Tara didn’t have to be told twice. She sat in the chair, gripping the small bars on either side of her seat, her knuckles white, her heart pounding in her chest. The island was so close, but Tara knew that the view was deceptive. The island was a few miles away at least, and it wasn’t going to be a smooth ride.
Luis angled the boat, riding over the swells with an almost surreal expression of calm on his face. The boat lurched and rose up into the air, feeling much like the very hand of Poseidon had lifted them into the air, high above the water. In reality, they were on the crest of a large swell that wasn’t quite large enough to break so far from shore.
The nose of the boat angled downward, and the speed boat plunged toward the trough. Tara bit back a scream, closing her eyes and wishing that she was anywhere but in that boat at that moment.
“Hold on!” Luis shouted, as if she needed to be told.
His voice, though loud, was still eerily calm; his hands directed the wheel with calm precision toward another swell.
“We’re going to die,” Tara muttered, not realizing until she heard her own strained voice that she had said the words out loud.
“We’re going to be fine. This is rough, but this little boat has seen worse. But I need you to stay in your seat. Any rebalancing of the load on a boat this small can be disastrous.”
“Aye, aye, Captain, my Captain.”
“Funny,” he said, but he turned and flashed her a brief smile.
It had taken everything she had to joke when her body was trembling in fear and adrenaline was surging through her veins. But he needed to be certain that she trusted his skill, and being calm and even cracking a joke was how she coped with terrifying situations in times like these.
They rode swell after swell, and each time they dipped into the trough between swells, Tara was certain that there were about to be pulverized by a breaking wave. But the crushing weight of a breaking wave over the boat never came, and little by little, Tara released her death grip on the metal bars affixed to her seat.
“We’re almost there,” he shouted over the driving wind. “The wavelengths are further apart not far ahead.”
Even though he had remained calm, the relief in his voice was palpable. Tara felt infinitely better, knowing that they were almost through the danger. The bow of the ship rode directly into each swell, headed for land at an angle directly into the wind.
She sat up, looking toward land and breathing a sigh of relief when she saw how close the break in the squall was. Already, the swells were starting to level out, the troughs not nearly as deep as the first few.
Tara almost cried out in victory when the bow of the ship finally broke through the darkness and into the light, but she held her tongue. The rough ride wasn’t over yet, and now that they were in calmer waters, the occasional large swell was a lot harder to anticipate and deal with than the steady onslaught of swells had been.
“Try not to rip those bars off the seat. They might come in handy.”
He was chuckling to himself, and as Tara looked down, she saw what he was talking about. Her hands were white knuckled, her grip on the bars so hard that she would likely have to pry her aching fingers off when they finally landed.
“You can relax now,” he said brightly. “We’re here.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
Luis guided the speed boat down the east coast of the island, heading south and away from the dock.
“Aren’t you going to stop at the dock?”
“No. We’re not going to announce our presence.”
“Then where are we putting the boat?”
“There,” he said, pointing ahead.
“Is that a lagoon?”
“Yes. The access to it is narrow, and the entire thing is well hidden from all sides. We will hide the boat in there, and hopefully, we will be able to get back to it to get away if need be.”
“Hopefully?”
“This is where the going gets a little tricky. We can’t dock on the northeast side of the island where the research facility is. We are actually almost directly south of the research facility, but the coast isn’t passable. It’s nothing but rocks, and it goes back for miles before the jungle starts. It’s actually faster and safer to head inland then circle back around to the east, but it’s going to take the better part of two days on foot to get to the other side.”
He said all this while carefully guiding the small boat through the mouth of the lagoon and along the outer banks. There was a small inlet about halfway between the mouth of the lagoon and the deepest part of it. Luis pulled the small boat into the inlet and cut the engine.
“Can you toss the bowline to me when I get beside that tree so I can tie off?”
“Sure,” she said, her eyes scanning the boat, trying to figure out what he was talking about. He chuckled softly at her confusion.
“I’m sorry. I know you’re not a boat person. The rope there on the front of the boat is called the bowline. Throw it to me when I get to that tree?”
“Of course.”
He jumped out of the boat, leaping across five feet of water and onto dry land as if it was nothing. He jogged around to the sturdy tree in front of the boat, and Tara threw him the line. He quickly tied off the boat, and then took off his vest and tossed it to Tara.
“Take your vest off and stow it again, then throw me the bags.”
“Got it,” she said, hurrying to get done. The sooner she could get off the boat and onto dry land, the better.
She tossed him his bag, stowed their gear, and then put what was left of the fruit into her bag before tossing the bag to him.
“I’m surprised any of the food was left.”
“Me too. I also have rations in my pack.”
“Good thinking. If you will climb onto the bow, this is the narrowest water to jump over.”
She climbed carefully onto the bow, sitting on her butt and scooting to the nose of the boot. She was only three feet from Luis, but it felt like a mile. Luis grabbed a thick vine, tested to make sure it was sturdy, then held it in one hand and used it to lean toward Tara. He scooped her up in his free arm before she could protest, sliding her off the boat and into his arms, then set her on the shore.
His hands lingered on her waist, and for a moment, she thought he might kiss her. He smiled instead, pulling her close and hugging her tight before setting her away from himself and picking up his backpack.
“What was that for?” she asked.
“You. You’re just amazing. You were terrified out there, and you just prepared for the worst and held yourself together. I think most women would have been so terrified that they would have been in tears, or at the very least, too frightened to listen to instructions and to get themselves ready just in case.”
“What else was I going to do, freeze until you did everything for me? You were busy steering the boat.”
“I’ve been in situations where people freeze when they need to act. It’s refreshing to feel like I’m working with an equal and not someone who needs to be constantly coddled and protected. You can hold your own, and knowing that makes my job easier.”
“So, I’m guessing that you no longer feel like a babysitter,” she teased.
“I’m sorry about that. It wasn’t fair to judge you before I got to know you. You’ve proved me wrong at every turn, and for what it’s worth, I think you’re the strongest, toughest, bravest person I’ve ever met. Man or woman.”
Tara blushed slightly, the weight of his compliment filling her with pride. He wasn’t one to give compliments freely, and she could tell that he truly believed every word.
“Thank you. Now, enough of this gushy stuff. Let’s get going.”
He chuckled. “Sorry. That was a bit over the top.”
“No. It’s fine. It’s actually one of the nicest compliments I’ve gotten as an adult. I’m just ready to get moving, and I feel a little exposed here so close to the edge of the water. I haven’t seen any planes, but I don’t want to get spotted.”
“Good call. It’s restricted airspace, but restricted doesn’t stop everyone, and one of the scientists does have a seaplane.”
“I wondered if they lived here on the island.”
“No. Most of them live on one of the neighboring islands or in Peru. The one with the seaplane lives in southern Ecuador.”
Luis led the way to a nearby trail, walking in front of her and talking freely as he navigated the rough terrain with ease. Tara kept up with him but was glad that he was content to give her the layout of the island, the research building, and everything else and didn’t expect her to answer. Tara wanted to conserve her energy, and trying to talk while they made their way over the uneven trail would have left her winded in no time.
They walked for more than an hour before Luis stopped. He stopped so abruptly that Tara nearly walked into him.
“What is it?” she whispered.
He was pointing ahead of them at a small stream that cut through the path. Though it was small, it was still over four feet wide. It wasn’t until they got closer that she saw what he was actually pointing at.
Her heart sank.
“Do we have to cross that stream?” she asked, eyeing the large crocodile on the shore, sunning itself in some rays of sunshine that were streaming through a thin point in the jungle canopy and had found their way to the jungle floor.
“We do.”
“But he’s so big.”
“It’s not him I’m worried about,” he said. “It’s his buddies.”
Tara looked again at the creek, watching the water; her eyes widened when she suddenly saw what he was talking about. The lone crocodile on the shore wasn’t the issue; it was all the other crocodiles in the water.
“Holy cow,” she whispered. “How are we going to get across? Are all the streams running through here infested with crocodiles?”
“No. This one is fed by the higher side of the lagoon and loops back into the lower part of the lagoon, so there are a lot of crocs coming here for the fish and the saltwater content. We might still find some further in, but not like this.” He looked up at the trees and across the stream at the trees on the other side. “I think that up there is going to be our best bet.”
She followed his line of sight, looking at the amazingly tall trees. Their limbs spread out in a tangled web, where it was almost hard to tell which limb belonged to which tree. From limb to limb, it would be a simple matter of walking across the heavy limbs to the other side. There was only one problem.
“That’s great, but those limbs are at least twenty-five feet in the air. How are you planning on getting us up there?”
She turned to him, just then noticing that he was kicking off his shoes and putting them in his bag, along with his shirt and his pants. She watched him, speechless, as he stripped down to nothing.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“You’ll see,” he said. He handed his backpack to her and stepped back. “Stay on this side of me. If one of them gets brave and charges, I can’t protect you while I’m mid-shift unless I’m already between you.”
“Mid-shift?”
She stood there, holding his backpack and staring at him. Her brain was trying to wrap itself around his words and coming up empty. Why would he be-
She got her answer right then. Luis stood just a few feet from her, and as she watched, he began to change. His hands curled, shaping themselves into massive paws as big as her head. His face stretched, his human form slowly disappearing and giving way to the face of a black panther. Luis got on all fours, and Tara stood there, her jaw dropped as the last of what made him human slipped away and left only a large, wild jungle cat in its place.
He looked up at her, and she gasped softly. His hazel eyes were the only thing that remained the same, and they were exactly the color they were when he stood on two legs.
“Wow,” she said, her mind still trying to absorb what her eyes had seen. It was almost unreal, but the panther standing before her proved that it absolutely was real.
Luis lowered himself to the ground, looking at her and then looking pointedly at his back.
“Are you serious?” she asked.
He lowered his head, looking almost as if he was nodding.
“Really? I think I’d rather get back on the boat.”
He growled low in his throat, looking at her, then at the crocodiles, and back at her. She followed his gaze and saw what he was growling at. There was at least one crocodile that had noticed her, and the only reason it hadn’t crawled out onto the banks of the stream and come after her was the fact that a giant panther was between Tara and the crocodiles.
“Fine,” she finally said. She put his backpack on her stomach, looping the straps over her arms. “I feel like a damn turtle with a shell like this,” she grumbled. “You had better not drop me.”
Luis didn’t make a noise except for a loud exhalation that sounded suspiciously like a sigh. She climbed onto his back, grabbing onto his neck and holding on tight. He walked over to a large tree and, before she could change her mind and slide off his back, jumped straight onto the trunk and scaled the tree vertically with Tara’s arms and legs wrapped tightly around him. She closed her eyes, certain that she would lose her grip at any moment and plummet to her death.
The branch nearest to the ground was over twenty feet off the ground, and it was an eternity before Luis finally reached the first branch and Tara felt herself lying horizontally instead of dangling vertically.
Still, she didn’t open her eyes. His gait was slinky and stealthy, his body lowered to keep his center of gravity tight to the tree limb.
When she finally did open her eyes, she almost wished that she hadn’t. They were above the stream now, and she could see that the tiny channel of water was infested with crocodiles. The ground was dizzyingly far away, and Tara tightened her grip in response to the vertigo that overwhelmed her for a brief moment before finally abating.
Movement to her left caught her eye, and she was surprised to see a troop of howler monkeys in the trees, staring at the pair of them as they went by. Tiny little monkey mouths were slack with shock, the human quality of the expression endearing and hysterical all at once. Tara giggled at the monkeys’ expressions, eliciting a few shouts in return.
Feeling less unstable, and nowhere near as scared as she had been on the ascent, she took in her surroundings and lost herself in the beauty of the jungle.
Here in the lower canopy of the jungle, the trees were teeming with life that was as diverse as life on the ground. The sun was plentiful here, the flowers and birds impossibly vibrant shades of every color of the rainbow. Many of the birds didn’t even move to let them pass, confident that they weren’t part of the panther’s food chain and, having never seen a human before, completely oblivious to the havoc that they could wreak.
They stayed in the trees for a long while, traveling along the tree branches long after they had crossed the stream infested with crocodiles. It was almost thirty minutes later when Tara realized that Luis had been slowly getting closer and closer to the ground, and now, instead of being more than twenty-five feet in the air, they were no more than ten. When Tara saw how close they were to the ground, she was surprised. She hadn’t noticed the change, and even this close to the ground, the wildlife was diverse and interesting to watch.
Luis walked confidently along the branches, his balance never wavering. He stopped just short of a large gap between two trees, looking down at the ground, across the large gap to the next tree, and back to Tara.
“I can drop down from here,” she said. “It’s only about eight feet, and I have no desire to be on your back when you leap across this insane gap right here.”
The panther didn’t smile, but Tara could see Luis’ hazel eyes twinkling with amusement. If he could have spoken, he would no doubt be teasing her mercilessly. She didn’t care. It was one thing to trust him in the trees, but it was quite another to allow herself to be flung across the wide divide be
tween the tree when the ground was right there.
She slid off his back and found her balance on the branch, her hand on the trunk of the tree. She sat down, both backpacks still on her body, then carefully rolled onto her stomach and shimmied down until she was hanging from her hands. Gauging the distance and the terrain, she decided she was in as good a spot as any other and let go, softening her joints so that they collapsed to absorb the shock of the fall.
She hit the ground and stumbled forward but caught herself with her hands before she went down.
Luis hit the ground a few feet away, his bare feet silent on the green jungle floor. She looked at him, shocked to see him on two legs.
“Why didn’t you jump down before you shifted?”
He shrugged.
“It doesn’t matter. It was an easy fall.”
He put his hand out for his bag and dressed quickly.
“I’m glad your bag didn’t have anything fragile like my ERH unit. I think I ironed your clothes holding onto you so tight and crushing your bag.”
He laughed, treating her to a warm smile and pulling his shoes on.
“You nearly choked me,” he laughed.
“You were climbing vertically. I wasn’t prepared for that.”
“You managed.”
“I always do.”
“I know.” His tone was one of admiration and clear respect for her resilience. “Let’s get going. We shouldn’t have to deal with crocs at the next body of water; they tend to stick close to that one and the lagoon.”
“Thank goodness,” she said, picking up the pace and following him deeper into the dark jungle.
CHAPTER NINE
Hours later, Tara stopped on the trail, her skin damp in the humid air, loose tendrils of hair curling around her face.
“What’s wrong?” Luis asked, concerned.
“Nothing is wrong, but I’m hungry, and I need to rest for a moment. We’ve been walking for hours.”
“I can shift again and you can ride my back.”
“That’s a hard pass for me. Besides, I’m enjoying getting to know you, and WerePanther Luis can’t talk.”
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