threatened her.
A kelpie, he realized, horrified at the sight. She was on the
kelpie’s back, and it was already taking off. Her scream echoed
through the forest. Beck knew it would haunt him. He let the arrow
fly, hoping to hit the heart before the horse got away with his wife.
Beck heard the thud of the arrow striking flesh, but it didn’t slow the
damn thing down. The horse plunged into the icy river and his wife
disappeared.
Beck felt her panic. He did the only thing he could do. He
forcefully cut the connection between them. He couldn’t do what he
needed to do if he was overwhelmed with her fear. Beck rushed out
Bound
95
into the river, cursing the cold. He took three deep, long breaths to fill his lungs, pulled out a cold iron knife and dove after them.
The river was clear, and the early morning light illuminated the
scene. The kelpie had gone deep. She was sitting patiently at the
bottom of the river among the thick reeds that swayed with the
current. It would be a peaceful scene except for the woman struggling
to survive. She couldn’t. The horse would hold her in place until the
river took her life. When she was dead, the kelpie would release her
and devour her. If Beck hadn’t found her, all he would have been left
with was her heart. The kelpies never ate the hearts.
Meg was still struggling, but he could tell she was losing. Her
eyes flared as she saw him swimming toward her. She tried so hard to
push her body towards his, as though in her last moments, she needed
to get as close to him as possible. He swam straight to her and took
her head in his hands. He kissed her, forcing the air he’d held in his
mouth down to her lungs. It wasn’t much, but he needed every minute
if he was going to save her.
Why the hell had she climbed on a kelpie’s back, he wondered as