Page 35 of The Quiet Witness

One last shot. She stepped back, inching toward the lights waiting behind her.

“Kate!” It was the only other sound she heard, alongside the last crack.

The hole beneath her opened and pulled her in.

Chapter 15

Life or Death

Burning. Everything was burning.

Her heart, fingers, her very skin screamed in agony.

Instinct had her thrashing, clinging on to life. Lungs begging to inhale the woodsy air. But there was none.

Only darkness swirling around her. Lights shining vaguely above her. Tempting her to go back up. Measly seconds later she became ice. No more grabbing onto the last straws. Movements frozen in time.

Pain became peace. Memories stolen by the inky depths surrounding her.

This was it.

Maybe… just maybe, it wasn’t so bad.

A pull on her shoulders. Strange. It had been so quiet. So… peaceful. She went to shrug it off. Push it away. Tell it to go. But she couldn’t move. Oh, well. It’ll go away on its own. Only. It didn’t. It only yanked harder and harder. A thread pulling her back to the surface.

The water broke around her. Stillness gone.

She gasped. Water spilling past her lips. Cold… so utterly, spine chillingly cold.

It felt like concrete hit her back. A sputtering gasp next to her told her she was still alive.

She turned her head to the side, inch by inch. Lucien. On his hands and knees. Chest heaving.

Why couldn’t he just let me go?

Hands curled behind her shoulders, dragging her backwards. She gasped, the pain in her shoulder flaring to life, ice grating her legs. “I know. But otherwise it’ll collapse under the both of us.” He hissed. The lake creaking. No, moving below his feet… “Almost there.”

Light and darkness swirled in front of her vision. Teeth clattering dangerously over each other. Losing it, she was losing it.

Ice made way for snow. The pulling stopped, leaving her breathless. Waiting on the shore… for what?

Her vision sharpened slightly. Lucien was shrugging off his jacket. Revealing the same black hoodie he always wore. No gloves covering his strong hands as they reached for her.

She shook her head, the movement dazing her. “Why?” The sob wrecked her aching body, raw fingers digging into the snow. “Why, why won’t you just let me go?”

His entire body went still, his hand hovering in the air near her. She moved her head, catching his eyes. Doubt lingered in them. She saw him swallow her words, let it roll around his mind for precious seconds.

She basically saw it written in him.

Leave her to die in the freezing cold, help her to the other side, or drag her back to the house. It didn’t take much to guess.

But he just risked his own life to pull you out of a frozen lake.

A pale wolf appeared next to him, illuminated in the stark light of the moon. Not a wolf, Ghost. He whined lowly. Nose wet against her cheeks as he pushed in beneath her neck.

Lucien shook himself out of a daze. Guiding her up to spread his jacket over her shoulders.

He got on his knees to scoop her up in his arms. Hand guiding her to rest against his chest. Warmth hit her cheeks, lingered below her knees and shoulders. Everywhere they touched.