Star Blessed

Revelations

RAFF

Midnight swells swallowed her slender form. Raff could move swifter than the wind, but he hadn't been able to move fast enough to reach her. Paralyzed, he hung over the edge waiting for her to resurface; the fall had not been far and the water, while not calm, was not unusually rough. A strong swimmer would be fine. She would be fine.

Meribella did not surface. With a strangled howl, he shrugged out of his jacket and leapt over the railing. Wishing he could shift into his wolf's warm coat, he stifled the gasp that rose to his lips when the icy ocean claimed him. Gods it was cold, and even if with his supernatural edge, making the first movement was difficult, his muscles seizing in protest.

He scoured the area until his lungs were screaming, and he kicked towards the surface. Down. Up. Down. Up. Over and over again he dove, searching until his frozen mind began to play tricks on him. A bright glow, like an aquatic star, streaked by, and he had to fight the urge to follow it.

Resurfacing, he swam towards the shore, hauling his numb body onto one of the rocks jutting out of the sea. If his enhanced human body was failing, Meribella had no hope. Sleep might have claimed him, but rough hands slipped under his armpits and jerked him upright.

"Stubborn ass," Lincoln grunted, dragging his pack leader away from the public pier and to an area of shadows and scraggly bushes. "Shift."

"Go away," Raff coughed, turning to his side before pushing himself upright.

"Care to explain to me why you decided to take the extreme version of the ice bucket challenge? Should I be preparing for the swim, because I'm going to be honest. Just tell me where to send the check."

"Meribella... she fell in." Did she? Or did she jump? "I had to go in after her, but I couldn't find her."

Lincoln went rigid. "I guess you made your choice then?"

"The universe made the choice for me. There's no way she's still alive."

"How did you not see her? Your eyesight is the best."

"Not in the water. Not without shifting, and I would've been useless trying to swim out there as a wolf. Never in my life have I wished to be a fish shifter."

Lincoln snorted before sobering up. "What should we do? Call someone?"

Raff stepped towards the water's edge. Every part of his being demanded that he go back in and find her. "Call 911. Tell them you saw a jumper."

"What are you going to do?"

"Vivian and Joe know she was supposed to be meeting me tonight," Raff worried. "They weren't pleased. They're going to point fingers at me."

"Do you think they'd risk that? They know what you are, and they're not going to mess with the delicate balance in the supernatural community."

"You're probably right, but Joe seemed especially protective of her." A rush of irrational jealousy swamped him. His wolf raised his hackles and snapped until they both realized it didn't matter who she belonged to before. Now, she belonged to the briny sea. "I'm going to backtrack and show up once the search crew gets here. I've got a change of clothes in the car as usual. I'll put the spare on the car and use a flat as an excuse for being so late. It'll go over better than not showing up at all. I need you to back up to the pier and grab my jacket. I-I dropped it before I went in after her."

Lincoln's face was grave as he studied his leader. Raff's shoulders sagged, and his rugged face was haggard. "Would she have been worth it?"

"I'll never know," Raff said, the words ending in a snarl as he shifted. Lincoln shifted as well, and Raff let his Beta's red wolf run ahead.