The Broken Alpha
“You were dead. Or pretty much dead, anyway. There was so much water in your lungs. Every time I thought I’d got the last of it out you started choking again.”
“I’m sorry.”
He shrugged. “Not your fault. I jumped into that stupid lake.”
Elijah frowned. “Yes. What happened to the mossmen?”
“It was weird.” Cas’s eyes turned glassy. “One minute, they were there. The tentacles were distracted by you, but I couldn’t leave the lake – they had it surrounded. Everywhere I looked, they looked back at me. Then the lengathul dragged me back under, and I saw a glint of metal, right down at the bottom. I grabbed it.” He ran a gentle thumb over his palm, which he’d bound hastily with a scrap of cloth. “The