Chapter 27
XANDER
“Hurry up! I’m fucking freezing!”
I could have sobbed with relief – well, I might have a bit – but instead I called on my familiar snarky coping personality.
Goddess, I was so relieved, I could have pissed myself.
Apart from the freezing cold, the conviction I was going to die, and regret over never seeing my mate again, there had been some strange noises in the distance and the cellar – dungeon -had been rumbling alarmingly.
The chain clinked as two strong arms wrapped themselves roughly around me, smooshing me to his broad chest. The big alpha’s body was shaking, and my heart soared. He didn’t need to say anything to tell me he’d missed me. Any fears I’d had were instantly swept away. I shivered in his arms.
“Fuck, you really are freezing, Xander.” Darius pulled away, tugged his sweater over his head and went to put it on me. It got stuck part way, caught by the chain around my wrist. “Shit!”
He pulled me up against him, lifting the front of our shirts so we could share body heat.
Shifters generally ran hot - when they hadn't been locked up in freezing conditions - and he felt blazing hot against my icy skin. The delicious warmth seeped into my skin and deep into my belly. He was pushing comforting pheromones at me too, I knew it from the way my anxiety levels were dropping way, way, down when I wasn’t even out of here yet.
Damn, it felt good. He felt good. I’d known in my heart that what we had was real, but having the proof of it, was something else.
Hot demanding lips pressed against mine and I opened for him, his tongue pushing in and tangling fiercely with mine. I met him with my own aggressive energy: relief, desire, love, combining in a heady combination. Our hips pressed into each other and…
Someone cleared their throat.
Instinctively, I tried to jump apart, but Darius’ strong arms held me firmly against him.
“You need the heat,” he murmured before turning to address the someone behind him.
“He’s chained to the wall.”
I blinked in surprise as our pack mage stepped forward.
Xeres pointed to the wall above my head.
Turning, I saw what he meant. Large cracks had appeared in the wall, and threatened to run all the way down releasing a slab of brick or concrete or whatever made up the wall.
One of the cracks ran from the ceiling joint, to within a couple of inches of the metal ring.
Presumably, inserting the ring into the wall in the first place had created some kind of weakness at that point.
That’s when I noticed the absence of the unsettling shudders and noises that had occupied the last 5 or 10 minutes. I’d been so thrilled at the arrival of my mate, I hadn’t even noticed when they’d stopped.
Something creaked.
Darius gave an experimental pull on the chain, glancing upwards at the ceiling, lines wrinkling his brow.
A chunk of loose debris tumbled from the top of the crack and rolled to a stop several feet away.
Some unseen communication seemed to take place between Xeres and Darius, and the mage raised his hand, palm flat, towards the wall. He nodded at Darius.
“Go ahead.”
Darius let go of me, tugging his sweater down to cover me as best he could with the chain in the way.
It still held some of his body heat and smelt deliciously of him.
I inhaled deeply, filling my nostrils with that heady alpha scent.
Fuck, it was good . And I was getting completely distracted. My pants tightened and…
A tug on the chain pulled me back to the present.
Focus . The other could wait until we were safely out of here.
I had no idea of what the situation was now.
I was still chained to the wall, the wall was crumbling - that might work for me, if it didn’t fall on me, but how much time was there before the wall collapsed?
A crack appeared across the ceiling. Darius swore as he pulled on the chain, twisting and finally yanking it. The ring moved the tiniest amount.
I grabbed onto the chain myself and, working synchronously with Darius, continued to attempt to dislodge the ring, exerting sudden pressure, then releasing and trying again. We were getting nowhere, the ring remaining obstinately fastened in the wall.
Angrily, I slammed the wall with my hand - and howled in pain.
Firstly, it was a stupid thing to do, even I knew that, but I was frustrated.
And secondly, I’d forgotten how unnaturally cold the wall was.
Touching it was like begging for freezer burn.
Surely, the temperature underground wasn’t this cold?
A horrible scraping noise dragged my attention back to the wall, where the concrete slab was separating, the fissure running down to the ground.
The heavy metal ring fell out of the gap and clattered to the ground, the chain jerking my wrist. Darius grabbed me and dragged me towards the stairs and away from the wall which was listing dangerously.
Given the angle it was leaning, it should already have fallen, but Xeres stood there with a look of complete concentration, his arm extended towards the wall.
“Go!”
Darius pushed me up the stairs ahead of him. I tried to look over my shoulder at the mage, but stumbled as Darius planted a firm hand in the middle of my back. “Hurry!” he urged, his hands around my waist lifting me easily and setting me on the next step.
Behind us, Xeres grunted. Finally at the top of the stairs, I halted, bent over, hands on my knees, chest heaving.
As I paused to catch my breath, I turned and looked back.
The mage was slowly backing away, his magic still holding up the wall.
He was half-way up the staircase, when I saw his arm shake, and his hold on the wall faltered.
The wall began to crumble, piles of dirt tumbling out behind the concrete slab as it smashed onto the floor.
Silver threads glistened in the exposed edge of the concrete.
The mage had frozen, staring at the sight before him.
The wall let out another groan. Darius bounded the few steps back down to Xeres and tugged at this robe.
The mage snapped out of whatever trance he was in, and as the two of them joined me at the top of the stairs, the rest of the wall caved in, and the dungeon was no more.