Page 90 of Beginning Fate

Another splash alerted me of another presence and quickly cleared my head further.

Help was on the way.

It didn’t take long before I identified Caleb and Braxton swimming out towards us.

They reached us quickly and helped carry Kylie’s weight as we all swam back to the shore.

As we got closer, I saw that Denny was on the verge of losing it again. He was standing there naked, ready to wolf out, as Monte physically held him back.

As soon as my feet could touch the squishy bottom, I stood and ran out of the water, confident that the guys were already tending to my sister. I went straight to Denny and threw my arms around him.

I needed him to calm down, and my touch did just that.

For one brief moment, I completely forgot about everything going on around us and just absorbed the comfort and security only my mate could provide.

And then it all came crashing back to me.

“Breathe, damn it,” Braxton said.

My whole body shut down in horror as I turned to see Kylie splayed out on the ground. At some point, she’d changed back into her human form and her body lay still on the ground.

“No!” I screamed as I left Denny to run to my sister’s side.

It was hard to see the woman before me in the midst of my fear. All I saw was the tiny little girl they’d fished out of the Hudson River all those years ago.

The pain and terror of that day returned and suddenly I was nine years old and watching my life unravel before me.

I screamed something incoherent and primal and then I started doing compressions on her chest as I began to administer CPR. The others stepped back and watched. No one tried to stop me, but somehow I knew they all thought it was a lost cause.

But they didn’t know what we’d been through. They didn’t understand what a fighter my sister was. They couldn’t possibly know she was a survivor, or the extent I would go to fight for her when she couldn’t.

Remy tried to stop me.

Oscar tried to take over for me.

Kevin tried to breathe for her.

Denny tried to comfort me.

But until I heard her gasp her first breath, I couldn’t stop myself from fighting for her, for me, for our little family of two.

And when she began to cough and sputter, I finally sat back and I cried.

I cried with relief.

I cried for the little girl I loved so much.

I cried for the young woman I knew I needed to let go of.

I cried for our parents that had missed out on so much of our lives.

I cried for the little girl I had once been.

I cried for the childhood I’d lost.

And I cried for the future I had almost been willing to walk away from.

I was broken in a way I’d never allowed myself to be.

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