As she bent to hack away on another weed, she saw the guys struggling against the current, but none of them were able to fight the pull as they were drawn farther and farther away.
“Morgan.” Draven swam toward her with an ease she envied. He looked different underwater, his hair wild, his blue eyes glowing with power, the angles of his face sharper. His wet clothes were plastered to him, revealing a swimmer’s body with tightly-packed muscles he normally kept hidden.
He was beautiful, dominating this underwater world without even trying. He spotted her wrapped leg immediately, his eyes narrowing when his gaze locked onto the kelpie. “Release her!”
She heard his voice as easily as if they were above water, his teeth appearing sharper, more vicious, the predator in him having fully risen to the surface.
Then it dawned on her…of course…a siren.
No wonder he was so at home in the water.
For a second, the weeds wrapped around her leg loosened, only to have two tentacles lash out. She brought up her arm. One strand wrapped around her wrist, preventing her from cutting her way free, while the other twined around her throat, her lungs beginning to strenuously protest the lack of air.
Draven roared under the water, and the kelpie reared back, his hold loosening enough for her to claw at the strand around her neck. Whatever Draven did had damaged the kelpie. Algae trickled out of the horse’s ears and nose, and he stomped his feet in agitation.
Air was only a memory, and her throat began to work as her body reflexively tried to inhale. The phoenix fluttered in agitation. Heat began to lick along her skin, the tiny bubbles rising around her as the water started to boil.
“Draven!” The shout of warning caused her to reflexively suck in water. She struggled not to choke, and failed when water trickled up her nose and down her throat.
Her vision began to dim when Morgan saw a bright flash of light, a touch of flame sizzling in the water. The horse screamed under the water, the reverberations threatening to rupture her eardrums.
The deadly seaweed wrap vanished, the horse shooting away like a squid, so incredibly fast he disappeared from one second to the next.
The last of her air escaped her lungs, a peaceful lassitude settling around her as she floated aimlessly in the calm water.
Then Draven was there, pulling her to him as he dragged them both to the surface. He grabbed her jaw, keeping her head above the surface, but for some reason, she couldn’t make her body obey her commands to tread water.
“Breathe, damn you!” He thumped on her chest, and her body automatically sucked air, water spilling from her mouth as she coughed.
She suddenly gained control of her body again, and she thrashed, trying to keep afloat when her arms felt like they weighed a million tons. Every inch of her ached, exhaustion slowly threatening to drag her under the waves again. “I’ve got you. Relax. You’re safe. Let me do the swimming.”
There was a small quiver in Draven’s voice, and she couldn’t stop the tremors from rippling through her. All she wanted to do was wrap herself around him, but feared she’d end up drowning them both.
“Thank you.” Her voice was hoarse from coughing. “I’ve never seen anything like that. You were amazing. Why didn’t you tell me?”
Draven only shrugged, not bothering to look at her as he swam, but a slight color filled his cheeks.
But not in pleasure.
He was embarrassed.
“Your phoenix did most of the work. The bird wounded the kelpie and forced it to release you. I was just there to catch you.”
Liar.
Without him, she would now be lying dead on the bottom of the river.
Sensing he didn’t want to talk about it, Morgan reluctantly let the matter drop. There was only one reason she could imagine why he wouldn’t have told her his secret…he was trying to protect her. But protect her from what?
“Get out of the water!” Kincade, Atlas and Ward were yelling, pointing downstream. Ryder, Ascher and the kid were still ahead of them, Ascher holding the kid’s head above water, both of her guys struggling to make it to shore and failing.
When Morgan glanced downstream, she expected to be confronted by a herd of kelpie riding a wave toward them. What she didn’t expect was to find a churning whirlpool waiting to drag them to the bottom of the river and finish the job of drowning her the kelpie had started.
Draven swore viciously and began swimming, but even with his affinity for water, he barely propelled them more than a foot.
“You need to let me go.” She tapped the arm wrapped around her chest, tipping her head back to see his face, wanting to smile when she saw his wavy hair standing up around his head in an adorable mess. “I’m dragging you down.”
A frown tightened his mouth, his arms clutching her closer as he ignored her command. The temperature of the water around them began to change, and the familiar tingle she associated with the void brushed against her skin.
“It’s a rift.” She grabbed his arm, excitement giving her the energy to help kick and keep her head above water. A rift was a permanent portal that would remain open until someone closed it. She didn’t care where they were sent, as long as they remained alive and together.
Draven ignored her, resolutely dragging her to shore, despite knowing that he couldn’t make it with her dead weight. When he refused to listen, she leaned forward and bit the arm holding her afloat. His smooth strokes faltered, and she used her arm to wedge a small space between them, then wiggled free.
His shout of protest was drowned out from the rushing water, and Morgan began to swim toward Ascher and Ryder. When Draven reached for her, she dropped below the surface to elude him. When she surfaced, she was only a foot away. “We can’t be separated. We need to go through the portal together.”
He hesitated a moment longer, looking at the whirlpool doubtfully. “You’re sure?”
“Yes.” She sent him a brilliant smile when he nodded, then quickly spit out a mouthful of water. “Can you pitch your voice to reach Kincade?”
He studied the distance to the shore, then ducked below the waves.
She knew the others got the message when Kincade dove in without hesitation, Atlas following only seconds later. To her surprise, Ward was only a step behind them. It didn’t take long for them to be sucked toward the whirlpool. The current grabbed her hard, spinning her until she couldn’t tell up from down.
Magic grew stronger as she was pulled under the surface. A large branch slammed into her, knocking the breath out of her, and she began to sink. Strong arms wrapped around her, and she easily recognized Draven’s touch as he pulled her to his side, protecting her from other debris when the world around her went dark.
Chapter Sixteen
Morgan woke gasping, curling to her side as she choked on air, her lungs crackling with each breath. Someone touched her back, and the warm touch of magic soaked into her spine until the world around her settled. When she had enough strength to lift her head, she saw the guys and the kid were stretched out along the riverbank. Ascher and Ryder didn’t have a stitch of clothing between them, their backs toward her, and she ducked her head, uncomfortable staring at them when they were at their most vulnerable.
The raging river was more of a stream, the water trickling by merrily, and she shuddered, scuttling backward before falling on her ass. An amused chuckle caused her to stiffen, and she ripped her eyes away from the water to find Ward studying her. His wet black hair was a tangled mess, his courtly clothes sopping wet. He should’ve looked ridiculous, but everything about him, his graceful movements and refined actions, reminded her he came from a different time. His eyes were their usual black with silver flecks floating in their depths.
“Are they okay?” She refused to believe otherwise.