gut rivalling the one in her lower back, after ten years he would walk away. She suspected she would only grow to love the man more but he would be watching the calendar, ticking off the days until he could be free of her.

  Devon had never felt like this, these highs, these lows. She despised feeling like this. Feelings! They were supposed to be for the weaker races, but loving Liam, she’d never felt so powerful and at the same time so lost. The only thing she had to hold on to as she knelt there in the dark was the fact that she loved Liam Chambers.

  * * *

  She hated Liam Chambers. With every fibre of her being.

  “Come on, Princess, what’s the hold up?”

  If Devon wasn’t so tired and sore she’d seriously contemplate kicking Liam in the head. Which would have been relatively easy to arrange since he was clinging to a cliff face directly below her. Instead she just concentrated upon holding on, grateful her hair was lending a hand, gripping several hold points surrounding her.

  Yami, her legs were shaking with fatigue and she was pretty sure if she’d been able to see a damn thing she would have been giddy with vertigo. She bit her lower lip to stop herself from whining, Makura did not whine. Though at the moment that only left her with a second option, fainting and falling to her death. No, she could do this, all she had to do was move.

  Liam was worried. Devon had been frozen in place for almost five minutes now. He didn’t blame her, spelunking in pitch black darkness was practically impossible. But what choice did they have? He couldn’t have left her behind, gone for help, the ceiling in the first cavern was too unstable.

  When he’d gone looking for a second exit he’d been praying for an underwater tunnel they could use to swim out, but all he’d found were increasingly narrow passageways that too often dead-ended or were blocked by debris.

  Encasing Devon in his water form and getting her through those underwater tunnels to what he was hoping was a cave system leading to the outside had been a smart move. Even so, she’d still suffered more than a few scrapes and as for him, his own energy levels were seriously depleted.

  If he could have changed forms right now and helped her climb up this sheer cavern wall he would have done so in a heartbeat. And unfortunately the fit was too tight for his human form to shadow directly behind her. Instead he could only follow beneath her, encouraging her, ready to catch her if she slipped or fell.

  His gut churned for her, at least he had shoes, they were way too big for Devon to wear so they’d fashioned her some padded socks out of the sleeves of her doctor’s coat. And then there was her injury, he couldn’t see it and she claimed that it was fine. He could only thank Poseidon for her hair, knowing that at least one of her curls was wrapped around her waist applying a pressure bandage to her lower back even as they climbed.

  Shit, she was so quiet and even more worrisome she still hadn’t moved. He contemplated saying some quip to get her angry but that might make her lose focus. He could get soppy and tell her he was in love with her. That might just earn him a kick in the mouth. He could just ask her how she was… but no doubt her response would be the same as the last five times he’d asked.

  He blinked away moisture that fell into his eyes… oh, shit, that wasn’t moisture, it was blood, Devon’s blood. Fuck, why hadn’t she said anything? Because what would be the point? They’d still be stuck in the bowels of the earth, in total darkness, trying to squirm their way out through an increasingly tight crevice that his gut was telling him would lead to freedom.

  Poseidon, Devon was frozen and she was bleeding… he could think of only one way to motivate her to move.

  “Eek!” Devon clambered up two holds and glared back down into the darkness beneath her. “Did you just bite me on the ass?”

  Liam’s chuckle echoed all around her.

  “You’re insane.” She pulled herself up another hold and then moved sideways after one of her curls found and tested the hold first.

  “Not at all, I was down here just thinking about how much easier this whole thing would be if we had light-”

  “Tell me about it.” Devon grumbled, her arms trembling as she stepped once more to the side and up a little.

  “Then I started thinking about if we had light I would have been staring at your ass for the last forty minutes… which of course got me thinking about your ass.”

  Devon rolled her eyes though a soft smile played on her lips for half a moment before she gritted her teeth and stepped sideways, wincing as a jutting rock from the wall at her back scraped against her shoulder blades, snagging the material of her blouse. “Well, you just keep your teeth to yourself.” She heaved out a soft breath and squeezed over another step. Rivers and Lakes, she hoped Liam still had enough energy to convert to his water form otherwise he was never getting through this section.

  In the zone Devon kept moving ever sideways and up, send a curl out, find a hold, test the hold, move, take a deep breath and repeat. Ignore the trembling in her arms, the shaking in her legs and the encroaching headiness that was making it hard to think.

  “You okay, Princess?”

  “Yes.” She uttered the word, but it had lost all meaning.

  “Not much longer now, I promise.”

  “Hah, you’ve been saying that… forever… lies, that’s all Merrow are good for.”

  “Name one instance when I’ve lied to you outright?” Liam enquired, he needed to keep Devon moving but it was also good that she was still talking.

  Devon stepped up, squeezing through a painf
ully narrow section. “A-hah. On the questionnaire I had you all fill out. You wrote some guff about the biggest goal in your life being to climb Mount Wycheproof, all one hundred and forty one feet of it.”

  Liam frowned briefly then smiled. “In my defence I told you I was drunk when I wrote that. Did I mention climbing it without the aid of oxygen?”

  “Yes.”

  “Ah, then I didn’t lie, exactly. It’s a mountain climbing exercise. I was talking about the sheer north facing side, not the side with the pathway and the kiosk. Basically, if you can make the climb under three minutes, no ropes, no anchors, whilst holding your breath, you’re considered fit enough to climb any peak in the world. It’s considered a training exercise.”

  “And is that what you what to do? Climb Mount Everest or something?” Devon willed her knees to stop trembling, not that they were taking the slightest notice of her wishes.

  “I… take a deep breath Devon, smell that? That’s fresh air. The ocean. We’re almost there, just a little bit longer.”

  “Yami, I hope so.” Abruptly she noticed the world around her was no longer utterly black but a dark hazy grey. She forced herself to keep going and the grey colour began to grow lighter and lighter. Looking to the right she squinted, the light, it was so bright it hurt her eyes. It looked so close and yet there still seemed such a long way to go. At least the deep crevice had widened and she couldn’t help but release a grateful sigh as she felt Liam move up next to her. When had she gotten so cold?

  “Hey, I’ve got you.” Now that he could see her Liam really didn’t like Devon’s pale colour or the fact that the back of her skirt was soaked with blood. “We can do this together… there…” He pointed out her next hold, the next and then the next.

  Devon shuddered with longing at the idea of resting. Distantly she heard seagulls and the crashing of water on to rocks.

  “Don’t look down.” Liam instructed as he wrapped a muscular arm around her waist but it was too late, Devon’s eyes were tracking down, way down the ridiculously steep drop directly beneath them to the churning ocean below as it slammed back and forth into the narrow crevice they had been traversing across.

  “Hmmm, that’s quite a drop…” Devon’s voice, even to herself, sounded like it was coming from a long distance away. Forcing herself, she plodded on, test the next hold, no, a little higher, yes, move, test the next hold.

  “Devon? You okay?”

  Devon kept moving, if she stopped she’d never get started again, keeping her eyes on the opening in the rock, so near, so far. “Not really.” She kept moving, releasing a soft sigh as direct sunlight touched the skin of her arm through the torn sleeve of her blouse for the first time in what felt like forever.

  Liam ghosted close beside her, both worried and impressed as hell that she was still struggling on. “When you say, not really?”

  Devon spied a narrow ledge and sent a questing curl out to test it, heaving a breath she stepped onto it, releasing her hold on the cliff face for the first time in what felt like eternity. Oh Yami, her shoulders, she closed her eyes as pain throbbed in all of her joints. Mindlessly she shuffled over a little, letting Liam join her on the ledge.

  “Devon?”

  “Hmmm.” She turned to look at him, surprized to see dirt, grime and what looked like streaks of blood staining Liam’s sweaty face. “You’re hurt.”

  “No, you’re the one who’s hurt. Devon?”

  She frowned, yes, that probably accounted for the hazy cloud eating away at the corners of her vision. She glanced down at the ledge under her feet and shook her head. “Too narrow.” She glanced over the side to the waves crashing against the sheer cliff face. “Too rocky.”

  “Devon, what are you looking for?” Liam was beyond worried, her eyes were glazed and unfocused. Her skin too pale and her lips practically bloodless.

  “A place to…” Devon crumpled into a dead faint.

  Liam could only thank Poseidon for his quick reflexes as his hand snagged liquid fast around her waist, as she sagged against him. Shit, he managed to awkwardly lift her so she was dangling over one of his shoulders. Taking a deep ragged breath he shuddered in relief. He had her. They were free of the underground caverns.

  Okay, so now they were stuck on a narrow ledge four hundred feet above jagged out cropping rocks and a churning white frothy sea. But at least they had plenty of fresh air and sunshine. Well, what was left of the sunshine. He figured by the rapidly fading light they were lucky if they had ten minutes until the sun set.

  Carefully, Liam studied all his options for getting Devon to safety, shit, if only one of them could fly. He sent the seagulls a dark look, watching them scatter as a large predatory bird swooped down scattering them in all directions. The bird was big, huge, a hawk and as he watched it climb and then swoop back once more past his position he would have sworn by the Trident that the damn thing winked at him.

  Man, he loved this crazy place, looks like their rescue was well in hand. It couldn’t come soon enough for his liking. “Hang on Devon.” With a trembling hand he patted the back of her thigh, her skin felt too cool, too clammy. He tightened his hold on her. “I’ve got you.”

  He watched mesmerized as one of her curls lifted, the end coming to rest against his gritty cheek, rubbing back and forth gently, as if trying to reassure him.

  “Don’t let anything happen to her, okay?” He was going mad, talking to her hair but he didn’t care, he’d never been so scared in all his life. Not diving out of a plane, not jumping off a glacier with a glider attached to his back, and not facing off against a pod of killer whales. That wasn’t just his life… this was Devon’s on the line right now. “I love her.” He confessed in a soft whisper.

  He tightened his hold on her as his legs began to tremble, fatigue battering him. Locking his knees and spine he straightened up, staring out at the deep blue ocean in front of him. The cliffs could be ground down to dust around him and he swore he’d never waver, never drop her, never let her go.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Ugh. Devon’s mouth felt drier than the Sahara, her throat rougher than tree bark. She fought to swallow as she tried to sit up, but a firm yet gentle hand settled on her shoulder keeping her still.

  “Don’t move.”

  “P… P… Pollyanna?”

  A glass of water appeared, a bright pick straw swirling around in the glass. Devon sucked down the water until there was nothing left.

  “More?” Nell enquired.

  “Yes please.” Devon lifted her head slightly, carefully, watching as Nell disappeared into the bathroom. Hmm, it was a good sign she was in her own bedroom. But on the negative side she was naked, lying on her stomach and her back… her lower back, felt weirdly disturbingly numb and far away. She released a relieved sigh as she wriggled her toes and all ten digits did as she asked. And then the smell hit her.

  “Oh, Rivers and Lakes…” She looked up as Nell appeared in the bathroom doorway looking serenely elegant in a powder blue sundress, her honey blonde hair uncharacteristically rippling down to her shoulders. “Please tell me that smell is not coming from me?”

  An impish smile teased the edges of Nell’s full lips. Honestly, Devon still couldn’t work out how she’d been so mistaken about Nell when they were in med-school together, the woman had a mischievous streak a mile wide.

  “Yeah, sorry about that. I’m trying out a new numbing agent sealant and I thought adding lavender would help mask the smell but unfortunately for you…” Nell’s impish smile widened into a full on teasing grin. “It only seems to make the ointment smell even worse. I think I’ll try adding rose extract next time.” Nell held out the glass.

  Devon sucked down half the contents before releasing the straw. “It smells like something died and crawled onto my back to rot.”

  Nell’s blue eyes sparkled. “I could scrape it all off if you like, get out some needle and thread and find some local anaesthetic. But if you persevere with my ointment you can be in the show
er within three hours completely healed and lathering yourself with all that expensive body wash you keep in there.”

  “Fine.” Devon huffed, relaxing back down onto the mattress before glancing over at the sun shining through the window. “What time and day is it and how did I get here?”

  “It’s just past nine, Saturday morning.” Nell sank down into the large armchair that had been positioned next to the bed, crossing her legs and getting comfortable. “You’ve been asleep for almost thirteen hours. Well, when I say asleep, I mean passed out.”

  “Where’s Liam?” Devon posed the question in a causal tone, but Nell didn’t look fooled, her blues eyes sparkling with amusement.

  “As soon as the sun rose he and a couple of officers took a boat out to try and recover Sienna’s body.”

  Devon tensed. “She’s not working alone. You need to tell the police that.”

  “Don’t worry, when Liam carried you in here you went on and on about Sienna being a puppet, we were able to work it out. Their hoping to recover her mobile when they find the body, maybe the call log will contain the answer to who was pulling her strings.”

  “It’s one of Liam’s brothers, I mean half-brothers. They pretended to be him and managed to talk Sienna into doing all their dirty work, convinced her they were in love and the only way for them to be together was for her to kill me and Liam… the real Liam I mean.”

  “So they could be married?” Nell frowned, trying to follow along.

  “That’s what he told her but it was all a bunch of lies to start an underwater war so all the marriage contracts would be torn up.”

  “Ah.” Nell nodded. “Makes perfect sense when your balls out crazy, kill thousands to get out of an unwanted marriage. It would have been much smarter for the Prince to fake his own death and stay on the down low until all the marriages were signed sealed and delivered.”

  Devon nodded in surprised agreement. “That is a remarkably devious solution to the problem. Where have you been hiding this delightful side to your personality all these years?”

  Nell rolled her eyes. “You’re impressed by the weirdest things.”