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M ate. Roman Slate is my mate .

I sit up, still on top of Roman’s lap, and he straightens with me, keeping his arms around me. My head feels fuzzy, and I’m not sure if it’s from the recent lack of oxygen or his juniper and cranberry scent.

He smells like the punch my dad’s best friend used to make every year for my parent’s Winter Solstice party. Gin and sugared cranberries. As a teenager, I used to sneak sips of it when no one was looking. It made me feel grown up, sophisticated, a little naughty.

It’s perfect for Roman.

“How long have you known?” I whisper, unable to take my eyes off him.

“Since this morning.”

“But you didn’t…”

“I know. I needed some time.” His voice is a low rasp. “Breathe, hummingbird. ”

I didn’t realize I’d stopped. “You… you hate me.”

“I tried to.” He chuckles softly. “You terrified me, hummingbird. But no matter what I did, I could never hate you.” His arms tighten around me, and he brings his nose to the soft skin behind my ear. “You’re intelligent and feisty and curious. And I knew it would be so easy to love you if I let myself get too close.” He says it like it’s a revelation to him, as well as to me.

Pulling back slightly, we stare at each other in the low glow of the remaining bioluminescent water cascading around us in every direction. His scent hits stronger. Like lightning, zipping through me and electrocuting every cell.

“I know you have no reason to forgive me for how I’ve treated you. But please, please Cora…” His voice breaks as he touches his forehead to mine. “I’m so sorry. Give me a chance to make it up to you. I’ll do anything.” He brushes the wet hair back from my face, eyes pleading. “Do you need me to grovel? I’ll grovel.”

“I’d like to see that,” Jax says from behind me, a smirk in his voice. “I’ve got a few ideas for how he can make it up to you, if you need help.”

“I think you owe all of us an apology,” Bear adds.

But I honestly don’t feel like I need that from Roman. Sure he’s infuriating sometimes, but I kind of like the way he challenges me, spurs me to action, even his sarcastic quips. All I want is him . For him to be here with me, like he is right now, rather than pushing me away.

“I truly am sorry.” Roman’s sincere gaze swings from me to Archer, Bear, and Jax.

“Uh, hate to break up this beautiful moment, but I think we got a problem.” Jax swings his flashlight to take in a narrow corridor. There’s a door at the other end that glints like metal. Before I can process that, glowing dots draw my attention to the walls. Glowing dots that are moving .

Jax’s body is tense when he grabs my arm and yanks me to my feet. When he shines his flashlight on some of the moving dots near the wall, it becomes clear what they are. Scorpions. A glowing scorpion skitters out of the drain. And then another. And another.

“Shit,” Bear curses.

“The water must be disturbing them.” Archer jumps up, then leans forward to investigate the grate closest to him. “Probably intentional. Pretty smart, actually. One booby trap setting off another.”

Bear yanks him back with a low growl.

“What the fuck do we do? We can’t exactly find a lever to stop scorpions!” Roman yells. “We gotta go back.” He’s already dashing back the way we came.

“No,” Jax yells after him. “The necklace is this way. I can feel it. We gotta get to that door.”

“Fuck!” Roman’s curse rings down the stairs. “The other wall’s still up.”

“See? This way!” Jax tugs my arm, swinging the flashlight from one grate to the next as we all rush toward the door. More and more scorpions scramble into the hall.

“Guys,” Bear’s voice wavers. I look back to see a swarm of glowing scorpions flooding from the grates behind us like water.

“They’re huge!” I pick up my pace .

“That’s good, actually,” Archer says, panting. “The big ones are less venomous.”

“That isn’t reassuring,” Roman huffs.

We make a mad dash toward the door. It’s metal, with symbols I don’t have time to study, but I notice Lunara’s rune right in the center. On either side of the door are large, ornate braziers, the base of each supported by a golden jackal.

“At least we’re on the right track,” Jax says when we’re right in front of it. He immediately reaches for a brazier, trying to find anything that might light it. Panic tightens my chest as the scorpions get closer. There’s so many of them that they’re crawling over each other and climbing the walls, a mass of writhing creatures.

Shit! The door has no handle, no lever, nothing to indicate it opens at all.

Everyone searches for a trigger mechanism, except Jax, who’s still looking for a way to light the brazier. Our hands glide quickly over the cold surface. With the dim light from the water draining away, it’s hard to see anything.

My fingers snag on a strange bump about the place a doorknob would be. Raised lines create uneven trails across the smooth surface, a different color than the metal of the door. Pulling my hand back, the shape of the odd area strikes me. A hexagon. It’s roughly the size of… no… maybe? I pull the puzzle box from my bag, grateful that I kept it on me. If I hadn’t been studying it so regularly, constantly playing with it in my hands, I might not have felt the similarity. Please let this work.

Lifting the box to the wall, I spin it first one way, then the other, until I feel the raised trails align with the grooves on the bottom. I twist it, and it locks into place with a loud click.

“What was that?” Bear asks.

“The puzzle box wasn’t missing another part, it was the missing piece to this door! I think it’s a key.” Maybe there are even more of them somewhere.

“More opening, less talking,” Jax grits out.

I try to twist the box, expecting the door to open, but it doesn’t turn. “Shit, I think we still have to solve the puzzle.” My thumb glides over the disks at the top of the box, and this time, they spin. “I need light.”

“I’m trying, love,” Jax says. “But I’m a little busy at the moment.” He’s no longer looking for a way to light the braziers. He’s stomping scorpions one after the other, kicking them away as fast as he can. “Unless you want scorpions all over you.”

“We might have that either way.” Bear points up. A few of the braver creatures are slowly crawling along the ceiling.

“Fuck!” Jax swings the flashlight overhead and two of them fall a few feet away. Bear grunts as he heaves the brazier Jax isn’t trying to light until it tips over. The metal crashing onto stone is deafening in this confined space. The unlit coals scatter like seeds from the momentum of the fall, startling the scorpions enough that they scatter briefly. Our reprieve is short lived, though, as the glowing bodies regroup and crawl toward us once more.

Shit, I need to focus. Roman unzips my bag and pulls out my little pen light. I’d completely forgotten about it. He holds it steady while I spin the little dials .

“No, turn that one to the right. I think these bright gold sections line up,” Archer says from over my shoulder.

A shape starts to take form as I align the parts Archer points out. An omega symbol.

When the last piece clicks into place, the sides of the box open, revealing a metal piece the shape of the same omega symbol. I fit my hand around it and try to turn, but it doesn’t budge. Cursing, I try the other direction.

“Push it!” Archer suggests frantically.

I put pressure on the extrusion, and it sinks cleanly into the wall, the door creaking open in the process. Thank the goddess!

Bear whoops loudly and ushers Archer and me through first, the rest of them rushing in behind us. Jax moves to slam the door, but I yell out, “Wait! The puzzle box.”

He unhooks it, then shoves the door closed. Only one scorpion makes it through, but it meets its end quickly under Jax’s boot, the crunch of an exoskeleton ringing through the space.

For a second, we all stand there, staring at the door, catching our breath, dripping wet. That’s when I realize I can see. It’s not bright in here, but there’s a low, red-tinted glow. In the center of the room there’s another bioluminescent pool, but this one is different from the ones a level above us. I’ve never heard of a red bioluminescence, maybe it’s something else making the pool glow a crimson red, blood red, almost like it’s warning us away with its eerie light.

The room is large, with six even sides. What I see along the edges makes me catch my breath.

Treasure.

Even as an accomplished, very serious archeologist, there’s no other way I can describe it. Golden urns, fine fabrics, and jewelry line the walls, their shine dulled by dust and time. On my left, a dress form holds what must be ceremonial clothing. If it is clothing, it certainly wouldn’t leave much to the imagination. Nothing but delicate chains made from rare ore drape the form’s chest, they pinch in the middle before hanging over what would be someone’s hips.

The air is still as we take the space in, until Jax interrupts the silence. “Hot damn! It’s even better than I imagined.”

Roman grabs Jax’s wrist. “Don’t touch anything. We don’t know if there are more traps in here.”

Jax shakes him off and crosses his heart with his forefinger. “I’ll be careful. Promise. All I care about finding is our girl’s necklace.”

“Our girl?” There’s the softest uncertainty in Roman’s tone as he looks at me.

A warm glow fills my chest, and I smile. “We’ll see. ”

He folds his arms, looking down at his feet. “Right. I understand. You already have your alphas, you don’t need?—”

“Shut up.” I grab his face and kiss him before he can run his mouth anymore. Roman’s lips are still against mine until I press my body against his. He responds by driving his hands into my hair, gripping the strands to tip my head back so he can devour me. When I tease his lips, he opens, meeting the sweeps of my tongue with his own. The kiss slows slightly, and Roman pulls back, taking my bottom lip between his teeth and pulling it with him before releasing it with a pop and a small smile.

“‘Bout time,” Jax says, then claps Roman on the back hard enough to nearly send me stumbling. “Now, let’s find our omega the best mating gift ever.”