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I t’s been twenty-four hours since my heat broke, and we’re still stuck. We spent the first fourteen hours passed out in the deepest sleep I’ve ever experienced. Once we woke, it was like there was a silent agreement between all of us not to talk about anything beyond getting out of the temple.

We’ve searched every inch of this level. Any stairs that previously existed have been well and truly destroyed. Either crumbling with age or swallowed by cave-ins. There’s no way up that we can find.

“I think our only option is to figure out how to go back to the cave in, and dig our way out. We know there’s a hole in the ceiling there at least.” Roman says. We’re all in the pool, letting the water ease the lingering soreness as we try to come up with a plan.

“That could take ages.” Jax splashes Roman, who sputters before splashing Jax back. His face is set in his normal grumpy expression, but there’s a playful light in his eyes that makes me smile. Whatever differences the two have, they’ve made some sort of tentative peace while I was in heat.

“How the hell are we going to get back up there? The stairs are just piles of rubble and we don’t exactly have a ladder to climb through the crevasse. ” Bear pulls Archer onto his lap, massaging the betas scalp with his fingers.

“Maybe we could…” Archer’s words die as he moans. “Hmm, that feels good.”

Jax splashes Archer and Bear this time. “Don’t get me going again. My dick’s still dead.”

As my men banter and try to come up with a solution, I sink under the water, needing some quiet to think. I’m honestly surprised no one from the dig has found us yet. I wonder what they think happened? Did they check town first? Scour the desert to see if we wandered off? Didn’t the site look different after the cave-in? Couldn’t they tell?

When I come up for air, I’m a good bit away from the rest of the group. This is the biggest of the pools, shaped a bit more like a thin oval than the others. I swim a little farther, taking in the plants growing along the edge of the water. It’s still so fascinating to me that they can survive down here without sunlight. This place is truly beautiful. The intricate tile work of the pools set off by the glow of the water, all of it framed by moss and greenery. An oasis of life and fertility hidden under a dry desert. It’s easy to imagine why they built the temple here around these natural hot springs. They attract life.

A soft chuff sounds from one of the bushes nearby. The leaves rustle. I strain my ears and squint, freezing in place. Jax has found a few snakes close to the water, none of them poisonous, but I don’t particularly want to be bitten by a snake, even if they’re harmless.

I hold my breath. My men continue talking on the other side of the pool, but they seem far away as all my attention narrows on the one quivering bush.

A snout pushes past the leaves, and then a furry head. One I recognize. It’s a jackal. Every muscle in my body tenses, unsure what to do. How have I found myself in this situation again? It doesn’t lunge for me or anything. Maybe because I’m in the pool? Maybe they can’t swim?

I should scream. Splash water at it. Yell for my guys. But something tells me this creature doesn’t want to hurt me, a knowing deep in my gut. It doesn’t even snarl. It lowers its head with its eyes locked on me for a long moment. Then lays down, averting eye contact, and rolling to the side to expose its belly. Her belly. It's a classic submission pose anyone in the animal kingdom would recognize. With a soft whine, she rolls to lay upright. Then, with a flick of movement, she looks back behind her, returns her gaze to me, and does it again. She takes one step backward, and I get the sense I’m supposed to follow.

“Cora! Get back!” Roman’s strong arm bands around my waist and yanks me backward, away from the wild dog. She spooks, running off several paces before turning to face me, performing her odd little bow again. This time, though, she follows it up with a sharp yip.

Wiping water from my face, I sputter, “Roman! Stop! She wasn’t going to hurt me!”

“You don’t know that,” growls the alpha manhandling me. When he finally puts me down, the rest of the men have waded to our location.

“Hooo boy! Our omega’s pissed at you, professor.” Jax needles Roman. I guess he can feel my mood through the bond, I’ll have to get used to that.

More yips followed by a whine. “I think she wants me to follow her,” I tell the group as I climb out of the pool, all four of my men right behind me.

“What is this? A fucking episode of Lassie? The jackal—whatever gender it is—doesn’t want you to follow it.” Roman’s sarcasm is starting to tick me off. My gut is telling me it’s important to follow the jackal. Ever since putting on that necklace, my intuition feels stronger than ever before. Like I’m closer to the goddess, or just more in-tune with what’s around me. Maybe it’s all in my head, but Lunara has kept us safe so far. She’s even given me a heat and a mating bond. Who am I to question her now?

“Please. Let me just get a little closer. You guys can stay right behind me,” I bargain.

“How about the treasure hunter and I follow your jackal, honey. I can’t stand to see you get hurt again,” Bear offers.

My first instinct is to argue, but I need to remember that these are my mates. If I truly want a life with them, we have to work together, which means I have to compromise sometimes. As much as that sucks.

Barely resisting the urge to roll my eyes, I sigh. “Fine. But I’m coming with you.”

Bear looks as if he’s about to protest, but Jax places his hand on his arm, giving him a subtle headshake. Hmm. Having someone feel my emotions could be pretty helpful. Jax knows I won’t back down from this.

The two alphas turn to where the jackal is still standing, staring stoically at us. When they take a step toward her, however, she crouches low to the ground and lets out a warning growl. They both stop immediately, and the wild dog peers around them, finding my gaze and flicking her head behind her.

My hard-headed men don’t get the memo and try approaching again, only to meet the same result. They both look at me. I don’t say a word, crossing my arms and arching a brow at them as if asking, can we try it my way now?

Jax steps to the side, waving his hand toward the jackal, indicating I should go ahead. I can tell he isn’t fond of this plan, but I know they’ll be right behind me, making sure nothing happens to me.

Tentatively, I step forward. One step. Two. Four. I’m past Jax and Bear now, and she hasn’t snarled once. Bolstered that this is the right decision, I continue toward her. She jumps up, spinning away from me and heading toward the back corner of the room, looking over her shoulder occasionally to ensure I’m following her exact path through the flora.

As we near the wall, she takes a right, then a sharp left, and disappears.

“What the fuck?” Roman says incredulously.

“Where did she go?” Archer asks.

Trusting in Lunara once more, I follow the jackal’s path. Only, once I make the left, it’s as if a crack has opened in the wall. I stop, confused. Surely she went through there, but how did we miss this?

“Oh shit!” Archer exclaims. He’s back a few steps, pacing left, then right, repeatedly. When he notices us staring, he beckons us to him.

“It’s an illusion. This crevice is hidden behind an outcropping that you’d never see unless you hit exactly the right angle. Just like the hidden releases for the doors. We never had reason to explore this closely given it looked like a plain temple wall, albeit a little less lit than the others.”

The thickness of the foliage back here didn’t help either.

“Well, I’ll be damned.” Bear smirks. Sure enough, unless we followed the jackal’s exact path, our eyes would have skipped right over this nondescript portion of the temple.

The she-dog pops her head back out, looking at me and barking.

“I’m coming!” I assure her. When I get closer, I hear whimpers—more than one. As I round the outcropping, I’m met with two wriggly puppies, headbutting the jackal’s legs and mewling.

“Awwwwww!” Jax breaks the silence. “Look how cute!” He reaches forward, as if he’s going to grab one of the babies, and the mama jackal immediately snaps her jaws at him, placing herself in front of them as a barrier.

“Okay! Sorry! I got you!” Jax apologizes as he backs away.

“If she’s in here, and she has babies with her, do you think this crevice leads to the outside?” our ever-analytical beta asks.

Mama jackal—I really should come up with a name for her—snags both pups by the scruff, then trots off, deeper into the mystery crack. This time, she doesn’t look back. She either assumes we’re going to follow her, or has decided we aren’t her problem if we’re too stupid to trust her.

I start to trail her, but am stopped yet again by Roman. “We don’t know where this leads. What if we get lost? Or stuck? We can’t go wandering off butt naked into a hole in the wall.”

“I like going butt naked into holes,” Jax teases.

Roman glares at him, but my body heats at the innuendo. We’ve spent so much time naked this past week, I’ve gotten used to going without.

“This could be a way out, prof.” Bear counters.

“We can get dressed first, but I think we need to see where this goes.” I look Roman in the eyes, silently pleading for him to trust me. I won’t beg, but I won’t let him decide for me either. If we’re going to be a pack, this is a pack decision. Right?