Page 57 of Asher

“Hey! I’m your husband.” In a fit of pique, I grab the last bite of toast from his plate. “You’re not supposed to want to leave me behind.”

He smiles and leans over to kiss my cheek. “Sometimes it’s necessary to leave you behind, but I neverwantto.”

My stomach flips in excitement. He never wants to leave me? That’s a good sign… maybe he’s also thinking about making our marriage permanent. I just have to be patient and show him how I feel.

I clear my throat. “I don’t want to ever leave you either.”

Based on the way Zac coughs and Micah’s eyes widen, that might have been a little intense. But it’s okay. Garrett doesn’t seem to think anything’s weird.

“So you’re going to concentrate on being a serious treasure discoverer? We have a responsibility, you know. It’s up to us to reintroduce whatever’s in that cave to the rest of the world. It could be a forgotten part of history. Or it could help solve a crime!” His face is alight with excitement. I’m not sure whether the most credit goes to the hellhound in him or the anthropologist, but sensible, calm Garrett is nowhere to be seen.

“I’ll be a serious treasure discoverer,” I promise obediently.

“Great! And when my name is on everyone’s lips as the hellhound who changed the world, Alistair can suck it!”

“Changed the world?” Micah whispers.

“Just go with it.” I smile indulgently at Garrett. “Whatever makes him happy.”

* * *

What makeshim happy is helping to set up the lights, then insisting I take a picture of him grinning broadly and flipping off the camera, with the crates and the wall behind him.

“It’s for Alistair… and my other cousins,” he explains as he takes his phone back. “I’ll send it when we get back to the village.”

“Okay,” Zac says, looking around the group. Uncle Hal stayed home, as did one of the others, so there are only six of us. “Here’s how this is going to work. We check the crates first—visually on the outside, then we get a ladder and see if we can open one of the top ones. What happens after that depends on what we find inside. Everyone wears gloves, goggles, and a mask until we’re sure there are no harmful substances.” Although we’re not as sensitive to toxins as humans are, they can still cause problems for us. “Everything that happens from now is being recorded.” He nods toward the camera on a tripod that he set up, and then holds up his phone. “Are we ready?”

“What about the wall?” Garrett asks, pulling disposable gloves from the box Zac brought.

“Let’s open at least one of the crates first, and then we’ll get a closer look at the wall. If we’re dealing with banned or dangerous substances, we’re going to need to get the authorities in here.”

“What if this is a human cache? We can’t call in the human authorities,” Micah counters, and I smack him on the back of the head before reaching for a mask.

“CSG has a department to deal with human shit,” I remind him. “Don’t you pay attention to anything?”

“Don’t you dare start bickering now,” Garrett warns before Micah can retort. “We have a mission.” He turns to Zac. “I should be the one to go up the ladder and open a crate.”

“No!” I immediately protest. “What if there’s something dangerous in there?”

“Yeah, Garrett,” Micah echoes. “If there’s something dangerous in there, Asher would much rather his blood relatives who he grew up with get hurt instead of you.”

Someone coughs, badly hiding a laugh, but I just look at Micah. Is he waiting for me to deny that?

“Asher,” Garrett chides, and I sigh.

“Of course I don’t want anyone to get hurt. Whoever goes up”—not Garrett—“will do this as safely as possible.”

“That’s why it should be me,” Garrett says, damn him. “I can shift if there’s a reason to worry and jump down a lot faster and more safely than any of you can.”

I hate that he’s right.

“Let’s look at the crates before we decide this,” Zac says, adjusting his goggles. “We haven’t even got that close to them yet. I’ve got this gadget that detects known poisons and toxins, and it’s going to have the final say. Could be that nobody’s going up the ladder.” He glances around. “Everybody got their safety gear?”

Micah leans over to me. “We’re going to lock him outside later, right?”

“In his underwear,” I agree. Garrett’s hellhound ears must hear us, because he glances over and tsks, but he’s smiling.

Zac picks up a fancy-looking handheld doohickey with a lot of buttons and a little screen, starts filming with his phone, and leads us toward the crates, heading for the ones at the farthest end from the wall.

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