Surge - Maya Nicole Page 0,36

throat was on fire.

I was going to die.

A head popped up and I rubbed at my eyes. Only his eyes and forehead were showing. His skin was as blue as the water and his eyes were amber and shaped like a cat's. My mouth opened to scream, but my vision tunneled and everything went black.

Someone grabbed my arm and yanked me to my feet. I screamed and it echoed in the cave. Blake had ahold of me and I twisted in his grip, shoving at him.

I managed to slip out of his grasp, but he reached for me again and our bodies collided. My ankle rolled as I stepped on something inside the boat and my balance was thrown off.

It happened in a split second. We hit the water in a tangle of limbs with a scream leaving my lips.

He let go of me and I fought against the panic that was threatening to render me helpless. I hadn't been in the water since I was seven. I was able to keep my head above water and I grabbed onto the first thing I could.

A cry lodged in my throat and I tried to pull myself up on the boat but every muscle in me was shaking so I just held onto the rear platform of it for dear life.

"Where's Riley?" Morgan asked.

"Help." My voice came out as a croak.

I heard a splash, and then faster than should have been possible, Blake was wrapping his arms around me. "Let go, Riley. I'll get you out of here."

"I can't."

He pried my fingers from the edge of the platform, and instead of putting me on the boat, he swam back around it to the ledge where Morgan was waiting.

He grabbed me and pulled me out of the water. Relief washed over me and my muscles went limp. They had been so tense that now they felt like jelly. A chill swept over me and I curled myself into a ball.

I heard them get into a small argument but wasn't really listening to them. The sound of my heartbeats in my ears was deafening. Blake scooped me into his arms, and the next thing I knew, he was setting me on the bathroom counter.

"You need to get out of these clothes. You're freezing." He started to pull the hem of my top away from my body.

I shook my head. I wasn't about to let them see me naked. I dug my nails into his arm and he looked at Jax, who had appeared in the doorway. I avoided looking at him after seeing him get off in the shower.

"We should be throwing her ass outside the gates, not coddling her." Despite Jax's words, he walked to the shower and turned on the water.

"Let's get her warm so she doesn't get hypothermia and then we can figure out how we want to deal with her."

I had almost forgotten why I was at their house in the first place. A shudder rocked through me as Blake stepped into the shower with me in his arms. He said something to me then dropped my legs. I sagged against him, clinging to his body.

"Come on, Riley. Stop being difficult."

Jax moved to my other side and gripped my arm. My body warmed with his touch, more so than from the warm water.

The water was shut off and I was handed to Morgan, who was waiting with a towel. I nodded when he said something and they shut the bathroom door as they left me.

Chapter Eleven

Get it together, Ri.

I looked at myself in the mirror and frowned at the state I was in. I looked like something the cat dragged in. My brown hair was a curly mess and the eyeliner and mascara I had worn was melting off my face.

I used the edge of the towel and wiped my face off the rest of the way. My skin was blotchy from crying and my green eyes were wide and scared.

His eyes.

I shook my head and knew I was just projecting my memories onto the whole situation. As soon as I had hit the water, I was taken back to the sheer terror I had felt being pulled out to sea by a rip current.

It had been ten years since what the news had called a miracle. It wasn't a miracle. I still was convinced a sea creature that looked human had saved me. But even then, I knew no one would believe me.

Feeling a little more alive, I