As much as Rafe wanted to concentrate on the beach
side brawl going on behind him, the battle near the water was more important. These pieces of shit had killed several humans and had maimed so many others. Evelyn’s plan had worked. She’d caught them off guard. Now, they had to clean up her mess. Kalina was too concerned with her brother’s fight to aid in the bigger mess in front of them, so Rafe left her and joined the fray. He couldn’t leave his three surfer buddies to fight on their own. Not that they needed his help. When he made his way over to them, Squid had one guy in an arm bar submission move and was bending his arm back so far it had begun to crack. The guy howled in pain. Beanie was kicking a guy who was down on the ground, and Hightail was slapping a man’s cheek lightly saying, “You still with us? Or are you like completely out, brah?” It was comical at a time when nothing should have been funny.
Cops shouted orders from far back on the beach, too afraid to come any closer, but they were ignored for the most part. They must have figured out what the supernatural beings were and had stayed as far back as possible. Humans knew about shifters, and most knew they had strengths and abilities. If the cops were smart, they would stay out of it while the two paranormal gangs wiped each other out.
Some of the hammerheads had given up the fight and had leapt into the water while others were still going strong. One of them circled around Rafe with his fists raised in a fighter’s stance. He was a southpaw and Rafe hated fighting lefties. The only time he’d ever gotten his ass handed to him was by a lefty well versed in martial arts. The guy had been incredibly quick, and that left hand had been his power hand. He’d shattered Rafe’s jaw with it.
This time, he was prepared, and the first few right handed jabs didn’t trick him. When the power left shot out, Rafe slipped inside really quick and slapped the arm away before slamming a closed fist up and into the man’s chin. This guy was no martial artist. He flew backward and landed on the beach before carefully climbing back to his feet and stumbling toward the ocean. He transformed in water that was much too shallow and nearly got himself stranded. Rafe couldn’t help imagining them all pulling together to help this jackass shark make its way back into the water.
Thane clapped a heavy hand over Rafe’s back and said, “Where’s Kalina?”
“She’s over there,” he said pointing toward the spot where they’d been a few minutes before.
They weren’t there any longer. Shattering glass pinpointed their new location at the bar. Rafe was glad the human guy had gotten his daughter away from the area earlier because the two great whites were breaking every bottle and tabletop in the place. Kalina was in there somewhere yelling at them.
“I need to go help her,” he said.
Thane nodded. The other members of their group were already in the water, probably going after the hammerheads that had gotten away. Rafe only made it a few steps when a nagging thought came back to him.
“Hey, Thane,” he said.
“Yes?” Thane replied.
“Where was Evelyn in all this?”
Thane thought about it for a second and said, “I’m sure she was around somewhere, pulling her puppeteer strings from some safe place in the distance.”
“Yeah, I guess you’re right.”
Even as he said it, Rafe couldn’t shake the feeling that Thane was wrong. Evelyn hadn’t been on the beach. And if she hadn’t been here, where else would she be?
Chapter 27 – Kalina
Sylvia stood next to her now. Both of them were yelling at the guys to stop fighting. Broken bottles had left both men with gashes in their sides. Chair legs had resulted in knots on foreheads and bruises on arms and legs. Kane and Cobalt were both battered, bloodied, and bruised.
“I didn’t know he was your brother,” Kane swore as he spit blood on the wooden floor. “I didn’t even know you existed.”
“Does that make it right?” Cobalt hissed through clenched, bloodied teeth. “If he was somebody else’s brother? Or someone’s son? Or someone’s husband?”
“He was a fucking shark!” Kane yelled.
“I’m a fucking shark!” Cobalt replied. “You’re a fucking shark.”
“Baby, please,” Sylvia begged. “Come with me. Finish this some other time. You’re hurt.”
“He’s hurt,” Cobalt argued.
“No more than you,” Kane said.
The pride of both of these bastards would get them killed. Kalina was tired of the bullshit. She was about to walk away and let them kill each other. Were all great whites this fucking stubborn?
“They’re still going at it?” Rafe asked as he appeared by her side. “Guys, there are cops all over the beach. Paramedics are making their way out too. This…”
He gestured at the destroyed bar.
“This is going to catch their attention,” he added. “We need to go. Like now.”
Kane looked at him and it was clear he agreed. Cobalt huffed and puffed, shaking his head for a second before looking over at Sylvia. Then he threw a hand up to shoo Kane away as if this wasn’t worth his time. He must have known this fight could only go on so long before they both ended up behind bars. Now was the time to flee before the cops started looking into all the damage that wasn’t involved with the bodies on the beach. As they walked toward the water, Kalina was surprised to see that very few deaths had occurred. Any death was bad, of course, but given the circumstances, she would have expected so many more. It seemed the hammerheads were there to hurt the humans, not to kill them.