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I blinked my eyes open and immediately began vomiting lake water. I coughed and coughed, fighting against the water to get real air into my lungs.
But I was alive.
Alek knelt over me, now hanging his dripping wet head in relief.
“You scared the shit out of me, Lyra,” he whispered. I realized he was also soaking wet, and we were on the beach of the lake.
I continued coughing for a few minutes until I finally quit choking on water.
“Your lips are blue,” Alek said. “And you’re freezing. Let’s get you inside.”
He moved to pick me up, sliding an arm under my knees and pulling me to his chest. I didn’t fight him on it. I didn’t have the energy.
I ignored the lingering eyes that followed. Surely everyone had witnessed Alek pulling my unconscious body from the lake.
I couldn't help but wonder how many others wanted me dead.
The warmth of the house didn’t help. I shivered relentlessly as my body tried to warm itself up. Alek brought us into a bedroom and kicked the door shut behind him. He walked us into the bathroom and set me on the edge of the bathtub.
Each breath burned my lungs. I huddled my arms around myself, as if that would help. As if that would bring me some sort of relief.
“Here,” Alek said, wrapping a towel around my body. I could still practicallyfeelhow angry he was. His emotion radiated off of him in waves that only added to my shivering. “We have to warm you up before you get hypothermia.”
I would have answered if my teeth would have quit chattering.
Alek reached behind me and turned the bath water on. I wanted to ask him how long I had been in the water, but I couldn’t speak. I could only think about taking another breath. And another.
“I’m going to kill them,” Alek muttered, more to himself than to me. “I’m going to fucking kill all of them for this.”
A tiny ounce of warmth bloomed in my chest. Nobody had ever cared about me that much. Nobody had ever cared about my life that much.
I couldn’t help but smile when I thought about my mother—about how pissed she would be if I died.
Her lucky day, I guess.
Alek began peeling the towel off my frozen shoulders, then moved to unzip my hoodie.
“No,” I tried to say, but no words came out. I could barely move, much less object.
But Alek stopped and grabbed me by the shoulders. “You have to get warm, Lyra,” he explained. “Let me help you.”
I was in no position to object to help, and I didn’t see many options. Especially considering I still couldn’t feel my fingers.
Alek started again, moving slowly as he unzipped my jacket and peeled the wet fabric from my body. He did the same to my shirt, tugging it up and over my head before tossing it into the wet heap.
To my surprise, Alek didn’t smile. He didn’t laugh or make an inappropriate joke as he undressed my frozen body, peeling each layer of clothing away until I was dressed in only my bra and underwear.
The look of concern on his face, however, was unchanging.
“The water’s warm,” he promised gently. “It might sting at first, but that’s the feeling of blood coming back to your skin.”
I nodded and let him help me into the bathtub. Alek’s hands didn’t leave my body until I was fully seated in the water.
He was right. It did sting. But after a couple seconds, I could finally take a deep breath again. I rubbed my hands together beneath the water, willing them back to life.
Alek peeled off his own soaking wet shirt and leaned against the bathroom sink. His muscles flexed under his tanned, tattooed skin. I could see the veins in his forearms as he gripped the edge of the counter. He whispered something to himself I couldn’t hear.
“Thank you,” I managed to say, breaking the looming silence in the air.
