Page 32 of Wedlocked

Thiswas why. Why I growled and grumbled and reminded this girl she needed to have some self-preservation.

Becauseshe had none.

The second she dropped beneath the ice, nothing but a splash of water where she used to fill my line of sight, my heart stopped. In the space where my heartbeat should have been rose a rush of dread that threatened to chain me down.

I forced it back by sheer force of will, the despair and extreme panic bursting out of me in a guttural roar. “Rory!”

Not giving two shits that the ice was weak or how dangerous this situation truly was, I lunged forward. The tip of my blades tried to catch in the softening ice, threatening to hold me back. I propelled forward, aware people were yelling behind me but not hearing their warnings.

Rory could barely swim. What little she could was because I forced her to learn and then made her occasionally practice. Shecould keep herself afloat, but in these conditions? In this breath-stealing shock of water so frosty it would paralyze her lungs and stutter her heart.

I hit my knees, grappling at the edge of the ice where she disappeared. Chunks broke off in my hands, and I tossed them away. The surface of the water was dark and slushy. Without thought, I plunged my arm into the depths, waving it around, trying to catch a glimpse of that fiery hair.

My arm came up empty, and I let out a yell of frustration.

Fuck this. I’m going in.I crawled forward, and the ice beneath my chest gave way.Splash.My upper body hit the water, instantly saturating my coat. I was used to cold water, but this was not that. It was so shocking that my body tried to hyperventilate instantly.

Something heavy and firm locked on to my ankles, and I twisted, blinking through the icy droplets. “I got you.” Jamie assured me. “We all do.”

My brain was too panicked and frozen to know what he meant, but I trusted him, and I dove back in, submerging my entire upper body, frantically searching.

Her white coat and the waving of her carroty hair was like a beacon. She was struggling but had somehow drifted beneath the ice and wasn’t sure which way to go. I went even farther into the water, feeling the pull on my ankles but fighting against it.

Reaching out my hand, I yelled into the dense liquid.

Rory stopped struggling and looked in my direction. The urge to gasp for breath was unbearable, the tightness of my skin painful. I could barely feel my limbs, and my vision was slightly blurred. She reached for me, her movements sluggish.

Hypothermia only takes five minutes to set in, and that’s when you aren’t submerged in fucking ice. It only takes a four-degree drop in body temperature.

The thought scared me so much that it set off a jolt of adrenaline, and I used it to strain forward, catching her sleeve and towing her in.

The second I had her, I moved fast, pulling out of the water, dragging her with me. Her head cleared the surface but rolled on her neck.

Her cheeks were white. Lips blue.

“Don’t you do this to me.” I grunted, hauling her farther up. “I got you, baby. I will not let you go.”

“He’s got her!” Jamie yelled. “Pull them up.”

I didn’t realize until then that I was completely submerged, the ice beneath me completely gone. The only thing anchoring me was Jamie. Clutching Rory, I glanced back. His face was red, eyes focused.

What if he falls in too?

The new panic didn’t have time to sink in its claws because I was towed back until I was on the ice again.

Body quivering, I hauled Rory with me, and then Jamie was there, grabbing her, pulling her completely out of the water.

I rolled the rest of the way onto the ice. A set of hands grabbed me under the arms and dragged me back.

I started to fight. “No!” I yelled. “Get the fuck off me. Rory!”

My body was weak, the wind fucking brutal. I fought anyway.

“Rory!”

“Christ, Walsh! We’re trying to help you.” Coach grunted overhead.

“Rory is safe. Jamie has her,” Max said.

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