The ship hung in the sunlit waters above. Carol was there, the glint of the mate bond barely visible. Not that he needed it to know where she was now. He’d opened his senses fully to the ocean’s song. The salt knew where she was; it brought the taste of her to his lips and his soul.
He gazed up through the kraken’s eyes. Its tentacles twitched. It knew how to deal with ships.
But not ships that held his mate like the most precious pearl nestled in an oyster’s delicate flesh.
He reached for the monstrous mind that was all around him, a gnat tapping on a giant’s arm.My turn,he told it.
And it listened.
Moss surged onto the back of the boat and shifted back into human form at the same time, landing on one knee on the deck.
The sea spray told him that Carol was at the bow end of the ship, and that was where he went. Several guards tried to stop him, but his supernatural form was still close enough to the surface that he barely needed to glare to get them to back off. The kraken’s aura hung around him, thick and slippery with menace.
It would keep them stunned for a few minutes. None of them would be able to come near him like this, but once the initial fear wore off, someone would remember that they didn’t need to get near him to use a gun.
Then he saw her, and his senses sharpened to a knife-point.
She was standing on the edge of the deck, a lonely, perfect star, her hair a black flag, her body shaking but her soul undefeated.
There was nothing between her and the drop to the ocean below. To a marine shifter, that was hardly dangerous; more like a good escape route. But an alarm still sounded in his mind.
The deck was crowded. Fear gathered around the shifters there even before they became aware of him. Whatever was happening, they didn’t want to be watching it.
Moss narrowed his eyes, focusing on his mate.
Her eyes snapped to his.
*Carol. Are you hurt? What did they do to you?*
*Nothing. How did you find me? I—*Her voice sputtered out, and in its place, unguarded emotion washed over him. Surprise and happiness and a love so painful it made his own heart ache.
*I’ll always find you,* he told her.
There were shifters either side of her, and another standing in front of her, his back to Moss. This far away, he couldn’t tell what their shifted forms were, but that didn’t matter. There were few creatures that stood any chance against him.
These ones would have no chance. And as he stalked closer, their fate was sealed.
His connection to the ocean hadn’t told him she was bound. The collar around her neck resisted the salt; it was thick and heavy and made of some sort of non-corrosive material. It pressed against Carol’s delicate collarbones, and as he stalked closer, rage building inside him, he saw red marks where it had rubbed against her skin.
Anger surged through his aura. Every shifter in the crowd except for Carol seized with sudden terror.
“What—” The man in front of Carol spun around, revealing a pinched white face and a hint of something rawboned and feline behind his eyes. His inner animal, clawing to be let out. But only for a second. The man mastered his lion and his fear, his expression changing to become…
…Reverent?
The fuck?
“It’s you,” the man breathed. “Here, at last. The dawn of a new era is before us, and I am the first to bathe in its light.”
The fuck?Moss thought again. He strode forward. All around him, people cringed away, but not the man gazing at him like the sun and moon had hopped down from the sky.
*He thinks you’re the Soul-Eater.*Carol’s voice soothed his confusion. And raised new questions.
*He thinks I’m WHAT?*
Carol’s smile was so fleeting he almost missed it, a sudden, brilliant flash of teeth. She pulled her lips closed quickly, but amusement still lingered in the corners of her gorgeous eyes. *He mixed up the stories about the kraken and the Soul-Eater, I think. Thank god you turned up,*she added.*I’m going to need your help in a moment.*
She didn’t need his help now?
