Bite Me Harder (Guardians of the Deep 2)

“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.”