In mid-fall she somehow managed to shift, but this wasn't better, because now she was human-shaped and clawing wildly for a handhold.
Eren caught her.
For a moment she dangled over the railing with sea spray drenching her. Eren's hands, strong but gentle, grasped both of hers. Then he pulled her upright and set her gently on the deck.
He was gorgeously naked, balancing barefoot on the deck, and he was looking at her with shock and love and astonishment and wonder.
"Lucy," he said, and pulled her into his arms.
EREN
Eren had had a verybad past few minutes, but things were looking much better now.
When he had realized Lucy had vanished off the deck and had almost certainly gone into the water, he had come close to losing his mind. All he could think about was trying to find her, and then, as it began to sink in that she was nowhere in sight, his entire existence had pivoted on making the men on the boat pay for it.
This was the thing that he had feared most ever since the mercs had taken him and tried to turn his bear into an unstoppable killing machine. Since his escape, he had rarely shifted, and had feared what would happen if he really let his bear loose. He was deathly terrified of waking up covered in blood after a rampage he couldn't even remember.
But—even lost in shock and grief for Lucy—that hadn't happened. He was still fully in control, even as a bear. And when he had seen her reappear, as he had begun to grasp the miracle that had occurred but might still be about to snatch her away again, he had shifted back with the ease of thought.
He and his bear were working in perfect tandem, and they both agreed that the most important thing, above all else, was to save Lucy.
Her griffin was gorgeous. It was beautiful, sleek and small compared to the others. Its body was that of a lynx, with long graceful legs and thick gray fur. It had tapered falcon's wings and a graceful, narrow head. Its eyes were exactly Lucy's eyes, gray-green like an ocean wave driven before an oncoming storm.
But she was even more beautiful once she turned back into herself, and for a moment all he could do was hold on to her, letting it sink in that she was all right, she had taken care of herself, and he hadn't lost her.
He set her down very gently, and shivering in the cold wind, he turned to put his own body between Lucy and the men on the deck. Most of them were out of the fight now. He had torn through the shifters; they weren't dead, but they were down, groaning, dragging themselves away and avoiding him. Lucy had taken out the big guy with the gun, and now there was just one man looking at them warily across the deck through the spitting rain.
"Uncle Rodric," Lucy said quietly, looking out past Eren's arm.
"Lucy, my dear," her uncle said with false cheer. He strode forward, but stopped at a growl from Eren. "Oh come now, are we going to be like that?"
"We need to get inside somewhere that we can warm up." Lucy touched Eren's arm, feeling the muscles clenched tight under the skin as he fought not to shiver. "And then I'll sign your papers."
Eren looked around at her in surprise. "Lucy, you can't just—"
"I know what I'm doing," she said quietly, staring back at her uncle with that new, level intensity of purpose in her eyes. "I'm tired of fighting over this. I'll make you a deal, Uncle Rodric, and then you'll leave me alone. Forever."
"I think that could be arranged," her uncle said.
* * *
They went into a cabin that was much more luxurious than the one on theCodfather. With classy wooden furniture and high ceilings, it looked more like a nice hotel room than a cabin on a boat. Only the movement of the deck underfoot and the fact that all the furniture was bolted down made it evident where they really were.
"Drink?" Uncle Rodric asked, as he handed them both towels. He dug out a bathrobe for Eren. Now that things seemed to be going his way, he was a perfectly charming host. Eren disliked him intensely and growled when Rodric handed him the robe.
"No, thank you, Uncle," Lucy said politely. "I would just like to get our business done, please."
Eren admired her calm as she toweled off her hair. Her clothes were soaked, and Eren found himself wishing he could get them off her and bundle her into the nice little berth in theCodfather.
TheCodfather. On these rough seas, the boat was probably gone for good. With luck it wouldn't capsize and they could eventually have neighbors help them search, but there was a good chance it was either headed for the bottom of the sea or floating away on the Gulf Stream to end up in Greenland or on the Scandinavian coast.
He tried to turn his mind away from it. He would deal with having lost the family boat later. Right now their situation was still intensely precarious. They had no way off the cabin cruiser; this far from land, Lucy couldn't fly and he couldn't swim long enough to get to safety. This left them trapped between Lucy's uncle and the stormy, dangerous ocean.
"Straight to business," her uncle said. "At last." He opened a drawer in a desk made of honey-colored wood that looked like it would be more at home in an upscale office than on a boat. "May I ask what changed your mind?"
"A lot of things." Lucy put the towel under her so she could sit on a chair without getting the seat wet. "But maybe the most important one is that I've found out who I really am. I've been to Griffin Island. I know what you are, and what my father was."
Rodric let out a long sigh. He turned around with a sheaf of papers in his hand.