Ocean Light

  Bowen looked to the other man. "These three Psy?" He'd felt no psychic strikes against his mind, but that could simply be because the three were disoriented and terrified.

  "No, human."

  "We'll take it from here," Malachai said to Krychek. "BlackSea owes you."

  "No. The payment's been made."

  Malachai's eyes connected with Bowen's after Krychek teleported out, a silent question in them. Bo just shook his head. Now wasn't the time to speak of his devil's bargain. A bargain he'd make again and again to bring Kaia out of danger. "Later."

  Nodding, Malachai threw a rope over the side and the boat was soon secured against Lantia.

  Their three captives quivered as they were made to disembark, then get down on their knees on the exposed deck of the city. Miane appeared seconds later, still dressed in nothing but that large black T-shirt that hit the tops of her thighs and fell off one shoulder. Bo suddenly realized it was the same one Malachai had been wearing during their call. It should've made her look like a teenage girl playing dress-up with her boyfriend's clothes.

  But Miane Leveque was no girl, the power that burned in her a chilling cold.

  Her inhuman gaze found his for a split second. She nodded.

  Kaia was safe.

  His heart slamming, Bo kept his gun trained on the captives--and forced himself not to pull the trigger on the one with the bandaged hand and the broken face. He'd made the call not to kill on the boat and now he was on Miane's city; this was her show to run.

  "You took one of mine," Miane said silkily to the three. "Talk."

  The captain began to babble. "We rescued her. She was flounderi--" His words ended in a fleshy thump of sound as Miane backhanded him so hard that he hit the deck with violent force; he spit out a bloody tooth when he struggled back up onto his knees.

  "Lie to me again and you go into the ocean." Miane didn't raise her voice, the menace of her all the more deadly for being so contained. "Now, I'm going to ask again. Why did you take one of mine?"

  Chapter 71

  Miane Leveque is beautiful the same way a shark is beautiful. Sharp, clean lines and lethal strength--but with a vicious bite. Do not underestimate her.

  --Consortium briefing on the major changeling alphas

  "I JUST GOT paid!" It was the crewman with the smashed face, his words thick but understandable. "Easy money, he said!" Indicating the captain. "Just had to help him snatch a dolphin for a black market collector. I didn't know she was a person until she shifted in the net!"

  "Then why did you have a knife to cut her face?" Bowen's finger began to press down on the trigger.

  "Bo." Miane's voice, a soft reminder of what was at stake, not an order.

  Alpha to alpha.

  Grinding his teeth, he nodded to tell her he was back in control.

  Miane said, "Throw him in the blue."

  Screaming, the male tried to fight but it was no use. Malachai and Bo threw the fucker overboard and Bo kept him in the icy water at the point of his gun.

  "And you?" Miane gave the other crewman the full impact of eyes gone eerily other. "Would you like to lie to me, too?"

  A sudden wetness in his pants, the acrid scent of ammonia rising into the air.

  "Seawater," Malachai said shortly and was soon passed a dripping metal bucket.

  The BlackSea security chief doused the crewman.

  Whimpering, the crewman hugged his arms around himself. "He's my uncle." A glance at the captain. "Said he had a big contract, needed crew."

  "You knew you were taking a changeling."

  The captain's nephew threw up at Miane's quiet words. Malachai washed that off, too, but it was obvious the spineless male who'd been willing to stand by while another man brutalized an unarmed woman was too fucking terrified to speak now that he was faced by predators with far sharper teeth. Miane turned her attention back to the captain with the bloody cut lip and missing tooth. She smiled at him and it was a smile that was of the black, of sinuous, cold-blooded things.

  "Fuck it," the captain said, a tremor in his voice. "I wasn't paid enough for this." He began to tell them everything he knew, while the crewman in the water started to turn blue.

  In short, the captain admitted he was known for being open to gray-market or black-market jobs. He'd carried illegal drugs, smuggled exotic animals, indulged in other criminal behavior. When he was suddenly offered a significant five-figure sum for work that didn't even take him out of his preset path to another job, he'd jumped at the chance.

  "I was already in the area--I got sent a general location and told specifics about exactly which dolphin I needed to snatch," he continued. "Larger than an ordinary wild dolphin, tiny notch in the top part of her fin, swimming without a pod in a specific direction. Man I spoke to said they'd spotted her heading my way."

  The captain used the back of his arm to wipe the sea spray off his face, smearing blood from his lip across his cheek. "If we got her, we got the whole payment. If we didn't, we still got ten grand. Not a bad deal."

  "Did they tell you to cut her face?"

  Blood draining to leave his skin the color of old parchment, the captain nodded. "I decided it was fucked up enough with the bruise and the marks from the net." His eyes jittered to the man in the water. "I use him as crew but he's a twisted fuck. Volunteered to cut when I hesitated over that part of the deal."

  So much for honor between thieves.

  Smile cold, Bowen shot into the water, causing the "twisted" fucker to scramble back, farther into the unforgiving blue.

  "Who was your contact?" Miane asked the cringing captain.

  "His name's Gianco. Guy's the go-between for a ton of stuff at the docks." He was happy to provide them with Gianco's contact details, as well as more information on how to track the man down. "He's gotten me good lines on work before so I knew the deal was legit."

  Bo shifted to press his gun to the back of the captain's head, while Malachai kept an eye on the crewman in the saltwater that had to be hell on his bashed-in face. "You've done this before," Bo said. "You've taken others."

  The man froze.

  Miane smiled. "He's not going to blow out your brains," she said gently. "You took his mate. He wants to torture you by flaying off your skin inch by square inch until you beg for death. Make it easier on yourself and tell us everything."

  "Just one other time." The captain swallowed convulsively. "Gianco supplied the crew that time and those guys were vicious--they cut up the changeling's face with razors like they were carving meat." Sweat broke out along his forehead. "I dropped them off with Gianco and I don't know what happened after that."

  "What did the changeling look like straight out of the water?"

  When the captain described the male, every member of BlackSea on deck went motionless. They'd recognized a clanmate--and each and every one wanted to do the same kind of violence as Bowen.

  Miane's face was expressionless when she said, "Describe the crew Gianco provided."

  Giving her a sickly smile, the man said, "I always get a photograph using my hidden camera. Just in case anyone tries to stiff me." He reached very slowly into his pocket to draw out a small phone. "It's on here."

  "This bastard's gonna drown," Malachai drawled. "Bo?"

  Turning to see the crewman in the water struggling to keep his head afloat, Bo took his time making the call. "Bring him in. I'm not done with him."

  Mal nodded at one of his people to throw out a net. They used it to haul the blue-lipped and nearly unconscious male to the deck, where he was left inside the net to shudder in front of his fellow assholes.

  "Was that previous crew human, too?"

  The captain jerked his gaze from the crewman back to Miane. "No, Psy."

  "And Gianco?"

  "Changeling. A fish, like you all."

  Miane examined the captain's sweating face. "How do you know?"

  "I followed him once, the first time he came to me with a job. Smuggling that time. Saw him dive into the oc
ean, then saw a big-ass fish swim out. Never saw Gianco come back up." He swallowed again. "And his eyes . . . they did that black thing a couple of times when he was pissed."

  Miane's obsidian eyes stayed unblinking on the captain's face. "Do you have a photo of Gianco on this phone?"

  "No, he never got on my boat. Couldn't use my secret camera--but I can describe him."

  A painful wave of shock and betrayal rippled through the deck when that description matched KJ to a fine point. Right down to his gritty voice and habit of chewing peppermint gum. "At what time did Gianco contact you for this job?"

  "Only about two hours before we took her onboard. Like I said, we just lucked out by being nearby. Our other job was legit so I filed a route with the authorities and all."

  That answered the question of whether KJ had survived his dive into the ocean.

  "What else do you know?" Miane asked with no indication of the rage that had to be coursing through her blood.

  It turned out to not be much, though the captain did tell them the specific "docks" at which he usually dealt with Gianco--a predictably slippery character who went missing for long periods of time. No doubt it'd line up with KJ's work schedule.

  "Lock all three up," Miane said flatly.

  Only after Kaia's captors had been dragged away with zero care for their injuries did Bo speak again. "KJ."

  "He's mine." Miane's voice was like stone. "No one else is to approach."

  As Heenali was Bo's to handle. "If you want me to blast his face across the human network, say the word."

  Miane didn't answer with either a yes or a no and he didn't assume that was an answer in itself. It paid to assume nothing with the First of BlackSea.

  Malachai's eyes went to the boat bobbing beside the city. "I'll go through the vessel, see if we can find anything useful."

  Logic wove a cold line through Bowen's fury. "You should unhook it from the city."

  When both Miane and Malachai looked at him, he said, "This deal might've been made while the vessel was already at sea, but the captain worked previously for KJ. If I were KJ, I'd have put a tracker on it somewhere, along with an explosive that could be detonated remotely. As soon as KJ checks the tracker, he'll realize the boat is nowhere near its intended location."

  "Fuck, he's right." Malachai was already running to undo the rope.

  He and a number of other BlackSea changelings jumped into the water and literally pushed the boat out to a safe distance before anchoring it again. Waiting only until he could see that the city was no longer in danger, Bo gave in to the driving need inside him. "Is Kaia still in the infirmary?"

  Miane didn't immediately give him an answer. "How did you get Krychek's cooperation?"

  "That's between me and him." He held her gaze, alpha to alpha. "All you need to know is that BlackSea owes him nothing."

  Miane inclined her head a fraction. "Kaia is with the healers--and irately demanding to come to you."

  A massive boom split the horizon, the sky colored yellow and orange and red and the sea reflecting the same. Flaming debris rained down from above, but all the changelings in the water had dived at the instant of the explosion, and reappeared well beyond the danger. The boat was gone, with it any physical evidence.

  "We have a starting place to track KJ," Miane murmured. "We also have the photos on the captain's phone. It is enough to begin a hunt."

  That hunt would end in blood.

  Good.

  Chapter 72

  Changeling healers share multiple gifts with M-Psy and yet this convergence has never been studied in scientific literature.

  --Draft paper by Dr. Natia Kahananui

  KAIA SAT SILENTLY under the healer's touch as the older woman worked on her face, but her insides were a chaos of emotion. The only reason she hadn't run out to Bowen the instant she heard the boom of the explosion was that she could feel him safe and strong inside her--and because of how he'd looked when he'd seen what had been done to her face. If a little patience would soften the evidence of the blows she'd taken, then she'd find that patience.

  Warmth emanated from the healer's fingers, the energy of the clan flowing from her hands. It had been extraordinarily more potent while Miane was in the room, the rage of her power a black wave that protected rather than drowned.

  "I've managed to heal the fractures," the healer murmured, a frown of concentration between her brows. "The swelling isn't looking too bad, but the bruising's going to linger a few days."

  "Mahalo, Rani." Kaia was reaching up to pat at the bruised side of her face when her mate walked into the room. "Bo!" Jumping off the infirmary bed, she ran into his arms.

  They locked around her, warm steel and protective heat. Kaia was only vaguely aware of Rani slipping away and shutting the door behind herself, her focus on her mate--who was shaking in reaction.

  "I fought them," she said, pressing kisses along his jaw. "I was only afraid for a few seconds right at the start--and then I got mad." More kisses, his scent in her lungs. "I bit him so hard he bled. Even after he punched me, I wasn't afraid. I was just angry I was too woozy to knee him in the groin."

  Bowen pressed his forehead to hers, his expression hard with pride. "You're not a scared little girl anymore."

  "No," she whispered with a smile that cracked open the scars, allowing in healing light. "No matter what happens, I will never again be unable to help the people I love." She'd been naked on the deck of that boat after shifting into human form to better fight, and she'd still managed to inflict enough damage that three grown men bigger than her had thrown her in that small room and locked the door. "I was plotting how to take apart the bunk and bash them over the head with one of the ends when they came in again."

  Bowen laughed, the strain finally fading from his features. Rough-tipped fingers featherlight over her bruises as he took stock of the damage. "That makes this a badge of pride." He pressed a soft kiss to the bruise.

  Eyelids closing, her eyes hot but her smile wide, Kaia said, "I knew you'd come. I just had to keep myself alive long enough and you'd come." It had been an absolute truth inside her, a driving flame.

  "I will always come for you." A harsh voice, more tender kisses. "You're a little disappointed I came so quickly, aren't you?"

  She found herself giggling. "I did really want to do some head-bashing-in."

  Their eyes locked and laughter filled the air.

  When he picked her up in his arms and swung her around, she didn't even care that she was in a stupid hospital gown that flapped with the rush of air. She felt like a warrior princess with her prince, a woman with bruises earned in fighting for herself--and to return to her mate.

  She was strong. She wasn't afraid.

  "I'm going to come to land with you," she vowed to him when he finally stopped spinning her around and pressed her up against the wall.

  Smile erased, her stubborn mate shook his head. "No."

  But Kaia had spent the time in the infirmary well. She cupped his face. "Listen." Scowling at him when he glared instead, she said, "The root of my fear has always been this terror of losing the people I love on land."

  Arms braced on either side of her, he continued to glare at her. "A trauma that deep doesn't just disappear, Kaia."

  "I asked the healer. She said it happens rarely, but shock can work both ways." Pressing her hand over his mouth, she said, "Don't you see, Bo? I was so afraid of losing you on land, but I was taken in the blue."

  Her words hung in the air, a potent ripple.

  "I was taken in the blue," she repeated. "Far, far from land. If the kidnappers had killed me, you would've lost me in the blue. Nowhere near land." That truth had struck her deep in the heart while she sat in a locked room trying to regain her bearings so she could take apart the frame of a bunk. "I lost my parents on land, but land didn't kill them. A disease and a bunch of selfish people did. Those exist everywhere."

  Kissing her palm, he tugged away her hand. "It's easy to be logical, baby, but God,
it fucking tears you up to be on land." His voice turned to crushed stone. "I can't bear to see you in pain."

  "Bo." She kissed him, sweet and deep and with all of her. "Let me try. If it doesn't work, if it hurts, I'll be honest about it with you and we'll do this the slow way." It was possible she was simply euphoric in the aftermath of holding her own against armed aggressors who wanted to harm her . . . but Kaia didn't think so.

  She felt different inside in a fundamental way.

  "Venice is surrounded by water." She ran her fingers through his hair. "The Adriatic isn't far for my other form." She could swim powerfully as a human, too, but her dolphin form was a sleek knife in the ocean. "Let me try."

  "No, it causes you too much pain." Intractable resistance. "We'll find another way."

  But Kaia held his heart in her hands and she was determined.

  Which was how, two weeks later, Bo found himself moving into a home big enough for two--and that had a kitchen that passed Kaia's stringent standards. The one thing on which he hadn't budged was that the home have as many water views as possible. The Venetian lagoon lay on their doorstep, while the Adriatic was close enough that--from the top of the house--they could see the masts of large yachts heading out of Venice and toward the sea.

  The house was also connected to a biosphere below the surface, an entire lower floor surrounded by transparent walls that reminded Kaia of Ryujin. That was to be their lounge, a welcoming space for both humans and water changelings.

  Her aunts, uncles, friends, cousins--Malachai included--and Miane turned up to move them in. Miane's elderly grandmother, an unexpectedly sweet and gentle woman who obviously adored her dangerous granddaughter and who made her home in Venice, sat in an armchair and supervised.

  Dr. Kahananui and Dex had been disappointed to miss out on the impromptu gathering but had eagerly accepted an invitation to visit once the baby was a little older. Lily and Lily's doctor beau were also in the thick of things, along with Cassius and the other knights.

  Bowen's best friend wasn't too good around strangers, but it was clear he liked grumpy Taji. Together, the two of them muttered about how baseball was going to shit these days and how they couldn't stand morning people. Teizo and Tevesi quipped about calling him Tassius now that he was an honorary triplet.