Bruja (22 page)

At first, the kiss was a soft brush of lips, but it slowly turned into more. My body heated, and I tightened my arms around him. He felt safe. Good. And I wanted more. His tongue touched mine, and I moaned, unable to stop myself. And not caring in the least. He growled, and twisted my braid tighter, as he devoured me. I ran my hand under the back of his shirt, and his muscles tightened. I wanted to be closer, but—

Gobble’s tiny hand swatted my cheek. “Stop messing about and look around.”

I pulled away from Lucas, completely out of breath. I’d only been kissed once before and it didn’t count. Not really. Daniel and I had been bored and I wanted to know what it was like.

The thing about growing up with everyone on the compound was that they all started to feel like family.

But Lucas, he was an unknown. Someone new. And it wasn’t just the newness that was affecting me. It was everything about him. Even with all the reasons I had to pull away, I couldn’t stop my feelings from growing.

I stared at him, not knowing what to do or say as he quietly watched me. And then I started laughing.

I wasn’t sure why. Maybe it was the ridiculousness of the situation. I’d thought I was going to die. Then I was kissing the hottest guy I’d ever seen. The guy I wanted more than anything, who was slowly becoming everything to me. It was absurd, but I would’ve kept kissing him if not for the creepy little Tinkerbell hitting me.

Yes. Absurd was the right word. My life had taken a turn for the completely absurd.

Using the lip of the cart, I slowly hoisted myself up and Lucas followed suit. I started to climb out, but he stopped me, grabbing my hand. He moved his other hand to my cheek and slid his thumb along my skin.

Something intense burned in his eyes and I wasn’t sure what to say. What was really between us? Before I could decide, the look was gone and he was lifting me up and out of the cart.

“I think we’ll be walking from here,” Lucas said.

I laughed. “No kidding. I feel like living out the rest of my life, thank you very much.” I watched him as he grabbed up the backpacks again, and was kind of in awe.

At first, he’d been Mr. July to me. Just a pretty face.

He’d proven he was so much more than that. Lucas was kind and caring. Patient and protective. Yet, not overbearing.

Was perfection a wolf thing? Watching Dastien and Donovan, I’d thought they were a fluke. But now I wasn’t so sure.

Because Lucas was pretty perfect. At least to me he was.

“Look at all the pretties!” Gobble said. For the first time, I really looked at where we’d landed. We stood at the edge of huge cavern. I could see the tracks that we’d fallen from, but in the dark, I couldn’t see where the ceiling of the cave was. I turned in a circle, taking it all in. Every surface sparkled. It was like giant diamonds encrusted the rock walls and we’d landed inside a massive geode.

“Flashlight,” I said. Lucas handed me one. Wherever I shined the light, it glittered with purples and blues. “Wow.” I walked to the closest wall and touched one of the crystals. As soon as my fingertip pressed its cool surface, it started to glow pure white. “Have you ever seen anything so beautiful before?” In awe, my voice came out a whisper. If just one crystal looked this amazing…

Could the rest light up like this?

I took a second to form a rhyme and then let out a deep exhale, allowing my magic to flow outward with the breath. There wasn’t much left, but I hoped it would be enough.
“Aura strong and bright. Power good and right. Show us pure white light.”

It was as if I’d flipped a switch. The light caught like fire, spreading from crystal to crystal until the whole massive cavern was lit and glowing with bright white aura.

I clicked off my flashlight and turned in a circle again. The cavern went up at least three or four stories, and crystals glowed all the way to the distant ceiling.

I touched one, running my finger along the sharp edges. Some of them were huge, thicker than Lucas’ thigh muscle. Little ones, the size of my pinky, stuck out between them. They were all piled on top of each other, until it was impossible to see the cave wall. Their energy was so strong it made my fingertips tingle. “What are these?”

“Magic,” Gobble said. Then he wrinkled his nose in a little scowl. “Maybe you aren’t a witch.”

This time
I
swatted at
him
. “I
am
a witch. I’ve just never heard of crystals like these before. Ones that store aura and magical power, but something about them…” My eyes widened as I realized. “That lady from the market. She was wearing one around her neck.”

“You’re right. That one was much smaller, but they’re the same.” Lucas touched a nearby crystal and it turned from white to amber. The same color amber as his aura. Interesting, but I wasn’t sure what it meant.

“Do you…” It could be totally sacrilegious to ask this, but… “Do you think it’d be okay for me to take one? Just one of the little ones. I’m pretty sure the white mages somehow stored their magic inside, and—”

“This could be what helps Raphael,” Lucas finished for me.

I smiled, relieved that he understood.

“Sure. Let me see what I can do.”

I nodded. He was much stronger than I was and would have a much easier time getting a crystal free.

Lucas reached for a crystal the thickness of my thumb. If he could break it off, it would be easy enough to carry.

As soon as he touched it, the crystal fell into his palm. He turned to me, mouth hanging open. “I didn’t have to do anything.”

I took the crystal from him. As soon as it was in my palm, its aura changed to ice blue. “Weird.”

“Is it okay?” Lucas asked.

I put it in my pocket—not wanting it getting lost in my purse. “Yes. Thank you. I’m sure it’s great.”

“Which way?”

I looked around the cave. “I don’t know.”

“What does your gut say?”

I laughed. “My gut has no clue.” There was so much white aura here, that I couldn’t see anything beyond it. “Gobble. Do you know the way?”

“Of course I know the way.” He sounded offended that I would even ask.

“And?”

“Oh. You’re asking for a favor. That will cost you, tasty. What will you give me?”

I sighed. Nope. Not there yet.

I spun around, counting five different chambers we could go through. I needed just enough magic to give us a direction.
“Eenie. Meenie. Minie. Moe. Show us all the way to go.”
All of a sudden, the light in the cavern died.

I sucked in a breath. Was I empty? Finally drained of magic? “I’m sorry. I—” I froze as a line of light appeared in the crystal.

The glow moved in a straight path from us like ancient streetlights, pointing down the third corridor on the left.

Thank God
.

I grinned at Lucas. “That way seems good?”

He laughed. “So I see. Let’s go.”

Gobble landed back on my shoulder, and the three of us headed deeper into the mine, following the path that had been left for us.

I was exhausted. Using magic took energy from me. My well was almost totally empty and I needed time to rest and build it up again. I wasn’t sure when I’d have the time.

Having Lucas next to me gave me the energy to keep going, even if all I wanted to do was crash.

“You doing okay?” He asked, almost as if he could sense my exhaustion.

I wasn’t okay. Not yet. But I was one step closer. “Getting there,” I said as his hand found mine.

Chapter Twenty

As we moved further into the mine, crystals dotted the walls. They weren’t as thick or as dense as they were in the main cave, but they were there. About two-thirds up the tunnel wall, a waving line of them gave off a pure, white light. It wasn’t a totally straight line, since the crystals were more organic than orderly, but they guided us and gave us just enough light to see by.

We followed the lit path through the tunnels long ago carved out by miners, taking countless twists and turns. Time wore on, and my shirt was nearly soaked through. The mines were hot and—even with the pretty crystals—more than a little oppressive. I grew desperate to find the exit to the valley.

After a while, the tunnels started to rise again and my muscles burned as we worked our way back uphill. I took that as a good sign. We had to be getting closer to the temple.

“Do you smell that?” Lucas said as we turned a corner.

All I could smell was dirt, dirt, and more dirt. “No.” But if the wolves could smell emotions, then they had a way better sense of smell than I did. “What do you smell?”

“Fresh air. It was there and then gone.”

“Weird. Where did it come from?”

“I don’t know.”

Gobble giggled from his perch on my shoulder, but I ignored him. He’d been doing that off and on. I couldn’t worry about what was amusing him. I wanted to tell him to go away, but if I got desperate enough, I’d give him whatever bargain he was after.

We turned a corner, and I slammed into Lucas. He’d stopped walking. “What’s wrong?” I asked as I stepped around him. As soon as I had a better view, the problem was clear. There were no more lit crystals. The walls in the next cavern were all dirt and stone. Nothing glowed.

My heart sped as I noticed four tunnels leading off from where we’d stopped. If we kept going and didn’t pick the right one, we’d be in big trouble. There was no telling where they led and we didn’t have the supplies or the time to be stuck down here for days.

Not to mention that the thought of being lost in these mines made it feel like the walls were closing in on me.

“Can you see anything?” Lucas asked.

“No. I…” I searched for any hint of an aura ahead of us, but couldn’t see anything. I chewed my lip as I tried to decide which route to take, but I none of them felt right. “We had to have missed something. We should backtrack.”

I wasn’t sure where we’d gone wrong, but something had changed. Why would it lead us into a dark chamber with four equally possible routes?

It didn’t matter. I spun around and started walking back.

As we walked back toward the lit crystals, they started flickering. Then, one by one, they went out.

“Are you seeing this?” I asked as I forced my already aching legs to walking faster.

“Yeah.”

The lights started glittering faster and faster. If we lost the path… It was too complicated to remember. Too dark. We’d be lost.

“Run.” I took off, following the flickering lights, trying to stay ahead of them, but the faster I ran, the faster they died. As they started to outpace me, I finally skidded to a stop, gasping for breath. “We’re lost.”

“We’re not lost.” Lucas had gotten farther than I had, but he quickly moved back to me.

I scowled at him as he turned on his flashlight. “Do you know where we are?”

“Not exactly, no. But I can scent our way back to the entrance. So, we’re not lost.”

The breath I’d been holding left my lungs. Living the rest of my life wandering these tunnels until I died of dehydration sounded like a special kind of hell.

Gobble giggled again. This time I was paying attention.

“What do you know?” I angled my head to the side so I could get a good look at him.

“Witches and wolves all distracted by lights and not paying attention.” He rolled his big blue eyes. “I’ll only tell if you pay back the favor. Not helping for free.”

But he’d already said enough. We’d missed something. The exit?

I grasped Lucas’ sleeve. “We’re idiots.”

Lucas narrowed his gaze. “We are?”

“Yeah.” I laughed. “We really are. Where did you smell that fresh air?”

Lucas chuckled. “We
are
idiots. That’s where the exit is.”

“Exactly. Can you get us back there?”

Lucas nodded. “Sure can. Stay a few steps behind me so I can scent it.”

“You got it.”

I let him pass by me and waited for a count of five before following. After a short few minutes, he stopped.

“It’s here.” He ran the light up and down the tunnel walls, but no break or gap was visible. Even the ceiling looked solid.

“We’re missing something,” I said.

“Can you see anything? Any auras?”

I shook my head. “Just a faint residual glow from the crystals. Nothing that points the way.”

“Okay.” He squatted down, and dug a little groove in the floor to prop up the flashlight. “Our eyes aren’t seeing anything, but maybe our hands will. You take that wall.” He pointed behind me. “I’ll take this one.”

I turned and crouched down to start at the bottom I ran my hands along the crystals, not caring if the sharp edges nicked my skin. They stuck out at odd angles, growing out of each other in clusters, but there were no seams or holes. I couldn’t find a break. Not anywhere.

“Are you sure we’re in the right spot?” I asked.

“We’re in the right spot.” His voice had a hint of growl in it.

I turned to find him squatting at the ground, staring at the wall. “Sorry. I wasn’t trying to—”

“I’m not angry at you. I’m just frustrated.” He quickly stood and glared at Gobble. “And he’s not helping. He knows how to make this door appear.” Lucas tried to flick the fey, but his wings zipped into motion and he zoomed off my shoulder.

“Not my fault you’re stupid.”

Lucas’ aura was usually so toned down that I didn’t see it unless I focused. Alphas—like Teresa and Dastien—glowed much brighter than other wolves. Apparently Lucas could turn his off and on. In a flash, he lowered the floodgates and I had to blink to adjust to the blinding halo of gold and white.

Gobble shrieked and fled to hide between the crystals on the wall. “Pack Alpha means nothing to me, wolf. You can’t force me.”

Lucas moved fast, snatching a little arm in his hand, but Gobble disappeared—reappearing behind Lucas.

Lucas howled as the little beastie bit down on his ear.

I wanted to wring both of their necks. “Stop it. Neither of you are helping anything.” I turned back to the wall, ignoring those two yahoos. I crossed my arms and stared it down. There had to be something—some clue that would tell me what to do next. I stuck my finger in my mouth and pulled it out, holding it in the air to see if I could feel a breeze.