Page 44 of Corrupted Lies

There was a beat of silence. “Alannah?”

“I'm here. Over here.” She waved her arms about even though she knew the chances of him spotting her had to be slim. It was dark, and the fire seemed to dominate the landscape, making it hard to see anything else.

“Call out again, sunshine. I’ll find you.”

“Here, I'm here.” As she yelled, she continued to wave her arms around thinking it couldn’t hurt even if it didn't help much.

Then finally she saw him.

Jake.

Her fierce, grumpy protector.

Swimming with smooth, determined strokes through the water heading right toward her.

The relief of seeing him, knowing he’d survived, that he hadn't left her, almost sapped the last of her energy. She’d already been running low given the trauma of the last week, but the explosion, believing they were going to die, and then the fear of losing Jake had stolen most of what she had left.

Not a good thing.

They might both be alive, but they weren't out of danger.

To survive, she was going to need every drop of stamina she had left.

“You're alive,” she said on a sob when he stopped beside her. Not content to allow her eyes to be the only thing to convince her, she reached out and grabbed hold of him, running her hands all over his face and shoulders, needing to feel him beneath her fingertips to believe she hadn't lost him.

“I'm alive. Damn, Alannah, I thought … I couldn’t find you and you weren't answering.”

The fear in his tone echoed what she felt inside and she curled her fingers into his life jacket, clinging to him, unwilling to let anything separate them.

“I went under,” she explained.

“You went under? Your life jacket should have kept you afloat.”

That was something that hadn't even occurred to her, although he was right. Even tossed about as she was when the boat exploded, she shouldn’t have been knocked down so deep into the ocean.

“Something hit me, maybe …” Running her hands over the life jacket, she found it had been torn to shreds, no longeranything that was going to be useful in keeping her alive. “It’s ruined, Jake. All torn up.”

Jake muttered a curse. His hands grabbed her life jacket, removing the useless material from her body, then he was taking off his own life jacket and trying to put it on her.

No.

She couldn’t let him do that.

“You need it,” she protested, attempting to stop him.

“You need it,” he shot back.

“It’s yours, keep it.”

“No way in hell am I wearing this while you have nothing.”

That was a tone she recognized all too well. It was Jake’s don’t bother arguing with me, I’ve already made up my mind and it won't be changed, voice.

Allowing him to slip on the life jacket, as soon as it was snapped into place, Alannah realized how much it helped keep her afloat. It wasn't necessarily going to save her life, but it took some of the pressure off, allowing her to keep a little of her energy rather than expending it all on just trying to keep her head above water.

But now Jake didn't have anything to help him.

He was big and strong and highly trained, but he was still human.

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