Page 30

29

T he crevasse blocking our path stretches across the entire hallway. There’s a thin rim of floor still intact against the right wall, but that’s it. It’s pitch black, so I can’t see the bottom, but there’s at least ten feet between this side and the other. Reminds me of the canyons near where I did my basic training. My buddies and I used to climb those all the time, but that was with full gear and supplies.

Cora gasps when she sees it, and Roman curses again.

“What do we do now?” Archer asks, looking at me. It warms something inside me to have him defer to me, like I’m already his alpha. We’ve been more cautious with each other since our kiss, but there’s no way I’m letting this beta get away from me. Once this job is over, I’m making him mine.

But first things first. We gotta get out of here.

While I’m still figuring out how to answer, Jax pulls a torch from the wall and tosses it into the pit. It makes a thump as it lands sooner than I expected. We all peer over the edge.

Cora’s beside me, and the thought of her leaning over a drop like that has me instantly grabbing her waist and holding her steady. Fuck, I’d love for her to be mine, too. She feels so right tucked against me.

“There’s a level below this.” Her voice is an awed whisper.

I’ve never been much into history or all that shit, but seeing the way she lights up at each new discovery makes me wish I knew more about it. My gaze lands on Archer behind her, and that feeling only solidifies. He looks like a kid in a candy store.

“Well, this is definitely Lunara’s temple,” Jax says, as if any of us still had any doubt.

The crevasse only allows for so much visibility, but it seems as if the level below may be a twin to this one. Underneath a pile of rubble, the same stone floor runs in a slightly curved shape that matches what should theoretically have been right in front of us. There’s a symbol on the floor near the edge of the lit area. If the torch had landed anywhere different, I wouldn’t have seen it.

“What’s that mean?” I point to it.

“That’s Lunara’s rune,” Cora says, still staring in amazement.

“I’ve never heard of any rune specific to Lunara, and I’ve been studying antiquities for a decade,” Roman says.

“Just because you’ve never heard of it doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist,” Archer says. “History is vast, and you can’t be an expert in all of it.” Archer turns from Roman to address Cora in a much warmer tone. “Can you explain it to us? The rune?”

Her whole face lights up, the way it always does when she’s excited. “There, in the middle, is the omega symbol. Which you all should recognize, of course. But those,” Cora gestures in a circle around the symbol to four evenly-spaced hieroglyphs, “represent Lunara’s four alphas. Omegas were always meant to be the center of the pack, to balance out their alphas’ natures. Unlike today, where omegas are seen as fragile and weak, at one time in history alphas were seen as the weaker sex. They needed their pack and omega or they would go feral.” She shudders at the thought. “Omegas may have been physically smaller, but they held all the power. In fact, many packs didn’t have a pack alpha at all, opting instead for the omega to lead. I’ve only seen this mark a few times in all my research.”

“Well, guess we’re going down.” Jax takes off his backpack and starts rooting around inside it.

“We can’t go down,” Roman says. “That’s the opposite direction from where we want to go. We need to get back to the surface.”

“Can’t cross that.” Jax jerks his head at the hole in the floor without looking up from his pack.

“We could shimmy across that ledge.” I point to the one side that has the scantest few inches of floor still attached.

Jax looks up, studies it, looks around the rest of the room, then goes back to his bag. “Nope. Not a good idea.” He pulls out a neatly wrapped bundle of rope .

“Can’t we use the rope to get across the crevice?” Cora asks.

Jax smiles at her. “You wanna play Jane to my Tarzan, little mate?” He waggles his brows at her playfully. “Even if we could get it attached to something on both sides of the crevice, it’d be risky. You ever try to climb the rope in gym class?”

She looks at him, her head cocked to the side. “I mean, yeah?”

“You ever make it to the top?” He finishes. Cora sighs when his point hits home. It may look cool and easy in the movies, but swinging on a thin rope over a huge gap really isn’t the smartest idea.

“Maybe we should stay here,” Roman says. “Start digging, or wait for the team to get back and realize something happened. Going down isn’t going to help us.”

“I dunno, professor. Going down always helps me.” Jax wiggles his eyebrows at Roman. “C’mon, aren’t you curious? I would think an archeologist would be more excited about this?”Jax walks over to the wall and tugs on a tapestry hook. Surprisingly, it doesn’t budge.

“I’m a little busy worrying about us dying down here. I’ll save my excitement for when we’re safely back on the surface.” Roman replies.

Jax tugs harder on the hook, even going so far as to relax his knees to test its ability to hold his weight. The metal ring doesn’t budge. Well, that’s something in our favor. He ties the rope to the ring in a clove hitch, a knot I recognize will hold. Whoever this guy is, I’m pretty sure he’s gonna save our asses multiple times before this is all over .

“Give it to me.” I hold out my hand. Jax hesitates, but hands me the other end of the rope. “If one of us can get across the ledge and attach the rope on the other side, then the others can use the rope as a sort of railing to get across.”

Jax raises his eyebrows. “And you’re gonna be the one to go across?”

“No way,” Archer speaks up, ripping the rope from my grip. “Think this through, Bear. You’re the biggest one here. There’s no way that ledge will hold you up.” He looks genuinely concerned, and it makes something in my chest swell.

“I should do it.” Cora steps a little closer to the edge, testing the rim with one toe.

“Oh, no you don’t.” Roman wraps both arms around her and pulls her a good five feet away from the hole.

“Fuck, no,” Jax says, agreeing with Roman for the first time. The two share a brief nod.

“Yeah, sorry, honey.” I join them. “There’s not a soul here who’s going to be okay with you walking across there on your own, especially with no safety harness in place.”

“Don’t patronize me just because I’m a woman. Or is it because I’m an omega? Either way, I can do this. It’s the most logical course of action. I weigh the least, so I can get across with the rope, tie it to something, and then the rest of you can use it to get?—”

At the clatter of falling rock, my head swings around to take in a sight that makes my heart stop. Archer is halfway across the crevasse, sidestepping with his back pressed against the wall.

I want to yell at him, to rage at his stupidity, but I can’t breathe. It’s like someone sucked all the oxygen out of my lungs and then punched me in the gut. We all must feel the magnitude of the risk he’s taking, because the space is suddenly dead quiet.

His foot edges out, then slowly his weight shifts. His footing holds. So he does it again.

Cora is clinging to Roman now, Jax crowding in close on her other side. I take a step toward the edge, closer to Archer. But what can I do? He’s too far to reach, already committed.

“Don’t you dare fucking die,” I whisper, voice scratching across my throat.

He chuckles nervously and more rocks fall. He sucks in a breath. Cora’s gasp is half sob.

“No laughing. Stay focused,” I command in the same voice I used to use when training cadets.

Archer nods solemnly and sets his gaze on the other side. He should have gone with his belly to the wall. That would have kept him from looking down, and he could find handholds in the stone to help support his weight. But it’s too late now. Turning around would be even more dangerous. At least, he had the foresight to tie the rope around his chest, right under his underarms.

“You’ve got this.” My attempt at a reassuring tone wobbles. “You’re almost there.”

Just a few more steps.

His foot shuffles out to the side, toes brushing sand that falls down into the depths below. He eases a little further.

Then the rest of the floor gives out.