Page 31 of His UnBearable Touch

The physical impact sent a shock through their joined bodies.

“No!” She felt it, even though it was a ghost of its actual power because she knew that Valerio had taken most of the hit himself.

And down they went, like the old Coney Island rollercoaster when it seemed to drop straight down, but Allegra knew that at the bottom of this ride, there was only a hard stop.

And it was.

She landed atop Valerio, one hand trapped between them the other cracking hard against stone.

The impact wrung a cry from her, but she heard nothing from Valerio.

When she could summon up the energy to try to move a limb she turned her head so she could easily be heard, instead of face first in his chest. “Valerio? Say something.”

Silence met her ears.

And he lay still beneath her.

“No,” she twisted in his embrace and managed to pull her arm close enough to use it for leverage. “Don’t you go all stoic on me. Come on!”

Leaning her cheek on his chest she forced herself to remain silent until she could hear something in his chest. It was there. Deep down and very soft, but it was there.

“Come on now. Wake up, because I have no idea where we are, okay?”

Valerio remained motionless beneath her for a moment before she had a flash of something other than panic. “Your phone. Yes! Your phone.” She mumbled an apology in case she happened to touch something she shouldn’t. Grabbing at his coat she started to smooth her hands over the fabric and instead of admiring the cut or the work, she shoved her hand into one pocket after another and then closed her hand over his cell phone.

She found his hand and activated it with his thumb on the pad.

That was all good and fine and then she remembered she couldn’t see the screen to call anyone. Voice recognition might help but-

A sound reached her ears and sent her heart into overdrive.

When it happened a second time she began to quake. A growl. Twice.

And she knew exactly what kind of animal it was. She’d listened to enough of those National Animal Channel documentaries to know at least the bare-bones species. It was a bear.

A real-live, not-her-bear shifter kind of bear.

“Just my dumb luck.” Pushing at Valerio’s chest she started to pray out loud, interspersing it with begging. “Please wake up.”

And while she squeezed her eyes shut with her old habit, she pressed the power button to awaken the assistant.

How may I help you?

“Call Salvatore.”

No Salmon Torre found

“No,” she pushed at the button again as she heard some heavy shuffling moving forward toward her. “Call SAL-VA-TO-RE”

The phone went silent for a moment and then she heard a soft ring from the phone.

“Oh, thank God,” she crouched down beside Valerio and waited for the call to pick up.

The sounds from one part of the enclosure was joined with another from a different place in the dark. Two.

“Okay,” she whispered, “now isn’t the time to panic.”

“Pronto, Valerio.”

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