I woke up with a start, a sharp metallic smell burning in my nostrils.
Hendrix was gone.
Something was wrong. I could feel it. I slid out of bed, checking in the bathroom to make sure he wasn’t there, but it was empty. I grabbed his shirt off the floor and pulled it over me before moving out of the bedroom and out into the hallway.
Everything was perfectly quiet, but I could still feel the strange darkness in the air. I wandered up the stairs, to the lower deck, but I didn’t see him anywhere.
And then I heard a splash.
I darted over to the railing and screamed when I saw Hendrix sinking beneath the midnight blue waves. Without a thought, I rushed over to the opening and jumped into the water, swimming towards him the best that I could in the water. I dove down where he’d disappeared, a burst of bubbles bleating from my mouth as I screamed in horror at how far he’d sunk already.
I propelled down, grabbing onto his hand that was floating above his head. Fuck, he was so heavy.
I called on my wolf who was growling and snarling desperately inside of me, begging her for help. I pulled and pulled, but even with my extra shifter strength, I wasn’t making progress.
He was just too big.
My oxygen was gone, and a sob burst from my lips, echoing in the water. Because…what could I do? I couldn’t let go.
But our little gummy bear.
I tried to slap his face, but he wasn’t responding.
When I’d just thought all was lost, his eyes suddenly snapped open. It took him a second to realize what was happening…which was when I started to lose consciousness, but then he grabbed me around the waist with one arm and we were bursting towards the surface.
We broke into the cool night air, both of us taking deep gulps of oxygen as we clung to each other.
“Hendrix,” I cried, when I could finally speak. My whole body was trembling, realizing how close to death we’d both just come. He pulled us up the ladder and gently laid me on the deck before laying down next to me.
“What happened? You weren’t waking up. That wasn’t normal sleepwalking.” Tears were streaming down my face as adrenaline rocked through me.
“I—don’t know,” he stammered. “Something’s wrong. It’s been wrong. I—” His face suddenly lit up with horror. “Did you jump into the water to save me?”
“Of course I did—”
“Get this fucking boat back to shore,” he was suddenly screaming. He kept yelling until the captain was stumbling up from his quarters, half asleep. He tried to ask something but Hendrix cut him off, ordering him to get the boat moving.
“Hendrix, what—”
“The baby. You jumped into the water,” he growled desperately.
“I’m fine,” I tried to soothe him.
Except, suddenly, I smelled that dark metallic scent again, and a sharp pain ripped through my stomach. I felt something wet and warm dripping down my thighs. Shaking, I glanced down, hoping it was just water, but knowing it wasn’t.
“Hendrix,” I cried. He scooped me into his arms, his body shaking as he sat in a chair and began to rock.
“It’s going to be okay. It has to be okay. It has to,” he repeated over and over again all the way back to shore.