They kept coming. Every evening, they rose from the water and waited for me, and every evening I could only give them stolen moments at the railing—a wave, a smile, a mouthed apology. It wasn't enough. It would never be enough.
But finally—finally—the opportunity came.
The storm had left the crew exhausted and irritable. Most of them had retreated to their bunks to sleep off the long night ofbattling wind and waves. Even Cort had disappeared below deck, his usual vigilance dulled by fatigue. Decker was nowhere to be seen. The ship was quiet, subdued, everyone too tired to pay attention to one small stowaway slipping away to the stern.
I moved through the ship like a ghost, my heart pounding so hard I could taste it in my throat. This was it. This was the moment I'd been waiting for, dreaming about, aching toward with every breath for three endless days.
They rose from the water as I reached the railing, four shapes breaking the surface in perfect synchronization. Water streamed from their hair and shoulders, catching the golden light like liquid fire. Kaelan in front, his dark eyes finding mine immediately, relief and hunger warring in their depths. Riven at his shoulder, massive and bronze and beautiful, a growl already building in his chest. Thane hanging back, his amber eyes bright with unshed tears of joy. And Vale?—
Vale, whose sharp smile curved his perfect lips as he opened his mouth and spoke.
"Little human," his voice was like music, no, like the memory of music, like the echo of a song heard in dreams. It was silver and silk and moonlight made audible, and it washed over me like a wave, leaving me breathless and trembling. "We've been waiting for you."
"Vale," I breathed his name like a prayer, my fingers white-knuckled on the railing. "Your voice—it's back. It's—" I couldn't find the words. Beautiful seemed too small. Perfect seemed insufficient. His voice was the kind of sound that made you understand why sailors in stories walked willingly into the sea.
"It returned at the second moonrise, as promised." Vale drifted closer to the ship, his silver hair floating around him like spun moonlight, his blue-green eyes bright with amusement and something deeper, something warmer. "I must admit, I wasimpatient. There were so many things I wanted to say to you, and I couldn't say any of them."
"You can say them now." The words came out before I could stop them, eager and breathless.
His sharp smile softened into something almost tender, something that made my heart stutter. "I intend to. But first—" He tilted his head, studying me with those shifting blue-green eyes, and something like wonder crossed his perfect features. "First, I find myself realizing something rather important."
"What?"
"We don't know your name." Thane's gentle voice carried the confession like it pained him, his amber eyes wide with sudden distress. He pressed his hand to the cream ribbon at his throat, fingers tightening on the fabric. "You know ours, we gave them to you, and hearing them on your lips was... it was everything. But we never asked for yours. We've been calling you 'little human' all this time, and we don't even know?—"
"What you're called," Riven finished, his rough voice thick with something that sounded almost like shame. His golden eyes burned with intensity, his massive hands clenching and unclenching at his sides. "What name belongs to you. We should have asked. We should have?—"
"Lily." The word tumbled out of me, interrupting his self-recrimination. I leaned further over the railing, my heart pounding for reasons that had nothing to do with fear. "My name is Lily."
Silence. All four of them had gone still again, that predator-stillness I was beginning to recognize, the way they froze when something important happened. Kaelan's dark eyes had widened almost imperceptibly. Riven's breath had caught audibly in his throat. Thane's lips were moving silently, shaping the syllables.
"Lily," Vale said my name like he was tasting it, savoring it, learning its shape and weight. His voice turned the simple word into something beautiful, something precious, something that belonged in poetry and songs.
"Lily," Riven's rough growl wrapped around my name, made it sound fierce and wanted and claimed. He pressed the pink ribbon to his lips, his golden eyes never leaving mine. "Our Lily."
"Lily," Thane breathed the name like a prayer, like a benediction, his amber eyes bright with tears. "That's beautiful. You're beautiful. Your name is perfect."
Kaelan said nothing. He just watched me with those dark, fathomless eyes, and his pale hand pressed against his chest where my blue ribbon was wrapped around his wrist. His lips moved silently, shaping my name over and over, like he was committing it to memory, like he would never stop saying it.
"Lily," he finally spoke it aloud, and his low voice made my name sound like a vow. "Our Lily." Something warm bloomed in my chest at hearing my name on their lips. Something that felt like belonging. Like home.
Vale glanced at Kaelan, a silent communication passing between them. "Now that we finally know what to call you—" His sharp smile returned, playful and warm. "There's something more important." Kaelan raised one pale hand from the water, and in it was a small bottle, blue glass that caught the fading sunlight, filled with liquid that seemed to glow faintly from within. The breathing potion. The impossible magic that would let me enter their world.
"Are you ready?" Kaelan's voice was low and steady, but I could hear the undercurrent of hope beneath it, the barely contained anticipation. His dark eyes held mine with that unwavering intensity that made me feel like the center of his entire universe. "To see what we want to show you? To swim with us?"
I looked at the bottle in his hand. Such a small thing, to hold such an enormous promise. Such a fragile container for something that could change everything. I thought about the ship behind me. The alphas who watched me with predatory interest. The betas who sneered and shoved. Cort's hand on my wrist, his promise that they would "come to an understanding. The scent blockers that were running out, the hiding that couldn't last much longer, the cage that was slowly closing around me.
Then I looked at them. Four creatures from impossible legend, watching me with eyes that held no cruelty, no calculation, no desire to own or control. Just want. Just hope. Just the desperate, overwhelming need to share their world with me.
"Yes." The word came out certain, absolute, ringing with conviction I didn't know I possessed. "I'm ready. Show me everything."
Riven's growl of satisfaction rumbled across the water like distant thunder, and I saw his claws extend slightly, digging into his own palms with barely restrained eagerness. Thane's face split into a smile so bright it rivaled the setting sun, his amber eyes glistening with what might have been tears. Vale laughed, actually laughed, the sound like wind chimes in a summer breeze and the joy in it made my chest ache. Kaelan just watched me with those dark, fathomless eyes, and something in his expression made me feel like I'd just given him a gift more precious than any pearl.
"Come down to us." His voice was soft but commanding, carrying across the water with the authority of a pack leader. He extended his free hand toward me, pale fingers reaching. "Jump. We'll catch you."
Jump. Leave the safety of the ship, the solid wood beneath my feet, everything I'd known for the past weeks. Jump into thearms of creatures who could kill me without effort, who could drag me down into the dark and never let me surface. I didn't hesitate. I climbed over the railing, feeling the worn wood press against my palms one last time, and then I let go.
The fall was brief, a heartbeat, maybe two, and then I hit the water. Cold rushed over me, through me, and for a moment there was nothing but the shock of it, the blue darkness closing around me like a fist. Then arms wrapped around me. Strong, pale arms that pulled me against a chest that was cool as ocean water and solid as stone. Kaelan. I knew it was him even before I opened my eyes, knew it from the way he held me, from the particular rhythm of the heartbeat I could feel thrumming against my back.
