the icy water hit me. Tiana’s unconscious body was draped over my shoulder. She had hit her head hard, and it had all happened in a split second.
It was all my fault.
Please let her be alive…
I wrapped an arm around her, holding her tight as I swam in the water.
“Grant!” shouted Tony, his long hair drenched from the water as he swam over to us. “What happened to her?”
I tapped her face repeatedly. “Wake up, Tiana!”
Her body was still, but she was breathing.
“What happened?” growled Tony, pushing Tiana’s hair away from her face.
“She hit her head when I jumped,” I explained, rubbing her cheeks to warm them.
“Damn.”
“Where’s Wes?” I asked, scanning the perimeter of the water. My body was shivering and cold as I looked around. My teeth were chattering out of control. A werewolf didn’t belong in water like this.
“Over there,” said Tony. Wesley was swimming over to us.
“Let’s swim towards Howl’s Edge,” I said. “We’ll meet Sam on the way since he was coming to get us with his boat.”
“How will Sam find us?” asked Wesley.
“We’re a pack. He’ll know,” I said. “Let’s go.”
I was adapting to the water already. We werewolves weren’t built like humans. We had the stamina to survive something like this. But I had a sinking feeling that we could be swimming forever. The waves kept pushing me back, hurling my body in every direction. I lost my phone on the ship, and I was getting disoriented the more we swam away from the ship. I swiped the water from my eyes, trying to see clearly.
I lifted Tiana off my shoulder. I tapped her face and pinched her cheek.
“Tiana wake up, please,” I said. She was still unconscious, her head lolling to the side. I gently set her back down on my shoulder.
“It’s getting darker without the ship lights,” said Tony. “Shit. There’s nothing we can do.”
“Except to keep swimming,” said Wesley.
I shook the water from my face, trying to stay alert for Sam’s boat and to keep from drowning. I know he was out there somewhere. We had agreed to grab Tiana and jump into Sam’s boat. I had no idea why Sam wasn’t around right now.
After swimming for what seemed like an hour, I heard the engine of a boat.
Finally. My arms were losing strength.
I felt Tiana moving and struggling against me. I lifted her and patted her back as she spat water. She coughed uncontrollably, gathering the attention of the men.
“You okay, Tiana?”
“I…I think so. We’re still in the water. Are we going to die?” she inquired weakly, looking around. I felt sorry for the poor girl. She just wanted a vacation from her parents, and now she was stuck in a body of water. Her hair was soaked, and she was shivering against me.
“Yes. But we’re almost out of here.”
“I hear something,” said Wesley. “Look, there’s a boat not too far away. Probably Sam.”
“Sam, is that you?” I yelled. The boat’s engine died, and I could see Sam’s head sticking out over the edge. His familiar red bandana wrapped around his head, prominent under the moonlight.
Thank God. I thought we were doomed to die out here. My arms were about to give out. They were heavy and felt like logs.
“Get on board!” Sam yelled, throwing out a rope ladder.
It took the rest of my strength to haul myself up along with Tiana, whose arms were wrapped around my neck holding on for dear life.
Once we were on the boat, I set her down. My entire body felt drained as I collapsed to my knees for a moment to regain my strength. I noticed Tiana shivering uncontrollably, hunched on the boat floor, and holding her belly. Tony and Wesley piled onto the boat, falling over each other in exhaustion. I knew they were pushed to their limits today. No one could have foreseen what was coming. We weren’t prepared.
“You found the lost omega,” said Sam in wonder as he stared at her.
“Quit staring and get those wet clothes off her,” I ordered. The men scrambled over to her while she looked at me, shocked.
“No, get away!” she yelled, but she didn’t have the strength to fight them off. Sam lifted her wet dress off her.
“Shh, it’s to save you,” said Wesley, purring into her ear.
I grabbed a blanket from the stockpile on the lower floor of the boat and ran back to meet them. She was completely naked, and her brown skin glowed under the moon. I stood for a moment, admiring her body. She looked like something fierce, standing in the wind and glaring at all of us.
I wrapped the blanket around her and peeled off my wet clothes. Naked, I hugged her blanket-wrapped body to me. She was so cold.
Tony and Wesley were filling Sam in on what had happened.
“I can’t stand,” she whimpered in my ear, and a wave of protective instinct overcame me. She was shivering and weak, her legs shaking. I immediately pulled her onto my naked lap to warm her. The wind slapped against my back, goosebumps rising from my skin in the cold. Werewolves didn’t get cold as easily. The swim in the ocean was brutal.
Slowly I was starting to warm up with Tiana’s body over mine. My foggy mind was getting clearer, focusing on her now as I began to recover.
She shouted in pain, holding her belly.
“We need to mate with her,” said Sam urgently, feeling her forehead. “What the hell were you guys doing with her on the ship? You’ve brought her heat on.”
“Nothing,” I said. I knew fingering her would have helped bring her heat on, but I would never admit that. It was hard seeing her suffer with no relief.
“Apparently,” said Sam sarcastically, unwrapping the blanket from her and exposing her bare body.
“What are you doing?” she said, her voice low and in pain. Her arms flailed weakly, trying to push Sam away.
“Relax,” I whispered, pulling her closer on my lap. “We’re going to take care of you. You’re in heat now, and your body needs to be filled with our knot.”
“Just do whatever to make it feel better,” she said, resigned.
“We’re going to go inside you,” I explained clearly. “Like have sex with you and cum inside you.”
