Heartless Villains (Ruthless Villains Book 3)

I drew in a deep breath as I broke the surface. Water sloshed around me as I swam over to the edge and climbed back up on the shallow part.

“The hole is open now,” I said. “Let’s go.”

Audrey’s gaze was already locked on mine. “Really?”

“Yes. So hurry up.”

She leaped up from the ground. Since we had been taking turns scouting out the underwater tunnel, she had been sitting there in only a pair of panties and a towel wrapped around her. After yanking that off, she pulled out the bundle wrapped in oilskin that held the rest of the items in her pack and then placed the towel inside before rolling it up once more.

“What’s up there?” she asked while I waded over to where my own pack waited.

The oilskin wrap had kept our clothes and gear dry during the storm earlier, but we’d see if it still worked when it was completely submerged in water.

I grabbed my pack and slung it over my shoulders before looking back at Audrey. “Nothing.”

She paused. “What?”

“It’s just a small empty cave with solid rock walls.”

“So we’ll just use it as a resting spot to breathe before we continue deeper into the tunnel,” she finished. Massaging her brows, she heaved an annoyed sigh. “Why couldn’t it just have led straight to that damn Enhancer?”

“Because that would’ve been too easy.”

“I know,” she snapped while throwing me a scowl. “Now, stop wasting time and let’s go.”

“You’re the one running her mouth.”

Anger flashed in her eyes. But in the end, she just ground her teeth and stalked into the water. I studied every curve of her body as she moved.

Even though I had seen her naked many times by now, the sight of her body like that still took my breath away. Blood rushed to my cock. She walked with her spine straight and her chin raised. It made memories flashed through my brain of when she had taken charge when we fucked while sharing that tent the other night. Hell, that had been so hot.

Shaking my head, I shoved the thoughts aside. This really wasn’t the time.

A splashing noise echoed against the stone walls as Audrey dove into the pool. I strode over to the edge and did the same.

The world around me was once again blurry and muffled as cool water enveloped me. I kept my eyes on Audrey where she swam before me while we made our way back to that hole in the tunnel’s ceiling.

Light from the glowing crystals played over her lithe body as she moved.

My heart did another double beat.

I knew that my feelings for Audrey were beyond dangerous, and that I should be doing everything in my power to ignore them. But every time she looked at me, and every time she opened that vicious mouth of hers, I fell headfirst back into those terribly risky emotions.

Once again, I was confronted by a fact that was impossible to deny.

I loved Audrey Sable.

And there really was no getting rid of those feelings. All I could do to protect myself was to keep making sure that she never found out about it.

Her long hair rippled like a smooth black wave when she swam upwards and into the now open hole in the ceiling. I followed her.

Water sloshed around us as we broke the surface side by side. Above our heads, more of those white crystals shone from the rounded ceiling and the walls that circled the pool. I sucked in a few deep breaths while treading water. Next to me, Audrey did the same.

Once we had refilled our lungs, we exchanged a long look.

“So,” I began. “Let’s see if we can find another one of these holes then.”

She nodded. “Follow me.”

Before I could answer, she dove under the surface and swam back down the hole. I shook my head at the stone walls around me before doing the same. She was starting to get a bit too bossy.

Only the faint sound of Audrey’s strokes broke the otherwise muffled silence under the water. I kicked my legs hard so that I could catch up to her. When I reached her, we swam side by side, watching the ceiling and walls around us for another space where we could breathe.

When I had found that this hole was open, my first instinct had been to keep going on my own. But two things had stopped me. One was that I didn’t want to leave Audrey alone back in that cavern in case something happened. I didn’t know what awaited us down the rest of this tunnel, and if we got separated, there might not be a way back to each other. The second reason was because I knew that Audrey would have followed me into the tunnel if I didn’t return within the agreed-upon time.

After her near drowning, we had decided that when one person went into the tunnel, the other person would be counting down the seconds in their head. Just in case something happened.

Another fresh wave of panic washed over me at just the thought of that moment. She had been gone for so long that I was already standing in the water by the edge, waiting for her. At first, relief had crackled through my veins when her body finally became visible at the tunnel mouth. But then she had started sinking down towards the bottom, and I thought my heart was going to smash through my ribs.

If I hadn’t been watching the mouth of the tunnel at that moment, she might have died. Pulling her limp body up from the water had been worse than anything I had experienced in I didn’t even know how long. And when I realized that she wasn’t breathing…

Cold dread spread through my body again at the mere thought of it.

When I was younger, I had learned from a water mage that you’re not supposed to press on the other person’s stomach to get the water out. You’re supposed to wake them up so that they can vomit it up themselves. So I had done the only thing I could think of. I had slapped her across the face.

The relief that had flashed through me when her eyes shot open and she threw up had been so intense that I was pretty sure that I had actually gasped out loud. But because she was busy vomiting, she had thankfully not heard it.

Fuck, I hated that I cared so much about her. I never used to care about anyone. And now I had both Henry and Audrey to worry about. It was tearing at my heart in a way I wasn’t at all used to.

Audrey slapped my arm.

I turned towards her and frowned, but then I saw where she was pointing.

There was another hole up ahead. From this angle, I couldn’t tell if it was open or not. But it had to be. Because if it wasn’t, we would have to turn back to the other one before we ran out of air.

A sudden spike of panic shot up my spine.

What if both this hole and the previous one were now closed?

Then we would drown.

My heart slammed against my ribs as we swam towards the hole before us. While I moved towards it, I tried desperately to remind myself that the dark mages who had gone in here with the Enhancer had also been able to make it out. And besides, they hadn’t meant for it to be impossible to reach. Just difficult enough that people would be dissuaded from going after it unnecessarily.

Relief flooded my chest when we at last reached the hole and found it open. Kicking my legs, I swam up towards the surface above with Audrey next to me.

Air rushed into my lungs as I sucked in a deep breath. Audrey did the same.

While treading water, I looked around the space we had ended up in.

It was another small cave. The ceiling above us was domed and the walls curved to complete a circle around the pool we were currently occupying. Between the walls and the water was a stretch of flat ground, also made of the same dark stone as the rest of this mountain. Yet again, the walls and the ceiling were covered in faintly glowing white crystals.

“Another dead end,” Audrey remarked.

“Yeah. Let’s keep going.”

“We—”

A deep rumbling sound came from below. We snapped our gazes down and stared towards the bottom of the hole. Through the clear water, I could just about make out a smooth slab of stone being pushed out from the side to cover the exit.

“Shit,” Audrey hissed.

“Calm down. The other one opened and closed too, which means that this one will open again at some point.”

She stared down into the water. “True. At least we got in here before it closed. Breathing would have been difficult otherwise.”

“Agreed.”

Looking up, she met my gaze again. Her hair flowed around her shoulders and rippled along the surface as she continued treading water. Tiny drops clung to her dark lashes, and one larger drop ran down her cheek and curved around her lips.

Pain stabbed into my heart. Damn, I wanted to draw my thumb over her mouth and wipe it off so badly.

“What?” she asked.

It startled me out of my ridiculous thoughts, and I scrambled for something else to say. “The other hole was closed for hours before it opened, so we don’t know how long this one will take.”

“True.”

Her glittering green eyes scanned the cavern before she met my gaze again. And I swore I could almost see a slight smirk on her lips when she spoke up once more.

“So, I guess we’re stuck in here until then.”