Chapter 30

Thirty

WESLEY

T he swell of water ripped through the sanctuary like a tidal wave, engulfing us in half a heartbeat. I gripped Finn’s hand and sucked in a deep breath before the water and debris swirled around us, trying to tear us apart. The icy sea reminded me of the nightmares of the Winter court as it pounded against us, needles of cold inching itself beneath my skin as if shoving us deeper and deeper beneath the waves.

My lungs burned for air, and I gripped Finn’s hand hard enough I feared breaking it. The water smashed into the stone figures and swirled around the dense vegetation. The glowing mushrooms swayed, while the brush and grass became dark blotches of seaweed ready to tangle.

Finn wrapped his arms around me and launched us upward in a diver’s move, seeking the surface. I gasped as we found air, but sank again with a dozen waves smashing us back down like the worst game of Whac-A-Mole ever.

“Fuck,” Finn cursed and I agreed, swallowing water between broken breaths, limbs freezing from the icy water. He turned us as if to use himself as a shield, gaze upward, his added curses lost in the noise.

I followed his line of sight to see the shadow wolf/dragon hovering.

“Double fuck,” I shouted, the sound mostly lost beneath the roaring water.

The wolf lunged, dragging with it a tidal wave of water that soared into the sky. Jaws snapped as though to swallow us both whole as it dove toward the water in a graceful arch. The wave behind a menacing monster of strength.

We both sucked in a deep breath, and Finn yanked me beneath the surface as the wall of water smashed down with a stone mallet force. The current shoved us into a dizzying spin.

I scrabbled for a grip as the force of the water tore us apart. Finn vanished in a swirl of bubbles, his silhouette fading into the murky depths. The current caught me dead center and smashed into me. I slammed into a tree trunk with bone-jarring force, hitting mid-back. Pain exploded, vision darkening with pops of sparkles.

Disoriented, I struggled to stay conscious and hold my breath, the water pressing in from all sides. Where had Finn gone? The vegetation melded with shadows writhing like hands from a nightmare of the river Styx. I struggled to keep my eyes open, searching for the glowing mushrooms, Finn, or any way to escape.

Which way was up? Was there even an up?

My lungs burned for air as a dark shape skated through the water, sliding through the depths like a rocket. The shadow wolf, its dark fur rippling like liquid night, swam with terrifying speed, eyes glowing with malevolence, focused on me. The beast’s jaws snapped open, ready to strike while I struggled to lift my head and stare death in the face.

A blur of movement caught my eye. Finn propelled himself from the darkness, arms outstretched. He blasted past the wolf aiming for me. The shadow wolf lunged, nipping at Finn, who slammed a fist into its snout and spun my way, colliding with me, but holding tight. Finn wrapped me in a protective grip. Body in front of mine as a shield while the wolf snarled at him.

I focused on his glowing form, clawing for consciousness as I lost the battle for air and sucked in water, ice filling me from the inside out. The weight of water filled my chest with an intense pain. Who knew fae could die by drowning? I never imagined it was the way I’d go. But I was part mortal after all.

My eyes wouldn’t stay open, and the darkness slid in as Finn gripped me around the waist and dragged us downwards. A wriggle of magic tingled over my skin, and I glimpsed a dark swirl of a chaotic whirlpool, water and shadows churning that registered in half a fading heartbeat in my mind as a portal.

Was it freedom from this world? I had a half second to hope as the pain vanished with my consciousness. Darkness overwhelmed my senses as Finn yanked us through the portal.

I blacked out, rising for a few seconds to the feel of his lips on mine, familiar now, though strange as few ever cared to kiss me as he had. But it wasn’t a kiss this time. He forced air into my lungs, which screamed in pain as they were overwhelmed with water.

“Breathe! Wesley! Don’t die!” Finn begged. His hands on my chest hurting as he shoved the water out of me. I choked and sputtered, turning to upchuck water and bile, but losing my battle with consciousness again as the icy goo poured out of me.

Finn’s warm body curled up behind me slowed my shivers as I came back to. I vomited more, a sick human sensation that I really hated. But Finn kept me from falling into the mess and held me tight despite the shivers. I thought he was growling, the muted sound coming from behind us, but as I glanced back I realized we had landed back in the clover field, but weren’t alone.

“He’s not going to touch you,” Finn promised. “Just breathe, okay? You really scared me.”

I coughed, the sound matching the pain, but nothing else came up.

“Release him,” a deep voice growled.

“No,” Finn said. “You tried to kill him.”

“Should have snuffed you permanently,” the wolf snarled. “Useless and weak.”

“Whatever,” Finn said, using himself as barrier between us. “You don’t like either of us, let us go.”

“Mine.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Finn said. “You’d make a shitty lover. Killing your mate and all that.”

“Not me,” the wolf growled. “You. Always you. Weak. Human mistakes.”

Finn frowned, confusion crossing his face. He mouthed the word me ?

But I understood, even as my heart raced, lungs ached, and sleep tugged at me. The wolf, dragon, shadow, or whatever remained of the Autumn king had torn itself apart.

I reached up to touch Finn’s face, searching for the resemblance, finding only tiny traces of it. “You are the Autumn king’s human soul,” I said. Not some strange rescue or even a child the King had hidden away. “You are the Autumn king.”