by Zoe Chant
“It’s a long story,” Laura said.
“There was a last-minute guest who arrived yesterday who looks the part,” Breck suggested. “Southern Californian for sure, lots of scars and tattoos.”
“Mr. Muscles with the suitcases of lead,” Tex said, snapping his fingers.
“Why are we not going after them already?” Travis asked, snarling.
“We couldn’t catch them now,” Tex cautioned. “They’re halfway to the airport, and none of us are distance runners in either form.”
“Who would send a plane in this weather?” Breck scoffed. “The regular charter got cancelled. Anyway, take the Jeep.”
The others looked at him with sudden hope. “It’s running?”
“A little rough,” Breck said with false modesty. “I’ve still got to rebuild the carburetor one of these days...”
Travis was already pushing past him to where it was parked. “I’ll drive,” he said.
Chapter 22
The wings of the plane tore off as if they’d been made of paper when it hit the ocean. It made a terrible ripping sound even louder than the roaring wind, and the fuselage sank with a rush of bubbles and screaming metal.
Jenny and Wrench watched in astonishment.
“We should see if anyone survived,” she said, finally. “They might need help.”
Wrench squinted at her. “You do realize that they were here to drag you back to the cartel.”
Jenny glared back at him. “I’m not saying that they aren’t terrible people, but they are still people. Drowning is a horrible way to go, and I should know it.”
Wrench tried to stare her down. “It’s not like you can shift yet,” he said.
Jenny closed her eyes and reached down inside of her. Her otter wriggled to greet her, eager to breach the prison she’d been trapped in.
If she concentrated… just like so… she could almost feel the barrier keeping them apart. And if she could just burn it away, she could shift again, and sense Laura again, and reach Travis. Travis. She longed for his touch, his comfort. Even just knowing that he was there.
Something Gizelle had said to her bubbled out of her memory. Much of what she said was rambling and disjointed, and Jenny had learned to filter out some of the more absurd statements, but something the gazelle shifter had said about power stuck with her.
“There is power below you, if you can reach it,” Gizelle had told her. “Sunlit caverns with no sky.” She’d been talking about the power required for shifting, but Jenny had to wonder.
The sky above them now was dark and weirdly hard to see, even to Jenny’s enhanced otter sight, and Jenny wondered if she imagined the power that crackled between sky and island. They felt… connected, as if the island itself had drawn the storm to it.
Jenny reached, and she wasn’t sure if she was reaching above her to the storm, or below her to the depths of the island, only knew that she had to shift, and that she needed to break her otter out of her trap, and that the means were here, within her reach.
Power answered her, bright and clear and terrifying in its intensity, and otter sprang from her in the smoothest shift that Jenny had yet managed.
The restraints fell away from her small paws and Jenny was scampering away from Wrench as he cursed and grabbed for her.
She could escape, she realized, exactly as she realized with a wave of relief that Travis and Laura were back in her head with her, along with her otter self. All she had to do was get away from Wrench and hide.
Even as she thought it, she knew she couldn’t turn her back to any survivors that might be out in the plane. She had the ability to lead them safely back to shore, and she had to try.
Jenny turned back to Wrench, to find a pitch black panther standing in a pile of shredded clothing. Perhaps getting free would not have been as easy as she’d first thought.
But he didn’t pounce, and after a long moment of mutual consideration, Jenny turned her back on him and ran for the ocean, diving in without hesitation.
Chapter 23
“Jenny!” Travis said, nearly losing control of the Jeep around one of the hairpin curves.
“What the hell?” Breck yelled, clutching at the seat and glove box handles.
“She’s okay!” Laura shouted with tremendous relief from the seat behind them where she was sitting with Tex.
“What was that?” Travis asked, twisting to look back at her.
“The road!” Breck hollered. “Please watch the road!”
“I have no idea,” Laura said, looking as shaken as he felt.
It had felt as if their bond had been lit on fire, all the cotton burned away in a fiery blast.
Jenny, Travis thought fiercely, desperately.
And clear as a summer day, her voice came to him.
Travis! I’m alright!
Where are you? He asked, relief in every cell of his body.
The answer was wry amusement and a sense that it was complicated. In the ocean. Rescuing the people who tried to kidnap me.
Travis laughed out loud. Of course she was.
“She’s free,” he told the others. “But we need to get to the airstrip.”
“On, James,” mocked Breck, and Travis shifted gears as he drove around another tight corner, fighting the Jeep against the wind that was driving hard out the low, dark sky.
Chapter 24
Jenny reached the wreckage in no time, swimming mostly underwater. She scanned the water for any sign of human survivors, diving under the surface to find any sunken bodies. She found that her otter had a strange vibration sense, and she listened for any motions in the water, someone swimming or struggling.
The water rippled with the force of the wind over top of it, but was quiet further down. The song of the ocean was still peaceful here, water buffering the power of the storm, and dampening the strange energy of the island. There were fish, going about their fishy business, and she almost went swimming after them before her human self reminded her firmly about why they were here.
It occurred to her again that she had no compulsion to return to the shore where Wrench waited. All she had to do was swim away, safe in her otter form from whatever the storm threw at her.
But that wouldn’t keep Wrench from trying again, and perhaps getting Laura for real next time.
Jenny bobbed to the surface, looking for anyone clinging to floating debris. She nosed through pieces of fuselage, and parts of seats. Bits of unidentifiable plastic cluttered the surface, confusing her otter senses. Finally, she gave up, and she was just debating her return to the shore again when she found a floating briefcase.
While she didn’t see anything special about it, her human gave a crow of triumph at spotting it, convinced that it had that spy movie ransom suitcase look. She swam over and wrapped her small forearms around it, then tugged herself onto her back to drag it to the beach.
Loaded thusly, her return trip was much harder and lengthier than her trip out, but Jenny doggedly continued, practicing her negotiation with Wrench in her head. He could have the briefcase, and would leave Jenny and Laura alone forever. Maybe he could convince the cartel that her sister had died when he tried to bring her in.
Just as the ocean floor rose beneath her to become the beach and the water turned to surf, she heard the comforting voice of her mate in her head. Jenny! We’re here!
Before she could answer, there was a predator’s shriek of rage from above, and Jenny was struck with outstretched talons, losing her grip on the suitcase as she was lifted into the air by something with wide, sweeping wings.
Chapter 25
Travis would never have driven so fast, on roads so terrible, for any other reason.
But his mate needed him, and he wasn’t going to risk being too late to the scene.
When they finally broke out of the jungle onto the airstrip, he didn’t even hesitate before gunning directly at the huge, naked man with tattoos and scars who was standing with his back to them on the far side of the field. He kn
ew without a shadow of doubt that this was the man who had stolen his mate, and Travis had no qualms running him down on the spot.
Breck, Tex, and Laura all yelled, and Travis wasn’t sure if they were warning the man, trying to stop him, or giving voice to the warcry in his own thoughts. At the last moment, the man leaped out of the way in a dark, shifting blur as the Jeep smashed through the place he was standing, and jostled down the bank to the narrow beach to stick fast into a pile of driftwood.
They spilled out of the Jeep and faced down the panther that glared at them from the bank.
Bastian, who had already shed his clothing with the swiftness of consistent practice, shifted into a spotted leopard. Travis heard Tex and Laura growl beside him, still human, but flexing their hands.
The panther shimmered and stood up as a man again, hands spread. “I haven’t got her,” he said, not bothering to deny that he had once.
“Where is she?” Travis demanded.
The man pointed, out at the surf, where a tiny dark form was struggling out of the water, dragging a piece of debris. Further out, large pieces of smoking wreckage indicated that something had just crashed into the ocean.
Jenny, Travis thought at her. We’re here!
Just then, an eagle shrieked and plummeted down from the stormy sky, talons outstretched, and plucked Jenny from the water.
Travis gave a cry that matched that of the predator bird and was hurling down the beach without thinking about it. He could feel Jenny’s pain and shock as the talons gripped her mercilessly and hauled her into the air.
“Jenny!” Laura shrieked behind him.
The eagle struggled against the wind, nearly falling back into the surf before it gained enough lift to land with Jenny’s limp form onto a tall tangle of driftwood. He put his beak around Jenny’s throat and lifted her that way, flaring his wings in clear threat; he could easily break her neck.
Travis drew to a stop at the base of the driftwood, a snarling bear and whining wolf at one side and Breck’s leopard at the other. “Let her go!” Only the need for human speech kept him from shifting.
“Hey now!” the man from the resort bellowed, muscling his way fearless between Travis and the bear. “That’s not the right woman! We’re after a wolf shifter!”
The eagle shrugged into a human form, deftly transferring his hold from beak to big hands. Jenny’s otter neck was clearly no safer in one than the other - a single motion would break it easily. Jenny remained limp and unresisting, though Travis could feel her coiled energy through their bond.
“Let her go,” Laura yelled, shifting into her human form and standing tall and proud despite her nudity. “He’s right. I’m the one you want.”
Tex shifted as well. “Laura…” he growled, almost lost against the wind.
“Boss won’t care which of you he gets,” the eagle shifter shrugged, with a cruel smile. “You’ve caused a lot of trouble in the organization, and either way, you’ll pay for it.”
The guest from Shifting Sands made a noise of protest that Travis wouldn’t have heard if he hadn’t been standing so close, then hollered, “You can’t nab the wrong woman. She swam out there to try to save you.”
The eagle shifter didn’t look impressed. “Your vacation make you soft, Wrench? The boss wants revenge. Doesn’t much matter how he gets it.”
“I got a code,” Wrench returned stubbornly.
“I got a code!” The eagle mocked in a falsetto. Then he returned to his usual voice. “Well, I got a job to finish.”
“Let’s make a call,” Wrench suggested, as the eagle shifter raised his hand to make show of wringing Jenny’s neck. “See what Blacksmith says direct.”
Travis was done waiting for something else to happen. He bunched his muscles, preparing to shift.
Travis, be ready, warned Jenny, and Travis paused.
Wrench had all of the man’s attention. “Make a call? What are you in kindergarten calling your Mommy?”
Now! Jenny cried, and she twisted in the eagle shifter’s hands and sank sharp teeth into the tender webbing of his thumb.
Chapter 26
Jenny was unsurprised when the eagle shifter dropped her and then missed at grabbing her again. His hands scrambled for her lithe, flexible otter body as she twisted and kicked away with clawed feet. While she struggled, she caught sight of Travis out of the corner of her eye, clothing shedding from him as he shifted, and leaped impossibly high into the air as a lynx to land on the driftwood beside her captor.
Jenny landed on her side with a thump in the sand that left her dazed, and scrambled to her feet, shifting back to human as she went.
Naked man versus enraged lynx was no match, but eagle was better suited for the battle.
Powerful wings battered at Travis, and sharp, wicked talons tore into his thick-furred shoulder.
Jenny bit back her cry of alarm, not wanting to be a fatal distraction at an inopportune point.
Travis shredded in return, using long, curved claws on powerful paws, sinking snarling teeth into the eagle’s wing.
The eagle gave a cry of agony and rage, and snapped his strong, sharp beak at Travis, who was too fast for the assault.
Their battle sent them tumbling off the driftwood, and Jenny might have been knocked by one of the eagle’s massive wings if Laura hadn’t pulled her back out of the way.
Then there was a second big cat in the fray, and a massive brown bear waded in, snarling ferociously.
Jenny and Laura held each other and watched in alarm as claws and teeth flashed and feathers flew in the howling wind.
Knowing he was outnumbered, the eagle tried to shake them off and escape into the sky, but between the bleeding teeth marks in his wing and the wild, erratic wind, he was easily dragged back to the earth.
He was quickly overwhelmed, and shifted back to his human form with Travis’ teeth at his throat.
“Mercy!” The shifter begged pathetically.
Travis, still a lynx, remained at his throat, growling, but didn’t close his grip. The others backed away, but not far.
“You can’t kill a man who’s begging,” the mobster whined.
Wrench had stayed back from the battle, but stepped forward now. “I thought you didn’t have a code,” he said scornfully.
Travis shifted back into human at last, and Jenny had to hold herself back from running to him. Blood oozed down his shoulder.
“Well, you’re just lucky I do,” he said, standing up and backing away.
Just then, the skies opened up and it began to pour.
Chapter 27
It took all of Travis’ self-control to back away from his prey, helpless and bloody in the wet sand now.
But he was aware of Jenny, behind him, and was so glad and relieved that she was unharmed that the fate of the eagle shifter swiftly became unimportant to him.
When Breck and Wrench moved forward to secure the now-sodden shifter, he could finally turn away, and Jenny ran into his arms.
She was soaking wet, her sundress plastered to every gorgeous curve. Travis gathered her up in his arms, giving a little gasp as his shoulder reminded him that it had recently been pierced by eagle talons. It wasn’t anything a few shifts and a couple of hours of healing wouldn’t fix, but it was still bleeding sluggishly and Jenny exclaimed over it in concern when he set her back down on her feet.
It was a subdued party that returned to the Jeep, scavenging the parts of their clothing that they could. Tex and Travis, with the help of Wrench, were able to push the Jeep back out of the driftwood tangle that Travis had driven it into.
“Sorry I tried to run you down,” Travis said cautiously to the big man.
“Sorry I tried to kidnap your girlfriend,” Wrench replied in the same grave tone.
The eagle shifter was bound at the wrists using a roll of duct tape from the Jeep toolbox, and Wrench was left free.
“You aren’t planning to try anything on the real Laura, are you?” Tex’s tone might have been taken as
teasing, but the way he bared his teeth at Wrench was serious. He was still holding the duct tape.
Wrench looked conflicted, then shook his head. “I ain’t usually sent after people that don’t deserve it,” he said with a shrug of his shoulders. “I’m not gonna turn you over.”
“What are you going to tell them?” Laura asked.
Wrench shrugged. “Failure ain’t taken lightly by these guys, you should know.”
“Oh!” Jenny said suddenly, and she turned and scampered down the beach.
Travis watched her go, thinking she looked sexier than ever and wishing that no one else was around. He wanted to lay her down in the sand and make love to her in the pouring rain, never mind his bleeding shoulder or the storm that was still crashing around them.
The heaviness of the driving rain nearly made her disappear as she waded into the heavy surf and she returned after a long moment, triumphantly carrying a briefcase.
She handed it to Wrench.
“That will probably pay for some dancing classes,” she said mysteriously.
Wrench looked like he might cry, an odd look for a naked, hulking man covered in scars and tattoos. He cracked it open, and several American dollar bills fluttered out in a gust of wind before he could snap it shut.
“Or,” Jenny continued, “You could turn it over as evidence against them and go the legal route and bear witness against your boss. You could get out of the business for good.”
Wrench stared at her.
“I can’t promise you wouldn’t do time,” she said. “But being cooperative would be very helpful to your cause, and I can recommend a good criminal lawyer.”
“Doin’ time again don’t scare me,” Wrench grumbled, scowling ferociously down at her. “But that don’t fix the question of what I do afterwards. I like the idea of clean work, but no one good hires cons.”
“Scarlet might,” Travis suggested.
