Page 63 of Monster's Obsession
Bane stepped out into the stone tunnel with confidence, but I left the elevator a bit more hesitantly. This place felt old and…powerful. That was the only way to describe it. I could feel the energy humming in the walls. He set off down the hallway and I followed, checking back every so often because it felt like there were eyes on us as we moved. This definitely wasn't my favorite place.
We seemed to walk forever, turning this way and that until there was a seemingly smooth wall in front of us, with nowhere else to go.
"Where do we go now?" I asked.
Bane didn't answer me, he just pressed on a tiny red symbol, and the wall instantly retracted, revealing a doorway. It opened up into an enormous cavern, and there, slumped against a wall…was Steele.
"I'll leave you to it, Blake," Bane said quietly, before heading back down the tunnel without another word. Steele was staring at me, his face perfectly blank, and I shifted in the doorway, wondering for the first time if I'd made a mistake and I should have just left him to return when he wanted…if he ever had. He certainly didn't look happy to see me right now.
Taking a deep breath, I stepped into the room.
"Hi," I said lamely, fidgeting nervously with the shirt I was wearing.
"Hi," he finally answered, after what seemed like forever.
When he didn't say anything else, my unease only grew. "I've been worried about you."
Steele gazed away from me then, staring up at the…starry ceiling of the cave?
My head began to hurt, the same excruciating pain as before. There was something in there, just out of my reach. Why did those stars look so familiar?
"Blake!" Steele called out frantically, leaping up from where he'd been sitting and sprinting over to where I was once again hunched over in pain. I waved him away as I tried to take a deep breath, the pain so intense it made me want to throw up.
"I'm fine," I said feebly.
"You're not fine. What's going on?"
"I'm not sure. This is the second time it's happened today. I don't know what's going on." The pain started to recede again, and I was able to breathe normally even if my insides were trembling in the aftermath. "I'm ok," I whispered.
Steele was now standing in front of me, and he lifted his hand as if he was going to touch my face before dropping it back to his side.
"Blake, why are you here?" he asked quietly.
He looked…wrecked. There were dark circles under his eyes, and an air of defeat surrounded him, even though he'd been a victor in the arena. But most of all, he looked…sad. Like all of the confidence and energy that usually surrounded him had been sucked out.
I remembered how brave he'd been in the battle, how hard he'd fought, and it made me want to be brave too.
"I told you, I've been worried about you."
Okay, obviously I wasn't prepared to bethatbrave.
The stars flickered above me, but I found as long as I didn't try to think about them resembling something I'd seen before, the pain stayed away. I kept my gaze averted from Steele’s intense one as I glanced around the room, noting it had a dark, beautiful quality to it. I could see why they'd want to spend time here, even if the knowledge of what they'd most likely done here made me want to scream and take a sledgehammer to the whole thing.
"Why?" Steele suddenly asked.
I glanced at him, confused.
"Why, what?"
"Why were you worried about me? You ought to know by now that I can take care of myself." He was really pressing me for answers, evidently.
My hand was trembling as I lifted it up to his face, approaching his cheek slowly so that he could move away if he didn't want my touch. He stayed completely still, and as soon as my skin touched his, he was nuzzling into my hand and making small groaning sounds like my touch was the comfort he'd been searching for.
"I was worried about you…because I love you," I whispered.
The look on his face.
I would never forget it for as long as I lived. It was a look of awe and spellbinding beauty, like he couldn't believe it had come out of my mouth. Like he couldn't believe I could love him.