Viking King (The MacLomain Series: Viking Ancestors, Book 1) by Sky Purington Read Free Book Online Page B

darkness. Though it hurt to leave such a ship behind, she was eager to see what she carried. She didn’t know how she knew, but there was something very important in this. Yet even as she worked toward the surface a part of her speculated it was likely a log kept by the modern day sailors who’d lost this vessel to the sea.
    But what if it was something more?
    What if it had to do with her Viking king?
    Megan stopped swimming for a second and drifted in the sunlit waters beneath the surface. When had she started thinking of Naðr Véurr as her Viking king? She swallowed and looked down into the darkness and the peace that it had offered. No, Megan, there was no Viking king down there…she looked up…nor there. She clenched the metal tube tighter as she surfaced the water. This was hers and nobody would look inside it before her. Intent to say as much when she boarded the yacht, Megan tore off her mask and gulped fresh air as she looked at the boat.
    Or not.
    Treading water, she turned a few times. Where was Nathan’s yacht? Better yet…why was there a mountainous shoreline? She licked her lips. When a splash resounded behind her, she turned. Guardian? Crap! Her dog was swimming toward her. What was going on? Where was the boat and why was Guardian out here with her?
    Happy face intact, Guardian swam to her, but Megan navigated her in circles around her. Hell. They were way too far offshore and a dog, never mind a human, had only so much strength to stay afloat in waters that were slightly colder than what they’d been before. If that wasn’t bad enough, she’d somehow managed to tear her wetsuit. But she couldn’t worry about that right now.
    Megan stopped over thinking and went into survival mode for them both. She lost the oxygen tank as well as all extra gear, kept the wet suit and swam fast, saying, “Come on my wolfy girl, let’s race!”
    Whenever she used the command word ‘wolfy,’ Guardian knew it was genuine competition time. ‘Wolfy’ was her go word. It meant act fast and think twice as fast. It meant listen. So when Megan started swimming not recreationally but professionally, counting between breaths, Guardian would smooth sail too. She even tossed aside the cylinder. It would only slow her down. They were out way too far in waters that would cripple a dog fast and swimming swiftly might be her dog’s only hope. Good thing Guardian was her world beyond boat building and she’d trained her well or they both might be screwed right now.
    Guardian could have outpaced her quickly but kept with her. She could have, should have , left Megan behind but she wouldn’t. And that made Megan swim all that much harder. She’d be damned if her dog died trying to save her. But it wouldn’t go that way. If Guardian sank, so would she.
    Megan tuned out the fact her surroundings made no sense and swam for Guardian’s life.
    They were only a few hundred feet out when her dog’s pace changed and she slowed, nose just above the heavier swell of waves as they drew closer to the shore. So Megan started the pep talk first. “Let’s go girl. You can do it!”
    Every muscle in her body burned at this point so she could only imagine what her dog was feeling. When Guardian slowed more and more, her desperate eyes on Megan, she paced alongside, command sharper. “Come on, wolfy girl. Let’s go!”
    Guardian got a little extra pep, but it didn’t last long. The waves were getting rougher and rougher to handle especially since they were already exhausted.
    It was best for them both that she remain stern and keep swimming. Be a good trainer…and friend. So Megan kept going. “Now or never, wolfy girl. Let’s do this!”
    This seemed to give Guardian renewed strength.
    Until it didn’t.
    When she looked back, her dog was plunking her paws down in the waves, desperate to keep up, wild eyes locked on Megan before a big wave caught her and pulled her under. The moment she saw her dog go down everything went