Page 14 of Hammerhead (Kinkaid Shifters #4)

S am didn’t dance around the topic of Miguel’s relationship with Deidre, which Miguel could respect. But Miguel also really didn’t want to talk about this in front of others. Of course, Jose was his brother, so it wasn’t like Sam had brought up the topic in front of everyone, but still…

“What is between Deidre and I is private. If, in due course, something permanent comes of it, you will know, Alpha. In the meantime, I can reassure you that my intentions are honorable, and if she asks it of me, I will swear myself to the Light forevermore.”

Jose sucked in a breath. Those weren’t words sharks ever spoke lightly. Mostly, they liked to remain undeclared in the ongoing war between good and evil. At least, the hammerheads did.

“I see,” Sam said quietly, holding Miguel’s gaze. It was a mark of Miguel’s own Alpha tendencies that he didn’t look away. The lion might be king of the jungle, but the sharks were lords of the seas. “That’s good to know, Miguel. I will hope for the best for both of you, and I also hope you’ll understand that my interest is purely in seeing that my cousin isn’t hurt by the association. I have her best interests at heart, as I do for all my people.”

Miguel nodded. “I see that, Alpha. Your attention to your Clan does you credit, and I admit, I’ve been impressed by both your people and your own actions since coming here.” Miguel figured he might as well give the lion a little bit of the respect he’d already earned since Miguel might end up living under his rule if Deidre accepted their mating. “I have no intention of causing harm to Deidre, or any of her Clanmates. I’ve already talked to Jose about this, and if the Goddess so wills it, then Deidre and I may have news for you in due course. More than that, I cannot say.”

Sam was silent a moment, regarding him steadily. Finally, he nodded again.

“Well, all right, then.” Sam got up from the chair and offered his hand to Miguel, shaking his with a powerful grip that was calibrated to welcome, not to warn. Interesting. Sam then turned to Jose. “What do you think of all this?”

“I support my brother. If his path to happiness is with your cousin, then me and the guys will do all we can to help, including swearing ourselves to the Light.”

Miguel was a little taken aback by Jose’s words.

“They all decided?” Miguel asked before Sam could say more.

“Last night, we held a little informal meeting.” Jose shrugged as if it wasn’t important. “You’re our leader, Miguel. If you’ve found what we’ve all been looking for, then we will support you and continue under your leadership. You haven’t steered us wrong yet.”

“The contract with Kettering was a huge mistake,” Miguel admitted, shaking his head.

“Maybe. But maybe it was meant to happen, to bring us here,” Jose said, surprising his older brother. “They do say the Lady works in mysterious ways.”

Miguel looked from Jose to Sam. The Alpha’s expression was considering, not scoffing as Miguel had expected.

“I don’t know what to say, bro.” Miguel sent his brother a look he hoped would convey how much his support meant to him.

Jose waved one hand dismissively, though Miguel knew his little brother well enough to see that he was as touched by the moment as Miguel was. “It’s not as if we haven’t all been enjoying our time on the straight and narrow. And even if we’re sharks, we’re not like the great white assholes. We’ve remained neutral in words, but in our hearts, you know we’ve never really walked too close to the dark side. We may have pretended we would, but our little pod doesn’t roll that way. Your leadership didn’t attract those kinds of guys, you know, bro? So, if you’ve found a way to settle down with a mate and find some happiness, we all decided we were more than willing to give it a go. Declare ourselves to the Light and all that entails. Come out of the shadows finally, and hopefully, find mates of our own at some point.”

“Ambitious plans,” Sam said softly into the stunned silence that held Miguel captive for a moment. “But do-able.” He leaned against one of the consoles. “Like I said before, you all have a good report from Tom, and he’s an excellent judge of character. He leads the water-based part of the Clan, in fact, though he does it quietly. I know you swimmers are a bit different about your hierarchies than we land-shifters are.” Sam straightened and held out his hand to Jose. “Thank you for clarifying things. This will make it easier if their relationship does turn into something permanent. I was hesitant about you guys before, but if you’re willing to swear to the Light in a ceremony in front of a priestess, then I would welcome you into the Kinkaid Clan, if that is your wish.”

Holy shit. That was a huge concession, and all three of them knew it.

“We are honored by the offer, Alpha,” Miguel said respectfully as Jose nodded his agreement with Miguel’s words. “I pray to the Mother of All that we are able to take you up on that generous offer. And if we join Kinkaid, we will be loyal and true. Hammerheads don’t change allegiances easily. If we give you ours, you will have it for life.”

Sam left after another round of handshakes, leaving Miguel and his brother alone on the bridge. The events of the past minutes were so momentous that Miguel couldn’t really speak of them for a long moment. Silence reigned in the wheelhouse as the brothers thought through all that had just been said. Finally, Miguel addressed his little brother.

“I love you, bro. Thank you for standing with me.”

“Anytime, bro.”

A few minutes later, others came onto the bridge, and the moment of privacy was lost. Just as well. The Alpha lion had given Miguel a lot to think about.

Now, more than ever, he had to find a way to talk to Kinkaid about Kettering and the threat to the oil rig. It was just a matter of finding the right time and the right way to do it.

*

Deidre was tired after all the excitement of the explosion. She took a breather from her almost non-stop duties caring for those who’d been badly injured and went up on deck to just breathe some fresh air.

The boat rocked beneath her feet, the warm Gulf waters stretching all around her and the boat. The water was oddly flat despite the usual shifting currents. The air still carried the faint acrid scent of smoke from the explosion, but even as she breathed, it dissipated into something else. Something ancient. Something calling to her.

She inhaled slowly, listening with her inner spirit, not just her ears. This call was something different. Something magical.

There were no voices. No obvious movement. Just the rhythmic pulse of the waves, steady and insistent, like a heartbeat beneath the surface of the water. Her selkie instincts flared.

There. On the horizon. The island shimmered into existence.

It wasn’t supposed to be there. A moment ago, there had been nothing but water in that direction. But now, the island loomed in the distance, rising from the mist like a memory that refused to be forgotten.

Her pulse quickened. The logical part of her knew she should stay on the boat. Miguel and the others were busy, still dealing with the explosion and its aftermath. She should wait. She shouldn’t do anything reckless. And yet…

She took a step forward. Then another. The salty wind whispered across her skin. The island was calling her. Not with words, but with something deeper. Something woven of the sea itself, in her blood.

It felt like destiny, though she couldn’t explain why. Deidre’s hands trembled as she stripped off her shirt, then her shorts. The deck was cool beneath her feet as she walked to the edge, the water shimmering below.

She should turn back. She should wait. She should find Miguel and tell him what she was going to do, but the pull was too strong. The island wanted her.

Shedding her clothing and just dropping it to the deck, she dove into the warm waters of the Gulf. They closed around her like an embrace, warm and welcoming. Her selkie surged forward, magic prickling along her skin as she shifted. She kicked hard, her seal form sleek and fast, cutting through the waves.

Within moments, the boat faded behind her as the island rose ahead. And then, just as she neared the shore, a sudden force gripped her. It wasn’t a physical force, but something very different. Very magical.

She gasped, shifting back to human form, treading water as she tried to figure it out. The island loomed before her, real and unreal all at once. The sand was silver in the hazy light, the cliffs jagged and dark. She could see dense jungle just a few feet up from the beach and the strangest trees and foliage she’d ever seen. It didn’t look like anything of this earth. It looked…different. Very, very different. And intriguing.

Mist curled at the edges of the shore, moving like breath. She hesitated. For the first time, fear crept in. What had she done?

The current swirled around her, no longer gentle, sweeping her toward the beach. A whisper brushed against her ear—not from the wind, not from the sea, but from something on the island.

Come , it said, though not in so many words. It was more a feeling. A directive that she must obey.

Deidre shivered. Then, slowly, she swam to shore. And the moment her feet touched the sand, the world shifted. The stars above flickered. The air thickened, humming with power. She was somewhere else now. Somewhere truly magical.

Somewhere she might never be able to leave. But after a moment, such mundane thoughts drifted from her mind, and she started forward to explore the strange, dense foliage and the fruiting tree that looked just too inviting to ignore.

*

Later that day, when only one or two injured remained on the boat and the regular bridge crew came back on duty, Miguel went looking for Deidre. He asked around, only to find that Deidre had gone swimming a while back and hadn’t been sighted since. Trying to quell his worry that rose from a desire to see the woman who was, in all likelihood, his mate, Miguel got into the water and started hunting. He would find her. Then he would end his own misery and ask if she could possibly accept him as her mate. That plan firmly in mind, he set out, using his little touch of magic to try locate her trail.

As luck would have it, he did get an intuition about which direction to swim. A short while later, he surfaced, shifting to his human form to take a look around. A tingling went down his spine as he spotted the mysterious island, floating in the near distance. Was it closer than it had been before?

He had the sinking feeling that Deidre had seen it and decided to swim closer and check the place out. Shifting back into his faster-swimming shark form, he went below and made a beeline for the apparition.

When he saw sand under his fins, he shifted to his human form and walked out of the water and onto the land. It was solid beneath him. The island was real, after all.

“Deidre!” he called out, hoping she was there and could hear him. The beach wasn’t all that large and led to a densely forested landscape of tropical greenery. “Deidre!”

He ran up the beach toward where he saw movement in the greenery. A moment later, Deidre appeared through a tangle of leaves. She was smiling, and he felt such relief that he ran straight to her and pulled her into his arms.

They were both naked, having come here in their alternate forms and leaving their clothing on the boat. They were like Adam and Eve in paradise, though this island might yet be the serpent’s lair rather than the Garden of Eden. He had to figure out which it was as fast as he could so he could plan the right strategy. Above all, he had to keep Deidre safe.

“Oh, I like this kind of greeting,” she purred near his ear, moving in to kiss him. When they broke apart long moments later, she grinned up at him. “So, you found me.” Her eyes sparkled with mischief but all he felt was the relief still rushing through him.

“I confess, I was worried. Why didn’t you tell anyone where you were going?” He loosened his hold a bit, and she shrugged.

“I didn’t really know if I’d make it here when I dove into the water. I just wanted to get some air and work out the knots in my shoulders from all that worry, now that everyone is on the mend. I saw the island appear, and it called to me. I couldn’t resist.” She stepped away from him and twirled around, her arms held out wide. “Isn’t it beautiful here?”

He thought she was beautiful, but he supposed she had a point. He looked around at the pristine beach and the tropical foliage. He didn’t really recognize any of the plants, but they were all lush and colorful.

“It’s different,” he allowed, reaching out to touch one of the vibrant green leaves that looked almost like a palm, but not exactly. “I wonder if this island is from another realm or something. This all looks almost familiar, but not quite.”

“I know what you mean,” Deidre replied dreamily. “It’s like the tales I’ve heard of faerie.”

“The fey realm?” Miguel asked, concerned. “Is it possible we could have crossed over to it or the island crossed to our realm from there?”

“I’ve no idea,” Deidre said, “but it’s glorious, isn’t it?”

She twirled around again, and he worried for a moment that she had been intoxicated by something on the island. He didn’t know what she had gotten up to before he’d arrived.

“Did you eat or drink anything before I got here?” he asked, his tone a bit sharper than he’d intended. She looked over at him, tilting her head in question.

“I tried a bite of one of those apples,” she said, nodding at a tree to his left. The fruit hanging so invitingly from the branches looked a bit like apples, but not quite. “It was delicious.”

Shit .

There were all kinds of folktales about people who ate or drank things in faerie and were unable to ever leave. Resolve ran down his spine. He wouldn’t allow that to happen to Deidre.

“Much as I’d like to explore this island, I don’t think it’s completely safe,” he told her gently.

“Not safe? Why would you think that?” she asked, her eyes wide and a little glassy as if she were under the influence of something. Then he felt the tingle of magic and looked up toward the pseudo-apple tree.

“You are wise beyond your years, young man.” The voice was musical. The being it belonged to was pure magic. A fey. He was looking at a very old fey with white hair and actual wrinkles on her face.

Fey were the next best thing to immortal, and they didn’t age the way humans, or even shifters, did. For one of them to have wrinkles and the appearance of age, they were likely truly ancient.

The ethereal woman stepped delicately out of the greenery and onto the beach, moving closer to Deidre and Miguel as gracefully as any prima ballerina. She wore a flowing garment heavy with intricate embroidery, yet still seeming to float around her in a magical breeze localized only to her. Miguel thought he recognized some arcane symbols in the embroidered design but wasn’t quite sure. They seemed to phase in and out of his vision even as he studied them.

The woman looked at him carefully, like she was evaluating him for some purpose known only to herself. Her head tilted to one side, and then she shook her head, just once, from side to side.

“No. You’re not the one. Close. But not the one.”

“The one for what?” Miguel asked, his curiosity piqued.

“The one I’ve been waiting for,” she replied, as if it was the most normal thing in the world. “You didn’t think I went through all the trouble of opening a rift just for the fun of it, did you?”

“So, this island is part of the fey realm?” he asked.

The old fey’s expression became cagey. “In a manner of speaking.”

“Will Deidre have any lasting effects from having eaten your fruit?” Miguel asked, looking from the fey woman to Deidre’s glassy eyes and back. Deidre had sort of zoned out, and Miguel was concerned.

“Mild euphoria only,” the old woman said dismissively. “The trees help guard my peace here until the right one comes along. She didn’t eat enough to get the full paralytic effect. She should be good as new in a few hours once you get her back to wherever you came from.”

“Then we’re free to go?” He had to make sure.

“Absolutely,” the fey woman nodded, making a gesture with her arms. “I came here to talk to a very specific young man. A shifter with a touch of magic about him. I’ve seen him in visions, and he looks very much like you. Do you have a brother, perhaps? Or a son?”

“A brother,” Miguel admitted, not sure why he couldn’t seem to lie to the old woman. Perhaps she’d put some kind of spell on him. “A younger brother that I care for very much,” he added, trying to look stern.

“Fear not for his safety. I do not mean to kidnap him or anything like that,” the old woman replied. “However, I do need to speak with him. I can’t keep opening the rift indefinitely. Eventually, my magic will give out. I must speak with him before that happens.”

“I can deliver your message,” Miguel offered, unwilling to send his brother into possible danger.

The old woman shook her head sadly. “I fear you cannot,” she said softly in her musical way. “It is a great secret that only he should hear. The fate of both our realms depends on it. He needs to know what I know for the upcoming battle, or else evil might just win this time.”