by Milly Taiden
She knew his comments weren’t a simple chauvinistic remark, but was pissed at him at the time she said that to him and the words flowed from her mouth. “Yeah, it’s all right. I really didn’t mean what I said. I was just upset that you thought I wasn’t good enough to work at the FBI.”
He added, “I didn’t mean that either. I was saying that I always figured my ma—” he coughed and cleared his throat, “my rescuer would be from ALFA. I didn’t know we even had a relationship with the FBI. I’d thought someone from the CIA would be the first choice.”
“I agree. It should’ve been the CIA since they are international and FBI are domestic. But I deciphered a code the CIA was working on. Maybe this is a multilayer joint mission. I don’t know. Maybe the generals in the director’s office told him to assign me.”
The tunnel they were in seemed different from those before the water trap. These felt older, more worn, more lived in. The walls’ sides were smoother as if millions of shoulders and hands had quietly sanded them down over hundreds of years. Same for the floor. It was a bit dusty as feet scraped away pointy edges, leaving crumbled rock and granules in their wake.
She wondered how old this tunnel was. Rome was in power long before the common era began. This could easily be over two thousand years old. A sense of admiration and respect filled her. Many people gave their lives in building these underground routes to save more lives in the future. Like hers, right now.
That made her think about what she was leaving behind that would benefit the world when she was gone. Had she done anything worthy with her life? She thought about her job. She had decoded several things that related to war and threats. Perhaps in some way, she had helped calm a volatile situation with feuding countries or stopped a coalition that would have taken over a people.
That was all a maybe. What certain things had she done? Not much. Took the bus to work instead of driving. But honestly, that was because parking spots in the FBI area were few and expensive. The only thing she could leave behind were children that believed in saving the world and being kind to your neighbor.
Did she want a family? She wasn’t afraid of raising children, even as a single mother, though she preferred both parents to help balance children’s mental and sociological development.
“Bryon, do you ever think about having children?” Her words startled her. She really didn’t mean to ask him. “I’m sorry for being so personal. No need to answer. That was a dumb thing to ask.”
He stopped, turned to her, and smiled. Instant panty melt. “No, that’s a fair question. Actually, I’m thinking about starting a family more and more. I’m in my mid-thirties, now. I’ve put in more than my fair share of time at ALFA. It’s time that I put effort into my mate and making a home where we can share love and raise children.”
Good god, if that wasn’t the most romantically perfect thing to say . . . she’d love to share love with him.
“So you’d quit your job,” she asked, “just like that?”
“Those who work ALFA for years get a pension, but it’s not enough for a great living. I’d probably find a side job I enjoyed. Or maybe my wife will work full time and I’d take care of the pups. I’d be an official ‘house dad.’”
He sounded so enthused by the idea, she laughed. He would make a great house dad. Those kids would be lucky to have him as a father.
“What about you, Kari? Are you a career woman or do you want a family?”
“I’ve always worked, as did my mom. So I wouldn’t know any other type of lifestyle. But I do want children and a family. I’ve never not wanted one, just haven’t thought about it much till now.”
“If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be?” he asked.
She knew that answer right away. “Somewhere with forests and mountains would be great. I like being in the woods and in touch with nature. Whenever I get too much city trash in my system, I head toward a park and camp out under a tree for several hours, reading, people watching, smelling the grass, whatever.”
He laughed. “Smelling the grass. I like that.”
“One of my favorite smells is freshly cut grass. I roll down my window in residential areas when folks are mowing. It’s so calming.” She read somewhere that cut grass had the same natural chemicals as men’s semen. Oh god. She must be getting horny again. How could she not, following the scrumptious ass in front of her. He reached back for her hand and pulled her closer.
He whispered, “I meant it when I said I didn’t want you following. I’d rather have you in front of me.”
She giggled, thinking about watching his ass. “What? To see my ass wiggle?” She slapped a hand over her mouth. Her face felt on fire. “Sorry,” she said, hand still over mouth.
He laughed . . . hard. With a huge smile she couldn’t erase, she hit his arm. “All right, get over it.” She fanned her face with her hand. When she turned to hide her face, she saw black marks on the wall. “Hey, bring the torch over here.”
Bryon stepped closer. “Is that writing? What are those pictures of?”
Kari examined the script. “It looks like hieroglyphics mixed with something else.”
Bryon grunted. “By chance, read Egyptian?” He was joking.
“I actually do,” she said. “I was fascinated with this stuff after the accident and picked up on it quickly.”
A warm body snuggled behind her. “I knew you were amazing.” He kissed the top of her head. A happy feeling flowed through her. Maybe he really did care for her more than just a job hazard. Maybe she could fall for this man in a heartbeat.
She refocused on the wall. “See this umbrella with two poles,” he nodded, “that represents the Underworld or the Land of the Dead.”
“So this is probably some warning to scare us off?” he asked.
She kept studying the drawings. “Maybe. This bird thing is Ba, which we call soul or personality. It leaves the body when it dies. This line with a split bottom is called a was; it’s a symbol of power, more like a scepter carried by royalty. Then the square without a top is ka.”
“Ka?” Bryon asked. “As in someone’s spirit?”
“That’s it. You’re pretty smart yourself,” she said.
“No, I just know ka from somewhere,” he corrected.
“Then this last symbol is ra, which is the sun god representing resurrection.” She stood back and let the images mix in her mind. “It’s talking about the royals, so in our case, the prince. Then we have two symbols that mention the soul or personality; souls can resurrect or they can go to places like the underworld.” The idea that came to her was so crazy, she didn’t want to voice it, so she waited for another answer.
“What do you think?” he asked. “Sounds like our prince died, went to hell, and came back.”
Startled, she looked at him. “You really got that?” He nodded. “Well, this may not sound so crazy, then. What I’m getting is the one who rules the land, his personality is taken away like when the body dies, but a ka from the underworld resurrects the body.”
Bryon looked at her. “You mean the prince is possessed by a demon ka.”
Yeah, that sounded ridiculous to her, too. She leaned toward the last symbol of ra which was the image of a single eyeball. When the fire light was just right, she thought she saw red paint in the eyeball circle. Her mind recalled the red flashes in the prince’s eyes she’d seen on several occasions. Had to be just coincidence. Maybe a hereditary issue dealing with the retina.
“That’s exactly what this means, but it couldn’t be the current prince,” Kari said. “It must be myths from ancestors because this was put here possibly two thousand years ago.” She stepped back. “Demonic possession doesn’t exist. Science proved diseases were the cause of weird things in humans. Not demons.”
CHAPTER 18
Bryon mulled over these new ideas in his noggin as they continued through
the tunnels. He took her hand wanting to feel her close. They came to another fork in the road.
“Which way?” he asked.
“Whichever way has fewer spiderwebs,” she answered. That would be straight ahead.
“You scared of spiders?” he asked.
“Eh,” she replied, “I wouldn’t say scared. But I definitely don’t want to give them something to stand on and bite. But less spiderwebs could mean the path had more travelers to keep spiders away. But given how old all this is, it’s probably a moot point.”
He nodded. Why hadn’t he come to that conclusion? It seemed a lot of her thoughts were common sense that wasn’t common until someone else said it. Then you’re like, duh. Their pups would be freakin’ geniuses.
“You know,” Kari said, “I don’t know anything about you. Not even what kind of shifter you are. How did you get into ALFA?”
He could easily talk about that. “I’m a wolf shifter. My pack is rather big compared to most. We live within a community, or a town, I guess, that is all shifters.”
“All shifters,” she asked. “How many?”
“Our population is several thousand. Other shifter places across the U.S. vary depending on who’s there.”
“Wow, I had no idea.”
“Yeah, we keep a low profile. Believe it or not, the government actually helps with that,” he said.
“How so?”
“ALFA is short for Alpha League Federal Agency. Basically, a long time ago, shifters were ‘discovered’ by the military. Our kind is much stronger than normal humans and can do things humans can’t. So when the military decided they wanted to harness that strength for themselves, they decided to approach us with a deal.”
“Oh god,” she replied, “I can just imagine what ‘deal’ the government had for you. We all know what they did to the Native Americans.”
“Yes,” he said, “we did, and we made sure that kind of thing wouldn’t happen to us. So the deal was that some of our young shifters, after graduating, would join ALFA to do special jobs humans weren’t able to do. It’s sort of a shifter military, except we usually don’t go into battle situations where live munition is fired. Unless on a special project.”
“Why not?”
“I’m not sure. Something about accidentally shifting and exposing our secret, maybe?” He shrugged.
She asked, “So you joined after graduating high school?”
“Yes and no. After high school, if you sign up for a four-year stint, they will put you through college first. My parents at the time took jobs the community needed instead of jobs that paid a lot of money.
“Dad was a first responder, what they called back then a volunteer fireman. He was usually one of the first to arrive at accident scenes or where medical emergencies existed. He was a trained EMT, certified as a crisis and hostage negotiator, top-rated marksmen, and a bunch of other stuff.”
“Wow, he sounds amazing. That must be where you get your drive for AFLA work.”
“I think it is. When I was older, he took me with him on several calls and I helped out where I could. Talk about a rude awakening to the real world. I saw firsthand what drinking and driving could do. Saw what happened to people in motorcycle accidents who weren’t wearing protective clothing or helmets. I even saw a baby born in the backseat of a car. That was traumatic.”
Kari laughed. “Made you glad men didn’t give birth, huh?”
“Damn straight, it did.”
“What about your mom?” she asked.
“My mom was a social service agent who watched over underprivileged and abused pups. She was proud to say that during her time there, pup abuse dropped tenfold and more abusers than ever were punished. She brought home a lot of pups, too.
“I had ‘adopted’ siblings coming out the nose for years. But there was always enough love to go around, even if the food was a little short sometimes.”
“You know,” she said, “that’s one thing about America I wish would change. All the professional sports stars are paid millions and millions of dollars, yet teachers, police, and firemen can barely support their families.”
“Yup. People are willing to pay for what they want, not what they need. They want the fancy slam dunks and homeruns and touchdowns, but they need others to teach them how to read and write, to save their lives in dangerous situations, and to protect them from others who would do them harm over a pair of stupid athletic shoes with some sports star’s name on them.”
“I completely agree. Priorities are messed up. It’s sad,” she said. “Are your parents still around?”
“Yeah, they still live in town and still bring in pups and cubs. No one is safe from the Day’s home.” They laughed.
“They had no problems with you joining ALFA right out of school?”
“Nah, not at all. They were quite proud of me. Taking after them in honorable jobs without a lot of money. After college, I went into training. Talk about getting my ass kicked. Fucking A.” He realized his harsh language in front of his mate. “Sorry ’bout that. I’m used to being around men all the time anymore.”
“Not a problem. I’m okay with some. It comes out of my mouth occasionally. A sign of the times.” She smiled at him. Fuck, she was so beautiful. He wanted to stand where he was and just stare at her. That would probably creep her out, though.
She pulled him forward. “With all this cave-and-tunnel stuff, I feel like I’m in an Indiana Jones movie,” she said.
“That is the best movie on the planet,” he said.
She shoved him to the side with her hip. “No way. Bridge of Spies is so much better.”
He rebounded toward her and wrapped an arm around her shoulder, pulling her to his side. “Would you believe I got to shake Steven Spielberg’s hand once,” he whispered.
Kari stopped in front of him and gasped. “Seriously? Oh my god.” She looked at their linked fingers. “Is this the hand you touched him with?” She put it on her cheek. “I got to feel the hand that shook the movie god’s hand.” She let out a long breath.
His heart jumped. Her face was so soft, so perfect. Her eyes rolled up to meet his. Her smiled faded, but her pupils widened, and her smell became irresistible, loaded with pheromones. Fuck, she wanted him as much as he wanted her. Could he have her? Just one more taste.
She licked her lips. That did it. His animal roared inside. She was soft and sweet but there was a definite aggression in her that he fucking loved. She was everything he wanted and more. The way her tongue swept over his drove him crazy and made him groan into the kiss. If he survived more of these kisses, he deserved an award. As it stood, his body was wound tighter than a rubber band ready to snap.
* * *
• • •
They had come to another intersection. “All right, pretty lady. You pick the direction: straight ahead or right turn?”
Holding on to his hand and the second torch in her other hand, she studied both ways. “One looks the same as the other. Flip a coin?” she said.
He frowned. “I don’t have a coin, but I’ll flip you.”
Her eyes got big. “What?” She stepped in front of him, trying to hide her smile, and eased forward. “I don’t think that’s a good idea. I don’t flip well.”
He took a step toward her. As long as he could get his hands on her body, he didn’t care what she did. He could push her against the wall, rip her clothes off, and claim her here and now. There definitely wasn’t anyone around to catch them. His wolf loved the idea. Its tongue fell out the side of its mouth with the thought.
He must’ve looked predatory because she squeaked out a laugh and took off running down a path. Oh, that wasn’t a great plan. He chased her. His wolf got all up in his business, wanting to play, too.
Quickly, he gained on her. “Kari, running ahead is dangerous. You could get hurt.”
She
looked back over her shoulder, then abruptly stopped. “You’re right.”
He was going too fast to stop without hitting her. She cringed, seeing him coming, and he dove to the side of her, landing on solid ground. After a roll, the ground dropped out from under him. The torch he held showed him the location of his landing, twenty feet down.
CHAPTER 19
“Bryon?” she called out. There was no response. Oh, fuck. “Bryon!” She got on hands and knees, feeling out for his body. Did he knock himself unconscious? He was a shifter. The move he made wouldn’t even faze someone like him.
“Kari, don’t move,” echoed from someplace lower than her current place. She froze. She didn’t need to be told twice.
“Bryon, what happened? Where are you?” she asked.
“I fell into a pit a short distance in front of you.”
“Are you okay? Are you hurt?” Probably a silly question for a shifter, but that’s what humans always ask: Even if the injured looks nearly dead, they say, “Are you okay?”
“Nothing a shift won’t fix,” she heard. She climbed to her feet and backed toward the wall. She wasn’t stepping on any trigger this time. But a pit didn’t really have a trigger. It was just a pit.
When she leaned against the wall, she felt a rock behind her butt move back with her weight. She popped forward. Did she just push on something?
A rumbling sound came from deep in the cave and a slight tremor shook the stone under her feet. The shake became stronger and the sound of rock dragging over rock pierced the air. What was happening? She thought she heard a “Well, fuck me,” but wasn’t sure.
“Bryon? What’s happening,” she asked.
“Don’t move, baby. The walls on each side of the pit are closing in.”
Oh, shit. She must’ve done that. Dammit. Next time she seriously wouldn’t move an inch. A few feet in front of her a light suddenly appeared. The torch Bryon had been carrying landed on the edge of the pit. She could see somewhat better, but the torch wasn’t blazing like it had been. She wondered how it got there.