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Held my breath.
Fired.
The arrow whizzed through the water, fast as a bullet, but unlike with my last shot, the fish were already spooked. They scattered.
But the spear was faster.
Another hit.
It was holding on by the skin of its teeth. The spear was lodged precariously at the point where the fish’s body met its tail. Any jerky movements reeling it in, and the delicate membrane would tear. The fish would be lost to the sweeping tide, even in the sheltered waters of the hole.
Scooping it into the bag, I steeled myself to fight through the current to get to the yacht. My body was screaming for rest, my muscles burning and lungs on fire. I was low on oxygen, cutting it far too close.
Rising toward the surface, I kicked in long, even strokes, catching the tide and letting it do most of the work to take me there.
A flicker caught my eye.
I spun.
Searched the waters.
A propellor churned the surface at the edge of my visibility. I tried to block out the distraction.
My heart thudded in my chest, banging around at a frenetic pace.
My breathing shallowed out. My breaths were more gasps than inhales. My pulse skyrocketed.
There. To the left.
A shadow.
Moving silently toward me.
A bull shark.
A big one.
My breath lodged in my throat. Where the fuck was I? I tore my eyes away from the predator. Still at least a metre from the surface. The hull of my Noble Steed was just out of reach. A few metres away.
The shark wanted lunch.
I wasn’t about to be it.
A piercing whistle broke through the muted sounds underwater. It was like a jolt of electricity to my system. It broke the stalemate.
I kicked hard, crashing through the surface.
Sunlight assaulted my eyes even through my mask. My arms above my head, I reached for Ry. He stood on the diving platform, waiting for me with a scowl on his face.
Strong hands hauled me out of the water, lifting me like I was weightless. Ry might be pissed, but he deposited me gently on the deck. I didn’t look back at the water—it was easier to feign indifference than show any weakness.
I’d learned the hard way never to let my guard down, to never reveal the truth of my feelings. Had I come too close this time? I didn’t want to know.
Ry was safe—I could trust him with my life—but it didn’t matter. I wouldn’t let him see that I was rattled.
To Ryder, I was his unflappable boss. The queen my knight loyally served, catering to almost every one of my whims. I was low maintenance most of the time, but, well… sometimes I wasn’t.
He was my navigator, my pilot, and my chef. To me, he was my big brother’s best friend, left behind like me when Asher was lost at sea. My mum and Ryder’s dad had been the very best of friends. It was never a question that Asher and Ryder would be inseparable from the moment they could crawl until that fateful day.
