Page 66 of Charming the Dragon
She crossed her fingers even harder and willed for the hook to hold.
Nathan took the rope in his hands and gently tugged. However, the hook didn’t come crashing down. With his gaze trained on the opening, he said, “I hear a little scraping. Let’s see if it wrapped around something sturdy or not.”
She hadn’t heard anything, which was probably a good thing. Her nerves and blood pressure were already off the charts.
He tugged a little more until there was tension. After tugging again and the rope not moving, she cheered. “It worked! Didn’t it?”
“I think so. But I’m still going to be extra careful about this.” His gaze met hers. “Are you still okay with our plan?”
The plan was for him to climb up alone and then he’d fashion a loop she could stand in and he’d pull her up.
Of course, it meant being left alone in the dim light. Underground.
You trust him, Hayley. This is the best way. Your combined weights could snap the rope.“Yes, I’ll be fine as long as you keep your promise.”
He nodded. “If I think the rope is going to give, I’ll dive toward the lake immediately.”
It was likely he’d hit the water, but there wasn’t a guarantee.
However, this was still the best chance they had. She walked over, kissed his cheek, and said, “Be careful.”
“Always, love. Always.”
She stepped back, and Nathan slowly ascended the rope. It took incredible upper body strength to keep going, and yet he didn’t look to be breathing hard.
Another unfair thing about dragon-shifters. But for once she was glad he had the advantage since they wouldn’t have this chance without it.
Watching his progress up the rope was agony. She bit off one nail and then another. It’d been years since she’d done it, and yet she needed something to keep from yelling for him to come back. Nathan didn’t need any distractions.
And so she watched, fingers still crossed on one hand, as her dragonman climbed toward their possible freedom.
Chapter Nineteen
Nathan’s muscles burned with every inch as he climbed the rope. He couldn’t imagine what it’d take for a human to do this kind of thing, and yet he knew Rafe Hartley probably could.
It also didn’t help that Nathan’s ribs ached as he moved. Getting hit by the bloody stalactite had been agonizing, and it was a miracle he hadn’t broken anything, as far as he could tell.
His dragon spoke up.Just think of how happy Hayley will be when we haul her up to the surface again. We can endure the pain for her.
The image of her relieved face made him push even harder.
When he was nearly to the ceiling, his grip slipped, and he fell a short distance as he tried to regain his hold. He grunted as the rope skinned his palms, but he managed to stop from falling down more than a few feet.
His hands throbbed, but gritting his teeth, he climbed again. He hadn’t come this far to quit now.
Eventually, he reached the opening, which was about five feet across. The second his hands gripped the edge, he drew on his last bastions of strength to haul himself up and out.
He sprawled onto the ground and stared up at the late afternoon sky, doing his best to catch his breath and ignore his throbbing palms. It was then he heard something nearby that wasn’t the normal sounds of nature—no, it was children shouting.
Scanning the surroundings, he noticed how he was in a thicket of trees somewhere outside the clan.
More children’s voices carried, and he made out the voice of Elliott Wells, son of Hudson and Nathan’s former Protector colleague, Charlie.
“Come on, Joey! You kicked the football somewhere this way.”
For a second, he wondered what the hell the children were doing so far from safety. But then he remembered there was a children’s camp going on, one with both dragon and human kids.
Which meant he could easily get help and rescue Hayley faster than on his own.
