Page 15 of The Delver (The Vrix #2)

Urkot chittered. He couldn’t argue with her, not any more than he could deny how right it felt to have Callie so close to him, headcrest to forehead.

For vrix, this was amongst the greatest displays of trust. Such closeness, with mandibles within easy striking distance, was reserved only for the most meaningful relationships.

And she had initiated this. Despite her small, fragile body, despite his size and strength, she had been the one to enter this vulnerable, intimate position.

I…just wanted to see you.

For someone to have made the journey here just for him—to see him, to feed him—and for that someone to be Callie… How would he ever be able to express what that made him feel? How would he ever explain how light and energetic his spirit felt, how full?

Even if he didn’t have the words, he could no longer remain silent. He could no longer hold it all inside. He would not waste these opportunities.

He took a deep breath, steadying himself. “Callie, I?—”

A faint tremor coursed through the ground beneath his legs. His fine hairs stood on end. Insides tangling into knots, he hissed.

Callie’s brow furrowed. “Urkot? What’s wrong?”

“Must go,” he replied, snatching Callie off her feet and drawing her against his chest.

As he spun toward the chamber’s entrance, the reverberating sound of cracking rock rent the air, louder and more unsettling than a thousand bones snapping at once.

The cave floor buckled.

Urkot’s stomach lurched, and he stumbled despite having all six legs on the ground.

He heard the thornskulls shouting, and he glimpsed them scrambling to right themselves. The tremor became a deep rumbling, and the knots within Urkot pulled taut, sinking low.

No! Delver, please! Not here, not now.

Not her!

The ground crumbled beneath him. His hearts halted, caught in the cold, crushing grip of terror.

Callie.

Cupping a hand behind her head and squeezing his eyes shut, he curled his body protectively around her. They clung to one another as the ground swallowed them.

All was chaos and pain and deafening noise. Rocks battered and scraped Urkot’s tumbling body from all sides. Dust choked him and burned his throat and lungs. The rockfall swept them down, down, down, on a river of roiling, unforgiving stone.

Through that eternity, which spanned impossibly few heartbeats, he remained most aware of Callie. He felt her body, her grip, her nails biting into his hide, felt her reacting to every jolt. He felt her screaming against his chest, even if he could not hear her.

Only his racing hearts overcame the din.

He came to a hard stop atop a bed of jagged rocks with Callie beneath him.

More stone rained onto Urkot, and he strained with one arm to keep as much of his weight off her small, soft body as he could even as more stones piled atop his back, increasing his burden.

His upper right arm trembled, his muscles ached, and he growled in fury, in despair, in determination.

And then there was stillness, accompanied by a silence so deep that a high, piercing tone filled his hearing.

His eyes snapped open. Dust hung thick in the air, made more difficult to see through due to the faint glow of the crystals spread throughout the surrounding rubble. As that dust settled atop him, it seemed as heavy as the stones crushing him.

Tremors wracked his body, and his ragged breaths tore through his throat. Ghostly pleas for aid and cries of agony rose within his mind, accompanied by a tang of blood that cut through the dust; he did not know if the scent was real or remembered, but it did not matter. Those calls…

His hearts quickened, and the tremors intensified. He squeezed his eyes shut once more.

But there was no safety in the dark, no silence, no solace. Just that crushing weight, that smell, those desperate cries, and helplessness.

“Urkot?”

His softly spoken name came from far away as the cries and the piercing sound, growing louder and louder, rang in his head.

“Urkot?” someone repeated, louder this time, breaking through the cacophony in his mind as frantic hands moved over his chest, shoulders, neck, and face, until finally they cradled his jaw and angled his head down. “Urkot! Say something! Please!”

He forced his eyes open. Callie was beneath him, her skin and hair covered in white dust. Her eyes, those large, beautiful brown eyes, were pools of concern and fear as they gazed up at him.

She was alive.

They were alive.

“Callie,” Urkot rasped. He clutched her tighter, unwilling, unable, to let her go. Afraid to let her go. Afraid that what he was seeing wasn’t real, that he had failed and she was lying lifeless in his arms.

“Oh, thank God,” she breathed in a rush. “Are you okay? Are you hurt?”

“I…” Urkot’s chest was tight, making each breath a struggle, and countless new pains throbbed all over his body. The voices had retreated, but that weight continued bearing down on him, both within him and atop him. “I am okay. Are you?—”

Callie coughed, her body jerking. When she drew in rasping breaths, he felt the strain in her chest, felt the tension in her muscles. She was trapped, caught between him and the harder, uneven stone beneath.

He was crushing her.

“I think I’m okay,” she said once the coughing subsided, voice strained. She wiggled her feet, but they didn’t budge from where they were pinned. “My…my legs hurt, but I don’t think anything is broken. Are you okay?”

“We must move, Callie. Not safe.” Bracing a hand on the rubble, he pushed his torso up. But when he attempted to move his legs, they met considerable resistance—the rock piled atop them was trapping them in place, and he would not easily free himself.

A few smaller rocks came free, tumbling down the pile with a series of clacks that echoed in the darkness.

Urkot’s hearts thundered as those voices threatened to swell again. He clenched his jaw and fought them back. He was here, now, with Callie. Keeping her safe was all that mattered.

He released her with his other upper arm, planting it on the rock below like the first, and tightened his hold on Callie with his lower arm. “Hold me. Tight.”

She wrapped her arms around his neck without hesitation.

“Do not let go.”

“I won’t.”

Urkot drew in a deep breath, ignoring the burning in his lungs. With a snarl, he dragged himself forward, pushing with his arms and legs. The weight of the stone atop him continued its resistance.

I will not let this be our end. I will not let Callie share the fate of so many others I have lost.

Gritting his teeth, he called upon all his strength. His body trembled with the exertion, but he did not relent, even as more rocks came free and fell around him. He felt rough stone scraping his hide, felt everything atop him shift as his hindquarters and legs began to come free.

With a great heave, he thrust himself forward, tearing the lower half of his body free.

Callie cried out beneath him. The pain and fear in that sound chilled him to his core, but he could not tend to her yet.

He curled around her again, caging her with his arms and legs as he tumbled down the rubble.

Stone fell behind them with a great clamor, a second rockfall triggered by his escape.

When he felt the solid cave floor beneath him, he scrambled away, cradling her against his chest. The sound was thunderous. Callie clung to Urkot, arms around his neck and face buried against him.

Her warm, heavy breath against his hide was a source of comfort; so long as she breathed, he had not yet failed.

Urkot pressed his shoulder to the wall. Keeping his back to the rockfall, he shielded her body with his until the sound of falling stones finally ceased, leaving only his and Callie’s ragged breaths to break the silence.

“Is it safe?” she asked.

He lifted his head and glanced over his shoulder. Though fresh dust had risen, it wasn’t as thick as before, and it was the only thing moving behind them. “For now.”

Carefully, he stood up, setting Callie on her feet before him. Aches and pains radiated through him from the tips of his legs to the point of his headcrest, but he gave them none of his attention. Instead, he stepped back, placing his hands on Callie’s shoulders as he looked her over.

She was covered in pale dust, which made it easier to spot the places where blood welled from her broken skin. He turned her. Her pack had protected her back and shoulders from the rocks, but her thighs and calves…

Her cry echoed in his mind.

Urkot growled as he lowered himself to the ground, hands dropping to her hips to keep her still. The skin on the backs of her legs had been too delicate to withstand the harsh, jagged stone where they’d been pinned.

“Callie…”

Twisting her torso, Callie looked down at him and settled a hand atop his. “I’m okay, Urkot. They’re just scrapes. They’ll heal. It… It could have been much worse.”

Urkot let his head fall forward, pressing it to her lower back as he closed his eyes and clutched her hips.

It could have been much, much worse. His Callie could have been taken from him. But she was here, alive. He could feel her softness beneath his palms, could feel her heat, her touch.

A tremor wracked him as he breathed in her scent.

“I am sorry,” he whispered in vrix.

“Hey now,” she said gently, turning in his hold.

Before he could raise his head, she cupped his jaw. He opened his eyes and gazed up at her.

“Don’t do that. We’re okay.” She brushed her thumbs along the sides of his face and smiled. “We’re alive, and that’s what matters. We’ll figure the rest out.”

He flexed his fingers upon her hips, tempted to draw her closer. Instead, he nuzzled her palm, relishing her touch and her scent. But it was too dangerous to remain here, and the others…

The others .

Urkot jerked up. Callie lowered her hands and took a step back, giving him space as he turned to look at the aftermath of the rockfall.