Dangerous Mating (A.L.F.A., #3)(37)

Then one of the men reached up toward a girl onstage. He grabbed a . . . leash around the girl’s throat? Oh my fucking god. This was the trafficking event he had been searching for when he was captured by the prince’s forces. That bastard son of a bitch. He wanted to rip off the prince’s testicles. He had to force his wolf back. They wanted to run down and save all the helpless ones. But that would be suicide.

He pulled back from the cliff’s edge and slinked his way back to his mate. He wasn’t sure how they were going to get past all that. Maybe they could wait it out.


*

Kari paced side to side in front of the hole in the wall. Was the man ever coming back? What if he got hurt by another trap? Something he didn’t see? Her stomach churned. He could be dying and she wasn’t doing a thing about it.

She stopped and looked through the hole. It was at the height of her chest so she didn’t have to bend too much. Listening intently, she did hear the voices Bryon was talking about. She put her arms through the wall, followed by her head, then rose onto her toes. From there, she couldn’t get any further. Wait.

If she put her foot against the hanging rock that smashed into the wall, she could maybe push the rest of the way through. She was still too short to get her chest in. She needed to jump, but with her arms on the other side of the wall, that would be impossible.

Kari pulled out and stood, straightening her shirt. Okay. With her hands on the hole’s edge, she could lift herself to get her upper body into the gap. Then she could push off the oblong rock to get the rest of the way.

Hands on the edge, she jumped up and leaned forward. Halfway through, she realized her hands faced the wrong way. Her wrists were folding backward. She didn’t know how, but amidst her panicked wiggling and twisting, she had gotten her hands turned. But now they were pinned under her, mashed between her stomach and the rock. When she tried to pull her arm out, skin tore from the back of her hand pressed against the jagged stone edge. Shit.

If she rocked to the side, she could maybe pull out her hand with minimum damage done. Contorting her body to one side, she yanked and gritted when her flesh gave way to rock, but her hand was no longer under her.

With her head on the other side of the wall, she could barely see anything. Not that there was much to look at. The same damn rock she’d seen the past million freaking hours. Light bounced off the ceiling from somewhere ahead. Trying to pull her free arm to the other side, she quickly found the hole wasn’t big enough to bend her arm to get through. She groaned.

On the side of the wall opposite her head, she kicked her legs, pointing her toes, but the floor wasn’t within reach. Shit. She lifted her leg, searching for the rock to push off. Her shoe brushed the pendulum, setting it into a slight motion. Shit.

Her mind spun through the options. If she kept her leg straight, locking it at the knee, the rock would swing back and hit her foot, either pushing her forward or shoving her thigh bone into her ribs. Almost good, not quite. If her leg remained flexible, bending at the knee just a bit, then that would push her while not breaking her. Her knee quickly bent a bit and the force of the swing pushed her forward.

She bit her tongue holding back the holler from the pain of her hand scratching along the rock under her stomach. She twisted to free the arm before the rock bumped into her foot a second time. If she could get a few more inches, she might be able to get her elbow out far enough to free her arm. The rock’s return pushed her farther, but not enough. Shit.

She wiggled her arm free and let it dangle. Thank god. She pushed against the wall to get her other arm out. She rested a second. Her body was not meant for going through holes in walls.

With a deep breath and heave with her arms, she pushed until she came to a sudden stop. Shit. She hadn’t stopped to think if the gap was wide enough for her hefty hips. Well, it wasn’t. Shit.

“What the hell are you doing?” She looked to see Bryon coming up the path.

“What does it look like?” she whispered loudly.

He stared at her. “I’m not sure, sweetheart.” She heard the laugh in his voice. She’d kick his ass when she got out of this.

“Shut up and help me.” She lifted her arms. He leaned over to hook his hands under her arms. When he pulled, nothing moved.

“Darling,” he started, “can you suck it in a bit?”

She huffed. “No. You can’t suck in hips. If I could, I would’ve a long time ago.” He released his hold, letting her upper body hang. Then he put his hands around her waist. “What are you doing?” she asked as he pulled. “Ow,” she whined.

“Be quiet. I’m doing what I have to here,” he said. With his hands on the small of her back, he twisted, shook, and yanked her body. After a few aching moments, her legs slid through. Apparently, he wasn’t ready for her to pop loose. He quickly wrapped his arms around her waist, flinging her legs into the air.

“What the hell?” Upside down, her hair hung in her face and shirt slid toward her breasts. She snagged her top from falling farther. “Put me down right this second.” Blood rushed to her head. He flipped her over, putting her on her feet. “That was a damn nightmare,” she said.

“Okay, now we have to go back through it,” he said.





Chapter Twenty-six




Peeping around the side of a boulder, Kari gazed over the crowd of people on the cave floor below them. There was no way she was going through that damn hole in the wall again. She’d walk naked among the people before she squeezed her oval body through a round space. Of course, her mate was fine with that. She had to punch his arm for being so male.