The other Shifters crowding around didn’t pretend to mind their own business. They listened, interested.
“No c-connection?” Dimitri asked, rage in his eyes.
“Nope. So you have no call to tell me what to do.”
Dimitri drew himself up. “Jaycee Bordeaux, under the light of the Goddess and in front of witnesses, I claim you as mate.” His voice rang clear, his stammer gone.
“What?” Jaycee shrieked. “Are you out of your mind?”
“No.” Dimitri said. “You going to refuse?”
Jaycee opened her mouth, very likely to hotly say yes. Then she subsided. “No. I don’t know. I have to think.”
Dimitri’s eyes flared with triumph. “Mate-claimed. Stay out of the hole.”
“Don’t even start with me.” Jaycee grabbed the harness and began buckling herself in. “You’re not my mate yet, and you can’t override the alpha’s command until then.”
Addie twined her fingers together to keep herself from grabbing the gear from Jaycee and plummeting downward herself. She asked Dimitri, “Does she mean you can tell a Shifter leader to stuff himself if you think his orders might hurt your mate?”
“Yep,” Dimitri said. His smile beamed. “L-looking forward to it.”
“What if your mate is the Shifter leader?” Addie went on.
Jaycee snapped the last strap into place and lifted the supplies she’d carry down with her. “Then you’re screwed. Watch that rope real close, Dimitri.”
Dimitri growled, the wolf in him responding, but Jaycee didn’t wait for any more argument. She sat on the lip of the opening, swung her legs over, and disappeared inside.
Dimitri sweated while the ropes played out, holding the end even though it was secured by a big hook to an equally large metal loop driven into the ground.
He didn’t relax until Jaycee called back up, “I’m down,” and sent the gear to the surface again.
Addie shook as Dimitri helped strap her into the harness. She’d never done any rappelling before, or any even moderately dangerous sport for that matter. She took walks, went on occasional country hikes with the kids, and that was it.
“You sure this will hold me?” she asked Dimitri nervously as she slipped on the leather gloves he handed her.
“It held Tiger,” Dimitri said. “And he’s much bigger than you. You don’t have to go down,” he added.
“Yes, I do. Thanks, Dimitri.” Addie impulsively gave the man a hug. Dimitri responded gladly, squeezing her in a tight embrace. “I’ll tell Jaycee she’d be a fool to refuse you.”
Jaycee yelled up, “I can hear you! Don’t encourage him.”
Addie patted Dimitri’s shoulder, sat on the edge of the hole as she’d seen Jaycee do, braced herself, and gingerly slid into the shaft.
The ropes zipped through the buckles faster than Addie thought they would, and she yelped. She applied the brake as Dimitri had showed her, and yelped again as she dangled in mid-air.
Jaycee had brought a flashlight with her, knowing Addie couldn’t see in the dark like Shifters. Jaycee shone it around now, and Addie saw a wall with dirt brushed away from it, a hole in the wall, and empty space beyond.
She released the belaying device and let herself down a little more slowly, grateful for the gloves. When she reached the bottom, a tight space, Jaycee helped her unlock the ropes and step out of the harness.
Tiger waited for them at the opening. Without speaking, he turned and squeezed through. Addie went next, and Jaycee followed, holding the flashlight so it would light Addie’s way but not blind Tiger.
They moved through an almost round tunnel shored up with solid stone pressed together and mortared. Someone had made this long, long ago.