What’s happening to Cerberus is my fault, and I’ll pay the consequences. I continue to lie atop the piece of wood, unmoving. The goal is to get my energy back enough to attempt to swim back. The sky is getting darker.
Large clouds rolling in. If my situation couldn’t get any worse, it does, as the winds begin to pick up. A storm is coming, and it’s coming fast. The current won’t last forever. Soon the waves will pull me out. I’m just not sure for how long until it will pose a threat.
My question is answered as rain starts to pound down from the sky. The waves crashing along the rocks where I’ve drifted. There’s no way to go back, I try to kick to push off from the rocks, but I can’t move. I’m barely holding on, my hands slipping. I can’t let go. I know if I’m pulled under again, this time I’ll die.
23
Cyrus
Rage consumes me at her disobedience. Does she not know who I am?
Does she not understand that she belongs to me? Her body had reacted exactly as I had hoped.
She wants me to taste her. To take her. Why is she trying to escape? Doesn’t she realize she’ll never be able to outrun me?
I clench and unclench my fists, trying to calm down. She’ll pay for her blatant disregard of the rules laid forth. Nobody crosses me and lives.
But for her, I’ll make this exception.
She’ll live, but she’ll pay in other ways.
Cerberus whines at my feet. He’s laid limply on the shore, not bothering to lift his head to look at me. He’s had a hell of a scare, but he’s all right. He’s strong.
What the hell was Ivy thinking? These waters are dangerous.
I have to figure out how to get her ass back to shore. The boat she’s trying to reach is already on its way out to sea.
They can’t see her.
They can’t help her.
No one can help her but me.
I’m her only savior. If she would just believe me, trust me, things would be different.
She’s still trying to make it to the boat, but even if they did see her, they wouldn’t come back unless I called them back, and I won’t.
Today, I took a different boat. Today, I hitched a ride with men I don’t necessarily trust. But they know the consequences of talking. I would not make exceptions for them. They’d die.
Regardless, it would be reckless of me to introduce them to my captive. Getting Ivy back to shore is all on me.
I’ll drag her back by her hair if I have to.
My eyes roam the water, landing on the location she had last been, but she’s gone. It doesn’t help that it’s raining over the ocean. The clouds are moving fast, it will be over the house in no time. I have to find her now. My head whips back and forth, trying to find her, but with each second that passes without her in my sight, unease grows heavily within me.
This is an emotion I rarely feel.
I’m usually in control.
I rule my world. Nothing makes me uneasy.
So why does my stomach turn and sweat pool at my temples?
This is beyond unease.
This is fucking panic.
And for the first time in a very long time, it’s for someone else’s life and not my own.
Her head pops up out of the water, and I watch as her hands flail. She’s in trouble.
“Fuck,” I yell out as my heart pounds in my chest. When her head goes back under and doesn’t come back up, my breathing stops.
Before I realize what I’m doing, I’m running toward the water and diving in.
She’s about twenty yards off the shore, and if I’m going to save her, I have to swim faster than ever. My arms burn with each stroke, but I push harder.
When I feel like I’m getting close to where she was, I pop my head up to see if I can locate her. After catching a glimpse of flailing arms, I know where I need to be. She’s dangerously close to the cliff. If I don’t get there soon, she could crash into it. I dive back under and swim to my right. When I’m almost to her, a large wave smacks against us, pushing closer to the rocks, I brace for impact, trying to protect my body from the sharp shards of rocks that strikes me in the side of my thigh, shooting pain through my entire body. As awful as the pain is, I’ve suffered worse, and I have to find Ivy.
That part of the water isn’t too deep, which is my only saving grace.
I skim the bottom of the water, and finally, my hands brush against skin, and I grab and yank upward until we both reach the surface.
She gasps for air, clawing at my neck.