Page 53 of Ruined Wolf
“Why are we in the cave?” I asked, my voice strained as I forced the words past my throat, which felt as though it was closing up inside.
She sighed. “I came here to try and find the location of the treasure. You found me here. We were going to leave, and you tripped and hit your head.”
“I was knocked out?” I asked, turning to look for the exit.
“No, not really. For a minute or two, maybe, but then you just pulled yourself up here and wouldn’t talk to me. You seemed completely zoned out, like you were somewhere else. I tried everything to get you to talk to me, to... wake up, but you wouldn’t.”
“The tide...” I murmured.
“It came in while I was trying to get you to come back to me.”
I turned back to look at her, her pale form like some angelic being in the light of the small torch she held. “You should have left. Now we’re both trapped here, and no one knows where we are.”
“I thought about it,” she admitted. “Especially when you pulled yourself up here, but I didn’t know how far the water would get and… I didn’t want to leave you alone down here.”
Alone down here, down in the cave, in the dark. Terror filled me, and I pulled my legs into my chest, curling up and gasping for breath as memories rushed back...
The outline of my father’s body, which was exactly where I was lying now, was so broken and still. I couldn’t bear it. I’d lost it, screaming for help, my voice echoing off the cave walls until my throat was raw and I couldn’t make a sound. There was no one to hear me. I’d pulled myself up tight, sitting next to my father as I rocked back and forth, sobbing helplessly. After some time, my tears ran dry, and there was more screaming, until the slightest sound caused me such agony I had to give up.
I had crawled forward, wrapped my fingers around my father’s, and found them cold. I’d touched him tentatively. He was cold, so very cold. It was freezing down here. I couldn’t let him get cold. Carefully, I’d unharnessed him, pulling the ropes away and throwing them into a dark corner. I’d tried to straighten him just enough for me to lie down next to him, pulling his arm over me. I was cold, but not as cold as him. I could warm him. I’d slipped my hands down his sleeves, rubbing them up and down his clammy skin, trying to create friction, then laid them on his face, desperately trying to warm him, because if he was warm, then he was alive and could get better. His wolf could heal him, and we’d wait to be rescued, and then someone would come and everything would be fine. We’d laugh, and he’d mess my hair up, and then we’d walk home in the sunshine.
Sunshine, I wanted sunshine back...
“Lucas! Please, please, don’t go again. Lucas!”
Those golden eyes were gazing into mine again, wet with tears.
I reached out, my hand shaking. “Nova, I can’t stay here, please... I need to get out.”
One tear fell, and I went to brush it away, but her skin was cold, so I snatched my hand back.
“No, no, no, no!” I moaned, pulling away from her. “Not cold, not cold... You’re warm, warm... Please, Nova, please be warm.”
“Lucas, it’s freezing down here, but I’m fine. We’re both fine. Come here...” She reached for me, but her hand was cold, and I sat up, wrapping my arms around my knees and rocking back and forth.
“Don’t touch me, don’t touch me, please no, no...” I couldn’t bear that cold, clammy feeling that meant darkness, pain, suffering, and guilt, oh so much so much guilt, that I couldn’t bear it.
“Lucas...” She pulled back, and I could see tears in her eyes. I wanted to reach out and pull her into my arms like Maverick or Asher would have—hell, as Jaxon would have—but I couldn’t. I couldn’t touch her, because I was so fucking broken, so fucking ruined. All I could see in my head was my father’s lifeless body, his eyes staring off into the distance, and the cold feeling of his skin as I tried to warm him.
“You’re cold, you’re dead,” I mumbled.
“I’m not dead, Lucas, I’m fine, I promise. Please.” She was crying now, but although I knew that, it didn’t quite register with me.
I shook my head and started rocking back and forth. “No, you’re cold and dead, and I can’t get you warm. I tried to get you warm, and I couldn’t. It’s my fault, it’s all my fault...”
I heard her suck in her breath, and then she was standing up and moving closer. “Lucas, I’m sorry. I’m not dead, and I’m not cold, not everywhere.” She reached down and grabbed my hand, dragging it to where she wanted. Somehow, she’d lowered her trousers, and when she pressed my fingers against her core, shock jolted through me. She pulled my fingers through her folds, and I moaned at the warmth I found there.
“You see?” she whispered, her cold hand over mine as she guided me. “I’m alive, and I’m warm here, Lucas. Warm me, love.”
I felt as though I was in a dream. Her hand slipped away, but I pursued that feeling, that molten core and the slick that coated my fingers. Even down here in the dark and the cold, she came alive for me, moaning as I slid my fingers inside that blessed heat.
“Warm...” I murmured. “So very warm.”
I tentatively reached out with my other hand, gripped her hip, and pulled her closer. I lowered my legs and bent forward until I could taste that sweet nectar between her legs, and she shuddered.
“Lucas, more, please...”
I obliged, sliding my fingers in and out as I sucked her clit. Her thighs were wet and warm, and as she fell apart on my tongue. I needed more.