Chapter Twenty-Three

 

Noah

 

Through the shattered windshield and the crowds, I watched Chloe walk into the ocean.

And I swore.

I wanted to go to her and explain what had happened, now that my cousins couldn’t reach her, but the door was solidly jammed, the steering wheel had come down to pin my legs, and short of going greliaran on them both and scaring the hell out of the people surrounding the car, I had no way out.

She glanced back to the shore for a heartbeat, her auburn hair shining in the brilliant sunlight, and then she dove beneath the water.

I slammed a hand into the dashboard, denting the plastic in my frustration.

It’d taken me minutes on end to catch up to Owen and Wyatt, despite racing through stop signs and stoplights and praying that the cops wouldn’t see. My cousins had already arrived at the lot by the time I got here, and if not for the fact they’d parked at the end of a row of cars, I would have had almost no chance of stopping them.

And Chloe had been standing on the sand.

There hadn’t been many options. I couldn’t take them both on and be certain one of them wouldn’t slip away to reach her.

I just hoped Maddox would forgive me about his car.

Waves crashed in and rolled back out again. No fins or scales broke the surface, and on the beach, no one shouted or pointed to the space where the dehaians had disappeared.

The accident had distracted them.

Someone knocked on the window of the car, and I pulled my gaze from the water to find a cop staring down at me. Up ahead, Wyatt shouted curses, barely keeping himself from losing control in his rage. Next to him, Owen resorted to a glare, though I knew he’d try more once he could leave the driver’s seat.

Which, considering they were trapped between Maddox’s car and a light pole, would be a while.

The cop motioned to other officers farther in the crowd. Past the cars around me, I saw an ambulance pull into the lot.

I sighed. There’d be hell to pay for this. But Chloe was safe. From my family, at least, she was safe.

And that was the best I could do.