“Freeze! SSU, you shark scumbags!” he could imagine a young boy yelling as he pointed a Nerf water gun at his friends.
“Come and get me, copper!” they’d reply as they ducked under and swam to safety.
My mind is a ridiculous place.
When Rafe arrived at the SSU building, he threw his Jeep into park and came around to pick up his injured new friend.
“Petey,” he said as he picked it up. “You look like a Petey to me. How do you like that name?”
The bird chirped.
“Petey the Brawler,” he added. “Because you took one nasty kick to the face and shrugged it off like ‘Fuck you, punk. Try that again.’”
He laughed and carried Petey inside.
Becca was waiting for him with a cup of coffee. The older silver-haired woman who owned her age and sported a sexy, mature attitude, was infatuated with him. Either that or she thought of him like a son. He could never tell for sure. Her semi-flirtatious ways were so subtle he wasn’t sure they existed. Nevertheless, she was always there for him and had accepted him with open arms. Beanie, Squid, and Hightail had met her once and all three had said something about hooking up with her. The thought had crossed Rafe’s mind a time or two, but it would have killed their working relationship.
“I come bearing a gift,” he said.
“You are a gift,” she replied. “What might you have brought with you that could make the day any more pleasant?”
He held Petey up and the seagull fluttered its wings almost as if dusting off its jacket to make a good impression.
“You brought me a…a bird,” she said. “Could you be any sweeter?”
Her sarcasm wasn’t lost on him.
“Well, the shark I originally had was too damn heavy to carry back to the jeep.”
“Let’s have a look at him,” she said as she took the bird and carried him over to a metal table.
She set him down and the seagull squawked its disapproval.
“Cold,” she said. “I know, hon.”
“You’re in good hands,” Rafe said as he left the two and went to find the grand master.
The boss sat at the far side of the room, leaning back in his chair, staring out a window that Rafe knew looked over the beach. His thumb caressed the long scar that ran down the left side of his face. A war wound as Kane had told him once. A reminder that entering the water meant stepping into a different world, a world they owned. Monsters of the deep cared little for human life.
“Hope your morning was much more chill than mine,” Rafe said.
Kane took a moment to finally turn his attention away from the window. He looked back over his shoulder, saw him, and then turned his chair to face him.
“I spent my morning swimming laps,” Kane said. “You?”
“Something like that,” Rafe replied.
“Surfing,” Kane said with a smirk. “I’ve never understood the sport. You like being on top of the water. I prefer to be under it.”
“Diving isn’t for me,” Rafe said as he sat down next to his mentor and reached across him to grab a donut. “You ate all the glazed.”
“Becca got the last one,” Kane said. “But I’m pretty sure she’s holding onto it for you. She likes you, you know?”
“What’s on the agenda for today?” he asked, ignoring the comment.
“Same as yesterday and tomorrow. Looking for sharks to kill.”
Chapter 3 - Kalina
Masks. She wore many masks. She had one on now as she soared through the water. It was the tough, apex predator one with jagged teeth. Kalina knew if she were able to see her own reflection, she might feel sorrow looking into her own beady black pits. She’d never been face to face with herself in a mirror while in tiger shark form, but she’d seen the others and she knew they all had that distant, cold expression. The look of a monster. She’d met other shifters, paranormal creatures of so many shapes and forms, and none of them had carried the unwarranted negative reputation that she and her kind were dealt.
Wolves in packs were terrifying when chasing you through the woods, but on their own, they were slightly aggressive dogs, and everyone loves a dog. Nobody wanted to come face to face with a bear while camping, yet if Kalina had to guess, she’d say that probably nine out of ten children had held a teddy bear at least once in his or her life. Even dragons, the ferocious flying beasts they were, reminded people of legends of knights in shining armor, princesses, and a code of honor.
But sharks? People didn’t like sharks. Kalina had met dolphins, whales, and even a giant sea turtle shifter. She’d yet to hear a human yell, “Swim for your life, it’s a dolphin!” Or, “Get out of the water! There’s a sea turtle!” Thane had told her once that he’d met a squid shifter, and she figured that might be worse than being a shark, but still, it wasn’t fair. She was anything but cold, and yet, she knew she was a feared monster with fins. No child would ever want to reach into the water and feel their fingertips brush against her skin. She’d never be a Flipper. She was the beast humans steered clear of…and it bothered her lately more than it ever had before.
Masks. Disguises. In this body, she was savage, strong, and swift. In her human body, she was forced to play the part of the positive, happy-go-lucky island ray of sunshine. She would beam through tear brimmed eyes and then finally let the faucets flow once she was alone in her cabin. She’d sulk there in silent solitude, thinking of how the man she still loved poured his affections onto another.
“Kalina, do you sense that?” Thane asked.
His voice inside her head always soothed her, and she remembered what it was like hearing him whisper into her ear in bed at night. He’d always been a selfless lover and a strong leader. He’d never given her the mark, but their connection had been instant, and she still felt him inside her, filling her soul with an electric buzz that only he’d ever given her. His jolt was that strong. Even now that their relationship was that of king and faithful servant, older brother and kid sister, she was in love with him. More importantly, she respected him.
“I sense something,” she said internally, focusing her inner voice and projecting it out to Thane and Faith. “Fear maybe. Yes, intense fear.”
“And blood,” Faith added.
Under water, shark shifters communicated via the mind. The stronger the family bond, the further sharks could communicate, and Kalina’s family was closer than most. Their words could reach for miles.
“It’s coming from the far east. I don’t sense an engine,” Thane said.
“Divers?” Kalina asked.
“Always divers,” Faith replied. “There must be a boat nearby. These idiots always stray too far. When will they learn? This isn’t their world.”
“They shouldn’t have to learn,” Thane replied. “Their curiosity forms a bond you’re not giving them credit for. The humans who refuse to step foot into the water. They’re the ones we should be concerned about. They’re the ones who fear our world too much to give us a chance.”
Kalina loved every word that came from his mind. He was always right. If it hadn’t been for Thane, they might have all migrated elsewhere when Evelyn had started all her bullshit. Or they may have joined her, having not understood the point of good relations between sharks and humans. The more the humans hated their kind, the more likely they were to hunt them and to sell their meat. Thane helped her understand that. He helped them all get it.
Since Evelyn had tucked her tail between her legs and fled the nearby waters, things had been relatively peaceful. Keelan Kane still frequented the surface, patrolling the area, trying to hunt down their kind, but keeping away from him was easy as long as they stayed far from the shore. The sounds of his boats were easy to pick up from afar, so they had no reason to fear the man. Plus, he knew what they were. He’d confessed it recently, and Thane had made a pact with the man. His sharks would keep an eye on things below, and Kane would make sure nothing attacked tourists in shallow water. They’d become guardians of the deep, playing s
ecurity for humans. Kalina was fine with that as long as it meant peace. Blood from a diver wasn’t a good sign. Blood on its own might not have raised any red flags. Divers can cut themselves. It happened from time to time. But the fear they sensed accompanying it meant something else entirely. This was an attack of some kind.
Kalina instantly thought of Evelyn and wondered if she’d returned. She would be stupid to come back, but her wits weren’t what her reputation was built on. Her whorish ways and brutal barbarism were more her forte.
It turned out Kalina was ahead of the others. She just happened to be closer to the action, and it didn’t take long for the faint stream of blood to slide through her gills and nag at her stomach. It always brought on an instant ache, as if she’d starved herself for a week and her gut was begging for a bite. Then her stomach turned, and a wave of terror-filled nausea hit her when she saw the size of the great white circling the small yellow submarine.
The diver had made it back to the tiny metallic craft, but not before getting a chunk of his leg ripped open. The amount of blood spreading through the water was enough to kill a man, and she hoped he’d make it out of there alive. Even safe behind the thick wall of glass and metal, the diver was in grave danger. The great white had tasted blood and was determined to get more of it.
“Thane…Faith…this isn’t good,” she said. “We’ve got company.”
“Right behind you, babe,” Thane said. “Don’t do anything crazy.”
“Leave him alone,” Kalina warned the shark through her mental connection.
She wasn’t sure the diver was male, but men were much more likely to travel so far from shore all alone. They felt like superior beings, masters of their world, only they never seemed to realize this wasn’t their world. Women, she was proud to say, usually had enough common sense to respect the unknown.
Kalina knew her warning to the shark would mean little. She was on the smaller side of her tiger shark family. Thane had always been the largest, the true alpha, and she was counting on his arrival at any moment. Without him and the others, she’d be a dead shark if this one decided to attack.
“Or what?” the shark replied, its mental voice rough and with an accent she couldn’t quite place.
It definitely wasn’t Aussie. Maybe New Zealand? She’d heard that a lot of great whites came from that area.
“Does there have to be an ‘or what’ in this situation?” she asked. “I don’t know who you are or what you’re doing here, but these are our waters and every human attacked causes problems for us.”
“You’re right. I really oughtta learn to stick to salad.”
When the shark circled around and faced her, she saw that it didn’t have the large scar across its face like the shark she’d heard so much about. This couldn’t have been the one that killed Poet. This was…another one. This one was even larger than Poet and the one with the scar. Maybe larger than the both of them combined.
“Thane,” she said mentally. “I could really use your help.”
“Thane?” the great white asked. “The Thane?”
Kalina tried to gauge whether or not this was sarcasm. Like Thane was a rock star and this shark was one of his fans. Either that or this shark wasn’t impressed at all with the mention of her leader’s name. Maybe Thane meant something else entirely to this shark. Or nothing at all. His tone could have been purely sarcastic and maybe he’d never heard of Thane.
“Be there in a minute,” Thane told her.
“His leg’s a bloody mess,” the great white said. “Might want to get that patched up mighty quick. If not, he’ll bleed out. Catch you later.”
With that, the great white turned and dove deep as it sped off far from the scene of the crime. Thane and Faith both arrived seconds later, seconds too late. By that time, Kalina was circling the small submarine, wishing she could pop the hatch and tell the guy to get the hell out of there as quickly as possible. In her effort to protect him from any more harm, she realized all he could see was a bloodthirsty predator swimming around him in circles, waiting for its chance to bite his other leg.
“Thane,” Faith said. “As much as I hate to say it, you’d better call Kane and let him know he needs to get someone out here quickly to help this guy. He’s bleeding bad.”
“Yeah,” Thane agreed. “Stay with him until he either makes it back to the docks safely or until you hear the sound of Kane’s boat.”
“This guy might have a fucking heart attack if we stay close,” Faith argued.
“Or you might give him the motivation he needs to stay alive and fight his way back to shore,” Thane suggested. “Just keep an eye on him in case that other shark comes back.”
***
“You okay?” Faith asked, sitting down next to Kalina on the beach.
Kalina admired the slightly older woman. Her long brown hair with golden highlights went perfectly with her lustrous skin. The colorful tapestry of tattoos was as much a part of her as her face. She owned her baddassery. She was a fucking queen without a king. Kalina wondered if Faith even wanted a man by her side. She knew her friend had enough casual sex to give Thane and Penny a run for their money. Even pregnant, the two seemed to live in their bed. Thane had always been an insatiable lover, and he’d always wanted a family of his own, so she suspected Penny’s baby bump only made him more lustful for her body.
Lucky bitch.
No, Penny wasn’t a bitch. She was a sweetheart. That was the problem. She was perfect. Not only for Thane, but for the rest of them. She was a good fit on the island.
“Looking at my tits again?” Faith asked as she plopped down next to Kalina and lay back on the sand.
“Kind of hard not to,” she said. “What do you think happens to your tattoos when you shift? I would think your shark form would look like a graffiti covered subway car.”
Both women laughed.
“Weird, right?” Faith said. “I’ve never thought about it, but yeah, it’s strange how they simply disappear. Maybe the shark skin grows over them? I don’t know. I decided long ago to stop questioning the craziness my life is. I call it ‘My Crazy.’ I kind of dig my crazy and wouldn’t trade it for the world. So, who gives a shit where my tattoos go? Where does shit go when you flush the toilet?”
“Umm…that’s kind of gross,” Kalina said. “But I’m pretty sure it goes into the sewers.”
“And then what?” Faith asked. “I don’t know. I don’t care. That’s shit crazy. My tattoos are my crazy. I don’t care where they go either.”
She wasn’t saying it in a snooty, snippy way at all. That was Faith and that was her crazy. She said shit that sometimes made no sense to anyone but her, but she said it so matter-of-factly that nobody questioned it. Kalina found herself thinking, “She’s right. Who cares where the shit goes and who cares where the tattoos go.”
“We did good today,” Faith said. “He made it back okay.”
“He was a kid,” Kalina added. “Did you see his face? He was like eighteen, maybe nineteen. Let’s hope that shark is long gone.”
“I doubt it, but it could have been a hit and run. A drive by shark on his way to someplace else.”
“When I mentioned Thane, his reaction was strange.”
“Thane has a reputation,” Faith reminded her. “He’s loved, he’s hated, he’s respected…could have been any of those.”
“The shark definitely took off as soon as I mentioned him.”
“See? He wanted nothing to do with us.”
The sun was growing lazy off in the distance. This was Kalina’s favorite time of the day. It reminded her of a scene in Point Break, one of her favorite movies. She wasn’t even sure which scene it was, maybe one with Keanu and Lori Petty sitting on surfboards at sunrise or maybe sunset. Maybe the scene didn’t even exist. Kalina was fully aware that her mind worked like that sometimes. Certain situations conjured up unrealistic add-on scenes. If she didn’t like the ending of a movie, she sometimes tricked herself into believing it ended diff
erently. A human friend of hers, a psychologist friend, once told her that it was her coping mechanism. She created her own happily-ever-afters. She’d done it since she was a child. In her mind, the Titanic never sank, Dorothy hadn’t been dreaming of Oz, and Thane had cherished their time together as much as she had.
What the fuck is wrong with me? He’s not my man anymore. Change your ending, Kalina. He didn’t leave you. You left him. You decided he wasn’t good enough and that you need to find your real Prince Charming. Your story begins here.
When she made up her mind, there was no stopping her, and she’d suddenly decided to begin her own story. She would start over from scratch. She would do something she’d never done before.
“Take me out,” Kalina said.
“What?” Faith asked.
“Get me off this island. Show me what you do at night. Show me how you get down.”
“Get down? What do you think I do, battle rap in the evenings?”
“I don’t know. You go out a lot. Help me be more…more you, Faith. Make me the single woman I am. Show me what I would do if I were my age and not a fucking shark.”
“You sure about this?”
“Absolutely.”
“What I do involves lots of drinks and finding a hot stud, probably someone Thane would never agree with, and fucking him ‘til the sun comes up.”
“Thane’s not my dad,” Kalina said with a snicker.
“Right,” Faith said. “But we all know you don’t tend to do things he’d frown upon.”
“That was the old me,” Kalina said. “Let’s go re-invent myself.”
Chapter 4 – Sylvia
It had taken Sylvia forever to pack her bags. What does one pack when they’re considering the possibility of never returning. It was a ridiculous thought. Of course, she’d be back. Yet, Penny hadn’t returned, at least not for the long term. They’d set out on a short vacation; a getaway Sylvia had hoped would help her best friend forget about her health problems or at least let them slip from mind for a short while. It had turned into so much more. When she’d returned, Penny had only shown up to put the finishing touches on a life she was leaving behind. One of those loose ends had been Sylvia. Penny had begged her to tag along, promising to hook her up with a hot shark man of her own.
Bite Me Harder (a paranormal shifter novel) (Guardians of the Deep Book 2) Page 3
