Midnight Lies (Shifter Island #2) - Raye Wagner Page 0,31
moment later, the twins arrived.
“Thank—” The words never finished leaving my throat. Something grabbed my ankle and pulled. Hard.
I screamed in the water, which was the stupidest thing ever because all the air left me in a rush, and then I had to hold my breath.
Whatever tentacled thing that had me was dark … and slimy. I scratched and clawed, but it held firm as it dragged me down. I thrashed, but we were deep and the water murky enough that I couldn’t see what had me.
‘Rage!’
‘I’m here.’
Rage had hooked his hands under my armpits and pulled, but the creature pulled back. No matter how hard I kicked and flailed, I couldn’t get free, and they were playing freaking tug-of-war with me!
‘The knife!’ Rage screamed into my mind—so loud and sudden I flinched. But it snapped me from my stupor.
Reaching behind my back, I tugged the blade free and, careful not to slash into the abyss like a madwoman, ran my free hand down my leg, cringing at the slimy tentacle-thing around my ankle. Then, I sliced through it with all my might.
A high-pitched hiss rose in the water, and then I was free. Black oily blood rose to the surface with Rage and me as we swam like crazy for air. We popped up to the surface, both gasping, and I giggled with relief, so grateful to see the twins reaching for us. Something dark breached the surface beside me, and I swallowed a shriek as a black tentacle, hacked off and oozing onyx blood, floated by.
Rage grabbed me, cradling the sides of my face, and crushed his lips to mine. The kiss was fierce and filled with the fervor of relief. “You scared the magic out of me, woman!”
“Ditto,” I giggled, giddy with our freedom. “I want out of this water ASAP.”
Audrey pulled us into the canoe one by one, and it dipped with our combined weight. Rage and I stretched out across the bottom of the small boat, panting and soaking wet. But there were no shouts of alarm, so we weren’t seen.
Thank the mage.
“How long will it take to get to the island?” I asked, snuggling into Rage’s embrace.
“About two hours,” Sadie replied.
We lay in silence, and I stared up at the blue sky, enjoying this little reprieve before what was sure to be a crazy day, until something thick and heavy landed on top of me, startling me.
“Stay down,” Audrey hissed when I peeked out from the thick pelt. She threw the other bearskin over Rage. “The dock looks dead. No guards in sight, but I don’t trust it.”
“Neither do I,” Sadie said, shaking her head as the twins paddled toward shore. “Who leaves their shoreline unprotected?”
“That sounds like my uncle.” Rage grunted with disgust from under the fur. “He’s such an idiot sometimes. He probably sent all his guards to the mainland.”
“Or is it a trap?” I asked. “He’ll let us walk up on shore and then ambush us?”
Rage shrugged. “He isn’t trying to kill us. Not right now. And we need to get to Justice and Noble.”
Right. He wouldn’t kill us because of the shield bond. ‘But then, where are the guards? He wouldn’t send them all to the magic lands and leave Alpha Island unguarded, would he?’
‘I don’t know,’ he replied in my mind, his voice colored with concern. “Be careful,” he added to the girls.
A few minutes later, we felt the canoe bump into the beach. No one said or did anything, and blood rushed in my ears as we waited for someone to jump out of the bushes and tell us they’d caught us. A few moments passed, and when nothing happened, one of the girls jumped out of the canoe with a splash and then hauled us onto the shore.
“It’s clear,” one of the twins hissed.
We leapt out of the boat. Rage and I each wrapped one of the furs around us to conceal our figures as the twins eyed the castle.
“Stop right there,” a woman snarled just behind the twins.
The girls froze, their eyes widening in fear, but Rage and I grinned at the familiar voice.
“Mom.” His voice broke, and he spun toward her, dropping the bear pelt.
I knew the moment she recognized him because she cried, “Courage!”
And then she collapsed to the ground, sobbing. He knelt next to her, and I stood awkwardly nearby as he pulled her into his arms.
“I thought I lost you,” she whimpered, and then she reached for me too. “Both of you.”