Owned by the Alphas 2: Claimed by the Alphas

he's got a thing for his fingerprints on your throat, and then between me and Derik, I bet we can get your arms and legs going like that." He laughed, and I clutched him tighter, smiling despite the hurt in my heart.

It seemed wrong to enjoy anything when I didn't have Zale back, but my alphas had a way of distracting me, helping me take a break from the guilt and mind-numbing helplessness. It was working.

Brax smirked at me, and I kissed his cheek as we came to the cliff. I sometimes forgot that Brax was so connected with the water.

Maybe his wolf magic was gone, but that didn't take away from the fact that his entire ancestry was the water area pack, and that gave them something extra when it came to it.

They had the lake in their area, which meant swimming was probably as easy as walking to him.

"It is," he said, his biceps flexing against me as he pulled me around, helping me float with him.

"Small kicks of your feet. We've got to find this cave entrance, and I think it's under the water," he said, and my heart rate picked up.

"I've never really been underwater," I admitted.

He shrugged. "It's quiet. Peaceful. Just pretend you're in a really big bath, sinking below the surface to collect your thoughts. I've seen you do that, so I know you can."

He was right; I did do that. I could do this. I nodded at him, ready to do whatever it took.

"Your shadows should lead you to the entrance, but if you need to come up for air before going through, then do that; I'll follow your cues," he said, and I nodded, taking a few practice breaths.

"I'm guessing you're really good at holding your breath too?"

He grinned, pulling my lips to his.

"How do you think I stay between your legs for so long, Spitfire?"

I laughed and shook my head.

"Head out of the gutter," I said, then took another breath. "Okay, let's do this." I sucked in as much oxygen as I could, holding it in my chest as I sunk below the surface with Brax's hand in mine.

I used the little kicks he'd said to, to move forward, but I didn't need to. My shadows fueled my body, moving me toward the tall, black, jagged rocks that covered the lake bed.

"Don't touch them. We don't know what they're made of or what will happen if disturbed," I heard Brax's voice in my head.

"Yeah, because my first thought was to touch the sharp, black rocks that look like they want to skewer me like a spit roast," I said back, and he laughed down the link.

"Spit roast, now there's another idea for the bed later," he teased, and I almost let out my air in a scoff.

"I want her mouth," Kai interrupted the link, and I ignored both of their sexual comments, trying to see through the dark water, avoiding the spikes of rock that kept coming out of nowhere.

It was hard enough to see, but these things were making it harder. My shadows were helping though, avoiding them for me. Without them, I was pretty sure I would've messed this mission up at least four skewers ago.

My chest and lungs started to burn as I blinked hard, panic rising as my shadows moved me faster. I didn't know how long I had left before I needed to breathe, but it didn't feel like long. Brax grabbed my hand and pulled me along with him, but I tugged the connection.

He eyed me, and I pointed to the surface. Brax went to pull me up when his head snapped to the water behind him. He frowned and tugged me toward it. I wanted to protest, but my shadows were pulling me there too.

I held the last of my oxygen inside, the burning ache in my chest getting worse and worse.

"I think we're close, or the shadows would've let us surface. Hold on, Spitfire," Brax encouraged.

"I'm trying," I replied.

~"Don't panic; you'll use more air," he advised.

"I'm trying," I repeated, and he kicked harder. Until he yanked me against him, and we came face to face with a wall of cliff. He put his palm on it, pressing against it, his eyes wide. I shrugged and felt along it, but I needed air.

I strained out my chest, trying not to take a breath, but it was taking everything in me.

"Brax," I urged in the link.

"Get her out of there," Derik snapped down the link, but Brax was still searching.

"It's here; it has to be," he said back as I gripped the cliff. Black spots started appearing in my vision, and I grabbed Brax. He cursed down the link a second before something gripped my ankle.

My air whooshed out in a tornado of bubbles, a scream escaping when whatever had grabbed me tugged me down.

Panic filled my aching chest, and I reached for Brax. He grabbed my hands, trying to pull me back, fighting whatever had me, his biceps straining as his own face looked like air would be really good right about now.

"Get out of there!" Kai roared down the link.

"Don't let her go!" Derik screamed at Brax.

I tried to kick whatever had me off, but it held my ankle tighter. It didn't matter anymore; I had no more breath in me. Darkness edged my vision, Brax's desperate face and wide eyes the last thing I saw before it took me completely.

I was pretty sure I was dead, but there was pain. My chest ached and burned. I was sure if I was really dead, it shouldn't feel so awful. My shadows stirred inside me, and my throat closed, water rushing out of me.

My eyes flung open as I coughed and spluttered, emptying my lungs and chest of all the swallowed water. My nose burned as it came out of there too, and I took heaving breaths to compensate.

"Thank fuck," Brax growled, his voice raw as he enclosed me in his arms. I was used to being warm, but he was freezing too. I shivered against him and pulled back to see him.

"What happened?" I wheezed, and he nodded toward the cave entrance where the water was licking my feet. I was on stone and rubble, a bank on the inside of the caves.

"The shadows were trying to show you where to go to get to the entrance. They weren't your shadows, but I think ours were speaking to theirs. They weren't trying to drown you though," he said, and I coughed again, wincing at the pain that racked through my chest.

"Okay. That's not creepy at all, but thanks, shadows," I said to the air, and the water bubbled before stilling. I tensed and looked at Brax.

"They understand us; they know why we are here."

"And they'll help?"

"They're hard to understand since they don't actually talk, but from the feelings I got in my shadows, I want to say yes. But there's a warning."

"A warning?"

"Like not all of them are on the same side. Some will help, but I don't think all of them will."

"And I'm guessing there is no way to tell the difference?"

"Only in the feelings our shadows translate to us," he admitted, and I nodded; that was just great. I went to get up, and Brax helped me. I clutched him, my head spinning.

"Beautiful, you good?" Derik asked in the link.