An Alpha's Tempest (Water Bear Shifters 4) Read Free Page A

shards of glass filling the air, but she still refused to look back. In fact, she didn’t look back for a very long time, even after she had made it far enough away that the sounds of gunfire had faded completely away. When she finally slowed down, she realized that she had no idea where she was, and that the boat was making an odd sputtering noise.
    She killed the engine and jumped down to the floor where Evan was lying.
    “Evan? Evan, are you still with me?” she asked, her voice bordering on hysterical. She had to get her emotions under control, but the shock of the day was quickly catching up with her. She felt her hands shaking as she moved to check Evan’s pulse, which was still there. He moaned, and she realized he was shivering violently.
    “Oh, shit, you’re still half naked and it’s freezing out here,” Rhythm said. She stood up and went below deck of the boat, hoping that she would find some sort of clothing or blankets down there to keep him warm. That’s when she realized that the real trouble had only just started. There were several inches of water below deck, and that water level was steadily rising.
    “Oh, shit,” Rhythm said again. She took a deep breath, and told herself not to panic. The first thing she needed to do was find clothes for Evan before he froze to death. She saw a pair of large galoshes at the foot of the stairs, and quickly slipped them onto her feet. Wading through the water, she started opening cabinets, praying for some sort of blankets or spare clothing. She cast a worried glance down at her feet, trying to remain calm at the realization of how quickly the water was beginning to rise. Freaking out wouldn’t do anyone any good right now.
    When she reached the last cabinet, she let out a shout of triumph. The cabinet was filled with emergency supplies—including insulated water survival suits, personal flotation devices, and signal lights. Rhythm quickly gathered up two of everything, then struggled up the stairs with the gear. She knelt by Evan, and managed to get the survival suit on him with great effort. She glanced down toward the lower deck and winced. The water was rapidly rising, and she didn’t know how long the boat was going to hold. She ran to the boat’s radio, and frantically started sending out a mayday call. She didn’t even know their coordinates, and she didn’t understand the strange gauges on the boat’s instrument panel. Clearly, this boat had undergone significant aftermarket modifications. Rhythm set up what she hoped was a distress signal, but it was hard to be sure what was actually being sent out. She hoped it wasn’t some sort of homing signal that would allow the crew at the lab to locate her, stranded out here in the ocean.
    Rhythm quickly slipped on her own survival suit, and then got flotation devices on both her and Evan. Evan mumbled something about leaving him and saving herself, but Rhythm ignored him. She’d come too far now to just give up hope for him completely. She grabbed some spare rope on the boats deck and tied her and Evan together with it, so that at least if they ended up being just bodies to be found, they would both be found together. She shuddered at the thought, and pushed it out of her mind. The sky was growing darker by the minute, and the temperature was dropping. The survival suits would keep them from freezing in the ice cold water, but if no one found them, they would both eventually die of dehydration. Evan was already doing poorly, and Rhythm feared he wouldn’t last much longer without medical attention. She tried another mayday call, but received no answer. She wasn’t even sure that the radio was working properly.
    As darkness enveloped the boat completely, Rhythm watched the water rising to the upper deck. The boat wasn’t going to stay afloat much longer, and she didn’t want to chance being dragged down with it when it sunk. It was time to abandon ship, and hope for the best.
    “Come on, Evan,” she