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"Nico! Close your mouth! Take a breath!" Zorah's throat burned. She spared a glance at her feet to ensure the littles weren't in danger, afraid to look away from Nico for more than a split second. "Help! Please! Help! Someone! Anyone! We need help!"
With an ominousbloop,she imagined more than heard, Nico's small head disappeared under the water, replaced by a series of sickening bubbles.
"No! Nico!"
Through the roaring white noise that filled her head, the snapping and rushing of something large and heavy crashed through the trees. A body tore across the beach in a wild blur.
Zorah, choking on fear, gasped when an Alpha entered the water with a flurry of splashes and kicks, heading directly for the bubbles popping above Nico's head. Her hands flew to her mouth, unable to look away, not daring to hope as the man cut through the water in a smooth, rapid cadence.
Hands shaking, she knelt and cupped Pixie and Jace's sobbing, sniveling heads to her chest, her eyes glued to the water. Did the swimmer know where he was going? Could he find Nico in the murky lake water? Would it be too late?
As if in answer, the rescuer dove down, disappearing into the brown murk. Air hardened in her aching chest, and she was sure she'd never take a full breath again. What was taking so long? Was Nico gone? Was the rescuer going to drown, too?
Having pulled himself onto the floating dock, Ty stared intently into the water. Even from the shore, she could see the high-frequency quaking in his muscles, looking much more like a scared little boy than the surly preteen who'd given her so much lip. She should be mad at him, but there was no time for that. Not as the seconds ticked by and hope dangled by a fraying thread.
Finally,finally, a head exploded up out of the water, and Zorah whimpered when she caught sight of the second, smaller head in tow. They were on the move, the Alpha's powerful legs kicking faster toward the shore than Zorah thought even possible.
Choking on not-quite relief, Zorah scrambled to her feet. "C'mon, kids, away from the water.Now."
Not waiting for a response, Zorah picked up Jace and tugged on Pixie, dragging them back toward the blanket where a squalling, red-faced Ginny sat. She plopped Jace down on the blanket next to his screaming baby sister, who paused her wailing long enough to smile at her brother.
Zorah turned to Pixie. "I need you to be the big sister right now andstay here. You and Jace keep Ginny on the blanket, okay?Don'tcome near the water. Do you understand me? It's important."
Pixie, wide-eyed, nodded solemnly. Zorah whirled on her knees and stumbled as her foot caught in her damp skirt when she raced back to the water's edge. The Alpha carried Nico's limp body up onto the shore, and carefully, but quickly, the man laid him down and bent his ear to the boy's lips.
The Alpha's gaze collided with her own, and Zorah gasped, staring into the mossy-green eyes of none other than Jake.
CHAPTER 5
Jake
Unforgettable in the darkness, but in the bright summer day, Zorah's beauty seared his eyes like sunlight glaring on water.
But he didn't have time for that.
Chest heaving, his mind a crazy mixture of hope and fear, he focused on the inert boy.This boy could not die. Not like this. Not in front of her.
Without another thought, training from a different life took over. He blew in the child's mouth and pumped the bony chest, terrified beyond measure that he'd either not revive the boy or crush his ribs in the process. Zorah took care of the kids huddled together farther from the shore, but did that include this boy? Would she feel responsible? Would she be haunted forever by this? He couldn't let that happen. He couldn't let that kind of darkness touch her. He simplycouldn't.Desperation tainted every pump.He'd done CPR before, but never with Alpha strength and never with the panic-stricken heart of a young woman on the line.
Zorah clutched the boy's hand as Jake delivered two breaths, seeing the chest reassuringly rise as air arrived at its destination. She murmured encouragement, saying the boy's name over and over, her desperate pleas low, while the other children bawled in the background.
With a lurching heave, water burbled from the boy's lips, followed by soggy coughs. He flopped to his stomach, gasping for air as greenish fluid rolled over his lips and neck and onto the sand.
Zorah's voice cracked with relief, but she kept up her steady stream of encouragement, patting and rubbing the boy's back as he expelled lake water in painful hacking coughs.
Jake eased back on his heels, his breaths ragged, his body energized but numb.
Every day he heard Zorah arrive at the lake with her little caravan. While he couldn't make out her words, her sweet voice rose and fell on the wind, sometimes calm, sometimes gently scolding her charges. Every day he confronted the urge to sit and listen, to let her mere presence wash over him. But he couldn't succumb. If he did, he'd think about things that could never happen. So instead, when she brought the children for their daily cool-off, he pounded and sawed like a madman, determined to build a metaphorical wall of noise between his existence and hers by sheer will alone. But today, she'd shrieked, and he hadn't even thought about it. He'd just run.
Down he'd raced, tripping and hurling himself over rocks and brambles, moving at a speed he hadn't known he possessed. Once in view of the lake, the situation declared itself as he saw the boy's last desperate breath before his head disappeared. Jake dove in, pumping his arms and kicking his legs with all his strength. In the weightless exertion, he woke up muscle memories long buried and suppressed. A primitive, remnant part of his mind took over, following protocols drilled into him from over a century ago, when he'd trained as a lifeguard on the California coast. Back when he was a much younger man, lean and cocky, shamelessly flirting with tanned girls in barely visible bikinis, a heartthrob in white zinc sunscreen.
Before the world went to hell. Before his life became one unending nightmare.
With those old reflexes working overtime, it hadn't been hard to reach the boy and bring him to the surface or, thank God, resuscitate him. Jake didn't know the boy's parents personally, but he had no interest in facing down a grief-stricken Omega mother or an enraged Alpha father, thus forever solidifying his worthlessness in the Pack's eyes. That would be bad enough, but even worse, to leave Zorah open to the grief and guilt her involvement in this episode would surely cause. That, he did not think he could bear.
"Zorah," the boy croaked, in a half sob, half cough, turning to throw himself into her waiting arms.
"Shh. It's okay, buddy, it's okay," she whispered into his sopping wet head, rubbing his back in long, peaceful strokes.
