Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of Stephanie Meyer. The original plot is the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Thank you to DayDreamDreamer and LeeorV for giving this chapter a once-over.

I would also like to thank germanAkice who gifted me with the idea for this story somewhere around 2015-ish. It's been lying in my virtual drawer for many years until I was finally inspired to give it life.

This short story is part of the compilation for Australian Bushfires Compilation – Hope Among the Ashes. Thank you to all of the authors who participated and to everyone who donated to the charities aimed to help rebuild after those terrible fires.

Story Summary: Edward sensed her from miles away and followed his heart to the busiest place in the city—the airport. Just as he was about to meet his soul mate, the plane they were flying in suddenly fell from the sky. What is a vampire to do but grab his mate and jump toward the ocean. A story that begins with a fall and ends in Happily Ever After. Total AU, M for themes and language.

Original Publish Date: 2020-05-01

Chapter One – Going Down

Bella

I closed my eyes, held onto the arms of my seat, and prayed as the airplane began its takeoff. The rumble of the engines along with the feeling that I was being pushed against my seat were bad enough, but as the wheels of this flying metal tin left the ground, my heart got stuck in my throat.

My family wasn't religious. Though my mother, Renée, often experimented with many different beliefs, my dad—the Chief of Police in our small town of Forks, Washington—worshipped at the stream with his friends on Sundays rather than at the church. At this point, however, I thought I made a good imitation of a nun as I fervently prayed to whatever deity was willing to listen.

It was only my first time flying, but I was quickly realizing that I didn't like it. Not one bit.

Oh, heavenly Father, which art in heaven. Please keep this flying tin in the air as long as it needs to. Please make sure that we have enough fuel to reach…to reach… Damn, where am I flying again?

Oh, right, Trinidad. With a stop in Bermuda.

Isn't that the place where all the planes go missing?

So not the right thing to be thinking about right now, Bella.

I tried to take deep breaths to calm myself, but my heart was pounding in my ears so loudly that I could hardly hear my own thoughts anymore.

Come on, Bella, you're not the first person to be flying. This is a large plane. It's safe. More people die in car accidents every day. You have a better chance of winning the lottery than dying in a plane crash.

"Miss?"

I opened my eyes to find the flight attendant looking at me. "Y-yes?"

"Would you like something to drink?"

I nodded and crocked, "Orange juice." Then, I swallowed the lump in my throat and added, "Please."

Wasn't there something about sugar being good for you? Or was it that you shouldn't have elevated sugar levels while flying? I didn't remember, and as I took the plastic cup with the brightly colored liquid, I didn't care much.

I gulped down the drink and closed my eyes again. I can do this. Everything is going to be just fine. It's only a few hours. I can try to sleep to pass the time.

Yeah, like that is ever going to happen.

Just breathe, Bella. In and out. You're mostly flying over solid land. Right, so we'd die instantly if we crashed. Is it better to crash on solid ground or to hit the water? With my luck, I'd probably drown.

"Is everything okay, dear?" someone asked from beside me.

I nodded without opening my eyes. I figured the person speaking had to be the elderly woman that occupied the seat next to me. I didn't hear her speak beforehand, but the voice was so close it couldn't be anyone else.

"First time flying, deary?" the woman continued. "It's okay, honey. I fly all the time. It's perfectly safe. Just take deep breaths and think about who is waiting for you at your destination."

Not helping, lady. There wasn't anyone waiting for me at the destination.

"I'm sure there's a nice gentleman with flowers waiting for you. Or is it balloons these days?"

She continued chatting, and I guess she thought she was helping me relax, but I wasn't paying her any attention.

There wouldn't be anyone waiting for me in Trinidad. I no longer had anyone waiting for me anywhere, for that matter. A stab of pain pierced my chest, and I turned my head to the side, hoping no one would see the tears rolling down my cheek. It was still so fresh. The accident, the funerals, the attorney…

In a matter of seconds, I had lost both my parents. A drunk driver skipped the light and crashed into my father's cruiser while he and mom were coming back from dinner at their friends' house. Ten minutes away from home. All three were dead before any help could arrive.

I had still been living with my parents after graduation from high school, attending Peninsula College. I had dreams of attending university and perhaps going as far as earning a doctorate at some point in the future, but education was expensive. Therefore, after graduation, I opted to stay at home and attend a community college, working in Forks Outfitters and picking up shifts at the diner whenever I could.

After the accident, however, I just couldn't continue living in Forks. Everything and everyone kept reminding me of what I'd lost. That was the reason I was now abusing my poor self by flying across the country.

Well, actually it wasn't really anyone's fault but my own that I had chosen to go that far, but I needed to get away, and a tropical beach sounded like the perfect contrast to gloomy, rainy, forever-overcast Forks.

I sighed. I am NEVER flying again. I'm taking a boat back. That's it. I'll cancel the return ticket and take a cruise.

It was a crazy notion, and I was perfectly aware of that, but in my panicked state, I simply didn't care. We had been experiencing turbulence almost since the moment we took off, and it made everything so much worse for me. I felt sick with fear each time the plane shook. There was really very little holding us in the air, and my heart was lunging into my throat every few seconds.

Don't think about it. Try focusing on something else. Perhaps you'll meet someone cute in Trinidad?

I almost snorted at the thought. It was just as preposterous as taking a cruise back. I was much too shy to make friends easily, and definitely when it came to the opposite sex. But it was working as a distraction, which was good. I would go for anything as long as it kept my mind off the fact that I was hanging mid-air inside a tin can with wings, praying that said can didn't decide to fall from the sky.

Except…it suddenly did. Decided to fall from the sky, that is.

It didn't occur to me that we were actually falling from the sky—and not just my panicked self thinking that we were—until the emergency masks suddenly dropped down from the top compartments. The yellow-orange plastic was mocking me as it dangled before my eyes. My fingers were glued to the armrest, refusing to let go. The mask might as well have been miles above me. There was no way I could reach it.

My thoughts stilled as I glanced at the window and saw that the light blue of the sky had disappeared from view. Instead, a darker blue was approaching at an alarming rate.

The ocean.

I closed my eyes and braced for impact. A small part of my mind prayed that death would be instantaneous. Until I tried flying, drowning had been my biggest fear. I didn't dare open my eyes when I felt the jostle and heard metal screeching.

This is the end. God, please let it be painless.

o.O.o

Edward

The scent caught me completely unprepared. Wonderful. Floral. Breathtaking.

I took large gulps of air, like a drowning man saved from the water, and felt a rumble form inside my chest.

Mine.

I did not even think as I changed course through the streets and headed after that scent. Feminine and delicate, it was alluring and seductive like no scent ever could. Like no scent ever would. After over fifteen decades of solitude, I had finally found her.

I had heard from others what it was like to find your mate, but having never experienced it myself, I did not truly understand how overwhelming the sensations would be. There was nothing more important than finding her.

So I followed my nose and my heart, and it led me to the airport. I panicked. The airport was one of those places where so many people could gather, and it was that much harder to trace just one. Was she there to meet someone or was she leaving?

If my heart could beat, I imagined it would have been pounding so loudly in my ears that it would have drowned not only my own thoughts but the thoughts of those around me. At it were, my heart had been still for over a century, and I was currently cursing my gift as it was proving to be unreliable. I was desperate to hear her thoughts; at the same time, I wished with all of my being to be able to silence the thoughts of everyone around me.

I caught a trace of her scent near one of the check-in counters. It was still fresh, so it was a good bet that she had boarded the flight to Trinidad, which was in the process of checking in passengers. It was going to start boarding in an hour and a half according to the posted schedule, and I intended to be on board that airplane.

There were only first-class seats still available at this late a time, so it was only a matter of enough money to purchase a ticket. The trouble was that I could not simply check in without any luggage. It would be much too suspicious if I did not have anything with me, and while I was willing to go to any extremes necessary in order to have my mate, I was self-controlled enough to remember that discretion was the better part of valor.

Also, it was the single most important law in my world. Keep our existence a secret. No exceptions, no second chances. Focusing on that helped me gain some measure of sanity despite everything inside me wanting to throw caution to the wind and simply storm through the airport and grab my mate.

Focus, I ordered myself.

Fortunately, there were enough shops for me to take care of the little problem of luggage. Therefore, forty-five minutes after walking into the airport, I was heading toward the gate, my boarding pass in one hand, a small carryon in the other. The delay the shopping for the bag and its contents had caused me was almost torturous, and I hardly noticed which items I had purchased. They were unimportant, merely props to avoid the suspicion boarding empty-handed would have caused.

Once I had everything I needed, I had stopped by the restrooms to get rid of the tags and pack the newly-purchased items. Worry was eating at me as I passed through all of the security checks. I was desperate to find her, and the sooner the better. It would be preferable if I could do so before she boarded as Trinidad, with its sunny disposition, could prove to be challenging for me. I would worry about that later, though. First, find her.

I was amazed at how easy it was to follow her scent now, even as diluted as it was among the hordes of people inside the building. It was as though my olfactory senses had fine-tuned to detect her unique aroma since I first encountered her scent.

Perhaps they had indeed done just that.

After all, from everything I had learned over the past hundred and some years, one's mate was the perfect match to one in every way. Body, mind, and soul.

I thought about my sire and his mate, Aro and Sulpicia. They were complete opposites in some areas, but those were the areas in which each of them needed balancing. Where Aro was stubborn and headstrong, Sulpicia was flexible and could often see both sides of the argument. Where his mate was light and exuded happiness, Aro tended toward brooding and heavy thoughts. There were similarities, of course. They had the same taste in music, literature, and décor. They both had strong personalities, and each would fight for what they thought to be right and just. As they were one third of the ruling council—Aro's two venom-brothers and their mates comprising the other two-thirds—it was a quality they had expressed often.

Aro had sired me many years after meeting his mate and told me much about mating in the vampire world. With my gift for mind-reading, I was privy to much more information than others, so I thought I had a better understanding of it than others who had received the same instructions from Aro.

I could not have been any more wrong.

The emotions coursing through me were so much stronger than anything I had ever felt or expected to feel. My mind, normally able to focus on several topics at the same time, was completely consumed by this as-yet-unknown woman. Every instinct I possessed was screaming at me to find her—well, find her and then claim her—and I was having a very hard time holding myself back from acting like an animal in heat.

It was only when I finally arrived at the gate that I caught my first glimpse of her. It was only a short peek as she was heading past the door and inside the sleeve. She had long brown hair that was gathered in a tie and reached the middle of her back. She wore a pair of sunglasses that hid her eyes from me, so I could not see their color. Her shirt was blue and made of a light material that allowed me to see the straps of the top she wore beneath it. I wondered what kind of undergarments she was wearing. Was it lacey and risqué or innocent and comfortable? I could not decide which I would prefer on her, but I was eager to find out.

Preferably as I took them off her body.

I stifled a growl and had to adjust myself discreetly. I had been partially aroused since the moment my brain processed the scent of my mate but seeing her in person caused an instantaneous hardening of my body. It was more than simply wanting her now; it was a need as basic as survival.

I followed her path into the airplane and was forced to pause my pursuit while everyone found their seats. I noticed immediately that she was not sitting in First Class and, for once, wished I had purchased a ticket in Economy. There was a thin curtain separating the areas, but it was enough to annoy me. I wanted to see my mate, to touch her, to…

Breathe. Calm down. You will have her soon.

It was only through great effort that I could listen to my rational side and ignore the animal inside me. It was thrashing, fighting the restraints I had forced upon it.

As people around me continued to take their seats, I was busy making plans. There was little I could do while the plane was still boarding, but as soon as we were in the air, I could walk over and take a better look at her. Perhaps I could introduce myself.

Would she be outgoing and friendly or shy and reserved?

I knew that she would feel the pull. Mating was never one-sided, but with her being human—I caught no vampire scent anywhere near the airport or at the gate, so she had to be a mortal—it was a tossup as to how much the feelings would influence her. She could try to refuse me or play coy.

I growled at the thought and saw several people glancing in my direction. I cut off the sound and schooled my facial expression. I would not allow her to refuse me. It was simply not an option. The mere thought that she might try to deny me was maddening.

Perhaps I should wait until after we land to approach her.

I could make it look casual as I helped her with her luggage. Picturing it in my mind's eye, I felt better with having to suffer through another delay in the form of several hours of flight.

I rested my head back and pretended to listen to the emergency debriefing of the flight attendant. I was trying to find my lady through the thoughts of those around me. It was harder than one might think.

Some passengers thought about their upcoming vacation, some about finally going back home, and others worried about the people they had left behind or were going to be meeting at their destination. A thought of someone about their significant other gave me pause. What if she was in a relationship already? Or worse—married?

No. Mine!

The fury washed over me so quickly that I was ready to tear the faceless man to pieces right there and then. I was prepared to kill him and anyone else standing between my mate and me. She was mine. Mine, mine, mine.

MINE!

"Sir?" someone from beside me asked. "Is everything okay?"

I turned my head to the speaker. The voice belonged to a young man in the seat next to me.

"Should I call the flight-attendant?" he continued when I did not answer. From his thoughts, I heard him wondering if he was once again seated next to a deranged passenger.

I shook my head and tried for a tired and weary look. "No, I am fine. It's been a long day."

The man chuckled, and his thoughts calmed. "Yeah, and it's only noon. Business or pleasure?"

"A bit of both," I replied, picking up from his thoughts that he was travelling on business and hoped to "nail a few of hotties" while he was at it. Disgusted with his thoughts—especially when I considered the possibility of my girl being one of those he preyed upon if I had not come across her scent when I had—I gave him a predator's smile. I was pleased to hear the slight quickening of his heartbeat and to smell the fear flooding his body.

"Yeah, same here," he mumbled and turned away.

Good. I would keep an eye on him. Though I was not thirsty at the moment, he could prove to be a good candidate for a meal, should I need one.

And if there is anyone standing in my way, I will kill him as well.

I felt my smile turn into a smirk before disappearing from my lips. Vampires could, and did, kill for their mates. I would be no different. Anyone and anything that threatened the bond was fair game. If my mate tried to hide behind a previous relationship, I would kill him and take her. If she refused me, if she fought me or rejected the bond…

Don't think about it, ordered my rational side.

I tried to obey my own command but found myself powerless as memories flooded me.

I had been enjoying a few peaceful moments in the sun when I heard Aro's thoughts. He was usually much better guarded about them, so I would not normally have heard him. The lingering pain that those memories were causing my sire was apparently too deep, and they leaked through whatever barriers he had.

Within moments, I was beside him. I found my sire looking…sad.

"What is wrong, Sire?" I asked, curious and concerned.

"Oh, Edward, I did not notice you here." He turned, and his thoughts quieted again. "Nothing is wrong, Child."

"Something made you sad," I insisted. "Shall I call for Sulpicia?" I frowned. Shouldn't she have been here already? Aro had told me that mates felt when the other was distressed, so I thought Sulpicia would have already detected that her mate needed her.

He shook his head, giving me a half-smile. "Your gift is quite powerful to have picked up on my thoughts from such a distance."

I shrugged. My gift could be a blessing and a curse, which was why I spent many days in the surrounding valleys, avoiding others. "I was distracted, not focusing on tuning others out."

"And now you're curious." Aro sighed. "Perhaps I should tell you."

I waited. I was quite impatient, but I knew there was no rushing my sire.

"I do not believe I have ever told you about my brother, Marcus."

"Marcus?" I was puzzled. The only brothers I knew my sire to have were Caius and Carlisle. I had never heard of this Marcus.

He nodded. "It was many years ago. A small eternity."

"But it still hurts you so deeply." I really wished Sulpicia were here. She would have been able to comfort my sire in a way I never could.

"Yes, it does. Marcus was my blood brother. He was changed several years before me, and we found each other only decades into our vampire life. He was proud and wise, but he could be vain and blind to his own faults. As we all are, I suppose." Aro looked away then, turning his gaze to the walls surrounding the city. "Marcus found his mate in a human female. She was a beautiful creature, almost as vain as my own brother." He chuckled. "He courted her, showered her with gifts, and gained the approval of her father to marry her."

I raised a brow. "I did not think we could be patient enough to endure a long courtship with our mate."

"We aren't patient, not usually," Aro agreed. "Marcus…he wanted to prove that he was in control of his nature. Unfortunately, that was the path that ultimately led to his downfall. Didyme—that was the name of Marcus' human mate—had decided to rebel against her father's wishes. She felt the connection, but because she had not been asked for her hand, she felt slighted and ran away. Marcus immediately went after her. He found her in the arms of another."

"He killed him." It was not a question. Even without having a mate of my own, I knew that I would kill any man who laid his hands on my future mate after I found her.

My sire nodded. "He did, and Didyme turned on him. She screamed and tried to attack Marcus. She yelled that she would never be his, would never love him, would never lie with him. She swore to kill herself before allowing him to touch her."

I froze, sensing that whatever was coming next was not good.

"Marcus…something inside him snapped." Aro took a deep breath, and I could see the scene play out in his mind. He was remembering a tall, dark-haired male—Marcus—standing before a blonde human female, who was screaming at him. Marcus had brought his mate to the mansion where Aro and he were staying at the time. He had suffered through days upon days of his mate's refusals and angry words, growing angrier and wilder with each passing sunset. After five days, Marcus went to her room for the last time and…

"He killed her?" I was appalled. "How? How is that possible? She was his mate!" It was one of the few things I thought impossible. Deliberately harming one's own mate? Unheard of!

"As I said, something snapped in his mind." His eyes and thoughts were pained when he turned them back to me. "Marcus burned the house, with him still inside, holding the cooling body of his mate."

"He could not exist without her," I whispered, still flabbergasted at the revelation.

He nodded.

"Has it ever happened again?" I was even more shocked when Aro nodded again. "How is it I have never heard of it? How has no one ever heard of it?"

"It is a very rare occurrence," he explained. "Except for Marcus, I know of only one other couple, and I have lived for more than three millennia and have met countless vampires."

I saw it in his mind. A nomad's thoughts that told him of how said nomad had found his mate in a human female who had rejected him. The nomad's mind snapped, and he turned on her, killing her. He had come to Aro seeking to end his own existence.

"Is it always like that with human mates?" I asked, shaken to my core.

"No, thankfully, no." My sire smiled, his thoughts lifting as he recalled other couples he had met over the centuries. "Our very own Carlisle had found his mate, Esme, when she was still human, you remember their story, do you not?"

"I do." Carlisle was the third brother to join the ruling council, following Caius who had been with Aro for centuries by then. The three mated couples shared the responsibility of ruling the vampire race. "Esme sensed the connection as deeply as her human physique could allow her."

"She did." He looked to the side, and I knew he had sensed his mate long before I heard her thoughts coming from that direction. "The connection between mates is so deep, the pull so strong, that we recognize each other on the most basic level."

"And why wouldn't we?" asked Sulpicia, coming to stand beside him. She slid her hand into her mate's, and I sensed the calming effect the contact had on both of them. "A mate is one's perfect match, the perfect balance to our soul. Mates understand each other better than anyone else on the face of the Earth ever could."

"Well said, Cia." My sire smiled at her, and I quickly said my goodbyes. I wanted to leave the mates to their own as much as I wanted to ponder over what I had just learned.

I had not thought about that particular memory in decades. Now, it came rushing at me, with the full clarity that only a vampire mind could provide. It was followed by fear, consuming and disabling terror.

No, I am not going to lose her!

I clenched my fists and fought the emotions threatening to drown me. It took me several moments to realize that the terror I sensed was not solely my own. I was already sensing some of the emotions coming from my mate. She was scared. Petrified.

I was out of my seat before the man beside me could blink. In the next heartbeat, I was standing in the middle of the aisle in economy class, my eyes searching for the threat to my mate.

"Sir? Can I help you?" someone asked me.

I shook my head, barely recognizing the speaker as one of the flight attendants.

I saw no threat, at least nothing obvious. The people were all sitting in their places, some had their eyes closed as they tried to fall asleep.

"Sir, please return to your seat," the flight attendant continued. "We are experiencing some turbulence," she explained.

It was then that I saw her. Well, the top of her head. She sat in the row before last. Her head was bent down, her face hidden from me. I focused on the newly formed connection I had with her and tried to sift through the thoughts I was hearing to find the ones belonging to my mate.

I am NEVER flying again…a boat back…cancel the return ticket…

I relaxed as soon as I realized the threat causing her so much fear was not external.

"Sir?"

"I will return momentarily. Need to use the bathroom," I said.

The flight attendant nodded but frowned. Arrogant idiot. Fine, but if you get piss all over yourself, don't come complaining. Thank God I'm not on toilet duty today!

I glared at her and was pleased when she walked away quickly. I returned my attention to my mate. She seemed to be afraid of flying, and I wanted to comfort her. Unfortunately, the seat beside her was occupied.

I could not continue to stand there in the middle of the aisle without drawing even more attention to myself, so I followed through with my words and went toward the small compartment that served as the bathroom and spent a few moments inside. Perhaps I could switch my seat with the elderly woman sitting next to my mate. I had yet to meet a human who would refuse an upgrade to First Class free of charge.

It was hard to turn my back to my mate, but I needed to speak to the staff if I wanted to change seats. It took some finessing and a small bribe—it always amazed me what humans would do for money—but I managed to talk myself into changing seating arrangements.

However, even with the bribe, I had to wait until the turbulence subsided before the switch could be made. It was not safe for the humans to be standing while the airplane was shaking. Someone might fall, and the flight attendant was worried they would sue the company if they did. Reluctantly, I agreed to wait in my seat.

The next few hours were even harder than the delay in the airport had been. I had no task I could focus my mind on, so all of my thoughts were consumed with the desire to be with my mate. I could feel the traces of fear coming from her and had to grit my teeth to remain in my seat. Her emotions were spiking each time the plane shook, even slightly, and I wanted to hold her in my arms, to provide her comfort that only I—as her mate—could.

Nearly halfway through the flight, I was ready to jump out of my seat and the hell with safety. I found that, once again, I could not hear her thoughts. Perhaps it was a matter of physical distance or a latent gift that shielded them from me, but she was completely silent to me. To distract myself from the constant worry for my mate—and the frustration at my gift failing me at the one time in my long existence when I needed it most—I decided to listen in on the conversation in the cockpit. It was something to focus on while I fought to remain seated. Even though I did not understand everything the pilots were saying, I was able to get the general idea that they were focusing on flying the plane through the abnormal amount of turbulence we were experiencing. I had never bothered learning to operate an aircraft, so some of the terms the pilots used were foreign to me. Perhaps that could be the next field of study for me to explore. After I am done exploring my mate, I thought, and desire again rose inside me.

I was momentarily distracted by the wonderful images my mind was painting of my mate's naked and delicious body explored by me, so I missed the first signs of trouble. The Captain and First Officer were both concerned, their thoughts running through technical terms I suddenly wished I understood. Frustrated, I listened as they both grew more anxious about the situation.

"Mayday, Mayday, Mayday," the First Officer called, and I realized that something was wrong, very wrong.

Any novice, even those who knew nothing about piloting an aircraft, knew what repeating that term three times meant. We were in trouble.

A moment later, the plane started to shake even more violently than before. Then, this flying piece of metal took a dive and began dropping from the sky.

Fuck!

I knew I had to act quickly. There was no time for caring about avoiding discovery. We were going down, and I needed to get to my mate. I heard the other passengers scream, but she made no sound, and something inside me froze for the few fractions of a second it took me to reach her seat.

The plane continued its downward plunge, and I could see we were approaching water from a brief glance through the windows. The people on board stood no chance of surviving, I realized. Hitting the water at the speed we were travelling would mean instant death.

For everyone but me.

I did not care about everyone. There was only one person aboard this doomed plane I needed to survive.

My mate.

She was staring out the window, her breathing shallow and her heartbeat rapid. I knew I only had seconds before we hit the water, but seconds were all I needed. Acting faster than human eyes could see, I tore the seatbelt holding my mate's fragile body anchored to the seat and pressed her flush against me. The pleasure of making contact with her was almost overshadowed by the danger she was still in, but I felt my chest rumble and knew I was responding instinctively to her proximity.

Wanting to give her the best chance of survival I possibly could, I snatched a life vest from under her seat and placed it on her before grabbing a couple of blankets and heading toward the emergency exit. I could have kicked an opening in the body of the plane from where she had been sitting, but the sharp edges it would no doubt have left were an unnecessary risk, even with her wrapped in the blankets I took. Their material was too thin to provide much protection against torn metal.

I broke the window above the emergency exit then reached for the handle. It took some force, but finally, the door flew outward. The rapid wind blew my mate's hair toward my face, blinding me momentarily. Making sure to keep my arms wrapped firmly around my mate, I jumped from the doomed plane and twisted so that I was the one to hit the water first. It was a short fall, but I knew it knocked the breath out of my mate when I heard her stifled cry as we went into the ocean.

Kicking up, I pushed us back to the surface of the water. At the same time, I pulled the handle that would inflate the vest on her body. She was limp in my arms as we broke the surface of the ocean, but I could hear the steady beating of her heart and felt the rise of her chest as she breathed.

She fainted. I supposed the stress was too much for her.

Looking down at her face for the first time, I marveled at her. She was the most beautiful creature I had ever seen. Her face was heart-shaped and small. Long lashes hid her eyes from me, so I still knew not their color, but the plumpness of her lips almost made resisting the urge to kiss her impossible. Her small chin was calling to me to nibble on it. The first taste of her skin was salty from the ocean water as I gave in to the desire to kiss her jaw. Had we been anywhere else, I would not have bothered to fight the desire to bite her and initiate the change. The softness of her skin was almost as enticing as the sight of her long neck as she lay in my arms.

However, it was not the time nor the place for it. I needed her safe and secure before inducing her transformation into an immortal. It would also be wise to speak with her, allow her to sense the pull consciously before doing so. Awakening as a vampire was confusing enough without doing so in the presence of a stranger to whom you were inexplicably attracted to.

Tearing my gaze from my mate, I looked around us. There was land in the distance, and I decided it would be a good idea to get us to shore. Gathering my mate carefully in my arms, I began swimming toward the shore. Her safety was—and forever would be—my first priority, so I kept her body atop mine and out of the water as much as was possible as I increased my speed.

Even as part of my mind was busy making plans, I could not help the joy that filled me.

You are mine. Forever.