Page 239 of Lana Pecherczyk

His cheeks burned when he thought of reading it aloud, but if he lost courage now, then how would Blake know she had something to come back to? Something he’d been building from the moment he met her?

River laid his head beside his mate’s on the pillow. The folded note trembled in his grip as he held it where she would see it when she opened her eyes.

“Blake, I have a gift for you.” He cleared his throat. “I’d originally planned to read this to you last night, even before I knew I could swoop you. I also had this whole rainbow thing planned. It involved some bioluminescent pigment and waterfall mist, but … yeah … I got a little distracted when you did that thing I love to my?—”

“Pups in the room,” someone barked.

“Right.” River coughed. Oops. “Anyway, it’s not perfect. But that’s your thing, right? You make the imperfect perfect. I told you I love you, but I never explained how much or why. No wonder you were like, Oh, that’s nice.” He shook his head at his stupidity. “One day I want to paint the reasons in my trove—ourtrove. Not just for us to remember each other, but so that you’ll always have a place to remember how much you were loved in your old life … and your new one. You know—” heat rushed to his cheeks “—I can’t get the words out sometimes, so I wrote them down.”

He cast a nervous glance around the room, but no one judged him. They listened patiently. Avidly. Rather, everyone did except for the twins. They plucked at the blanket with their claws and circled over Blake’s lumpy legs to find a comfortable spot.

The moment they were done, he started reading.

Chapter

Seventy-Four

Death tasted like champagne bubbles and salt water.

Swimming. She was always swimming.

Two feet and a heartbeat used to be enough, but Blake found neither in this freezing abyss. Her legs were numb. Her heart was silent. The ocean never ended.

Laughter.

Somewhere.

There.

A ray of sunlight broke through the clouds and landed on a boat, a yacht with the words “Boss Man” painted on the hull. Hope flared between her ribs. Jeff. He mustn’t have seen her fall overboard.

“Oi!” she shouted, waving. “Hun, I’m over here.”

She carved her arms through black water and swam to him. But lead weights had replaced her limbs. Her muscles screamed with each stroke. No matter how hard she tried, her legs remained numb, and the ocean remained an expanse of steel between her and the boat.

“Jeff!” Her voice broke as she floundered. “Don’t leave me?—”

The yacht’s wake rolled over her head. Salt flooded her mouth, choking her.

Her husband’s laughter drifted across the water. “You can’t upcycle yourself, babe.”

The prim and proper woman beside him cackled. Their champagne glasses clinked together.

“Look at her,” the woman sneered. “She doesn’t know when to give up.”

“So clueless.” Jeff clicked his tongue, judging Blake’s struggle to stay afloat.

Something was wrong with this.

Hadn’t she been here before?

Hadn’t she chased after that boat until her legs went numb? But this time … she was in the water. Last time, she was…

A shadow passed overhead. Then another.

Blake looked up, salt stinging her eyes. A familiar black and white bird circled tightly above. One eye peered down at her.

“Go away, Scarface,” she mumbled. “Find something worth protecting.”