My Beloved Has Risen from Death's Embrace novel Chapter 89

The melodious call struck the man like a celestial sound, halting his towering near six-foot-three frame in its tracks.

The chaotic, noisy world seemed to hush around him, descending into a profound silence. He slowly turned around.

When he caught sight of the girl half-submerged in the lake, her eyebrows knitted in confusion, her wet hair disheveled, and her captivating form blended with the shimmering reflections on the water, she looked like a mermaid from a dream. At that moment, his eyes froze, and a strange smile crept across his lips.

For some reason, Xanthea felt a shiver of fear at his reaction.

His eyes were vacant, as if he was looking at something unreal, and that eerie smile reminded her of the way he had grinned at her tombstone back in the cemetery, hardly the expression of a sane human, utterly chilling.

Could it be he thought she was dead? That this was all an illusion?

Indeed, any normal person who witnessed a massive motorcycle explosion would surely believe the rider had perished, given the intense energy and heat released in that instant - far beyond what any ordinary organic being could withstand.

But she had planned her escape route well before the explosion, steering the bike towards the lake and diving into the water at the moment of impact with the barrier, thus avoiding the blast. It was a stroke of luck that she hadn’t been thrown onto the road instead.

"Ah!"

Lost in her thoughts, she was suddenly embraced forcefully by the man who had, unbeknownst to her, jumped into the lake.

“Xan! Xan, Xan, Xan!”

He held her so tightly it felt as if he was trying to merge her into his body, making it hard for Xanthea to breathe. She coughed and pummeled his back with her fists, “Orion, I can’t breathe.”