“I know you don’t want to talk about this, but we do. Trust me. It’s not exactly a thrill to be going on another quest. But here we are. We’ve been chosen,” I said.

“Nope.” Ryan arrogantly shook his head and held the steering wheel tightly. Sweat was forming on his forehead. His muscles were tense and swollen. “You see. That’s where you’re wrong. I wasn’t chosen. I just…”

His voice trailed off, and he began anxiously tapping his palm against the wheel. The realization had set in. We were chosen to find Gorbins. I couldn’t believe it myself.

“Alright,” he whispered. “Maybe you’re right. But then what? What happens at the end of all this?”

I placed my hand on his inner thigh. I ran my palm up and down, softly feeling his erection between my fingertips. “This quest proves that we’re fated mates. It confirms it, Ryan. Don’t you see?”

Ryan looked over at me, cautiously. His handsome, five o’clock shadow curled into an incredible smile. “You’re right,” he said. “But that’s just the icing on the incredibly bitter cake.”

“I don’t get the analogy.” I laughed, despite knowing how messy this journey could become. I had already been involved in one dangerous adventure before. I didn’t expect to go on another one.

“I wanted you. That was easy for me to figure out. One look at you, and I knew I needed you. It was your aura,” he said. “But Gorbins? Some ancient bronze codex? Hell no. I did not sign up for that crap. So, yeah. This is some bitter cake that I have to eat, but at least I have some delicious icing I can enjoy during it.”

His hard-on was thickening underneath his jeans. “You’ll have me after, too. Think about it, big bear. You can have all the icing you can handle..”

He smirked. “Big bear. I like that nickname. I wish I could pull over here and fuck your brains out,” he said.

I leaned over and kissed his thick, pink lips. “Soon. Your chief seemed totally freaked out. We should probably wait to get frisky before we check on your station.”

He groaned loudly, but he knew I was right. We could now make out something odd in the distance. Over the fire station was a group of twenty or so hawks. They were flying in a perfect circle.

“Oh, man. More crazy shit? Why me?” Ryan muttered.

“Because you’re so damn cute, that’s why,” I whispered.

Ryan slowed the car down, as we reached the large garage of the station. The wind was much stronger than I expected and everything was swaying with intensity. The chief ran over to the car, shouting. “Goddess, look at that! Can you believe it?”

“I don’t know what it is!” Ryan said.

We joined the chief outside. The wind whipped against my face. “The hawks started doing this an hour ago. First, it was just one ‘them flying around here. Then, a second hawk joined in. Now, I reckon there’s about thirty. I don’t have the slightest clue what’s going on.”

“I’m going to find out,” Ryan muttered.

In his hand was the bronze codex. It started to turn, just like clockwork. A loud click resounded. The center of the codex opened. A purple light beamed into the center of the sky. The hawks cawed loudly.

“Alpha, can you go into the trunk real quick? I have a set of emergency bags. I think we’re going to need them,” he said.

Holger, a slightly plump bear shifter in his mid-thirties, stood still. His jaw nearly dropped to the floor when he registered what he was seeing. “What in the heavens is that?” Holger asked.

“I don’t know. But I have a feeling it’s going to tell me what to do,” Ryan said.

All I could do was stare. At the moment, I was powerless. I knew what was going to happen. We were going to leave this place. We were going to find that froggy jerk, Gorbins. But all I wanted to do was be with my mate.

There was no time to think. In the sky, massive geometric shapes formed. They slid into one single star with infinite points. Above it, a solid dot appeared. “Hold on,” I told them.

Holger fell off balance. “Hold on? What do you mean hold on? Where are we going?”

The sky opened up. The hawks had turned and circled upward. A sizeable rocky set of stairs fell from the heavens, down to the earth. Ryan looked at me with incredibly worried eyes. I nodded at him.

“We can do this,” I said.

Holger’s eyes widened. “Do what?”

“Save the fucking planet,” Ryan said, in a entirely badass way. I smiled, feeling proud of my omega. This scenario was not my idea of a perfect date, but it was something to remember.

Ryan heard the calling and decided to lead the way. With one step forward, we headed straight into the unknown.

We shielded our eyes against the bright light that lay at the top. A strange crinkling noise formed around us. The light turned to darkness. All was not right, but we had no choice but to give into the experience.

When I could see again, a dark valley enclosed us. Ahead of us was a desolate landscape. Two monolithic statues stood on both sides of the enclosure. They were ancient stone men, wielding large axes. I felt a jolt of awe push me forward.

Holger had started to run backward, but there was no exit to this place. The hawks flew away. The stairway closed. It was up to us to continue forward now. With a terrifying glare, he said, “Why didn’t you tell me this was where we were going?”

“We didn’t know,” I told him.

Ryan took my hand and squeezed. “I know what this place is,” he said, confidently. “We’re in Dwarves Canyon.”

“No flippin’ way.” Holger practically screamed. “Dwarves Canyon isn’t real. None of that ancient crap is real. It’s all made up heebie-jeebie voodoo!

Ryan laughed and patted him on the back. “Chief, it’s real. We’re here. There’s no turning back now,” he said.

I was somewhat surprised by his willfulness and courage. Right now, I understood Holger’s reservations. This was some scary shit. Ryan smiled and began walking forward.

“Yeah. This place is from the ancient texts. I read all of them growing up. I knew this place was real,” Ryan said.

I walked beside my omega, watching with admiration. He was already starting to figure it out. “It was abandoned. At least, that’s what the elders liked to tell us.”

“Yeah. They told us that. But the elders like to tell us lies,” Ryan said.

“Too true. Take the fires, for instance. They could have warned us about that. The fires were in the texts, but the elders chose to let their ignorance guide them,” I said.

Meanwhile, Holger was struggling to keep up. As he walked with a quickened pace, his pants were inching down his waist. He wasn’t having a great time here, and I figured he was going to become our burden to bear.

“If I remember the maps, the entrance is right around the left toe of this statue,” Ryan said.

Unable to comprehend how he knew all of this, I merely asked him how he could guess. He responded saying, “I hated high school. My parents had gotten really bad by then. They were drinking all of the time, and gambling away our savings with various ‘investments’ and get-rich-quick schemes. My only outlet was art class. Every year, I took the same class. As I read the texts, I copied the maps. I knew every single corridor. I was meant to come here.”

Just like he said, there was a significant door in the center of the big toe. It was incredible. “Now. Stand back and watch this,” he said.

He shifted into his great, big bear form. He roared with all his might, pounding against the concrete toe. I couldn’t help but wonder if the statues might topple over. The vibrations were incredibly loud.

The front of the statue chipped away until a hidden descending staircase could be seen. Before we entered, Ryan said a silent prayer. “May the goddess forge her path in stone.”

Holger tried to catch his breath. “There has to be a way back. I can’t do this, Ryan. I’m an old man.”

Ryan sighed. “You’re 36, chief. Come on. I know our town has been relatively safe for a while now. But sometimes, you have to help people. A friend is in danger. We need to find him.”

Our friend, Gorbins. I still felt a little pissed when I thought about him. He put me through hell and back. Now, I was stuck in some other ancient city. We were headed deep below the earth’s surface.

Gorbins was my source of chaos. He was also the glue that held me together. Somehow, none of this felt right. I remembered some of those ancient texts. I forgot the best part: those who ventured down the shafts of the dwarves often died.

“We have to be careful,” I said. “I think we should make camp here, before heading down. What does everyone else think?”

Holger was vehemently on board with that idea. “Yes! We can camp here tonight. Tomorrow we’ll wake up in the comfort of our own homes.”

I didn’t have the heart to tell Holger that we wouldn’t be coming back anytime soon. We had a long and complicated journey ahead of us. In the end, it could be more perilous than we hoped.