How Beauty Loved the Beast by Jax Garren

Author:Jax Garren
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Romance, Science Fiction, Paranormal, Fiction
ISBN: 9781426895470
Publisher: Carina Press
Published: 2013-05-12T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twelve

Jolie woke up to a world that was pitch black and smelled of dead things. But she was warm. And Hauk was with her. She’d been in so much pain. Now it was gone.

She stroked up the ridges of his chest, feeling his skin through the cotton, reassuring herself it was, indeed, her boyfriend she held. “Hauk?” More touch to reassure her. “I know this sounds idiotic, but please wake up and tell me we’re not dead. Because if this is death, it sucks.”

Her phone was in her pocket. She pulled it out, hoping to get some light. Surely death didn’t include her phone. But the screen was broken and the back was crunched in.

“Mmmm...” Hauk said.

She crawled on top of him. “Wake up. Where are we?”

His arms tightened around her. One hand skimmed over her back then reached above her, as if feeling for the ceiling. He sat up, keeping one hand protectively wrapped around her head. “Are you okay?” he asked, concern filling his voice.

“Yeah. I feel fine. So again, I gotta ask, you don’t think we’re, like, dead, right? Because I distinctly remember having a hole in my stomach.”

His face buried against her shoulder, and he squeezed her so tightly she thought she might break. “Don’t. Do that. Again,” he growled.

“No self-impaling? Check. Not on purpose, anyway. I pinky swear.”

His arms loosened. “We’re not dead. Odin fixed you. I don’t know how. And I have no idea where we’re at. I blacked out. Feel the ground for a wall.”

“Odin fixed me? I’m not going to ask.” He started to release her, and her heart beat faster in fear. “Can we stay together?” She flinched at how weak that sounded, unaccustomed to needing comfort. “Never mind. I’m cool.” But she was far from cool. She was downright terrified.

He chuckled hollowly. “I’m sure you’re fine, sweetheart, but I’d feel better if you’d keep in contact.”

Her shoulders loosened as she returned a manic laugh. “Okay. If it’ll make you feel better.”

Together they inched forward until they reached the marble smoothness of a wall. Kneeling hip to hip, their hands traveled up until he grunted. “I know where we are.”

Beneath her fingers, the wall gave way and dipped down, like the inside of a drawer.

Hauk’s voice was a strained calm. “Babe, let’s turn around.”

She slid her hands down inside the wall until she touched brittle fabric and something like leather and bone. It dusted beneath her fingers.

They were in a crypt. Her hands were on a corpse.

Screeching, she jerked them up. Her fingers slammed into fabric and stiff muscle. Dead things everywhere. She screamed and lurched back as cold fear squeezed her.

Hauk caught her. His strong arms wrapped around her as her teeth chattered in terror of the dark, the dead and her own near dying. She hated to be afraid. Prided herself on never being fearful. But tears coursed down her cheeks as she shivered and cowered.

“It’s okay,” he whispered soothingly, his lips right against her scalp.

“No. It’s not.” He felt so good against her.

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