He trusted her instincts, and they were screaming at her that this place was bad. He’d never seen her ruffled like this before, but this cave had her more rattled than a pissed-off rattlesnake’s tail.
“I can go alone,” he offered.
“Absolutely not.”
She wanted to enter the cave about as much as she wanted her foot cut off, but there wasnoway Asher was going in there alone. Over the years, she’d been many things, but a coward wasnotone of them.
Grabbing the door handle, she shoved it open and stepped out. After the car’s air-conditioning, she wasn’t prepared for the blast of warmth. The cold sweat already coating her body mixed with more perspiration as the sun beat down on them, and the thick, humid air made breathing difficult.
All around them, the tall, green grass waved in the slight breeze blowing across the land, but it did nothing to cool the day or the sunbaked earth. Using the back of her arm, Brie wiped the sweat from her brow and closed the door.
Asher retrieved the small bags of supplies they’d brought with them. They’d all gone shopping to replace what they lost when she and Asher left their duffel bags in the woods in Connecticut.
Asher closed his door and walked around to stand in front of the car; Brie joined him. He set the bags on the ground, and they both bent to pull out some weapons. Brie studied the cave as they armed themselves. She strapped on a couple of guns, knives, and stakes before removing the foldable shovel and closing the bag.
“All set?” Asher asked.
“Yes.”
He tossed the bags back in the car before returning to join her. “Got a flashlight?” Asher asked as he tapped the light in his back pocket.
“Yes.”
“Let’s go then.”
He was trying to sound confident about this, and he hoped she was buying it, because he was more concerned about the pallor of her face and the strain around her eyes than what they would find in the cave.
If they were walking into a nest of demons and Savages, he could kill them and get them out of there. They would have to call the Alliance in to get the stone, but they would destroy anything in their way. He could handle an enemy; he hated her fear.
Brie kept her shoulders back and her head high as she stalked toward the cave. She wouldn’t let her uneasiness get the best of her.
The helpless child she once was didn’t exist anymore. She was a strong, powerful woman who’d kick the ass of anyone who stood between her and that stone. Something horrible lay beyond, but she would face it, she would destroy it, and shewouldsucceed.
They stopped in front of the cave and the boards covering the entrance. Asher stepped closer to examine the boards and discovered most of them were loose.
Gripping the edge of one, he pulled it away from the entrance and set it aside. When he removed another one, the hole became large enough for them to slip through.
He glanced at Brie as she frowned at the boards. “You didn’t see them being loose?” he asked.
“I never got out of the car in my dream.”
“Someone has been here more recently than what they’re trying to make it look like.”
“Or something,” she murmured.
“We’ll find out.”
Pulling out his flashlight, he clicked it on and ducked to avoid hitting his head on another board as he entered the cave. His beam illuminated the dark recesses as it played over the dirt coating the rocky walls.
But whereas the walls were caked with dirt and grime, the floor was cleaner. Dozens of footprints moved back and forth across the surface, but they were all the same-sized boot prints. It also looked as if something had been dragged through here recently.
“What is going on?” Asher muttered.
He would have assumed maybe it was kids running around in here or teens using it as a place to party, do drugs, and have sex, but it was a large footprint. And while that could still be a teen tromping in and out, he was almost positive the prints were from a grown man.
He placed his foot next to one of the prints. He was a size twelve, but these prints were easily four sizes bigger than his. He didn’t see two size-sixteen men tromping around here, so that meant it was most likely one person coming and going, most likely a male, tall, probably an adult, and possibly a Savage.
But what were they doing in here? And why would a single man make Brie as unsettled about this place as she was? It took a lot to rattle her, but this place, and whatever lay beyond, had done it.
