Page 90 of Panther in the Shadows

Tomorrow, I'll take her to the trenches. Show her enough truth to satisfy her research. Enough to help stop the development. But not enough to expose what really lies beneath Stormhaven's waters.

I'll protect the sacred places. Keep the old secrets buried. Send her back to the mainland with her data and her conclusions and never see her again.

That's the plan.

But as I watch her disappear down the shore road, her hair whipping in the wind, pressure builds in my chest.

The ocean is calling to her. The pull is undeniable. The way the water responded to her presence. The way the current shifted when she stood on my dock. Like the sea recognizes her blood.

Like she belongs here.

The realization settles heavy in my gut. If the ocean is calling to her, then she's not just a scientist poking around where she doesn't belong. She's connected to these waters in ways she doesn't understand yet. In ways that make her dangerous to everything I've sworn to protect.

Or the key to saving it.

I turn back to the catch. Work to be done. Nets to mend. A scientist to deal with at dawn.

And secrets to keep buried.

The ocean doesn't give up its dead easily. Tomorrow, I'll make sure it keeps its living secrets too.

Even if one of those secrets is standing right in front of me, asking questions she's not ready to hear the answers to.