Page 121 of Liar Witch

“No.” I hate the word as it falls from my lips. “He’ll see you as a threat and lose his concentration. I know it probably doesn’t look like it, but his beast won’t let her drown.”

“Great. So he’ll scare her to death instead? How is that any better?” Klaus yells back.

“I’ll convince him.”

That shuts them up fast.

I bend down and rip off one shoe.

“Nos…are you sure that’s a good idea?”

I ignore Val and go for the other shoe.

“What if you shift?” Ry says the one thing that the Captain can’t. “One leviathan wreaking havoc is enough.”

I shake my head and reach for the railing, focusing hard on the direction of Nilsa’s breathing. “I’m not sure Icanshift anymore.”

With that, I launch myself over the side and into the abyss.

My first thought is that the water is actually warmer than I thought it would be. My second is that I forgot how hard it is to figure out which way is which when I’m swimming and someone isn’t guiding me. For a terrifying moment I think I’m swimming down instead of up, but I keep going. A few seconds later my head breaks the surface with a gasp, and I wipe water out of my face as I turn to face my twin.

The noise of Cas’s beast has quieted with my presence, fading to a soft purr that coats my skin, coaxing the beast within to open one single eye.

No. This is about Nilsa. I shove my beast back behind steel bars.

“Give her to me, brother,” I say, keeping my tone even as I tread water. “You’re scaring her.”

The grumbling sound is a challenge, and my beast responds. A growl echoes out of my throat without my permission.

Shit.

This was not part of the plan.

A dominance battle with our mate trapped in the middle of us could prove deadly.

“Nos, just a heads up, you’re not fucking calming him down!” Val yells.

The thundering roar which echoes from my brother in response makes my skin itch with the urge to shift. His dominance pulses against me like a physical force, tempting me to push back. To join in.

My beast is throwing itself against my mind in a way it hasn’t since I was a teenager.

The leviathan in the water with me knows exactly what it’s doing. Tempting my beast to prove how dominant he is. To prove once and for all that we’re just as much alpha as Cas is.

We can’t shift. A blind leviathan is a recipe for disaster. At that size, I could crush my mate. I wouldn’t even notice.

Only that reminder is enough to shackle the beast again.

I kick forward, swimming until my hand lands against his warm scales.

“Give her to me.” I leave no room for argument this time, laying my voice with every ounce of dominance I possess. “She’s not ready for us yet and you’re going to hurt her.”

Somehow, it’s enough.

I feel my twin’s beast fade. Not much, just enough.

In the next instant, I’m swept up and out of the water. My stomach drops through my feet as I soar through the air before crashing down onto the deck.Hard.

“Nilsa?” I ask, already pushing to my feet, shaking out the soreness in my limbs.