Page 33 of The Stone Secret
He tucked the rope in his pocket, then leapt up to grab the ledge. His fingers slipped, and his boots hit the ground.
“Let me help.” I moved behind him. “Try again.”
I stepped forward to brace his ass with my shoulder as he dragged himself up and over the edge. “Whoop! We’ve got this. Now throw me the rope.” Several beats of silence followed. “Bax?”
His face appeared over the ledge. “I’m sorry, Cam. I like you, I really do. But I’ve got to do this.”
Ice filled my veins. “What are you talking about?”
“Dayn said to make sure you got left behind.”
He wanted to leave me stranded? What the… “The elite need me. They won’t leave me here.”
“Not if I tell them you’re dead.”
Ice gripped my nape. “What?”
“I’m sorry, Cameron.”
“Dammit, Bax, I’m the only Basque able to complete the team and take down the graynite alpha. You need me.”
“Dayn says the alpha isn’t a threat. Hasn’t been seen in years, and I…I have to do what he wants.”
“Why?”
“My sister…He…knows things. I have to protect her. I’m sorry. So sorry. Please forgive me.”
“No, Bax, wait!”
But he was gone. “I helped you! You bastard!”
Fuck, fuck, fuck!
I clawed at the ledge with blunt fingernails, panic taking over because every second spent stuck on this ledge was another second lost getting to extraction. I couldn’t get left behind. I wouldn’t.
My fingers burned and morphed into granite-colored talons.
What the fuck?
They melted away a moment later.
Wait…what had just happened?
I stared at my hands, willing the talons to appear, but nothing happened. Was this some kind of partial shift? Was that even a thing?
There was no time to dwell on it right now. I needed to get up this rockface and over this mountain.
If Bax told them I was dead, would they believe him? No. Serath would come looking for me regardless. He’d find me, right?
But then what? I’d be the goyle that needed rescuing. Fuck that.
No way.
Think, Cam. I had the pack which contained the compass, map, and pen knife, none of which would help me over the ledge. But…maybe the ledge wasn’t the only way up. The platform I was on extended beyond the outcrop of rocks to the right. I squeezed past, my back to the wall, to peer along the mountainside. The ledge I was on led to a small cave. I had no idea where that cave went, but it was better than leaping off this ledge and breaking a leg.
I shuffled toward it, and in a matter of moments, the ledge shrank to a space so narrow one slip would have me in free fall.
Breathe. You can do this.
