Page 124 of Scent of Home

I throw myself overthe bridge; I see where he hits the water, and then just like that, I’m in the icy water. Everything happens so quickly. I remember seeing Erin and hearing her scream. The water shocks my body so much that, for a moment, my brain is completely white. All I can feel is the icy cold as it surrounds my body, and then I remember him.

I kick my legs and break the surface, looking around.

“BRAY! OVER THERE!”

I glance up and spot Erin at the bridge. She points to the left. I swim as fast as I can to the spot and dive, searching for him. But I can’t feel anything. I can’t see anything. Pain lances through my body, but I keep moving.

After four dives, I look up. Desperate for help.

“Erin!” I shout.

“I can’t see! Oh, god! I can’t see!” she shouts back. I can barely make out her form running across the top of the bridge.

I hear a splash and look up to see Shane wading into the water. And then Finn is there. I’m so relieved I almost start crying.

“Help me!” I rasp out.

I hear more splashes and whip my head around, watching all the people who live in this town rush down the hill. Some run straight into the water.

I walk to a shallower section, searching more, using my feet and legs to feel. My teeth are chattering, and before long, I’m physically dragged from the river and wrapped in a blanket.

I stand on the bank while people hold me, as they pour warm drinks into me and rub me down with towels. But I can’t take my eyes from the icy depths or the people churning up the water.

I’m too cold to cry. I’m in too much pain to feel anything. Inside, the agony is too intense. It takes up everything. Is he dead? Why did he do that? Why wasn’t I faster?

“Locke,” I whisper.

Erin arrives beside me and takes my icy hand in hers. She’s crying.

“He’s alive. He’s alive. I can feel it.” She repeats over and over until I want to yell at her.

“It’s been an hour, Erin. He’s gone,” Alma says.

“An hour?” I ask in a daze. No, it’s just been a few minutes. It can’t have been an hour.

“Yes,” Alma murmurs. “You brave boy! That was one of the finest and most foolish things I’ve ever seen.”

I swallow hard because it didn’t make a difference. I still lost him.

Where is he?

“He’s got to be dead,” I hear someone mutter. “We can’t stay out here all night. We need to get people dry and warm.”

I shake my head and stand up, but I feel strange and weak. I stumble and go down on one knee. The words people whisper around me break the control I have. My heart cracks, and the grief I hide escapes. I open my mouth and pour everything into one cry.

“LOCKE!” I howl. My voice echoes around and deep into the night.

Everybody stills. The people of Twin Rivers fall silent, witnesses to my grief, to my pain.

I keep calling. I keep screaming. The night and it’s chilling cold and the silence. The damn silence. Where is my omega? Only the wind howls. But it can’t silence my cries.

Over and over, I howl his name. Calling him. Calling my omega. Demanding a response.

And there is nothing. I’m sobbing for air, on my knees, with Erin draped against my side, and still, there is no answer.

“LOCKE!” I scream until my throat aches, until I almost pass out.

Shane has staggered over to us and has fallen to his knees beside me, his face pressed into my legs, and Finn stands in a ball of yellow light, his face fierce, watching.

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