Page 53 of Own to Obtain

She turned, twisting herself onto her back and was shocked to see that behind him were a large number of rock slabs. Kardos was on his elbows and knees, creating a space for her underneath him, but the rocks were on his back. He was holding them up!

“Kardos,” she said more urgently, pushing her hand into his chest.

A growl came from the Alpha and he breathed heavily before he spoke. “Are you hurt? Did any of them hit you?”

Shaya wriggled each part of her body, feeling for any pain, but there was none. “No.” Clearly he had grabbed her and pulled her under him in time, but the rocks obviously hit him. It was lucky that none had hit his head, otherwise he certainly wouldn’t be conscious.

“What about you? They must have hit you hard, Kardos.”

“They hit my back,” Kardos said. “It is painful, but I can hold them.”

The question was, how many rocks was he holding up and how heavy were they? “But for how long?” Shaya asked tentatively.” If you’re hurt we need to—”

“Don’t worry. The rocks might shift. Or my team may come back and search for us if it is safe for them to do so.”

Shaya was quiet as the panic slowly rose in her. She could hear the whipping wind faintly in the distance. If the blizzard was right on top of them then the team wouldn’t be able to come back for now. Hadn’t Kardos said that the blizzard could last weeks? “You need help, Kardos,” she said, trying not to let the panic enter her voice. “It’s impossible to stay here for that long. What if your back is broken?”

“If it were broken, I wouldn’t be able to hold anything up,” Kardos reasoned. “And I will not let anything happen to you, Shaya. I won’t let you be crushed.”

“I don’t care about that,” Shaya said, the panic finally breaking into her voice. “I don’t want you hurt.”

Kardos leaned in and pressed a kiss on her mouth, and immediately the feel and taste of him calmed her.

“You are more important than I am,” he murmured. “They will come for us as soon as they can, and as long as they find you alive, everything will be okay.”

“And what about you?” she breathed.

Kardos kissed her again. “Try to stay still and conserve your energy,” he said.

Shaya immediately realized that she was making him use extra energy to talk to her, so she quietened, tears filling her eyes as she looked up at him.

Lifting her hand, she stroked his beard again, taking comfort in the way it felt rough on her fingers.

Kardos sighed heavily at her touch. His head tilted and the corner of his mouth quirking up into a small smile. “You told me I was beautiful.”

Shaya turned her head to the side as she tried to smother an embarrassed grin, unable to believe she had said something so bold to him, but it was not as though it wasn’t true. “I did,” she said as she looked back at him. “You will always be beautiful to me.”

“Beauty is for females.”

“And exceptionally handsome males,” Shaya added playfully, twisting the strands of his beard around her finger.

The moment hung between them, their eyes on each other, and the flickering in her chest happened again.

“Did you feel that?” she whispered.

“Yes.”

“It is returning.”

“I hope so, Shaya.” Kardos leaned his head down and tucked his face into her neck, breathing in deeply as he brushed his lips against his claiming bite. “I need it back.”

They stayed in that position for a long time. Shaya couldn’t tell how long, but the sound of the blizzard raging beyond the rocks didn’t soften or fade. The rocks around them gently cooled until the pocket of air they were in became icy. As time drifted on, the cold began to seep through her furs and deep into her skin.

When she felt Kardos shivering, she rubbed her hands over the parts of his body she could reach, but she knew she wasn’t making much difference. His furs were as big as hers. If the cold was seeping through that it was too cold for her to do anything about it.

Suddenly she remembered.

Patting her body, she searched the potion bottles he had given her. Pulling one of them out, she uncorked it and took a sip before nudging Kardos to tip some into his mouth.

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