Page 11 of Kai (Alpha Heroes #13)

Willing my body to work, I took a step back from him. “Sorry about that.” It was all I ever planned to say about that impetuous and out of character kiss.

“No need to apologize.” He drew a deep inhale as if to slow down the rapid breaths that lifted his chest and mine. “But…” He pointed to the surfboard, floating in the shallows, just steps from us. “You need to get on it.”

The blood drained from my face. Whatever heat lingered on my skin fled. My terror returned in full, along with the cold that squeezed around me and my heart like a frozen fist.

I locked my jaw and steeled my voice. “I. Don’t. Swim.”

“You do now.”

He moved so fast I didn’t see him coming. He picked me up and laid me belly down on the surfboard. Before I could protest, I found myself stretched out on the board’s rough deck, floating in the shallows, and obviously bay-bound.

“Grab on to the handles at either side of the board,” he ordered, sliding a pair of fins over his booties and then hooking the board’s leash to his ankle. “Three, two, one. Here we go.”

Taking advantage of a lull between the waves, he launched the surfboard. The flattened waves fizzled and bubbled around us. He jumped on the board and lay partly on top of me, pinning me down with his body.

“Noooooo,” I cried out.

Splash .

A wallop of water slapped me in the face.

It stung my nostrils, surged up my open mouth, and poured down my throat.

I would’ve screamed, but I was busy hacking instead.

Kai kicked his legs and paddled with his brawny arms over the sides of the surfboard, propelling us over the shallows.

I suspected that the average surfboard didn’t have handles attached to the edges.

He must’ve installed these for my benefit.

I curled my fingers around them and clutched them with all I had.

“You motherfucker,” I cried out. “You tricked me with a kiss!”

“Or maybe you tricked me.” The warmth of his breath against my ear sent a shiver of pleasure down my spine. “We’ll find out later.”

Later?

Later when?

“Hold on and take a breath,” he ordered as we entered the bay’s deeper waters. “We’re going under.”

Under?

I looked up at the foamy crown of the tall wave coming at us. Kai pressed the nose of the surfboard down. It dipped into the wall of water cresting above us.

Swoosh .

Water smothered my curses. Bubbles flew out of my nose and mouth and got lost in the darkness. Down we went, into a dim, watery world that triggered my panic. My whimpers echoed in my head, and so did the glug, glug, glug that came as I swallowed mouthfuls of saltwater.

Kicking his legs, Kai swam us under the surface. My body lifted from the board, but I hung on tightly, and so did he. His body undulated over mine as he speared us through the surf. He kicked and kicked and kicked.

Somewhere behind us, a crash thundered against the rocks. Beneath the water, it all sounded subdued, but I knew better. The waves could roll us back into the breakers or trap us between the rocks, shredding us like Parmesan cheese.

As we came up for breath on the other side, I sputtered. “You son of a bitch!” I coughed some more. “I can’t breathe!”

“Close your mouth.” Another order. “Don’t inhale when you’re under. Instead, blow out if you can. We’re gonna do it again. Take a breath.”

Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit .

I inhaled and closed my eyes.

Swoosh .

The water rushed over, under, and around us. Glug, glug, glug . It poured straight down my throat. Crash. Boom. Swoosh. Despair. The night hit my face with the force of one of those enormous waves, just like the one looming over us again. Air!

“Breathe,” he commanded right before the next swell came at us. “Going under.”

The wave charged us, hissing and roaring like a pissed-off beast. Every time we broke the surface, the weight of Kai’s body solidified over me, rippling against my back.

Despite the darkness, he propelled us forward, regardless of his heavy load—the large wet bag on his back, the rifle, and me.

He wasn’t even breathing hard as he maneuvered us through the bay.

Kai was a sea warrior and the captain of his own boat, fate, surfboard… whatever.

“Breathe,” he commanded, and I inhaled a big gulp. “Going under.”

Swoosh. Down. Glug, glug, glug. Lungs about to burst. Air .

We did this again. And again. I followed Kai’s instructions. He was at ease in his natural habitat. Me?

Not so much.

I was a terrestrial animal and way out of my element.

The next underwater part seemed to last forever.

I had plenty of time to ponder the horrors of mermen, sirens, sharks, lost sailors, giant squids, and women drowning in the depths of a dark and unforgiving ocean.

Terror filled me. I wanted to scream. In the recesses of my mind, the sinister notes of Jaws played in a closed loop.

“It’ll be easier once we’re out of the bay,” Kai informed me when we surfaced yet again, kicking away as if one puny human could defeat the sea. “The current will be with us then. You’ll see.”

“No, I won’t.” I coughed up a bunch of foul-tasting saltwater, wheezing for breath. “I’ll be dead!”

“Breathe,” he announced. “Going under.”

Swoosh .

“See?” he pointed out as we reemerged. “You’re not dead. That’s a scientific fact.”

“I hate you.” I swore to hell and back. “I’m going to kill you for this!”

“Charming.” His chest chuckled against my back. “You swear like a proper Marine.”

“I’ll slice your balls—”

“So bellicose.” More chuckles. “I love it. Breathe.”

We dove under again. I had no time to tell him all the painful ways in which I was going to murder him.

Slam.

The full force of the sea pressed down on me, a brutal punch.

Saltwater crammed down my throat and nose, and yet, when we came back up, I’d gotten the hang of it.

My body fell into some sort of pattern, and my lungs turned out to be smarter than me.

I even had enough air left in my lungs to insult him some more.

“I’m going to rip out your eyes.”

“I’ll let you.” His perpetually calm smile permeated his voice. “ If you take another breath… now.”

Splash. Down. Through the wave .

“You’re doing great,” he announced when we came up the next time.

With a gasp, I took a huge, greedy breath. I did it on my own. He didn’t have to tell me to do so. I figured it out. When to breathe in. When to breathe out. How not to drink the entire ocean in one long, salty, suffocating gulp.

“We’re out of the bay now,” he announced as a swell lifted and lowered us without the drama of the ruthless waves behind us.

“Those waves were savage,” I muttered.

“Meh.” He shrugged at my back. “I’d call it a moderate chop.”

A moderate chop, my ass.

Paddling with his hands, he swam us out to sea, then turned us, heading north. I don’t know how he did it, but he angled the board with the current so that the smoother swells and the tide propelled us forward. He kept kicking and paddling as if his body housed a motor that never ran out of gas.

His stamina never wavered. He’d had a hard landing at the foot of the lighthouse and had repelled an attack, and yet he didn’t seem to be hurt. Meanwhile, I felt beaten and exhausted. Strands of wet hair stuck to my face, and a gritty coat of sand and salt covered me inside and out.

I probably looked like a drowned cat.

Under the moonlight, I craned my neck and glanced back. In the distance, I caught a glimpse of the burning lighthouse. From afar, I saw no mercs, no signs of life. No one had witnessed our escape. We’d gotten away.

Another glance showed me the fire engulfing the lighthouse.

Flames lapped out of the windows and danced on the roof.

Tears pricked my already irritated eyes.

The only true refuge I’d ever known would be gone by dawn, burned to ashes.

The salt of my tears joined the sea. My life as I knew it was over.