Bonded (40 page)

Reno started to
pace back and forth and seemed to be arguing with himself. Then,
quite abruptly, he stopped.

“I’m going to give
it a try.” He spoke in a rush, his breathing visibly faster. “I
know I can’t stay down here if the lights give out. I don’t know
what I’d do, what my wolf might do. It’s too dangerous for you to
be here with me.”

“What?” She stood
up. “If you think for one minute, you’re going to go alone—”

He interrupted
before she could finish her thought. “It’s safer for you if you
stay here, away from me. I’d rather be lost in the tunnels than
hurt you. And if I make it out, I’ll send someone back—”

“Reno Smith, there
is no way in hell I’m staying here by myself. We go together or
stay together.”

“But—”

“No buts. You’re
not even making any sense. If you try to leave without me I’ll just
follow along behind.”

He gave a
frustrated growl and for a few moments they locked gazes, a silent
battle of wills ensuing. Finally, he huffed in frustration and
conceded. “Fine. But if I think my rogue is taking over, if I tell
you to leave, I want you to head back this way as fast as you can,
understand?”

Brandi felt Reno
was being over-cautious, letting a label, and Lycan society’s
expectations of what that label meant, rule his life. However, his
eyes were boring into hers as he awaited an answer. She nodded,
agreeing to his terms while her own wolf confidently stated it
could handle Reno’s wolf and even looked forward to the
experience!

Reno visibly
relaxed after she agreed and the wild look in his eyes faded to the
background. “We can probably track our scents at least half the way
back along the route we took, and when we reach the part where the
mask was working, we can use the markings on the wall. I think we
can make it.”

Brandi shook her
head still doubting the wisdom of the plan. “My nose isn’t that
good at tracking.

“Mine is.”

She hesitated
hoping he wasn’t over-confident, but finally nodded. The truth was
she didn’t want to be in the cave if the lights gave out either. It
was too close to some of her childhood nightmares about how her
father had died and she said as much to Reno.

“Okay let’s do
it.” He extended his hand to her and she grasped it, holding the
flashlight in the other.

At the entrance to
the maze, she sniffed the air, detecting the faintest trace of
their earlier presence, but the natural smells of the mine obscured
too much for her to be confident in following the trail.

“Come on,” Reno
gently tugged at her arm.

“You’re sure you
can follow the trail?”

“Tracking was one
of the courses I taught at the Academy, remember? Don’t worry.
You’re in good hands.”

Deciding she’d
have to place her trust in him, she gave a tentative smile. At
first, Reno walked along quickly, barely pausing at each junction
to check for the symbols before choosing which way to go. Brandi
followed and prayed his nose was as good as he claimed it was.

Eventually Reno
began to slow his pace and finally stopped altogether.

“What’s wrong? Has
the trail disappeared?”

“It’s fading but
still there. Now there’s something else, a new scent. Don’t you
notice it?”

Brandi sniffed
carefully, furrowing her brow. “What is it?”

“I think the other
cave-in was in one of the tunnels in the maze.”

“What?” She stared
at him aghast, gripping her flashlight even tighter. “But, surely,
not the one back to the town hall, right? Klaus had that one in
good repair! It has to be one of the other ones.”

He nodded grimly.
“Maybe, but I doubt it. There’s a distinctive chemical odour that
wasn’t present at the site of the other cave-in. And it would make
sense for Victor and Walt to seal the tunnel we escaped in. They
likely followed your scents into the cellar and found the tunnel
entrance. When they realized they couldn’t track you, they decided
to trap all of us inside.”

Brandi swallowed
hard, not wanting to believe him, but knowing his words made sense.
“And the other cave-in?”

“There was no
chemical smell so I think it was just an unexpected by-product of
this explosion.”

A thought suddenly
occurred to her. “What about Klaus! They must have noticed his
scent too!”

“Probably. The
man’s been lucky not to have been discovered in all this time, even
if Walt has been sitting on the news. He must have stayed deep
underground and depended on his ‘spies’ to bring him news of what
was going on in town.”

“So they’re
looking for him now.”

Reno nodded. “And
that means we can’t count on him to organize a rescue party. He and
Peter and the rest will be trying to stay ahead of the hunting
parties. No one will be trying to clear the cave-in and we can’t
use the town hall exit.”

“Maybe they didn’t
blow it up. Maybe it’s just—”

Reno cut her off.
“Brandi, what else would they be blowing up down here?”

“I don’t know, but
I want to check.” She set her chin in a determined fashion. Usually
she didn’t want the facts candy-coated but was reluctant to give up
hope.

He sighed. “All
right, follow me.”

They travelled a
bit farther, but all too soon came to the remains of the tunnel’s
entrance. “See?”

Brandi stared at
the tumble of stone, her spirits plummeting. There’d been a vague
hope in her heart that Reno was wrong, but now... “You were right.”
She turned to look at him, making no effort to hide her fear. “What
do we do now?”

Reno slung an arm
around her shoulder. “We look for another way.”

Wrapping her arms
around his waist, she buried her face against his shoulder,
breathing in his comforting scent. “I’m scared.”

“Hey, I’m the one
who’s afraid of dark underground places, remember?”

“Yeah, well I’m
going to join you now.”

“Sorry, no can do.
It’s an exclusive club.”

She tried to
smile, knowing he was attempting to lighten the mood but it wasn’t
working very well.

He pressed a kiss
to her forehead, then turned and started to lead her back the way
they’d come. “You know we were damned lucky.”

“How is it lucky
to have someone blow up a tunnel and trap you underground?”

“The coal dust
didn’t spark any fires and there was no methane gas to ignite.”

Brandi stopped in
her tracks, realizing how much worse off they could be. A fire
would have depleted their oxygen if the smoke didn’t kill them
first. “You’re right, we are lucky.”

They walked in
silence for a while before she questioned him. “Where are we
going?”

“Klaus said there
was an exit farther up the mountain. We’re heading towards that
one.”

“But what if they
block that one too?”

“We’ll have to
hope they don’t. And if they did, we’ll look for the next one.
Actually, I think they’ll have their hands full and might forget
about us for a while. Someone must have noticed the halves are
missing by now and Victor’s group needs to capture them before the
other Purist leaders arrive.”

“Maybe he’ll just
cancel the meeting and the others won’t come.”

“No. From what you
and Peter related about the conversation you overheard, Victor
won’t want to lose face in front of them. I suspect he’s been
boasting about having the perfect location for them, a place to
meet, to hide if necessary. After all, no one can get into
Kolding’s Pass unnoticed. He won’t cancel; he’s too sure of
himself. We’re no more than an annoyance to him, as is Klaus.”

Brandi hoped he
was right and said no more. However, inside she had her doubts.
Even if they got to the second entrance, what would they do then?
Victor, his men, and any number of Purists were still out there and
they had no idea where Klaus might be or how many followers he
had.

Reno stopped. They
were at a junction and he was staring hard at the symbols on the
wall. “Circles were for the maze,” he murmured.

“And triangles
were danger.”

“So this...is
definitely an ‘x’ and here’s another.” Reno traced his fingers over
the rough cut markings. “We must have to go this way to the second
exit. What do you think?” He looked at her for confirmation and she
nodded.

And so they
continued on, pausing each time the tunnels branched off, studying
the markings before proceeding. For the most part, Reno was silent,
but in the dim illumination of the flashlights she could see the
inner struggle he was waging. His face was tight, his pupils
dilated. At times he would pause to take deep breaths, give his a
head a shake, or mutter under his breath. Was he battling his wolf,
his fear, or both? Whatever the case, he gave her no cause to worry
for her own safety.

The ground finally
developed a definite upward slope, and Reno seemed to be trying to
make it a positive sign.

“See?” He grinned
back at her. “Klaus said the second exit was higher up in the
mountain. We must be going the right way.” The grin seemed forced
but she said nothing about it, merely nodding and rubbing his
shoulder.

He placed his hand
over hers and gave it a gentle squeeze. No word of thanks for the
encouragement crossed his lips, but she knew he appreciated the
comforting gesture. She was starting to believe that with Reno,
actions carried more meaning than words.

Hours—days even
for all she knew—seemed to pass. This part of the mine had been
played out years ago and was in greater disrepair than the tunnels
Klaus had used. They climbed over rocks, ducked under low beams,
and sidestepped old coal carts left abandoned by long ago miners.
The remains of the tracks that the coal carts had run on appeared
and at first she’d thought that meant the entrance was near, but
after walking, and walking, and walking some more, she realized
she’d been premature in her thinking.

At some point
Brandi fell into a bit of a daze, moving automatically and barely
acknowledging Reno when he pointed to a symbol and changed their
path. His stamina exceeded hers and she was more tired than she’d
ever imagined possible. He could lead them anywhere for all she
cared. Her legs were tired. Her eyes itched. Her throat was dry.
She eyed the dampness on the wall with a scowl. It seemed to mock
her with its wetness, but she knew the moisture wasn’t palatable.
Dreams of a long, cool drink were filling her mind when quite
unexpectedly she slammed into Reno’s back.

“Why did you
stop?”

“Sniff. The air is
fresher, which means...” He paused and looked at her
expectantly.

It took a moment
for her tired brain to process the information and its
implications. When it did, she gave an excited whoop and clutched
his arm. “We’re almost at an exit!”

“And no one has
tried to seal us inside.” A real smile spread across his grime
covered face. Impulsively, she kissed him before pushing at his
body, urging him to move on. Her legs lost the heavy, tired feeling
that had plagued them for the last while and the final yards seemed
to fly past.

“There it is!”
Reno pointed straight ahead and the sky, awash with the bright blue
colour of a crisp mountain morning, showed through a small opening
in the stone. They gave each other a quick hug and then hurried
towards the entrance.

Unfortunately, it
too had suffered a cave-in for just feet from the opening it became
apparent that it was too small to fit through.

“Crap.” Brandi
eyed the debris and sighed before exchanging weary glances with
Reno. As one, they began the tiresome task of removing the rubble
from the opening.

Brandi’s muscles
ached. Her fingers were bleeding, her nails were cracked. Sweat
dripped down her face. She leaned back against the wall to catch
her breath and watched Reno working.

A sheen of sweat
covered him and his muscles flexed and bunched with each move. He
must be just as tired as she was, despite his training, yet he kept
on working, each motion smooth and fluid, his face set with
determination. She wondered what extremes he could be pushed to; if
he’d ever admit to a weakness. Or would the rogue in him keep
going, refusing to give up until he finally collapsed of
exhaustion.

Well, she wouldn’t
chance it. Shoving off from the wall, she set to helping him again,
carrying away the smaller stones, rolling those she couldn’t
lift.

“I’ll do that.”
Reno grabbed a large piece she’d been struggling with and easily
hefted it.

“Show off,” she
gibed teasingly.

He flashed her a
smile, his teeth startlingly white against the grime on his face,
but kept on working.

Finally, just when
she was sure her arms couldn’t move another stone, Reno stopped. “I
think we can squeeze through.”

Brandi eyed the
hole and then the breadth of his shoulders. “I don’t know. Maybe if
you shifted...”

“No. My wolf’s too
unstable right now to be set free.” His face showed that he’d brook
no argument so she merely nodded.

“Guess we’ll have
to try this way then.” She stepped towards the opening and began to
squeeze herself through.

It wasn’t that
tight of a fit, though the roughness of the stone could be felt
through her clothing. Her main injury came from banging her head
when unexpectedly she felt Reno’s hand on her rump.

“Hey!” She yelled
in protest.

“Sorry, but the
way you were wiggling it back and forth I couldn’t resist.”
Laughter could be heard in his voice and after the tense tones he’d
been using over the previous hours it was like a balm.

She smiled and
gave her rear an extra wiggle before continuing. The fresh air and
blue sky were calling to her and she moved as quickly as she could.
One inch, then another... She was out!

Scrambling to her
feet, she barely glanced around before poking her head into the
tunnel. “I made it! Your turn!”