Page 65 of Trapped By Claws
Scowling, I smacked his shoulder. "Don't joke about that."
Tagger underscored my statement with a sharp trill. Neither of us wanted to think of anything happening to Corvin.
"Is there anything we can do to make the mating bond finalize faster?" I asked.
He shook his head. "It's going as fast as it can. That suppressant has to leave my blood. I could try bloodletting I suppose, but that's dangerous for other reasons. You being near me, though…that does help."
"How will we know when it's done?" I asked.
"Well, the mate bond may give you greater lung capacity and healing, among other things. It will strengthen us both." He nudged my cheek with his chin and kissed my forehead. "And for me, well, if everything changes then, I won't have these stripes or claws, and I'll be able to turn into something else."
"Something else?" My hand tightened around his. I tried to sound light and happy, hoping to encourage him. Right now, a peculiar combination of elation and terror cut through me. "What would you turn into?"
"Something with wings," he said. "I've always wanted to fly."
"Like a raven?"
"I was going to say dragon," he said with a weak laugh.
"Maybe a raven dragon," I suggested playfully, recalling the meaning of his name.
"Probably as likely as any other kind of dragon. My forms will likely be the forms that were strongest with my parents, and I don't know what those were. I don't know anything about them except what the king said, and…well, all of that is subject to doubt now." He leaned his head back against the cave wall, his breaths still rapid. His pulse throbbed visibly in his throat.
He took another few minutes to catch his breath. I stayed beside him, my whole body chilled from fear and the water. Then it was time. He guided me to another hole in the dark, and down we plunged again.
It was just as horrible as before. Maybe worse.
I couldn't keep track of time. But I knew it passed achingly slow. It was a nightmarish progression of crawling and swimming through water-filled tubes. More than once we almost got stuck. His heartbeat thundered against my ear, and his muscles trembled against me.
We slithered and crawled and crept through the tunnels. We'd barely reached the sixth air pocket before another claw deployed into Corvin's wrist. He groaned, driving his back against the wall and gritting his teeth.
I drew alongside him as close as I could, stroking his shoulder as I watched him grip his wrist and struggle to heal around the bloodied puncture. The broken claws that had embedded into his flesh remained there, unforgiving remindersof his captivity. The remaining ones that curled against his wrist warned of future agony. Already he was so much paler.
"Come on." He winced as he tightened his arm around me. His panting intensified as he pushed me toward one of the narrow holes. "Have to—have to keep moving."
He didn't allow any arguments, and I knew there wasn't time. We wouldn't know if Lishen and his fae had managed to overtake us until it was almost too late. But feeling the rapid tattoo of his heart and the spasms in his muscles terrified me.
I tried to help our pace, wriggling in sync with him whenever we reached a tight point.
On and on we went, devastatingly slow.
The third claw deployed, sending him into rictal shudders. Exhaustion crept through me. Then, all too soon, the fourth claw bit. We barely made it up to an air pocket for that one as he gasped and choked, his body twitching. There were still three more to go.
Each time we surfaced, Tagger swept up against Corvin, whimpering and squeaking. I understood the feeling.
"I'm fine," he murmured through grey lips. But he forced down a mouthful of the fish and some of the fresh water, gagging.
Except he wasn't.
It had never occurred to me that someone like me could have a mate. I'd accepted my life was ordinary before Erryn went missing, and then I'd found myself thrust into an endless search that was shockingly mind-numbing despite all the close encounters with death.
My life changed within a matter of hours when Erryn vanished.
My life had turned over once again with Corvin. I wasn't going to lose him.
But right now…what could I do except support him and encourage him?
I hugged him tight as we navigated another set of tunnels. The cold numbed my hands and made my body heavy.
