“Kenzie!” A voice shouts my name, and I lift my head off the ground, holding my hand to my forehead where it throbs. I lift it away, feeling blood on my hand and everything is a little blurry. The room is pitch black except for little rays of light coming from dots in the ceiling where I fell, so I can’t see much, but I remember someone shouting for me. At least I hope that was someone shouting to me.

“Hello! Anyone here?” I shout, coughing and forcing myself to sit up. Everything hurts, and I can’t heal myself. I hate being this helpless. Blinking rapidly as blood drips into my right eye, I try to wipe it away, only to feel dirt from my hands sticking to the blood on my face. Ugh.

“Kenzie?!” I hear Locke shout from my right. Relief spreads through me, and I breathe out the long, nervous breath I was holding.

“I’m here, but I can’t see anything!” I shout back. A small light comes into view, and then I can see Locke walking towards me, holding a make-shift flaming torch. It’s really more of a stick with fire balancing on the end. Something that would spread easily if it wasn’t for his fire mark. What I would give to have my fire mark in the darkness here. He rushes over when he sees me, falling to his knees, and putting the fire down next to us. It lights up the room, which is actually a tiny cavern and covered in bits of dirt and rocks.

“Shit,” is all he says, placing his hand on my cheek, and I feel it start to warm up. I sigh as he heals me, the pain disappearing slowly from my body, and I sink my head into his hand.

“Is anyone else down here?” I ask, lifting my hand, and pushing some of the dirt out of his hair. He looks as bad as I do, but he doesn’t seem to care. He only seems focused on me.

“I don’t know. I saw you fall, and I ran and jumped in after you. This place is a maze though. Tunnel after tunnel that go around in circles by the looks of it,” he tells me, and takes his hand away.

“Thank you for jumping in after me,” I whisper, loving how sweet that was. He didn’t think of his own life, he just jumped. I can’t say I wouldn’t do the same thing for him, because I would.

“I’d follow you anywhere, Kenz,” he says, leaning closer and gently kissing me before pulling away, and standing up.

“I found a room, it’s clean and has running water. We should camp there for the night, and hopefully, the others figure something out by morning. If nothing else, we should have some more natural light during the day,” he says as he picks up the torch, and then leans back down for something else.

“This is yours,” he offers me the silver tube, and I glare at it.

“I heard a weird voice when I was leaning against the stone holding that thing. I’m sure that tube is haunted or something,” I say stubbornly, not wanting to take it. “I don’t like ghosts.”

“This might be part of the journey we need to make. You should still keep it,” he responds, appearing serious and thoughtful. I’m not used to that from Locke, so I do as he asks. I put the tube into my pocket and take Locke’s hand. We walk out from the small room we are in, and down a tunnel leading out from it. Locke leads me to the right, and we eventually come to a cosy room. It has a fire lit in the middle, a small bit of running water dripping down the one side of the wall. I can’t see where the water is going or where it’s coming from, but I’m grateful for it. I run over to it, washing my face and drinking some.

“Here,” Locke comes over after putting the torch into the fire, and he has a small rag in his hands. He puts the rag in the water, and then presses it to my face. I let him slowly clean me, watching his eyes as he does.

“I love you Locke,” I say, my voice echoing around the room. He pauses with the cloth on my cheek, and leans closer, lifting my chin with his finger.

“And I love you,” he tells me, brushing his lips against mine in the most teasing way possible. He quickly pulls away when we hear the sound of footsteps heading in our direction.

“You hear that?” he asks, and doesn’t wait for my reply, as he stands in front of me, ready to defend me as a familiar face walks into the room.

“East!” I exclaim, stepping around Locke and wrapping my arms around him.

“Shit, I was fucking worried,” East admits. I kiss his cheek, looking behind him, but I don’t see anyone else. “I came alone. When I heard Locke shout for you, I ran back and jumped straight in the hole. I don’t know where Daniels, Logan and Enzo are,” he answers my unasked question.

“They will find a safe way down,” Locke says.

“That’s not the problem. When I fell, I got caught on a branch and had a chance to look around. There are over ten different holes you can fall into, and all lead in different directions. If they came down after us, it may take them a while to find us,” East explains, and I bite my lip. Crap, we could be lost down here for days, or even weeks.

“Don’t panic, we will figure something out,” Locke says and goes to sit in front of the fire. East pats my arm as he walks past, pulling his bag off and sitting next to Locke. I walk around the room, seeing nothing but the dirt walls and rocks on the floor. There really isn’t much in here.

“Kenz, come here,” Locke shouts from the other side of the room. I walk over, following his and East’s gaze to look up at the ceiling near the water. There is a scratching noise, maybe sounding a little like something digging.

“Ariziadia must have its own wildlife. It could be a mole or something,” I say, just as something breaks through the ceiling and falls to the floor. I look down at the black and white badger. It’s cute as it shakes its head, then shimmers as it shifts back into Enzo.

“You’re a badger,” I gasp, covering my mouth with my hand.

“Good to see you too, Crowe. I’ve been digging and crawling for the last two damn hours, and I don’t even get a hello?” he says grouchily, and I run straight into his arms. He catches me easily as I practically leap at him.

“I like badgers. They’re cute,” I say into his chest.

“Not another word, Crowe,” he mutters.

“But maybe one day you can shift, and I can have a cuddle? That would be so cute,” I say, chuckling as he kisses me. I suspect mostly just to shut me up.

“Don’t push your luck,” he replies quietly before pulling away and addressing East and Locke. “You haven’t seen Logan or Daniels, have you? They jumped when I did, but this stupid place is a maze.”

“I was just explaining that to Kenz and Locke,” East answers.

“We don’t know where they are,” I say unhappily. I don’t want us to be split up again while we’re here. In this unfamiliar world, having my guys close is my only comfort. Plus, there’s safety in numbers.

“I suppose I can dig through the walls of the tunnels and look for them?” Enzo offers, but I can tell he’s exhausted.

“It can wait till you’ve had some rest,” I begin, but he shakes his head.

“Will you get any sleep until you know they’re safe?” he asks, and I consider lying, but I don’t want to do that. Not to him. Not to any of them.

“Probably not,” I admit begrudgingly. I feel terrible as I see the decision made on his face. “I’ll go search for them. Those two can take care of you while I’m looking,” he says.

“I don’t need a babysitter,” I mutter, not pleased.

“They’re not fucking babysitters, Crowe. They’re people who care about you, and right now, you’re in a dangerous place and can’t protect yourself. If someone you cared about was in danger, would you protect them?” he asks me, sounding even more drained. Instead of answering, I kiss him thoroughly and wrap my arms around him tightly. I can feel East and Locke’s eyes on us, just as surely as I can feel Enzo’s hands slide down my back to squeeze my ass. I chastise him with a quick nip to his earlobe once I pull away from his lips.

“If you get too tired, come back. Don’t push yourself too far, and please stay safe,” I instruct him seriously, and when he frowns, I use my finger to lift one side, then the other up. “Promise?” I ask.

“Promise. So long as you promise not to go anywhere without at least one of those two,” he demands in return.

“I promise,” I agree, stealing another kiss from him before he can leave. He steps back from me, and then shifts back into his cute badger, before darting back through the hole he came in.

“I never thought a badger would come in handy,” East says, bringing my attention back to him and Locke.

“Who cares about practical, he’s adorable,” I reply with a smile.

“And my hawk isn’t?”

“I think a hawk is meant to be more…majestic, is it?” Locke asks, but there’s a sarcastic tone to his voice. East clearly doesn’t notice it.

“Majestic tops cute, right?” he asks me, and I roll my eyes. It’s a good thing I love all my competitive guys. Whether they’re majestic or cute.