A simultaneous bolt of lightning and crack of thunder made her jump. Blade’s arm came around her, tugging her against his broad chest. It felt good. Better than it should. Guilt bubbled up again.
Blade went taut, his already hard body going as rigid as marble. “Can you hear that?”
“I just hear wind and rain…”
She frowned. There was something else, too. A rumble. Like a pack of hell stallions barreling through a forest. It grew louder, but now she could hear splashes and gurgles.
Abruptly, the horrifying answer came to her. “Flash flood! Blade—”
The wall of water hit them with the force of a charging Gargantua beast, cutting their legs out from under them. The thrashing river ripped them from their shelter and swept them along with the current.
“Blade!” She screamed his name between gulps of breath. “Blade!” In the darkness, there was nothing but terror and pain as Scotty crashed into floating logs and slammed into boulders.
Then, in a rush of swirling water, she felt herself being sucked violently downward.
Then, she felt nothing.
Blade’s head was pounding.
The sensation of dampness and grit on his skin and clothing grew more uncomfortable as consciousness pushed back the fog of confusion in his brain.
What happened? He blinked, but all he could make out in the darkness were blurry shadows. Where was he?
He sat up, groaning at the aches and sharp, stabbing pains that seemed to emanate from every muscle, every bone, and every freaking cell in his body. He shoved his wet hair away from his eyes. He was soaked and sitting in a puddle of mud.
The flash flood.
Scotty!
He lumbered to his feet, staggering a few steps before a hand snagged his arm and held him upright.
“It’s about time you woke up.”
“Scotty,” he breathed, tugging her against him. “Thank the gods you’re okay.”
“I’m fine.” Her words, muffled by his chest, comforted the hell out of him. “But I was worried about you.” She pulled away and guided him over to a relatively flat-topped boulder, where he could sit. “You’ve been out of it for hours.”
Hours?He sank down onto the rock and tried to get the lay of the land. Well, theunderland. It appeared they were inside a subterranean tunnel system. It looked like two, maybe three passages extended from the small cave.
“I think the flood washed us down here.” She gestured to a puddle a few feet away. “I woke up in that.” She held up her left arm. “With a broken wrist and some busted ribs.”
Instantly, he gripped her shoulder and fired up his healing gift. In his hands, her bones felt small and delicate. Birdlike. But this female was a powerful warrior, and the most delicate thing about her was absolutely nothing.
“It’s fine,” she said. “Everything was healed half an hour ago.”
She was right. He didn’t detect any residual damage.
“You look better too.” She scanned him with a critical eye from head to toe. “You were pretty beat up at first.”
He was still pretty beat up. Everything hurt, and his neck protested as he tilted his head up to take in the fissure in the cave ceiling. The gap was just wide enough to reveal a sliver of the moon and a handful of stars. “We must have dropped through that crack. That’s a hell of a fall.”
Scotty nodded grimly. “We got lucky. Sort of. Do you want the good news or the bad?”
He usually went for the bad news first, while Mace went for the good. Scotty chose depending on her mood.
“Good news,” he said. “In honor of Mace.”
“Aw, that’s sweet. Okay, so I looked around while you were recovering. I’m pretty sure we stumbled upon a wendigo nest.”
