Bite Me Harder (a paranormal shifter novel) (Guardians of the Deep Book 2)

by Chris Genovese

  Kalina wanted to show him how dangerous she really was. One day maybe they’d be close enough to the water and she could knock his sly ass in and jump in after him.

  Oh, the possibilities.

  “Douche,” Faith said as she slid behind Kalina and raised a beer bottle at Kane. “Good to see you again.”

  “Funny,” Kane said. “You should probably stop drinking and go do your job. Help keep people alive, or I may have to start fishing again.”

  “Go fuck yourself,” Faith replied.

  As he walked away, Rafe leaned over so his face was closer to Kalina’s and was about to speak when he seemed to notice the shark tooth necklace dangling in front of him. He closed his eyes and silently cursed.

  “I’m sorry,” he said as he took off the necklace and shoved it in his pocket.

  “How much do you know about us?” she asked.

  “That you’re a shark shifter and you’re part of Thane’s team—”

  “—and that’s enough,” Kalina said, cutting him off. “Look, I’m sure you’re a great guy, but I’m probably not the best chick for you to get caught up with. My life is messy. It’s…it’s different.”

  “I like messy,” he said. “I like different. Besides, who said I was wanting to get caught up with you?”

  “Ouch,” Kalina replied.

  “Kidding,” he said, “But seriously. Let’s take this slow. How about we go someplace and talk.”

  “Ow, what the fuck?!” a woman yelled out a few feet away.

  “What’s wrong with you, man?” a man’s voice followed.

  “You got a fuckin’ death wish, bro?” another said.

  Kalina looked at the crowd formed near the bonfire in time to see a large, tattooed man wearing a black vest with a black bandana tied around his head below a black mohawk with red tips. Even from so far away, the golden blaze of the bonfire poured light onto his menacing face. With clenched teeth that fizzed spit, he swung a heavy right hook and caught the trash talker on the base of the chin. The “death wish” guy went down like a bag of sand, collapsing on the ground in an awkward angle, like he’d suddenly become a pile of silly putty. The tattooed guy wasn’t alone. Others dressed the same way moved into the crowd.

  This gang of beach bum bikers didn’t have to say a word as they surrounded the others at the party. They were violence embodied, and Kalina knew something was up. They were there for a reason. One of them shoved an innocent guy out of the way and sent him sprawling across the sand covered deck. Another, a bald guy wearing the same black bandana, snatched up a beautiful brunette who’d been dancing with her man. He grabbed her by the waist and pulled her in close.

  “Let go of me!” she screamed.

  “Hey, motherfucker!” her boyfriend yelled as he tried to wrestle the man away from her.

  Two of the other goons grabbed the guy and held him back long enough for the bald guy to release his grip on the girl and smash his elbow into her boyfriend’s nose. Blood flowed from the guy’s face and his eyes rolled back in his head.

  “Fuckin’ punk ass bitch,” the bald gang banger said.

  Kalina looked at Rafe who was watching the scene, stunned, and then she grabbed Faith’s wrist.

  “Should we do something?” Kalina asked.

  “We’re not super heroes, remember?” Faith reminded her.

  “It’s probably best if we stay out of their way,” Rafe suggested. “There are too many of them.”

  Kalina had been surrounded by alpha male sharks all her life, so it was strange to hear a man talk of backing down. She found it surprisingly cute. Thane would have run right into that group all by himself, but not Rafe. He was worried. He had a good head on his shoulders and seemed to truly be concerned for her safety. She chuckled under her breath. It was obvious Rafe had no idea what she or her friend were capable of. These douchebags wouldn’t stand a chance against them, but he was right. It was better to stay out of their way. Even if they kicked these guys’ asses, they wouldn’t be able to do it without raising suspicion. She was about to agree with his plan to leave when one of the guys started walking their way. He seemed to have his sights set on them, on Faith at least.

  The guy approaching had long black hair pulled up in a man bun. His face was wrecked with scars, many of them, and his right eye looked to have most of its color gone from it. He may have been half blind, but he was as confident as a man can get. He stalked toward them, his good eye fixed on Faith. A grin formed on his lips.

  “What do we have here?” he asked.

  He didn’t sound Aussie at all. In fact, he sounded American. Kalina found it odd that someone who’d obviously traveled so far from home would be cocky enough to incite a riot among the locals. If all the men at the party had teamed up on him and his gang of flunkies, surely the Aussies would win. Yet, he didn’t seem to have a care in the world.

  As he grew closer and passed a small outdoor bar, he held out a hand and swiped it over the surface, knocking whiskey tumblers and plastic beer cups and bottles off it and onto the ground. Glass shattered, and the guy inhaled, savoring the havoc. He was reckless in a way that made Kalina wonder if he’d been sent out on a mission. Someone had told him to make a mess of things at the bonfire. Nobody would show up and do this for no good reason. Behind him, his goons caused chaos. Women screamed. Guys yelled. Painful cries rang out through the air.

  “Let’s go,” Rafe said, grabbing Kalina’s arm and tugging.

  She couldn’t leave. Her pride wouldn’t allow it. She needed to see what this guy was going to do when he reached them. This guy, who Kalina sensed was the leader of this ragtag band of badasses, reached out and grabbed the tit of a woman trying to cower away from him. Her man jumped to her defense.

  “Motherfucker!” the boyfriend said.

  The gang member didn’t respond with words. Instead, he smashed his closed fist against the guy’s throat, sending him crashing to the ground fast and hard.

  Finally, the guy reached Kalina, Faith, and Rafe. Before she knew it, two of his brethren appeared at his sides. One was the bald guy she’d seen in the fight earlier. The other had his hair slicked back and sucked on a cigarette, keeping it in place with his lips the entire time he stood there.

  “Look, Lobo, this fella here’s about to piss in his pants,” the bald guy said.

  The leader’s name was Lobo. Kalina knew that was Spanish for wolf and she wondered if they were wolf shifters. They definitely had a strength about them, a misguided courage that she’d only seen in the dumbest of humans, that or in badass military types. These guys weren’t military. Yet, she didn’t think they were wolves either. Wolves in Queensland would definitely raise some eyebrows. The authorities would be all over a gang of them.

  So, what are they?

  “I’m potty trained, thank you very much,” Rafe replied coolly.

  Kalina hadn’t considered that the thug had been talking about Rafe when he made his disrespectful comment. She’d been too focused on trying to figure the guys out. Rafe’s response was so chill, so childish almost, that Kalina wanted to laugh. He’d met the asshole’s comment with the same kind of cheesy sarcasm. She wanted to throw her arms around him and hug him. He was adorable.

  “Got a mouth on you too, don’t cha,” the bald guy said to Rafe as he took a step closer.

  Lobo slapped a heavy hand against the guy’s chest, keeping him back.

  “You’re the kind of woman I like,” Lobo said to Faith. “I told Tots we’d find us some bitches here at this party.”

  “Tots,” Faith said with a slight giggle. “Ridiculous. Well, lucky for us both then. I was telling my friend here that we would find some bitches too.”

  Faith pointed at the men and added, “See, Kalina, bitches.”

  “Oh man,” Kalina heard Rafe mutter.

  “The fuck did you say to me?” Lobo asked.

  Kalina wasn’t sure how he did it, but Lobo closed his eyes tightly and rolled his shoulders around. A crunching sound radiated
from them. All the other gang members stopped what they were doing and turned toward them. Slowly, they began walking their way.

  This isn’t good.

  A few minutes before, Kalina had been sure she could take all these guys. She was a great fighter. Thane had taught her everything he knew. But something was off about these hoodlums. She could sense a supernatural aura around them. Their anger had jump started it. Lobo had closed his eyes and she’d seen the way his eyeballs rolled around beneath tight lids, as if they had actually spun all the way around in his head.

  “Faith,” Kalina said.

  “You know what Thane always says,” Faith replied.

  Strike first and strike hard.

  Faith swung her leg up and kicked Lobo hard in his balls. No man could withstand a kick to the junk, especially when it carried the strength and speed of a tiger shark shifter behind it. The strike was so solid it lifted him off his feet. One of his friends caught him and held him in place as Lobo grabbed at his cock and howled in pain.

  “Ohhhh, God,” he said. “I’m gonna fucking kill you, bitch.”

  “I don’t blame you,” Faith said. “That had to fucking hurt.”

  One of Lobo’s men reached for Rafe, swinging a wild fist at him, but Rafe was quick, much quicker than Kalina would have ever expected for a human. He stepped right, held up a hand to block the attack, swung left to throw the fist out of the way, and then stepped in with an elbow to the man’s teeth. The gangbanger stumbled back and held a hand up to his bloody mouth. When he smiled, his teeth didn’t look normal. They were razor sharp, and Kalina realized the blood wasn’t coming from his mouth but was dripping from Rafe’s elbow where he’d sliced it on his attack. She tried to step in front of him to defend him, but the aggressor was too fast, and leapt forward, slamming the sole of his boot into Rafe’s chest.

  Kalina’s date flew through the air. He actually sailed backward and smashed into a wooden ticket booth, shattering it as his body blew through it and slid across the concrete on the other side.

  “Hey!” Kalina yelled at the man as he started to stalk after Rafe.

  He turned to look at her, and she hit him with a series of punches so fast it surprised even her. One to the gut, one to the neck, one down at his balls, and the other at his nose. The guy stepped back with each strike until the last one sent him crashing into the ground.

  Kalina looked over her shoulder to see that Lobo had Faith by her hair and had lifted her up over his head. He threw her at the bar, and she crashed against a large mirror on the wall. Glass shattered and fell to the ground in tinkling shards following the thud of her body. Somewhere on the other side of that counter, her friend lay in a heap. Kalina’s blood boiled, and she was about to rush at Lobo when she heard a voice that gave her a new sense of hope.

  “We got a problem here?” Thane asked as he stepped into view with Kino, Jagger, Hailey, and Rickshaw at his sides.

  “Yo, please tell me we got a problem, bruh!” Kino announced, hopping up and down in place with nothing on but a pair of board shorts.

  “We definitely have a problem,” Kalina said. “Faith, you okay?!”

  “Be there in a minute!” Faith called out from behind the bar where Kalina could hear the sound of glass and knew her friend was doing her best to rise to her feet.

  “You all seem like a bunch of badasses with the ladies,” Thane said to Lobo. “Why don’t you try that shit with me?”

  He stepped forward and Lobo cracked his knuckles, also stepping forward, unfazed by Thane’s advance. Whoever this mob of thugs was, it seemed they weren’t afraid of anything.

  “You think I don’t know who you are?” Lobo asked.

  “Who might I be?” Thane replied.

  “The one who’s gonna get what’s comin’ to you, motherfucker,” Lobo said. “You just wait and see.”

  “Why wait?” Thane asked. “Why not give me what’s comin’ to me right now.”

  “Let’s do it,” Lobo said.

  Both men moved forward with their teeth gritted, with every intention to fight, until the loud sound of a shotgun shell being slid into place was heard. The cocking of a gun is enough to make anyone freeze. Even Thane and his group feared human weapons.

  “That’s enough!” Keelan Kane yelled, holding his shotgun up into the air.

  “Perfect timing,” Rafe said. “I was about to get serious on these assholes.”

  Even through all the drama, Rafe could make her laugh. She loved his sarcasm.

  “What’s going on here?” Kane asked, his question directed at Thane.

  “I just got here,” he replied. “You should ask these pricks what all the ruckus is about.”

  “Just making friends, officer,” Lobo said. “We’re new in town and nobody likes to invite the new kids to the party.”

  “I’d say we gave you pretty good welcome though,” Faith said as she came out from around the bar.

  “You okay?” Kane asked her.

  “Never been better,” she said. “That one hits like a girl.”

  Lobo laughed off her remark and held up his hands.

  “Seems all the animosity is pointed at me and my brothers. I can dig it. I know when I’m not wanted. Y’all might wanna be more cordial when guests arrive. Some might take it personally when you don’t. Some might come back and, you know…”

  Kane pointed his shotgun at Lobo.

  “Are you threatening us?” he asked.

  “Officer, calm down,” Lobo said. “I make no threats. I’m only trying to remind you about manners. That’s all.”

  With that, Lobo snapped his fingers and his friends backed off. He passed Faith a flirtatious wave and then turned and followed his buddies as they made their exit.

  Rafe took hold of Kalina’s fingers in one hand and gave her a squeeze, not fully grasping her hand, but letting her know he was still by her side. That meant a lot. Most guys would have tucked tail and run after witnessing something so insane. Not this one. Kalina looked at him and smiled. He grinned and said, “I have abilities too. Did you see that?”

  He pointed at the broken ticket booth he’d gotten kicked through.

  “I can fly,” he added.

  She laughed and shook her head. He was a dork, but she liked him…a lot.

  Thane and Kane followed the gangbangers to make sure they were actually leaving. Faith brushed herself off, wincing as she picked a small shard of glass out of her arm, and then joined the others to help Kalina recount what had happened. Faith did most of the talking, so Kalina dropped back and pulled Rafe along with her.

  Music continued to blare from the DJ booth. The party had only slowed down during all the violence. It definitely hadn’t stopped. There, in a dark shadowy spot at the side of the nightclub, Kalina took hold of both Rafe’s hands. She looked into his eyes and sucked in a deep breath.

  “I’m sorry,” she told him. “I’m sorry you got wrapped up in that.”

  “Me?” he said. “I was as much a part of it as you were. And I’m sorry I got my ass kicked back there. That guy had a fucking kick on him. Holy hell.”

  His laughter was contagious. She couldn’t believe this guy was laughing about getting a boot to the sternum and bragging about the length he’d been kicked. He was charming, like a young kid excitedly telling his friends how far he’d made it when he hit the ramp with his skateboard. He was refreshing. Fun, maybe that’s the word she was looking for. He was fun. He didn’t seem to let anything bother him. He only wanted to have a good time in life and that was new. Everyone else seemed to have an agenda. It was always about making more money or getting more things or being more powerful. Even on the island, with as laid back as everyone was, tension had been high with so much pressure to patrol the water. With Rafe, she felt none of that. There simply was no difficulty.

  “I’m a shark,” Kalina told him.

  Silence as he nodded.

  “I’m a shark shifter,” she added. “I turn into a tiger shark whenever my body touches the
ocean.”

  “Interesting,” he said.

  More silence.

  “Okay then,” she said. “I guess that’s my cue to go catch up with my friends.”

  If she’d said those words to any other human guy, they would have walked away, wishing her a happy life. Nobody wanted to get wrapped up in the lifestyle she led. Most humans stayed in the shallow water, fearful of what lurked in the trenches. Kalina needed someone willing to go deep. Was this the guy? That feeling she’d had earlier came back to her as he grinned down at her. Her stomach cramped and her pussy ached. This was more than regular attraction. This was divine. This was inhuman. This was supernatural, paranormal, and every other word that meant that it was being thrust upon her, forced upon her by a being higher than herself. Her mind liked him. Her heart wanted him. Her body needed him.

  Rafe replied by reaching for her face and cupping it in both his hands. She closed her eyes and enjoyed the feel of his soft fingertips touching the sides of her head. It was too soon for a kiss, sooner than usual anyway, yet she decided if he went for it, she’d be okay with that.

  “Look at me,” he said.

  She allowed her heavy, dreamy eyes to open and her eyelashes to flutter a few times as she set her vision on his handsome face. His eyes were hers, his lips were hers, his face, his hair, his body…they were all hers. It was only a look, nothing more, but she felt all that in his stare. He liked her. This boy wanted her. He wanted to be hers.

  “I like peanut butter and banana sandwiches,” he added.

  She was silent. She wasn’t sure what to do with that information.

  “You have your quirks, I have mine,” he said.

  Then she got it. He didn’t care that she was a shark. He was telling her that her differences were fine with him. She smiled at him and closed her eyes again. She’d never felt more wanted in all her life. She didn’t even know this guy, but they were connected.

  “This so wasn’t the wild night I was expecting when I told Faith to take me out to have some fun,” she said.