Chapter Eighteen Heimdall

M y hands shook as I lowered Loki into the pit once more, holding him as tightly as I could. I wasn't going to let him out of my grip until I knew he was safe. But, to my surprise, his feet hit stone before I barely leaned over the edge. His head was nearly level with mine as I laid on the cavern floor. No wonder I'd been able to reach him before.

"Oh… I thought it was a lot deeper than that," Loki said with a grin.

"It might be," I replied, a tone of warning in my voice. "So don't wander without knowing where you're going."

"I wish we had just a little bit of light… but I don't want to wait for morning."

As much as I didn't want him in that pit, I had to agree with him. I was hungry, weak, and running out of strength. If we were going to get out of this cave, we had to do it soon or resolve ourselves to a slow death within its walls.

Loki reached up, his fingers lacing through mine, pulling me from my thoughts.

"I'm gonna take a few steps," he said softly. "Hold onto me."

"I'll never let go," I replied.

There was a small huff of amusement, which confused me.

"There are so many movies we need to watch," he said, the smile in his voice plain to hear. "You just quoted Titanic, and you have no idea you did it."

"What's a Titanic?"

"You don't even know about the boat?"

"I know what a boat is."

"Oh my god. We'll talk about this later."

I was thoroughly confused, but I just held on as Loki moved toward. I could hear his feet scuffing along the floor, trying to make sure of his footing before he put his weight down. He moved until our arms were stretched out wide, straining against me as he searched.

"Oh," he said with a tone of surprise. "The other side is right here." He made a few more cautious movements to the left and right, still holding my hand. "It's… It's just a hole," he said at last. "I can feel all the edges. It doesn't lead to anything. But the floor is all loose gravel."

"It might be a sinkhole or something," I said, still holding him tight. "It could give way any second."

Loki started jumping up and down making my heart skip a beat.

"Nah. It seems solid enough."

"Will you please just get out of there?"

"Not yet. I have to find us a new rock." He stepped closer, following my arm until he was face to face with me. "But I'm gonna need my hand back."

I hesitated, my fingers flexing around his.

"I'm gonna be fine," he assured me. "I promise."

"What if you're not?"

His hand came to rest on my cheek, his lips pressing against mine with a soft touch. "You can't hold me like a bird in a cage, Hamball. I need you to trust me."

It took me a long moment to finally work up the courage to let him go. "I know," I said at last, my voice shaking. "I'm just… I'm scared."

"For being a big dumb jock type, you sure like to worry," Loki laughed, teasing me with another small kiss. "I would've never expected it."

"I might not be that smart," I replied. "But I know I care for you."

"Alright Forrest Gump," he grinned. "I care about you too."

"Is that another movie thing?"

"Uh-huh."

"I feel like you and I grew up on different planets."

"We basically did." He squeezed my cheek. "Let me get us a rock and once we're out of here, I promise I'll show you all the movies you could ever want to see. And you can show me how to… I don't know… fish or something."

"I do know how to do that."

"Perfect. It's a date."

Loki gave me one last kiss before he pulled away, leaving me with warmth still filling my belly. The thought of going on an actual date with him made me more giddy than I would have expected. Dates and relationships seemed like such childish things only three days ago. Back then I would've said all of it was a waste of time when the goal was to mate and procreate. But now things had changed so much I barely recognized myself. I was giddy and stupid and worried over a boy that I barely knew. If we'd know each other longer, I might have called it love. For now, I was happy with a pleasant infatuation brought on by our mate bond.

In the cave we could feel however we wanted to, the outside world and all its influences shut out and unreachable. But once we were free… well, that would be the real test. I wasn't sure if our shaking foundation could survive the challenges of our opposed packs at war. Still, I was willing to give it a shot. Even though we'd only just met, I knew I'd do anything within reason for Loki. And the more time that went on, the less I cared about the ‘within reason' part.

"I found one!" Loki called, his voice pushing my thoughts away as he grunted, and I heard the shifting of gravel. "Oh fuck… it's heavy ."

"Can you lift it?" I asked, a thought occurring to me. "Over the edge I mean?"

A heavy rock would mean a lot more power behind every strike. And now that Loki had made the hole so much bigger, the wall was even weaker than before. It might only take a few hits to bring it down.

"I… I'll try."

There was a symphony of grunts and odd noises as Loki worked. I could hear him dragging the rock through the gravel, trying to get it closer before he hefted it up over the edge. I made sure to get out of the way, not wanting to impede his progress. He paused for only a moment, taking a few deep breaths. Then, with a cry, he lifted the stone, and I heard the grinding as it appeared at the edge of the pit and slid onto the floor.

"Good job!" I called, reaching down and grabbing his outstretched hand. Without waiting for his help, I pulled him up and out of the hole easily, placing him back on solid ground. "I'll take it from here. You rest."

"That thing is fucking heavy," he panted. "Are you sure you don't want help?"

I placed a hand on his shoulder, giving him a confident smile. "I got this."

"Show off."

"Big dumb jock, remember? This is what I'm good at."

"Go wild," he huffed, hands on his knees as he continued to breathe. "Just don't hurt yourself."

I leaned down, my fingers searching for a good place to hold the stone. Once I found it, I hefted it up, muscles straining as I got it to eye level. Then, waddling like a duck under the weight, I carried it out into the freezing cold river and took a few steps back from the wall. Taking a few deep breaths, I cried out as I hurled the stone with all the strength I had, pushing it up and away from my body. A second later it collided with the wall, a deafening crack filling the air. I took a quick step back, not wanting it to somehow land on my toes. But when I looked up again, I realized I could see far more of the night sky than I had before.

My chest filled with pride and I smiled wider than I thought possible. It was working. The wall was crumbling. Already the hole was big enough to get my head and a single shoulder through. I stepped over to it, running my fingers over the surface. There were several large cracks heading in all directions. If I was right, it wouldn't take much more to punch through.

Before my renewed strength left me, I fished the stone out of the water and took a few steps back. This time I took one big breath before I threw the rock like a shotput, putting all my bodyweight behind it. There was another resounding crack followed by the crumbling of stone as it fell into the water. Dust filled the air as rocks fell all around me, both from the walls and ceiling. For a moment I began to panic, thinking I'd somehow managed to bring the entire cave down on top of us.

But just as quick as it began, it stopped. I coughed and sputtered, dust filling my eyes and nostrils.

"Loki?" I hacked. "Loki! Are you okay?"

"Yeah," he called back, coughing as well. "A couple little ones hit me, but I'm fine."

It wasn't until that moment I realized that the water around my ankles was suddenly flowing faster that it had before. I looked up, trying to blink and squint my way through the dust. I took a couple of steps forward, feeling all the gravel now filling the smooth stone bottom of the river. Reaching out, I placed my hand on the wall to steady myself. In the darkness I thought I could see tiny pinpricks of light. I wasn't sure if it was the dust sparkling in the moonlight or something else. But as it finally began to settle, I realized they were stars.

I was staring out at the night sky through a hole in the wall nearly twice my size.

Loki splashed through the water, placing his hand on my shoulder as he came up beside me. He coughed a few times, his eyelashes fluttering as he tried to wipe the dust away. Then his breath stilled with a gasp as he saw what I was seeing at last.

We were free.