Phoenix wraps his legs around Caspian, and I know if I don’t stop this soon they’re likely to throw Madi into another heat spike.
I clear my throat.
When that doesn’t break them up, I walk over to the water and whistle, loud enough to startle them apart.
Both men blink repeatedly at me, looking dazed. Phoenix is the first to recover with a smirk. “Feeling jealous, old man?”
Ignoring his question, I point at the mosaic. “I think I found something.”
I help Madi out of the canal while Phoenix climbs out on his own. Caspian stays in the water, though.
Phoenix gives him a questioning look.
“Um, I will join you in a moment,” Caspian says, his tone a bit more formal than normal, almost like he’s hiding something.
Phoenix gets a giddy look on his face and peers over the edge of the canal into the dark water. “Is it different in this form? Can I see?”
Caspian chuckles and his pale cheeks turn pink. After a moment of hesitation, he lifts himself out of the water, flopping on the tile. His cock protrudes from a slit high on his tail where I imagine a human pelvis would be. The shape is similar to a human's, long and thick with a ruddyhead and the subtle curve of his knot at the bottom. The only difference is some ridges along the bottom, but you’d miss them entirely if you weren’t looking closely. As we stare, his shaft swells, making those ridges more pronounced.
Phoenix licks his lips and kneels beside Caspian. I know exactly what he’s going for and collar his throat before he can get to it. “Believe me,” I say, “I understand the appeal. But this isn’t the time or place.”
All three of my soon-to-be packmates look disappointed, but one of us needs to be a responsible adult. It’s one thing to ease Madi through a heat spike down here out of necessity. This would be different, though, and we don’t have time for it. We need to find the library, then get back up to the university and file the discovery so that Madi gets the credit she deserves.
I pull Phoenix up by his throat. Once he’s standing, I lean in close to his ear. “If you’re so desperate for cock, you can swallow my knot when we get back to my apartment, but right now, we need to find this library and get our omega to safety. Understood?”
“Fuck.” Phoenix adjusts himself. “Yes, sir.”
I give his throat a slight squeeze and watch his eyes roll back. Then, I let go and tuck the head of my hard cock into the band of my shorts. It’s unlikely that it’ll go down any time soon with these three around. But I’m determined to keep us on task. It’s getting late, and we still have those cats to worry about. Not to mention, Branson and his pack.
“Come on, let me show you what I found.”
43
Excitement fills me as I lead Madi and the others to the passage I discovered. Phoenix tosses Caspian his shorts, and the merman stumbles to put them on while I briefly explaining what I did to make the tile pop open. A strained eagerness passes over the group. This is the discovery of a lifetime, but there could also be unknown dangers ahead.
Madi holds up a flashlight, shining it down into the darkness. It only illuminates a few steps before it hits a wall.
“It looks like the steps curve,” she whispers, even though there’s no reason to. There’s a kind of awed hush that’s fallen over us.
I don’t know what’s down there, but if someone went to all this trouble to hide it, then it must be important.
“Do you think this is the library?” Caspian tests the first step with his bare toes.
“Let’s find out,” Phoenix takes the flashlight from Madi, then moves Caspian to the side before stepping all the way down. “I’ll go first to make sure it’s safe.”
“I’m going with you.” Madi takes another flashlight from her dry bag and steps down right behind Phoenix.
I want to argue, but I suck my teeth and keep quiet. This is her discovery. I won’t hold her back.
Phoenix offers Madi his hand, and the two of them descend single-file. Caspian and I follow close behind. Madi is right, the staircase does curve, and continues to spiral as we traverse further underground. As we walk, more of those veins of glowing ore illuminate, lighting as we stride past and dimming when we’re out of range.
We’ve made it about two rotations when there’s a loud screech. Metal against stone. For a second, I think it’s the stairs, and then I realize it’s coming from above us.
“I told you I could open it,” Branson’s cocky voice carries down the stairs.
“I loosened it for you,” one of his packmates whines. I can’t tell which one it is.
“This isn’t a fucking jar of pickles, Carter. How can you loosen a big ass door? I’m just stronger than you both. Admit it.” Branson again.
