He shrugged, running his hand through his wet, dark hair.
“What you’re doing here… as much as it scares me shitless… Well, I think it’s worth something. You worked hard for this day, Finn. You deserve to be recognized for everything you’ve done to get here. When you conquer this beach, you deserve credit. Just… promise me you’re going to show these people that you’re the stuff legends are made of and survive this.”
I swallowed, my throat suddenly feeling tight.
“Iamgoing to survive this,” I vowed, my voice coming out raspy.
Makoa met my gaze head-on, and he smiled, nodding.
“Yeah. You fuckingare.Now, get out there and shred one of these beasts to pieces. Prove to everyone that you’re Finn Summers, the Leviathan Tamer.”
I glanced over at Riddick and found him watching me with a determined look on his face. He gave me one slow nod.
“He’s right, shark bait. If anyone can do this, it’s you.”
My eyes welled with tears, and for a moment, I wished I was alone with him so I could kiss him before I paddled out.
I cleared my throat and directed my question at Jet, but made sure Jake would know I was talking to him.
“You’re gonna be watching?”
I didn’t even hear Makoa’s response as Jake reached out and brushed his fingers across my chin, his thumb grazing my bottom lip tenderly.
“I’m always watching you, baby,” he murmured, and I nodded before setting my sights on the horizon and paddling out to face the monsters that had killed the man I loved.
Alexa Play: Numb by Holly McNarland
The tension and pull of the water beneath my board were reminiscent of a great-scaled beast coiling itself in preparation for battle.
The energy of the building wave was humming through the air and sparking across my skin. I couldfeelthe call of the water as it gathered in a great, rushing siphon of devastation.
Allowing myself to be pulled into the frothing mouth of the watery demon, I shuddered with anticipation.
It washungry.
It neededmore. More salt, more energy, morelivesto sustain it as it grew and grew at an impossible rate.
A flicker of something other than excitement ignited in my chest as I turned my board, relying on muscle memory to position me in such away that I knew the water would pick me up and take me for the ride of my life.
As I rose with the swell, I examined the strange feeling, curious as to what emotion this monster had stirred up in me.
Was it fear? Was this what fear felt like?
No.
It was anger.
I was startled, shocked at the strangeness of feeling angry with the ocean.
My muscles bunched instinctively as the surface pulled away from me at an alarming rate.
I was bracing myself against my board, and before I knew it, my feet were planted, and I was upright.
Adrenaline and rage roared through me with as much power as the enormous wall of water that continued to grow at my back.
I was suddenly so high up that Jake and Makoa were mere dots beneath me. It was like time stopped for a long, pregnant moment, and everything froze.
The wave hesitated as I addressed it.
