Page 1 of Renegade Kings

Chapter 1

Alyssa

The sunlight burned across my retinas as I burst through the surface of the water, gasping for a breath that felt like it would never be enough. Coughing violently, I was pulled back beneath the surface as I thrashed in the rampaging water, fighting to reach the surface once more.

Fuck.

I could feel the current wrapping around me, grasping at my legs as it tried to tow me back into the depths. Even as the rest of us had followed Tank and Dean into the river, I’d known it would be bad. This part of the river always thrashed and fought as the water disappeared into the Wildling Forest. Some said it was the water spirits fighting not to become lost amongst the trees that no one else dared to tread. Personally, I always thought it was rushing to get there quicker rather than fighting to stay away.

Whatever it was, we were powerless to its will and along for the ride. Hopefully, a ride that wouldn’t end in a watery grave.

There had been little choice left to us. We couldn’t outrun The Endless. They were already upon us. It was the river or the forest, and at the time, I didn’t even think we’d make it that far.

It was the only way.

Maybe.

Now that I was fighting for my life, I was seeing all the downsides of this hastily constructed plan. Mainly the ones that ended with all of us dead.

I pushed the negative thoughts aside, trying not to think about how impossible it would have been for Tank to keep Dean afloat in this powerful current. About the impossible choice I’d thrust at him. If that wasn’t the theme of my life, I didn’t know what was. One impossible choice after another and every single one ending in someone dead or dying.

The water rushed over my head again as I was pulled down into the depths. My shoulder colliding with a rock had the breath I’d only just drawn rushing from my lungs. My back dragged along the rough stones of the riverbed as my hands scrambled through the water, searching for anything to hold on to, anything to stop the chaotic death ride I was currently on.

My fingertips clawed through the riverbed and the stones cut through my skin as the panic set in. My lungs ached for a breath, and I screwed my eyes closed, willing myself back to a place of calm.

I refused to die this way.

Not here.

Not now.

The others were relying on me. We still hadn’t done what we’d come here to do, and I wouldn’t leave them alone in Nymeria. They’d never survive alone. I had to find them somewhere safe. Anywhere.

Strangely, it was the thought of leaving the others that had my mind calming. It should have sent me into a tailspin but, instead, as their faces flashed through my mind, a sense of calm followed with it. The fragile bond that had only just begun to blossom between Tank and I thrummed inside my chest and I let myself sink into the feeling for a moment. Then, with what felt like a renewed sense of strength, I reached for my magic and felt through the water for the men that meant so much to me.

I let my consciousness flow through the ripples of violent currents, into the crashing water that slammed into the riverbank. Reaching for that sense of home that came with the four men I’d brought to this place with me. The four men that I needed at my side.

Tank and Dean were the first my consciousness found. I tried not to let my thoughts linger on the stillness of Dean’s body or how Tank held onto him so tightly. Instead, I wrapped my will around the water that surrounded them, pushing them to the surface even as my own lungs burned with the need for air.

I couldn’t last much longer. I needed oxygen, and I needed it now, but Maddox and Ryder both registered in my mind, pushing aside thoughts of myself, even if just for a moment. They weren’t too far behind me. A minute at most. Both of them were doing much better than I was. On their backs, they rode the current, staying near the surface as they surrendered to the flow of the river.

Using the last of my strength, I pushed them closer together. Maddox’s whisper of my name brushed against my mind, and then I pulled back.

Knowing where the guys were gave me a sense of purpose, a reason to keep pushing, and with the sense of calm still wrapped around me, I braced my feet on the river bed and pushed off, heading for the surface.

I broke free of the water, feeling a stillness that hadn’t been there before. Taking advantage of being in a slower patch of the river, I heaved in lungfuls of air as I spun in the water, searching for any sign of the others. I spotted Tank and Dean at the same time as I saw the shore. A sandy patch of white that lay starkly against the water, like a beacon calling us in.

Tank had seen it too, and he was already swimming to the shore, one arm wrapped around Dean as he pulled him along.

I was exhausted. A part of me just wanted to stop. Why were we always fighting? Always pushing for something as simple as survival. It should have been the bare minimum in life, not something you had to dedicate every moment to achieve. Why couldn’t we just have some form of peace?

There was a glimmer of surrender that danced across my consciousness. The taunting thought that I could just stop fighting, sink back below the surface and give myself over to the quiet darkness. I pushed it aside and swam instead. My shoulders screamed in protest as I forced my exhausted muscles to move. The shore was so close. I could rest as soon as I reached the shore. Or at least that was the lie I told myself. In reality, The Endless could emerge from the river right behind us and the fight we’d tried to avoid would be right in front of us once again. But for now, the lie was all I could take. I held onto it nearly as tightly as the need to ensure Dean had survived the water I’d thrown him into, even knowing his injury was far worse than he wanted us to believe.

My gaze locked on Tank dragging Dean from the water, and the way he pulled his limp body across the sand as Tank moved him to drier land. I couldn’t stop looking at his hands, almost begging for a twitch of fingers, anything, as I cut through the water as fast as I could.

But there was nothing.

Even as Tank felt for his pulse before dipping his head down to listen for a breath, he was as still as the dead.