Page 24 of Omega's Reign

Beckett tightens his jaw and looks at Andrew. “Are you a good swimmer?”

He nods.

“Then you go first. Catch Holly. Don’t let her go under the boat.” Beckett curls and uncurls his fingers, his face set aglow with the hot fire now halfway across the suite, the blaze intense and crackling because of the gasoline someone threw down the stairs. They really wanted to make sure this place went up in flames. Even the sprinkler system couldn’t keep up with it.

Andrew touches my shoulder, getting me to look at him. “I need you to jump as far away as you can from the boat. I don’t want you to get caught in the current, okay? As soon as you hit the water, I’ll grab you. We’re going to swim as far as we can as quickly as we can. Got it?”

All I can do is squeak out my agreement. I don’t have long legs like he does, but at least I can swim.

“If we get separated, get her back to shore. Do not put her in the middle of a fight despite what she says.” Beckett doesn’t look at me as he says the words. He and Andrew have a silent conversation right in front of me.

I don’t get the chance to argue, because he motions for Andrew to go, and my bodyguard leaps off the balcony, jumping down several levels and into the ocean.

Beckett kisses me, molding his lips to mine, the desperation coursing from him giving me a bad feeling. This isn’t the type of kiss I want. This is a kiss that feels as if it might be goodbye.

“Beck—”

“Jump, Holly!” Beckett commands, thrusting his hand out. “Jump!”

My body takes control, shoving my mind away. and I automatically leap from the balcony, closing my eyes as the world rushes around me. Wind tingles through my hair, and the ocean roars in my ear before I break the surface, sinking under several feet into pitch darkness. The water steals my hearing. It’s as if I’ve been transported into a void, and it plans to swallow me whole.

I kick my legs, praying that I’m headed in the right direction, because the life vest doesn’t drag me quick enough to the surface, the ocean stronger than I realized. What if I didn’t jump far enough out? What if I’m being yanked under the boat?

Panic spins through my mind, and I jerk around, running out of air. I thought dying in a fire would be awful, but drowning? This is just as bad. My lungs burn. Hopelessness courses through me.

I give up fighting the pull of the ocean and let it take me. That’s when I break through the surface and gasp a breath of fresh sea air.

“I got you, Holly. Come on, kick your legs. Swim.” Andrew tugs me by the back of my life vest, keeping my face toward the sky. I stare up through my blurry vision at the stars, the brilliant universe stretching out into the infinite to beyond.

“Where’s Beckett?” I ask, trying my best to stretch my neck to look around. I spot the yacht to my right, the flames eating away at the back of the boat. It hasn’t worked its way toward the front yet.

People gather on the bow, and some float in the water.

“Keep swimming,” Andrew instructs, not answering my question. It’s as if he’s avoiding answering. Beckett should’ve been right behind me.

It’s enough to make me stop kicking and pull away from Andrew. His fingers slip off my life jacket, and I spin around and search the choppy waters.

“Holly, we need to keep going. The Righteous Waters Pack is too busy watching their destruction. Beckett can handle himself. He knows what he’s doing. We need to get on that boat. It might be our only chance.” Andrew draws my attention away from the chaos and toward the old fishing boat, bobbing on the water far enough from the yacht to get a good view but not to get caught up in the chaos.

I’m torn between screaming out for Beckett or following Andrew. He might be right. We can swim to the back of the boat, hopefully going unnoticed. Then we can attack.

His plan goes against Beckett’s orders. Beckett wants me away from the fight. But this is my fight. The Righteous Waters Pack is here because of me. They won’t stop until they either win or I take them out. There’s no other way.

So I inhale a deep breath and swim, taking control of my movements and staying beside Andrew.

My body aches, and my breath comes in heavy pants, the exertion making it hard to keep going. Twenty feet. Ten feet. I expect someone to start shooting at us. I expect Hector to be waiting. For him to yank me out of the water to toss me on the dirty deck.

Luckily, it’s empty.

“Killing me won’t give you power!” Beckett’s familiar voice cuts through the air, shocking me to my core. I don’t understand. Where is he? “But working together will. You can’t fault me for the position I accepted. You know that a pack like mine would never have been offered such power otherwise.”

Furrowing my brows, I hang on to the back of the boat, the swimming ladder icy under my touch from the cold air.

I shift my gaze to Andrew in confusion. “What the—”

He presses his hand to my mouth, silencing my voice.

“I don’t know why you brought him aboard, Hector. You should have taken the jet ski and let him drown. Just shoot him and get it over with. We can steal our power back by force,” another guy says, his voice unfamiliar.

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