Chapter 161 We Must Survive

Chapter 161 We Must Survive
Lucian’s POV

Every powerful stroke through the ocean sent another pulse of pain through the wound on my arm, but there was no chance I would let Selene notice.

The injury had come from Hannah’s attack several days ago. When she lunged at Selene with the dagger, I had stepped between them and taken the blade across my arm. The wound had been healing well since then, and a layer of scab had already formed over it. Under normal circumstances, it would have needed only a little more time before it healed completely.

But there was nothing normal about our situation now.

The instant I entered the ocean, the seawater soaked through the wound. The salt burned into the damaged skin, and after swimming for so long, the injury had gradually reopened. Each movement of my arm pulled at it, sending sharp pain through me.

Dylan released a low growl inside my mind. He could feel what was happening to our body, and his frustration made it clear that the wound was becoming a problem.

I reassured him silently.

Selene could not know.

Not now.

At this moment, I was the person she was relying on. She had been terrified when we jumped from the plane, yet she had trusted me when I promised to protect her. Now we were stranded in the middle of an endless ocean, and I could not allow her to see weakness in me.

If she knew my arm had reopened, she would worry.

I did not want that.

With Dylan controlling our wolf form, we continued swimming toward the island while Selene remained securely on his back. She gripped his wet fur tightly, and Dylan pushed forward with everything he had.

For a while, we seemed to be making progress.

Then the ocean changed.

The waves grew stronger.

One moment, Dylan was climbing the face of a wave. The next, the water dropped beneath us before another wave lifted us again. It became increasingly difficult to maintain any rhythm.

Worse, the island did not seem to be getting closer.

Selene noticed it too.

“Lucian,” she called worriedly, staring toward the distant land, “it seems like we’re not getting any closer to that island.”

She was right.

I had already realized what was happening.

The wind was blowing directly against us.

No matter how hard Dylan swam, the waves pushed us backward almost as quickly as we moved forward. We were using enormous amounts of strength without gaining enough distance.

Dylan was becoming exhausted.

His movements remained powerful, but I could feel his energy fading.

We could not continue like this.

I told Dylan to rest and took control again.

Selene immediately slipped from his back and entered the water to make the transformation easier. When I returned to my human form, she moved close and held onto me while the life jackets kept us above the surface.

She studied me for a moment.

“How about I turn into a wolf and you take a break?”

I floated beside her and considered it.

Frieda was powerful. Selene could certainly take over for a while, but I looked toward the island and watched another strong wave push us in the opposite direction.

It would be pointless.

We would only exhaust Frieda too.

“Let’s not move for now,” I said. “We should conserve our energy. When the wind subsides, we can continue swimming toward the island.”

Selene looked toward the waves.

After a moment, she nodded.

“It seems like we don’t have a lot of choices.”

We stopped fighting the current.

Instead, we held onto each other and allowed the ocean to carry us.

Thankfully, we still had our life jackets. Without them, we would have been forced to waste strength simply keeping our heads above water. In our human forms, our bodies were also much lighter than our wolves, which allowed us to conserve even more energy.

Still, the ocean refused to give us peace.

Waves continued surging around us while the wind howled across the open water. Each time a large wave broke near us, I wrapped my arms more tightly around Selene and turned my body to shield her from the worst of it.

“Sele, don’t be afraid,” I told her. “Just hold on a little longer.”

She tightened her arms around me.

“I’m not afraid of anything with you around.”

Her answer struck deeper than she probably realized.

Only hours earlier, Selene had finally told me that she accepted me. She had said she wanted to spend the rest of her life with me, no matter life or death.

Now she was placing that trust in my hands.

I could not fail her.

The waves continued carrying us farther away, and gradually, I lost any real sense of time. There was nothing around us that could help measure the passing hours, only water, wind and the changing sky.

Eventually, the waves began to weaken.

The wind slowly lost some of its strength.

I reached into my backpack.

“Drink some water to replenish your strength.”

I pulled out one of the bottles of mineral water and handed it to Selene.

“When the wind stops, we’ll swim toward that island again.”

“Okay.”

She opened the bottle and took several small sips.

Then she handed it back to me.

I closed it and returned it to my backpack.

Selene immediately noticed.

“Aren’t you going to drink?”

I shook my head.

“I’m not thirsty.”

It was a lie.

My throat was dry, but that did not matter.

Out here, fresh water was more valuable than almost anything else we carried.

Even if we reached the island, there was no guarantee that we would find drinkable water there. We might be surrounded by the ocean and still die of thirst.

The few bottles I had managed to bring before jumping from the plane were precious.

I wanted Selene to have as much of them as possible.

From the way she looked at me, I knew she understood exactly what I was doing.

She did not argue.

Instead, she moved closer and gently kissed me.

That small gesture said enough.

Eventually, night settled over the ocean.

A crescent moon rose high above us, spreading silver light across the dark water. Beneath its glow, the surface shimmered beautifully while smaller waves rippled around us.

For a moment, the sight was almost peaceful.

If our lives had not been in danger, it might even have been romantic.

Swimming beneath the moonlight with the woman I loved should have been something worth remembering for a completely different reason.

But the distant island reminded me that we were still fighting for survival.

I studied the water.

The wind had finally weakened enough.

“Sele, the sea is calm now. Let’s swim toward the island.”

Selene looked toward the distant shape.

The island was barely visible from where we had drifted.

That worried me.

If we delayed too long and another storm arrived, we might lose sight of it completely.

“You’re right,” she said. “Time is of the essence.”

The rest and water had helped her recover some strength.

She shifted position, preparing to swim.

Then she accidentally bumped against my injured arm.

Pain shot through me so sharply that I could not suppress my reaction.

“Ouch…”

Selene immediately froze.

“Lucian, what’s wrong?”

Concern filled her face.

The wound throbbed fiercely beneath my soaked clothing. I drew in a deep breath and forced my expression to remain calm.

“I’m fine.”

She frowned.

“But…”

“Don’t speak. You should conserve your energy.”

I lifted my finger and gently placed it against her lips, stopping the questions I knew were coming.

Selene stared at me suspiciously.

“Are you sure you’re fine?”

“Yes.”

I lifted the corner of my mouth into a reassuring smile.

“Let’s not waste any more time. We need to hurry.”

She continued watching me for another moment, but thankfully, she stopped questioning me.

We began swimming.

This time, the sea was calmer, and without the powerful headwind pushing us backward, we were finally able to make real progress.

We moved with a steady rhythm toward the island.

Minute after minute passed.

Then hour after hour.

Whenever I could, I scanned the surrounding water for signs of a ship.

Nothing.

No distant lights.

No boat.

No indication that anyone else was anywhere near us.

We seemed to have landed in an extremely remote part of the ocean.

That realization should have frightened me.

Instead, it strengthened my determination.

As I stared toward the distant horizon, an old memory entered my mind.

My father.

Years ago, he had sailed out to sea aboard a cruise ship.

Then a terrible storm came.

He never returned.

The sea had taken him from me when I was fifteen, and the memory of that loss had remained with me ever since.

Now I was trapped in the same vast ocean.

For one terrible second, the similarity felt almost cruel.

No.

I refused to accept it.

My father had died at sea, but I would not follow in his footsteps.

Selene and I would not disappear beneath these waters.

We had only just admitted what we felt for each other. We had only just chosen a future together.

I would not allow that future to end here.

We were going back alive.

The darkness slowly began to change.

A faint glow appeared across the distant horizon.

Dawn.

As the first light spread across the sky, the shape ahead of us became clearer.

The island.

After everything we had endured through the night, it was finally close enough for us to see properly.

Hope surged through me.

I looked toward Selene and kept my voice strong despite the exhaustion weighing on my body.

“Selene, we will be there soon.”