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OLIVER

" O liver," Vincent warns behind me. "Stay."

Without moving my panicked gaze from the water, I snap, "I'm not a fucking dog!"

"No," he agrees, "you aren't. But you are scaring me, Beta. Please step away from the edge."

I can't make my feet move away from the last spot Emmett was before launching himself into the water, but I do shoot Vincent a shocked look. " I'm scaring you?! They've been under for a fucking eternity, Vince!"

The three most important people in my life are down there. My brother, my alpha, and my omega, for fuck’s sake!

Vincent nods, stepping toward me, his eyebrows drawn down in worry. "I know, but I can't lose you too, Oli," the big buff alpha whispers. Surprise distracts me from my drowning pack, but Emmett's blaring panic slams into me with a force of a fucking tidal wave.

I could barely hold myself back when Samuel reached the spot I last saw Emmett, but I should have known my brother would never leave his best friend and omega down there alone. Now all three of them have my heart in a vise grip.

My lungs cramp like I can't breathe. I swear my arms and legs ache like Emmett's must be as he wades through the dark waters trying to save Amaya.

"Em," I breathe, my feet moving of their own accord. Before I can fall in after them, Vincent wraps an arm around my waist with a snarl.

"What the fuck did I just say, Oliver?" His voice breaks through the pulse whooshing through my ears. Instead of fighting him, my hand latches onto his forearm. "I need you here with me," Vincent all but begs.

"Guys," Paul says, stepping up beside us, tone tight with anxiety. "Look."

First comes the ripple, then a rush of bubbles. Something tightens around my middle, but I pay it no mind. I have to help them. "EMMETT! SAM!"

As one, their attention whips in my direction, drawn to my voice or my flailing, I don't know, but I need them on land now . A quick shift of their bodies and my world stops.

" Amaya ..." I choke, my body going as limp as hers as my packmates drag her through the water.

A ragged noise rumbles by my ear. Vincent’s losing his control of his emotions too, but still he holds me like he's holding together the pieces of his sanity. Without his strong arms, I might break too.

My attention is completely stuck on Em and Sam as they paddle their way closer. I barely notice Paul's shouts for help and medical attention. Fuck, there could be bombs going off and I wouldn't even care.

Everything of importance is right in front of me, dragging themselves up onto the dock as I crumple to my knees beside my lifeless omega. I don't know when Vincent let go of me to help them, but without his strength, my weakness drags me down.

Hands flutter into my vision. They look like mine, but I don't know. I shouldn't be touching her pale, bruised skin. I'll hurt her . I can't hurt her! The hands disappear only to be replaced with arms that aren't afraid to save her. To save my omega...

Self hatred slithers around my throat, strangling the crazy mumbling spiling from my lips. ' Useless. Failure. Burden.'

"EMMETT!"

I jump, the deprecating words coming to an immediate halt with Vincent's loud voice. It's painful, but I tear my gaze away from the paramedics giving Amaya CPR to check on the other piece of my heart.

' Failure. Failure. Failure.'

I wince with each suffocating reminder that I'm?—

Vincent lunges for Emmett who's crouched with his hands in his hair. "You are NOT a failure! Get that through you thick fucking skull right now, or so help me I will spank you!"

Emmett . Those feelings, those words, weren't mine trying to beat me down. My alpha feels like a failure. That realization punches my already bleeding heart, making me feel like a piece of shit too.

How am I supposed to help my alpha and my omega when it seems they are both dying? One mentally, the other physically.

"Vince—"

"Fuck off, Sam!" Vincent snaps.

'Failure.'

With one final roar, Vincent snatches a handful of Emmett's hair in one hand and his jaw in the other. Snarling, the alpha drags my bonded mate to his feet and slams his lips against Emmett's.

Life, like sparkly blues, bursts in my bond with Em. He'll be okay .

With my alpha being taken care of, I settle all my hopes on Amaya. Please, baby girl. I beg constantly as her body lurches and shakes with each punishing push of the paramedics’ hands.

Her mouth is wide open from the breaths she's been given, but she remains silent and pliant. The way her body quakes and moves with their ministrations will forever be ingrained in my memory.

Come back to me, baby. Please.

She needs to replace this nightmare with our dream.

13 Years Old

"Tell me again. Please," she whispers.

I smile and close my eyes, knowing Amaya will do the same so we can imagine our dream is real. "Someday," I begin, "we will see each other every day. I'll wake up, peek my head out the door and see you and your crazy sleep hair passing by my room. Emmett will have pancakes ready, and bacon too, of course. When we enter the kitchen, Samuel will be on his laptop already starting his work day like a weirdo."

Maya giggles and her hand squeezes mine.

My smile widens, imagining the picture I'm painting of our future. "The three of us will be running our dads' realty business, but I'm gonna have a line of fans threatening to blind me with their cameras."

"And me?" she murmurs like she always does when I tell her how I picture adult Amaya.

"You, my friend, will be chaos incarnate. No one job will settle you down, and we won't hold you back. Pack supports pack, and you will do it all. You'll help market my singing, maybe even help me write a song. I bet you'll go to art school just to try it. Surfing? An adult softball league? Bartender? You name it, I can see you doing it."

Blinking my eyes open, I turn to Amaya and see her already looking at me with watery eyes. "You'll do it all, Amaya. We will make sure you follow every dream you have. You'll be free, and when you fly, we will always be the air under your wings."

"That's a beautiful dream, Oli." A tear drops from her lashes just as she rests her head on my shoulder.

I nod. "It will be a beautiful life, Maya."