Page 103 of Hoarded By the Dragon

I’m willing to fight for my place here, but I won’t beg for someone to love me.

My heart rate starts to pick up with adrenaline as I continue deeper, following the staircase lower into the earth.

The adrenaline soon morphs into exertion as seconds turn into minutes, until I’ve been slowly descending for more than a quarter hour. The stairs go on and on with no end in sight. My thighs start to burn, and I sit on the cool step to take a breather. My basketball-shaped belly and careful movements are taking more energy than I realized.

Or the baby is zapping my energy because it’s colder down here. Cheerful thought.

I continue my journey. The stone wall I brace myself against is icy against my hand, but it’s better than the metal railing. Right when I’m wondering if I should go back up and try another day when Kalos can carry me, the stairway opens into a cave.

The light from my flashlight travels through the dark and catches on stalactites but doesn’t reach the floor.

There’s a light switch in the center of the stair spiral, and I flip it on. The lights come on slowly, and I grip the metal railing that separates me from the edge of the steps with awe.

I was expecting a room-size situation. That isn’t what’s below the place I’ve been calling home.

Caves as far as I can see span in every direction.

Plenty of room for a dragon to live. I slowly descend the rest of the way until my thin boots crunch on wet stone.

I wander while angling the flashlight up to take in the many rock formations on the ceiling. There are some places where the rock has been broken. I squint my eyes at a wall, and my mouth drops open when I make out the deep gashes.

Claw marks.

Kalos’s dragon form may be a little bigger than a Komodo dragon after all…

My feet itch to continue exploring this place, but my guilt and the visual reminder of the dragon I’d rather not worry has me heading back to the stairs. I came down here to check that this was a good place to retreat, not to go on an adventure.

I inhale and brace my hand against a stalagmite to catch my breath before starting the long climb back to my studio. My palm slips against the wet rock. I lose balance with a gasp, sliding and lurching forward toward a mound of loose rocks.

The fall feels like I’m in slow motion, but that doesn’t change the fact that gravity is betraying me. The uneven terrain under me makes it so I can’t rebalance. I twist and use my flailing arms against more rocks to slow my fall, pushing some of the rubble Kalos mentioned. My ass hits a bigger rock and pain ricochets through my body as every loose rock in the universe cascades over and around me, digging into my legs and burying them.

The rocks stop sliding as quickly as they started, and I take inventory. My twist kept me from falling on my stomach, and fortunately none of the bigger rocks got close to hitting it. My tailbone throbs, and I probably have rock-shaped bruises all over my thighs. I may have pulled a muscle in my arm with my flailing, but the worst part is the heavy rocks biting into my thighs. A good portion of my legs are buried. The press of the cold rubble against me is tight, but thankfully not painful. I try to move, but the pressure around my ankle gets worse, the twinge of discomfort has me hissing.

I’m trapped.

“Shit,” I whisper and start to blink away tears. It could have been so much worse, but it’s hard to remember that when my heart is racing and the chill of the stone starts to permeate the canvas of my jumpsuit.

I unzip the pocket where I stored my phone, glad I didn’t put it in my back pocket.

I curse silently before tapping the contact.

“Kalos is going to be pissed.” The words echo in the space as I prepare to confess my sins.

34

KALOS

“Leave,”I hiss.

Ben freezes in his attempt to move the rocks around Katarina. He doesn’t deserve my ire. He’d been quick to teleport us here when she’d called me and confessed where she was, but my emotions are surface-level today, and her tear-filled eyes aren’t helping with the raging violence brewing. The territorial possessiveness that comes with being around her in distress and in this space are two meeting winds of destruction.

“Are you sure?” Ben asks slowly, taking a step away from Katarina to appease the vicious side of me that growls at him.

The portal that is spelled to open down here to give my dragon freedom crackles across my skin, but I push past the distraction.

Katarina’s eyes are wide, and she’s shivering. She’s half buried in a mix of rocks and mud, and there are dried streaks of dirt on her face.

She could have been down here for hours if she hadn’t been able to call, trapped and possibly injured.

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