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Diana

T he cold water had an amazing effect on my mind, clearing it of everything that had scrambled it. I tumbled down, over and over in the water, the boat leaving me in its wake as I fought to get to the surface of the ocean, unsure of which way was up. I kicked furiously as I searched for some sign of the moon for guidance.

Watch me die here…I was a fucking idiot.

What in the ever-loving gods of heaven and hell had I been thinking of?

Raven.

And his mouth.

And his hands.

Which meant that, yet again, this was his fault. He’d consumed me, even without that fucking blood bond. It had to be some leftover bits still humming under my skin to be so affected by him—still.

I broke the surface, took in a deep breath, and stared at the boat as it sped away from me. Neither Raven nor Maverick had any idea I’d taken an unscheduled dunk into the ocean and I was already too far from them to bother wasting my breath on screaming. All I could do was start swimming and hope that one of them noticed that I was missing.

“I’m an idiot!” I yelled to the sky, saltwater pooling in my mouth for my troubles. “I should be relieved of my crown for this stupidity!”

Survival though, that’s what I had to focus on, not how foolish I’d been.

I stripped off my shirt and shimmied out of my pants and boots while treading water. They would not only weigh me down, but the gods only knew how long I’d be in the water.

The thing was, I wasn’t the strongest swimmer, so I knew I had to make this as easy on myself as possible.

Funny enough but my early childhood trauma at the hands of my brother, Edmund, seemed to have burned itself into my subconscious and I didn’t like being in deep water. I’d learned to swim as a necessity, not because I liked it. I preferred long hot baths as my deepest immersion in water.

Now, here I was in a situation of my own making in about the deepest, darkest water I could have found. My fear spiked and I fought it back with anger.

“Numbskull. Fool. Stupid girl!” I kept up the litany of insults at myself. It was all I could do. I couldn’t even look at how far the boat was from me.

Something bumped along my right side.

Fuuuuuck.

If I thought I’d been scared before because of the deep water, it was nothing to the idea of something larger than me being in it right next to my side. Something I couldn’t see, something that might be hungry.

The Kraken would have been welcome, but he was all the way back in the Alpha Territories.

My throat tight and my mouth dry I managed one word in desperate hope. “Sal?”

“Nope!”

A head burst out of the water next to me and I screamed and swam backward, flailing and splashing. Green hair and a sharp-toothed smile framed by a familiar, pixie face came into view.

“Xefia?” I murmured, relief rolling through me.

“Yes! You came to swim with me?” Her hair trailed around her shoulders as she floated next to me.

My heart was hammering out of control, and I was afraid I might have peed a little. Not exactly a queenly reaction, but this was a lot for my nervous system to take all at once.

“No, I…fell off the back of our boat.”

Her eyes went wide, and she turned to look in the direction of the speeding boat. “That’s not good, is it?”

“No…we’re chasing the Vanators still.”

“Oh yes! Me and my friends are slowing those ones down!”

I stared at her. “You’re…what?”

“That’s why you’re catching up! We tangled their motors with kelp and tried to cause mischief. They’re dead in the water.” She grinned and took my hand under the water. “Come on! I’ll help you get to your boat! This will be fun!”

She started to swim and while I kicked my feet, I’m not sure how much good I was doing. Xefia laughed. “You’re terrible at this! Sorry to be mean, but I think we need more help.”

I spluttered, another mouthful of water keeping me from replying. She wasn’t wrong.

The smooth sleek body of something slid underneath me and I was lifted partially out of the water, my head clear enough that I could breathe better.

“Hang onto his fin!” Xefia pointed at the dorsal fin in front of me. I wrapped my fingers around it and the dolphin took off, like I’d grabbed his accelerator. Xefia laughed and swam beside us, leaping into the air. “This is fun! I’m so glad you fell in.”

I wasn’t sure I would call it fun, but I was grateful for the help and wasn’t about to correct her.

It didn’t take us more than ten minutes and the dolphin had me next to the skiff launch.

“Raven! Maverick!” I screamed their names. Raven would be able to hear me, I was sure of it.

The boat slowed and I tried not to gasp with relief.

He’d heard me.

“Frostbite?” he bellowed that ridiculous nickname, and I’d never been so happy to hear it.

“Here!” The boat had slowed enough that I managed to get onto the launch pad on my own before he saw me in the water. “Thank you, Xefia, and thank you to your friend, too.”

I patted the dolphin on the back as he dove away from the boat. Xefia smiled. “Is that handsome one…oh…hello!”

She waved and I looked over my shoulder to see Raven there, his eyes wide as he took me in. Of course, I was soaking wet and in nothing but my bra and panties.

“I can explain.”

His lips twitched and he held back a laugh. “What the fuck did you do?”

Okay, it was kinda funny, but this was not the time.

“Listen. Xefia and her friends have wrapped the Vanator’s propellers in kelp. They’ve stalled them for us. We have to go now and take advantage of this.”

Raven chuckled, bowing at the waist to Xefia. “Saved by the beauty again. Thank you, little one.”

She giggled and then sighed, before diving back under water. Another heart taken by Raven, with ease.

“I can’t wait to hear how this came about.” Raven stared hard at me, his eyes tracing water droplets as they raced down my skin. “But it’ll have to wait. You’re right, our friends need us.”

Without another word, he climbed back up to the main deck and headed to the wheelhouse, leaving my skin pebbling and reacting as if he’d traced the droplets with his fingers.

I all but ran to the captain’s quarters, not seeing Maverick the entire time. Had he gone back to bed as he’d suggested I do? It made some sense, even though a small part of me was irritated.

I yanked dry clothes on, noting that my impromptu dip had at least calmed all my emotions and hormones—or at least until Raven had eyed me up and down.

Dressed, with new boots on, I headed to Maverick’s quarters and banged on the door. “We’ll be upon them soon.”

I didn’t wait for his response, just went to the weapons stash Hamish had brought with us. Now that we were almost on the Vanators, I wished we’d been able to reach Hamish and the others. A full crew against the Vanators would have been preferred. But there was Nicholas, he was a vampire too—it would have to be enough.

Assuming he hadn’t been hurt.

Or worse.

Gritting my teeth against the possibilities, I hurried to pull weapons out that would be most useful in the situation.

Two short swords for me, and three smoke bombs. Raven and I would be able to work in the chaos. It would leave Maverick at a disadvantage, but…I pulled a long-range weapon from the stash. The crossbow would allow him to stay on deck and cover us. With his ankle, that would be best.

I turned and Maverick was behind me. “With my leg…”

I shoved the crossbow at him and the bag of bolts. “Go to the crow’s nest. Cover us.”

His shoulders slumped. “I wish I could fight beside y?—”

“No!” He winced and drew back. Just because I was a mess of emotions on the inside, didn’t mean I had to let it show. I needed to keep my cool under pressure, through angst and fury, sadness and, yeah, even heat. “Look…you’re injured. You’ll be more help as a lookout. But I know you would stand beside me, Mav.” I wasn’t sure that was a hundred percent true, but being a leader meant diplomacy in the worst of times.

Either way, he bought it because he smiled and kissed me on the cheek. “Good.”

With a turn, he limped up toward the stairs. I followed him, feeling the warmth from his kiss on my cheek. A steady, calm warmth, nothing like the raging inferno Raven stoked within me.

Back on deck, I could see how close we were to our quarry.

Raven leaned out of the wheelhouse side window, all business. “Throw the grappling hooks as soon as I turn the engine off.”

I gave him a thumbs up then bent and picked up the first of the hooks.

We were maybe a hundred yards from the boat now, and they hadn’t noticed us. Their boat was turned sideways to us, and everyone on deck was leaning over the motor.

Fifty yards.

A bellow from the Vanator’s boat and a light flared our way.

Raven didn’t slow the boat, he sped up so we came in hot, our hull slamming flat sideways into theirs. The impact tossed me to the deck and from my knees I threw the first grappling hook, yanking it tight and tying it off.

Raven was at my side in a flash and threw two more hooks so we were flush to their ship.

“Myrr! Nicholas! Kevin!” I yelled for them, hoping to pinpoint them. I didn’t care if we killed all the Vanators. I just wanted our people back.

Two Vanators jumped across to our ship. The whizz of a crossbow bolt shot between us, and I leaped back, drawing the enemy deeper onto our deck.

Raven snarled and engaged the other Vanator, but I couldn’t watch what he was doing. No, these Vanators weren’t quite human and we had to be on our guard.

They were possessed with Lilis’ power—the goddess who seemed to have it in for us— having taken some of George’s ashes and eaten him like some unholy communion between themselves and the dark goddess.

The Vanator across from me was young, his face speckled with spots and his eyes fevered with obsession. He held a small glass vial. “I will kill you all,” he cooed, as if speaking to a lover. “And I will be rewarded.”

I pulled both swords. “I doubt that.”

He snarled and leapt at me, no weapon in sight with the exception of the vial. I stepped out of his way, caught his foot with mine, and sent him flat-faced onto the deck.

He screamed and flailed as if I’d run him through. He pushed to his feet and faced me, horror written across the marks on his face. His chest was bubbling, skin and clothing melting off in chunks. I could see through his ribcage, could see the edge of his heart as it beat frantically.

“Griffin acid,” Raven yelled. “How the fuck did they get griffin spit?”

Good question. But the young Vanator was not going to make it. There was no antidote for Griffin's acid, and his death would be long and painful. His eyes met mine and he lunged forward, as if to embrace me, soiling me with the same foul poison that covered him. With a roar, I swung my sword with all my might and took his head, sending his body tumbling toward the rail. His screaming ceased as he fell. It was a mercy more than anything.

The deck where he’d lain continued to bubble and froth. It would go straight through given the chance.

I turned to dive across to the Vanator’s ship when a boom not unlike thunder tore through the air, the concussion of it flinging me backward. I slammed into the bottom of the wheelhouse, a wave shoving our boat around. The lines between vessels straining, hulls rubbing hard on one another, wood and metal screaming.

The grappling lines snapped, and the two boats swirled around each other like we were caught in a whirlpool.

“What is this?” Raven was crouched, holding his balance.

I mimicked him. The wind whipped up, and the skies opened as the waves shoved us around. It was a storm, but…

Xefia launched herself part way onto our deck. “Flee! This is no natural storm! The waves are…they are not ours. They belong to the dark one! She will kill you!”

Fucking Lilis strikes again.

“Go, Xefia!” I yelled. “Find safety!”

She gave a quick nod and flung herself back into the water.

The two boats were parted now and if we wanted to survive long enough to try again, it was time to retreat.

“Raven, the engine. Get it going!” We were going to need all the power we had to survive this—already the waves were washing over the deck, taking me out at the knees.

He bolted for the wheelhouse, his vampiric speed giving him the edge we needed. The engine started and he fought to get us out of the whirlpool.

Laughter rolled through the skies along with the thunder. I looked up to see Maverick still in the fucking crow’s nest.

Crouched, unmoving.

“Mav!”

Lightning cracked, striking the base of the mast.

He seemed to fall in slow motion, clinging to the edge. The mast only fell part way, hanging at a ninety-degree angle.

Gods’ mercy, and I had been the one to send him up there.

I opened my mouth to yell…to tell him to climb, but I couldn’t. His face was lit by the lighting as it struck all around us in a freakish show of power, which was the only reason I saw the massive wave.

A hundred feet tall, the rogue giant was silent as it slowly gathered itself and rose over us a behemoth on a quest to crush all in its path.

I threw myself to the deck, scrambling to tie a rope from the grappling hooks to my waist.

There would be no coming back from this if I was swept overboard. I’d sent Xefia away, and I had no doubt that Sal was long gone too.

I looked to the wheelhouse, desperately searching for Raven…I couldn’t help it. Because through this all, he’d saved me more than once.

But this time…this time I didn’t think there would be any saving us.