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Any and all of those ideas were, sadly, no more strange than whooshing darkness and unwolves. However—
“You said someone was dead.”
Gina glanced at Matt, then back at McCord expectantly.
“And here I thought you weren’t listening,” McCord murmured.
Now that the man had told his tale, his nerves appeared to have settled and he was back to his annoying, sarcastic self. How had Gina put up with him all her life? Matt had known the guy less than a week, and he could no longer count on two hands the number of times he’d wanted to kill McCord.
“If Ashleigh’s ‘gone,’” Matt made quotation marks in the air with his fingers, “then how do you know she’s dead?”
McCord’s dark eyes met his. “I never said we didn’t find her.”
* * *
Gina, who’d still been hoping Ashleigh was just fucking with them, released a sigh that sounded more like a whimper. Jase, whose hand she still held, didn’t seem to notice. He was too busy having a testosterone stare-down with Teo.
“Where?” Teo asked.
“Couple hundred yards away.”
“How?”
Gina wasn’t sure if Teo were asking how Ashleigh had died or how they’d found her. Didn’t matter. Either one was on Gina’s list of questions as well.
“She—” Jase began, and then a scream, followed by several shouts, erupted from above.
The other guests! Gina had forgotten all about them.
Jase, Gina, and Teo ran for the opening. Jase reached the rope first, grabbed it in his huge, hard hands, then paused, glancing at Gina before handing it to Teo. “You go first.”
“Kiss my ass,” Teo murmured conversationally.
“Jesus.” Gina snatched at the rope. “I’ll go first.”
Jase held the rope out of reach. “You aren’t going up there alone. Who knows what’s going on.”
The screams and the shouts continued, accompanied by a lot of scuffling.
“Someone better get up there,” she snapped.
Jase gave Teo an evil glare, as if he’d done this, whatever this was. “Fine.” Jase started to climb. “It’s not as if he’d be any good at handling a catastrophe.”
Gina’s gaze met Teo’s as the end of the rope danced like a cobra between them. She thought he’d be very good at handling just about anything.
“Hurry up!” Jase shouted, disappearing over the lip of the cavern.
“Go,” Teo said.
Gina bit her lip and contemplated the distance from floor to opening. She’d climbed ropes in gym class, but she’d never gotten more than ten feet off the ground.
“You first.” She held out the rope in his direction, and when he began to argue she interrupted. “I might need help.”
Teo glanced around the cavern. “You’ll be okay down here?”
“I’ll be better up there,” she said; then when another shriek sounded, she muttered, “Maybe. But we gotta go, so—” Gina jerked her thumb toward the sky.
Teo leaned over and brushed her lips with his. The action was both surprising and somehow just right.
