Page 2 of Savage Prince

The blackness is closing in and I’m too weak to pull to the surface.

I go limp, abandoning myself to the sea just as a bright, burning light flashes behind my closed lids.

* * *

Juliet

In my phoenix form, I dive deeper, deeper, until I’m afraid I’ve missed him somewhere in the dark waves.

The sun is still too low on the horizon for any light to penetrate the ocean gloom and I have no idea if I’m headed in the right direction.

I can’t smell blood or follow a trail underwater.

I’m panicking, knowing I don’t have long to pull Ford out of here alive, when my feathers start to glow. But this isn’t the rosy, pink pleasure glow I’ve experienced in my human form. This is a bright red and gold light that cuts through the darkness like a hundred arrows.

I’m suddenly an underwater sun, with rays exploding in every direction from my wings.

I spin, searching the waves, and spot Ford’s limp wolf form almost instantly. He’s sinking deeper with every passing second, blood streaming from a horrific wound at his neck.

I surge toward him with a pull of my wings and snatch at his front leg with my claws. He flinches and his eyelids flicker, but don’t open.

Still, the small response is enough to make my heart leap.

He’s still alive. I can still save him.

I just have to get him out of the water and hope he still has the strength to shift. If he slips into his human form, he’ll be able to heal at least some of the damage, hopefully enough to keep him from bleeding out.

I flap my wings harder, but I’m only able to lift him a few inches toward the surface before he starts to sink again. His wolf is heavy, and my wings weren’t designed for moving efficiently underwater.

But if I could tuck a human arm around him and kick with my legs…

I shift so fast that the sudden shock of the cold water against my skin nearly makes me gasp. Thankfully, I recover quickly enough to keep my lips sealed and my breath held as I reach for Ford.

I pin his warm body tight to mine and kick with everything I’m worth, grateful for every second I spent in the ocean as a child.

I’m a strong swimmer and no stranger to choppy water. I’m able to get Ford’s head above water and keep it there even as the waves buffet us up and down, but it quickly becomes apparent that simply breaking the surface isn’t going to be enough.

I have to get the blockage out of his lungs.

Shifting onto my back to buoy his weight with my floating body, I make a fist and slam it into his ribs.

“Breathe,” I shout, dimly aware of other students swimming past us, though none of them stop to help. I thump his ribs again and again, willing the ocean to come streaming from his muzzle. “Breathe, Ford! Fucking breathe!”

My heart races and the backs of my eyes begin to sting, but I don’t have time to waste on tears. I have to get him to shore, where I’ll have better leverage to pump the water from his lungs. I can turn him on his belly and pound his ribs like a toddler or maybe one of the teachers will see that we’re in trouble and send the medics out to the seawall to meet us.

They don’t want students dying on their watch, especially not because they were attacked by another student in the middle of a trial.

Fucking Beck.

I’m going to kill him for this. Even if Ford survives, I’m going to rip him limb from limb and incinerate the pieces.

I don’t know if it’s the thought of fire or the rage boiling in my veins, but my skin is suddenly hot enough to make the ocean steam around me and Ford twitch in my arms. Hope clutching at the back of my throat, I will more fire into my bones, until my cheeks are blazing in the cool air and Ford’s fur begins to warm against my chest.

He whimpers and twitches against me once more before his ribs contract in a wrenching cough. Water pours from his mouth and his eyes fly open, sending relief flooding through me.

“You’re okay,” I say, holding him tight as I start to pull toward the seawall. “I’ve got you. Just relax.”

He whimpers again but doesn’t try to squirm free or shift.

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