“Why don’t you get off the boat,” Rafe said. “You don’t belong here.”
Kalina wasn’t sure if it was fear she sensed in his voice or mere aggravation. If he wasn’t afraid, he was a lot braver than she’d thought. Evelyn wasn’t the type to plant some weak front kick against his chest like the hammerhead at the bonfire. No, Evelyn was more likely to launch herself at him and dig her razor-sharp teeth into his neck. Or, knowing her, she might try to fuck him first. There seemed to be no end to Evelyn’s madness.
“Maybe I want to discuss this now,” Evelyn said. “And if anyone doesn’t belong here, I think it’s you. Maybe you’d do better down there.”
She peered over the boat rail and down at the black ocean.
“Evelyn,” Kalina said. “Go. This won’t end well.”
“For whom?” Evelyn asked.
With lightning fast speed, Evelyn lunged right and raced around the side of Kalina, but Kalina had expected her to move, and anticipated it, stepping to her left and blocking Evelyn. Fists clenched in hair, they both fought with all their might, whipping each other’s head back and forth. Both of the women growled and cursed. Evelyn swung at Kalina and scratched, lashing the front of her chest with her sharp fingernails. Kalina stumbled backward and Evelyn was on her quickly, diving at her neck and snapping at her with her mouth. Holding her back by her forehead, it was like trying to stop a rabid dog.
“Kalina!” Rafe yelled.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Rafe dive at them, grabbing Evelyn by her hair and yanking her off Kalina. Evelyn swung her fist to the side and slammed her knuckles against Rafe’s right temple. Before Kalina could stop him, he pitched over the boat railing and tumbled into the black sea.
“No!” Kalina yelled.
She punched Evelyn’s throat, and as the evil bitch staggered backward and reached for her own neck, Kalina dove in after her boyfriend.
Her body exploded in a million fragmented pieces, forging a new form, fins jutting out from the top, sides, and back of her body. To Rafe, who seemed to be desperately clawing for the surface, it was nothing more than an unexpected topple into the ocean. She knew he had no idea what was in store. It was a sea of terror and through her super heightened senses, she could see it was filled with hammerhead sharks in nearly every direction. As she’d expected, Evelyn had a plan in place, and Kalina had fallen for it.
Rafe would kick for the surface. It’s what all humans did and since he had no idea how much trouble he was in, he’d assume Evelyn had only wanted to ruin his night when in fact, she wanted to pick the meat from his bones and feed it to her underwater hounds. Then they’d gnaw on the bones, chomping them into fine powder.
The first few seconds were vital, so she swam in a circle quickly around him, doing her best to ward off any oncoming attack. This required her to scan below him too as sharks love to shoot up from under their prey. Rafe could be bitten in two before he even knew what hit him. All around her, hungry hammerheads swam in a heated frenzy. If they were on dry land, Kalina knew they’d be frothing at the mouth for a taste of his blood. One of the sharks shot in, but Kalina was much faster. She dipped down and came around at the side, bulldozing the shark and sending it sailing off to Rafe’s side.
As she moved back around toward her man, one of the boat’s lights shined down on the water and illuminated Rafe. His eyes opened wide as he caught a glimpse of the horde of monsters surrounding him. Kalina hoped he’d rush for the boat, but then through the distorted view of the ocean’s surface, she saw Evelyn up there waiting for him. If he got any closer, she’d dive in and devour him whole.
Kalina swam in a circle, feeding on oxygen and gathering the strength to make a move when the timing was right. If only he knew that she was on his side. She imagined in his mind he’d see nothing but a billion beasts beneath him, the mind’s exaggeration of the number of sharks, but not of the danger. It might have only been ten sharks or so moving in circles and zig zagging through the water, but the number of predators didn’t matter. The sharks’ hunger and desperation to feed did. Kalina knew that to Rafe, she must look like all the other angry beasts.
Rafe caught her off guard when he reached out and grabbed hold of her fin as she passed.
Yes!
How he’d known to trust her, she didn’t know, but it didn’t matter. Now he stood a chance. She only hoped he could hold on strong enough because if he let go, he was as good as dead.
With Rafe clenching her fin, she shot down underwater and swam around the first hammerhead she saw. It snapped at her and missed. Then she was ahead of the pack as the others caught on quickly and chased her down.
She’d never dragged a human before. She knew if she went too deep she could kill him, especially if she dove and rose too quickly. She needed to stay as close to the surface as possible. After at least thirty seconds underwater, she remembered he’d also need to breathe.
How could I have forgotten. I’m so sorry, baby!
She angled upward and slid along the surface, hoping she’d gotten close enough for Rafe to grab a gulp of air. Then she could only assume he had. She needed to sink a little lower if she hoped to stay ahead of the pack.
Searing pain shot from her caudal fin through the rest of her body as one of the sharks hot on her tail had actually reached her and had taken a bite. It hadn’t ripped through her completely, but it was damn close, and it hurt like hell.
“Get the fuck off me!” she spat mentally, hoping the hammerheads could hear her the way Evelyn could.
“Ohhh yes!” she heard Evelyn reply. “Good boys. Get mama a piece of that meat. Whoever rips her in half can come to my bed tonight.”
Eager laughter bounced around the walls of her mind, sounding like it was filling the entire ocean. The sharks laughed internally and projected it out, taunting her, playing with her and letting her know she had no chance of escape. They were able to communicate with her, it seemed.
“Good luck with that,” Kalina said, knowing that antagonizing them was a bad idea, but figuring at this point, nothing could make it any worse.
From the calmness of Evelyn’s voice, Kalina was pretty sure she hadn’t joined in on the chase. She was probably somewhere nearby, taking her time, letting the boys toy with her. That was a great advantage for Kalina, because she’d fought Evelyn a couple of times in the past. Both times had ended with no clear victor, but neither of those times did she have a human strapped to her back.
Shit. Rafe!