Page 3 of Hammerhead (Kinkaid Shifters #4)

M iguel couldn’t stop looking at the red-haired goddess who had suddenly joined the crew. They were far out at sea, and no other boats were in sight, so she had to be a selkie to have come all this way in her seal form. Tom had introduced her as a cousin, so that cinched it. The Kinkaid Clan was known primarily for two kinds of shifters in the family line. Lions and selkies.

Miguel loved listening to the lilting sounds of her speech. He’d spent a little time in Europe but not much in the British Isles. The few Irish he’d met had been male, and he’d never had such a stark reaction to hearing them talk. As it was, Miguel could listen to her for days and never tire of the way words rolled off her tongue.

And that hair. Red as a sunset over the Caribbean and fiery as the sun itself. He wondered if she had a temper to match and almost couldn’t wait to find out. What he didn’t understand was why he was so intrigued by the woman. He’d met pretty women before. He’d bedded his share of them too. What was it about Deidre that made him want to explore all her hidden facets and get to know everything there was to know about her?

He found himself on deck after dinner, gazing up at the stars as he often did. There wasn’t much else for entertainment out here in the middle of the Gulf. He usually spent a few minutes star gazing each night before seeking his bed. But tonight was different. Tonight, she was on the boat.

And tonight… She came out on deck to stand very near him, also gazing upward. His heart started beating faster in anticipation.

“Beautiful night, isn’t it?” she asked conversationally.

“It is,” he agreed, trying to think of something smooth to say and drawing a blank.

“It’s so warm and lovely here,” she went on, saving him from having to say more. He looked at her, and there was a smile on her face as she gazed upward. “A far cry from my home waters.”

“I once swam around Scotland and Ireland,” he contributed, glad when she looked over at him. Their eyes met and held. “I thought the coast there was lovely, though of course, the weather was cooler. Still, it had a beauty all its own.”

“I would agree with you on that,” she said, smiling again, this time at him. He felt warmed by the radiance of her smile.

“So, you’re going to expand Kinkaid Industries operations to oil platforms near your home?” he asked, making conversation as the moment stretched.

She nodded. “That I am. My family runs a subsidiary of K.I., and we have boats like this that could handle the work. We just need to find capable crew and learn how this kind of operation works. That’s what I’ve been sent here to learn.”

“Then you’ll return home and start a crew of your own?” Miguel didn’t like the sound of that. He didn’t like anything that implied her leaving.

What was wrong with him?

“I suppose so,” she replied, sounding a bit unsure. “I’ll be setting things up. That, I know. But whether or not I actually run a crew of my own will be up to my brothers. They like to run the boats and see me as more of an office manager.”

“That doesn’t seem fair,” Miguel said, though he acknowledged inwardly that he was a bit of a chauvinist himself.

He didn’t like seeing women working in dangerous conditions, but if that’s what she wanted for her life, then who was he to say no? They were strangers. They’d only just met. He had to keep reminding himself of that little fact.

“I hope you’ll feel free to ask me any question you like while you’re here. I have not worked on this crew long, but surprisingly, I do enjoy the job and find I’m good at it.” Even he was surprised by how much he enjoyed keeping the underwater parts of the oil rig in good repair and preventing any problems that might possibly cause trouble for the water that was his second home.

“I might just take you up on that,” she replied, smiling at him again. He felt the impact of that smile down to the soles of his feet. “Since you don’t mind my asking,” she began, seeming a bit shy all of a sudden, “what did you do before you started working here?”

“Your Kinkaid cousins didn’t tell you?” He was surprised by that idea. She shook her head, her pretty red hair wafting a few strands in the breeze.

“My brother and I were soldiers of fortune for a few decades, then we tried to go private and made a big mistake.”

He let that just sit there, to see what she’d say next, but she never got the chance. A bunch of others came on deck, and she scurried away after a brief goodbye. Maybe she didn’t want to be seen talking with a shark.

It rankled. It shouldn’t, but it did. Miguel looked at the stars for a few more minutes, then went below to seek his bed.

But what he found when he entered the compartment where he and his podmates shared quarters was a bit of an ambush. Ibrahim, Jorge, and Marco hadn’t left the boat yet, though they were off-shift tonight. Miguel knew they preferred to spend their nights in the deep in their shark form if they didn’t have to work. The boat was a little too crowded for creatures that were used to having the entire ocean to traverse. But they were waiting tonight, and Miguel sensed they wanted to speak with him. He sighed as he entered the compartment, ready for the onslaught.

“What?” he asked simply, waiting to hear what they would say.

Marco stepped forward, his long dark hair moving around his shoulders as he shook his head. “It’s bad, Miguel.”

“What is?” Miguel asked, stepping more fully into the room and looking from face to face.

“I got a call on the burner phone they slipped to me at the rest stop,” Jorge admitted, his hands resting on his knees, his entire posture looking a bit defeated.

Jorge, along with the rest of them, really didn’t want to be in the thick of battle anymore. They’d all done their time fighting. Now they just wanted to try to find some semblance of a normal life. If they could.

An agent of their former employer, Abdul Kettering, had slipped several of the tiny phones to various members of the pod during a rest stop while they were being transported over land from New York to Texas a few months ago. None of them had ever used the phones to Miguel’s knowledge.

“Who was it and what did they want?” Miguel asked Jorge directly.

“She didn’t give a name, but she claimed to work for Abdul. She offered me a whole lot of money to sabotage the rig,” Jorge admitted.

“The oil rig? The one we’re working on?” Miguel asked to both clarify and buy himself some time.

“The very same,” Jorge said, his tone glum and a bit angry.

“What did you tell her?”

“I told her I’d think about it,” Jorge admitted, looking up at Miguel. “I hope that was the right move.”

Miguel nodded. “For now, I think that’s all we can do. Just string them along until we figure out what to do about this entire situation.”

“Kettering is going to be a problem,” Ibrahim intoned, keeping his voice low, his tone urgent. “He’s not the kind of man to just walk away. He’s going to keep trying us, one at a time, until one of us gives him what he wants.”

“And knowing that helps us prepare to deal with him,” Miguel reminded them. “As long as we stick together, there’s nothing he can really do to us.”

“But if one of us cracks…” Ibrahim looked around at each man gathered in the dark room.

“We won’t,” Miguel said, hoping he was right. “We’ve been through a lot together. We’re family now. We know Kettering is trying to break into that and so we’re forewarned against his attempts. Right?”

Jorge seemed to take heart. “You’re right,” he said finally. “I didn’t crack and I won’t. I threw the phone into the sea.”

Miguel went over and clasped Jorge’s shoulder. “You did the right thing, brother. Don’t give them an answer either way. At least until we can come up with a better plan.”

“Should we warn the lions about the rig?” Marco asked.

Miguel shook his head. “If none of us caves, the rig will be safe. And if we warn them, we’ll have to admit to having the burner phones.” It was really a no-win situation for them. They’d earned a bit of the Kinkaids’ trust over the past months, but that would be shaken if they admitted to having the phones. They couldn’t risk it. “But keep your eyes open,” he added, hoping there wouldn’t be anything to find.

*

Deidre was very disturbed by the encounter and sought refuge in her state room to think things through. What was it about that shark-man that attracted her so thoroughly? And why?

Sure, she hadn’t been with anyone in a long time and she could count on one hand the number of men she’d slept with, but what was it about this man—this shark—that made her want to jump his bones? She could hardly control her reactions to the man when she was in his presence and that just jumbled her brains beyond her own comprehension. Nobody had ever had that kind of effect on her. Why a shark , of all things?

Deidre chewed on her lower lip as she paced the small room that was hers for the duration of her visit. Attraction was one thing, but a man like Miguel…

He had done things. Dangerous things. He’d been a soldier. She’d heard rumors from her kin that he’d kidnapped people. Maybe even worse. Her rational mind told her to walk away, to let the attraction end before it had a chance to really get started. But her selkie side? The reckless, instinct-driven part of her soul?

That part of her thought it recognized something in Miguel, something deeper than just a charming smile and a sculpted body. Beneath the rough exterior was a man trying to change. A man who might just be worth the risk.

She groaned and rolled her eyes at herself. I must be losing my damn mind.

Deidre threw herself onto the bed, rubbing her hands over her face. She’d never been reckless in love. In fact, she’d been cautious to the point of frustration. She had always made safe choices—human men who didn’t know what she was, men who wouldn’t tangle her life up with dangerous politics or old shifter feuds. And yet, here she was, drawn to a shark shifter with a past steeped in blood and mercenary work.

She knew better. She should know better. And yet, her selkie stirred at the thought of him.

That side of her had been restless for years, watching others in her family find mates, settle into their lives. Selkies weren’t solitary creatures. They thrived in partnerships, in family pods. And Miguel…

Her stomach twisted. Miguel was not a safe choice. He was a hammerhead—literally and figuratively. He wasn’t gentle or predictable. He was dangerous in ways she couldn’t even begin to catalog. So why did her soul keep leaning toward him?

She sat up, hugging her knees to her chest. It wasn’t just his looks—though, Mother of All, the man was carved like a statue and moved like he owned the space around him. It wasn’t just his confidence either, that easy charm that could shift into sharp-edged menace in a second.

No, it was something else. Something deeper. It was the way he watched her. The way he paid attention to her words and the way he looked at her. Not just with appreciation, though that was there too. But with hunger. As if he wanted more than just a fleeting moment with her. As if she wasn’t just another woman he might want to warm his bed, but something… more.

Her selkie side liked that. Way too much. And that was the most disturbing part of all.

She had learned to listen to her instincts. They had always steered her well. But this? This felt like diving into open ocean, with no way of knowing if she was about to swim into deep, dark waters that she could never come back from.

Deidre exhaled sharply, standing and resuming her pacing. She had two options. First, she could shut this down right now. Keep her distance. Ignore the heat that flared in her belly every time Miguel so much as glanced at her. The second option was to lean into it. See where the current took her.

The safe choice was clear. The smart choice was clear. So why did it feel like she was already drifting toward him, no matter how hard she tried to swim the other way?