chapter 57
Cold.
That was the first thing Ferial felt. It was invasive, sinking into her bones like it wanted to stay there. It dragged her out of the darkness slowly and painfully, her body protesting the return to consciousness.
Then came the pain. It was sharp and crashed through everything.
Her chest burned when she tried to breathe. Something in her side screamed with every shallow inhale. Her shoulder-her left shoulder-felt wrong, like it didn't belong to her body anymore. It was limp at her side. No mobility at all and excruciating pain.
She tried to move.
Nothing.
Her breath hitched.
No-no, no-
She forced her eyes open.
Darkness.
Not complete-but close. Dim light filtered in from somewhere above, faint and distorted. Water.
She was in water.
Half-submerged, half lying against something jagged and uneven. Rocks.
The sound came next-slow dripping, echoing, hollow.
A cave.
Her stomach dropped.
"D... Dante..." she croaked, her voice barely more than air.
It echoed back at her.
Alone.
The memory hit all at once-
The fall.
The water.
The current ripping her away.
Her body tensed instinctively and pain exploded through her ribs.
She cried out, choking on it.
"Okay... okay..." she whispered to herself, breath shaking. "Think. Think, Ferial."
The water around her shifted.
Rising.
She could feel it.
Slow and cold but steady.
Her heart began to race.
"No..."
She tried to push herself up.
Her right arm trembled violently but held.
Her left-
She screamed. White-hot agony shot through her shoulder, her vision blurring instantly.
Dislocated.
Her mind supplied the word distantly. As if it were a second thought. A way of distracting her from the situation.
Her chest hitched again.
Breathing hurt.
Everything hurt.
Her face felt swollen. Sticky.
Blood.
Her legs-
She tried again.
Nothing.
Nothing at all.
Her breath came faster now.
"No, no, no-move," she whispered desperately. "Move!"
But her lower body stayed unresponsive.
Panic clawed up her throat.
The water lapped higher against her side.
The cave wasn't safe.
It was a trap.
---
Miles away-
Dante stood on the edge of the boat, soaked, unmoving, his eyes fixed on the violent stretch of ocean below.
The world had narrowed into one singular, unbearable focus.
Find her.
Nothing else existed but her.
Not the commands being shouted around him.
Not the helicopters overhead.
Not the divers cutting through the water.
Only-
Her.
Then-
It hit.
A pulse.
Faint.
Weak.
But unmistakable.
His wolf surged violently to the surface.
MATE.
Dante's head snapped up.
"There!" he barked, pointing toward the rocky stretch along the coastline where the water churned unnaturally.
"She's there. Underground. Cave system."
The team moved instantly.
"Thermal scans picking up inconsistencies," one of the techs called. "There's an air pocket-possible chamber."
"Deploy divers," Dante ordered, his voice sharp, absolute. "Full gear. Cameras live. I want eyes on everything as they search."
Within seconds, divers were in the water.
Masks. Tanks. Equipment.
A live feed flickered to life on the screen beside him.
Dark.
Jagged rock.
Narrow passageways.
The divers moved fast but careful.
"Visibility low," one of them said through comms. "Tight corridors. Watch your clearance."
Dante didn't blink.
"Find her," he said.
---
Ferial's head dropped back against the rock, her breaths shallow, uneven.
The water was higher now.
Too high.
Her body trembled uncontrollably.
She didn't know how long she'd been there.
Minutes.
Hours.
It all blurred together.
"...Dante..." she whispered again, weaker this time.
A sound echoed through the cave.
Not water.
Movement.
Her eyes snapped open.
Light.
Faint-but real.
Her heart jumped.
"Hello?" she tried, her voice cracking. "Hello!"
A beam of light cut through the darkness.
Then another.
A figure emerged from the water-masked, suited, moving carefully through the tight space.
A diver.
Relief hit so hard it almost knocked her unconscious again.
"Oh my God..." she sobbed weakly.
The diver reached her quickly, immediately assessing.
"Alpha's Mate located," he spoke into his comm. "She's alive."
Dante's grip on the railing tightened until it groaned under the pressure.
"Status," he demanded.
There was a pause.
Too long.
"Multiple injuries," the diver continued. "Possible rib fractures. Left shoulder dislocated. Facial trauma..."
Ferial watched him, barely able to process the words.
Then-
"Lower body unresponsive."
Dante went completely still. The world dropped out beneath him.
"Water level rising," the diver added. "Cave unstable. Extraction complicated."
"No," Dante said immediately. "You get her out. Now."
"Negative," the diver replied. "Passages too narrow in current state. Risk of collapse. We need a plan."
Ferial's eyes fluttered.
She barely registered the second diver arriving.
Hands on her. Careful. Checking.
Adjusting her position slightly.
Pain flared again and she cried out weakly.
"Easy," one of them said. "We've got you."
"D... Dante..." she whispered.
The diver paused, then spoke into his comm.
"She's asking for you."
Dante closed his eyes for a brief second.
Then stepped forward.
"Ferial," his voice came through the comm system, low but steady.
Her head jerked slightly.
"Dante..."
"I'm here."
Tears slipped from her eyes.
"I can't... move..."
"I know," he said. "Listen to me. You stay with them. You breathe. You hear me?"
She nodded weakly.
Even though he couldn't see it.
"I'm coming to get you."
Her lips trembled.
"...Don't leave me."
His voice dropped.
"I'm not going anywhere."
---
The divers worked quickly but carefully.
They stabilized her as best they could-supporting her neck, adjusting her position to keep her airway clear as the water crept higher.
One of them gently manipulated her arm.
"Dislocation confirmed," he muttered.
"Don't-" she whimpered.
"Easy," he said. "We're not resetting it here."
Another checked her legs.
No response.
His expression tightened behind the mask.
They didn't say it out loud.
But everyone knew.
Time was running out.
They pulled back after stabilizing her as much as possible.
"Returning to surface," one of them said. "We need equipment. Oxygen tank. Narrow extraction rig."
"Go," Dante ordered immediately. "Take everything you need."
The feed cut briefly as they exited.
Dante turned sharply.
"Options." He asked as the team resurfaced and was brought onto the boat.
The team moved fast-maps, scans, structural analysis of the cave system.
"Passage is too tight for full extraction with current swell," one said. "We need to guide her through manually."
"She won't survive without oxygen," another added.
Dante's jaw clenched.
"Then we give her oxygen."
-
Time blurred.
Again.
For Ferial, it felt like slipping in and out of darkness.
The water had reached her chest now.
Cold.
Unforgiving.
Her body was shutting down.
Then-
Light again.
Voices.
Movement.
The divers were back.
"Luna Ferial," one said gently. "We're getting you out."
They fitted the mask over her face.
Oxygen flooded her lungs.
She gasped, coughing weakly.
"Good," he said. "Stay with us."
They secured the tank to her.
Strapped her carefully.
"Pain's going to get worse," another warned.
She nodded faintly.
"I don't care," she whispered. "Just... take me out."
They moved her slowly.
Carefully.
Every inch was a fight.
The cave scraped against them-jagged rock threatening to tear, to trap, to collapse.
Ferial bit down on her scream as pain exploded through her body.
"Almost there Luna," one of them murmured.
"Keep her steady."
The current fought them.
Pulled.
Dragged.
But they pushed forward.
Together.
---
The surface broke open in chaos.
Waves.
Voices.
Movement.
They hauled her onto the boat.
Hands everywhere.
Medical team rushing in.
"Pulse weak!"
"Get her on oxygen-now!"
"Watch her spine!"
Ferial's vision blurred.
The world spinning.
Then-
Him.
Dante.
Standing there.
Not calm.
Not controlled.
Gone.
His wolf fully in his eyes-golden, wild, furious.
No one stood in his way. No one dared. He crossed the deck in seconds. Dropping to his knees beside her.
"Ferial," his voice was rough, breaking.
Her hand twitched weakly.
"...You... came..."
His hand closed around hers instantly.
"I told you I would."
Her lips curved faintly.
Then her eyes slipped closed.
"Stay with me!" he snapped.
The medics moved fast.
"We've got her Alpha," one said carefully.
But Dante didn't let go.
Wouldn't let go.
As they worked-
As the chaos unfolded-
As the ocean roared around them-
There was only one thing that mattered.
That she was alive and he wasn't losing her again. Even for the purpose of saving her life.