Chapter 53
1153 Words
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Kris
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“What happened up there?” Kris worried. “I can’t sense her either.”
Colla’s sigh came heavily.
“They left,” she replied evenly.
“They?”
The word hurt to hear, leaving him feeling emptier still. Surrounded in darkness, haunted by her story. It was all too much.
How could a family do that to a child? How could they do it to his mate?
“Yeah. Not without a good departing gift,” Colla murmured.
“What?” Kris asked, numbing by the second.
“My right hook’s a doozy,” she chuckled.
It may be true but all he could think about was Renee’s story.
“Besides being with that sh!thead, do you think she’s okay?” Kris asked.
“You tell me,” Colla challenged. “Does she let you in?”
Kris blinked, unsure of what she meant. His silence deafened his answers, melding them together in a line of monotone uhs.
“She doesn’t seem to let him in,” Colla seemed to ignore Kris’ inability to answer.
Kris felt out the scenery around him, outstretching his hands in either direction.
“Who? The demon?”
Colla scoffed as if he didn’t know.
“What? It doesn’t sound like she keeps him out,” Kris protested. “In the time that they were with you alone, she both darkened this place dangerously, then lit it up like Goddess Selene’s full moon.”
Kris searched around carefully for threats, food and above all motion. Water, the dreadful source that fed the grounds he dug through just to get there, pooled deeply just beyond the ledge he stood on.
The massive lake looked more green than blue, settling somewhere between the lines of turquoise and lime. Anywhere else it would be a beautiful sight, but here, where he longed to see the sun, light mocked him.
It sat low now, in depths not even he would attempt.
“Wait. How do you know it was her that controlled the light?” Colla questioned.
“I mean, I don’t actually know,” Kris battled with the thought. “It felt like she was.”
“It felt like she was?”
“Unless you were still pulling light in through you, I…” Kris trailed, unable to tell her the truth.
“No, I stopped moving,” Colla assured him. “Jason doesn’t strike me as a guy that can take no for an answer.”
Kris nodded to himself, pocketting that information as if he hadn’t experienced it first hand.
“Which makes me wonder,” Colla continued. “You saw light and shadow surpass what the depths could allow. Do you think it was Jason doing it?”
Kris shook his head as if she could see him.
“No. You said she was human right?” Kris tried his best to quell his nerves.
“Yeah.”
“Is there any possibility that she’s like us but not showing signs of it?” Kris schooled the tone of his question.
Hope bled out of him with each passing possibility.
“It’s highly doubtful,” she replied distantly.
“Why?” Kris’ question echoed around him.
The tip of the quietest ripple through the space caught roughly on yet another sound tumbling through the quiet cave surrounding him. It sounded familiar. Treacherous. Alive… and something more.
Kris padded carefully around the edge of the landing, reaching for an overhang. Its fading detail only left its place as light around him grew dim once more. His feet slipped off of the ledge below, forcing his alpha to take control once more.
His claws sank deeply into the soft clay, keeping his position on the wall.
“I shouldn’t have to explain the mechanics of this if she’s part werewolf, or really, shifter,” Colla shooed away from their conversation, “If she was a quartz, she’d be in a family line, and would have showed natural power; the ability to soak in the energies around her to use for healing or otherwise.”
Kris frowned to himself while studying the wall, his claw placements growing narrower with each pass.
“Renee knows she’s human though. She identifies with it. Her records all show normal humanism, and so on, so I can’t imagine how she could possibly show as another species.”
It didn’t matter what she said, his alpha afforded Kris his own set of thoughts, quieting those that Colla continued to give. His mate, no matter her type, was looking out for him. Her darkness seized his doubts and unclouded his mind. Her light burned brightly, showing him the way, and she didn’t have to tell him what steps to take.
Kris clawed at the curve of the wall with his feet once more, clinging to it easier this time. As he moved sideways, the rushing sound became clearer. Spray hissed past him, while mist burned its way into his matted fur once more.
“Fvcking sh!t,” he hissed, pushing his nose against the fur in his forearm. He forced the points of his teeth far enough out to rectify his itch while he hung against the side of the cliff. “I hate this place,” he hissed into his skin.
“You okay, wolf?” Colla questioned, lighting his way again.
“When I get out of this sh!t hole, the first thing I’m doing is getting warded.”
“So you don’t remember this grueling task? I don’t blame you,” Colla chuckled.
“No. So that I can never be sent back to this eternal hell,” he huffed, returning to scaling the wall again.
“I don’t think that’s warding,” Colla hummed.
“Whatever it is,” he grumbled his warning, “I’m never coming back down here again.”
Kris removed his claws, one at a time, forcing his way all the way up the wall. Another, smaller ledge promised a dry place to rest.
“Can you sense this place at all?” Kris asked Colla, weary from the time spent there.
His whole body felt depleted. Exhaustion could not express just how horrible he felt. Not even his alpha pressed for more.
“If I could, you would have been extracted already,” she answered smugly.
“But you don’t…” he exhaled hard, his lungs protesting every minor movement.
“Right.”
With only stones around, the cold wet bite of water still ravishing his skin, Kris laid down. He had to. His body shook. Every muscle protested their use. There was no place on his body that he could not feel lasting effects of. Each climb seemed to take yet another piece of him.
Laying down? This became the answer. It wasn’t giving up or disrespecting his alpha. No, Kris’ life depended on some version of rest, even if it sucked.
- Writer
