Chapter 46

Thorin I was ready to cry thanks to the moon goddess for having finally delivered us to the mouth of the cave last night. All of us were weary and Kelly was just plain miserable. The journey was no small feet, and was only about to get harder. Of the four of us, I was confident I was the only one who knew how to properly setup the ropes in case we needed to descend. It was dangerous and stupid for us to think we were fit to go into the cave with our lack of experience. But here we were, standing at the cave’s entrance, just staring for a long moment.

“Okay, ready you guys? I need to get out of this heat.” Kelly said, fanning herself.

“I lead way.” I said, figuring our best bet was if I started off.

We were only about a hundred feet into the cave and I was already feeling the cold and clammy embrace of the cave setting upon us. I noticed many broken rocks on the ground and looked up to see hundreds of stalactite formations inside the cave. They could easily kill someone. Werewolves might be a bit more difficult to keep down, but it would impale us none the less.

“Keep eye out for falling stalactites,” I warned as we continued along.

“Yieks.” Kelly said as she and the others looked towards the ceiling.

“Uzbekistan has a lot of seismic activity,” Emmett said, only adding to my tension.

“Lets keep moving.” I grunted.

Everything about this was dangerous. The ground was moist and slippery, there were harpoons ready to fall from the ceiling, the air was getting thinner, temperatures dropping, darkness threatening to overtake us. It was a recipe for disaster. And yet, I was ready to face it head on. I lived for moments such as these. I loved a good challenge. What I didn’t care for was having Kelly here for it. I worried that she might get hurt. I know she is a fierce woman, but this was something I knew she had never experienced. I have at least been in a cave or two before. Without me, would anyone here have even thought of bringing even a rope? Doubtful.

We were walking for several hours, going steadily downhill. Our path was narrowing with time, which made me think we might need to descend soon. Good. That meant we were that much closer to the healing crystal. That much closer to getting Kelly back home safely.

“Hey Thorin?” Kelly asked, coming up next to me.

“Da?” I asked.

“Are we okay?” She asked, worry in her eyes. “I feel like things have been weird between us since the blessing and all.” She whispered.

“We are good.” I half smiled. “I simply worry for this part of mission. It is dangerous.”

“Yeah, it does seem way more intense.” She said, eyeing up the cave.

“Speaking of which, now might be a good time to add more layers.” I said, stopping and taking off my backpack. “The path is beginning to narrow ahead. We might need to descend with ropes soon.”

“More layers?” Kelly laughed. “I’m looking to lose a few more. You’re not warm?” She asked.

I shook my head as I dug through my bag, pulling out a long sleeve shirt and long pants. Jonas and Emmett were following suit while Kelly seemed to aimlessly pick through her bag.

“Are we ready?” I asked.

“Yeah.” Kelly nodded, along with Jonas and Emmett.

“You don’t want to add layers?” I double checked.

“No, maybe later.” She shrugged. “I think I got a sunburn from our hike to the cave.”

“Alright.” I nodded, continuing along. “If you change your mind just let me know.”

– – – – – – – –

Kelly My life felt like one big fat joke. As if my past wasn’t comical enough, let’s make things more complicated. Let’s decide that now, while we are underground in a terrifying cave, I suspect that I am going into heat. And let’s also add the fact that I’m not alone, I have not just one, but all three of my crushes with me. Goddess, I didn’t know if I should laugh or cry. My only option right now was to pray that I was horribly wrong, and it truly was just a sunburn.

But what if I was right? What if I was going into heat? While basically trapped underground with three unmated men? All of which I know I have chemistry with. What then? It usually lasted three days. How was I going to live with these men for three days when my body would be begging them to do all kinds of raunchy things? Would they even be able to control their natural instincts? Would I want them to?

“How ya doing?” Jonas asked, pulling me from my panic.

“Fine.” I nodded.

“Okay, well, you’re next.” He said, throwing a thumb over his shoulder.

“Huh?” I asked. I looked where he was pointing and there Thorin was, waiting for me by the edge of the path, rope in hand. I hadn’t even noticed we stopped walking or that we were descending, too lost in thought. “Oh, right.” I said, forcing a smile and scurrying over to Thorin.

Thorin quickly went over some safety instructions as he expertly wrapped me up in the rope so I would have an easy descent. It was way further down than I had anticipated, but thankfully Emmett was there and waiting for me.

“Very nicely done.” Emmett complimented as he helped me out of the rope.

“Thanks.” I half smiled, just thankful I didn’t break anything on the way down.

Jonas came down next, and finally Thorin. We continued along through the cave, leaving the rope behind so we could climb back up later. We came to a narrow area, so narrow in fact we had to remove our backpacks and shimmy through to the next part. But what lay on the other side was unlike anything else I have ever seen before.

Reds, yellows, oranges, it was like a calidascope of colors thrown on the rock walls. It was breath-taking and very unexpected to see such beauty so far beneath the surface. I know there was talk of frozen lakes and waterfalls within the cave, but this? This was something entirely more beautiful.

“Amazing,” Emmett said, coming up beside me.

“Its more than that, its-ahh!” I winced, grabbing my stomach.

“Are you-” Emmett began to ask, his hand on my shoulder. His words fell short, his eyes turning black. Damn it. This was no sunburn.

“Kelly?” Jonas asked, making his way towards me. “Emmett?”

I looked over at him and Thorin, who were both making their way towards me, until my scent hit them, that is. As soon as they caught a whiff of my pheromones, they were frozen in places, their eyes black, just like Emmett.

“Shit.” I said under my breath, wondering what to do next.

“My bag, front left pocket.” Emmett growled through clenched teeth.

“What?” I asked.

“In the front left pocket!” He said more urgently this time.

I quickly moved behind him, digging through his bag until I found a small vile with some amber-colored liquid inside it. Emmett abruptly turned and swiped it from my hands. He opened it and dabbed some of the liquid onto his finger and then smeared it across his upper l*p and nose.

“What is that?” I asked as he handed the bottle to Thorin next.

“Scent blocker.” He said, taking a few deep breaths. “It should buy us some time.” Thorin didn’t hesitate to use it, neither did Jonas.

“How much time?” I carefully asked.

“Hopefully enough.”

Within a few minutes, all three men seemed to be under control again. Unfortunately, I was only getting worse with time. I was moving slower and slower as we progressed through the cave, too focused on surviving going through heat to notice the beauty before me. Instead, I was using the wall for support and trying not to pant in the already thin air. The guys were using the scent blocker about every hour or so to keep their cool.

“Here, let me.” Jonas said, carefully picking me up bridal style.

“Thanks.” I said, feeling lightheaded and dizzy.

There was so much tension around us, but I could hardly focus on it. I didn’t know how much longer I could go without doing something about my heat, and we were only a few hours into it. How was I going to make it three more days?