Page 16 of The Bear's Chosen Mate
“Hey, Kaylee.”
Even from a lot of floors away he heard her gasp.Words followed, albeit muffled.“James?No, you need to stay away.”
“I need to be with you, Kaylee Kat.Don’t worry.I’m in my right mind this time.”He caught the thick cable in both hands.“I’ll be landing on the roof of the elevator in a minute.Expect a bang, okay?It’s just me.”
“I’m scared.”The confession came out softly.“So scared.”
“I’ll make it better,” he promised before wrapping his teeth around his flashlight and making the jump.
The slide downward would have been exhilarating if this weren’t a rescue mission.James moved quickly but tried to land as softly as possible to keep from rocking Kaylee.Poor woman was worried enough.
His feet touched down, and he quickly took the light from his mouth, unscrewing the ceiling access as he spoke.“I’m here.You’re safe.”
He lifted the escape panel out of the way and poked his head into the black box that held his woman trapped.
Kaylee was curled up in the corner, wrapped in one of his throw blankets.She held her phone in front of her like a candle, the golden light from the screen reflecting off her face.
Her worried and tear-streaked face.At the sight of her fear and sadness, his gut dropped five feet.“Oh, sugar, it’s okay.It’s all going to be okay.”
She shook her head.“I’m so sorry.”
James forced himself to chuckle as if he didn’t have a care in the world.“Nothing to be sorry about.Let me drop the things I brought, and I’ll be right with you.”
Because once he got her into his arms, he wasn’t going to let her go.
7
It had taken her minutes, not seconds, to react after being plunged into darkness.
She’d actually had to close her eyes and pretend she was just sitting in her room to be able to stop shaking enough to grab her phone and call for help.
Her inner cat was no help—not only was the creature mad at having left the warm apartment, her cat disliked dark places just as much as Kaylee did.
Although the beast would never admit it.
And now, as James dropped toward her, sadness enveloped her harder than the terror that had shaken her in the dark.
She hadn’t been able to save him.
Maybe if she was really, really lucky she could find a way to hold him off, but with them trapped together in close quarters, it was a long shot, considering what she’d heard about the mating fever.
Considering how he’d been acting before she escaped his apartment.
His feet touched down and the elevator shifted.Kaylee squeezed her eyes together and bit her jaw down to keep from crying out.
Then she was being scooped up in his arms, cradled against his body.
“I’m sorry for scaring you earlier,” he murmured.James put his back to the wall and slid downward.She ended up in his lap, legs draped over his.
He wrapped a hand around the back of her head and tugged her to his chest, then rearranged the blanket over the two of them and just held her.
After being terrified that the elevator was going to plummet to the ground, this moment of being protected was exactly what she needed.His heartbeat rang firmly under her ear, and his breathing evened out.She tried to keep pace and found herself relaxing in the darkness, guarded by the big bear shifter who’d been her friend forever.
The one about to make a terrible mistake.Oh dear.
“Hey,” he soothed, rubbing her back in circles.“It’s okay.”
She couldn’t keep the tension from returning.“It’s not okay, on so many levels.”
