Scent : Animal Senses Series Book 2

Chapter 52

52

Ignoring the twinges as he strained his exhausted muscles, Gage pulled as hard as he could trying to cover the last few feet to the shelf's edge. He'd rest later. Recover after, he could assure himself, with his own eyes, that his mate was okay. With the grunts coming from Devin a few feet below him, it was obvious he was thinking the same thing.

Pulling his body up over the edge, he didn't even pause to catch his breath, just reached out and closed his arms around Kelsey's cold shaking body, pulling her in until she was pressed tight against him. Curling his body around hers, he pushed his face into her hair and inhaled her scent.

His cat calmed, assured that she was safe. Her arms were shaking, but she still wrapped them around his waist and squeezed. Inhaling again, he paused. "I smell blood." Leaning back, he gripped her shoulders and pushed her back, his eyes searching over her.

"I got a few scrapes climbing up here," she whispered with an unsteady voice.

"And our feet, "Rayne added, "don't forget about our poor feet."

"Let's get them down so we can go back to your place." Devin began moving toward the back of the ledge. "Where is that ring Blair was talking about?"

Kelsey pulled out of Gage's hold. "I'll show you."

Gage pulled the rope over his head and followed her.

"Blair used to make me use a guide line," she reached up and patted the large metal ring embedded in the layers of rock. "Until I knew what I was doing."

"I can't believe you got up here." Devin said quietly, looking at his mate.

Rayne looked at Kelsey and rolled her eyes, grinning. "You'd be surprised what we're capable of."

Securing the rope, Gage gave it a few hard tugs to make sure it wasn't going anywhere. "Let's get you down and then we'll talk about how you got free and came here."

Kelsey gave Rayne a look she couldn't identify and then nodded. "We'll have to space out our descent with only one rope."

Gage moved over to the ledge and dropped the rope.

"Got it." Cooper hollered up at them.

"After you." Rayne motioned to Kelsey.

Kelsey nodded and moved closer to the edge. "Just watch how I do this, Rayne." She smiled. "After everything else today, this will be a piece of cake."

Rayne nodded. "A piece of cake would be great right now."

Gage pulled the rope up so Kelsey could get in place.

She took a deep breath and slowly stepped over the edge to the small lip below it. Following her, Gage grabbed a handhold and leaned around her.

"Make sure the end of the rope falls between your legs," she said to Rayne. "Then you won't climb right out of it." Leaning back carefully, she checked the position. "Go slow." She warned, "Without a guide clip and gloves, it's going to be hard to control your speed.

"Can't be any worse than running around without shoes all day," Rayne said in a flat tone.

Gage gave Kelsey the space to start down and then free climbed until he was level with her legs. If she slipped, he wasn't taking any chances.

The descent was slow, he had to clamp down on his impatience and let her go at a pace she was comfortable with. "You're doing great, honey. A few more minutes and you'll be on the ground."

"Okay," she answered him, distracted.

Glancing over his shoulder, he gauged how far they were from the ground. Still too far to jump. Under his skin, his cat was prowling, waiting, trying to hold out long enough to make sure his mate was as fine as she said. Gage knew it was going to take restraint, like he'd never used before, to keep his animal side in check. After thinking he'd lost her, his animal wanted nothing more than to claim and mark her as his.