Page 102 of Desired for Her Blood
I glide over to Axe and put my hands on his shoulders. “You okay?”
“Me?” He shakes his head. “I nearly killed you. And I turned you into…into something you’re not. And it’s you who was just brutally fucked and forced to climax.” His eyes close.
“Axe.” I stroke the side of his face and kiss his forehead. “The sex—” A sense memory ripples through me, tightening my inner muscles. “The sex was exactly what I needed. Your tongue, your lips?” I lick the side of his damp face. “Magic.”
I pull back realizing I used the absolute worst word to describe how it felt for me, but Axe smiles, acknowledging my faux pas, but instantly forgiving me.
“And as for my transition…” Drawing a few long breaths, and realizing I barely need to kick to keep my head above water, I look around the small space. I can make out details I’m sure I wouldn’t be able to see before my transition, even if the space were lit—which it’s not.
Tiny flecks of mica flash in the rock, small creatures squirm inside droplets of water, and bright amber flecks spark in my shifter-love’s eyes.
Axe’s eyes have always been unique, beautiful, seemingly lit from within, but now, as I look into them deeply, it seems like they’re dancing. My perception of the world is so enhanced. It’s amazing. But I can tell Axe still regrets my change and the part he played in it.
“I don’t think this is what you want to hear,” I tell him softly, “but I feel more myself right now, than I ever have. I feel like…like I’ve just been born, orreborninto who I was always supposed to be.”
I look into his eyes and he ponders this information, and the pounding of his powerful heart ripples through the few inches of water between us.
“I understand how turning into a vampire took thingsawayfrom you,” I tell him softly. “It made you into something you didn’t recognize and despised, but for me…it’s not like that.”
“Then I’m glad.” He pulls me against him and holds me tightly.
An explosion rumbles through the rock and we all turn to look at each other.
“We must continue,” Zuben says. “Even at a fast pace, we have at least ten hours of swimming ahead of us. And if we take much longer than that, it will be dawn and we won’t be able to exit until nightfall. Except perhaps Axel, if the effect of Ember’s blood lasts.”
I kiss Axe, and then quickly move between the others to kiss Zuben and Ryker too.
We’re going to make it. I feel sure in my heart that we’re going to escape.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Zuben
Never before haveI felt more grateful for my eidetic memory. I have only traveled this passage twice—once in each direction—but feel certain of how far we’ve come and how much time has passed.
Three times we have stopped in air pockets to allow Ember a chance to breathe, but her confidence continues to grow and we have swum past the final four opportunities for air without stopping to rest.
Far behind us, the passageway rumbles, rocks falling, and I suspect that we could not return to that cave should we want to. It may not remain in any recognizable form.
That is another reason I have not allowed our group rest breaks. Our time to escape is framed, not only by the sunrise less than two hours away, but also by the collapsing passageway behind us.
Four hundred feet ahead and around a short bend lies our last opportunity to stop before we reach the well. Ember is keeping up with my pace, but I would like to give her the opportunity. And, I must admit that I would like the opportunity to see her beautiful face and perhaps allow myself to kiss her before we emerge into an unknown situation.
Stopping at the section where the top of the passage allows us to raise our heads above water, Ember and the other two men join me.
“Holy shit,” Ryker says when he comes up. “Is that bitch collapsing the aquifer behind us?” He slides his arms around Ember and she turns to kiss him.
“It sounds like that,” I answer. “And I suspect that the vibrations we are hearing are traveling through the rock and water all the way from the cave, which may no longer be there.”
I turn to Axel, but his expression is difficult to read. That cave was his home for a very long time.
“Guess there’s no turning back,” Axel says and Ember floats out of Ryker’s arms and into the bear man’s, nuzzling her head into the crook of his thick neck.
“How much farther?” Ryker asks.
“It’s not far now.” Images of the remaining journey flash through my memory. “A narrow stretch for just over a mile—” I turn to Axe “—I hope it will be wide enough for your shoulders.”
“Maybe I should go last through this bit,” Ryker says. “In case he needs a push.”
