CHAPTER FIVE
Iwalked alongside Lucas, taking in the beauty of the coastline. The sun was shining down on us, casting a warm glow over the rocky cliffs and the sparkling water below. Thankfully, Lucas had returned where he had left his clothes and then came back up onto the bluffs fully dressed. He hadn’t shown any kind of aversion to the cold or to walking around naked, but I was glad he’d put on his clothing. It made it rather hard to concentrate on the beautiful surroundings otherwise, and I wanted to. The whole place just thrilled me. The wind whipped my hair around, and I almost felt like I could jump off the cliff and fly on it. I could hear the surf raging below. The water hadn’t been that choppy before, but Lucas explained that this was a part of the island where winds and currents worked together to create a permanent spot where the water was wild. I rather liked it, and I found the crashing waves calming, though peering over the edge of the cliff and seeing the white water below did have me walking a little farther from the edge as well.
Lucas was a wealth of knowledge when it came to the wildlife on the island. Normally quiet and reserved, he came to life out here in his natural environment. He seemed to glow with a contagious enthusiasm as he pointed out different types of birds, picking out unmistakable silhouettes and describing their characteristics in great detail. As we looked out over a cluster of islands, Lucas pointed to a small rocky island nearby. The surface appeared to be moving at first, but then I made out the dozens of harbour seals sunbathing and moving about.
“Seals and sea lions! This place is incredible, Lucas,” I gushed.
His mouth twitched, and he looked back out at the seals. “There are a few species of them around here. You can identify these ones by their small size and round heads. We saw the Steller sea lions earlier, but we sometimes also get the northern elephant seals. They are really huge. You should have heard them during mating season. They roar like real lions.”
I shook my head, becoming more and more amazed at this walking encyclopaedia. With his close-cropped hair, tattoos, and piercings, he wasn’t the kind of man you’d think would be interested in this kind of stuff. He wouldn’t have looked out of place in a motorcycle club in the heart of the city, but his trousers were the cotton kind designed for walking that zipped off at the knee, and he wore a thin fleece and a padded windproof jacket on top in a camouflage design that enabled him to stay hidden in human form when he wanted to watch the wildlife. Out here, he was almost chatty and much more relaxed, and it was hard to reconcile this Lucas with the dark dominant one in the bedroom. His passion for wildlife was contagious, and I found myself getting more fascinated by everything he told me.
I couldn’t help but feel a sense of peace and tranquillity wash over me as we walked, but despite the serene surroundings, my mind couldn’t help but wander back to the revelation I had shared with Lucas earlier. Lucas hadn’t reacted like Maverick. He’d wanted details of exactly what my father had allowed, what his alphas had done, how many times, and over what time period. It had felt a bit like an interrogation, and at first, I had been confused and a little disturbed by Lucas’s interest in it.
I’d looked up when he’d finally ran out of questions, and when I saw the look on his face, I knew he wasn’t getting off on it, that was for certain. He looked angry, and his eyes were gold like mine, a sure sign his wolf was fighting for control. I realised he was cataloguing the events in his mind and committing them to memory. When he’d mentioned wanting to go after those who hurt me, I almost told him who they were and who I was, but I’d held back.
Tensions between the two packs were high after Maverick cast Tessa aside to marry me, and so far, I had no idea if they even knew who he’d chosen instead. Ethan’s threat wasn’t an empty one. The High Rocks Pack’s alpha would not appreciate the insult of having his daughter cast aside, even if he was currently playing the understanding friend to Maverick. But if my father found out it was me who scuppered whatever plans he’d had for uniting the packs? I shuddered at the thought. He would come after me with all the force of the pack, and even though I knew Maverick and Lucas would protect me, people would get hurt, and I couldn’t have that on my conscience, especially since I was still keeping secrets from them.
Lucas must have sensed my discomfort, because he didn’t push me to talk about it anymore, and I was grateful for the comfortable silence I could keep as he talked about his island.
As we rounded a bend in the trail, Lucas suddenly stopped and pointed to a large rock formation in the distance. “That’s the Devil’s Chimney,” he said.
I squinted, trying to make out the details of the formation. As we got closer, I realised that it wasn’t just a rock formation, but a cave. The land had dipped here, taking us closer to sea level again, and I could see dangerously sharp rocks littered around this part of the coastline. Violent surf filled the cave, blowing the white water up through an opening and making it look like a whale’s blowhole. My curiosity was piqued, and I moved closer, trying to get a better look.
“I found the petroglyphs etched into the rock around the blowhole when I was a kid,” Lucas said, noticing my interest.
I looked up at him, trying not to let my excitement show. “There are petroglyphs here?”
He nodded and led me closer to the hole. “Around the hole. I like to think they might have been some kind of protection spell to stop someone from falling in.”
I looked at him, raising my eyebrows, and he flashed me a quick grin. “Or it could have been to lure unsuspecting walkers to their deaths.”
I shook my head and leaned close. “Morbid.”
I could hear the roar of the water rushing far beneath us, fed over and over by the colossal waves that battered the cliffs.
“Whoever carved them must have got pretty wet,” I observed, darting back as the water blew out of the hole again.
I was a little disappointed. Part of the reason I’d been so keen to come on the tour as soon as possible was because I’d realised when I’d been talking to Kathy that the tour would take me right past the coast where the third part of the map had indicated the fourth location would be. The symbol on the map had merely been a wavy line with a curved lump on top and what looked like a small tree. I’d had no idea what it could symbolise, but when Lucas had mentioned petroglyphs, I’d got quite excited. The carvings didn’t look anything like the ones I’d been collecting so far, and they seemed much older too, though they could have just been worn away quicker because of the location.
A thought struck me. “How big is the cave?”
“It’s a fair size, actually,” Lucas replied, perching on a nearby boulder. I did the same, far enough back that I only caught a light spray on my face when the wind blew.
“You’ve been inside? Can we go in?”
He shook his head. “Absolutely not, my inquisitive little omega. It’s dangerous.”
I raised my eyebrows and gave him a sceptical look. “You don’t often come across as a guy who’d avoid doing dangerous stuff.”
He gave me a hard stare. “I don’t, but I’m not about to subject you to any.”
I decided to redirect the subject back to the cave. “When were you down there?”
“When we were kids. Maverick nicked a boat and wanted to take her out, and I wanted to see if the devil really did live down here.” He shrugged. “Even Jaxon wanted to see inside. He reckoned there was pirate treasure inside.”
My mouth fell open at this sudden revelation. “Pirate treasure? Like Spanish gold and Jolly Rogers?”
Lucas rolled his eyes. “Don’t get too excited. It’s a complete myth. Pirates never came this far up the coast, but Jaxon was into all the old stories, and he reckoned he’d heard a myth that talked about pirate treasure from one of the original tribes who lived here back then.”
“So there could actually be treasure down there...”
“Like I said, pirates never came this far north. It’s a kid’s story. Plus, the cave was supposed to be haunted by the ghosts of the pirates. I think some ancient mothers decided to spread a little story to keep their kids away from here.”
“But it’s possible that someone did come this far north and we just didn’t know about it.”
“It’s possible, but it would be a long trek from Central America, and you’re talking thousands of miles to come to Desolation. There are plenty of other places to watch sea lions, little omega, or to bury treasure along the way.”
“I suppose.” I was itching to tell him and wanted so badly to get him on board. With everything he knew about the island, Lucas would have made a perfect partner, but it would have brought up more questions than I was ready for. I looked down into the dark hole, listening to the roar down below. “What did you see in the cave when you went in?” I asked.
“It was a long time ago,” Lucas said. He shoved off the rock and walked towards the hole, bending to scoop up a small rock. He waited until after the next water burst, then leaned forwards and dropped the rock down the hole. I waited to hear a splash, but instead I heard the echo of a rattle of stone as the pebble bounced along hard rock.
I jumped down and wandered over to where Lucas stood. “It’s not flooded.”
“No. The section of cave where this leads to is on a steep slope of broken rock and rubble. It’s not the cave flooding you need to worry about, it’s that once you’re trapped in there, there’s no way of getting out until the next low tide.”
“But surely that happens every twenty-four hours?”
“Normal low tide, yes, but the water only actually gets low enough for you to get into the cave three or four times a year. Strangely, sometimes they happen only a few days apart. It depends on a range of factors.”
“Oh, I see.” I did, and my thoughts of coming back at low tide to check out the cave were fading fast. “How long does it last for?”
“What do you mean?” He eyed me warily.
“When you came, the low tide must have lasted for a decent amount of time if you were able to get into the cave, check it out, and then get out again.”
Lucas let out a short laugh that was more of a bark. “Well, yes. Technically, you have a window of about six hours between low and high tide, but the way the cave fills up, it’s more like an hour before you’re trapped there. We did get in, but Jaxon mucked up the tidal times. We managed about twenty minutes before we realised the tide was coming in fast, and we barely made it out. Like I said, bloody dangerous.”
“I take it you didn’t find pirate treasure then?” I grinned.
“Nah, just a dark, damp cave and some more petroglyphs. Apparently ancient inhabitants of the island had a death wish.”
“There are petroglyphs down there? Are you sure they weren’t just scratches on the wall from driftwood or something?”
This time it was Lucas’s turn to raise his eyebrows. “Scratches from driftwood?”
I blushed, realising how dumb that sounded.
“No, definitely petroglyphs. Jaxon wanted to report them to the committee that heads ancient sites on the island, but I persuaded him not to.” He gazed out over the sea, a vacant look on his face.
“Why didn’t you want him to?” I asked.
Lucas shrugged. “There are plenty of ancient sites here, and tourists flock to most of them. Sometimes it’s nice to keep things sacred. Private.” He sighed. “This is where my father died.”
“What?” I blinked. “Here? Then why did you bring me...”
“I don’t know. I was trying something, I guess.”
“Trying what?” I asked, moving closer to him.
“I hate this place and have done ever since I was a kid, since he... fell.”
“He fell? From the cliff? That was the accident?”
Lucas shook his head. “He fell into the cave.” He gestured at the dark hole in front of him.
I stared at him, and then at the hole near where we stood. “He fell in there. Did he drown then?”
Lucas shook his head. “No, the fall killed him. Broke his neck.”
“Oh moons, Lucas, I am so sorry. You should have said something. We didn’t need to come here.”
“I did. Somehow, having you here makes it easier. I haven’t been back here since it happened. I think I needed to see it again.”
I slipped my hand into his without thinking, but he immediately snatched his away. “Sorry,” I murmured.
“Your hands are cold. I just can’t... Not when it’s cold.” He looked out over the sea, and I could feel him shutting down again and pulling away.
“Lucas, don’t do that.”
“Don’t do what?”
“Pull away. I told you what happened to me, and you shared your past too. Don’t close yourself off again. I won’t touch you if you don’t want me to, but don’t pull away from me either.”
He nodded and took a breath as if he was going to say something, then his eyes flicked over towards the cliff, and he gestured towards the beach. “The tour boat operator is back. We should go.”
I didn’t argue since there was no point and he was right. We couldn’t keep the guy waiting. I followed Lucas down the path to the beach, my mind tumbling over caving accidents, low tides, and pirate treasure.
Later that night, I lay in bed, wrapped in Maverick’s arms. He was dozing, and I was warm and cosy, my head resting on his broad chest. The heat of his body warmed me, even though we hadn’t pulled the covers over us yet.
I was still trying to work out how to get into that cave. Lucas had disappeared as soon as we returned to the cabin, handing me over to Maverick before muttering something about a job and disappearing into the woods. I’d let him go, understanding all too well the need for solitude when memories came to haunt you.
“What’s on your mind?” Maverick murmured, a deep rumble in his chest as he spoke.
“What do you mean?”
“I can hear the wheels whirring from here. What’s bothering you, Nova?”
I decided to tell him at least part of it. “When Lucas and I went on that tour this afternoon, it took us up the coast to this small beach, and the driver left us for a while. We went for a walk and ended up at the Devil’s Chimney.”
I immediately felt him tense and wondered whether I shouldn’t have said anything. It was his father who had died up there too.
“Lucas went to Devil’s Chimney?”
“He took me there, said he wanted to show it to me,” I replied, curling my fingertips around the sprinkling of dark hair on his chest.
“Wow, I didn’t think Lucas had been there since...”
“He hasn’t, apparently.”
“So you know?” Maverick asked. “About what happened there?”
I nodded. “Lucas said that’s where your dad died, and that they didn’t find his body for days until the tide went down.”
“Is that all he said?” Maverick inquired after a moment or two of silence.
“Pretty much. I think he was trying to explain how dangerous it was when I asked if we could get into the cave to see the petroglyphs down there.”
Maverick sighed. “He didn’t tell you the whole story then.”
I raised myself up on my elbow, looking down at him. “There’s more to it?”
Maverick nodded. “Did he tell you about Jaxon’s idea about there being treasure down there?”
“He did.”
“Well, Jaxon wouldn’t stop going on and on about it. He was convinced it was down there, and we just hadn’t had time to look properly. The rest of us ignored him, but Lucas used to worship Jaxon—not as much as our dad, but as far as he was concerned, Jaxon was never wrong. So one day, he got up really early and stole a boat.” Maverick paused, shifting himself up the bed so he sat up against the headboard, and then he pulled me back into his arms.
I leaned against his shoulder, picturing a young Lucas going off on his own.
“He wanted to find the treasure for Jaxon, wanted to prove himself, so he looked at the tides and headed out, but he was still young, and he hadn’t calculated properly. It took him longer than he realised to reach the beach when the tide was out and didn’t know it was already coming in.”
“Oh no... But he went in?”
Maverick nodded. “He went to search the cave, but he got trapped. The tide came in, and he couldn’t get out. He’s always been one for the outdoors, and he often roamed the woods on his own or with us or his friends, so it wasn’t unusual for him to be out all day. I remember Mum getting a little concerned when he didn’t come home for dinner, but he could have been at a friend’s place and not told us. By midnight, we had half the pack out combing the woods. Eventually, Dad sent us all to bed, and when Jaxon went into his room, he found a note from Lucas saying where he’d gone and why.”
I felt sick at the idea of a child missing for that long, and the pain his family must have gone through when he hadn’t come home. “Poor Lucas, to be trapped down there in the dark, alone all that time...”
“You don’t know the worst of it yet,” Maverick said, his voice grim. “Dad went out after him. He wouldn’t wait for anyone else to get back from the search, though he left messages to say what he thought had happened. He was an experienced climber, and we think he’d planned to abseil down into the cave to bring Lucas out, but something went wrong, and he fell into the cave, breaking his neck.” Maverick went quiet for a moment, and the horrible truth suddenly sank in.
“Lucas said they didn’t find his body for days...”
Maverick nodded, pain etched across his face. His arms tightened around me, and I let him pull me closer for whatever comfort it would give him. “The pack went out the next morning once they learned where he’d gone. They found the ropes straightaway, of course, but they couldn’t get to him. The tide was fully in. He’d dislodged some rocks when he’d fallen in, and the chimney had narrowed, so no one could fit down there to get Lucas out—not that there was anyone else who knew what they were doing back then. Now we have a few people trained in rescue situations for emergencies like that one. Asher is one of them.”
“So how did Lucas get out?” I asked, not sure I wanted the answer.
Maverick sighed. “He didn’t. They had to wait until the low tide again. We knew it was only a couple of days later, and they lowered blankets, food, and water down to him. He was safe from the water but constantly wet from the spray. By the time the tide was low enough to get into the cave and we got him out, he was a shadow. They found him curled up next to our dad’s body, and all the food and blankets were left where they’d been dropped. He’d ignored all of them, just staying close to my dad the whole time.”
I stared at Maverick in horror. “He was down there with your father’s body all that time?”
“Yes. In the dark, on his own. He never spoke once, never called up to reassure anyone he was okay, never cried or screamed the whole time. They warned us he could be dead too, but he wasn’t.” He took a breath. “They took him to the hospital. There was nothing physically wrong with him, but he caught pneumonia, and he wouldn’t speak.”
“He didn’t want to talk about it. I can see that,” I murmured. I knew trauma. Sometimes talking helped, but other times it just brought the nightmare back.
“No, I mean he didn’t speak. At all. For about six years. Eventually, he turned a corner and started talking again, but he wasn’t the brother I knew. He changed, becoming darker and more prone to rage and violence. How he didn’t end up in prison, I’ll never know, but he managed to get himself straightened out somehow, and now here we are.”
“Fuck,” I whispered.
“Yep.”
I couldn’t sleep after that, and Maverick didn’t either. For a while, we just lay there, staring into space, me with my thoughts, and Maverick with his memories. My heart broke for that child, the one lost in the dark with only the dead for company. He’d called me his sunshine, and I was starting to realise how important that chink of light was in his dark life. I was determined to do my best and to be the light he needed. As my baby squirmed in my stomach, I rested my hand on the slight rise, and tears fell slowly for both the child I carried warm and safe inside me and the child in the dark.
Maverick seemed to sense my sadness. There was no more need for words, but in the darkness of the bedroom, he got up and lit a candle, casting a golden glow over everything. Then he took me into his arms, kissed away my tears, and made love to me until I couldn’t think anymore, chasing the shadows of the past away.