Page 67 of Kai (Alpha Heroes #13)

Cece

I let out the last of my breath and felt the bubbles rising past my face.

Following their direction, I scissored my feet.

A layer of warmer water suggested I was on the right track, but by now, I had zero air in my lungs, and it was getting hard to think.

I focused on one thing. I kicked, and kicked, and kicked some more.

My body felt heavy as lead, my lungs felt as if they were about to burst, and I was tired and slow, but I kept kicking.

Time didn’t seem to exist in the underwater realm, and yet my body was racing a countdown to shut down.

Dark spots formed at the edges of my vision.

Even as I kicked and willed my mouth to stay closed, water rushed in.

The Pacific seemed intent on becoming part of me. How much longer before I died?

I punched through yet another layer and speared out of the water like a dolphin. A breeze blew over my wet body as I splashed down and bobbed on the surface.

Air! I inhaled a huge gasp. Oxygen! Victory!

My poor lungs shuddered, my stomach roiled, and my heart drummed in my ears. Hacking and retching, I treaded water while I tried to gain my bearings and figure out what to do next.

Darkness . It was all I could see all around me. My can-do optimism crashed. Not victory, only a lonely reprieve. Fuck, I needed to give myself a motivational talk.

Rain pelted me and the sea. My legs hurt from the effort of keeping my head above water. My hands remained tied behind my back and useless. People in my situation died quickly.

But I’d survived so far, and I couldn’t give up. I’d made a promise to Nix, and he’d demanded I keep it. I also wanted the opportunity to make a bunch of crazier promises to Kai.

Float, Astor. You can do that. You won a challenge. Over ten minutes!

Float. Yes. Right.

I wasn’t sure that ten minutes of floating would win me this battle when I was alone and adrift, but then again, what choice did I have? I leaned back and brought my feet up. To fight my terror, I devised equations to calculate my survival time in the open sea, given my current variables.

Yeah, not helpful.

Panic is the enemy of success. Kai’s serene voice came again, and I could almost feel the support of his hands beneath my back. Clear your mind. Inflate your lungs. Relax. Feel the water. It wants to hug you, if only you’ll let it .

I blinked off the drops of a waning rain shower. The sky cleared above me. The clouds were in retreat. I knew I was still in trouble. I had to get to land or to a boat. Maybe if I rested a little, I could muster some more kicking on the surface this time around.

To float is to surrender . I trusted my body to the ocean.

To float is to accept the water’s mercy .

I stopped struggling and felt the water’s mercy keenly.

Maybe I could just do nothing for a change.

Perhaps this was my time to learn how to meditate.

I emptied my mind and gave up control of everything.

As I turned inward, the tension in my legs ebbed.

I imagined myself sleeping in Kai’s arms. Peace trickled through me.

Calm washed over me. My face barely peeked out of the water, and even though my lungs protested with a rattle, I deepened my breaths.

I was in the water, but I wasn’t drowning anymore.

The quiet murmur of the ripples around my body soothed me. So did the small waves that rocked me gently. It was as if the sea had decided to be kind to me, even though I’d always thought it wanted to kill me.

I waited for my strength to return, knowing that I lived or died at the pleasure of the universe.

Perhaps I was already dead, but cradled in the ocean’s vast hand, I spotted a single star peeking between the rushing clouds.

It shone in a luminous blue, the color of Kai’s aura and Nix’s eyes. It smiled down at me.

***

Kai

I followed the current, allowing it to help me navigate faster.

Taking turns, I blew my whistle and called out for Cece.

I glanced at my Tak. Twenty minutes. My heart sank.

Too long. Cece was strong, but twenty minutes was a long time to struggle in the ocean.

Cece had just learned to swim, and she’d gone overboard with her hands tied behind her back.

Despair crushed my chest and weighed down my arms, but I didn’t slow down and I didn’t stop paddling. Memories of Malia’s empty gaze and blue lips tormented me, but I couldn’t focus on the past. I had to find Cece.

Standing up on the board, I could see Serenity’s lights far in the distance, shining like a tiny, remote lighthouse, but only because my Tak’s geolocator told me where to look.

If I could see the lights, so could others.

This meant that Tracker Team hadn’t been able to find us and that Li and his thugs were probably on their way.

One problem at a time. I dipped the oar in the water, propelling the surfboard forward. If Cece was dead, then the NWO would do me a favor when they showed up to dispatch me to hell. While I was still alive, I existed for one reason only: to find her.

I released the whistle from my lips and yelled. “Cece! Where are you?”

The silence of a tempered night was my only reply.

***

Cece

A whistle vibrated in the distance. I opened my eyes, and staring at the stars that had come out in mass to keep me company, diagnosed the persistent ringing as water-related tinnitus.

The rain had stopped, and my throat felt raw.

I was so thirsty I could’ve drunk the entire ocean if I hadn’t known better.

Like I hadn’t swallowed enough saltwater for a day—

“Cece!” a voice called out.

Surely I had imagined it. Nix or Kai? I couldn’t tell yet.

I’d had some interesting conversations since I fell into the ocean, but none of them had been clear, and most of them were with Nix.

Not that I could understand anything he said in his angel form.

But his aura? Yeah, I recognized it anywhere, anytime.

Well, look at you, Astor, believing your delusions, visual and auditory.

Oh, shut up, you shrew .

I might not be able to explain auras scientifically, but I’d learned to trust them, and I had used the auras to navigate my life lately, no pun intended.

The whistle came again, this time closer, shriller, and more irritating than before. An ear infection was my next diagnosis. God knew my ear canal had turned into a saltwater lake.

“Cece!” This time, the voice startled me. It sounded so near. And it sounded like…

Stop. Some hallucinations are okay. Others are plain torture .

“Cece!” Kai’s voice rang in the night, echoing over the now tranquil ocean. “Where are you? Cece, please!” The begging in his voice wrenched my heart out of my chest. “Please, Sorceress.” Was he crying? “Answer me!”

I’d had a conversation with my dead brother. I’d heard Kai in my head. One more exchange would not add any more madness to the inexplicable. Although I felt drained and aloof, my legs were somewhat rested. I lowered my feet, treaded water, and lifted my head.

“I’m here!” I croaked. “Over here!”

My eyes grew wide when I spotted a light aimed in my direction.

At first, it was a single beam of light sweeping the surface, but within seconds, the unique indigo shimmer I knew so well formed around the familiar figure, and the golden glow ignited around the blue, blinding me to everything but the aura surrounding the man angling my way.

“I’ll be,” I muttered to myself. “Did he really find me, or is this another delusion?”

The scientific bitch that lived in my head would never let go of reason.

“Where are you?” Kai shouted. “Cece!”

“Here!” I wiggled in the water like a puppy trying to stay above the surface. “Over here!”

My voice sounded rough. I breathed in some more saltwater in my excitement. I broke into a gagging and coughing fit. Then the light was on me, shining like the morning sun. Kai dove from his board and reappeared right next to me.

“Cece,” he breathed as his arms came around me, his aura beaming. “Sorceress. Love. You’re alive!”

He held me up, giving my legs a rest. His body felt solid against mine; his arms felt safe. The sobs that broke his voice overtook me. In his arms, I wept.

“It’s okay.” He turned me on my back, swam me over to his surfboard, then rotated me until I faced him again. “You really are alive. Thank the universe. Thank the ocean!”

Gently, as if I was a valuable treasure he’d just discovered buried beneath the sea, he lifted me up and deposited me on the surfboard.

“You’re safe.” He climbed beside me and hugged me to his chest. “I’m here. Right here.”

One day, I would tell him he had been in my mind and heart all along, challenging me as my swimming instructor, and loving me, even when I was lost at sea.

But right now, I could barely speak. The shakes that took hold of my body wouldn’t stop.

Kai held me tight, so tight. Even though we were both wet, his body lent heat to mine.

“Shit.” He drew back and stared at my back. “Your hands. They’re still tied.”

“Yeah,” I managed a rasp. “That sucked.”

“I got you.” He grabbed a knife from his vest and tangled with the knots.

Suddenly my hands were free.

My arms ached as I brought them around. I tested my hands. Curling my fingers, I discovered I had digits the size of sausages and they were wrinkled like prunes. When I brought my legs up on the board, my toes reminded me of dried raisins.

“No worries.” He pulled a drink from his vest and cracked open the cap. “Your hands and feet will get better with every minute you’re out of the water. Your body will heal. Sit or lie down, whatever works for you. Here.” He pressed the drink to my lips.

I drank deeply, gratefully, remembering another night on this same surfboard with the same man, even though I didn’t know then he would change my life and I his.

“Can you hold it?” he asked, his gaze worried.

I wrapped my trembling fingers around the bag and drank the whole thing in a long gulp.

“That’s my Sorceress.” He extracted a tiny pouch from one of his vest’s pockets. It converted into an emergency thermal blanket he draped over my shoulder. “This will keep you warm.” He hugged me once more. “As soon as we get back to Serenity , we’ll get you dry and hydrated.”

“You came,” I murmured, my throat now refreshed. “You came for me?”

“Of course I came for you!” he said, as if it should be obvious that he would risk his life for mine.

It is obvious , I reminded myself. You are not alone anymore.

“Thank you,” I whispered. “Thank you for loving me.”

He pressed his lips together until he could manage words. “Cece, you’re amazing. I never thought that you—” He choked on his emotions and clutched me to his chest.

I met his eyes. “You never thought I would survive?”

“Don’t get me wrong.” He planted a kiss on my chapped lips. “I know you are strong, but you endured beyond most people’s limits under impossible conditions. I mean, no hands! You’re beyond brave. You are… incredible.”

I smiled. “Or stubborn.”

“Or stubborn, thank the universe.” He kissed me again. “Hang on, love.” He stood up, grabbed the paddle, and after turning the board around, rowed us against the current. “We’re underway.”

***

Kai

I paddled like a madman to take Cece back to safety.

I was in disbelief and delirious with happiness.

She was alive! She’d stayed alive when anyone else would’ve given up.

After defying the odds, she sat on my board wrapped in the emergency blanket, looking forward, her back straight like the beautiful figurehead of a galleon.

The universe was in a generous mood. I thanked the ocean for returning Cece to me. This time, it had given instead of taking. Somehow, it had taken care of her when I couldn’t. Yeah. We were even now.

My woman had grit. And guts. Thankful for her life, I sped back toward Serenity , even though we were going against the current. If Cece was alive, I was unbroken. Healed. Cured of all my sorrows and hopeful once again.

The motion of paddling hurt, but who the hell cared about that? Not me. I ignored the burning of the saltwater on the shot that had grazed my shoulder, the blood trickling from my stab wound, and my exhaustion. Cece was alive. All was right in my life.

She broke her silence with a question, of course. “What happened to Levine?”

As I kept paddling, I told her what I’d done and where Levine was. She must’ve cursed the man a million times as we went. It took us a while to get back to the catamaran, but my Tak guided us true. As the first sunrays of a new day peeked over the horizon, Serenity’s lights beamed bright ahead.

“Almost there,” I announced, feasting my eyes on my catamaran.

“I love that boat,” Cece put in cheerfully.

The waves had robbed my vessel of its usual elegance. Sails snapping, rigging dangling, she bobbed on the calm seas, discombobulated but anchored, as if waiting for us like a loyal friend.

Cece turned her head and smiled at me. “She is the most beautiful sight I’ve ever seen.”

I grinned. “She’s a sight for sore eyes, for sure.” And sore arms, pecs, wounds, the works.

She started to say something else, but my Tak beeped with urgency. I stopped paddling. Balancing on the board, I pulled up a series of images on the small screen. After magnifying the radar, I focused on the moving blimp. It was the speed of the threat that gave it away.

My blood turned to ice.