by Magan Vernon
Nurses came in and out of the room at all hours of the night to check her vitals. I couldn’t get much sleep in the easy chair, so I spent most of my time blankly staring at the TV. I kept glancing at her bedside, hoping she’d wake up. Praying she would.
When the door opened and light poured in, I expected it to be another nurse.
But the shuffling of house slippers forced me to look up and see Maya’s grandma.
She looked paler than the last time I saw her. Older. Weaker.
She leaned over the bed and ran her hand over Maya’s cheek.
“She, um, well, we were in Mexico. Meeting someone and…”
Gran held her hand up and her dark eyes met mine. “I know my granddaughter has a lot of secrets she’s kept from me. She thinks she can handle all of it, but the truth is, she’s scared. Just like her mother was. You have to protect her, Calder.”
I nodded, not breaking her gaze. “I always will.”
Chapter 17
Maya
My dreams were clouded. I went from nightmares of poachers and a murky water tank. Then a loud beeping rang in my ears.
My eyelids fluttered and the bright lights burned my eyes.
No more darkness of the tank.
Slowly I was able to open my eyes and met Calder’s. This time it wasn’t a dream. It was him.
“Calder,” I whispered. My throat was completely dry.
“Shhh,” he said, grabbing onto my hand. “Don’t speak, Maya. You need to rest.”
Without even thinking about it, my hands went to my neck where my skin pricked a rough surface but my necklace was gone.
“My necklace,” I whispered in a soft panic.
Calder smiled, pulling something out of his pocket and dangled the sparkling gemstone in front of me. “I got it for you. You were holding onto it when Cookie rescued you.”
Warmth flooded me for the first time in I couldn’t remember how long. “Was Cookie the guy that saved me?”
Calder laughed. “Unless you’re talking about one of your brother or sister seals, and if that’s the case, I’d like to meet them.”
I smiled. “Hopefully we will now that we have the map.”
His eyes widened. “You can read it?”
I nodded slowly, reaching out and taking the necklace from him, my thumb running along the smooth surface. “I think it’s about time for another road trip.”
He shook his head. “Yeah, because the last one ended so well. I don’t think we’re going anywhere for a while.”
I knew he wouldn’t want me to go, hell, I knew Gran wouldn’t like it and I’d be out of a job at Ace’s, but I had to go. I had to find my brothers and sisters and find out more about who I was.
Calder’s hand clasped over mine and I looked up to meet his eyes. “I know that look, Maya and I know you’re going to go whether I like it or not. And I’m going to go wherever you go.”
“You don’t have to,” I whispered.
He leaned in and kissed my cheek. “But I want to.”
Chapter 18
Calder
We stood at the edge of the empty beach.
Cookies assured us this was far away from the tourists and with the colder weather, less people were getting out.
Wolf, Benny, Dude, Mozart, Abe, and Cookie stood on the edge of the shoreline in their wet suits. Maya stood at the end closest to me in her bathing suit, smiling.
Of course, the guys couldn’t go without telling their wives about the race. Once Jess found out Maya’s little secret, and the girls all got Maya drunk, it was decided that there would be a little friendly competition.
“All right, guys, now I want a fair race. No pushing. No dunking anyone under water. We’ll swim five-hundred yards out to the buoy and back. Okay?” I said, looking between the guys.
“SEALS against a seal. This is going to be interesting,” Abe said, putting down his goggles.
Maya gave me a wink.
“My money’s on Maya,” Jess said, standing with one hand on her hip.
“We put money on this?” Caroline, Wolf’s wife, leaned over a blonde woman’s shoulder.
“If we are, mine’s on Cookie. He’s the best swimmer on the team,” Fiona, Cookie’s wife said with a laugh.
“You’re just saying that so you’ll get an extra bonus in the bedroom. My money’s on the seal. Or half seal. Or, sorry, Maya, I don’t know the politically correct term,” Cheyenne said.
The guys had been begging to do a race with Maya since they first found out she was a shifter. We all had agreed not to talk about it after we rescued her from Mexico, but one night, after a few drinks at Ace’s, Maya agreed to a challenge.
I’d quit the hospital a few weeks ago. I took a job with a 1-800-Doctor line. People called in at all hours with their medical questions and I was supposed to answer it the best I could without actually seeing the person. The pay wasn’t great, but it gave me flexibility to go wherever my Wi-Fi hotspot got a signal and to be with Maya. We were all packed up and ready to hit the road, so this was our grand departure from Riverton. The first stop was going to be in Texas to find her brother, after that, we’d go on to Florida, then to Europe.
Holding my hand up, I yelled, “Ready?”
Maya and the guys nodded.
“Ready…set…” I threw my arm down. “Go!”
The guys dove in and Maya stood on the shoreline for a few moments.
“What are you doing? Do you want the guys to gloat?” Caroline yelled, pointing out to the water.
Alabama smiled. “Glad we didn’t put money on this now?”
I nudged Maya’s shoulder. “You’re going to let them win?”
Maya shook her head. “Naw, just giving them a head start so they don’t feel too bad.”
The SEAL’ heads bobbed out of the water and Dude shoved Benny’s side before Wolf kicked his feet at Mozart and made a giant wave of water fall over his two teammates.
“So much for cheating,” Caroline laughed.
“I guess that’s my cue,” Maya said before she dove in the water, her shimmering tail lapping against the waves.
She glided up to the SEALs with no problem then started circling them like a shark going after her prey.
“What is she doing?” One of the women whispered, staring out onto the horizon.
“I think she’s taunting them.” Caroline laughed.
Wolf grabbed for Maya’s tail, but his hands slid against it before she wiggled out and made her way toward the buoy.
Cookie was right on her tail, literally.
Maya touched the buoy then flipped around, knocking Cookie to the side with her tail.
The other SEALs laughed, treading water before Cookie touched the buoy then splashed Dude and Mozart, who realized they weren’t going to win and kept splashing water at their other teammates.
Maya showboated again, lapping Benny and Abe then sprang out of the water, doing a flip in the air before landing on the other side, a giant wave hitting the two men who yelled in return.
The women on the shoreline were laughing and clapping, watching their men being lapped.
Maya seemed to be done with her showing off and finally made her way back to the shore.
When she crested on the sand, she shook out and immediately shifted back to human form. “You’ve been practicing,” I said, handing Maya a towel that she wrapped around her waist before everyone got a show.
The women all cheered and clapped for Maya, ignoring the defeated faces of their men as they started the long swim back to shore.
“Yeah. I can’t let my brothers and sisters know that I’m a half-ass shifter.”
I smiled, putting my arm around her shoulders.
The setting sun hit the reflection on her necklace, letting a shimmering crystal image appear. I couldn’t read most of it. To anyone else it would have just looked like a reflection from the gemstone, but to Maya I knew it was more. It was the map to her family.
“Should we hit the road?” I
asked.
May smiled slightly. “I think we should let the boys catch up first.”
Wolf and Dude’s heads popped out of the water and Mozart flailed around, turning from the buoy.
“Hey, she cheated!” Benny yelled.
“You’re just mad because you got beat by a girl,” Dude laughed, punching him in the arm.
I glanced over at Maya who was smiling widely.
“Are you going to miss them?” She asked.
I nodded. “Yeah. But I don’t think it’s the last we’ll see of these SEALs.”
She took my hand and we turned toward the water, watching the guys make their way back to the shore. This was only the beginning of our journey and soon we would have many more to come.
About The Author
Magan Vernon has been living off reader tears since she wrote her first short story in 2004. She now spends her time killing off fictional characters, pretending to plot while she really just watches Netflix, and she tries to do this all while her two young children run amok around her Texas ranch.
Website: www.maganvernon.com
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Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/maganvee/
Acknowledgements
First off, to Susan Stoker, who sat with me at breakfast and said she had a Kindle Worlds and wanted someone to write paranormal. I volunteered as tribute and the rest is history.
To Cassy Roop for this awesome cover.
Meagan Burgad for the awesome developmental edits.
To everyone at Kindle Worlds for not thinking I was a whack job when I talked about seal shifters.
To my minions, thanks for always being there for me. Y’all are one in a minion!
