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S eeing the look on Cora’s face, the tears streaking down her cheeks as she sobbed against Jax’s chest, cracked something in me. This new revelation about her makes me feel even worse about so many of my arrogant, preconceived beliefs. I fucking yelled at her to take her heat suppressants when we first got here. How did that reminder of her pain feel to her?

Guilt and shame rest on my shoulders like a heavy weight. I spent so many of our first days here treating her like she was nothing more than her biology, and all that time she was hurting and facing this pain alone.

Fuck, I’ve been such an asshole. Making assumptions without even getting to know her. My biases stemmed from seeing my brother’s downward spiral, not something that happened to me directly. This woman is actually living her trauma on a daily basis.

With a sigh, I determine to help her any way I can moving forward. I’m still not sure how to tell her I’m her mate, or if I’m brave enough to face her rejection when I do, but I’ll do anything to make sure she doesn’t feel broken. Even helping her search for a solution that may not exist. I don’t want her to feel like she doesn’t have options, and if this is the option she wants to pursue, I’ll support her in that.

Whether or not this relic will do what she hopes is yet to be determined, but a couple days down here won’t kill us. And she’s right about this being a rare opportunity. When will we ever have the chance to explore Lunara’s temple like this again? Once we find our way to the surface and reveal this discovery, the powers that be will take over, securing the site from any outsiders and demanding we follow protocol that could dredge on for years. If we’re careful not to destroy anything, this is a once in a lifetime chance to see history raw.

A sharp clang echos off the temple walls, ripping me from my musing and spiking my adrenaline. The sound is emanating from the darkened hallway to the left, behind the pools. Archer and Cora are hunched over the book, searching for any clue as to where the relic might be—if it’s even in the temple at all. Bear is roasting the snake. But Jax… where the hell is Jax?

My brows furrow as I lock eyes with Bear across the campfire. Another clang rings out, and we both jump up.

Without saying a word, we run from the fire, aiming for the tunnel. Sounds of rustling indicate Cora and Archer have scrambled up to follow, but I don’t look back to confirm.

When we round the bend in the hall, my mouth drops open in horror. Jax is slamming what looks to be a pick-axe into a solid wall.

“What the hell are you doing?!” I yell once my initial shock has worn off.

Jax pauses, looks at me over his shoulder, and casually admits, “I’m tearing a hole in this wall,” then he goes right back to it.

“No shit, but why?” Bear asks. He’s a little less irate than I am.

Jax strikes the wall again, never taking his eyes off his project. “Noticed a hole between the bricks here. You can feel cool air being sucked in by the humidity from the hot springs, which means it isn’t just dirt on the other side. Could be a room, or another path we can access, maybe one that leads to our girl's necklace. I know I wouldn’t keep something like that out in the open. Besides, I got a sixth sense about these kinds of things. So I figured I’d take a look.”

“By destroying the temple?!” I yell even louder. My blood pressure is rising by the moment as I watch him tear apart history so crassly.

“Not destroying. Renovating.” Jax throws back with a cocky grin.

Bear rolls his eyes at him, but doesn’t say anything else. Just as I’m about to step in, something loosens and half of the wall gives way. The treasure hunter goes flying forward, dropping out of sight, and Cora lets out a soft scream. Scrambling forward, I breathe a sigh of relief when Jax stands up, brushing off his jeans and running his fingers through his hair to shake the dust out. I may not love the guy, but I don’t want him to die .

“Jax! Are you okay!” Cora cries as she stumbles over the rubble to get to him. Right when she makes it to him, she loses her footing and falls, but Jax catches her.

“Whoa, slow down, love. We don’t want you to hurt yourself,” he croons at the omega as he sets her right.

“Holy Hell.” Archer draws out the words in an awed voice as he takes in what Jax quite literally stumbled into. What looked like a solid wall turns out to be hiding a set of stairs that lead further underground. It was likely a hidden door that required someone to know how to open it, but of course Jax bulldozed his way through like a hippo on a rampage. He’s lucky the whole damn temple didn’t collapse on us.

“Bear, can you get us a torch?” Cora asks.

With a nod, the big man jogs off, returning moments later with a lit torch he swiped from our little campsite. Knowing Cora is too short to reach, he lifts the torch, touching it to another one on the wall. The flames catch and spread lighting the passageway with a soft glow.

“Do we…go down?” Archer asks when none of us move. Jax shrugs his shoulders, turns on his heel, and begins descending the stairs. Cora follows him, and the rest of us trail after her like lost puppies.

It’s colder here than the room we just left, and the juxtaposition between the stairwell and the warm oasis of the pools is eerie. Cora wraps her arms around herself, rubbing her hands up and down her biceps as if warming them up. Bear notices and pulls her against his huge body. I’m sure the man radiates heat like a furnace.

“Are you cold, honey?” he asks her softly. She shakes her head, biting her lip before answering .

“No, I’m fine. Just a little nervous, maybe?”

When he reaches a plateau, Jax spins around, aiming a wide smile in her direction while continuing to walk backward. “Are you scared, little mate? You know I’ll protect you from any ghosts or creepy crawlies down here.”

“Watch where you’re going, asshole.” I growl. The last thing we need is someone falling into another hole because they weren’t paying attention.

Cora glares at me, and I sigh. I’m about to attempt an apology for snapping at Jax, when I hear a scraping sound. Jax freezes, looking down at the floor with wide eyes. The stone he’s standing on is slowly sinking under his weight. Before he can jump off, it settles with a click .

My chest is tight as we all wait, poised for something to happen. When nothing comes flying out of the wall or crashing from the ceiling, Jax lets out an awkward chuckle. “Ha, uh, oops?”

“Guys.” Cora’s voice is strained. She’s staring at the floor. A trickle of softly glowing water is snaking between her feet, small at first, but growing thicker every second.

“Bear!” Archer calls out. He’s pointing at the wall, where more is flowing through small holes we didn’t notice. “I think it’s coming from the pools!”

More and more holes seem to open in the walls and ceiling. Bioluminescent water pours out, gathering in the stairwell.

It isn’t draining.

“Did you just trip a fucking booby trap?” I growl at Jax.

“Those really exist?” Bear questions .

“Not often.” Archer answers. “But there’s evidence that suggests ancient civilizations protected extremely valuable items with deterrents.”

Waving an arm around us, I grit out, “Deterrent is an understatement, don’t you think?”

The water is now above our ankles. We need to get out of here. Dashing up the stairs, I don’t get more than a couple steps before another scraping sound echoes around us. The little firelight that had reached us from our makeshift campsite is being snuffed out as a large stone wall slides across the middle of the stairwell. I pick up my pace, and hear the others splashing behind me. If I can just get there, maybe I can hold it open for them. But water is gushing down the stairs now, up to my knees as I try to wade upstream. The wall closes in, blocking us from the exit.

“Oh my goddess!” Cora cries as Bear yells out, “Fuck!”

When I spin around, Jax is staring between the new wall and the quickly rising water, likely trying to figure out what to do, but not fast enough. I grip his bare shoulder hard, squeezing so he looks at me.

“Find us a way out. Now .” I don’t care that the command comes out as a bark. He got us into this mess by bumbling in here without caution. There has to be something he can do to break through that wall. Now that I think about it, there must be something holding all this water in. Another door, maybe.

Pushing past the useless treasure hunter, and the rest of the group, I run into another stone wall. Shit!

There must be a hidden trigger mechanism to get it to open. At least I hope there is, I’m not ready to drown in Lunara’s temple. My gaze lands on Cora, my mate. She’s shivering against Bear, eyes wide with worry.

I can’t let her die. I won’t.

I drag my hands along the wall from one side to the other, scraping and pulling at any crevice I find, the blue glow from the water highlighting the grooves and divots in the stone. There has to be a way out. There has to be something .

Noticing what I’m doing, Bear pushes a trembling Cora into Archer’s arms, then wades toward me. With the torch in one hand, he places his other high on the wall. “What am I looking for?”

I don’t stop my search. “A button, or a handle, or maybe even a loose rock. Anything that could trigger whatever mechanism opens this door.”

“How do you know there is one?” he asks, even as he begins dragging his hands along the wall.

It’s Cora who answers this time. “Th-they wouldn’t have set this up with no way to get out. People lived here, there has to be a failsafe.” Archer nods in agreement, and they both start looking. I can hear Jax hammering at the wall that closed us in halfway up the stairs.

Water is pouring in faster than before. It’s up to my thighs. Panic sets in, my lungs growing tighter with every new inch of water, as if my body thinks it’s already drowning. Bear suddenly abandons his search, wadding to Cora who is now submerged to her waist. He picks her up, holding her on his shoulder. She has to scrunch over to avoid the ceiling, but at least she’s as high as she can be. Jax gives up on the stairs and takes Bear’s place next to me, frantically looking for our salvation .

“Fuck!” I yell when I can’t find anything. The water’s quickly rising above my shoulders.

“Roman! Get over here!” Cora pleads. She and Bear are on the stairs near the back wall in an attempt to get to the highest ground they can. Locking my gaze with hers, I study her gorgeous features for a moment before shaking my head. She gasps as I take a deep breath of air, diving under the surface.

A hand grabs my ankle and yanks me back up. I sputter as I glare at Jax. There isn’t much room left for air, our heads touching the ceiling. The torches sputter out one at a time as the water reaches higher and higher up the stairwell, leaving no light but that from the phosphorescent liquid that could be our doom.

“Let. Me. Go.” I growl, and the treasure hunter releases my leg.

Wasting no time, I take another deep breath and dive below.

There’s no way I’m going to stand idly by and watch anyone—much less my goddamn mate—drown. Gripping the wall, I pull myself lower and survey my options with blurry vision. Suddenly a spot of white light appears on the wall in front of me. A quick glance shows Jax behind me, shining a small flashlight through the water.

He sweeps the light across the wall and the ground nearby, and something glints. I grab his arm, pointing toward the spot I thought I saw the anomaly. He aims the light again. There! Tucked in the shadows, whatever it is glints again. Our best shot.

Burning the last of my oxygen, I propel my body through the water and reach for the item. It’s behind a rock that blends in so well, we never would have noticed it without the light from the flashlight bouncing off it.

Sliding my hand behind the rock, my fingers meet cool metal. I wrap my hand around it and depress it toward the wall in a hail mary, even though I have no idea what it will do. Something shifts in my peripheral.

The wall blocking us from continuing is sliding down into the floor, vortexes forming as the water drains.

When there’s enough room between the wall and ceiling, I squeeze my body tight, dragging myself through the opening, crashing to the stone floor on the other side and heaving fresh air into my burning lungs.

Water is still spilling into this room as the wall lowers, but it isn’t filling it. Jax tumbles after me, his flashlight swinging wide in the near-darkness. My heart buzzes as I wait for what feels like too long, straining my eyes and ears for any sign of Cora. Where is she? I’m about to climb the wall to get back to her, when someone rides the wave through the now large opening, landing on top of me. Cora .

She coughs, gasping in ragged gulps of air as I clutch her to my chest. Fuck, I’ve never felt so relieved. “Shhh, hummingbird, I’ve got you.”

She’s shaking, her head buried in my neck. I stroke her wet hair, and a purr stutters out of me for the first time in my life. My mate is in my arms. She’s okay, and she’s in my arms. Right where she should be. I can’t remember why I’ve been fighting this any more.

She almost drowned. I almost lost her before I even had a chance with her.

Two more thumps, followed by low groans, cause me to reluctantly turn my head away from my omega. Jax’s flashlight barely lights a few feet, but it’s enough to see Archer and Bear. The security alpha is gripping the beta much like I’m clutching my trembling mate.

Cora suddenly whips her head up to stare into my eyes. Her breathing is labored, her skin flushed, and she’s still the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.

Her mouth parts slowly, her pupils dilating as she makes a soft sniffing sound.

Her voice is nothing but a whisper when she says, “Mate?”