His sizzling gaze pierced her, and he didn’t wait for her next move. Slipping into her swollen folds, he plunged his thick cock deep, lifting her hips so he could drive into her inner core as if seeing her body come, he was pushed nearer the edge. His eyes heavily lidded and his face flushed with pleasure, he stretched her, thrusting hard and deep and fast.

Never while she’d made love to him in their dream state had she enjoyed sex this much. “Oh, oh, faster, harder.” She dug into his buttocks. “Don’t… stop… now,” she growled, not believing she could come again so soon after.

He chuckled and drove harder, his hands planted beside her head, and gave a final thrust, a warm bath heating her deep inside. Sinking on top of her, their bodies slippery and hot and satiated, he let out a gratified growl. “Thank… Odin… you… were… all right.”

“Just all right,” she whispered against his cheek.

“This side of heaven.” He rolled off her and pulled her on top of him, his arms wrapped securely around her while he tugged the fur that had slipped off them back in place. “Don’t ever leave me again like you did.”

“Hmm.” She cuddled against his hard, sweaty chest.

“Thank you for rescuing me. Some rescue, by the way.”

He growled, nipped her shoulder, and forced her head down on his chest. “Don’t forget that whatever happens, I love you, Lelandi, and would never let any harm come to you.”

She snuggled against his chest and licked his nipple, making him groan. “Better not, or I’ll give you a hard time.”

He grinned. “You already do, honey. A really hard time. Rest. We’ll be out of here soon, but we have a long, difficult trek ahead of us.”

Hearing footfalls a couple of hours later coming from the tunnel of pits and the shorter one that was supposed to be more navigable, Darien opened a sleepy eye and hugged Lelandi tighter against his chest, her breathing shallow, her eyes closed in slumber.

“Hell, Darien.” Jake entered the cave with ten men from the shorter tunnel, and Tom and another twenty men came from the other. “I thought you were dead.”

Glad everyone was okay, Darien gave him a small smile. “Thought so, eh?”

“Nah, not me,” Tom said. “I knew you’d be all right. Jake’s the worrier in the bunch. Kept hurrying the guys to move those boulders and loose rubble, afraid we wouldn’t reach you through the other tunnel in time. It was taking so long for Mason and Peter to get back with the ropes. So…” Tom looked around at the cave, spied blood on the floor and took a deep whiff of the air. “Where’s Joe?”

“Still making his peace with the devil in the center of the earth,” Darien said.

Tom snickered. “Pit burial, eh? Perfectly appropriate.”

Jake motioned to Lelandi. “She all right?”

“Yeah, she’ll be fine. Give us a moment and we’ll get dressed.”

Mason dropped a bundle next to Darien’s clothes. “Some gloves, snow shoes, and a heavy-duty parka for the little lady, more her size. The blizzard’s whipping up pretty hard out there.” He gave Jake a stern look. “Which is why it took us so long to get back to the mountain. It had nothing to do with my age.”

Tom laughed and slapped Jake on the shoulder as the men hurried out through the short tunnel. “See, what’d I tell you? Here we are slaving away to protect Darien’s ass, and he’s cozied up with his mate in a love nest of furs.”

“Yep, pack leader thinking.” Jake headed out with Tom.

“I still can’t believe you moved those boulders to clear the passageway,” Sam said, inside the tunnel.

“I didn’t want Lelandi to have to take the hard way out. Blizzard’s going to be difficult enough to get through,” Jake remarked.

“Good thing we have those ropes,” Tom said.

Jake chuckled. “Yeah, so we can all get lost together.”

Wanting to get Lelandi home safely, Darien kissed her ear to wake her. “Honey, time to get dressed.”

“Hmm, maybe everyone should stay here in the cave until the storm blows over,” Lelandi murmured.

“Not enough furs to keep everyone warm.”

“We could all turn wolf.”

“I’d rather be in the privacy of my bed with you. Come on, sleepyhead. Time to get up and get dressed.”

“It’s so warm here, and so…” She shivered. “So cold out there.” She pointed one finger outside the furs.

He kissed her finger. “I’ll help you dress faster.” Darien slipped out from under the covers, threw his clothes on, then slid his cold hands under the furs to Lelandi’s feet.

“Oh heavens, Darien. Your fingers are like ice.”

“By the way, Cody gave me back my favorite leather jacket. He warned me it had a gun in the pocket and figured you took it with you to protect yourself.” He tilted his chin down and gave her an exasperated look.

“He offered me his parka so I’d stay warmer.”

“And for that,” Darien said, helping her into her clothes, “I was grateful. But sheesh, Lelandi…”

“I didn’t remember the gun was in your jacket pocket until Joe pulled his on me.”

“Thank Odin for that. I could imagine you shooting each other and neither of you making it.”

He bundled her up to her neck in the winter parka, although he wished it was a bright color and not white where he could lose her in the blinding snow.

“We could return as wolves,” she said.

“The climb is too steep on this side of the mountain.

Better suited to a mountain goat… or humans with climbing gear.”

After what she’d already been through, that didn’t bode well.

Chapter 20

THE GUYS ALL GAVE LELANDI SURREPTITIOUS SMILES WHEN she walked into the tunnel with Darien. Yeah, here they’d been busting their butts, trying to save their pack leader and his mate, and what do they find?

But heck, if any of them had been stuck in a cave with their mate, they would have done the same!

The wind whipped snow in through the opening where there had been none when Joe forced her through the tunnel before. If the snow wasn’t blowing so hard, she would be elated to see the sight of the mountains, but all she could see was a white blanket, disguising everything in its path.

Many of the men had started down the mountain, some waiting at various points along the trail, some down at the bottom wearing their wolf coats. If the climb hadn’t been so steep, she would have welcomed shapeshifting.

Jake handed Darien a rope already attached to Sam and Mason and several others who were partway down the steep incline.

“It’s gotten really icy,” Mason warned.

Darien tied the rope around Lelandi’s waist and kissed her lips hard. “Take it easy. The guys down below will stop your tumble if you slip. I’ll hold you from up above. Just concentrate on getting good toe and finger holds, and you’ll be down at the bottom before you know it.”

“Thanks, Darien.” She glanced at Jake and Tom.

“And to all of you who came to my rescue.”

Jake took the rope that Darien had tied to himself.

“All in a day’s work. Think nothing of it.”

Tom grinned. “Hey, we were rescuing Darien, too, but he’ll never admit it.”

Darien chuckled, his icy breath mixing with the blowing snow. “I didn’t think you’d arrive in time.”

He crouched down on the ledge and helped ease Lelandi over it. Her stomach iced with fear. Climbing up, no problem. But this side was much steeper, and the hand and foot holds were so far apart, much better suited to the grays’ long reach, that she had to slide down partway to reach the next toe or finger hold. Every time she did, Darien held tight to the cliff face to ensure she didn’t pull him and the others off the mountain. Sam and the others below waited until she caught hold of something.

“How’s it going?” Tom shouted from several feet above Jake.

“Slow,” Jake said.

“She’s getting tired.” Darien’s voice showed concern.

She wished he hadn’t said that because although every muscle ached with fatigue, she didn’t want it advertised to every gray out here. What would they think about her ability to be the female leader?

“Wait up, boss.” Sam began to climb back up. “She can’t reach a foothold.”

She wanted desperately to jump down to the bottom of the cliff, wishing the snow would cushion her fall.

“Try to grasp onto anything, Lelandi. Sam will help you.”

Everyone waited while Sam climbed below Lelandi, the wind-driven snow buffeting her, threatening to pull her from her tentative grip on the jagged rocks. But she couldn’t make a move down or to either side. She wondered if Larissa could have come this way. How could she have managed? But maybe the snow and ice made the difference.

“Put your right foot in my hand, and I’ll guide you to a shelf,” Sam coaxed.

“I’ll pull the rest of you off the mountain.” Lelandi’s voice wavered, although she was trying to keep it together for Darien.

A pack leader’s bitch was strong. Not a panicked weakling. But her arms and legs were growing wearier by the second, and her fingers and toes were already dead from the cold. If she could have had viable foot and hand holds all the way down, she’d be at the base of the mountain by now.

“Lelandi, concentrate on what Sam’s saying. As petite as you are, you weigh nothing. The rest of us are fine.”

She reached out her foot, not believing she could stretch that far, and touched Sam’s hand.

“Good. Now put your weight on my hand and lean to your right. I’ll move you to the ledge. It’ll be slow going. Easy does it. One inch at a time.”

Sam crept across the rock face while helping her. “Okay, here you go.” She grasped a rock and pulled herself to the ledge. “There’s enough room for two, Darien.”