Fighting Fate

Climbing and Confusion

"We're going in circles."

"No, we aren't."

"Considering I'm seeing that stick for the sixth time now. Id like to say, yes the fuck we are."

"Oh, well maybe that's the stick that's been shoved up your,"

"Boys!" I yelled.

Ben and Dante turned to me, they had been bickering for ages. My feet were aching and we weren't any closer to finding the stone cup. Rent stepped forward.

"Dante, if you don't know what you're doing my alpha is literally going to blow you up."

Dante turned to Rent, his fists clenched.

"What do you want from me Rent? It's not like there's a handbook on how to be a fucking Valderian. I have no idea what I'm doing."

The boys continued to bicker, Bonolo watched them, looking tired and I glanced about our surroundings.

A heavy stone ledge rose up to our left. The surface widened and narrowed unevenly, creating crumbly paths leading up into heavy caves.

I walked up to the ledge slowly as the others bickered behind me. Without really knowing what I was doing I began to climb. The stones were heavy set, but there were weak spots, and my stomach lurched every time I almost fell. I moved up a little higher and let out a light scream as the stone gave way and I slid down half a meter.

"Carrie!"

The group rushed to the bottom of the ledge.

"I'm fine!" I called, moving up a little more.

"What the hell are you doing?"

I shook my head and kept climbing.

"I have no idea, I just, have a feeling"

There was a scuffle beneath me.

"Dante!" Ben growled.

"Carrie has a feeling! Besides, it's not like we're doing anything productive."

I looked down and smiled as Dante began making his way up the ledge toward me.

"You're both insane!" Yelled Ben.
He was ignored.

Rent and his guards began climbing. Bonolo pulled out a long spear and used it to dig into the stone as she climbed. I heard Ben let out a low growl, and moments later he was a few feet behind me. Dante caught up quickly, making it to my side.

"Hey." He grinned.

"Why do you look like that?" I asked sceptically, climbing higher.

"Like what?"

"Like you're up to something."

Dante met my gaze and waggled his eyebrows purposefully.

"Maybe I am up to something."

I rolled my eyes. "Don't do that."

"What?" He asked, keeping my pace as we went up.

"The whole sexy eye smoulder thing. Its annoying, and, it puts Ben on edge."

Dante glanced at me, "You think I'm sexy?"

My stomach dropped, "No, I didn't say that!"

He laughed over me as we neared the top. "It's okay, lots of people think I am sexy. I am just a sexy person."

"Shut up Dante," I replied, keeping my eyes trained on the stone in front of me.

We reached the top before Dante could torment me any further. He pulled himself up faster then I could, and before I could stop him his arms dipped down, his hands sliding down my body.

A second later I was lifted to the top of the ledge and placed on my own two feet, inches from Dante's face. My breath hitched and Dante's eyes darkened, his hands moving up from the back of my thighs, along the outline of my hips to my waist. My body was burning, my veins sparking electricity as he moved even closer.

"Why does it put Ben on edge?" He whispered, his eyes searching mine.

"He, he thinks there's something more going on between the two of us."

Dante's eyes flicked to my lips. "Is there?"

My blood rushed about my body, and my breathing quickened. "N, no, no of course not."

He moved slightly closer, his lips barely moving as he spoke. "You sure about that?"

My mind raced, everything in me was on a high. It made absolutely no sense. Ben was my mate, my wolf had made that completely clear. No male, other then Ben should have an effect on me. But somehow this moment was heated, and heavy, and my wolf was dead silent.

"Dante," I paused, trying desperately to figure out what the hell was up with me.

What the fuck my body was doing? I searched his face, "what are you doing?"

He shook his head, "I know you feel it too Carrie. There is something,"

"So, Carrie, why are we up here?"

Dante and I jumped apart and Rent raised an eyebrow at us.

"I, I'm not sure, I just had a feeling."

Ben and Bonolo and the two guards pulled themselves up at the same time, and Rent turned back to me.

"You realize, we are meant to be looking for a stone cup, and it's just your lives at stake if we can't find it."

I nodded wearily. "Yeah, but Dante wasn't getting anywhere and you lot can't stop bickering. So, this is all I've got to go on."

Dante nodded, "I say we follow Carrie, I mean, we have nothing better to do, at least I get some Valderian tendencies or something."

Everyone was silent for a second, and I began wondering if I had made the right decision. But then, Rent turned to me.

"Well then, after you Carrie."