Chapter 9 #2
“I think so, too,” he admitted. “We’re all pretty close. I think I mentioned that our clan all lives right there on the shore near my house. It’s been that way for generations, with the houses all being passed down from one to the next. We’ve seen a lot of history.”
“That’s lovely,” she said softly.
He had to agree. “It is, and I think our clan even today sort of represents that. In a way, my brothers and I all claim a different aspect of the Cape. Dylan, the oldest and our Alpha, is a park ranger for the Cape Cod National Seashore. That job suits him quite well, really, and it’s what our father did before he retired.
Ross and his husband have a great little restaurant in Provincetown, and Dex owns a campground. ”
Erin nodded. “Diverse, but all different parts that come together as elements of where you’re from. Especially when you add yourself in.”
She got it. He didn’t have to say much, and she understood. Jace felt them grow that much closer. “Exactly. I do have another brother, Will. He’s addicted to the water, like I am, but he’s sailing the seven seas right now. We don’t see him very much. Otherwise, though, we’re all very close.”
“Your family sounds wonderful.” Erin snuggled a little closer to him, fitting into the shelter of his arm.
“They really are. I know we’ve just got a few days together before you need to go home, but maybe you can meet them first.” His bear rumbled with pleasure at the thought of bringing his mate to meet his family.
They would love her instantly, he knew. The nagging thought of what to do after this week still bothered him, but he didn’t have any solutions yet.
Maybe something would come to him before it was over.
“I’d love to,” was her simple answer.
Another nagging thought tugged at him. This time when Jace glanced over his shoulder, he did see another boat. It was distant, but he adjusted the wheel so they’d keep plenty of space between them.
“What’s wrong?” Erin had been leaning into him, her body relaxing against his, but now the tension she felt in him had her sitting up.
“Just a second.” Jace tried the wheel again but still didn’t get the response he wanted. He chewed his lip as he moved it in the other direction. “Damn. I think one of the rudder cables came off the pulley.”
“What does that mean?” Erin asked. She was trying not to sound alarmed, but she wasn’t doing a very good job of it.
Jace sighed. “It means we don’t have any steering, but I should be able to repair it.” He unwound the rigging from a nearby cleat and lowered the mainsail, fastening it to the boom so that the wind wouldn’t continue to push them along while he couldn’t control their direction.
She watched him nervously. “Is there anything I can do?”
“There might be, in a moment. I’m sorry that this happened, Erin.” If it’d been just him out on the boat, he would’ve just cussed a bit about it and fixed it. But this was the first time she’d come out sailing with him. It obviously unnerved her a bit, and he didn’t want it to be the last time.
“It’s all right. It’s not like it’s your fault.”
“No,” he replied hesitantly. He hadn’t taken the boat out in choppy waters or done anything extreme that would cause the cable to jump the pulley.
Jace had always been adamant about maintaining his boats, whether for business or pleasure.
He hadn’t slacked in that department, which meant the chances of him running into any problems out on the water were slim to none.
Still, he must’ve slipped up somewhere. He was embarrassed and a little pissed, but he tried not to let too much of that show as he took off his life jacket.
Now, she was genuinely alarmed. “What are you doing?”
“I can’t reach the pulley from up here. I’ve got to dive down and take a look at it. It’s all right,” he assured her. “I’ll jump in and make sure the problem is what I think it is. Can you grab the toolbox out of the storage locker for me?”
“Yeah. I’ll do that.”
He plunged into the warm water and ducked under the transom.
Jace knew the boat well, since he’d had it for several years now.
He easily found the pulley, but the cable hadn’t just slipped off it.
It was completely disconnected from the rudder.
It was no wonder the wheel didn’t do anything when he turned it.
Fortunately, he knew it was something he could fix.
Just before Jace came back to the surface, he felt that odd sensation at his back again. It was the same one he’d had earlier, a creeping perception under his skin of being watched. He turned, gazing through the blue depths that surrounded him. Jace was alone.
Surfacing, he wiped the water from his eyes to find Erin waiting for him, her face pinched with worry. “It’s just the cable, like I thought. Open up that box for me.”
She unfastened the latch and lifted the lid before pushing the toolbox closer to him so he could see inside. “Will it be hard to fix?”
“No, not really. It’s just a pain since I have to do it underwater, but that’s nothing I haven’t done before.” Seeing that his casual discussion wasn’t reassuring her, he reached up and took her hand. “Don’t worry. You’re only going to get wet if I splash you. We’ll be up and cruising in no time.”
Erin gave him a weak smile. “Okay. I’ll be right here if you need me.”
Jace dove down once again. He wrapped the cable around the pulley and kept tension on it as he guided it to the rudder. It was hard not to blame himself. There had to be something he missed, something he’d neglected at some point. His failure had made Erin worry.
Just as he was fastening the cable in place, that odd feeling once again took up residence in his spine and shoulders.
He whipped around, certain that something was in the water with him.
The sunlight filtered down through the water in pale beams. Far off, a few small fish flitted further into the distance.
The hull of the ship was large over his head, but it was no threat.
Jace decided he’d been thinking too much about Ian’s idea to go find great whites for his tours.
He hurriedly fixed the cable, wanting it done before he had to come up for air again.
He took one last look around and swam up.
Erin was standing up and looking toward the bow of the ship when he emerged and pulled himself up onto the transom. She whipped her head around to him and rushed forward. “Is everything okay?”
“I should ask you the same thing.” Jace used the side of his hand like a squeegee to scrape the water from his skin and flick it away, although plenty of it still ran from his hair and shorts. “You look a little spooked, but I’ve got everything fixed.”
“Well, I was a bit concerned about that,” she admitted, her fingers fidgeting in front of her. “I’ve never had to worry about getting stranded on a boat before, but I believed you when you said you could handle it. It’s just that I thought I saw something in the water.”
His muscles stiffened. “What kind of thing did you see?”
“Nothing, apparently,” she replied, impatient with herself. “I was here waiting for you, and I thought I saw a big shape out of the corner of my eye. I turned to look, and there was nothing there. It must’ve been a shadow playing tricks on my eyes, although it happened a couple of times.”
“Yeah, maybe we’ve been in the sun too much,” he conceded, although Jace wished he had a reasonable conclusion for what had happened.
They both had the instincts of hunters, of animals who were far more aware of their surroundings than humans.
He didn’t want to ignore that, but they were safe on the boat now.
“We should be able to get back now. Do you want to help me test out the rudder?”
“Sure. What do I do?” She looked eager to be useful.
He couldn’t blame her. Taking action was much better than standing around ruminating on what might be lurking in the water around them. “Go up to the wheel and turn it gently to the right. I’ll be able to watch the rudder from here and make sure it’s working.”
“Okay!”
Jace knelt in the back of the boat and peered over the edge, leaning out just far enough that he could see the dark shape of the rudder.
He watched the water around it, still not completely convinced that they were alone.
Jace was confident in the water but knew he could still become prey if he weren’t careful.
There was absolutely nothing to make him think he wasn’t, so he focused on the rudder.
It moved just as it should. “Now to the left. Perfect. We’re good to go. Want to help me raise the sail?”
She’d relaxed a bit now that there was no reason for the Coast Guard to rescue them and nodded. “Sure. Just show me.”
Jace taught her how to release the mainsail and hoist it up the mast. He stood behind her, his arms around her as he showed her how to work the rigging, pointing out the different movements of the sail and how to adjust for them.
As she leaned into his body and they guided the craft together, Jace let all those worried thoughts leave his mind.
The only thing that mattered right now was being there with his mate.