Alpha Warriors of The Cause - Tamara Rose Blodgett Page 0,36
horror is like a dinner bell for nightlopers. He gauges the time of day, thanking Principle it's only the start of twilight.
Triple moons bleed wan light over the women. They flail and scream, their wide eyes pitching around for anything solid, familiar.
None can swim.
The others race back to the shore, heedless of who might follow.
Jeb has only the Eighth hammering in his brain: Defend those who cannot.
The group leaps into the icy lake to save those who cannot save themselves.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Beth
Beth took her Reflective training seriously and is well-versed in all sorts of different pursuits not relevant to Papilio. This includes swimming.
Reflecting is so entrenched in the Papilion culture that the few lakes that exist are rarely used to jump, and even less likely to be used to swim. There are so many portals, large and small, that reflect, the papiliones have little use for swimming.
That's why the three Reflective females, assigned to clerical, are currently drowning.
Beth heaves herself into the lake without hesitation, and her boots weigh her down immediately. Using a Three swimming stroke, aptly named “the butterfly,” she tosses her body out of the water, launching back with persistent accuracy.
Jeb uses the “crawl” and gains on the drowning women. Being an expert swimmer was one of the only things that saved Beth in the lake when she and Ryan jumped together.
It would be the only thing to save the women—if she could get to them.
She breaks the surface of the frigid water, takes a wild sucking breath, and sees a pale hand waving like a frantic flag above the surface.
Beth dives, shooting underneath the water and stabbing toward the lone limb.
She grabs the woman about the waist then surges backward and up. They bob along the surface like an unlikely buoy, and Beth gasps.
Kennet and Jeb grab the remaining two. One woman is not breathing. Calvin is waiting on shore, ready to assist.
Beth's spluttering charge fights Beth, possibly still assuming she's drowning.
Her struggling begins to cause Beth to sink. Beth turns her head to suck air, driving her right arm back as she pulls behind her, using her powerful legs to kick backward.
The woman elbows her in the stomach, and Beth folds, going under. When she breaks the surface, she's dazed.
Oxygen deprivation.
Where the hades are Slade and Gunnar? I could use a little help.
Beth hazards a glance behind her and spots the Bloodlings pacing the shore, their unnervingly distraught eyes on her.
Why aren't they helping?
The same elbow strikes Beth hard in the nose, and blood pumps into the water, spreading around them.
Dizziness sinks its teeth into Beth's skull. “Stop!” Beth yells at the woman, and she stills.
Too late.
Unconsciousness slides into the pockets of her mind.
“Beth!” Jeb roars from somewhere close by.
Her hold on the woman loosens. Dear Principle.
Jeb can't reach her—he's got his own woman to save. They'll all go down.
“Slade!” Beth calls weakly. She reaches out, winding her fingers in the woman's hair, and yanks her by the scalp, driving toward shore.
“Ah!” she screams.
Beth's lips curl into a dazed smile. That's what you get for fighting your rescuer.
Beth rolls over, blowing water out of her mouth, and looks at Gunnar and Slade.
Fools.
“Why aren't you chumps saving the day?” Jacky yells. “God, with all the manpower, you two stand around? Doy.”
Jacky dives in, leaving the Bloodlings at the shore.
Beth goes under again. Her eyes catch a single reflection where the water creeps to shore, growing shallow and clear.
Beth's eyes latch on to the reflection, and she sees her own eyes stare back for the span of a blink.
It's enough.
She knows she's too weak to reflect, but she jumps anyway.
Opening her eyes, Beth finds she's beneath Jacky. Surprised, she gasps, dragging water into her lungs.
She can't breathe.
Strong arms tear her from the water.
“Beth!”
Jeb.
He sounds so worried.
Weight settles on her chest.
Her eyes bulge. No air!
Jeb and Slade peer down at her. Slade shoves Jeb, and he flies away.
Slade gazes down at her, cupping her face.
“Tiny frog.” His teeth tear at his forearm.
Beth shakes her head, just the barest motion, and he smiles down at her.
No more of his blood.
The expression never reaches his eyes. He can't erase the worry from his features, no matter how hard he tries. Slade pretends around Jeb, but not when it's only her.
Hot blood splatters across Beth's face, and Jeb looms behind Slade.
Gunnar lays hands on Jeb, and they begin to beat each other with fists.
Kennet attacks Gunnar; Calvin joins in.
“Look only at me, tiny frog.”
Beth's eyes roll frantically from Gunnar to Slade's depthless