by Eve Langlais
Her voice echoed in the stairwell. “What are we going to do if we find the ancient passages?”
“We’ll fetch the kids and get them out of here.”
“Because that will be so easy,” was her sarcastic rejoinder.
“Aren’t you the least bit excited we might find a route out of this place?”
“I haven’t forgotten that not only do we have the countess and her goons to deal with there’s also a dragon outside.”
“I haven’t forgotten either. Remember the first level?”
“Not really. Mostly just a jumble of containers.” She’d barely paid attention to anything other than her fear at their capture.
“The area they took us through last night had a huge spool of chain in the corner.”
“Why would I care…” Her eyes widened. “The chain that keeps the drake tethered.”
“Exactly. We just need to wind it and keep him on a short leash to get the kids past.”
“Which handles the dragon, but what about those soldiers?”
“You leave them to me. Come on, let’s see what’s on this floor.” He’d skipped the third level with its distinct hum of machines to go straight to the fourth. “We should know what we’re up against before we bring the kids down here.”
All this use of “we” was making her feel more confident. She might not have a plan, but he did. It was nice to not be the one trying to have all the answers, even if some of his seemed a bit overconfident.
The fourth level was a dusty place of abandoned rooms with desks and chairs and not much else. The handle of the door for exiting didn’t budge when Kayda gripped it.
“It’s locked.”
“Not for long. Give me a second.” Cam fiddled with it, jamming yet another pin he’d taken from his other boot into the mechanism until they heard a click. He stood to the side and waited.
Sure enough, the door opened, and a guard, wearing a scowl, looked out. “You’re early for the shift change.”
Cam clubbed him over the head. The guy dropped.
She’d not seen that guard before, which prompted her to ask, “How many more do you think?”
“Not too many. Don’t forget it takes a certain kind of person to be able to breathe up here, and as we’ve noticed, no one that lives here wears a mask.”
“Because they are Diamond citizens who turned traitor.” The reminder still made her sad and angry all at once.
Behind the locked door that the soldier had guarded they found a room full of humming machinery.
“What is this stuff?”
“Looks like it’s the power source for the printers on the floor above.” He pointed. “They’re using gemminars.”
She stepped inside and gazed with curiosity on the complex machine. “My father used to say ten of these was the price of a castle.”
“He wasn’t wrong. Axel almost sold his promised mate for one.”
“Wait, what? I thought you admired this guy.”
“I said almost. We all knew he wouldn’t actually do it.”
At the end of the hall, Cam handled yet another locked door.
“Shouldn’t we be more careful? What if one of those sealed portals is actually keeping ghouls or other nasties out?”
“Then best we know now before the kids get here.”
The reminder had her musing aloud, “I wonder what the Necropolis is doing. They must be worried.”
“By this point they’re assuming we’re dead,” was his blunt reply, but he drew her close. “Once we’re through here, we’ll show them how wrong that assumption is.”
“If they don’t escape overland before then.”
“They won’t dare go before nightfall, which means we have time to intercept them.”
A set of stairs led to yet another level, not as brilliantly lit, and the air was most definitely warmer and acrid. A familiar smell.
“You heard what the countess said about Ruby being blocked. Given the crevice between us and the Marshlands, the same thing probably happened down here,” she said.
“Maybe. But we are pretty far underground. Could be the tunnels go under.”
“And if they don’t?”
He rolled his shoulders. “Then maybe we have the kids hole up in the base. It should give them enough supplies and space to run around in until we clear up the mess Ruby started.”
“Do you really think we can?”
“Now that we know the cause of the continued eruptions, we just need to find a way to stop it.”
Perhaps they’d have better luck with the volcano, because the tunnels proved to be a bust. The way was blocked.
Cam stood at the junction and looked at the collapsed rubble. “This blows dust.”
To her surprise, she was the one with comforting words. “It’s okay. Like you said, we can live upstairs.”
“Yeah.” He still seemed bummed.
“Tell me more about your plan to stop a volcano,” she teased, linking her arm in his on the way back.
“The most obvious thing is we need to shut off the dumping of the radioactive shit.”
“What makes you think we can?”
“Because whatever pumps it in turns off at night, meaning they control the flow. All we have to do is find the machine carrying it to the volcano and destroy it.”
“You make it sound easy.”
He grinned. “I doubt it will be easy. But it’s something to do.”
“How are you going to do it?”
“We’re going to set a trap for the next transport.”
“They’re full of soldiers.”
“Who will have to be handled. They’ll never expect an ambush from inside.”
“You’re going to kill them all.” Her brow furrowed.
“Do you care?”
“No. They left us to die in the Necropolis. Hunted us for dragon fodder.” Her lip curled. “They deserve worse than death.”
“Say the word and I’ll lay their heads at your feet.”
And he would do it, she realized, his promise earnest. “Why are you helping me? Us.”
“Because.”
“Because why?”
She suddenly found herself pressed against a wall. “Because it’s the right thing to do. Because I can’t walk away. Because…” His gaze dropped to her mouth. “Because you need me.”
She did but not only in the way he meant. “I wouldn’t blame you if you walked away.”
“Never.” He leaned closer and brushed his lips against hers. “I need you, Kay.”
“What are you doing?” she panted.
“What I’ve wanted to do since you woke up purring against me this morning.”
“I do not purr. Oh. Oh,” she purred as he kissed her neck, his lips scorching a path downward.
“What happened to there being no time?”
“We’ll make it quick,” he growled.
“Okay.” She had no idea what that meant, but she was very interested in finding out.
Her blood already boiled. She reached for him, and their teeth clashed as they kissed. His hands fumbled with her pants. She was useless trying to get rid of his.
It didn’t matter. They were both frantic in their need, and soon hers were half off, his were shoved down, and he was rubbing against her cleft, drawing forth those sweet, shivery sensations. He pulled up her leg so that it wrapped around his hips. The head of him parted her nether lips. He pushed into her, and she gasped.
“Too soon. Are you sore? I can stop.” He held himself still, the effort making him tremble.
“Don’t you dare stop,” was her reply.
He groaned relief. “Thank fuck.”
He sank into her, and she exhaled. Oh, sweet mercy but he filled her. Stretched her. Made her feel incredible things.
His hands gripped her bare cheeks and lifted her, pushing her into the wall. Her legs parted and wrapped around his waist. Welcoming his thrusts. Angling for them go deeper.
Yes, deeper.
She grabbed at him as he pounded into her, each stroke a delightful friction, and deeper inside, an extra sweet stroke.
He hit it over and over. It made her coil and tense, her body flushed and on the cusp.
When she orgasmed, she bit him rather than yell, and she must have hurt him with how hard she gripped him. Yet he groaned and thrust one last time into her, the heat of his seed and the pulse of him only serving to stroke her ebbing waves of bliss.
“Oh that was nice,” she said as he held her in his arms, his forehead pressed to hers.
“Just nice?”
“Super nice?”
He chuckled. “I see I’ll have to work harder next time.”
At least he thought there would be a next time.
Chapter 15
Cam wanted to stay buried inside Kayda a while longer. Say like forever. Yet the reality was they’d taken a risk.
While in the throes of passion, he wouldn’t have heard anyone sneaking up on them. He’d made them vulnerable. But how could he resist her?
He didn’t want to. Once he rescued the princess, she wouldn’t need him anymore. She’d send him on his way, and he’d return to being a man without a purpose. Even worse than before because he’d somehow managed to fall in love.
It wasn’t supposed to happen like this. Not this quickly, or with a woman who could do so much better than him.
A princess of ashes was still a princess.
And he was no hero, even as he made plans to save them all. What else could he do?
For the moment, he was needed, and he’d bask in it as long as he could.
They made their way up the stairs, hand in hand, him armed with the gun they’d stripped from the guard, her with the small knife. They reached the floor of the machinery fueled by the gemminars. The door at the far end was closed.
He frowned. “I thought we left it ajar.”
“I don’t recall.”
He did. He’d worried it might lock behind them and delay a rapid escape.
As they traversed the room, the hairs on the back of his neck lifted. They weren’t alone. But he couldn’t say anything to Kayda, just squeezed her hand. When she turned and smiled sweetly at him, he hoped she saw the warning in his gaze.
A moment later, the ambush struck. A soldier fired his gun. It was only instinct that made Cam grab Kayda and drag them both into a crouch.
“Stay down,” he ordered.
He stood and took quick aim, his shot drawing a cry. Wounded, not dead. He whirled and drew a bead on the other soldier, who ducked behind a machine before he could fire.
“Come.” He held out his hand to Kayda, who grabbed it without question.
As she rose, he fired left, right, keeping the enemy pinned, but even better, he hit something that pierced with a hiss, and the room filled with smoke. It covered their retreat to the door, the coughs of the soldiers following them until they shut the portal behind them. With nothing to wedge it closed, that wouldn’t give them much time.
So he held it.
“What are you doing?”
“Making sure they can’t follow. Watch the stairs and let me know if you hear anyone coming.” He’d yet to discern any kind of alarm. However, the soldiers who’d just ambushed showed the base was on alert. He handed her the gun. “You know how to fire it?”
She snorted. “I’ve been firing weapons for twenty years. What do you think?”
“That you’re pretty when riled.” He winked.
Not the right time or place, and yet he liked how the simple gesture calmed her. She took up a position where she could see around the first bend in the stairwell. The elevator was on the other side of the building alongside the stairs that led to nowhere.
Definitely not what he’d hoped to find. He held the door firm as there was a yank on the other side. Even with the seal, a faint hint of smoke oozed from the edges. The yanking turned to pounding. Kayda glanced back at him.
“Watch the stairs,” he reminded her.
It wouldn’t be long now. Either the soldiers would drop of smoke inhalation or they’d use their heads and escape via the elevator. If they did, then the entire base would be waiting to pick them off.
When a minute passed of no one trying to yank, he finally pushed away from the door. “Let’s go.”
He jogged up the stairs, letting her keep the gun. At the next level—with the abandoned offices—he indicted the hall.
“Aren’t we going up?”
“We are. Just not that way.” He led the way to the far end and the elevator, noticing the car for it was at the second-to-last level. Good. It took but a moment to pry open the doors. He gestured. “Come on.”
“We’re climbing?” she asked, poking her head inside.
“They won’t expect us to be in the shaft.”
“What if the elevator comes down?” she asked with a crease of her brow.
“Think skinny thoughts and hug the wall.”
Her eyes widened.
“Don’t worry, you’ll be fine.” She was slim enough. He, on the other hand, might be in trouble.
She began to climb, and he followed only once he managed to close the doors. He wondered if anyone had noticed the stutter in its ascent. It would depend on the kind of observation systems they had in this old installation. It was a wonder so much of it still worked.
At the second level, and huffing heavily, she paused. “I hear something.”
So did he. The ominous clanking of gears. “Let’s get inside.”
He quickly wedged opened the doors and literally dove inside, landing and rolling to his feet, gun outstretched. He heard Kayda scrambling to join him. She kept hidden behind him.
A good thing, too. Markus and the other soldier they’d met were at the far end of the hall about to enter the stairwell. While Markus yelled, “The fucker is behind us,” the smart soldier grabbed his communicator and spoke into it. “They’re on level two.”
Cam ran for them, using his body as a distraction, yelling because, for some reason, it freaked animals and people alike right out.
Startled, Markus jerked as he fired, and missed. The other guy fumbled the communication device, meaning he was slow to draw, and Cam had time to plow into Markus. It felt awful nice to punch him in the face and hear things crunch.
Cam threw himself to the side as the other soldier fired. He popped to his feet and landed a jab to the man’s ribs. Then his jaw. Another blow to the gut folded him, and the knee to his face took him down.
Through a broken nose, Markus exclaimed, “Die, bast—”
Bang.
Markus wavered on his feet. Gaping. Not understanding he was already dead. The hole between his eyes made sure of that.
Cam glanced over his shoulder at Kayda. “Nice shot.” He snared the gun from Markus’s slumped body. By the time Kayda joined him, he’d stripped the other soldier, too, but left him alive. He dragged the guy into a room, one with a lock on the outside. At her glance, he shrugged. “He has a wife.”
“Who is also a soldier. And probably angry given we stole her uniform.”
“What can I say? I can be sentimental.”
“It might come back to bite us,” she noted.
“Then you can say ‘I told you so.’” Let her think he couldn’t bring himself to kill someone unconscious. His reason was more mercenary. He might need to question the soldier later.
“Now where?” she asked.
“What’s the elevator doing?”
“It went down to the last accessible floor.”
“Meaning they’re sending a sweep up the stairwell.
“So what should we do?”
“Take the ride back up. Signal for it.”
She did as told, and pressed the button, only then asking, “Won’t they notice?”
“They’ll think it’s Markus or his friend most likely.”
“And if they don’t?”
“Hide behind me. I handle bullets better than you.”
“Cam!” s
he exclaimed. “I am not using you as a shield.”
The elevator stopped, and the doors opened. He dragged her in and jabbed the doors closed. Maybe nobody would notice the stutter in its ascent.
“Promise me you won’t sacrifice yourself for me,” she pled.
No time to reply as the elevator hit the first floor. To his surprise, there was no one there.
The crates had been knocked over to lie on the floor, giving him a clear line of sight. Obviously, the countess had been worried they were hiding among the stacks. He noticed the spool at the far end thick with chain.
“Where is everyone?” she asked.
He looked up.
“Why would they be outside?”
“Because they know it’s the only escape.”
Her lips flattened. “They’re trying to hem us in.” Her gaze went from the stairs going up to the ruined tower and then the corner with the leash for the dragon. “They’re afraid of the drake.”
“Aren’t we all?”
“What if it hates them more than it hates us?” she mused.
“What are you saying?”
“When we go up those stairs, we run for the dragon.”
“So your plan is to get eaten by the dragon rather than get captured again? I don’t think I like your plan,” he drawled.
“I don’t think the drake will eat us.”
“Don’t think?”
“Trust me,” she said.
He thought of Gellie and that moment where Kayda and the drake looked at each other and an understanding passed through them. “I hope you’re right about this, Kay.” Or they would both end up as the bits of meat stuck in a dragon’s teeth.
Chapter 16
The plan was insane. Kayda knew it, Cam knew it, and yet, what choice did they have? The trap overhead required action that didn’t involve using him as a body shield.
Given the countess’s interest in them, Kayda was counting on the fact she wanted them alive. Kayda at least. As for Cam, she could only hope they wouldn’t hurt him too badly and that he meant it about healing from just about anything. Still, if they could avoid getting shot...
As she stood at the bottom of the stairs, trepidation had her trembling.