The staff were housed on the lower decks. No floor-to-ceiling windows here; no windows at all, only the ever-present ocean pressing on the other side of the hull. His dragontwitched. He was in human form, but he still wanted to pull his wings in to keep the freezing waves from catching them.
Even on Harper’s island, the staff accommodations had windows. Barred windows, but at least they let the light in.
Thandie was on him the moment he knocked on the door. She took him through to the staff galley. The air stank of fear and uncertainty; dozens of shifters, stifled beneath the huge mass of the ship, knowing they were trapped.
“You know what’s happening,” she accused him.
More than anyone else on this ship.“I know what your employers are planning.”
“Care to share with the class?”
He looked around the room. The expressions on the people who met his gaze were too familiar. He’d seen them too many times on too many shifters’ faces, on Harper’s island.
The expressions on the people who didn’t meet his gaze were too familiar, too. Too frightened to even look up.
“I think if you have a plan to leave, you’d best—”
“Leave? You want us to end up like that sea lion bloke?” The speaker was a brown-skinned man in his early twenties, with a hint of wildness at the corners of his eyes. He blinked rapidly, and Julian glimpsed his animal peering out—something graceful and deer-like, unable to find a direction to run.
“Sea lion?” Julian asked blandly.
“He tried to jump ship the second night. Went about as well for him as it did for—” Thandie broke off, wrapping her arms around herself. *As for Panshaw. The boar shifter. Remember him?*
He did.
“Who is this guy, anyway?” someone asked, jerking his chin at Julian.
Julian introduced himself.
“I told you we used to work together. He’s here with one of the guests. Francine Delacourt,” Thandie said.
“Oh, great, the other lioness.”
“So you’re Eloise Fairchild’s BFF’s toy boy. And?”
“And what?”
“What are you doing downhere?”
Julian seated himself at the table. “I’m beginning to wonder that myself.”
“Stop it. Both of you.” Thandie’s hummingbird was close to the surface again, a shimmer at her shoulders. “What are they planning?” *And has anyone recognized you yet?*
*Not that I am aware.*
*Oh, well, that’s great. So long as you’re AWARE.*
The others were waiting for an answer.
They all were.
He’d planned on lying to Francine. But how much could he hide from these people? None of this was their fault. They’d wanted jobs, companionship among their own kind, and now they might die for it.
They needed someone on their side, the same way Francine did. The same way he had, when he strolled into Harper’s trap.
His plan needed to change.
He cleared his throat. “In a few days, the ship will make anchor near land. The VIPs and, I am guessing, most of their security teams will disembark. They will be gone for some time.”
