He stopped his advance.
The bloodshot eyes.
The almost imperceptible twitch of his nose.
The scars crisscrossing the length of his torso.
Bo was right. He was dying up here. His twin needed to get back to the underworld, back to the place where Dionysus’s hand channeled his most destructive urges, held him back from the ledge. Neither Alex nor Ryan had the power to control whatever it was in Bo that drove him in his search for the ultimate high, and the human world was a little more than a wasteland of temptation.
But Charlotte was in that wasteland, and he needed to find her. Needed to see for himself that she was okay before he joined his brothers.
Ryan continued to regard him with the stoicism that had earned him his place as their master’s favored, his face showing the strain and pressure he’d carried throughout this last hunt. The weight of Bo’s self-destruction and Alex’s screw-ups had fallen to Ryan’s shoulders as it always had whenever they were topside, out of the powerful control of Hades. The completion of the mission was more than a job to him, more than an order to be followed. Everything Ryan was was wrapped up in his service to his master and mistress, and failure was not an option Ryan could live with.
Bo took a step toward him, halted by Ryan’s staying hand. “Don’t fuck us over, Alex. We don’t belong up here.”
He looked over his shoulder to the southwest and his chest tightened. “I’m sorry, Bo. But I need to do this,” he said quietly. “Find him and hold him. I swear on Charlotte’s life I’ll be back.”
*
Charlotte squeezed her eyes shut and tucked her head down into her arms as another small tremor rippled under her feet and shook the rocks surrounding her, the ground too volatile to inch across the precarious pathways out. She released her breath and dropped her head back when the aftershock eased, unwilling to open her eyes and look at the freedom she was so close to.
Patting ridges she could reach, she assessed the positions of the rocks surrounding her and crouched low, sliding her feet over the smooth stone.
Butch’s sharp bark cut through the silence of the park, growing steadily closer as she wound her way down a steep incline.
“Here, boy!” she yelled out, slipping her flashlight out of her pocket to do another scan of the caverns and to mark her route.
The barking morphed into a yelping natter, as though the beast was attempting to reassure her of his presence as his nails clicked against the narrow ledges of the Chasm. She shifted her weight on her legs, her muscles aching as she remained perched in preparation for another tremor.
“Watch your step, Butch,” she warned, the relative normality of the statement releasing a fraction of the tension built up in her stomach. “The ground’ll move again soon.”
A chuffing sound drew nearer, Butch’s enormous head peering through a sliver-sized opening above her position. He backed away and resumed his chatter while he paced the top of the stones, his paw or muzzle periodically dropping into the opening for a few seconds.
She slid her flashlight into her pocket. “I think I know the way out,” she muttered, taking a final look up at the dog before she sat, scooting down the slope and cowering as another ripple shook the stones around her.
*
Alex jumped back as the rocks trembled under his feet, the scent of Charlotte’s fear permeating his senses and overwhelming his mind. He tore to the edge of the formation and scanned frantically for an opening, descending the rocks slowly for fear of causing a disturbance to the compromised structure.
Winding through the narrow passageways, he scoured for a way to her, maintaining a continual loop of barks and yelps so she could track his location. His footing stumbled as he closed in on a cavity, straddling two larger stones to peer into the darkness.
Bingo.
He dropped to his belly, inching toward the opening until he had enough room to sit back and push his head through, his shoulders catching.
Too fucking big.
He glanced up to the sky and assessed the stars.
It would be hours until sunrise. Hours more until her car was found, tucked tight against the Chasm and out of view of the main roads.
Checking his balance one last time, he leaned against a rock to brace himself as he transformed, shifting his weight to keep from falling forward and ducking down to squeeze into the narrow crevice. He shimmied between two large stones, shuffling one foot forward to test the stability of the pathway before he placed his weight down.
“Butch? Where’d you go, boy?”
Her breathing was more labored, her voice holding a hint of her rising distress.
He ran his hand over the smooth rock and let out a long breath. “Just me,” he answered. “I’m coming at you from the side, so hold still.”
There was a moment of silence before she whimpered. “Alex?”
His throat tightened at the hopeful relief in her voice. “Yeah, baby. Just me.” He knelt down, contorting his shoulders to squeeze through a low pass. “I think I’m closing in on you, okay? We’ll team it out of here.”
She let out a shuddered breath. “My exit’s blocked on this end. That last one shifted a boulder at the halfway mark.”
He pushed through the opening and rose to his feet, stretching his hands overhead to get a sense of how much space he had. “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. For now, I’m going to keep talking to you,” he said, straightening up. “And if at any point my voice moves away from you, I want you to tell me. Okay?”
“Okay.”
He crept forward, guiding his movements in the darkness with his bare hands and feet. “I don’t know what to talk about,” he muttered, running his fingers along a crack. “I suppose I could tell you about a Vietnam documentary I watched a couple weeks back, but it’s pretty detailed and I’m aiming to have you out pretty quick.”
She let out a small laugh, the shallowness of her breathing weighing heavy on his mind. “Tell me how you found me.”
“Funny story,” he called out, waving his arms out slowly and moving closer to her voice, the upper walls of the cavern dipping down and forcing him to crouch. “I made the lucky decision to celebrate my first earthquake with a midnight hike through the Chasm.”
“Smart ass,” she replied quietly. “And there’s dozens of quakes a month around here, so it wouldn’t be your first anyway.”
“You’re on the other side of this rock, aren’t you?” he asked, feeling around the cavern to determine how much space he had. “Good news is it’s loose. The bad news is I need you to listen real well, and move real fast.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
“Step back from the rock,” Alex ordered, tracing the boulder with his fingers. “When it moves, dive through and go. It’s a pretty clear path from here.” He could hear shuffling before a flicker of light radiated around the tiny cracks around the rock. “Steady that beam for a second.”
“Good?” Charlotte asked, the ray holding still.
“Perfect,” he replied. “I’ll be opening it from the bottom, so drop, dive, and go,” he amended, arching his neck back and rolling out his shoulders in preparation. “Don’t wait for me, okay? I’ll be good.”
“But—”
“I’ll leave right now,” he growled, narrowing his eyes as the light disappeared. “Drop. Dive. Go.”
He held his breath until she relented. “Drop, dive, go. Got it.”
Stepping back, he fell to all fours and transformed, keeping to the middle of the small cavern to avoid inadvertently knocking any loose stones and worsening the situation. He wedged one paw under the large rock, bracing his front legs on one side of the opening and kicking his hindquarters up to the other.
Three. Two. One.
*
What the hell?
Charlotte’s immediate confusion over the soft fur skimming over her back was overcome by the adrenaline that coursed through her while she propelled herself away from the shower of sand and pebbles
falling onto her and Alex.
Drop. Dive. Go.
A low growl echoed in her ears as she shimmied through the dark cavern, away from the fallout of the heavy stones Alex was holding at bay. “I’m out!” She heaved, scrambling against a smooth surface and peering into her dusty prison. “Alex!”
The rumbling of stone collapsing in the cave reverberated through the Chasm, an animalistic snarl tearing across the air as she recoiled from the burst of debris barreling through the narrow opening. She squinted in the darkness, the faint light of her flashlight obscured by a fallen rock and a black mound. “Alex?”
The mound lifted its familiar head in her direction.
She flattened herself to the stone, eyes wide. “What the hell?” She pushed herself to her feet, crouching under the low overhang and taking a step toward the beast.
Butch arched his neck toward his hind legs, his huge front paws twisting behind him to push against the boulder holding him down. Inching closer, she ran her thumb over his ears, grabbing her flashlight to look through the crevices. “Alex?” she called out, trailing the trapped legs of the dog with her fingers. “Alex?”
Butch’s head lowered, his muzzle dropping against her hands as he yelped and nattered. A rising panic was building in her stomach as Alex remained silent and out of sight, her mind conjuring up gruesome images she needed to shake from her head. “Okay, boy,” she whispered, forcing herself to remain steady while she scanned the stone. “Let’s figure this out.”
*
Alex’s ears lifted as the sounds of his brothers grew closer, their snarls and barks bouncing off the cavern walls while the scent of the Pirithous filled the enclosed space. He snapped his jaws at his trapped legs, narrowly avoiding Charlotte’s hands as they pushed fruitlessly against the boulder crushing his hindquarters.
“Calm down, Butch,” she crooned as she stroked his ears, oblivious to the faint stumbling gait drawing nearer. She turned her attention back to the stone. “Come on, Alex. Say something.”
The shuffling feet of the approaching intruder competed with the clicking of paws over the rock path. He strained his eyes in the faint glow of the flashlight, scanning the small entrance for the Pirithous before howling out for his brothers. Bo’s gravelly snarl answered back, his barked warnings closing in as he alerted Alex to the Pirithous’s proximity.
Warnings that were unnecessary as the feral form of the bloodline crept into the cavern, its blackened eyes locking on to Charlotte.
*
Charlotte froze, her fingers wrapped tightly around her flashlight as Butch’s howling morphed into a territorial growl. She could hear Not-Butch’s raspy barks echoing through the Chasm, the combined sounds almost drowning out the gurgling panting at her back. She rose to her feet, turning to illuminate the intruder crouched in the entrance, his strange eyes squinting as the light bounced off them.
Butch snarled, his hackles rising as he pushed himself up on his front paws and drew the attention of the hunched man. She stepped closer to Butch, adjusting her hold on the flashlight. “I’m a US Park Ranger, sir. I’m going to need you to exit the area and return to your vehicle. The safety of the Chasm is compromised due to th—”
The man launched himself across the cave with inhuman speed, latching on to Butch’s neck with his arms and teeth. Butch’s enormous claws tore at his attacker’s back, drawing a foul-smelling blood that watered her eyes and coated her tongue. Angling the blunt end of her light at the man, she brought it down on his head, earning a shriek of fury from him. He released Butch, his black eyes zeroing in on her as she stepped in front of the trapped dog and swung her makeshift weapon, Butch’s bloodied paws attempting to nudge her aside.
The man leapt at her, the odd bend of his legs propelling him forward with enough force to knock her backward over Butch. She scrambled over the howling animal, her flashlight rocking against the corner of the cavern while the man’s hands grasped for any part of her he could grip. As he took hold of her leg, she pummeled him with her fists, using her legs to boot out his malformed shins and keep him unbalanced enough to avoid gaining the upper hand.
“Don’t even think about it,” she growled as his attention returned to the injured beast in the corner. Hooking his ankles with her feet, she yanked the man to the ground, clambering over his warped body to place herself in front of Butch and holding her ground as the misshapen teeth closed in on her.
She brought her arms up to protect her face and throat, taking an involuntary step back as hands wrapped around her attacker’s neck and jerked him backward into a snarling heap on the floor. Two men, naked as the day they were born, dropped onto his mangled body.
Two naked, familiar men.
“Al—”
“Bo,” one barked back, the effort of restraining the feral man apparent in his gravelly voice. “Stay the fuck back.”
Butch nudged her arm with his muzzle and she crouched beside him, assessing his trapped hind legs with her hands and watching as Alex’s brothers twisted and contorted their bounty until he was immobile.
Ryan looked down at her, his arms wrapped tightly around the intruder’s warped torso. “Is that your car on the road?”
She nodded, opening her mouth to respond before Bo cut her off, his eyes on Butch. “We’re going to put this bastard in holding and we’ll be back to get your sorry ass out of here.” He held out his hand. “Keys.”
Fumbling in her pocket, she found her car keys and passed them over. “Cell service won’t work until you hit the highway,” she warned.
“We’ll be back in ten,” Ryan replied, glancing beside her at the injured beast. “Hang tight.”
*
Alex’s heart continued to pound in his chest, the stench of the Pirithous slathered on Charlotte’s skin keeping his mind off his damaged hindquarters and the tremors rumbling underneath them.
She’d held her own against a feral Pirithous.
He nuzzled against her hand, scanning her over in the dim light for injuries and growling low when he caught sight of the numerous bruises and cuts peppering her skin.
“Shhhhh,” she whispered absently, her attention locked on the small crevices that led to the other side of the cavern. “You’re okay, boy.” She continued to tap on the boulder and talk quietly into the darkness. “Five more minutes, Alex. Between the three of us, we should be able to get to you.” She smiled down at Butch and scratched his ears. “Too bad this old beast is hurt. He could’ve helped.”
He lay his head on her lap and listened for his brothers, the clicking of their paws on the rock letting him know they were approaching the smaller caverns of the Chasm. He waited as the faint sounds of the shifting traveled into the cave, followed closely by human footsteps.
“All right, you useless sack. Let’s do this.”
Charlotte’s arms tightened around his neck as Bo entered the cavern. She dropped her head into his fur, slightly disoriented by the tattoo on his chest that perfectly matched Alex’s. And Ryan’s. “Oh, god, you’re still naked.”
“Lucky you,” Bo muttered, crouching beside him and assessing the boulder’s position. “You’re a fucking idiot.”
Charlotte’s eyes narrowed, her mouth opening to respond before Ryan jumped in. “The dog. The dog’s an idiot.” He kept his body angled away from her in a futile attempt at modesty. “We need you to take that flashlight and make your way to your car. It’s an easy path from here.”
Pressing her hand to the rock, she shook her head. “Alex is behind this,” she whimpered. “I think he’s hurt.”
Bo huffed and stood, completely owning his nudity and earning a growl from Alex. “Yeah, he’s hurt. And the sooner you leave, the sooner we can get him out.”
“I’m not leaving until I see him.”
Ryan knelt down beside Alex. “Bo and I are going to try to push that rock off you enough to get you out. But we try once. Then we get you out of our way.” He turned to Charlotte. “His tail is your job. If we manage to get this thing up
, get that tail out of the way. Got it?”
She nodded, repositioning herself to be in reach as Bo and Ryan adjusted their stance beside the boulder and counted down. The stone rocked a fraction, easing the pressure on his hindquarters for a moment before it resettled on him, sending a jolt of pain through him and his brothers.
“This is fucking bullshit,” Bo huffed, widening his stance. “I’m barely staying upright.”
“Then push harder,” Ryan grunted, throwing his weight against the boulder and cursing as it moved no more than their first attempt. “Goddammit. We have to do this another way.” He looked down at Alex. “Bo, get Charlotte out of here.”
*
Charlotte attempted to shake her arm loose from Bo’s grip, cringing when he tightened his hold.
“We’re taking the path on the right,” he ordered, balancing them on the narrow top of a smooth rock. “Fifty more yards.”
She glanced back at the Chasm before she took her final steps out of the rocky formation, freezing as Butch howled and the sound of toppling rocks echoed in the dark night. “What’s Ryan doing to him? He’s not… Oh, god, he’s not putting Butch down, is he?”
Bo continued to guide her forward, his vise grip at odds with his gentle lead of her down the path. “No, he’s not putting Butch down,” he replied, a peculiar tinge of humor in his voice. He paused, shaking out his left leg. “They’ll be making their way out here soon. Alex, too.” He kept his hold on her, loosening it slightly as they approached her car. “You’re a tough little thing, aren’t you?”
Her eyes averted from the naked man at her side, she locked her gaze on the trunk of her car, shrinking back when an animalistic shriek echoed in the park. “What’s wrong with that guy?”
“Genetically defective,” Bo muttered, shifting his weight from one foot to the next rhythmically and running his hand over the trunk. “When the others get here, we’ll release him and you can go on your merry little way.”
The seconds slowed as she watched the exit, her heart pounding in her ears until Ryan emerged, a nude Alex in tow. She exhaled loudly, running her hands through her hair and shrugging off Bo’s hand from her shoulder. “Whoa,” she breathed, the relief over seeing Alex overtaking the growing ache in her body. “So is the nudity a cultural thing for your, uh, hunting thing?”
Junkyard Dog Page 20
