Page 1 of Wolf Queen Ruin
Chapter one
Luna
WhileIdangledupsidedown thirty feet above an ancient stone floor, suspended by a reinforced cable that felt entirely too flimsy for my peace of mind, I realized that I really should have peed first.
Below me, an intricate mosaic depicted some ancient goddess with way too many arms and not enough mercy in her expression.As I slowly lowered farther, the gems embedded in the pattern winked at me in the beam of my headlamp.
“Oh no,” I muttered.“I think my bladder’s going to explode.”
Jade snorted in my earpiece.“You didn’t go before?Rookie mistake.”
I adjusted my harness, feeling the blood rushing to my head.“I’m just saying, you’d think I’d learn to stop tempting fate with a full bladder.But here I am, dangling like a piñata in a death temple about to explode.Some life choices might need revisiting.”
Jade hissed.“At least you’re not squeezing through a tunnel with needle-sharp rocks sloughing off all your skin.”
“Yikes.You okay?”As I continued to make my descent, I unclipped the specialized tools from my belt.
“Sure,” Jade groaned.“Who really needs skin anyway?”
“Just think of it as a nice sugar scrub you got at a fancy spa.”
“Do sugar scrubs normally have bird shit all over them?”
“Touche.Okay, I’m going in to get the thing.Wish me luck?”
“Like you need it, Ghost.If you see any extra skin down there, get it for me.”
“Gross.No way.”
She laughed in that slightly whistly way of hers that always made me smile.
I concentrated on the artifact below me.The Temple of Sakhatra held many treasures, but only one would fetch the price I needed: the Blood Ruby.Smaller than my fist, it sat nestled in the stone goddess’s palm like a drop of crystallized sunset.
According to my research, touching the floor would trigger a series of nasty surprises involving poisoned darts, collapsing ceilings, and if the legends weren’t exaggerating, some kind of ancient fire trap that would turn the oxygen in the chamber into a brief but spectacular fireball.Hence, the dangling.The Ghost didn’t trip alarms.
Usually.
I sucked in a breath, trying to ignore the musty scent of decay and the faint metallic tang that always lingered in places with old magic.
“Just between us, I’m thinking of charging Theo extra for this one,” I said.“Upside-down extraction definitely deserves a danger bonus.So does a skinless Jade.”
“Agreed.Hey, I’m turning myself off for a second to conserve my earpiece battery.Stay alive, okay?”
“Yeah.You too.”
I lowered myself two more feet, checking the tension on my line.Just as I extended my specialized extraction tool toward the ruby, my earpiece crackled with a gruff voice.
“Ghost, status update?”
Theo.My boss.
I nearly dropped my tool, my heart rattling against my ribs.“Sweet merciful goddess, Theo!A little warning next time?I’m in the middle of something delicate here.”
“You’ve been in there forty-three minutes.Extraction window’s closing.”
“I’m looking at the prize right now.Two minutes.Maybe three if I decide to admire the view.”
“Make it one.And Ghost?Your new partner’s waiting at the extraction point.”
