MATED TO THE ALPHA AND HIS BETA - Season 5 Episode 44

Lanie

On deck, I clung to the railing with every bit of strength I had or could steal from my wolf. The yacht pitched as each wave took us higher Than the one before it. Up, up, up, and then down, we’d plunge into the well left behind by each crest.

I thought I might be screaming, but I couldn’t hear my own voice above the sound of the storm. Rain slashed at my face, cutting into my cheeks and forcing me to close my eyes. My feet slid out from under me.

With determination, I redoubled my efforts to get to my daughter. Hand over hand, I hauled myself along that railing, getting closer an inch at a time to where Stella stood at the front of the yacht. I could hear my mates shouting through our mind link, but their voices sounded so far away I couldn’t understand what they were saying. I knew they would be fighting to get to her the same way I was, though.

This yacht might sink, but we’d swim, if we had to.

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I couldn’t Seek the way Stella could. I had to open my eyes despite the cold, icy slashes of rain. I squinted against the harsh pellets of hail now pelting me. They bounced off the deck and made it even more slippery than it had been before. My feet tried to go out from under me again. My hands slipped off the railing. I went to my hands and knees on the slick wood. The boat rocked, up and down, worse than a roller coaster.

“I will crawl to you, if that’s what it takes,” I sent to my daughter, not knowing if she could hear me. Praying to the Moon Goddess and to whatever deity would listen that the sound of my voice would reach Stella. That she knew her mother was coming for her.

My nails duck into the wooden deck, swollen with saltwater. The boat pitched, and I fell forward, hitting my face against the deck. Pain flared, but I fought it. My wolf didn’t try to fight for control, understanding that this was not a battle she could win. She sent me her strength, though. Her wolf’s stamina. Without it, my exhaustion would have sent me into unconsciousness.

I forced my head up. I could see my daughter’s dark shape, still at the front of the boat. I thanked the Goddess that Stella hadn’t been swept overboard. Even as I watched in horror, another immense wave rose up like some great beast and swept over her. I held my own breath as the water cascaded toward me. It buffeted me against the deck, slamming me against the side of the cabin where the captain sat to navigate. As the wave receded, I was pulled toward the back of the yacht again. The water sucked at me like a greedy mouth trying to draw me into a monstrous gullet.

It was alive, I thought. The water. Alive. Hating and hungry.

I slammed into the back of the boat, no longer even trying to remember the nautical terms. My hip and back screamed with excruciating pain as I hit the table secured to the deck and bounced off it. Blackness tickled the edges of my vision, trying to get me to succumb to it. To sleep. Sleep would take away the pain, and the water could swallow me whole…

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“No!” The shriek erupted from my throat. Tearing. I tasted blood.

As the boat tipped forward again, I pushed off with my knees. The timing was just right. Luck or skill? It didn’t matter. I was on my feet, the soles of my boots gripping as my toes pressed against the deck’s sharply slanted angle. It was like running uphill, but I put everything I had into it.

The rain hadn’t eased, but I was able to see Xander’s massive shape on the other side of the cabin. I didn’t see Zane or Mason, but they’d be close by. All of us were fighting to get to the front of the yacht.

The boat slammed nose-down into the emptiness left behind by another greedy wave. Now it was like I was facing downhill. I plummeted forward, skidding past the cabin. I managed to stop myself by grabbing the railing again.

I could see through the cabin window. The captain stood at the wheel. His face bore no expression. His mouth hung open. Nothing held him in place…nothing but the force of Stella’s will.

I knew nothing about how to steer a yacht, especially not through seas like this. This dead man, puppeteered by my daughter, would have to get us safely to shore. As the boat slammed through another wave, I managed to get beyond the cabin to the empty deck beyond. I tore open the locker holding the life jackets and pulled one over my head. I kept the other held tight in my grip as I fell onto my knees again.

I crawled toward Stella.

Another wave crashed over us, and for a moment when it passed, I thought she was gone. Then my vision cleared. She was still there. Not safe, but still alive.

And then, she began to sing.