by Maggie Walsh
“Days! What the hell do you mean days? We don’t have days! Hell, we don’t know if they have days!” Casimir snarled, his vision changing as his claws popped free from the tips of his fingers.
“Oh shit! He’s gonna blow!” Tobias shouted.
CHAPTER 4
Illan grabbed Casimir’s shoulder, holding him back before Cas could snatch the little fucker up and kick his ass into gear. “Cas, stop. This isn’t helping anyone.”
Casimir tossed his clawed hand out towards Clint, snapping, “This little shit is telling us that it’s going to be days until we can get my mate out of that fucking tunnel of hell, Illan.” Turning to his brother, knowing his fear was evident in his eyes, but not caring if he was showing weakness to these people. His mate was trapped in a rock cell and this guy was saying he might be there for days. It was unacceptable. “They don’t have food or water, Illan. How can they survive with nothing to eat or drink, not to mention continuously breathing in all that nasty air in there? You said yourself that radiation can be an issue. If it can block a mating link, it can damn sure kill a paranormal.”
“Get yourself under control. This man is the best at what he does and if you kill him, Sutton, Logan, and the other men trapped down there will die, damn it!” Illan snapped.
Casimir drew in a deep breath doing his best to calm down. He didn’t know how he accomplished it, but his vision returned to normal and his claws slid back into place.
“If it makes you feel any better, if they’re in the safe room they should be fine. Now I don’t know shit about mating links, but that safe room has enough food and water in there for days depending upon how many men are trapped. There’s even medical supplies if they need them,” Clint replied.
“There are five men total, and three were already wounded before the second collapse,” Nick answered.
“Then they should be good for about ten days… twelve if they conserve some stuff, and more if there are men that are unable to eat,” Clint said, with a smile.
Casimir felt his dragon ready to break free once more. What the fuck was there to smile about? His mate could be one of them unable to fucking eat.
Illan squeezed Casimir’s shoulder again, whispering, “Calm.”
“How would we know if they made it into the safe room?” Destrain asked.
The little shit laughed, saying, “We call them. There’s an emergency phone in the room and even sleeping quarters.”
“What the hell is a mine doing with sleeping quarters, or a safe room for that matter?” Wyndingo asked.
“As your highly-strung man there has said…” Clint pointed to Casimir, “…this mine has possibilities of radiation leaks. As a result, I insisted that this room be built for instances like this. It allows us the time we need to get into the mine and keep the men safe, so we can do our job from out here. Trust me. If your men are in the safe room they’ll be alright.”
Casimir was going to show the little fucker ‘high strung’ in about two seconds if he didn’t take that smile off his face.
“But, what if your men aren’t awake, or alive, to even tell Sut and Logan about this safe room?” Destrain asked.
Clint smiled. “Then we call them and let them know. There’s an emergency phone in the room. I wanted it installed so we could contact the miners in case of an emergency. I knew it would give us a better idea about injuries and keep them posted on our progress in getting them out of there. Are any of the men inside shifters or other paranormals?”
“Sut is a silver fox shifter and Logan is a shifter as well,” Nick quickly answered.
It didn’t go unnoticed by Casimir that Nick didn’t expound on Logan’s animal. It was a secret they all held close to their chests knowing that Logan could shift into a unicorn. They were very magical beasts, and many had even thought they were a myth. The day Logan had shifted to save the life of a god, had shocked the hell out of everyone. Shit, if Logan was okay, wouldn’t he have shifted and gotten them all the fuck out of there?
Clint just nodded, but Cas could see the man had also taken notice that Nick had left out the man’s animal.
“But, how do we know that wherever they are trapped is anywhere near this safe room to even hear the phone?” Destrain asked.
“Good question, King Destrain. The answer is, I have no idea. All I can say is we try the phone first, then work on figuring out their location. Which, if you think about it, if they do answer, then I will be able to pinpoint their location, so the call would be the best place to start.”
Looking at Illan, Casimir indicated for them to step out of the tent for a second.
Once outside, Cas whispered, “Logan has to be hurt, Illan. If he was okay he would have shifted and gotten them all out of there by now.”
“I was thinking the same thing when Nick was talking about them being shifters. I just hope Jensen doesn’t think about it, because he’s already about to lose his mind,” Illan responded.
“I want to talk to Sut, Illan. He needs to know that I’m here and I’ll do anything to help get him out of there,” Casimir insisted.
“Cas, I know that you and Sutton are going through a hard time. Now might not be the—”
“Illan, my mate broke away from our mating. I need to talk to him. I need him to know…” Casimir couldn’t finish what he wanted to say. The thought that his mate might die without knowing how much he loved and wanted him was killing Casimir. He had been a fool to allow his past to come in between him and his mate, no matter how bad things had been. Sut didn’t deserve to possibly die without knowing how he truly felt about him. Sut deserved to know that Cas really did love him.
Illan nodded and directed him back into the tent.
Going inside, Casimir asked, “Where’s the phone you were talking about for us to call them?”
“It’s in the shack about a half mile from here. We wanted to make sure communications weren’t close in case of an explosion or collapse,” Clint stated.
“Damn it, I wanted to plan and get started on getting them all out of there. I can’t be a half mile away from the mine and I can’t afford the manpower to have someone stay by the phone,” Wyndingo stated.
“I’ll do it,” Casimir quickly volunteered.
Dallas looked at Casimir, his anger close to the surface. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“Well, I don’t give a fuck what you think, Dallas. Wyndingo needs all hands on deck and my hands are empty. I can go out there and keep in contact with Illan in case there’s a problem. I just need to know where I’m going,” Casimir stated firmly.
“Sut doesn’t want to talk to you and he’s already going to be stressed enough,” Dallas insisted.
“You should know, since you have two mates, Dallas, that a mate, whether claimed or not finds comfort and calm with their mate’s voice. So, just mind your own damn business,” Casimir snapped.
“Sutton is my friend and that makes him my business,” Dallas snarled, getting in Casimir’s face.
Casimir felt his dragon coming to the surface as he hissed, “And he is my mate.”
“Since fucking when? You can’t just claim the man as yours now, because he might be in there dead or dying. You lost that right when you hid him in your fucking closet,” Dallas argued.
“What the fuck are you talking about? What closet?” Casimir asked angrily.
“The one you refused to come out of to claim Sutton!” Dallas shouted.
“Enough!” Illan demanded, using that tone he used when calling to all dragons.
Everyone in the room went silent and most bowed their heads. Destrain laughed, saying, “You need to teach me that trick for when Tobias is getting out of hand.”
“Hey!” Tobias shouted.
Shaking his head, Illan said, “Casimir is going to be our go-between. Wyn, you work with Clint to figure out a way for us to get into that mine, and Cas is going to go and start calling the safe room. If they’re in there, they should answer right away and we can get t
he information Clint needs. If not, then hopefully Sut or Logan will hear the phone ringing and it will help them find the room.”
Clint pointed to the map. “We’re here…” dragging his finger to the left, he continued, “The shack is here.”
With a jerking nod, Casimir took off out of the tent and made sure he was far enough away before calling out to his dragon. He felt his body prickling as the porcupine style needles covered his body and grew until his five-headed blue dragon formed and he was able to extend his large wings and take flight.
Casimir didn’t know how much he had needed his dragon right now until he shifted. He felt a calmness wash over him and he closed his eyes for just a moment, picturing his sexy mate. Remembering the first time they met at Rhys’s house, and how forward, sexy, and full of life Sutton had been, but he had been a butthead and had shied away from the man. When he had got a scent of Sutton and realized that he was his mate, Cas had been spooked, but then the next time he saw Sutton again in the club, Casimir thought he had died and gone to the heavens when he heard such a lyrical voice. It had made Cas’s cock hard within seconds. When Casimir had turned to see where such a beautiful voice was coming from, he about swallowed his tongue when he realized it was his mate.
Sutton was a foot smaller than Cas’s own six feet eight inches. Where Cas was hard muscle, Sutton was slim and toned… a runner’s build. Casimir’s fingers had itched to run through the man’s silver hair with scattered black strands. It wasn’t long, but it wasn’t short… just long enough to hold onto when the man gave him a blow job.
Then he had looked into Sutton’s burnt amber eyes with sparkles of red flickering, telling Casimir the man had a bit of temper that would be sexy as hell to see, and Cas was a goner. He knew this man was his mate before he even got that wonderful scent of pine mixed with butterscotch. Simply delicious. He knew in that moment that he couldn’t hide from his mate and that he had to have him.
Sutton had come to him that very night. They had spoken, both agreeing they wanted to really get to know each other before completing their mating. However, they hadn’t been able to stop themselves from making love that first night.
Both of them had busy schedules, but they would get together at least once a week, make love from the second they got to the hotel room until the next morning when they would have to leave once more, only stopping long enough to order room service and feed each other in bed, talking about their pasts. Well, Sutton had talked, Casimir listened. He learned about how Sutton had met Nick and the others and joined the fire department in Pennsylvania, and how the humans had been getting nosier and pushing into their territory more and more, until Nick had told them it was time to pack up and go. Jett had talked so much about Crystal that originally they had planned to move there, until Nick had spoken with Illan and Destrain and was asked to head up one of the fire houses in Maddox.
Casimir would laugh at the stories Sutton told him about Gage and his promiscuous ways. Apparently, the man didn’t care if it was a man or woman when it came to sex. He just enjoyed sex that much. Then, he talked about his best friend Logan and the crazy calls they had gone on, and one by one Casimir had learned about the others… Ronin and Devonte. From the way Sutton talked, he knew these men weren’t just coworkers and friends, but Sutton’s family. He told Cas how his mom had died and his dad still lived in Pennsylvania, though he was trying to talk the man into coming to Maddox to join him, but his dad was a stubborn ass… Sut’s words, not Cas’s.
Damn, should I call his dad and let him know Sutton was in trouble?
Deciding it might be best to find out what Sutton’s situation was first, Cas went back to his memories of those glorious days with his mate.
Casimir should have known that things were getting wonky between him and Sut when his mate asked him why he never spoke about his family. It was true, every time Sutton had asked about his life before coming to Maddox, Casimir had only talked about his life with the pixies and diverted their conversation away from the days before the great war in the best way he knew how, just like he had done when Sutton had asked when they were going to tell their friends and family about them. Things had come to a head when they were at the hotel Dallas’s mate, Baxter, owned, and it had caught on fire. Sutton had wanted to stay and help the people, but Casimir hadn’t wanted them to be seen together and asked why they were there. It had been the last straw for Sutton.
Seeing the shack Clint had talked about, Casimir quickly landed, shifting before his paws even hit the ground. Rushing inside, Casimir saw the phone and picked it up, pressing the button Clint had told him about.
The ringing started immediately as Cas urged, “Come on! Come on! Someone answer damn it!”
The phone continued to ring and Casimir shouted, “Fuck!”
Slamming the phone back on the cradle, he pulled out his cell and called his brother.
“Illan.”
“It’s me. No one’s answering, so I’m going to keep calling until someone does. I’ll let you know when I get someone on the line,” Casimir stated firmly.
“Damn. Okay, the second someone answers, call me. The drills we’re going to need along with a specialized tent to cover the drilling site is on the way and should be here soon. When you talk to them, we need to know where the collapse is and what shape the mine itself is in. The stability, air quality, injuries… whatever you can learn,” Illan directed.
“I’ll let you know when I talk to someone,” Casimir said, hanging up and picking up the other phone calling into the mine once more.
CHAPTER 5
Sutton had been sitting there monitoring the four injured men, trying not to think about the fact that one of those injured was his best friend, and they were trapped in a dark mine filled with uranium. Although the dust had settled, that didn’t mean that radiation hadn’t filled the room.
“Damn, what if I lose my hair? I love my hair, or oh, fuck me, what if my little swimmers can’t swim anymore? Not that I have to worry about getting Casimir pregnant, but still, I might want to use a surrogate someday,” Sutton said out loud, just needing to hear a voice even if it was just his own.
“Th-thought… you… g-gave… up… on…h-him,” Logan stammered, freaking Sutton the hell out.
Rushing to Logan’s side, Sutton cried, “Logan, you’re awake. How’re you feeling?”
Logan coughed, rasping, “Like a mine fell on me.”
“Very funny. Just don’t move. I didn’t see anything except that bump on your head, and I know you have a concussion, but we don’t know if there might be other injuries,” Sutton anxiously said.
Logan nodded, saying with a rough voice, “Can’t move my legs.”
Sutton quickly looked at Logan’s legs, squeezing one, then the other. “Can you feel that?”
“No. Need… t-to… sssleep,” Logan muttered.
Sutton quickly shouted, “No! Logan, you have to try and stay awake! Logan!”
Logan’s eyes were already closed and he wasn’t waking up.
“Shit! I have to find a fucking way out of here,” Sutton snapped out loud.
Looking at the four injured men, then turning left and right, Sutton knew he had to do something. By now the fire department had to be here and working on a way to get to them. Sut didn’t know much about mining, but he had done some research when they first moved to Maddox. He was surprised when he discovered they had uranium mines still in working order. He knew that they had to be really careful, because the slightest spark could set the mine off like a atomic bomb, so this meant they would have to go slow, which also meant they would be stuck here for a while. The positive thing was that uranium mines weren’t deep underground. That meant the rescuers wouldn’t have far to drill. However, they had to know where the hell they were in here before they even started the process.
Knowing what he needed to do, Sutton looked at the four unconscious men again, and said, “Okay guys, I’m going to go and see if there might be another way out of here. I
’ll be back as quick as I can.”
Undressing as quickly as possible, Sutton shifted into his silver fox. He loved his fox. His animal was so pretty with his all black ears, and silver with black strands covering his entire body all the way down his tail, until it came to the tip which was all white. He was much more plush than other types of foxes, which was what made him so much prettier than the other kinds. Okay, they were his thoughts, but he was entitled to them since he was a silver fox, damn it.
Sutton, quit stalling and start moving. He ordered himself.
Slowly, maneuvering carefully he squeezed through a few small spaces, then made his way deeper into the mine, through one tunnel, and then another, but Sutton didn’t see anything. No way out at all, and no light to indicate there might be an opening. Well crap.