Chapter 6 #2
Lucy drags in a sharp, horrified breath. “Oh my god. So us digging a hole in the sand out here was basically...”
“A massive insult,” Alex whispers. “Yeah.”
I stare down at the shallow hole we just dug, and then back up at Zan. A sick wave of guilt drops into my stomach.
Standing, I walk over to the shelf, and gently lay the folded scrap of Hannah’s fabric flat against the smooth stone.
“Thank you,” I say, looking up at him.
Zan’s ears immediately flatten against his skull. He takes a huge step backward, crossing his arms over his chest and staring rigidly out at the blowing sand.
I sniffle, swiping the back of my dust-caked hand under my nose. Operating on human instinct, I crouch back down. I just want something to mark the spot. I pull three small, flat rocks from the edge of the stone.
Even though Zan is still staring straight out at the dunes, I can see his amber eyes darting sideways, intensely tracking the rocks in my hands, even while he’s pretending he’s not looking.
I quietly stack the three rocks on the edge of the piece of fabric. The moment the last rock balances, every single warrior around the outcropping freezes.
One of the Drakav takes a sharp half-step forward. His ears pin flat as he stares down at the stacked rocks. “Kah.”
I freeze again.
“Erika,” Lucy whispers urgently from behind me. “What did you just do?”
“Nothing,” I whisper back, terrified to even move my lips. “I literally just stacked some rocks.”
“Take them off,” Alex breathes, her voice going incredibly tight. “Erika, take them off right now. They’re all staring at you.”
My gaze shoots across the agitated warriors, blindly searching for an answer. That’s when I catch sight of the tall stone pillars standing out at the far edge of the dunes. The rock markers dictating the physical boundary of the clan’s territory.
Three stones. Stacked.
My stomach drops into my boots. Oh god.
Zan quickly throws his arm out to halt the alarmed warrior.
Panic spikes in my throat as I snatch the top two stones off the stack and hurl them as far away into the dust as I can.
“Not a claim!” I push the words out, my pulse hammering.
All four of them wince, but they’re still tense.
I point at the piece of fabric. “Kah.” Then I press my hand flat against my chest, right over my wildly beating heart, and point at the single remaining stone. “Remember. I just want to remember.”
Zan stares at the single remaining stone, then back at my face. Those tiger eyes remain unreadable and I almost wish it was the dra-dam here and not him. He flashes a quick hand signal over his broad shoulder, and the warriors behind him instantly uncoil.
I leave the single stone resting on the edge of the yellow fabric, dragging in a shaky breath.
When two huge shadows detach from the mouth of the tunnel, I almost brace for another mistake.
But it’s Sorn who steps out first. He walks directly into the blinding desert glare, completely ignoring his ruined profile.
As if he can read my thoughts, Kol walks out silently behind him. He stops at the outer edge of our little gathering, amber eyes instantly finding me like a homing beacon.
A sudden flush of heat surges beneath my ribs, immediately overriding my exhaustion. The pull of his presence is so strong my stomach actually dips. My eyes actually dart to the other women, but none of them seem to notice. None of them seem to feel it. But I do.
My entire body hums, urging me to just step toward him, bury my face in his chest, and let him take over. I clench my jaw, refusing to move, and force myself to just hold his stare.
Sorn walks straight up to the center of the stone shelf, dropping to his knees on the hot rock right in front of us. He bows his scarred head, his large claws cradling a tiny sliver of white.
The bone needle.
My breath stalls.
He leans forward and gently places the delicate tool directly onto the fabric. Right in the bright sunlight.
A hot pressure instantly floods the back of my eyes.
I swallow hard against the agonizing lump in my throat, forcing myself to stay quiet.
Sorn doesn’t pull his hand back. He just stays on his knees, his claws resting gently on the smooth stone beside the tiny white needle as he slowly bows forward.
Nobody breathes.
After a long minute, Sorn rises to his feet. He turns his broad back to the grave and walks directly past Kol.
As Sorn passes him, Kol slowly inclines his head, his eyes dropping closed for just a fraction of a second. Sorn doesn’t stop walking, but his scarred chin ticks down in a quiet return.
Sorn disappears into the dark tunnel. But Kol stays.
His intensely focused gaze lingers on the fabric for a long moment. Then, slowly, his amber eyes shift right back to mine.
The raw weight of his attention pulls at the deep, aching void in my chest. Kol is supposed to be terrifying, but standing on the edge of this grave... him watching me is the only thing currently anchoring me to the ground.
I hold his intense gaze for exactly three seconds. The physical restraint it takes feels excruciating.
Then I look down. Because if I look at him for one second longer, I know I’m going to abandon my pride, walk right across the scorching rock, and bury my freezing face in the vast expanse of his chest in front of everyone.
The second I drop my eyes, I expect him to just leave. But his attention doesn’t shift.
I force my chin back up.
Kol hasn’t moved a single inch. He’s just standing there, watching me stare at the ground. The look in those amber eyes tells me he is fighting the exact same pull that I am.
He waits until I’m looking right into his eyes again. He holds my stare for one more long, breathless second.
Then, he finally turns his broad back and walks silently into the cavern.
My vision blurs and immediately, a sharp ache spikes directly behind my right eye, throbbing in time with my racing pulse.
By late afternoon, the dull throbbing at my temples has escalated into a blinding migraine.
I press the heels of my hands against my eyes, dragging in short, shallow breaths.
I’m sitting alone on a small rock ledge near one of the outer tunnel walls.
It’s a freezing, drafty spot that catches the harsh wind funneling straight down from the upper vents.
The air is so cold my teeth are actually chattering, but the freezing stone pressing against my temple is the only thing numbing the searing heat radiating through my skull.
I pull my knees up against my chest, wrapping my arms around my legs to trap whatever little body heat I have left.
I squeeze my eyes tightly shut, rocking back and forth slightly in the dark as another sick wave of nausea hits my stomach.
Every single time my heart beats, the spike behind my right eye throbs directly into my jaw.
When the air pressure behind my shoulder shifts, I think it’s Alex coming to check on me.
But I don’t hear a single footstep. Still, I feel the displacement of air as something enormous stops right next to my ledge.
I don’t open my eyes. Honestly, I physically can’t without vomiting from the pain, but I don’t need to look. I know exactly who is standing over me, because suddenly the stagnant air of the cavern smells like dry, sun-baked stone and overwhelming masculinity.
The warlord doesn’t say a single word.
He just stands there in the dark for a long minute, silently watching me shiver.
Then, there is a quiet scrape of leather against rock.
Somehow, he folds his frame into the cramped space on the ledge right beside me. He intentionally positions his huge body between me and the open tunnel, completely blocking the freezing wind.
An enormous wall of blistering heat settles against my left side.
He doesn’t reach out for me. He doesn’t touch me. Not even a little. There is exactly one inch of empty space stretching between his thick bicep and my shivering shoulder.
I stop shivering anyway.
The heat radiating off his golden skin crosses the tiny gap between us, soaking through my thin shirt.
It feels like stepping in front of an open oven.
The warmth drives the freezing chill right out of my aching bones.
I keep my eyes tightly shut, mostly because I’m too busy fighting the deeply humiliating—and very human—urge to just pitch over sideways and collapse against him.
And then, the sound starts.
It doesn’t start in my ears. It starts directly inside my own chest.
I blink, confused and trying to sort through the blinding pain in my head before I finally realize the deep, resonant rumble isn’t coming from me.
It’s coming from Kol. He’s vibrating.
I stiffen in surprise. The vibration pouring off him seems to deliberately seek my body out. It crosses the gap, sinks through my skin, wraps around my ribcage, and drops into my belly.
And just like that, the migraine behind my right eye is gone.
The total absence of pain leaves me utterly breathless.
My brain misfires trying to process it. The relief is so sudden that my muscles instantly go slack against the wall.
The vibration sinks past my ribs, past my organs, and settles directly into my spinal cord.
My fear just switches off. All I want is to do whatever he tells me to.
I slowly crack my eyes open.
Kol is sitting beside me, his broad shoulders angled outward as he glares at the dark shadows of the open tunnel.
Every thick tendon in his neck stands out.
His claws are planted so firmly on his thighs that they’re digging grooves into his own skin.
The continuous purr roaring out of his chest is so deep it actually makes the cold air between us tremble.
“What are you doing?” I barely manage to whisper.