Page 29 of Welcome to Bone Town

25

From my vantage on the dune, I watch through binoculars as my little mate slaps the angry professor. My chuckle is a deep, satisfied rumble. She’s got fire. I wish I was close enough to see the spark in her eyes. I have to admit, I may be a little jealous of the guy, I wouldn’t mind her sexy ass slapping me around a little bit. Just thinking about it has my dick getting hard. Not that it takes much to fire up my arousal since I found my mate.

The security alpha and the nerdy beta are standing at the edge of the pit talking to my mate, but they’re all too far away for me to hear. Is she giving them as much heat as she’s giving the professor?

Before I can get lost in thoughts of my fiery mate, the earth seems to open, and she’s slipping down, falling. No.No no no!I run.

Charging full speed down the dune, sand kicking up behind me, her friends’ yelling reaches me but the wordsdon’t register. There’s a ringing in my ears. The pound of my heart, faster than my feet. I need to get to her.

Fuck, why am I so far away? I’m never leaving her side again.

Now on level ground, I can’t see her anymore, which only increases my panic. The big guy they call Bear is grabbing for the beta who’s sliding down, twisting like a sand serpent, trying to claw his way to more solid footing. They clasp forearms and Bear pulls the smaller man up, falling backward as he lands on his chest, but the reprieve is short-lived. The unsteady ground gives out, sucking them toward the hole like sand in an hourglass. Down, down, down.

Faster. I need to befaster. Someone has to save her! How long has it been since she fell? The sand is still sliding and tilting.

Don’t let me be too late. Please, goddess above and whatever powers exist, don’t let me be too late.

Without hesitation, I charge straight for the pit, and dive.

26

We’re going to die.

Humans have an innate reaction when faced with danger, which must be why my body operates on autopilot as I gulp in a huge breath of air, sealing my eyes and mouth as the sand covers us completely.

Before I can parse what’s truly happening, the suction feeling turns into a freefall, then an abrupt halt. A strained grunt comes from below me, and I realize I’m laying on top of Bear, who is in turn laying on top of a large sand mound. We weren’t in this position as we were falling, so the only thing I can think is that he must have spun us so he would take the brunt of the fall.

My weight can’t be helping after he got the wind knocked out of him, so I try to scramble up, only to have his large hand grip the back of my neck, stopping me. His eyes scan my body before searching my face. He must be satisfied that I’m fine enough, because he lets me go.

“Nice of you to join the party.” We both whip toward Roman, who apparently has lost his ever-loving mind if he thinks now is a good time to joke.

“Did you hit your head in the fall?” Cora’s retort tells me she also thinks his behavior is out of character. That, or she still isn’t over their little spat that caused this whole thing.

Bear and I sit up, then carefully slide down to the stone floor where Roman and Cora are. We’re in some kind of room, or hallway, it’s hard to tell with only the dim light from the hole above us.

“Are you guys ok?” Bear asks.

Before any of us can answer, someone else comes flying through the hole we just fell through. He tucks and rolls down the mound of sand like he’s some kind of athlete, then pops back up to his feet. His fall dislodged even more sand. It’s pouring down, the whole ceiling collapsing.

“Run!” He yells, charging toward Cora and grabbing her hand while pulling a flashlight off his belt.

During a psychology class in undergrad, we learned about the four Fs: fight, flight, fawn, and freeze. I always thought I fell into the flight or fawn categories, but apparently I have never faced real danger. Turns out, I freeze.

I stand there gaping as stones start to fall from the ceiling, blocking out the light. The stranger runs past, dragging Cora with him. Roman’s right behind them, but I can’t move.

A meaty hand grips the neck of my shirt and spins me away from the avalanche, nearly throwing me forward.

“Here!” the strange man shouts, turning out of sightand taking the small light with him. Bear keeps his hand on my neck as we run, and it’s the only thing that keeps me grounded to the moment.

Once we turn, everyone stops, seemingly safe under a heavy archway. We’re all bent over, coughing from the plum of dust, catching our breath. The small light from the stranger’s flashlight is cast downward, illuminating nothing more than the stone floor, all the sunlight gone.

My breath comes in stuttered gasps.

“Everyone… okay?” Bear asks for the second time.

“Yes?” Cora answers like she isn’t sure. “But…” She pulls a penlight from the little bag strapped across her body and points it back the way we came. Wherever we are, there’s no chance of getting back out that way.

We’re trapped.

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