Page 1 of Corbin
Chapter 1
Fifty-nine minutes left.
The damn time kept disintegrating faster than his patience.
If Corbin and his pack mates were late to the rescue ... they might find only a few body pieces.
Sweat streaked down his face and pooled around his neck despite cool air in the sixties. He lowered himself, carefully feeding out the nylon rope a few inches at a time. Decent summer temperature for rappelling down a difficult face in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia ... if he did this sort of thing for fun.
Not in this lifetime.
He’d been an idiot to say he’d done a little mountain climbing in the past. Being a wolf shifter made it damn near impossible to lie to other shifters, but saying he’d done it before had been true. Although he’d failed to admit he’d been forced to climb and rappel in the past with zero professional instruction.
The climbing rope slipped in his hand, yanking him back to his priority of staying alive. His heart tried to blast out of his chest. Was he doing this correctly? He gripped both ropes like he’d been shown, took a breath, and kept easing his way down, or he’d never get to the base of this almost vertical drop. Agreeing to join Adrian and Ladrón on this mission had sounded like a good way to secure his place in a pack where he could hide from worse dangers than falling off a mountain. Mated to their female pack alpha, Adrian had asked for volunteers for this operation.
Offering to go didn’t make Corbin special, just stupid.
He flicked a quick look left, but he could not see Ladrón, aka Ghost, who rappelled thirty yards away out of view due to a bulge of mountain between them. Being a better-trained personat this, Ladrón had to be lower down the face than Corbin by now.
Get going. If you fall, I’ll heal the body, Ares bragged telepathically.
Yeah, I bet you will, Corbin muttered back at his arrogant wolf.
Ares snorted.
That offer might sound reassuring and supportive, but his beast would bust free and go homicidal if Corbin ever ended up unconscious. He spent most of his waking and half-asleep hours keeping Ares locked inside. As insurance, he wore a braided metal collar when he needed to sleep hard. If he allowed the wolf to go on a rampage, Corbin would lose his sanctuary and very likely his life.
You too slow. Get off this mountain, Ares demanded, as if he expected Corbin to jump when he shouted in his head.
Still feeding out the rope to keep moving, Corbin sent back a reply lacking any patience. You want me to shift and let you figure out this rappelling bit or have you learned how to fly?
Silence followed for a moment, then his wolf muttered,Shut up and get us down.
Another day in paradise with a combative wolf.
“Ladrón, check in.” Adrian’s tense whisper came through Corbin’s tiny earbud with minimum distortion. The device had been specially crafted for their sensitive hearing. They were all three on the same channel.
Mild cursing came back first, then Ladrón said, “This mountain sucks.”
Corbin perked up. Could the pro climber be having difficulty? Petty of him to feel a little smug, but with his background, he rarely got that opportunity.
Adrian snapped, “What’s wrong?”
“The trailing rope is bound. Caught in a crack.”
“Shit fire!” Adrian roared softly. “How’d that happen?”
“I slowed to move around an outcropping.Could not see the wide fissure in so little light.”
That’s all Corbin had to hear to convince him not to slow down.
Adrian had skills based on what Corbin had seen on their way climbing up the backside of this mountain. He sure moved like an expert. Corbin had gained minimal climbing experience while trying to stay alive under the thumb of his Romanian mafia captors. He knew enough to comprehend Adrian and Ladrón’s instructions but wouldn’t pass a test on terminology.
The main problem was that none of them had prior experience with this mountain range.
Attempting this during daylight when they began the ascent on the opposite side of the peak had been fine. That all changed once twilight had settled in at the top of the mountain and cast a dingy glow over everything. This sucked.
“What about you, Corbin?” Adrian asked next.
