“We’ll go under once more, and then we’re heading for shore,” Jack told him.
“But—”
“No buts. I’m going to make sure nothing happens to you, and if we stay out here, youwilldie. Your mother won’t die. Drowning can’t kill a vampire, but when she gets out of this, she’ll kill me if something happens to you. We’ll go under once more, and then we’re done.”
“She won’t die.” Dylan repeated the words a few more times as if he were trying to convince himself of them.
Before Jack went under again, he spotted Mike coming toward them on a cresting wave. “I think she’s near the cliffs!” Jack yelled at him.
Mike dove beneath the water
“Go back under,” Dylan ordered again.
“Hold your breath,” Jack said.
Dylan took a deep breath and gave Jack a small nod before he plunged under the water. A wave crashed over them, threatening to roll them, but he managed to keep himself upright as the tide pushed them closer to the cliffs. With the sun down, the water was murkier, but he made out the shapes of rocks as fish darted by him.
Then he spotted something floating near the rocks, but he couldn’t make out what it was. If it wasn’t Charlie, he would be going too close to the boulders with Dylan and risking his life for nothing. He hovered in the water, uncertain what to do, and then Dylan pointed a finger toward the rocks.
Trying to drag herself to the surface, Charlie clawed uselessly at the water as her hallucinations ebbed away and she was once again free to absorb the agony of her repeated drowning. She was beginning to make out the rocks around her when something sliced through the water toward her.
Uncertain of what it was, she instinctively recoiled before recognizing it as a hand. Was she hallucinating again?
The hand clasped the collar of her shirt and yanked her forward. Charlie’s fingers encircled the wrist; it was solid beneath her palm, but she couldn’t bring herself to believe it was real as water rushed past her and she was hauled toward the surface.
Chilly air slapped her in the face. She convulsed as she tried to draw oxygen into her lungs, but the water already filling them was acting like a cork that blocked anything from entering. Her fingers clawed at her chest as it constricted so tightly it felt like a giant was squeezing her ribs together.
Then the cork popped as her lungs came back to life, and she retched out water so forcefully it felt like her stomach was going to come up with it.
More water slapped her in the face; she choked and gagged as it surged up her nose.
“Charlie!” Jack shouted as he pulled her close with one hand while clinging to Dylan with the other. Ignoring the burn in his legs, he drew on the strength Charlie’s blood gave him as he propelled them away from the cliffs. “Charlie!”
She couldn’t stop the spasm of coughs choking her, so she could respond. Between the water splashing her face and her coughing, she couldn’t open her eyes to look at Jack.
“Dylan?” she croaked, but she wasn’t sure the word made it passed her lips, never mind it being loud enough to carry over the crashing waves.
The hand holding her shirt let go, and Jack snaked his arm around her waist to drag her against his hip. Charlie tried to grasp him, but her numb fingers flopped uselessly around.
“Mom?”
Dylan’s whisper caused her eyes to fly open, and she blinked against the wave that slapped her in the face.No,she inwardly moaned when her vision cleared enough for her to see Dylan on the other side of Jack.
“Get him out of here!”
She’d yet to use the telepathic bond between mates Jack told her about, but she felt the thought blast out of her mind and enter his.
“I’m getting you both out of here,”Jack replied as he kicked against the waves.“You’re my family.”
Charlie’s heart broke as she gazed at Dylan’s blue lips, pale face, and sunken eyes. He looked half frozen even with the burns marring his cheeks and nose. Jack had to get Dylan out of this water soon!
She tried again to get her fingers to work, but they didn’t twitch as she gazed at them. Charlie kicked her feet, or she hoped she did; she had to believe she was helping Jack in some way. She couldn’t see the shore as the tumultuous sea surrounded them.
A wave broke, and Charlie spotted Mike as he swam up beside her. “I’ll take one of them!” Mike shouted.
Mike treaded water as he reached for her. Through their bond, Charlie felt Jack’s jealousy over the idea of letting her go. A blast of possessiveness hit her as Jack’s fingers dug into her flesh, his eyes reddened, and he bared his fangs at Mike.
Mike lowered his hands and floated a little bit away from them. Charlie held her breath as she waited to see what Jack would do. He could get them both to shore if he were determined to do it, but it would be a lot faster if he handed one of them over, and she didn’t want it to be Dylan.
