Page 62 of His Claim
We came to a collapse then, timbers caved in, and rubble piled high. Varek set the lantern down and started shifting stones with his bare hands. I joined him, coughing on the dust until we cleared enough space to squeeze through.
On the other side, the tunnel opened wide into a cavern, vast and echoing. Stalactites dripped from the ceiling, pools of black water catching the light like shattered glass.
I gasped softly. “It’s beautiful.”
Varek studied me for a moment, then nodded. “Yeah, it is, isn’t it?”
The cavern’s ceiling soared above us, dark and glistening with moisture. Every drop of water that fell into the shallow pools echoed like a bell, rippling through the silence. I followed Varek’s lantern light across the jagged floor, taking each step painstakingly slow.
He moved with certainty, like he’d walked these tunnels a hundred times before. Even with his limp, he looked unshakable.
I found myself staring a moment too long.
Not at the weapon in his hand, or the way he carried himself like a commander even down here, but at him, broad, scarred, and strong. A man who had been human once, like me. A man who had lost everything and kept moving anyway. Like me.
A thought caught me off guard, and before I could stop myself, the words tumbled out. “Wait… how old are you?”
His stride slowed. He glanced back, brow furrowing like the question hadn’t crossed his mind in years. “I don’t know exactly anymore. Mid-thirties when I was bitten. Time’s different for some of us early wolves.”
“So…” I tilted my head, squinting at him in the lantern light. “You’re like—what? Pushing one hundred? Two hundred?”
One corner of his mouth twitched, not quite a smile. “Something like that.”
My jaw dropped. “I’m only eighteen!”
He stopped, turning fully now, his silver eyes glinting with danger and amusement all at once. “And still alive. Because of me.”
Heat rushed to my face. “That’s not the point!”
“The point,” he said evenly, smirking right in my face, “is that I’m not just an old man, Mariah. I’m your mate.”
The words hit me harder than I wanted to admit. My pulse thudded in my ears. “Still. It’s… weird.”
He raised a brow. “Weird?”
“Yes.” I crossed my arms. “Weird.”
He shook his head and kept walking, but I didn’t miss the smile tugging at his lips.
We moved on in silence for a while, the tunnel narrowing until the ceiling forced him to duck. The air was thicker here, the smell of old stone and wet coal sharp in my nose. My wolf prowled beneath my skin, restless.
The tunnel sloped upward, the air growing lighter, fresher with every step. My heart quickened, not just from the climb, but from the faint scent of pine that teased my nose. We were close. Varek had mentioned there was a way out here, an old maintenance shaft that broke above ground, hidden in the rocks, but when we rounded the final bend, the lantern light fell across a wall of rubble.
A massive rock fall blocked the exit, boulders piled high where the ceiling had collapsed. Jagged rocks choked the passage and for a moment I thought we were trapped.
Varek cursed under his breath, his jaw tight. He moved closer, testing the stone with his hand. “Damn it. This was clear last year.”
I stepped forward, scanning the mess. The lantern’s glow showed a gap near the top where that sweet, fresh air must be flowing through. It was a narrow wedge of space between two boulders. Big enough for me, maybe. Definitely not for him.
“I can fit through there.”
His head snapped toward me, accompanied by his disapproving glare. “No.”
“Varek—”
“No,” he repeated, his voice edged with conviction. “It’s too dangerous. We don’t know what’s on the other side. It could be unstable. You could get stuck. You could?—”
“Or I could get out,” I cut in, my voice rising. “I could see what’s there. I could find the best way through this.” I waved my hand at the pile of debris blocking our escape.
