AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I can’t go on pretending this is something I can just quit the second we’re on land.
Her gaze drifts from me to the window and she smiles.
There’s a magnificent sunrise inching over the horizon.
Beautiful, sure, but after today, the sea will never hold the same magic for me that it used to.
“Any idea where we are?” she asks roughly.
We haven’t spoken for hours, too drained and distracted, running on pure instinct.
As the storm faded and we drifted through the night, we had to keep working.
Juan glances between us and excuses himself, eager to check in with his crew.
We haven’t seen Peter for over an hour, and with George laid up in sick bay, I hope they’re both okay, along with the other guys.
But Dess is still here, staring, waiting for my answer.
“I don’t know,” I tell her, wishing I had a better one to give. “No land in sight. We really need GPS to have any clue.”
She nods glumly and slumps back in her seat.
Bruises bloom across her arms and there’s a big one on her cheek, no doubt from the sea flinging her around like a doll.
I’m aching, too. Battered. Hurt all over.
But I can’t feel my own pain whenever I look at her.
There’s just this soaring relief that she’s alive, and fury at the soon-to-be destroyed motherfuckers who tried to kill her with their games.
“Sorry, Mol,” she says, unfastening the dog’s leash.
Molly sits up and yawns, wagging her tail like it’s just another morning. Or maybe the husky knows how close we came to never seeing another sunrise again.
Fuck, I almost watched them die.
I thought if I survived this, I’d have to go about life knowing she wasn’t in it, and the thought slayed me.
Now, I know.
I’m certain I’d rather die a thousand times than risk anything like that again, and she needs to know it.
“Destiny.”
Her head jerks up and her eyes find mine. Her lips are swollen from the salt.
“Shepherd.”
I take her hand and pull her up.
Instead of pulling away like I expect, she clings to me, her palms skimming over my arms, my chest, my back.
She’s checking to see if I’m all right, or maybe if I’m real flesh instead of a hallucination.
“Hey, hey.” I cup her face in my hands, marveling at how beautiful her eyes are in the dawn.
That green I haven’t seen in ages is back, shining through the blue.
