07/12/2017

Kristin felt arms wrap around her waist and she was pulled out of the water in seconds.

"Liar," she heard Ryder say as she grabbed onto his arms.

If she wasn't choking on water, she might have noticed how muscular they were.

"Let me go!" was the first thing she could think of to sputter out.

"I'm not sure you want me to do that again," he smirked, pulling her closer to his chest.

No, no, no, no, no!

"Then bring me back to land!"

He seemed to contemplate her order for a second, before shaking his head, laughing.

"Ryder, it's not funny. I could have drowned!"

"I wouldn't have let you drown," he said, rolling his eyes.

She was still holding onto this arms, her only way to stay above the water.

She didn't like the proximity of his body to hers though.

"Bring me back to land or I'll tell everyone we aren't mates," she said, narrowing her eyes at him.

He raised a brow at her, "Fine, swim back to land."

She felt him releasing her again and she jumped closer to him, grabbing onto his shoulders.

Land was only about four feet away, but she knew she probably wouldn't make it.

By this point, however, she was seriously debating drowning over having to be in Ryder's arms for much longer.

She looked up and saw him smirking down at her.

"What, now you don't want to go back?"

"You know I can't."

"You can't what?" he said, holding her waist again so she wouldn't have to use all her strength to hold on.

"I can't swim you idiot!"

"That's all you had to say," he chuckled as he turned her around so her back was turned to him.

Her hands flew to where his hands were on her hips, making sure he wouldn't let her go again.

"What are you doing?" she panicked.

"Teaching you how to swim. Now calm down."

"What? No!" She tried squirming out of his grasp.

"Do you want me to let go again?" she could hear the teasing tone in his voice, which was closer to her ear than she expected.

She stopped struggling, feeling his hot breath against the back of her neck.

"You need to trust me."

She almost shivered, and it wasn't because the water was cold.

"Ryder!" she gasped as he moved one hand behind her back and one behind her legs and lifted her up.

She was now basically lying on top of the water, Ryder holding her bridal style.

"Shut up, I'm teaching you how to float," he simply said, looking down at her.

"I can't float!"

"Yes you can," he chuckled, "You just have to relax."

"Yes, I'll just relax so you can let me drown again," she replied, sarcastically.

"Do you trust me?" he asked, looking quite serious for the moment.

"No."

"Wow."

Kristin looked up to see him giving her an 'are you serious?' look.

"Yep, so you can bring me back to land now."

"I will as soon as you learn how to float on your back."

She looked up at him as he stared stubbornly back into her blue eyes.

"Ugh, fine."

"Finally," he smirked.

"What?" she snapped.

"I thought I'd have to stand here, carrying you all day. You're quite heavy, you know that?"

She would have been offended if she wasn't basically floating in water already.

And if he didn't have super wolf strength.

"Just tell me how to float."

"Are you ready for this?"

"Just tell me."

"All you have to do, is relax."

"Okay," Kristin said, trying to relax.

The only problem was that she was in water, which she feared of drowning in. And number two, Ryder's arms were currently holding her.

Basically, she was a bundle of nerves.

So how the heck was she supposed to relax?

"You're not relaxing," Ryder snapped her out of her struggling thoughts.

"I'm trying."

"Apparently not hard enough."

She groaned, shutting her eyes.

All she had to do was relax for two seconds. Then, she would float and Ryder would let her go back inside.

She focused on her breathing, keeping her eyes closed.

When she felt Ryder's hand slowly leave her back she tried to keep her breathing steady.

"Hey, you're doing it," Ryder spoke, making her eyes flutter open.

She was. She was doing--

Ryder pulled her out of the water and she started coughing.

"Okay," cough, "I did it," cough, "Now let me," cough, "Go inside."

"Okay, okay, don't die on me," Ryder rolled his eyes and helped her sit back on the ground.

"Mmm," she sighed, lying back on the grass, "I've missed this solid ground."

"Drama queen," she heard Ryder mutter beside her.

She sat up, seeing that he was looking out to the woods across the river.

She smirked, lifting her arm.

"What the--" Ryder was snapped from his gaze as he felt Kristin's punch.

"What was that for?" he said, almost breaking into a grin.

"I owed you one, remember?" Kristin said, shrugging.

He rubbed his arm, "That almost hurt."

"It did hurt," Kristin argued.

"No, actually I hardly felt it," he replied, grinning.

"Liar."

"Human."

"Excuse me? At least I'm not some freaky wolf boy."

"Wolf boy?" His laugh made Kristin smile. "Was that supposed to be an insult?"

"Maybe," she shrugged, getting up to go inside.

Now that it was getting dark out, it had cooled off and Kristin was actually cold.

She went upstairs to her room to change into shorts and a comfy over-sized tshirt, before returning back downstairs.

"Want to watch a movie?" Ryder was already dressed in dry shorts and a tshirt (thank goodness), laying on the couch.

"Sure," Kristin replied, "But only if I get to pick it."

"Fine," Ryder said, throwing the remote to her.

She missed it and it landed on the ground beside her.

"Nice catch," Ryder said, without looking at her.

"Bad throw," Kristin shot back, bending down to pick it up.

"Whatever you say sweetheart."

Kristin smiled evilly, knowing just exactly how to pay him back for his dumb little nickname.

"Are you serious?" Ryder groaned for the hundredth time.

They had been sitting on the two couches, watching Kristin's choice of movie: Tangled.

Yes, the Disney one.

"Shhh, this is my favorite part," Kristin said, putting her finger to her lips.

"You've said that ten times already!"

"Shh!" Kristin shushed Ryder once again, pulling her blanket closer to her.

"This is so unrealistic," Ryder muttered from his couch, "Her hair could never be that long."

"You're one to talk."

"What?"

"This movie seems unrealistic to you? You are a werewolf. That's prettyunrealistic if you ask me."

"No I'm not."

"You aren't a werewolf or aren't unrealistic?" Kristin wondered, teasingly.

"Unrealistic," he snapped. "You do realize you're half wolf as well?"

"Yes, but I don't turn into a giant dog."

She laughed as he growled at her, knowing how insulting it was to get called a dog as a werewolf.

"Now keep watching the movie, it's getting to a good part," Kristin smiled sweetly at him from across the couch.

"I'm going to get payback for this, sweetheart."

Kristin smirked, "Okay, babe."

•. •. •. •. •.

Chapter Ten isssss read!

Thanks for reading!

Vote if you'd like.

P.s. I love Tangled!

Chica_2016