Bonded (39 page)

To be one with
him, to join with him. We need this
, her wolf insisted and she
knew it spoke the truth. At this moment, she had no will-power. She
wanted this man and there was no excuse.

She wasn’t a co-ed
grabbing a onetime chance with a heart-throb, nor was she offering
or seeking comfort from a traumatic event. This was desire to be
with the one she loved. To share herself with him, to give and
receive pleasure. To be joined in the most intimate physical way
possible. Later she’d deal with the regret, but for now, this was
all she could think about.

Brandi leaned
infinitesimally closer and brushed her nose over the hollow of his
throat. With the tip of her tongue, she licked the small indent and
inhaled deeply, savouring the taste and scent of her mate. He
slowly rocked against her and she clutched his shoulders tightly
while sliding her lips up his throat to his jaw. Rough stubble
abraded her lips, sensitizing them until they felt tingly and
swollen. She nipped his chin then slid a hand around his neck and
urged him to lower his head.

For a long second
they stood poised, lips but a hair’s breadth apart, little puffs of
breath dancing over the waiting surface. Brandi raised her eyes and
stared into his. Expectation filled the air and, of one accord,
they closed the distance and their lips made contact.

Soft and sweet—so
different from their earlier kiss—they touched and retreated only
to brush back and forth again, testing and teasing, drawing out the
moment despite the desire inside that clamoured for more. Slowly,
reluctantly, they pulled apart and softly exhaled. Twice now they’d
come together frantically, but this time...

Brandi slid her
hands up to bury them in his hair, and slowly brought their mouths
into full contact. Lips parted and tongues tentatively touched,
stroking, exploring. Reno flicked the tip of his over the roof of
her mouth and she clenched her fingers tightly in his hair. He
murmured his approval and pulled her closer, caressing her back,
her hips, her rear.

Sliding his hand
down her thigh to her knee, he lifted her leg up. Willingly, she
wrapped it around his hip, aligning their bodies more intimately.
He rocked against her and desire shot through her. She clutched at
his back. A floodgate opened inside her and she became desperate to
feel his skin on hers, to have him touch her where she needed it
the most.

“Reno, please...”
Brandi panted. “I need...” Exactly what she couldn’t decide. His
taste? His touch? To explore his body?

“I know...” Reno
pressed her even closer. “Me, too.” He shoved a hand up the front
of her t-shirt and she almost cried out in relief when he pushed
her bra aside and stroked her breast. Work-roughened fingers played
over her tender flesh, sending more waves of desire spiralling
through her.

She worked his
shirt free of his waistband, and then fumbled to undo the button on
his pants. Sliding her hand inside, she gasped as she came in
contact with hot hard flesh. He was commando!

Reno groaned
loudly and roughly thrust against her hand. It thrilled her to
pleasure him and she caressed the silk encased shaft, feeling him
grow ever firmer under her ministrations.

He teased her
nipple while lightly biting on the chord of her neck. White hot
needles shot through her going directly to her core. God, she
couldn’t take any more! There was a roaring in her ears; the ground
felt like it was shaking under her feet.

Reality crashed
down around her as bit of rock began to fall and dust filled the
air.

“It’s a
cave-in!”

As one they dove
towards the table and huddled underneath as the world seemed to
crash down around them.

Chapter
24

Dust swirled
around them and soon they were both coughing, choking on the
microscopic debris that filled the air.

How long it took
for the world to settle, Brandi had no idea for just when the first
round seemed to be subsiding a second roar had filled the room.
While it seemed like hours, it was likely mere seconds. One minute
the room was filled with noise and the next there was only the
light clatter of the occasional stone settling into place. Slowly,
she released the death grip she had on Reno and looked at him,
blinking rapidly to free her eyes of dust particles.

“Are you all
right?” She managed to choke out the words.

“Yeah. You?” Reno
was coughing as well. His eyes were red rimmed in his grime
coloured face. Brandi assumed she looked no better.

“Fine.”

Carefully, they
clambered out from under the table, pushing away the small rocks
that were in their way. Dust still filled the air, millions of
particles floating in the dim light of the remaining lamps. Fits of
coughing overcame them both, tears streaming from their stinging
eyes. Reno ripped off his shirt and tore it in two.

“Masks.” He said
curtly. “It would be better if they were damp—they’d filter the
dust better—but it’s the best I can do.” Spinning her around, he
tied it behind her head covering her nose and mouth and then she
returned the favour.

Able to breathe
somewhat better, they stared at their surroundings. Surprisingly
enough, the room was basically intact. A few of the lights were
broken and filth covered everything, but otherwise it appeared much
as it had just minutes before.

“I guess we were
lucky.” Brandi slowly turned in a circle, assessing the
situation.

“Damn lucky.” Reno
agreed, doing up his pants. The passion of moments ago had been
thoroughly doused. “There’s no damage here, so the cave-in was...?”
He looked towards the tunnel they’d originally used—the maze Klaus
had created—then the tunnel the others had taken.

“Let’s check that
one.” She pointed to the latter and, with a nod, Reno picked up a
flashlight and headed that way. Brandi grabbed his hand, both for
reassurance and because she remembered Katie saying Reno didn’t
like the tunnels. Had the girl been right?

She gave him a
sideways glance. Above the mask, he did look rather tense, small
furrows showing between his brows. For a moment she debated about
opening the bond between them, but decided not to. No. All these
years she’d tried her best not to invade his privacy. This was no
different. Giving his hand an extra squeeze, she walked along
beside him.

They didn’t have
far to travel—barely a hundred yards—before they came to a
blockage. Brandi stared at the tumble of rocks. Broken pieces of
wood were intermingled with the stone that created a wall blocking
what used to be a passageway. It was plugged almost to the ceiling
with just the smallest of openings showing. Of course, how far the
opening went she didn’t know, and there’d been two cave-ins, so
possibly another blockage existed on the other side of this
one.

Just in case, she
scrambled over the debris, getting as close as possible to the
opening before calling out. “Hello! Anyone there?” She waited a
moment, listening intently before trying again. Still nothing.
“Damn. Reno, do you hear anything?”

“No.” His curt
answer was followed by a pause and she noted his fingers clenching
and unclenching around the flashlight. “What do you think happened?
I thought Klaus just said the roof was stable.”

She carefully
climbed back to stand at his side. “In the cave, yes, but tunnels
are unpredictable, especially the old ones. The timbers that help
shore up the tunnels might have given out or the rainy weather this
year might have weakened the shale. It could even be Victor’s
fault. Peter said there’s been lots of new excavation going on. If
Victor didn’t have an engineer do a mining report on the stability
risks, his project might have compromised this whole area.”

Reno stared at the
wall of stone. With only his upper face visible it was hard to
determine how he was feeling but his tone was clipped when he
spoke. “You’re the one who grew up in this area, what do you think
we should do?”

Brandi considered
the situation. Her knowledge of the mines was all from overheard
conversations. She’d never interested herself in them when she was
growing up, being too intent on leaving. Now, she wished she’d paid
better attention. “Well, we can try to move some of the stone and
see if we can create a crawl space near the ceiling, but we’ve no
idea how thick this pile is or what lies beyond. And, if we start
moving things, it could become unstable and cause another
cave-in.”

“So the
alternative is to stay down here.” He exhaled loudly. “Isn’t this
just fucking grand?”

Reaching out,
Brandi took Reno’s hand again and held it as she stared at the wall
of stone. The warmth and strength of his palm pressed to hers was
comforting as she fought her own demons. Fear was rising inside
her, tightening her chest and causing her skin to prickle. “I never
knew my dad; he died in the mines when I was a baby. The roof caved
in.” She felt tears welling in her eyes and took a deep breath,
trying to steady her voice. “People always said I was like him. It
made me feel closer to him, sort of proud. I... I just never
thought we’d be the same in the way we died.”

“Hey, we’re not
going to die.” Reno pulled her to his chest and wrapped his arms
around her. Resting his chin on her head, he rocked her back and
forth. “We’ll be fine. Peter or Katie or one of the others will go
get help. They’ll dig us out.”

The warmth of his
body seeped into hers and she snuggled closer, inhaling his scent
and feeling inexplicably safer in his arms even as she expressed
her doubts.

“But Peter and the
others can’t show their face. And Klaus doesn’t control the pack,
Victor does. Klaus might have a few wolves he can count on, but he
can’t just appear back in town and expect the rest to fall in line
with him.” She shook her head. “No, it’s up to us to get out of
here.”

“Then we will.” He
spoke with confidence, but there was the faintest hesitancy in his
voice “Let’s head back. It’s sort of...stuffy...in this
tunnel.”

Brandi leaned back
and looked up at him. In the dim light it was hard to make out his
face, but under the grime she thought he looked pale. She chose to
say nothing though and they made their way back to the room where
Klaus had left them.

Once there, they
pulled off their makeshift masks and sat side by side on two
crates, their backs against the rough stone wall. It was hard to
believe that just a short time ago they’d been in the throes of
passion. Was death just around the corner now? She cursed the
cave-in. If it hadn’t happened then perhaps she and Reno would have
made love. He might have confessed his true feelings and she could
have told him about the blood bond. Maybe Reno would even have
bitten her and at least she’d have been able to leave the world
knowing what it was like to feel whole again.

The lights
flickered and Reno jerked beside her. She could hear him cursing
under his breath. “Don’t do this to me.”

“Don’t do
what?”

“The lights.
I...er...” He paused and looked at her sheepishly. “Look, don’t
laugh, but I...um...just found out a little while ago that I don’t
do well in dark, underground places.”

“You’re scared of
being in the tunnels.”

“Not scared,” he
responded quickly staring straight ahead. “Just... uncomfortable.
Sort of shaky and sweaty.” He rubbed his palms over the legs of his
pants and flicked another glance at her. “Pretty stupid for an
Enforcer, isn’t it?”

“No. Not stupid.”
She hugged his arm and rubbed her cheek against his shoulder,
pleased he was confiding in her. “Everyone’s different. I don’t
like spiders.”

He snorted. “Not
even close to the same thing.”

“Hey, a fear is a
fear.” She leaned away and hit him lightly on the arm. “I can’t
bear to even look at the things. And just think of how silly I look
running through the woods in my wolf form only to take off yelping
when I see a daddy-long-legs... She folded her arms and looked
affronted. “It’s very embarrassing.”

“I suppose.” He
gave a brief huff of laughter.

“And besides, even
though you say you’re scared, you’re holding up pretty good. A
little pale, but good.”

“As long as the
lights don’t go out, I’ll be okay. Down in the cellar, I froze up
the first time. I had to really talk to myself to keep moving.” He
reached up and rubbed his head and Brandi frowned briefly wondering
what the connection was before continuing to try and bolster his
spirits.

“But you did keep
moving. That shows guts. Continuing on when you’re afraid is a sign
of true bravery.”

He rolled his
eyes. “Thanks for the lesson in Psych 101.”

“You’re welcome.”
She grinned up at him, enjoying the camaraderie.

The lights
flickered again and this time Reno shot to his feet. “If the lights
go out completely, I don’t know if I can stand being down
here.”

“What else can we
do?” she pointed out. “Unless you want to chance Klaus’ maze and
see if we can find the tunnel that leads back to the town
hall.”

“God...what a
choice. Stuck underground in a black hole doing nothing, wondering
if anyone will ever dig us out, or wandering lost forever in a maze
of old tunnels.” Reno ran his fingers agitatedly through his hair.
As the lights flickered and stayed off for several seconds before
coming back on, a growl escaped him. “What’s going on with
them?”

Brandi shrugged.
“I don’t know. I suppose they’re hooked up to a generator. Maybe
it’s failing or perhaps the cave-in damaged the wires.”

A desperate look
was starting to fill his eyes and he darted his gaze around the
room as if looking for a means of escape. “What did Klaus say about
the tunnels? That they had arrows and symbols that showed which way
to go?”

She nodded. “But I
don’t know if we’d be able to find the markings or not. When he was
pointing them out, they were easy enough to see, but on our own...”
She shook her head. “They were pretty well concealed.”