No, that would be the dirt and rocks.
“Can’t.” His voice was grim. “The fire would burn up the oxygen in here. You need it too much.”
Her heart seemed to stop at those words. “We’re trapped.” Not a question. She’d realized it could happen as soon as those jackasses with guns had started firing. But she hadn’t been able to leave Cain.
He didn’t respond, but then, he didn’t have to. His fingers brushed over her face. She turned in to his touch.
“You should have gone with them.”
“So Wyatt could slice me open?” At least she could talk easily now. “No, thanks.”
Cain’s hand left her. She missed his touch instantly in the dark.
“You’d rather die slowly here with me?” Anger hummed in his voice.
It felt like she couldn’t get in a full breath. Her imagination? Her fear? Or was there just no damn air in there? “I’d rather not die at all.” She reached out in the darkness and her hands clutched him. “But I wasn’t going to leave you trapped in this hole alone.”
Her hands were on his chest. His heart raced beneath her touch. “If I’d been alone,” he growled, “then I could have used the fire to blast my way out.”
“You still can. You know the fire doesn’t—”
“We could run out of oxygen before the fire gets us free. Or the whole f**king mountain could just fall on us. I’ll keep coming back, again and again, keep burning . . . but you won’t.”
Brutal words. Cold. The truth?
Eve pushed away from him. Surprisingly, there was enough room for her to rise to her feet. Her movements were slow, mincing, careful. Once she was at her full height, she stepped forward in an attempt to explore their small space.
Almost instantly, Cain’s hands wrapped around her shoulders and pulled her back against him. “You’re heading toward the cave-in.”
She turned and lifted her hands right out in front of her face. She waved them, and saw nothing. Dammit. “You can see perfectly, can’t you?”
“Yes.”
She touched the rocky wall that had been at the end of the tunnel. So heavy. “Someone put these here. . . .”
“Probably because they didn’t want those vamps ever getting loose.”
She didn’t want to think about the vampires. Or the memories they’d stirred up in her mind. One thing at a time. The only thing she was thinking about was survival. She touched the rocks.
Cain grabbed her hand. “Baby, why do you have a death wish?”
Eve tried to snatch her hand back. She couldn’t. He was too strong. “I don’t.”
“Then why did you stay with me?” In the darkness, his words were more snarls than anything else. So much anger. No, fury.
She had fury of her own. “Why are you so pissed off at me?” Eve demanded. “Because I didn’t want to get my body sliced open by that freak? Or because I’d rather die in the dark with you than—”
He whirled her around and pulled her against him. “You’re supposed to live.” He backed her up two steps. “We’re running out of air. No one is going to come for us. You were supposed to live!”
His eyes started to burn in the dark. Finally. She could see the fire blazing at her. The only light in the blackness.
Was there madness in that light? Maybe. But she had her own madness, too. “I wasn’t going to leave you alone.” Her words sounded calm. How was that even possible? She could see Cain walking that fine line between reason and fury. She had to keep him from crossing over, so she told him the truth. “I knew I’d be safe with you.”
His hands bit into her shoulders. “You’re going to be dead with me.”
“Then you’d better hurry and find a way to save us both”—she said the words with confidence—“before I run out of air.”
He jerked away from her so quickly that she stumbled and slipped to the ground.
“Eve—” His hands reached for her, but she shoved him back.
“Eve, I didn’t mean—”
She crawled on the ground. Rushed toward the rocks. Lifted her hand, not touching them, just feeling.
“I’ll get you out,” he swore. “I will. I’ll find a way.”
“You don’t have to.” Her hand moved to the left. “Cain, I-I found it! I can feel air . . .” The lightest breeze was blowing through the heavy rocks.
No wonder Genesis had walled up this end of the tunnel. The vamps had been close to freedom.