Rath's arm snagged Salix's chest with jarring force.

Salix's peals of terror ceased on a choked shriek. Her vision catapulted into focus. Sweeping, ravening lava lurched far below her pendulous, kicking feet.

"Hold on!" Rath bellowed, crushing her body against his.

Her stomach teetered, lodged in her throat. She scrabbled against him, her claws sinking into his neck, clinging and gasping.

The bridge wagged, useless and slack, the handrail and support ropes severed on one side, in ruin.

Rath clung to the remaining handrail. The upper support ropes on this side were gone now, too. The lower supports were shorn to a single, tenuous fiber at the pylon.

Overhead, a flash of metal whizzed past their heads. Salix screamed, clutching harder.

Rath's chest rumbled with menace as the missile sliced through a vertical connecting rope, inches from her back, like a knife through hot fat.

As if by magic, the spinning weapon returned to its master, soaring past with a high-pitched, lethal whistle. A thickset orken caught it in his meaty grasp, barking with laughter. It was a curved blade. Like a sickle but angled.

The creature's green pallor shone in the simmering glare of the river, his smirk fierce. Hiking his brow cruelly, he threw it again.

Salix slammed the side of her face against Rath's shoulder as the strange sickle sliced through more of the connecting ropes before returning to its master.

She choked on a sob, her face in a rictus of defeat. The beasts were cutting off their lifeline to the far pylon! Whatever brief hope she'd fostered of swinging with the ruined bridge, it was obvious now they would never make it to the other side.

Rath cursed, realizing the same thing. He wrenched his gaze around, eyes flying over the cliff face and the tenuous ropes, assessing.

Deep, taunting laughter boomed through the canyon.

Face bloodless, Salix met the leering gazes of five orken on the rim. They raised their axes, goading Rath.

The orken with the magnetic blade jiggled it at Rath before throwing it again. By now he'd sliced through all the vertical ropes still connecting the parts of the bridge.

Ice dropped into her gut as it sheared off the lower support ropes. Rungs of tumbling footboards scattered down to the waiting lava. The other length of bridge spanning the canyon flailed away, racing to a crashing halt against the other side.

Despair pierced her chest.

There was nothing but a single fat rope spanning the canyon now. A single lifeline keeping Salix and Rath out of the jaws of fire.

"Throw her in and we'll spare you!" one called down in Wargish.

Salix burst into tears, smothering her face in his mane of fur. "Don't let go of me!"

The last thing she expected to hear him say was, "I must."

No! She'd heard him wrong! He would never! A thin wail of awful disbelief ripped out of her chest.

Rath's breaths sawed in and out like low growls. "Salix," he rasped, "I'm going to let go now."

"No!" she screamed.

"Listen to me, girl," he seethed, squeezing her silent. "You will not die so long as you hold on tight. Understand?"

Confused, she whimpered, nodding rapidly, not understanding at all.

"I must let go of you now. Hold on to me!"

Again, she nodded, her head threatening to shake loose. Her jaw shook violently as his arm slackened, testing her death grip. When the arm dropped away, her fingers hooked deeper, her hands stiff and waxen. She wrapped her legs around his waist, her thighs clenching tight.

Rath's body jostled beneath her grip, vibrating with vigor.

When she looked up to see what he was doing, her heart froze.

Above her head, Rath's claws sawed at the rope.

The orken watched on, intrigued. They were muttering amongst themselves in orkish.

"Rath, no!" A fresh wave of terror sluiced into her chest. "You're cutting the wrong side!" He was cutting off their only escape!

But he ignored her, his vicious claws tearing at the thick rope. As he clawed the rope, he pinned the orken with a rigid, black look. A preternatural glower lit with unholy fires.

Eyes wild, she followed the length of rope from his iron grasp all the way up to where it lay fixed around one of the horns of the pylon. If-when-he severed the rope, they'd swing toward the orken side. There to hang against the cliff, at the mercy of their ax blades!

Desperate, she reached up white fingers to stay his cutting. "Rath! No!"

But it was too late.

He gave one last hard slash and the rope snapped apart with a sound she felt all the way to her cold marrow.

At the mercy of the rope, they hurtled toward the cliff face, his arm fixed tight around her again.

She slammed her eyes shut as the wall of rock rushed toward them. Clutching tight, she braced for impact.

Cradling her against his chest, Rath folded around her. His back collided with the cliff face. The juddering force slammed her teeth together. Light exploded across her vision.

Far above them, the sound of thudding and laughter commenced.

"Open your eyes, girl!" Rath's fingers bruised her wrist as he pulled her hand away from his neck. "Grip the ledge!" His tone was low and bristling.

She flung her eyes wide, gasping deep breaths. Her wits frayed, she groped the lip of rock against which he pressed her hand.

"Now your feet!" The whip of his voice was soft and icy.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

She did as he bade her, working her too-tight boots onto a sturdy foothold of rock.

He forced her other hand onto the ledge, too.

Her pulse thundered in her ears. Even so, it couldn't drown out the sinister bite of the ax far above.

Thud. Thud.

She felt Rath maneuver his body around her, his chest flush against her spine, his clawed toes anchoring him to a recess below her feet.

Her breath hitched as she watched his fingers release the rope. It dangled ominously beside them. His claws hooked the rock, digging in, his arms caging her against the cliff. "I've got you."

Thud.

A gasp shuddered past her lips as the rope suddenly dropped away.

Far below, the river of fire burbled with a low, pervasive roar.

Salix groaned softly, her arm muscles shaking.

"Shh," he whispered. "They can't see us."

She looked up, the base of her skull pressing into his upper chest. The glow from the river below cast the cliff face in stark, menacing relief. Though she could hear the guttural orkish barks and the furious baying of the wargs on the far side of the canyon, she couldn't see the orken.

She and Rath were concealed below the protruding cliff edge.

"They can't decide if they've killed us," he murmured, cocking his ear.

"I can't...decide either." Her muscles screamed and her periphery seethed with shadows. A brisk glance down at the river of fire had her heart plunging anew.

Rath snorted. "Better make your mind up quick."

She ground her teeth together, willing her arms to stop shaking. Why did he sound so bloody calm? "You...you slashed the wrong side of the rope," she whimpered. If not for him, they'd be climbing up on the right side of the canyon. "If you'd-"

"They were never going to let that happen, girl," he growled. "I secured precious seconds by confounding them."

She pressed her forehead to the rock and closed her eyes. "Now what?" Her voice was nothing but a guttered flame.

"Now we climb into that cave, there."

That got her attention. Her eyes popped wide, flying up to search the rock wall. "I didn't see a cave!"

Rath placed his lips close to her ear. "That's because you were too busy looking down."

A shiver raced up along her nape.

He unhooked his claws and stretched his arm out, his other hand gripping her securely under the ribs.

"What are you doing?" she gasped.

"Turn around and face me."

Her heart turned rabid, lurching, as she met his gaze over her shoulder. Limbs trembling, she hooked an arm around his neck and twisted to face him, her fingers locking behind his neck.

Despite the dire circumstances, her cheeks burned. And not from the wrathful heat of the fire in the canyon below...

With all the panic and ensuing chaos, she hadn't registered the familiar buzz of awareness beneath her skin. But now it hit her with overwhelming force.

His eyes bored into her. "Your legs. Wrap them around me."

She did as she was told, her pulse spiking with something other than terror. His scent wrapped itself around her. A subtle savor of smokey juniper and a dark, earthy musk.

She clung fiercely to him as he walked his feet and claws along the narrow ledges. His sinews shook with effort and strength. As he maneuvered upward steadily, she squeezed her eyes shut. Which meant that the rest of her senses sharpened.

His mane feathered the side of her face, sending gooseflesh down her arms. The hint of woodsmoke on his fur filled her nose. Saliva pooled in the back of her mouth as his shoulders bunched and rolled beneath her hands.

"You're distracting me," he rasped through clenched fangs.

Her eyes sprang wide. "I didn't say anything!"

He fixed his yellow glare over her head, his animal lips hard as he set his teeth and resumed a sideways climb.

Her brow furrowed, the hum in her blood prickling along her scalp. He appeared wroth with her all of a sudden. What had she done wrong?

But she didn't have time to mull it over. With a sharp heave, he pulled his body-and hers-up over yet another small ledge. Roughly, he set her down, jarring her bones.

She twisted around to stare at the gap in the rock, now visible. A wide fissure, large enough to fit even his broad shoulders. Beyond the thin sliver of light spilling through the entrance, all was black. She turned back to face him.

He was staring at her, his wolf gaze large enough to devour her. Sitting so close, her thighs clamped around his waist, the position seemed threateningly intimate.

She knew her face shone scarlet as she scooted back to let him prowl onto the ledge, too. Which he did, his tail erect and his long ears flicking, alert.

"An old grotto," he said, sniffing. "Unused."

She crouched beside him, her eyes straining to see past the thick blackness. "Are you sure?" She bit her underlip. "Don't grendels haunt caves like this one?"

He shot her a flat look. "You want to stay out here?"

Her gaze climbed the rock, measuring, her head craning to find the cliff top. "Couldn't you climb up?" She felt stupid as soon as the thought was out.

He chuckled, though there was very little humor in it. "I'm a warg, not a lizard, girl."

"My name's Salix." But then he knew that. He'd said her name before. She sucked in a deep breath, ignoring his probing eyes. Her lips pursed to the side, her eyes narrowing as she studied the wall of rock arcing over their heads like a giant, cresting wave. It was smooth in too many places and in some parts, he'd be climbing horizontally. Like a lizard, indeed.

They'd been nearly halfway across the bridge when the orken had attacked. Which meant they'd fallen roughly a thousand feet. That was no easy climb. Even for a lizard.

In truth, nothing short of a bird could scale this height. Even if he could do it, there was the orken ambuscade to contend with.

Her shoulders sagged and she blew out a resigned breath. Her heart hadn't yet slowed from its mad gallop. The thought of groping, blind, through a cave only served to agitate her pulse into a new frenzy.

Salix gingerly climbed her hands up the sides of the entrance as she stood up on wobbling legs. It was large enough for her to walk upright, but Rath, giant that he was, would have to stoop.

With a firm hand, he gripped her arm and nudged her lightly aside, ducking his head to enter ahead of her. But he kept his hand locked onto her wrist, perhaps not trusting her to keep a steady footing. They'd come too far for her to trip and fall heels over teakettle into the fire.

She was glad he was going in first. Grumbler though he was, he was every bit a protective leader. He guided her in, letting her set the pace as he moved ahead.

Her heart clawed into her throat as darkness enveloped her vision. Fingers skating along the rock, she stumbled and tripped. Now that the threat of the fire was behind her, her feet throbbed with agony. Her blisters were oozing, she had no doubt. Worst of all, that hateful, familiar pain stabbed her womb with foreboding.

"You're limping," he said, his voice overshadowing the blinding dark.

"My boots...they hurt."

"Take them off."

Gladly. She paused to lean her hip on the invisible wall and gathered up her skirts. She made short work of yanking her boots off, wincing and grunting.

He snatched the boots from her hands, followed by the sound of expensive leather bouncing off the walls somewhere in the dark behind her.

She followed the sound, gasping in outrage. "What are you-"

"You're welcome."

With her mouth in a frown, she peeled her stockings off, too.

Rath gave a soft growl that rushed along her skin, shooting the hairs on her flesh up in alarm.

She looked down at her feet as though they weren't invisible, swathed in blackness. She wiggled her sore toes, sticky with blood and ooze. "That bad, hmm?" she said, her lips quirking weakly.

His sigh gusted out, brushing the hair from her clammy temples. "Can you walk or must I carry you?"

Well, when you put it that way... "I can walk," she insisted, lifting her chin.

If only there was light enough to see his face, so she could stab him with a look. For all she knew, however, she was glaring at a point over his shoulder instead of meeting the flinty stare she could feel emanating from him like ember heat. How embarrassing. Her wide-eyed blindness put her at an awful disadvantage in this obliterating dark. Despite the heat of the cavern, she shivered.

"Come on then, Volf Oë." Rath made a dubious sound and tugged her forward an inch, testing her footing.

Wolf Eyes. The moniker warmed her cheeks. "Where to?"

"Fok knows. But it's this way...or the fire."

"Good point." The cavern floor was tricky, uneven, and sharp in places, but her feet were far better off like this than in those torturous boots. Still, she stumbled frequently and hobbled, gasping, each time her arch found a merciless blade of rock.

"Do you think there are...other creatures inhabiting this cave? Any monsters I ought to know about?"

"Likely."

Wonderful. "Care to elaborate?"

"No."

Her frown deepened, her mouth tight. Determined to say nothing more to him, she clenched her teeth. She sucked in a breath, grimacing as her womb cramped. And, finally, the dread scarlet curse rushed down her legs.

Horrified, she froze.

He halted and she could feel him staring down at her. The sound of him inhaling made her shrink back from him, but he held fast.

Rath's hand tightened around her arm. "Salix." There was a dangerous note in his voice that startled her. "Are you...bleeding?"

Her chin wobbled. Humiliated to the core, she nodded.

The silence stretched like a lengthening shadow. Finally, he spoke, his voice more animal than man. "If there is another monster here, your blood will draw him in."

A strangling note of panic slipped from her lips. "I'm...I'm sorry!" Her shoulders shook, her abdomen in the throes of vicious cramping.

He blew out a rough sigh, his clawed grasp softening. "Let's go," he murmured, setting a faster pace.

She stumbled along, trying to keep up. But after nearly tripping onto her face a second time, Rath caught her up behind the knees and swiftly hauled her into his arms.

Her whole body sagged in relief. "Thank you," she stammered, curling her poor aching feet.

He grunted, lengthening his strides.

By the sudden change in his pace and footing, Salix could tell that the cavern tunnel was sloping downward drastically.

He slowed, each step deliberate. "There's light up ahead," he said.

She looked about her, seeing nothing but more of the same vast blackness. "If you say so."

Another grunt.

"Let me know if you see a monster," she mumbled, resting her tired head on the muscled pelt of his broad shoulder.

"I am the monster in the dark, Salix."

She looked up, sucking in a breath. At last, she marked the faint light creeping into the tunnel. From whence, she didn't know. It was no more than a thin, feeble light that barely delineated his shape. Yet it lit his eyes like eerie gold mirrors. Proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that he was what he claimed to be.

The monster in the dark.

And now she was alone with him.