Page 32 of Snowbound with the Alpha Wolf
No mere Lupine. But Lars had not been ordinary. Still, more than ten years had passed. Surely Lars wasdead.
The mine was a dark abyss, filled with reminders of the treasure Lupines had scraped from the walls throughhard work and sweat. Veins of “dragon’s blood” seeped down walls. Adrian had explained the liquid was oxidized silver seepage that turnedblack.
Perhaps the mine could still yield silver, but she understood and appreciated Adrian’s reasons for closing it. The weight of past sorrows squeezed around her, pressing up against her body. It felt like old ghosts made their home here, though sheknew from past experience it was merely the residue of energy and old magick that remained trapped in themine.
After several minutes, the mine opened up to a large room. To their left was a wide tunnel that climbed upward and ended abruptly. Old mining equipment sat off to one side—a heavy drill, work gloves crumbled and moldy, and someboxes.
The air meter kept beeping green. Adrianwent to a switch on one support beam and switched it, flooding the chamber with additional light. It barely cut through thegloom.
“How many diedhere?”
The question came in a burst. She didn’t even want to ask, but something deep inside cried out for justice for lives she knew had been lost inside these dark, dankwalls.
“A few. Maybe a dozen. I stopped counting after that.Lars used to beat workers if they didn’t produce enough, and some were too old and frail to take it. They died here and were left in the tunnels.” A hard look entered his dark eyes. “Lars didn’t want to take away precious work time to bury thedead.”
He squatted down, picking up thegloves.
“I remember these,” he murmured, and judging from the distant look in his eye, he was in anothertime, another place. “Lars gave them to me on my sixteenth birthday. He told me if I worked the mine in twelve-hour shifts, I’d get a five percent share. And my gran could rest, stay home, never have to workagain.”
His mouth tightened as his fingers curled around the leather gloves. “I worked twenty-four-hour shifts, four days in a row. And he still didn’t pay me. The only way we couldget enough food was to smuggle it past him. He was tryingto…”
With a snort, he threw down thegloves.
Perhaps it was the intensity of the lovemaking they’d shared last night. Or perhaps he’d given her a glimpse deep into his soul. No matter. Darcy sidled up to him and clasped his cold, tremblinghand.
Standing, he threw her a startled look and then squeezed lightly. For amoment, they stood in silence, simply holding hands as if anchoring each other to the earth. Then Adrian dropped her hand. He removed his hardhat, tossed itaside.
“I hid the snow crystal up there, tucked into a corner.” He pointed to the shaft marching upward, too steep and dangerous toclimb.
“How the hell did you manage that?” shewondered.
“I threw it. There was no timeto buryit.”
This was no place for sentimental reflections or expressions of love. They must retrieve the jewel, do so quickly and then get the hell out ofhere.
Even now the oppressive weight of the air inside the mineshaft pressed against her, like walls marching toward her body. Darcy felt suffocated by the weight of past angst and memories too terrible tobear.
Shiftinginto a bat strained her power, but she stood in the cavernous room, absorbing the atmosphere. It helped and made the transition easier when she could take her time and ease into the form. Bats lovedcaves.
After removing her hardhat, Darcy closed her eyes and summoned her powers. Magick poured through her veins as she envisioned herself a bat, small and fragile-boned. Pain wracked her bodyas the transition began. Oh damn, this was going to be abitch.
Gasping, she rode through it, and Adrian’s concerned face began to cloud. And then shescreamed.
The scream died on her lips as she shifted into a large, black bat. Beating her wings, she instinctively flew away from the light, toward the darkness beckoning her in anothertunnel.
“Not that way,” Adrian calledout. “Darcy, goleft!”
The small part of her that controlled the animal’s instinct managed to turn herself around and head up into theniche.
Her eyesight was dim, but she had excellent radar, and the power of the crystal shone like a beacon. It lay on dirt at the top of the niche. About the size of a silver dollar, it pulsed with rawpower.
Darcy managed to seize the gemin her mouth. Immediately magick flowed into her. She flew back down towardAdrian.
Wow, what a rush of power. Energized, she dropped the crystal into Adrian’s outstretched palm and then shifted back. No pain, no strain thistime.
Darcy conjured clothing back on her nude body and stared at thejewel.
“That’s an extraordinary crystal. Where did Peggy getit?”
