The Luna Queen's Rebirth (Ellie and Dominic) novel Chapter 487

Chapter 487

Ellie’s POV

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The deeper we went, the louder the water became, until I could practically feel it pounding against the walls. If we weren’t getting closer to the fountain of youth from the folklore, I knew we were getting close to something magnificent. An underground waterfall, perhaps. Or an entire hidden city.

But then the stairs finally ended, the passage opened up, and we found ourselves standing in front of a wall.

That was it.

Smooth gray stone stretched from the floor to the ceiling, spanning the entire width of the chamber. The wave carvings ran along both sides of the passage and stopped dead against it. There was no door. No riddle. Nothing.

Bastian walked up and laid his palm flat against the wall.

“There has to be a way through,” he said.

There wasn’t. Not one we could find, anyway.

We spent hours trying. Dominic set me down on my bedroll, and the guys went over every inch of that wall. They ran their hands along the seams where the wall met the chamber. They held the headlamps at every angle, the way the first riddle had taught us. Bastian pricked his own thumb this time and smeared blood across the center. I even had Dominic help me up so I could press myself against the stone and focus on my heartbeat the way I had at the first door.

The wall stayed cold under my cheek. Dead.

Eventually, Dominic checked his watch, looked at me, and made a decision.

“The trail’s run cold,” he said. “Maybe we should head back.”

Bastian didn’t turn around. “No.”

“Ellie needs medical attention. And we’ve still got a mountain between us and home-one that’s already tried to bury us twice.” Dominic gestured at the chamber around us. “We found the ruins. The door, the stairs, all of it. People will be studying this place for the next hundred years. It’s enough, Bastian.”

“It’s not.” Bastian crouched, flipping through his notebook one-handed. “You two are welcome to head home. I’m staying.”

Dominic stared at the back of his head. I felt the frustration come rolling through the bond before he even opened his mouth.

“You’re the one who brought us up here, and you’re going to make us go back down that mountain by ourselves? What kind of an Alpha does that make you?” he hissed.

Bastian’s pencil stopped.

I nodded.

Bastian was already turned back toward the wall.

We made camp in the corner of the chamber, as far from the drafty stairwell as we could get. Dinner was freeze dried meals cooked over a tiny gas stove. Dominic rewrapped my swollen hand, made me follow his finger again, and pronounced my pupils even. Bastian ate while he worked, and he only ate because I threatened to get up and force feed him myself if he didn’t.

I fell asleep to the sound of tapping. Tap. Tap. Tap. Over and over.

When I woke, the tapping had stopped.

I didn’t know what time it was. My ribs had woken me when I rolled onto my side, and now I laid blinking in the darkness. Dominic was dead asleep beside me, but Bastian’s bedroll remained where it had sat before in the corner, unused.

Across the room, in front of the wall, his headlamp was on the red light setting. I pushed myself up to my elbows and watched him for a moment before he realized I was awake.

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