Page 2 of Into the Fire: After
Some fucking stream. It was a goddamn river, dark and angry in the storm. Taryn and I stood at the top of a ravine, looking down at it. Even from probably thirty feet up, it roared.
Follow the water. If you’re going downhill, you’re going the wrong way.
No indication how long that would fucking take. Still, reinvigorated, I tightened my grip on my mate and dragged us parallel along the river.
We may as well have been running on a treadmill for all the forest around us changed. And we were definitelynotgoing downhill.
The only consolation to that being wehadto be on the right path. Even if not, maybe the bad guys would hate the incline as much as we did and give us up for lost.
Small comforts.
Taryn, goddamn warrior she was, stumbled a few times but kept her feet despite the pain I knew sliced her from the inside. The echoes of that pain through the bond were enough to bring tears to my eyes.
There was just enough light for me to make out her pale, trembling lips when I spotted a jagged gray wall ahead of us, a geometric slice in the night. We both limped now until I could press my palm against the cold stone.
Turn inland. Run your hand along the wall until you find the opening.
No indication how far. I didn’t care. We were to the last twist of the map. We had to be close.
Please, god, let us be close.
Fingers running along the rough surface of the mountainside, I counted our steps. It kept me awake. Kept me sane. Kept me from thinking about all the steps and threats and joys behind us.
Step five hundred twelve. Taryn keened and curled inward with a particularly strong cramp. I pulled her up again.
“We’re almost there, Teacup,” I whispered through chattering teeth.
I hoped I wasn’t lying.
Step seven hundred ninety-eight. The rain lightened, and my ears rang in the quiet. Mist hung between the trees like smoke.There was light enough for me to see the scrapes and scratches across our arms and legs, marring Taryn’s face.
Step eight hundred forty-two. My fingers skipped over a gap in the rock. My heart jumped to match as I looked closer. The opening was subtle, hidden by a rocky overhang and a canopy of tree branches. But thishadto be it.
Gently as I could, I lowered Taryn to the ground outside the opening. She was nearly catatonic with the pain. Still, I pressed my knife into her hand and wrapped her fingers around the hilt. “Wait here,” I whispered, pressing her back gently against the rock. Then I turned toward the opening and sucked my breath in to squeeze through. It was a tight fit, jagged edges scraping my back, but I made it through.
The cave was narrow, barely wide enough for us to sit side by side. Cold stone chilled my nearly numb feet as I inched my way along. By the time I found myself at the end, the light from the opening was only a thin hazy line. Good. Who knew how long my sanity would’ve survived in endless dark. It would be dark, and cold, and hard, but at least no other creepy crawlies had made their home here.
Taryn was curled up at the entrance and whimpering when I returned. All her agony—the pangs that rocked her, the fever that refused to quit, the grief that threatened to smother her—were distant shouts through the bond we shared. I blocked them as best I could.
“C’mon, Teacup.” I bent down and lifted her up.
Some combination of stubbornness and miracle helped us to the depths of the cave. We settled on the cold ground, my omega immediately curling into me. She nuzzled into my neck, her hand raising to clutch at my breast through my drenched shirt. “Please, Alpha.”
We were miles from the cabin, our trail and scents hopefully obscured by the rain.
But Taryn’s scent was amplified enough simply suffering through the end of her heat. It would explode like a nuclear blast if we indulged it.
Now with the distraction of flight gone, though, her suffering intensified, and quickly. She rocked, thighs squeezed together, whining and writhing.
Her heat had nearly been through when the house was raided. If we waited, if she could manage to sleep, maybe it would simply fade away.
Or would not soothing her body’s wrath prolong the heat, her damned biology punishing her—us—for not caving to its demands?
In the end, it was no choice at all. There were risks either way, but I couldn’t stand to see my omega in pain like this. To feel it.
“You’ve done so good, Omega,” I whispered into her ear, my fingers stroking her cheek. “I’m so proud of you.”
“Can you help me now, Alpha?”
