to be his mate, even knowing that she wouldn’t allow herself to love him. So how was she so different from Rune? She was holding something back, too.
But she had trusted him.
Until now.
Suddenly cold, Teresa pushed off the chair, walked to the bed and grabbed the first item of clothing she found: one of Rune’s T-shirts. It was black, of course, and when she tugged it on over her head, the hem fell practically to her knees. His scent surrounded her, caressed her and seemed to ease the doubts flooding her mind and heart.
He was her mate. Her partner.
She would trust him because trusting Rune meant trusting her own instincts and if she was going to survive the next few weeks, she’d have to be able to do that.
A whistle in the distance reached her and Teresa whipped her head up. “Chico?”
The whistle sounded again from far away and Teresa raced for the cave entrance. That familiar sound kept coming, making her quicken her steps until she was running down dark, twisted tunnels carved from the rock. She stubbed her toe on an outcropping of stone and saw stars, but she kept going. Now more than ever, she needed her pet with her. She was desperate to have something she could count on. Believe in. Chico had been with her for two years. He was more than just a bird. He was her companion—another heartbeat in the loneliest hours of the night. He was the one she gave her secrets to.
Smiling in spite of her racing, churning thoughts, Teresa hurried on, down what seemed like miles of stone corridors with only the occasional torch to light her way. Somehow Chico had found his way back to her and she was going to take that as a good sign.
She heard the frantic beating of his wings as he flew about the enclosure. His shrieks and whistles came sharper now as she neared him. The closer she got to the main entrance of the cave, the farther behind she left the torchlight. Rune had deliberately kept most of the way dark in order to confuse any pursuers who might stumble across the cave itself.
Her eyes adjusted to the darkness, but the eerie sensation of being on her own in what might as well have been a rock tomb shook her. The stone floor tore at her bare feet, but she ignored the pain.
Alone in the gloom, she suddenly wished Rune was with her—and that told her all she needed to know about her instincts urging her to believe in him. And as her mind began to reassert itself, claiming dominion over her emotional reaction to the sound of Chico’s shrill whistle, her steps slowed.
What if that isn’t Chico? What if the hunters from the village tracked us to the cave and are pretending to be Chico just to bring me into the open where they can capture me?
Fear walked with her.
The darkness seemed to deepen even though she was nearing the outside world. She could tell because a cold wind was sliding in off the desert and goose bumps erupted on her legs and arms. Rune’s scent walked with her and she wished again that he was there beside her. Her feet were cut from the rocky ground and her chest felt tight, but she kept going. She had to. She was alone here and if there was an enemy, better she meet him on her own terms than wait for him to come to her.
She wasn’t armed, but she wasn’t defenseless, either. She still had her magic. She flexed her fingers, glanced down and watched sparks fire in a blue-white shower from her fingertips. Taking a deep breath, she moved around the last bend in the passage, prepared to defend herself or die trying.
Something rushed at her out of the darkness and she shrieked.
So did Chico.
Then the bird landed on her shoulder, shivered to fluff his feathers and settled comfortably, his claws digging in through the T-shirt. Teresa let out a huge gust of air as relief swamped her. Reaching up, she stroked Chico’s yellow and deep orange chest. “Where have you been and how did you find me?”
“An interesting question,” Rune said from the mouth of the cave, where he dropped two bags of supplies.
Teresa looked up at her Eternal, backlit by the starry night. He looked formidable, menacing. His black coat stirred around his legs and even in shadow she could see the gray of his eyes pitch and