Page 118 of Risky Passion

Blade and Viper’s fingers stuck up through the splintered floorboards, waving weakly.

“I’m coming!” I called, my voice cracking as I scrambled closer.

The gap narrowed the deeper I went, and sharp edges of wreckage scraped against my arms and shoulders.

Another wave surged in, flooding the tight space. The water rosequickly, swallowing their faces, submerging them beneath the floor again. They were getting too tired to hold their faces to the tiny gaps in the floorboards.

Terror washed through me as I stretched my arms forward, desperate to reach them.

“Hold on! I’m almost there!” I shouted as my outstretched fingers reached the floorboards above them. I dug my fingers into the gap between two boards and hauled myself forward.

My breath caught. Their pale faces were just above the rising waterline. Blade’s lips moved, but his whispered croak was barely audible over the crashing waves and the groaning wreckage.

“We’ll get you out. I promise!” I said, forcing calm into my voice even as panic clawed at the edges of my mind.

Onyx barked sharply, her tail stiff, her body coiled with tension as she hovered near the edge of the floorboards. The water sloshed higher with every wave that surged beneath the floorboards.

My pulse thundered in my ears.

They don’t have much time.

I grabbed my comms. “This is Jaxson! We’ve found them! Repeat: Blade and Viper are alive! Trapped under the floorboards, partially submerged. We need immediate extraction!”

“What do you need?” Captain Watts’s voice crackled through my mic.

I swept my flashlight over the cramped space. The floorboards were old, warped and splintered, but as unyielding as iron, and pinning Blade and Viper beneath the rising tide. The water lapped at their chins.

The wreckage groaned louder, and the sound reverberated like thunder overhead. It felt like the entire structure was planning on burying us alive.

“I need to cut through the timber floorboards to get their heads above the water,” I said into the comms. “Get me a chainsaw. ASAP.” Adrenaline surged through me as I adjusted my grip on the mic. “I’ll send Onyx back to you. She’ll lead you to me.”

“Understood,” Watts replied, his tone all business. “Hold tight. We’re moving.”

Onyx let out a sharp whine, her paws clawing at the floorboards as if she could dig through them herself.

“That’s right, girl,” I said. “It’s your turn.” I tapped my chest twice and gave the command. “Come.”

Onyx trotted toward me, her ears pinned back but her eyes locked on mine, waiting for the next order. I cupped her head with one hand, meeting her gaze. “Good girl. Now, go to base.”

She released a noise like she was not happy with the plan.

“Onyx. Go to base.”

She whined again as if pleading with me to let her stay. She leaned forward and tried to lick my arm, her tail low and hesitant.

“Onyx,” I said firmly. “Back to base. Now.”

She let out a low growl of protest, but her resolve settled as she obediently turned away, squeezed past me, and slipped through the narrow gap. Then with one last glance over her shoulder, she vanished into the rubble.

I pressed the comms button again. “Onyx is on her way back to you. Let me know the second she gets there.”

“Copy that,” Watts replied.

Below the floorboard, the water crept higher, licking at Blade and Viper’s bottom lips. My stomach twisted with panic.Fuck, this is going to be close.

Blade’s head turned toward me with sluggish movements, and his eyes narrowed as if he wasn’t sure I was real. He pushed his trembling fingers through the gap in the floorboards again.

“I’ve got you, buddy.” My voice cracked as I wrapped my fingers around his.

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