Page 93 of Sovereign Oaths

She frowned. “That’s rude.”

He shrugged. “No regrets.”

“Anyway,” I started again, waiting for her to look back at me. When she did, I kissed her forehead. “One day, Derek and I came up with a plan to wake up super early, before anyone else, and get into the pond before the big kids so they couldn’t tell us no. We figured they would let us stay once they saw us and realized we were big like them too.”

She cringed. “What happened?”

“Well, I forgot to mention to Derek I didn’t know how to swim.”

“No!” She put her hands on my chest.

“Don’t worry. He survives,” Marco teased.

She waved him off. “So?”

“So we ran into the water. At first, it was fine because I could touch the ground, which was disgusting, by the way. Thick mud that burst between your toes and sucked you in.” I shivered, making her giggle. “Derek kept going, swimming to the center and calling for me to hurry. I’m not sure what I expected to happen. I’d never learned to swim, but no one else had ever mentioned being taught either. I guess maybe I thought it was just something people could do. Like walking or running.”

“Because you didn’t remember learning to do that.” She scrunched her nose.

“Right.” I nodded and resumed rubbing her back. “So I kept trudging through that vile mud, and the water rose higher on my body, to my waist, then chest, then neck. I just kept going.”

“Derek didn’t tell you to swim?” she asked.

“No, he was on his back floating.” I closed my eyes and remembered the scene. “Finally, the water was to my lips, and I started skimming my arms over the surface like I’d watched the other kids.”

“And going deeper?”

“Yup.” I chuckled at her amused expression.

“Didn’t think anything was wrong with the situation?” She poked my chest.

“Not at all. The mud was keeping me submerged, and I remember thinking at any second, I would start swimming.”

Marco leaned back in his chair.“But you didn’t.”

“No. Around the same time, I realized my body didn’t know what to do, I needed to breathe.”

Em’s eyes widened. “Oh no.”

“Yeah, at least I knew breathing underwater wasn’t something I could do, but I panicked. I was stuck to the bottom of the pond, mud up to the middle of my calves because I was sinking, and my fingertips were all that made it out of the water.”

“Did Derek see?”

“Yes.” I kissed her furrowed brow, smoothing away the worry. “He realized what an idiot I was before I did and swam over to me. He pulled me free and dragged me back to the edge, where I could stand.”

She hugged me. “I’m glad he was there to save you.”

“Me too.” I held her tight to me. “He told the other boys, and they teased me for weeks after that.”

She pulled back and glared at Marco. “You didn’t.”

He grinned. “Only for a few days. Then Javi and I took him out after dinner one night and taught him.”

“You did?” Her eyes were practically hearts.

“Not that it mattered,” he grumbled. “A few weeks later, the Pack arrived and took us from the home.”

“They didn’t have a pool or something for you guys?” she asked.

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