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A sick feeling wormed in Jake's gut. Adults were coming, and he had no way of knowing how they'd react to finding out what had just transpired. One would assume relief and gratitude, but he knew better than to bank on assumptions. Most parents in the village probably wanted the likes of him nowhere near their pups.
A protective drive reared up inside him. He could withstand their disdain and rejection, no problem. What he couldn't tolerate was any criticism that might be hurled at Zorah in an emotional moment. He needed to get back to shore.
"Come on, buddy," he said as gently as he could, "time to face the music. Do you need help or not?"
His expression full of dread, the kid stopped gnawing on his fingernail and made eye contact for a fleeting second. "I think I can manage, but maybe you could... uh..."
Planting his foot on a slimy post, Jake kicked back a few feet from the dock and motioned for the kid to get in the water. "I'll stay close. You get into trouble, give a wave."
CHAPTER 6
Zorah
Grace sobbed with her whole body. Clutching Nico's sopping wet head against her breast, she baptized him in maternal tears. She grabbed at her children — Jace's arm, Pixie's cheek, Nico's leg — her hands pawing from one to the next, as if trying to reassure her distraught mind they were still in one piece. Pixie and Jace clung to their mother as Lars lifted a struggling, never-wanting-to-miss-out Ginny from Zorah's arms.
A small group of Alphas and Omegas had burst from the woods, racing toward where Zorah and the children huddled on the beach. Lars and Grace, Xavi and Marie, and Colt, all of them breathless, looking to Zorah for answers. The Alphas had heard her screaming back at the village, and everyone had come running, fearing the absolute worst. They weren't far off.
"Nico was drowning and Jake saved him," Zorah explained as the Alpha hero sloshed to shore beside a terrified-looking Ty.
Marie rushed forward to embrace her son, and the boy's shoulders quaked with silent tears, reminding Zorah that, despite his bravado, Ty was still young.
"I don't understand." Lars's eyes narrowed. "How did Nico get stranded in the middle of the lake?"
Quickly, Zorah described the rickety boat and the boys' insistence on taking it out. The Alphas and Omegas tensed with each added detail, and the air grew thick with reproach. She tried to catch Jake's eye, but he seemed to be deliberately ignoring her, squeezing water from his shirttail. It stung, until she noticed that he'd moved several feet away from the group and appeared to be avoiding eye contact with everyone else, too.
"What were you thinking?" Xavi demanded when Ty lifted his head from his mother's bosom. "Where did you even find a fucking canoe?"
"Xavi," Marie pleaded, her hand smoothing Ty's hair. "Now isn't the time."
Having none of it, Xavi glared daggers at his mate and his son. "He could've died, Marie. They both could've died." Seething, the big Alpha whirled, his accusing eyes landing on Zorah's face. "You saw the whole thing happen, why didn't you stop them?"
All the moisture dried in Zorah's mouth as the accusation hit home. A thousand second guesses ran roughshod through her mind, and an uneasy tremor vibrated in her gut.
"Zorah." Colt's voice was gentler, but his eyes held hers with dominant expectation. "Did you try to stop them?"
"I... I..." Heated anxiety flamed up her chest and neck as seconds ticked by, as explanations and justifications floundered in her thoughts and refused to form into words.
Three pairs of harsh, judging Alpha eyes stared at her, sapping her of any ability to think or retrace her decisions from only minutes before. Zorah fisted her skirt in her damp palm, as if physically holding herself to the spot when every instinct compelled her to turn and flee their ire and condemnation.
"Or did you just stand there?" Xavi demanded.
Zorah's chest caved in at the insult, her shoulders rolling forward as she shrunk under the weight of the shame. He was right; shehadjust stood there, paralyzed like a statue, making a dozen decisions and all the wrong ones. She'd made a decision not to run for help. Could she have made it back to the village before the boat broke? Maybe if she'd carried Ginny and taken Jace and Pixie far enough down the path to be out of danger...
Or if she'd ever learned how to swim.
"She didn't do anything wrong." A low, hoarse voice broke the tension like the crack of a whip.
Every head jerked toward the speaker.
Jake, his face a cool, indifferent mask, slid inscrutable eyes to Xavi. Rusty voice full of certainty, he added, "If she hadn't been here and yelled for help, that boy would've died. She kept the little ones safe and out of the way when I brought him to shore. She did well."
Zorah's heart gave a jarring thump, and breath whisked back into her lungs. Jake was...defendingher? Her inner Omega stupidly preened, basking in this unexpected praise. Astonished, Zorah searched his face, trying to glean some connection as he spoke up for her without acknowledging her presence.
Xavi's chest inflated, and his fists tightened at the obvious challenge. He wasn't the largest Alpha in the Pack by any means, but he was a terrified father, and that had to count for something. On her right, Colt shifted his weight, Lars got to his feet, and all the Alphas stilled like they tasted impending violence.
Zorah's inner Omega snarled in response to the threat, sparking an absolutely insane need to protecthim, a full-grown Alpha! Quelling the urge to hurl herself between Jake and the other Alphas, Zorah dug her toes in the sand and squeezed her skirt till her knuckles hurt.
Grace stood; a scowl painted on top of her puffy, tear-soaked face. "Zorah isn't responsible for those two boys, and she had the three little ones to look after. How was she supposed to run back to the village with them in tow? What was she going to do, Xavi, leave them here unsupervised so they could drown while she went for help? We'd have four dead kids instead of none."
