Chapter 81 Chapter 81
Ignoring the twinges as he strained his exhausted muscles, Gage pulled as hard as he could trying to cover the last few feet to the shelf’s edge. He’d rest later. Recover after he could assure himself, with his own eyes, that his mate was okay. With the grunts coming from Devin a few feet below him, it was obvious he was thinking the the same thing.
Pulling his body up over the edge, he didn’t even pause to catch his breath, just reached out and closed his arms around Kelsey’s cold shaking body, pulling her in until she was pressed tight against him. Curling his body around hers, he pushed his face into her hair and inhaled her scent.
His cat calmed, assured that she was safe. Her arms were shaking, but she still wrapped them around his waist and squeezed. Inhaling again, he paused. “I smell blood.” Leaning back, he gripped her shoulders and pushed her back, his eyes searching over her.
“I got a few scrapes climbing up here,” she whispered with an unsteady voice.
“And our feet,” Rayne added, “don’t forget about our poor feet.”
“Let’s get them down so we can go back to your place.” Devin began moving toward the back of the ledge. “Where is that ring Blair was talking about?”
Kelsey pulled out of Gage’s hold. “I’ll show you.”
Gage pulled the rope over his head and followed her.
“Blair used to make me use a guide line,” she reached up and patted the large metal ring embedded in the layers of rock. “Until I knew what I was doing.”
“I can’t believe you got up here.” Devin said quietly, looking at his mate.
Rayne looked at Kelsey and rolled her eyes, grinning. “You’d be surprised what we’re capable of.”
Securing the rope, Gage gave it a few hard tugs to make sure it wasn’t going anywhere. “Let’s get you down and then we’ll talk about how you got free and came here.”
Kelsey gave Rayne a look she couldn’t identify and then nodded. “We’ll have to space out our descent with only one rope.”
Gage moved over to the ledge and dropped the rope.
“Got it.” Cooper hollered up at them.
“After you.” Rayne motioned to Kelsey.
Kelsey nodded and moved closer to the edge. “Just watch how I do this, Rayne.” She smiled. “After everything else today, this will be a piece of cake.”
Rayne nodded. “A piece of cake would be great right now.”
Gage pulled the rope up so Kelsey could get in place.
She took a deep breath and slowly stepped over the edge to the small lip below it. Following her, Gage grabbed a handhold and leaned around her.
“Make sure the end of the rope falls between your legs,” she said to Rayne. “Then you won’t climb right out of it.” Leaning back carefully, she checked the position. “Go slow.” She warned, “Without a guide clip and gloves, it’s going to be hard to control your speed.
“Can’t be any worse than running around without shoes all day,” Rayne said in a flat tone.
Gage gave Kelsey the space to start down and then free climbed until he was level with her legs. If she slipped, he wasn’t taking any chances.
The descent was slow, he had to clamp down on his impatience and let her go at a pace she was comfortable with. “You’re doing great, honey. A few more minutes and you’ll be on the ground.”
“Okay,” she answered him, distracted.
Glancing over his shoulder, he gauged how far they were from the ground. Still too far to jump. Under his skin, his cat was prowling, waiting, trying to hold out long enough to make sure his mate was as fine as she said. Gage knew it was going to take restraint, like he’d never used before, to keep his animal side in check. After thinking he’d lost her, his animal wanted nothing more than to claim and mark her as his.
Kelsey made a quiet distressed noise, bringing Gage back to focus. She stopped and hugged her body in close to the stone. “Just need a minute,” she whispered, breathless.
Climbing back up a few feet, his jaw clenched, he leaned over and sheltered her body with his own. “She’s too tired to finish this,” he called down to Cooper. Crowding her body with his, he leaned down and rubbed his jaw along her cheek. “Think you can hang onto me?” She had her eyes closed but nodded. “Okay, let go of the rope and turn slowly.” He his hand on the rocks, making sure he had a good grip. “Wrap yourself around me and hang on tight.”
Bracing himself to take on her weight, he clenched his jaw and focused on giving her space to turn without leaning back. Rock climbing in heavy work boots was not ideal, but she was exhausted and wouldn’t make it to the bottom on her own. She wrapped her arms around his neck. “That’s it.”
“How are you going to do this?” she breathed against his neck as she spoke.
“Don’t worry about me. Get your legs wrapped around me as tight as you can.” He could feel the fatigue in her limbs as she carefully positioned herself. He bit back the rage that was filling him, knowing that his mate had been taken and scared. Unable to stop himself, he growled. Someone was going to pay for this.
“I’m okay,” she whispered close to his face, her hand moving to the back of his head to stroke over his hair.
It angered him further that she’d sensed his emotions and was trying to comfort him. The fury burning through is veins gave him the strength he needed to carry them both down the face of the rock.
Once they reached the ground, he wrapped his arms around her and moved to sit on a rock. Her grip on him relaxed, but she didn’t move to let go and he didn’t think he could either yet. Nuzzling his face into her throat, he inhaled her unique scent, filling his body with her signature. His cat calmed for now, not pushing for anything rash, but Gage knew it was only a matter of time before he had to deal with that.
Neither of them moved as Devin and Rayne climbed down. It took longer than it had them, and as long as Kelsey was in his arms, he was content to wait it out. He kissed the soft skin of her throat for the hundredth time, taking her taste into his system. It didn’t please him that he could taste the dirt and sweat on her, or feel her stress and exhaustion. She hadn’t moved, just kept her face buried against his neck, breathing slowly. He didn’t know if she realized that she was curled up against him because her animal side needed the reassurance of her mate, but it wasn’t the time to go into those details to make her understand.
As Devin and Rayne reached the ground, she finally turned her head and looked over at them. Rayne glanced her way briefly, a look passing between them before she turned into the waiting arms of her mate.
Cooper exhaled loudly and sat on the ground. “Once everyone has caught their breath, we’ll start the trek back to the truck.” He looked from Rayne to Kelsey. “You did good, kitty kat.” He shook his head and pulled off his cap, rubbing a hand over his head vigorously. “How did you get from the quarry to here?”
Kelsey tensed and looked over at Rayne, who had turned and was watching her. “Once we got away, we hit the trees, trying to stay off the roads, but all we ended up doing was wandering around not knowing where we were.” She took a shaky breath. “I shifted and climbed a tree to see if I could figure out where we were.”
Gage stiffened but didn’t say a word.
“I saw the rock face so we headed this way.” She finished in a quiet tone.
He knew she could feel the tension in his muscles. Not wanting to upset her, he ran his hand down her back in soothing circles. “You did good, honey.”
She nodded and pushed her face into his chest, taking a deep unsteady breath.
“How did you get away?” Devin asked, his tone hard, one that Gage understood completely.
Rayne blew out a breath. “I faked being sick so they’d come in the room they had us in…”
Kelsey turned and looked at her. “Then she shifted and held him down with her teeth clamped around his neck.”
Gage watched Devin raise an eyebrow, but he made no comment as his eyes searched his mate’s face.
Rayne shrugged. “It was the only thing I could think to do. Kelsey wasn’t sure if she could shift that quickly.” She looked over at him and then to the woman he held. “The second time she shifted though, it was a lot faster.”
Kelsey started shaking in his arms, he wondered if she was cold, so her pulled her closer to his body and then realized she was sobbing silently. “Hey,” he kissed the top of her head, “it’s okay. You’re safe now.” She just shook harder. He looked at Cooper and then Devin, neither man was helpful. Leaning back, he lifted her chin so he could see her face. “Kelsey…”
“I ate a b-bunny.” She sobbed, tears streaking down her face.
Relief flooded him as he tried not to smile but didn’t quite pull it off. That only caused her to cry harder. Pulling her back into his arms, he made soothing noises against her ear. “It’s okay, honey. You did what you had to do.” She continued to shake in his arms. He looked over at Devin who was also biting back a smile. Cooper cleared his throat and pulled his hat back on as he stood up.
“Let’s get them home.” He turned and started walking toward the trees.
“Can you walk, baby?” He asked her quietly. She nodded, but made no move to release the death grip she had on his neck, so he wrapped his arms around her and stood up with her clinging to him like a child.