Page 50 of The Delver
He crooned, the sound vibrating into her as he shifted behind her. She felt him adjust the pouch around his waist, and then the light of the crystals went out.
Callie tensed as she was plunged into darkness.
Then both of Urkot’s upper arms were around her, his claws gently combing through her curls. “Calm. Shadows cannot hurt us, and I have you.”
Her anxiety faded with his words, and she relaxed against him. She was in Urkot’s arms. She was safe.
Callie focused on the feel of him, on his claws stroking her hair, his hearts beating against her ear, the heat of his body. His warm, brandy and musk scent enveloped her, and she breathed it in deeply as her eyelids fluttered closed. Exhaustion weighed upon her, and sleep tugged at her consciousness.
She rubbed her cheek against his chest, cuddling deeper into the security of his embrace.
“You’re Urkot to me too,” Callie whispered.
She drifted into slumber, but not before she felt his arms tighten around her.
CHAPTER 12
Callie had never beena light sleeper. Waking up and getting out of bed had always been a struggle, a test of willpower.
But she’d heard something, something that had pierced her subconscious and woken her ass upfast. And going from dead asleep to wide awake was alarming and unsettling enough even without the terror of that unidentified sound.
She opened her eyes; the darkness remained just as complete and impenetrable as it had been behind her eyelids. Still, her gaze shifted restlessly back and forth, as though that could somehow sweep away the dark. She could almost feel the shadows pressing in on her, so thick it made her skin crawl and her eyeballs itch.
Every part of her, including her heart, froze when she heard the sound again.
Clicking. Alien, undulating clicking, echoing along the tunnel.
Before she could even consider whether she should’ve spoken, her lips parted, and a question tumbled out. “Wha?—”
A large, callused hand clamped over Callie’s mouth, silencing her. She grasped it with both hands in a panic, digging her nails into firm, leathery skin.
In the tunnel, the clicking sound ended with an abrupt hiss.
Her heart hammered against her ribs, not slowing even when she recognized that the hand covering her mouth and the warm, solid body behind her belonged to Urkot. She could feel his tension and strain. His muscles were coiled like compressed springs, and there was a faint trembling in his chest as he held his breath.
The clicking came again, a little lower, a little deeper, a little closer. And oh God, she knew what it was even if she didn’t know what had produced it.
Echolocation.
Something scraped the stone in the tunnel. To Callie, it very much sounded like an appendage dragging over the cave floor. In the silence of this dark tunnel, the sound was deafening.
With agonizing slowness, Urkot rose from the alcove floor, drawing Callie up with him. He seemed afraid to draw breath; she absolutely was too afraid to do so, despite the burning in her lungs. Her grip on his hand contributed as much to her body remaining upright as her legs did.
Her back was pressed even more snugly against his chest now, and she could feel his hearts thumping as fast and heavy as hers. Any creature that could use echolocation surely would’ve been able to hear their pounding heartbeats, right? Callie’s pulse had to be the loudest thing down here, rivaled only by Urkot’s.
Another scrape came from mere feet away. It was a sound she’d heard from Urkot—claws against stone.
That clicking repeated just outside the alcove. How could it possibly sound so…hungry?
Callie’s knees felt suddenly weak, and dread seeped into her veins, turning her blood cold.
The monster in the dark huffed. She felt its breath flow across her face. It sniffed the air raggedly, and Callie squeezed her eyes shut, turning her face away.
That thing was right in front of her, right fucking there, and she couldn’t see it, couldn’t identify the source of this bone-chilling horror. Never in all her life, not even during her time on this untamed alien world, had she ever felt so scared and helpless.
The creature made that clicking once more. From this close, Callie could feel the sound’s faint vibrations against her skin.
It knows. It knows we’re here.
