Vivian Arend - Black Gold

“I did brush it out with a stick earlier,” Shaun boasted.

Her hero.

Gem dropped to her elbows and crawled forward an inch at a time, following the fresh air coming from in front of her. Crawling was slow going, the duct squeezed tighter in places where there must have been outside damage to the casing.

Oh God, she’d better not get stuck. She wasn’t claustrophobic, but it would be almost impossible to get out without help.

“You still moving?” Shaun called, his voice echoing strangely in the tight metal quarters.

She yipped confirmation. Crawled another couple inches. Sneezed.

“Bless you.”

She really shouldn’t laugh—it was tough enough already to breathe in the dark with four sides closing in around her. But common everyday politenesses like a gesundheit?

She must be getting giddy. Or steps away from hysterical.

The panel on her right wiggled, and her hopes leapt. She leaned to the side harder, and a gust of fresh air hit her in the face. She howled, and from a distance Shaun’s voice rumbled back with delight.

“You there?”

Not yet, but close. She snuck forward a little more, pushed hard with her nose, and with a crash, the flap beside her fell away and she rolled free.

She shifted and clapped her hands in delight. “I’m out. I did it. Shaun, I did it!”

Even as he crowed back at her, praising her loudly, Gem examined the new room she’d discovered. There was no door on the outside wall, but the window let in a ton of light—more of the storm shutter was broken away in this section.

“Can you see a way to outside?” Shaun asked.

“Maybe. Give me a minute.”

She picked a careful path over the dirt-strewn floor, cold rocks and stray bits of garbage poking into her less-than-wolf-proof arches. But what she discovered more than made up for the aches and pains.

“There’s a fresh breeze blowing in. The window is broken, Shaun, and I’m sure I’ll be able to get out.”

“Awesome. Take your time. Don’t rush. Use whatever you need that helps.”

Gem stopped. While she wanted to race forward and try the shutters, there was too much broken glass to go anywhere fast. She needed some thing to step on, or a broom. There was a desk in the corner, with a chair leaning against the frame. From the dust on the floor showing her steps, the kidnappers had never even entered this section of the building. Boxes of electronic equipment lay piled in heaps beside one wall, along with a discarded lab coat and rubber boots.

Saks Fifth Avenue, it wasn’t, but as if she was going to complain.

As she slipped on the coat, one of the objects piled in the chaos caught her eye. “Shaun, can you hear me?”

“What’s up? You find a way out?”

“Haven’t checked closer yet,” she confessed. “I was putting on some clothes I found. I think there’s something in here you need to see.”

“Cryptic.”

She laughed as she tipped the boots over and crashed them together to remove any spiders or little critters making their home inside. Peering in didn’t help, so she gathered her courage and slipped a hand in. Slowly. Very slowly.

When all she hit was sole, the sense of relief was powerful.

Of course, she wasn’t as lucky in the second boot.

Her scream died away in time for guilt to descend as she heard Shaun’s frantic yells.

“Gem. What the fuck is wrong?”

“It’s okay. I’m okay.” Her skin crawled as she pulled out a dead mouse from where it had been jammed into the toe of the boot. “I was having a girly moment. Sorry for scaring you.”

The banging died down, and even through the walls his sigh was audible. “Princess moment, eh? Is something dead?”

Poop . “You know me too well.”

“Not nearly as well as I plan to. So what’s the thing I need to see? And I’m not trying to rush you, but I’m getting hoarse from yelling. Is outside a possibility?”

“Nag, nag, nag.” Gem grabbed the curly cord she’d spotted poking from the box and gave a light tug. A microphone pulled free, followed by the corner of a boxlike object. She shoved aside the rest of the pile and rescued her find.

With her treasure under her arm, she made her way to the window.

“Good news, I can do this. Give me two more minutes.”

Shaun chuckled. “It’s not like I’m going anywhere…”

Gem wiggled boxes closer, making a platform under the window. As she hauled one away from the wall, she spotted a fire extinguisher and fire axe, nabbing the latter happily. “Okay, I’m making some noise. Don’t worry, it’s demolition time.”

“Have fun!”

There was something freeing about swinging the axe, forcing the few remaining struts on the one side to bend enough she could reach the outer layer. After spreading what was left of a rotting blanket over the glass shards, she shoved the far-left section of the storm shutters away, the loud screech of metal on metal ringing through the room.

The bright morning sunshine matched her mood as she dropped both her discovery and the axe to the outside ground, crawled up on the window ledge, and wiggled her way out.

Intense satisfaction sparkled like tiny bubbles inside. She didn’t want to shout, she was too full of pride and happiness. Instead, she grabbed her supplies and walked cautiously around the perimeter of the building. On the off-chance there was someone hiding in the area, she wasn’t going to walk into another trap.

Nothing but fresh air, the gentle noises of the tundra, and after her second corner, the front door with a deadbolt lock hanging from it.

She emptied her hands and knocked.

Shaun’s soft response came from just on the other side of the door. “I knew you’d do it.”

That he was already there, waiting for her, was huge. The impulse to burst out with a confession of love was so strong—but she still wanted to wait. “Thank you. Now, I need to get you out. Let me try this. Careful, it could get noisy.”

She swung at the lock, the first couple blows going off-angle and accomplishing not much more than making her ears ring. Then she turned the axe around, using the blunt backside of the head, and the metal twisted.

“It’s working, Shaun.”

“Woohoo, break me outta here, love.”

Another half-dozen blows were all it took. The lock fell into two pieces with a satisfying crash. She opened the bolt and drew it back. The door swung open, and she found herself lifted high into the air, spun in circles as Shaun squeezed her tight.

Then his lips were on hers and they were kissing. Mouths locked together, tongues tangling. She clutched his broad shoulders and smiled against him.

They drew apart, both grinning like fools.

“Well, so much for being trapped.” Shaun examined her carefully, his fingers skimming over her. “You okay? Nothing happen when you screamed? No cuts, no…”

“I’m fine. But thank you for asking.”

She cuddled to his side as he twisted to take in their surroundings. “Well, at least I don’t have to worry about getting shot or beat on again. Man, they did abandon us.”

“Probably figured I’d be trapped and why bother to stick around.” Indignation rose. “I wish I could give them a piece of my mind. If they’d been wolves…”

Shaun hugged her again. “I’m pretty sure that’s why they were bears. You and I together can do a lot of damage to another pair of wolves, just by how strong we are. But all the hierarchy power in the world doesn’t work against different breeds of shifter.”

Under her ear, his heart pulsed with steady beat. “I’m ready to go home.”

He lifted her chin, smiling even as he shared the bad news. “Sorry, but that’s going to take a bit of work. The markings on the station give me a rough idea of where we are. I know from my days plotting trips up to Old Crow we’ve got a ways to hoof it. Still, in wolf we can do it. You okay with that?”