Page 18

Celine screamed, and Zeke’s heart nearly stopped. He saw her fall into the water, a flash of red following her. Blood. She was bleeding!

Without giving it a second thought, he dove in after her as the boat sped on, trying to dodge pursuit.

In fact, the pursuing boats followed, leaving Zeke in the water far from shore.

Celine had to be around here somewhere. He dove and did his best to search for her.

Thankfully, he’d spent a lot of time training in the water and felt at home in this element.

Of course, Celine was a selkie. She might’ve shifted into her seal form, but he wasn’t certain.

The only thing he knew was that he had to find her. He had to make sure she was all right.

He caught the impression of motion to his left and went in that direction. A moment later, he’d found Celine, underwater and in her human form, her wet clothing weighing her down a bit. He guided her to the surface so they could talk.

“Where were you hit?” he asked the moment their heads were above the water.

She nodded, grimacing. “My arm. And it hurts worse than anything I’ve felt before. I think the bullet is still in there, and it burns like silver.” Her tone was a bit breathless with the pain.

“Silver burns?”

Zeke’s sluggish mind recalled something Lynn had been telling him about how many magical folk couldn’t touch silver.

It was poison to vampires, in particular, and could drive them mad.

It also affected shifters, which was probably what gave rise to the old stories about silver bullets being able to stop werewolves.

“Silver is poison to us,” Celine gasped. “I tried to shift, and I can’t. That’s why I think it’s silver. It messes with our magic.”

“Okay,” Zeke said, thinking through their options.

The shore of the island wasn’t too far away for him to swim, but she only had the use of one arm.

He would tow her in, helping her get to shore.

From there, Rick could probably help her where the shifter medics couldn’t.

As far as Zeke knew, nobody in his unit had a problem with silver.

They were human, after all. Not shifters or vampires or any other sort of magical race.

They could handle the silver that would send the shifters running.

He also took a look out over the water, realizing the boats were speeding away, toward the boat ramp—and the reinforcing troops—on the other side of their island base.

Apparently, the shooters hadn’t noticed when Celine had fallen overboard, or when Zeke had followed her.

They had a little time. He tested his in-ear radio.

The gear they used was waterproof, for the most part.

Getting a signal, he listened in on the rest of his team.

They were busy with the ongoing assault.

He’d report in once things settled down a bit, or if someone demanded a report from him.

Otherwise, he’d concentrate on getting Celine to safety.

“This is what we’re going to do,” he told her. “I’m going to help you get to shore, then we’ll get our doctor to take a look at your arm.”

She looked up at him with hope in her eyes alongside the pain. “That sounds like a good plan,” she replied a bit shakily. “I can’t really swim like this, so I could use a little help. I can kick with my feet, but my arms…” She trailed off, cringing.

“Don’t worry,” Zeke said, moving to put her good arm around him so she had a good grasp. “I’ll take care of you, babe.” He couldn’t help himself. He bent to place a kiss on her cheek. “Just hold on to me with your good arm. I’ll tow you to shore. If it gets to be too much, let me know, okay?”

“Okay,” she replied, her voice filled with pain and tinged with fear. He didn’t like that sound, but he’d make it better. He had to. She was too damned important to him.

The swim back to shore was slow going. He started off strong with her grip tight around him, but as they grew closer to the beach, her strength flagged.

If silver was poison to her system, he reasoned through his own panic, she could be losing strength with every stroke.

He redoubled his efforts to get her to shore, but when they were still yards out, she lost her grip on him entirely.

He caught her in his arms before she could float away and realized she was unconscious.

Shit!

It was past time for him to report in to his unit. They’d run off the attackers and were heading back to base. He’d followed their progress on the radio but hadn’t interrupted while they were in the thick of things. Now was his moment.

“This is Zeke. Do you copy?”

“Copy, Zeke. Go ahead. Sit rep,” their commander ordered, wanting a situation report .

“I’ve got the girl. She’s got a bullet in her arm, preventing her from swimming. I’m towing her to shore. She lost consciousness a moment ago. Suspected silver poisoning. Can Rick meet us on the beach?”

“He’s on his way,” Captain Haliwell reported.

Zeke felt relief rush through him. “I’m aiming for the beach behind our building. It’s the closest,” he reported as he continued to swim, taking Celine in a different hold now that she was unconscious.

“Understood. We have eyes on you, and people coming out to help.”

“Warn the others about the silver,” Zeke said, sparing a moment to remind his friends about the differences between what they could handle versus what the shifters could.

“Roger that. They’ll proceed with caution, but they’ll watch your back.”

A minute later, Zeke had Celine a bit closer to shore, and a half-dozen seals formed a sort of honor guard around them as he brought her closer to the beach.

It was a relief to have them there. They were, no doubt, selkies.

They would watch out for enemies, allowing Zeke to focus on getting Celine to safety.

Minutes later, he was carrying her out of the surf and up the beach. Rick and a few others were running down the beach, heading straight for them. When they met, Rick took charge.

“Put her down,” he ordered. Zeke did as he was told, but he didn’t release her to lay on the rough sand. Instead, he kept his arms around her, holding her while Rick made a quick examination.

“She was hit in the arm. She suspected the bullet was still in there and that it was silver. She was in a lot of pain before she passed out,” Zeke reported.

He looked up, realizing there was a small circle of concerned people around them. It was a mixed group of men from his unit and some of their new shifter friends. Among them was Liam Kinkaid.

“Silver is poisonous to us. Probably why she couldn’t shift,” Liam offered. The other shifters in the circle nodded in agreement and looked concerned.

“Luckily, I was born without magic, and since acquiring it, I haven’t felt any aversion to silver,” Rick said as he laid his hands over the wound on Celine’s arm.

He closed his eyes for a moment, and a split second later, the bloody bullet rose out of the wound, and he grabbed it with his fingers.

He handed it off to Dan Vogel, another member of the unit, who was assisting.

Dan put it into a small plastic bag and tucked it into his pocket.

Zeke made a note to examine that little lump of silver later, to see if he could learn anything about the asshole who had put that bullet into his gun and shot Zeke’s woman. He felt like growling. Suddenly, he was feeling very possessive of the delicate woman in his arms.

“How is she?” a gruff voice entered the circle. Zeke looked up to see Master Chief Santini had arrived to check on his granddaughter.

“Bullet’s out,” Rick reported, continuing his work. As everyone watched, the wound began to heal, as if by magic.

“It was most likely silver,” Dan, whose specialist area was geology, reported quietly while Rick continued his work.

“Bastards!” the master chief spat angrily.

“It’s okay. All the silver is out. She’s just weak, but she’ll be all right,” Rick said, opening his eyes as he lifted his hands. The wound on Celine’s arm was gone.

“Thank the Goddess for that,” Santini said on a gusty sight. Then, he turned to look at Rick. “And thanks to you and your amazing gift, Doc. And you…” Santini turned his dark gaze on Zeke, “Thanks for getting her to shore.”

Zeke just nodded at the man as he felt Celine stir in his arms. He looked down at her to see her eyelids fluttering as she rose from unconsciousness. Then her beautiful eyes opened, and she gazed up at him. Relief flooded his body.

“Zeke,” she whispered, resting in his arms for just a moment before she tried to sit up. He helped her, supporting her back as she looked at her arm, then back to him.

“Doc fixed you up,” Zeke said softly, indicating Rick with a slight lift of his chin. Her confused eyes moved to look at Rick, then widened as she took in the circle of concerned people standing around them.

“Thank you,” she said to Rick in a soft tone, then she spotted her grandfather. But she didn’t move away as Zeke expected. Instead, she looked back at Zeke, meeting his gaze. “Thank you for diving in after me. I never knew a human could be so good in the water. Did I pass out?”

“Just at the end there,” Zeke admitted to her. “You were a real trooper most of the way.”

“You were shot with silver, pumpkin,” Master Chief Santini said, going down on one knee next to her. “I’m amazed you got as far as you did before succumbing. But Doc here got it all out, and you’ll be fine. Right, Doc?”

“Absolutely. Though you’ll probably be weaker than usual for a day or so. I haven’t treated many of your kind and don’t really know enough about the effect silver has on your systems, but that’s my best guess based on the information I have,” Rick said, picking up his medical kit.