He blinked in surprise. “Awesome. That’s some Wraith-level luck.” Wraith was famous for his luck at finding shit. “You can gate us out of here, and once we find Jon and Skoll, we can ambush the bastards. It’ll take a while to get back here, since there’s no Harrowgate close, but—” He paused. “Wait. What’s the bad news?”
She blew out a frustrated breath. “I can’t summon a gate.”
“What? Are you sure?”
“I tried.” She gestured to a small pool of blood, evidence of her attempt. “Since we’re not surrounded by water, and there’s not a hellmouth nearby to block my ability, my best guess as to why I can’t summon a gate is that there’s a Morabuble somewhere in these tunnels. We might even be inside it.”
Definitely bad news. Morabubles were incursions of the hell realm into the human one. Places where the veil between the realms was thin or unstable, allowing demons and humans to pass through—intentionally or accidentally. Worse, the twisted, untamable energy that seeped through the veil warped magic spells and innate abilities. Even if Scottycouldopen a gate, it wouldn’t be safe to use it. They could end up in a troll’s cookpot, on another planet, or shredded into confetti.
“That explains the demons,” he said. “If wendigos draw demons, it would be easy for them to come through the incursion.”
“That’s what I was thinking.”
“Okay, so we need to find a way out.” He looked around for their packs. “We can call Jon and Skoll—”
“No, we can’t. I think our packs got swept away. And I don’t knowabout your comms, but all mine can do is keep time. Everything else is toast.”
He glanced down at his wrist, taking in the shattered face of the unit staring back at him. Muddy water had gotten inside the device. So much toast.
At least his weapons had survived intact, if a little waterlogged. The harness itself was shredded in places, and he’d lost a couple of loops, but not a single knife or throwing star.
Oh, no. Frantically, he patted himself down. Shit, shit, shit!
“Blade? What is it?”
“The Reaper. It’s not in its holster. I think I left it in the pack.”
“Dude.” A look of horror crossed Scotty’s face. “Kynan is going to kill us.”
“Nah.” Blade swallowed dryly. “He’s just going to be happy we’re alive.”
“He can be happy we’re alive and still want to kill us, you know.”
He laughed. It made his ribs hurt a little. “Come on, let’s find a way out of here.” He accepted her hand and allowed her to help him to his feet.
But the feel of her palm in his brought a new, horrible awareness. When she started to withdraw, he tightened his grip, keeping her there.
“We should hurry,” he said gruffly.
“Agreed. I don’t want to face more than one wendigo without backup.” She frowned down at their hands. He knew he should let her go, but the feel of her skin against his felt too good, spreading through his arms, his chest, torso…groin. “Blade?”
“Sorry.” Reluctantly, he released her, but the arousal remained. “How long did you say I was unconscious?”
“At least a couple of hours.”
Oh, fuck.
“Blade? What is it?”
He unleashed a barrage of curse words. “My injections were in my pack.”
Scotty’s eyes shot wide. “How long?”
“Soon. If we don’t get out of here soon…” He swallowed. He couldn’t even say it. Not to her. Not to the one person he wanted more than anything. Not to the one person he could never have.
“You’re going to need sex,” she finished. “And you’ll need it from me.”
Chapter 12
