Page 52 of Welcome to Bone Town

“You’re talking to yourself again.” His smile is indulgent.

“You noticed that, huh?” Usually I’d be embarrassed that someone noticed one of my quirks, but I’m too tired and too confused by Roman to care. “I just don’t know what to make ofDr. Roman Slate. I mean, we’re stuck down here. We should be working together, but he just jumped away from me like I’m a venomous snake.”

“Give him time.” Bear looks over at Roman, who’s currently cleaning up our makeshift campsite. A good idea, since we don’t know how long we’ll be stuck down here.

I’m hopeful the rest of the team will recognize the signs of a cave-in once they get back from town and start digging, but that’s still another two days away. In the meantime, we may have to camp out here. A thought that should upset me more than it does. Except, more time in the temple means more opportunity to find Lunara’s relic. Though, I’m not sure how I’m supposed to do that without telling my mates how broken I am. Can I do that? Am I ready to?

Maybe I could tell Roman. He’s not my mate so he won’t have any personal investment. He could help me search the temple for what I need while the other guys look for a way out. Then again, I doubt he would help me, and I doubt my mates would let the two of us go off on our own.

Roman turns like he can sense us watching.

“I’m going to see if I can find a way out,” he calls from across the space.

My heart lurches. “We shouldn’t be wandering off alone.”

His brows pull down as his lips pinch together. “I won’t go far.”

I look around and realize Archer and Jax are nowhere to be seen either. “Where are the others?”

“Archer’s looking for more firewood, and Jax went to see if he can catch another snake for breakfast,” Bear says.

It makes me uneasy having all my men scattered about.

Roman isn’t yours.

My chest constricts when I remember that Roman won’teverbe mine, even if I want him to be. I thought we were at least making progress on the friend front, but if the way he’s acting this morning is any indication, I was dead wrong.

“Hey! Guys! I found something.” Archer’s excited shout reaches us right before he does. Roman halts his step.

“What is it?” Jax’s voice booms.

I startle at the sudden close proximity of him.Where the hell did he come from?When I look over my shoulder, he smiles and steps even closer, holding a very different kind of snake than last night, dripping wet. His hair is also drenched, wet droplets sliding down his bare chest to his?—

“You can’t walk around naked!” I gasp, covering my face with my hands, though I’m not sure why. It’s not like it’s the first time I’ve seen his cock. And he’s mymate. But it’s just so unexpected, and sopublic.

“But I was swimming and I like being naked.” Jax peels my hands away from my face, then uses his grip on my wrists to pull me into his body. He’s hard against my stomach, and his scent is intoxicating. A whimper bubbles out of me, perfume scents the air. Jax moans. “Especially when it gets this kind of reaction out of you.”

“Cut it out,” Roman says, but there’s not the same bite in his reprimand that there was last night.

Bear tosses Jax the jeans he’d left on the rocks, whichland half on my shoulder as I step back. As Jax takes them, he leans in and whispers, “Later.”

He steps his feet in the pants and pulls them up while I’m left wondering what he’s suggesting with that one heated word.

“What’d you find, Arch?” Bear’s question reminds me why we’re all gathered around, and I’m shocked I’d forgotten.

“A book!” Archer exclaims. Holding up a worn tome.

“Not sure I’ve ever been that excited over a book before.” Bear’s gruff voice holds fondness in his tone.

“It’s notjusta book,” Archer chastises. “I think it’s a journal, or a manual? There are symbols I’ve never seen before, and some, um, some?—”

“Some what?” I ask.

“Just look.” Archer brings the tome over to a clean, flat rock, and places it on the surface before stepping back so the rest of us can see it.

The worn leather cover spans nearly half the surface of the rock. When I hold my hands up to it, it's wider than both of them side by side, shaped more like a square than a modern book would be. But what catches my eye immediately is the symbol gracing the front of it. A golden shine twinkles from a debossed groove, telling me this book was precious.

“Lunara’s rune.” I whisper in awe.

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