Page 329 of Shadowblood Souls
Dominic scrambles up to join me with a huff of ragged breath and a weary smile. “I think you’ve gotten even faster since the old days.”
I give him a crooked grin in return. “I’ve had a lot more motivating me.”
He balances himself carefully on the ledge and lets one of his tentacles slip over to wrap around my wrist, the monstrous equivalent of holding my hand. “What do you think about the news?”
I bite my lip, gazing down at the jungle where I can only barely make out the forms of the watching guardians now. There’s no way they can hear us up here.
The wind gusts over me as I consider my answer, whipping my braid across my neck. “I don’t know. I guess a cargo helicopter must have a decent amount of room in it—but enough for all of us?”
Dominic strokes the tip of his tentacle over my palm in a soothing gesture. “You know we might not be able to geteveryoneout all at once. I don’t even know how many shadowbloods are living here.”
Neither do I, but every part of me balks at his suggestion. I push my thoughts toward other considerations. “We’d still have to figure out a way togetto the chopper and take it over without being caught along the way.”
“Yeah.” Dominic’s mouth twists. “I guess we don’t know for sure if Jake even can set off the emergency system. And we’ll only get one chance to try that trick.”
“He’s got to make it feel like a whole earthquake. Abigearthquake.”
That seems like a lot, even for Jacob. I’ve seen him pull down two three-story buildings in one go, but nothing on the scale of shaking up an entire mountain.
Dominic chuckles roughly. “You know he’ll try, even if he practically kills himself doing it. The number of times he ran himself to the point of injury in the last few years at the oldfacility, pushing himself past his limits like he thought he was proving something…”
A melancholy cast comes over his face. I wonder how many times Dom needed to patch Jacob up after he overexerted himself.
A tickle of inspiration ripples through me. We should probably start climbing again, but I have to put the idea out there.
“Dom… You told me that you can take energy out of things even when you’re not using it to heal, right? That it makes you feel stronger, exhilarated, like my scream does for me?”
Dominic’s shoulders tense, and I reach to grasp his actual hand in the hopes of conveying that I didn’t mean any judgment in the question.
“Yeah,” he says quietly. “Why?”
“I was just thinking… if you can pass energy on to someone else to heal them, maybe you could pass it on to boost them when they’re already fine too.”
Dominic blinks at me, and understanding dawns on his face with a strange mix of hope and horror. “If I can get to Jacob at the right moment, maybe I can pump up his powers.”
“It could be worth trying. If you’re okay with it.”
He gives both my fingers and my wrist one last affectionate squeeze and turns toward the cliffside again. “If it would get us out of here, I’d try just about anything.”
I take the second half of the climb slower, making sure I don’t get too far ahead of Dominic. I still reach the upper ledge a couple of minutes ahead of him.
Stretching out my arms, I peer over the craggy landscape in the direction of the facility. The landing strip where our private plane took us to and from our mission lies above it. That’s probably where the cargo chopper lands too.
Supplies must be delivered pretty regularly. It’s not like this is the only chance we’ll get.
I’m just not sure how much better prepared we could be. Or how much worse our circumstances might become the longer we delay.
When Dominic reaches me, he takes one look at my face and slings his arm around me. I hug him back, tucking my head against the crook of his neck and breathing in his familiar tangy scent, sharper now with the sweat he’s worked up during the climb.
“We’ll figure it out,” he murmurs to me. “One way or another. One time or another.”
I wish I could feel as sure as he sounds.
He cups my cheek and brings my mouth to his. My skin lights up from head to toe as our breaths mingle.
I haven’t gotten to kiss any of my guys more than briefly since I hooked up with Jacob in the van. The soft but determined press of Dominic’s lips against mine leaves all my nerves tingling—and aching for more.
He draws back only far enough to rest his forehead against mine. His voice comes out with an unusually husky note.
