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The blast had really done a number on me.

Leo walked us down a narrow dirt path, toward the bottom of the waterfall where water met the jagged rock of the gorge.

I’d never been this close to my waterfall before; the closeness intimate. Being in Leo’s arms made it even more so.

“What are we doing down here?” I asked, my words spoken too softly to be heard above the thunder of the water.

Everything quieted around us, allowing me to make out his next words. “The waterfall . . .” he trailed off, struggling to find the right words.

But his explanation never came, only an earsplitting shriek that I had hoped I would never hear again.

“They’ve picked up our scent!” the female soldier shouted from up ahead.

“Time to go!” Adrian yelled back.

Leo’s mouth came indecently close to my ear, sending a wave of heat through me, despite the chill radiating from his body. “I need you to trust me.”

There was genuine fear in his eyes as he looked at me. Fear, and a color I couldn’t distinguish in the graying light between night and day.

The tension and tightness I had been carrying in my chest since the incident were replaced with the desire to go with him.

For whatever reason, even if I hadn’t been injured, I would’ve trusted him on instinct.

“Okay” was all I said.

He nodded his head, my answer apparently good enough for him.

He ran the rest of the way to the waterfall, stepping in front of the curtain of water, the mist wetting our faces.

“Close your eyes,” he whispered to me, nodding at his soldiers on either side of him who waited for his command.

Adrian stared at where Leo’s arms wrapped around my body, his emotion unreadable.

I closed my eyes and braced for the water to drench us completely as Leo walked forward—or worse, sweep us into its current and drag us under.

But the feel of the water never came.

I couldn’t take the suspense.

I opened my eyes right as the waterfall parted like two curtains being pulled open by invisible hands.

“Hold tight.” Leo grinned down at me, stepping through the wall of rock behind the waterfall and free-falling into a pit of darkness.

CHAPTER SEVEN

LEO

Adrian slammed me against the nearest wall of my office. Or rather, I allowed him to slam me against the nearest wall of my office.

He was livid.

And I couldn’t blame him.

“What the hell is going on?” he screamed in my face, pinning me beneath his arm.

Instead of fighting back, I let him push me harder into the stone.

He needed to burn off his anger if I stood any chance of reasoning with him.