Childish laughter tinkled in my ears. The sea boiled and frothed. Waves pelted me, sucked my feet from under me. My back hit the sand. My ears rang. Water rose up my chest, fizzled over my neck until it crested over my head. One heartbeat, two. It retreated in a dizzying rush, nursed my toes and tried to draw me out to sea with it. Salt made my face sticky. Tears or ocean water, I wasn’t sure.

A thick arm wrapped around my waist, and I cried out as reality splintered the memory. The remaining air in my lungs expelled from the pressure. I blinked through murky waters and found Graeson’s human face inches from mine. His eyes glowed in the low light, wild and furious.

I clawed at my throat, couldn’t breathe. So much water. In my eyes, my nose, my ears. Crushing me. Graeson was strong, but he was injured, one leg shattered by the kelpie. He struggled to haul us both to the surface.

Lori’s pale hands fisted his shirt. The gods weren’t so cruel as to let her die the same way twice, were they? Hadn’t I been punished enough? Or did I have to follow in her footsteps as I should have done that night so long ago?

Graeson scissored his legs and pinned me to him with one arm while he swam with the other. Pressure lessened. The pain banding my chest became bearable. Our heads burst from the water, and I gasped and choked until my throat burned. I shivered so hard my teeth chattered even though the water was as warm as the last shower I had taken.

“Hold on,” he panted. “I’ve got you.”

I clung to him, wrapping my legs around his waist and my arms around his neck until he made a gurgling noise. He twisted in the water so I rode astride his chest as he paddled backward toward the shore. In a day or two I would be mortified. Right now I was too damn grateful to be alive. I propped my chin on my shoulder to keep my face out of the water. Graeson’s nose barely breached the surface, but his heart thumped steady against my chest.

Helping hands hauled us ashore next to the partially devoured kelpie corpse. The pack must have finished it off while Graeson shifted and came after me. “Bring us a blanket,” he ground out between his teeth, pain lowering his voice a register.

I ought to let go. Supporting my weight had to have been agony for Graeson with his busted leg, but I couldn’t release him. My muscles were locked. He was a safe harbor, and I wanted so much to remain in the shelter of his arms.

“Is that the Tanner girl?” One of the wargs opened his arms to receive me. “It’s all right, darlin’. I won’t hurt you.”