The light in her jade eyes was irresistible and he bent his head to kiss her. Her hands twisted into his shirt to drag him closer. Her mouth opened to the gentle prodding of his tongue. Lifting her from the rocks, he climbed easily over them as he made his way toward their sleeping area. After spending a week and a half in this cave, he knew every inch and crevice of it, so he didn’t have to look to see where he placed his feet as he climbed.
Leading her into their side tunnel above, Jack laid her down on the blankets and furs. She lifted her arms to him and he eagerly went into them. He lost himself to her in only the way Hannah could make him lose himself. For a period of time, he was able to forget his brother was dead, their world was coming apart, and the future he’d planned and hoped for them was unraveling.
When he separated himself from her again, he cradled her against his chest as he listened to the distant drip of water sliding over rock and the crackle of the torch flame. Earlier, rain had been pelting the ground when he’d gone to hunt for Braith, but deep beneath the earth there was no indication of that. It remained calm, almost peaceful in this fortress of rock.
He stared at the ceiling over his head, watching the distant flickering of the torch playing across the rock and listening to Keegan’s claws clicking over the rock. The wolf had probably gotten up to go to the bathroom again. Jack ran his fingers over Hannah’s silken flesh, inhaling her tantalizing scent and the scent of the two of them together. Their blood mingled and flowed strongly as one, binding them for an eternity.
His hand stilled on her when Keegan’s claws stopped clicking somewhere in the middle of the cavern.
Hannah murmured something; her hair fell away from his shoulder when he abruptly sat up. He heard no other noise within the cave, but Keegan never just stood somewhere. “Get dressed,” he whispered in Hannah’s ear.
He tugged on his pants and reached for his shirt. His hands wrapped around his stakes as the torch he’d left below suddenly went out, plunging the cave into a darkness so complete that even his vampire eyes couldn’t see his hand in front of his face.
Hannah’s shirt settled into place over her with a rustle of material. Her hand encircled his arm, her nails biting into his flesh. “Jack,” she murmured.
Turning his head into Hannah’s hair, he rested his lips against her ear. “Stay here.” She shook her head and he took hold of her chin, running his fingers over her face as he tried to memorize her features through touch. “There is a storm outside. A gust of wind probably came down one of the tunnels and caught the torch, putting it out. I’ll be fine, but stay here.”
Her chin trembled in his grasp. He knew she didn’t entirely buy his theory, but it was a good possibility. He kissed her quickly before rising into a low crouch to make his way toward the end of the tunnel. His ears strained to hear anything within the cavern, but silence hung thickly in the air.
Too silent. He now understood what it was like to be in a tomb.
The torch had been newly lit a short while ago, but a downdraft from the storm outside could have caught it and put it out. That would also explain why Keegan had risen if the air in the cave had changed and carried a new scent with it.
But why hadn’t Keegan returned to Braith’s side?
Jack remained low as he rested his hand on the first of the jagged rocks at the top of the cavern and crept his way forward. Memory and the feel of the rocks guided him onward as his eyes remained completely ineffective. He was almost tempted to start swinging out with his hands, but he couldn’t take the risk of hitting something and making noise.
He should have kept two torches lit, but he hadn’t wanted to waste materials in case they were here for longer than they expected. However, if he’d had two torches going, in two separate areas, he would know if it had been a downdraft or if someone had entered the cavern with them. It couldn’t be Braith; his brother would have alerted him to his presence. He would have known Jack was in the cave with him, would have scented him.
Jack paused near the bottom of the cavern, his hand resting on a rock as he perched three feet away from the cave floor. He crouched lower, his head canting to the side as he scented the air. He caught no hint of anything else with them, sensed no movement within, but the hair on his nape rose as he got the overwhelming sensation something hunted him from the shadows.
He turned to look behind him, but there was nothing to see there either. It couldn’t be Hannah watching him; he knew the weight of her gaze. Still, he couldn’t lose the feeling that something tracked him.
Follow your instincts.
His instincts told him to go back, to take Hannah to safety, but he couldn’t leave here without Braith’s body. No matter how much he loved her, no matter that he would sacrifice his life for hers, he couldn’t put their safety over the thousands upon thousands of lives counting on them.