by May Dawson
"Great, so we don't have to argue," I told Arthur. We were still holding hands, and without blinking, he reeled me against his body. His hard forearm pressed against my back, as iron and inescapable as a bar.
He brushed his lips against my forehead, the kiss quick and tender, and then released me. Suddenly weak-kneed, I reached out for Callum's hand. He steadied me gently.
Arthur’s lips curled in a smile, as if he liked knowing what effect he had on me.
"Are you all right?" I asked Callum.
"I'll live," he promised me with a wink.
"One thing,” Tuck said. He hesitated, as all of our eyes turned to him, and he visibly swallowed. “I think Rippedthroat had compelled me. But I think I fought it off. Is there a way to know…” He trailed off, and then his eyes met mine, and he began again. “If there isn’t, you should probably leave me.”
His words hung in the air.
If we left him, and Rippedthroat realized he had helped me, he would kill him. He had to know that he was taking a risk by telling us that.
“Is there a way?” I asked Callum.
Callum nodded. “I can usually sense dark magic pretty well at this point. Even the remnants of it.”
He stepped up to Tuck, who stared back at him. There was discomfort written across Tuck’s handsome features, and it only got worse when Callum put his hands on his shoulders. Logan glanced away, like it made him uncomfortable.
Then Callum stepped back, shaking his head. “I don’t sense anything. I think it’s safe to bring him with us.”
“Thanks for letting us know,” I said.
Tuck nodded back.
For the first time, I realized he had addressed me. Almost as if I was the one in charge.
“Let’s move,” Logan said urgently.
Together, the seven of us headed across the hill at a run. In the distance, the sea glittered, and I could just imagine how we’d look to the birds: seven small figures racing across the green grass, on a small island.
There was nowhere to go. We were trapped.
And the witches and the mercs were trapped here with us, too.
Chapter 24
Logan led us to the very edge of the ocean. Cliffs rose to our left, and on our right was a long stretch of rocky beach and then the pines.
There was nowhere for us to go, and I stared up at him in confusion for a second. He tugged me forward, toward the surf, and I yanked back, shaking my head. They were all such good swimmers. I couldn’t keep up with them.
The surf here was loud, the ocean roaring in and then out again, and the wind was so fierce that it whipped my hair around, making it impossible to think. My heart beat wildly.
He squeezed my hand in his. “You’ll see.”
“Oh, this is the place you boys always kept from me?” Arthur asked, although there was the faintest tension in his jaw which made me think it really did hurt his feelings.
“You were the alpha’s son,” Logan said, clapping his shoulder with his hand.
“Barely,” Arthur said back drily. His dark hair blew in the wind, framing his tanned, handsome face.
Logan clapped his shoulder with one hand, as if he was sorry for the past. Not that my men would talk about it.
Then Logan turned to face the rest of us. “We’ll have to dive down into the cliff entrance. The inner cavern will be flooded, but it’s well-lit. Just swim up to the light and there will be air. There’s a shelf at the back of the cavern, and we can climb higher to a safe, dry space to camp.”
“I can’t swim,” I managed.
“You’ll have to learn to depend on us,” Callum said. He spoke off-handedly, without even looking at me.
“Are you always this preachy?” I demanded. The accusations that I needed to do some work on myself emotionally were beginning to irk me. Especially because they were true, damn him.
“Yes,” Arthur said. “He is.”
Callum snorted. “You barely know me anymore.”
Arthur gave him a long look. “Neither of us is much changed from who we were, Callum. No matter what you want to believe.”
Callum glanced at Arthur, his eyes narrowing, and then said to me, “You know us, Piper. We’ll help you through it.”
“We’ve done it before.” Arthur winked at me. “Maybe we can re-create the rest of the night.”
A sly smile crossed his lips. He was fantasizing not about our midnight swim from a broken boat, but the sex afterward. I couldn’t help but smile.
Logan was already stepping out of his shoes, pulling his shirt over his head. Reluctantly, the rest of the men around me began to kick off their shoes and pull off their shirts as well. No matter how much my heart rattled in my chest, I was still distracted by the tattooed, hard-muscled bodies surrounding me.
“Can you swim?” Callum asked Tuck, who had pulled off his shirt and now hesitated.
He nodded. “Well enough, I hope.”
We needed somewhere to recover and plot and plan. We had to save the cubs and take back the island for the pack. We had to destroy my father.
That was worth fighting down my fears and wading into the ocean for. But I imagined myself trying to dive and then panicking. I could imagine their disappointed faces as I flailed in the water. This swim was something I should be able to do.
“Stop freaking out,” Josh said firmly, a second before his warm fingers looped around my arm, and he drew me away from the others.
I went with him easily, looking up into his face with pursed lips.
“I’m not freaking out,” I lied.
He tucked my hair back behind my ear. With effort. My hair was wild, tacky with salt spray and sweat and maybe blood. Maybe it was blood that was mine and maybe not. It resisted his deft fingers. Then he finally succeeded, and his fingertips skating across my neck sent a tingle through my skin. My chin lifted in anticipation.
“What if I let you all down?”
“You’re among friends,” he reminded me. “People who love you and respect you.”
After my childhood, there were so many things I needed to learn, for the first time, and so many things I needed to unlearn. When I imagined these men treading water, exasperated by my failings, I was imagining them as being like my father in some small way. But they were nothing like him. Would I ever really be able to love and trust these men like they deserved? I couldn’t even fucking swim. That would be the easier thing to learn.
But I didn’t say any of that to Josh. Since he’d said I was amongst friends, I added, “And Tuck.”
“Yeah. And Tuck.” His lips curled up at the corners. “You’re our girl. We’ll get you through it.”
If it weren’t for me, they’d already be safe. They waited for me at the water’s edge. “I’m holding you all back.”
His shoes were knotted by their laces and hung around his neck, and they shook against his chest with barely contained laughter.
“You’re holding us all together,” he said gently, as if he couldn’t believe I’d missed it. “And besides, it’s not all bad knowing there’s something that leaves you a little vulnerable.”
I rolled my eyes. “I’m quite vulnerable, if you haven’t noticed.”
“Maybe. But whatever happens, you always find a way.” He propped his hands on his hips, and I knew he was going to imitate me, even before he said in a girlish whisper, “Kidnap me? Now I own you. How did that work out?”
I pressed my hand over my mouth, holding back a laugh, as my eyes darted toward Arthur at the water’s edge. Luckily, he was deep in conversation with Logan and Callum. He wouldn’t have appreciated that.
“I’ve got faith in you,” Josh promised.
“We’ll be lucky to get through the week without being killed,” I reminded him.
He shrugged one big shoulder. “At least we’re back together.”
“You’re nuts,” I told him firmly, and it was only when he took my hand in his and began to draw me toward the water’s edge that I realized my fear had faded.<
br />
Maybe he was nuts, but he knew how to make me feel better.
Together, we walked to the edge of the water. He held my hand as we picked our way over the rocks to join the others in the surf.
The water lapped the rocks, bubbling up between flat, polished stones. Then I looked out at the enormity of it, the ocean stretching away and shining under the sun, and it took my breath away.
Josh knelt to slip my shoes off my feet, and I steadied myself with my hand on his shoulder. It was such a sweet, touching gesture.
Logan stopped next to Josh. “You’re still hurting from fighting that monster, and I know the way. Let me help her with the swim.”
Josh looked as if he didn’t like the idea, but he put his hand on his shoulder, pushing against it as if to test it, and winced. Something hurt. He said reluctantly, “That’s probably a good idea.”
Logan’s lips were already parting as if he was about to argue with Josh, and then his face changed as the words sunk in.
“We all want to look after our girl here. It’s going to take all of us, with the kind of trouble she gets into.” Josh’s smile was teasing as he ran his palm over my shoulder.
Logan nodded, and he looked at Josh as if he was really seeing him for the first time.
“Come on.” When Logan took my hand, his thumb stroked my palm intimately. That touch always made me feel alive. As we waded into the water, he leaned close to me. “What did he say to you?”
“Why?” I looked up at him, perplexed, but smiled to defuse my words.
“I’d like to make you feel better like that.” There was an edge of irritation in his voice. Anger at himself, not at me.
“He trusts me,” I said simply. “Maybe he shouldn’t, but he does.”
“As if you were the alpha?”
It was such a weird question. “What?”
“I don’t know.” He shrugged. “There’s just something weird lately about the way people… respond to you. Like Tuck.”
I pulled a face, glancing back to see if either of the alphas might have overheard. “Don’t say that around Arthur or Callum. There are more ways to trust people than as alpha and follower.”
“Of course there is,” he said, frowning. “I’m not a follower.”
I sighed. Everything I said to him came out wrong.
“I’m not helping,” he said suddenly.
“Not really—”
His hands wrapped around my jaw, and his lips met mine. They were as soft and tender as they were claiming. When Logan kissed me, it was with wild certainty.
I couldn’t resist kissing him back the same way, no matter where we were. The waves rocked against our knees as he kissed me over and over.
When he pulled away, rising back to his full height, I was breathless.
“Just hold onto me,” he promised, his fingers tightening around mine.
“You couldn’t convince me to let go,” I told him as we waded into the water. My heart was still hammering in my chest, but now it was from our kisses, not my fears.
How could Logan be jealous of the other guys? I had something special, different, with each of them. But he was always such a confident charmer, it was strange to see the uncertain side of him.
The roar of the surf was so loud around us that we had sudden, rare privacy, so I bumped my shoulder into his. Giving into impulse, I added, “And I don’t just mean I won’t let go in the water. I hope you know, I’m not going anywhere.”
He glanced at me, his lips parting in surprise. “You want to talk about feelings now?”
“I want a distraction from my terror,” I said.
“Well, my terror is of talking about feelings,” he muttered, which made me grin.
“When the tide is low, we’ll be able to walk through the ocean,” he told me. “There’s a shelf that stretches along the base of the cliff, before the water gets deep. This is the only time you’ll have to swim.”
“Hopefully,” I said. “Because I don’t really swim. I just kind of flail…”
“I’ve got you,” he promised.
He turned back to the others, who followed behind us. “I’ll show you where to dive. Just follow us.”
Great. They’d all be behind us, watching. No pressure.
Logan locked a muscular arm around my waist. His legs kicked so powerfully, propelling us through the water, that I could almost have believed he was a merman if I didn’t know better. We swam along the blue water at the edge of the cliff, which felt as if it towered high above us. He looked over my shoulder at the others who had followed us and nodded.
“When I say go, hold your breath,” he murmured, his lips close to my ear. “Just stay calm and trust me.”
“I do,” I said.
His dark brows arched over his eyes. “I guess this will be the test.”
I pulled a face. Great. Just what I needed: more pressure.
Logan gave me an encouraging nod. “You can do this, princess.”
Was this the first time he’d called me princess like an endearment, almost using it respectfully, instead of as a mockery? Either way, his confidence in me leant me some confidence of my own.
I nodded back to him and inhaled, trying to fill my lungs completely.
“One, two, three,” he said, wrapping his powerful arm tightly around my waist. “Go.”
I squeezed my lips and eyes closed as he drew me with him. As water pressed against my face, panic tightened my chest. My father held me down as my fingers scraped desperately across his forearms. His face was a blur through the water. I couldn’t think about that. I squeezed my eyes shut so tightly that it hurt, but it didn’t block out the images.
I was locked against Logan’s powerful body, and I did my best not to fight him. But my body was rigid and I couldn’t make my muscles relax. Panic was like a living thing in my chest.
When my drifting fingertips scraped rough rock, my eyes flew open. The water around me was dark. My chest ached from holding my breath, and I fought the impulse to breathe in.
Logan shifted, swimming faster, as if he could sense my edge of panic. As if I was making things harder.
Then suddenly we were swimming up, toward the light. I tried to release some of the pressure in my chest, exhaling small bubbles through my nose, but I exhaled too much. I accidentally breathed in salt water. Fear knifed through my body.
Then my face was out of the water.
I gagged seawater. My sinuses and throat burned from the salt.
“You’re all right,” Logan promised me. He helped me float to a rocky ledge, and he held my waist as I clambered up onto the wide, flat stone.
As I took deep breaths, trying to calm down, I took in the cavern around me. We were in a space the size of a house; the ceiling towered high above us. Cracks in the cliff face let in fragile sunlight, which dappled the blue pool at our feet. It was beautiful. To my right, a narrow entranceway to the caves seemed to lead to a cavern that twisted up and away, giving us a place to climb higher.
Logan hoisted himself up beside me. He slid his arm around my waist, and I leaned into his side. Maybe we could both pretend my breath wasn’t still coming short and frantic.
“This was Seb and Finn’s secret hang-out when we were kids, where they always came when things were bad,” he said. “I had hoped they would be here. Things are pretty bad now too.”
When even Logan acknowledged that we were in a bad spot, it was worrisome.
“Oh, so they let you in their club?” Unlike Arthur, who had been left out since he was the alpha’s son. It seemed strange to feel sorry for Arthur, as big and commanding as it was. But when I thought of him as a boy who didn’t fit in anywhere, even with his half brothers, it made me want to take him in my arms and make sure he never felt abandoned and alone again.
“More or less,” he said. “They took pity on me one rough night.”
“What happened?”
“That night?” he asked, his brows arching over his eyes.
I t
hought he was going to try to duck the subject. He hesitated, looking at the still blue water in front of us as if he was hoping to be rescued. Then he sighed. “Well, my father knew I wasn’t his son. No one ever acknowledged it, but it was still there, between us.”
“By the time I entered my teens, Arthur and I were best friends. We were both outcasts, and our father never looked my way, but we were close. It annoyed my father. And then one night, he’d been drinking. He’d always been a mean drunk.” There was a far-away look in his eyes. Then he blinked, and it was replaced by something rueful.
“I knew Seb and Finn were my half-brothers by then too, and they were as much outcasts as I was. But I was tough. Arthur and I trained together, we always challenged each other to be the best. We were gaining a reputation in the pack. And Finn was just a goofball, and Seb was bookish and awkward, and I…” He shook his head, his jaw tightening. “I didn’t bully them, but I didn’t want anyone to think I was like them, either. I didn’t stand by them like a brother should.”
He looked like he hated himself, and I caught his hand with mine. When my fingers knit around his, he tried to force a smile.
“You were just a kid,” I told him firmly.
He shook his head. “I don’t want to make excuses. Not anymore. I want to be a better person than I was raised to be, and that means admitting when I’ve been a weak one…”
He hesitated, chewing on his lip, and I squeezed his hand in mine.
“Anyway,” he said, going on as if he was afraid he’d lose his nerve, “that night I ran. I was bleeding and bruised and I didn’t know where to go. Arthur would’ve tried to help me if I’d gone to his house, but I knew how his father would look at me, how angry he’d be at Arthur…I didn’t want to do that to him.”
“It was storming, and I ran alone through the wind and the rain to the edge of the sea. I knew I’d left him behind, but I still felt like I was being chased, like there was nowhere to go to escape this island… he had tried to kill me, Piper.” His voice was very soft. “I was terrified.”
“And then Seb and Finn found me, at the edge of the ocean. I’d avoided them, because I thought I could rise in the pack on my own as long as I did everything right, as long as I avoided anyone who could drag me down again…” he shook his head. “They brought me into the cave without a second thought. They didn’t even question it. There was a bad cut over my eye.” He touched an old scar, at the corner of his eyebrow. “Seb stitched me up. They fed me. They treated me like I was their brother.”
