But before he had the chance, the snake was suddenly knocked sideways, its jaw wrenched from Rhys’s hand with the force of whatever had just hit in. The snake careened backward, splashing down into the water, and all at once, Rhys felt the tight constriction it had had around his body slacken.
What the –he started to think – before he looked up, and saw Maisie brandishing the empty champagne bottle like a baseball bat.
Maisie. Maisie was what hit the snake.
Her face was set in a grimly determined mask, but Rhys could still sense how frightened she was. Still, she gave him a small, tight smile as their eyes met.
“You looked like you could use a little help,” she said, as she reached out a hand to him.
“You weren’t wrong,” Rhys said, as, taking her hand, he hauled himself up out of the water. The python was sinking down fast, clearly out cold – kneeling, Rhys, grunting with effort, got his hands around the largest section of its body and hauled it onto the deck.
“What – whatisthat?” Maisie asked, her voice shaking. “I mean… I’m guessing that’s not a regular snake. A shifter?”
“Yeah,” Rhys said grimly, as he stared down at its limp form. After a moment, the transformation he’d been waiting for began – with a shimmer, the snake began to change. Now that it was unconscious, it was reverting to its human form.
“But that – that’s –” Maisie cried, as she stared down at the now soaking wet human lying on the deck at their feet.
“Bee, the personal butler,” Rhys said, shaking his head. “I cannotbelievethe butler did it.”
“Oh my God, that issucha cliché,” Maisie said, letting out a shaky laugh. “But I guess… this means she wasn’t really the butler?”
“My guess is no,” Rhys said, shaking his head. “She’s probably a plant – sent here to scope us out and attack when the time was right. Maybe she came to do the job last night, and trashed the room looking for us when we weren’t here. Or just to provide a distraction and lure us in.”
“But… butwhy?” Maisie asked, blinking. “And how do they even know we’re here?”
“That’s what I’d like to know,” Rhys said, taking her hand. “According to Michael, someone’s tracking my movements and reporting them. But I don’t know how, why, or to who.”
“Are we safe now?” Maisie asked, her voice still trembling as Rhys led her across the room to the door.
“I hate to say it, but probably not.” Rhys opened the door, peering out. The coast seemed to be clear, but he couldn’t possibly know for sure. “There’s a chance that Bee the Butler was from Hargreaves. And where there’s one Hargreaves agent, there’s usually more.”
“Um.” Maisie whispered, as, cautiously, Rhys led her from the room. “Hargreaves the… computer software company?”
“That’s only one of the things they do,” Rhys explained, as they hurried along the portico. “They have their fingers in just about every pie you can think of, from computer software tomining operations to weapons development. But they’re also mercenaries, a private army for hire – and that’s where most of their money comes from. But the important thing is, they’re run by shifters. And there’s no limit to what they’ll do in pursuit of money and power.”
“Wow. Okay. I thought they just made anti-virus software,” Maisie murmured. “Remind me not to buy their stuff.”
Rhys let out a low laugh. “Okay. I think I can do that. It’s on my to-do list.”
He paused at the edge of the main resort building, scanning the area. The resort itself spanned a massive amount of land – there was the tall, white building they’d just left that housed the luxury rooms, and hugged the edge of the massive pool that stood on a terraced piece of land before the beach itself. Across from that was a huge walkable area of pale sandstone, on the left leading to the marina, and on the right leading to the main shopping, restaurant and entertainment area of the resort, where Rhys and Maisie had bought their new clothes the day before.
I can’t sense anything,Rhys thought, as he used his griffin’s senses to scout the area. But there didn’t seem to be any danger – all he could see was the staff of the island opening up for the day, unlocking the wide glass doors of the fancy designer shops and putting out signs for the restaurants and activities that would be starting up later in the morning.
But then again…
The memory of yesterday came back to him suddenly – he hadn’t been able to sense that Bee the Butler was a shifter at all when she’d first come to their room to introduce herself, which Rhys now realized was just her scouting them out to make sure she’d gotten the right room before her attack.
Lucky we decided to take off on our private trip,Rhys thought, grimacing. He was troubled, however, that he hadn’tknownBee was a shifter until he’d seen her shift – but then, he’d known that was something that was possible.
There were serums that could temporarily suppress a shifter’s animal form if they needed to go undetected by other shifters for a while – his teammate Trent had told him about them, since he and his mate Zina had only escaped from a tricky situation last year by taking the serum and making themselves able to pass as normal humans while some Hargreaves agents had been tracking them.
That must be what Bee was using, while she was doing her recon.
Rhys frowned. That was going to make his lifea lotmore difficult. He couldn’t sense any shifters around them right now, but that, apparently, meant nothing.
At least if they’re undetectable as shifters, that means they won’t have access to their shifter forms right now,he thought – though it was cold comfort. But he’d just have to do what he could.
“Come on,” he said, turning to Maisie. “Let’s head into the shopping area.”
