The Night I Found Home (The Forever Pirates) #1

024

Seonghwa 

Yeosang was choking on air, the heat being too much to bear. I had pulled off as many clothes as I could off of him and tried to help him drink, but he couldn't keep anything down. My head was pounding, and I had no idea what I could even do to fix this situation. 

"You'll have to leave me. The town is not far." He rasped, shaking violently under the cover of a tree. 

When we decided together that it would be safer for us to travel on land, I really wished I had known that sirens could not continue to stay out of water for that long. He must've not known either, as he had never tested it before, and with no other siren to warn him, he was on the brink of death. 

"I am not leaving you!" I demanded. 

"Seonghwa-" He whimpered, and I pulled him off the ground, taking him to the horse and having him sit up front so I could keep him from sleeping off. He was barely standing, in the worst shape possible, and we were too far to go in the other direction. The town was close! It had to be. 

"Hya!" I snapped, forcing my horse to go, and she bolted down the hill. Yeosang kept trying to slip out of my hold, and balancing him while holding on to the rope that led my horse was a much bigger demand than I previously assumed it'd be. 

We had to be close. We fucking had to be! The full moon was tomorrow, and yet the town was no where in sight. I pushed forward, determined to get him to the dock. Even if it was a town full of people, I'd slaughter anyone who dared even look at him wrong as long as it meant he was okay. I just needed him to be okay. 

He was the only reason I was alive, and I had no intention of repaying his kindness by letting him die in this way. 

I saw the town, but I couldn't rejoice just yet, I rammed through it like a bull, shouting for people to get out of my way as I raced to the dock. 

Please please please please please please- 

I jumped off my horse, pulling Yeosang down with me and I carried his limp body to the water, walking across the dock and ignoring the eyes of the sailors and pirates who stared at me like I was some alien. 

I tossed him in the freezing water, jumping in immediately after him. My ability to swim be damned, I held onto the post, holding onto him as he was dunked under water. 

I trusted his ability to change and I helped him get rid of his clothes as it would only cause a truly horrific sight. I pulled him under the dock so we could have some privacy as he dove back up, gasping in a panic. 

"Water -" was the first thing he said, and I shared a painful laugh. 

"Are you alright?" I almost burst into tears right then and there. 

He nodded rigidly, his eyes still darting over his surroundings. "Water." He said again. It took him a few minutes to even register what was happening before his eyes landed on me. "You can't swim." 

"I'm holding onto this post for dear life." I admitted, my voice thick with emotion. 

"You idiot! You could've drowned!" 

"Not my priority at the moment." I replied, his green hair was back and his eyes were bright. He looked a lot more alive at the moment.