by Amira Rain
I nodded. “Yes. Please.”
I wasn’t quite sure that I believed Dalton’s talk about a wormhole and a “special island,” but then again, I didn’t not believe him. He really didn’t sound in any way delusional or mentally unstable at all, like he was a person having delusions or anything. His words, which he’d spoken with confidence, honestly made me lean toward thinking that all he’d said was actually real and true. Although, I knew it was possible that he was simply one of those people who believed his own delusions or lies enough to be perfectly convincing.
With the ship now long gone, I had to hope he wasn’t one of those people. The only alternative was to prepare for an unpleasant death beneath the waves. Of course, I realized it was possible that my friends might notice me missing and the captain might turn the ship around for a rescue, but who knew how long that could take, and I could be dead by then.
Also, I’d had a private room on the ship, and I’d told my friends I was going to make it an early night; therefore, they’d probably have no reason to check on me or notice my absence until the next morning. By then, I’d definitely be dead. I doubted I had it in me to tread water longer than an hour or so, if that.
Dalton made a move to unbuckle his life jacket to give it to me, but almost immediately, he froze. “Oh, God. I’m so sorry. No time for a life jacket transfer. Do you feel that? It’s opening.”
“What is?”
“The wormhole. It’s almost ready to pull us through to Black Lake Island.”
*
Right then, I felt something sucking at my feet. There was no other way to describe it.
Terrified, I gasped. “I feel it, too! It’s like—”
“Hold on tight! Here it goes!”
Dalton’s words were immediately followed by some great churning, roaring, sucking sound, and before I knew it, we were under the water. It filled my nose and mouth, and I exhaled bubbles, trying not to choke. After the loud roar, everything was eerily quiet. All I could hear was a quiet, steady rushing-gurgling sound, something like white noise. That wasn’t to say that Dalton and I were still or moving slowly, though. What we were doing was actually hurtling. Hurtling downward, presumably through a wormhole. Presumably to Black Lake Island, wherever and whatever that was.
Everything was completely dark, and after a short while, I didn’t even bother keeping my eyes open anymore. Besides, with my lungs burning for air, I was busy enough focusing on not inhaling water. Squeezing my eyes shut, I somehow felt more able to focus on the task, telling myself to just relax, and that I would breathe again, which I prayed was true. One thing was for sure, and that was that I was going to hold on to Dalton’s life jacket strap as long as I had even a shred of strength left to do so.
After maybe a minute or so, Dalton and I briefly came to a stop as whatever force that had been pulling us downward ceased or disappeared. Then, we were suddenly rocketed upward, maybe ten or twelve feet or so, though I really couldn’t tell. I heard a loud splash, which I could feel had been caused by Dalton and me breaking the surface of the water and coming into open air.
That didn’t really make much sense to me, since we’d been hurtling downward nearly the entire time. It seemed like if anything, our feet should have broken through to open air first. Like Dalton, I supposed there was a lot about wormholes that I still didn’t know, and that was quite the understatement.
Flailing around in the inky water, I gasped for air, pulling it into my lungs as deeply as I could. I could hear Dalton doing the same, though I couldn’t see him. Wherever we were, near a special island or wherever, it was still nighttime and completely dark, and I’d somehow let go of his life jacket strap without intending to, separating us.
After at least a dozen full breaths, I turned in the direction of his oxygen-starved wheezing. “Dalton, try to swim over to me! I need to grab your—”
I’d been planning to say, “strap again,” but my words had been cut off by a wave crashing over my face, filling my mouth with water.
I propelled myself through the top of the wave, choking and coughing. “Dalton, help! I need to grab your—”
Once more, my words asking for his strap again were cut off by a wave rolling over my face.
I came up sputtering, beginning to feel incredibly weak. “Dalton, please. I don’t think I can—”
Another wave hit me in the darkness, and it took me a little longer to fight my way to the surface this time. When I broke through, I still did not see Dalton, or hear him.
“Dalton? Please say something! I can’t—”
Yet another wave crashed over me, and this time, it was a mighty struggle to come back up to the surface, and when I did, I could not seem to stop choking, feeling as if I’d swallowed my weight in water. I still couldn’t hear or see Dalton, but I did see something else that filled my heart with hope. In the distance, not too awfully far away, I saw twinkling lights.
Right away, I shouted as loudly as I could, trying to wave my arms at the same time. “Help! Someone! Over here!”
I couldn’t tell if the twinkling lights in the distance were from a ship, dwellings on a landmass, or something else, but I didn’t care. All that mattered was that there was now a chance of being rescued.
After battling a few more waves, each one depleting my waning energy even further, I mustered up the strength to yell again. “Please! Anyone! Help!”
Beyond exhausted, I tipped my head back, panting, trying not to get any more water in my mouth. The moon, pearly and iridescent, was brilliantly bright, and for just a split second, I thought I saw a dark shape cross it. The shape seemed to have a body, a long neck, and wings, like a dragon. Though in my weakened physical state, I wasn’t sure exactly what I’d seen, if anything.
I was beginning to feel so utterly spent I realized it was possible that my mind was now playing tricks on me, making me see things. Besides, I knew I didn’t have time to waste contemplating what I had or hadn’t seen. I knew that where there were lights, there must be people, and whoever was near the lights in the distance, I had to get their help fast.
Summoning whatever remained of my strength, I raised my voice in a yell once again. “Please help me! Over here!”
Not a moment later, a great wave took me under, and I stayed under, being tossed and flipped, for I didn’t even know how long, until I felt the arms. They definitely weren’t the arms or tentacles of any sea creature. They definitely weren’t Dalton’s arms, either, and somehow I just knew this.
The arms around me were strong, hard, and well-muscled. I grabbed onto one, feeling what I was fairly sure was a large, rounded bicep. My free hand brushed against the expanse of what felt like a smooth, chiseled chest.
Being that we’d both been submerged in the water, I hadn’t gotten a look at Dalton’s entire physique, but what I’d been able to see of his shoulders had told me that they were somewhat narrow, and that he probably wasn’t a very muscular man. Whoever was holding me, pulling me up to the surface of the water, certainly was.
The second I felt air on my face again, I sucked in a great breath and then immediately spoke. “There’s another person drowning. His name is Dalton.”
“Don’t worry. I’ve got others out here who’ll find him. You just relax and breathe while I take you to shore.”
The man who’d spoken had a deep, masculine voice, a voice that somehow matched perfectly with his muscular body, but I couldn’t clearly see his face. For one thing, it was still nearly pitch-dark, except for the glow from the moon, and for another thing, my eyes were stinging from the saltwater, making me blink and squint. For yet another thing, my energy was so depleted I was having a hard time keeping my eyes open, period.
The man with the strong arms again told me to just relax, then began pulling me to shore, and I did relax, going completely limp, actually, with the side of my face between his shoulder and neck while he swam. Once we’d reached shallow water, he picked me up and carried me the rest of the way, not seeming to have
exerted himself in the least. He wasn’t even breathing heavily. I was, though, feeling like I still couldn’t quite get enough air.
Now on land, I felt sort of funny about being carried like a baby by a man I didn’t know, so I asked to be put down, and he did, then pointed to something in the sky.
“That’s Joshua, my second-in-command. Looks like he decided to pull your friend from the water while still in dragon form.”
I surveyed the midnight blue sky, spotting an even darker form within it, heading toward us. This form was shaped like a dragon and appeared to be holding something, or someone, more like. I could clearly see the outline of a person. My voice came out in a wheezy near-whisper.
“I thought I saw a... a dragon earlier.”
“That one was probably me. I was almost directly above you when I heard you shouting. I’m glad I and some of my men decided to fly for a while tonight.”
Suddenly, it was all too much, it being absolutely everything. Me falling overboard on the cruise ship, Dalton telling me about wormholes, us actually going through one, and now dragons. I was actually someplace where dragons were flying through the sky, rescuing people, as if it were an everyday occurrence.
I didn’t feel well. I was dizzy, and the stars and moon were beginning to spin a little. My legs felt oddly rubbery, and I got the impression that they weren’t going to hold me up much longer. They didn’t. They gave out beneath me just as the moon and stars faded to complete black, as if a curtain had been pulled over them. The last thing I was aware of was the man with the strong arms putting them around me once again.
***
When I awoke however many hours later, I was in a bed in what seemed to be some sort of a medical clinic or hospital. A crisp white sheet was pulled up to my chest. Some machine beeped in the distance. Sunlight streamed in through open windows. A man sat next to my bedside. A man with very muscular arms. He looked at me expectantly, as if waiting for me to speak first, and I did.
“Who are you?”
He sat up a little straighter in his chair, folding his arms across his broad chest. “My name is Warren Knight. I’m chief of the dragons here in the village of Knight’s Shore. And you are now my prisoner.”
CHAPTER TWO
Incredulous and near-stupefied, I stared at the man who’d identified himself as Warren Knight. “Excuse me? I’m your ‘prisoner’ now?”
I was totally incredulous and near-stupefied, not only because of what he’d said to me, but because of his appearance. It turned out that a long, muscular physique wasn’t the only attractive thing about the man who’d rescued me from the ocean. His strong-jawed face was handsome to the point of being mesmerizing, as were his heavy-lidded coal-gray eyes. They glinted even a bit darker when he responded to me.
“Yes. You’re my prisoner now, because I suspect you’re a spy or an enemy combatant. And you’ll remain my prisoner until if and when that’s proven otherwise.”
Sitting up in the hospital bed, noticing that I was dressed in pale yellow cotton pajamas, I scoffed. “So, let me get this straight. Despite any evidence, you think—”
“Please tell me your name. Your boyfriend is still unconscious and hasn’t been able to tell us.”
I folded my arms across my chest, only vaguely noticing that the action had the effect of revealing more than a bit of cleavage over the top of my scoop-necked pajama top. “First of all, the man I was with is not my boyfriend. He’s a scientist named Dalton Barrett, who I barely even know, and who I only just met when his stupid vibration device to open a wormhole or whatever made me fall off the top deck of the cruise ship. I was actually on a singles’ cruise when I was dragged into this whole mess with him.”
“All right. I’m noting that’s your story.”
“It’s not my ‘story;’ it’s the truth. And how dare you imply—”
“What’s ‘second of all?’ You said ‘first of all,’ so what’s second?”
I’d noticed that Warren’s gaze had slid to my cleavage for just a second while he’d been speaking, and during that second, his expression had seemed to become one of outright lust and hunger. Though the moment had been so brief, I couldn’t be sure.
Regardless, the possibility that such an attractive man might have been viewing my breasts in such a way was enough to thoroughly jumble my thoughts, even more than they’d already been jumbled by me waking up in a hospital room and seeing that man by my bedside. For some reason, this mental jumbling that Warren had caused in me irritated me, and I tried to express this irritation with a frosty tone when I responded.
“Well... well, second of all is that you asked my name, and I want to inform you that friends call me Ellie, but you may call me Eleanor.”
“Oh. Well, then.”
“You may call me Eleanor O’Brien, to be exact.”
He sat back in his chair, folding his arms across his brawny chest, mirroring my pose. “All right, then. I was going to tell you that you may call me Warren, something which very few people are allowed to do, but now, I think you may refer to me as Chief Knight.”
“Well, then. Fine. And you may now refer to me as Eleanor Christine O’Brien.”
“All right. If that’s your wish, that’s perfectly fine. But now, you may address me as Chief Warren Knight, at all times.”
I dipped my head in a nod. “Perfectly fine by me. So long as you call me Miss Eleanor Christine O’Brien at all times, every single time you see me.”
“That won’t be a problem. So long as you remember to address me as Chief Warren James Knight, every single time you see me.”
“Not a problem at all. That is, if you remember to address me as Miss Eleanor Christine Elizabeth O’Brien. I have a second middle name that I only rarely use, but I think in this case, I would like to use it. I would like you to use it.”
“And I have no problem doing so. Just keep in mind that from now on, call me Lieutenant General Chief Warren James Knight, as reflects my military title during my years in the Army, before I came here to the island.”
I sputtered for a moment, becoming increasingly rattled. “Well... well, I’ll be glad to do so. Just keep in mind that from now on, I expect you to call me Miss Eleanor Christine Elizabeth O’Brien...esquire.“
Warren’s dark eyebrows shot up.
“Oh. You’re an attorney?”
My face flamed instantly. I wasn’t an attorney. I’d never taken even a single law class. I’d just gotten a bit carried away.
I gave my throat a little clear, shaking my head just slightly. “I’m actually... well, I’m actually not an attorney. I’m actually a waitress at the moment, by way of being a dance teacher. But once in college, I did actually consider enrolling in law classes. I did actually consider it. Who knows? I may still take some law classes yet some day. I may actually become an attorney. So, in the meantime, you may as well include esquire at the end of my name.”
Warren’s dark eyes had begun just faintly twinkling in a way I didn’t like, and now he dipped his head in a nod with the corners of his well-proportioned mouth twitching almost imperceptibly, irritating me further.
“Your logic makes complete sense.”
I nodded in return, tightening my arms across my chest. “Yes, you may as well refer to me as Miss Eleanor Christine Elizabeth O’Brien, esquire. And in fact, I demand that you do.”
“Agreed. Though while we’re at it, we may as well begin referring to any high school student who’s ever considered taking a biology class as Doctor.“
I nodded once. “I think that’s a wonderful idea, actually. I think that’s a fantastic idea.”
Warren’s full lips had begun twitching just a bit more noticeably.
“Glad to hear you think so.”
Just then, a dark-haired young woman wearing a white top, skirt, and shoes stuck her head in the door. “Chief Knight? How’s our patient?”
He turned his handsome face toward the door to respond. “Spirited. I think she’ll make a complete recovery.
”
The woman smiled, more at me than Warren, making her warm brown eyes sparkle. “I’m happy to hear that.”
She then came bustling into the room, politely kicked Warren out, and escorted me to the in-room bathroom, which I realized I needed to use badly. After using the facilities, I looked in the mirror and saw that my long, wavy, strawberry-blonde hair seemed to have been brushed.
My face appeared to have been washed as well, judging by the fact that not a trace of the light makeup I’d been wearing the night before remained. Although, I figured, it might have all been washed away by my wild tumble in the ocean.
When I emerged from the bathroom after helping myself to a new toothbrush and a mini tube of toothpaste, the nurse introduced herself as Melody, then began leading me back to bed with an arm around my shoulders. “I hope you don’t mind, but I took the liberty of getting you washed up last night when you were out cold. I also put you into pajamas. Just wanted to let you know that Chief Knight had nothing to do with that. I made sure you had your privacy.”
I thanked her, trying to fight a mental picture she’d put into my mind, a mental picture of “Chief Knight” undressing me. Although unlike the reality would have been the night before, in this mental picture I was wide awake, my fingers straining to touch the hardened planes of his chest even while he removed my top and let his own fingers begin exploring.
I hated that this picture had popped into my mind’s eye. Sure, Warren was attractive, and incredibly so; I couldn’t deny that. However, I wanted nothing to do with a man who suspected me of being a spy and an “enemy combatant.” I would rather be undressed by any other man, even a convicted criminal. Even a convicted murderer. Or so I told myself until the mental picture of Warren and me that I’d developed disappeared.
Melody settled me back into the crisp-sheeted hospital bed, telling me that she’d given me some I.V fluids the night before. “I bet you’re still a bit dehydrated, though, and hungry, too, I’m sure. Just give me a minute to grab your tray, and I’ll be right back.”