Chapter One
Eliza arrived at the docks to see a woman standing by several bags, obviously waiting for someone. She paused before approaching, taking in her body language, reading her mood from a distance: agitated. And… maybe nervous?
“A fine day to misplace my glasses,” the woman snarled at herself, futilely patting her pockets and her satchel again.
“You mean the sunnies on your head?”
The woman jumped and her sunglasses clattered to the surface of the dock.
“These them?” Eliza asked, kneeling to pick them up.
“Thanks,” she said sheepishly, taking them from her. “My mother said I’d misplace my brain if it weren’t attached to me.”
“No problem,” Eliza said with a smile. “At least it wasn’t a snake. Woulda bit ya.” She held out her hand. “I’m Eliza Boyer.”
“Tara Turnbull.”
As Tara took her hand, Eliza felt a shock arc through her.
Tara finally looked up to meet Eliza’s gaze, and then they were locked into something strange and beautiful—a moment without time.
The sensation sizzled and snapped up Eliza’s spine from her hand where it rested against Tara’s, and Tara shivered, like she felt it too.
Time slammed into them again as the sun shifted and shined in both their eyes at once, causing them to jump apart like they’d been burned. And maybe Eliza had, for heat was certainly curling in places she had put on a strict abstinence plan.
But that sensation… It lingered in her flesh, crowded her mind, made her heart race.
Eliza looked away, out over the bay, swallowing hard to clear the lump from her throat, and she smiled wider to cover up her discomposure. “You’re the scientist I’m taking out to the sharks, yeah?”
“That’s me.” Tara shrugged, then stood up straighter, like she was trying to reassert herself in space.
“Right, then, let’s get going.”
Eliza watched the other woman haul her pack onto her shoulder, hoisting the other gear bag in her hands before Eliza could even reach for it. Tara had the body of a swimmer, so it surprised Eliza to see she was so strong.
Don’t get any ideas, Eliza told herself firmly. She’s only here for a few weeks. No more getting involved with tourists, even smart ones. She had been burned too many times before, hurt when promises made under the magical stars were broken in the harsh light of day. We’re not at home to flings.
But she continued to watch Tara from the corner of her eye as she set the boat on their path to the north east and the estuary where Eliza knew they would find the most bull sharks. There was a grace, a fluidity to Tara’s motions, even when she was clearly nervous—literally a fish out of water.
Well… maybe not as literally as for Eliza. Tara smelled human, under the pineapple of her sunscreen. Eliza… was not.
Another reason not to get involved, ‘Liza, she chided herself again.
But there was just… something about her that meant Eliza couldn’t stop looking.
Her fingers itched to reach out and feel that arcing sensation again.
Tara’s deep skin glowed in the sun, a rich warmness Eliza found herself admiring.
Her dark braids were pulled back and wound into a bun that showed the graceful curve of her neck…
Eliza tucked her own blonde hair out of the way under her ballcap and focused her eyes on the water ahead of her. Nope. Not going there.
When they arrived at the coordinates, the water was a little murky.
Eliza dropped anchor just outside of where she knew the sharks passed on their way to and from the bay.
Being a shark shifter herself, she knew how annoying it was to have an anchor plopped down in the middle of her home region, so she tried to keep it civil with the locals by not doing that.
“So, in my experience they come through right about now,” Eliza said, knowing her information was true.
She had a good bead on the local shark population after growing up in the region.
She certainly had a better grasp of the behaviors than this new scientist would after her study was over in a month.
There was no substitute for experience and time.
“Really? I’m honestly surprised by that.” Tara paused in the process of pulling on her dive gear. “I would have thought they’d be more active at dusk.”
“Well, that’s not how they do it around here.
” Eliza could hear how defensive she sounded.
But she knew her own people, dammit. She knew when rush hour hit and when the schools got out, when the young shifters would swim to the relatively safe bay to stretch their fins.
“Isn’t that what you’re here to study?” Eliza tried to cover her own harshness with the question.
“Yes, exactly. So that’s the first new thing in my notes.” Tara smiled and mimed writing something on a notepad. She pulled her snorkel mask on and stepped to the rear of the boat and the dive platform.
“Now, one thing I gotta say before you dive right in.” Har har.
“It’s down in the contract I signed that you are not going to swim in these waters without me present.
I will hold you to that, as my job is on the line here.
So please don’t.” More than her job—the secret of shark shifters was on the line.
No way could outside scientists get wind of that.
“Okay. Not a problem. Couldn’t get here without your boat anyway.” Tara prepared to jump into the sea, but Eliza stopped her again.
“I have to be in the water with you at all times. That also means I’m going first.”
“Oh. Right. Okay.” Tara turned away from the water and looked at Eliza’s street clothes. “I’ll wait for you to change.”
“No need.” Eliza pulled up her T-shirt, revealing a toned stomach, then pulled it all the way over her head. She didn’t miss the way Tara’s eyes tracked the motion, fixing on Eliza’s tye-dye patterned bikini top.
Something primal peered up from Eliza’s depths at that. Like that, is it? Maybe she could break her fling rule just this once… Maybe.
Eliza shucked her shorts and sauntered to the dive platform, still feeling Tara’s eyes on her body.
It made her skin shiver and she felt the roughness of her shark threatening to burst through her skin and give away the secret she and the others like her had to keep.
Before she could do anything she would regret, she bent her knees and dove off the platform into the salt sea.
That was of course the absolutely wrong thing to do for a normal diver on a normal dive boat.
Always check the water first, they taught in training courses.
But Eliza wasn’t a normal diver. She was a shark shifter, and her electrosense told her exactly where every fish was in relation to the boat, and she knew no sharks had arrived yet. Aside from herself.
She let the water soothe her shark, but didn’t allow the shift.
Her gills remained sealed, her skin stayed the soft pliant flesh of a land-bound human.
It was almost painful, after a day of being Above, but she forced that feeling down.
She kicked hard once and her head broke the surface.
She shook the water from her face and grinned at Tara, still on the platform.
“Come on, the water’s fine!” she called.
Tara paused briefly, then jumped in. Eliza felt her scent hit the water and was once more overwhelmed by a primal urge surging up inside her to meet that scent…
Instead she fitted her own mask over her face and dove to see that Tara was more graceful Below than she was Above.
Her muscular legs propelled her through the water, her arms moving in lithe sweeps.
Seeing her agile curves in the buoyant water, however, did not help the primal surge any—made it worse, actually.
What has gotten into me? She was never like this. She’d never been so drawn to a complete stranger before—not on a primal level, anyway.
Unless… Could it be… No, there’s no way it was a mating bond sensation… Was it?
If it was… Could this woman be the end of Eliza’s loneliness?
Eliza was distracted from her inner monologue by the first of the juveniles swimming up to them from the murk.
She recognized him—Jason, an eleven-year-old shifter from her home town.
She sent a quick welcoming pulse to the other shark, just a tiny electric brush across his scales in hello, and he sent one back.
His held a question though: who is this new person?
With a quick hand signal, she made sure Tara knew he was there. Good thing too, because he came right up to examine her with one bright tawny eye. Tara knew exactly what to do though and kept herself calm even in the presence of a predator nearly as big as her.
When the juvenile swam towards her, Tara kept her cool.
She couldn’t do anything about her racing heart—which wasn’t racing because she was being approached by one of the most unpredictable sharks known.
No, her heart was pounding in her ears because her local guide was a complete hottie.
And she had no idea what to do about it.
When Eliza had pulled her T-shirt over her head to reveal her smooth stomach and pert breasts, she’d felt her cheeks go hot. In an instant she went from professional colleague to wanting to cup those luscious handfuls and—
Focus, she rebuked herself. You are literally staring at a bull shark. Get it together.
As the shark darted and dodged around her, she turned to keep her eyes on it, trusting Eliza to have her back. Several other sharks were swimming in from the murk now, and her attention had to be completely outward for her own safety—and for her work.
For the next two hours, she was able to put Eliza and the feelings she caused out of her mind.
She lost herself in the rhythm of her breaths and the swish of the fish tails around her as they circled and checked her out as much as she watched them.
Then, as if on a cue Tara couldn’t sense, they all swam back out into the open sea and disappeared.
Back on the boat, she asked about it.
“No, that’s pretty typical for this area,” Eliza confirmed without looking at her. “They stayed around a little longer than usual—probably because you were here. They’re quite curious creatures, sharks.” There was an undertone to Eliza’s words but Tara couldn’t determine what it meant.
“For sure, they are.”
When they got back to the dock near Tara’s little rented shack, Eliza tied the boat and leapt agilely onto the dock with one of Tara’s duffles.
“Thanks for everything today,” Tara said as she clumsily disembarked. She stumbled on the dock, clearly tired from the long hours swimming, and Eliza couldn’t help but find it charming..
“Not a problem,” Eliza said with a smile, leading Tara up the beach to the shack.
Eliza gave her the keys and a tour of the humble space, tossing the duffle down on the bed off the main living area, across from the little kitchenette. She awkwardly returned to the front door, part of her unwilling to leave for a reason she didn’t want to name, and paused.
“Do you, um… Do you want to stay for a drink?” Tara blushed as she blurted the question and it was as charming as anything.
“A drink, eh? And what drink would that be, water?”
“Oh, erm, I—”
“Relax, I’m only teasing.” Eliza winked. “I’ll show you the local shop and we’ll grab something there, shall we?”
“Oh, yeah, great.”
Oh, this girl was too sweet and nervous, and it was stirring things in Eliza she had forbidden. But they made it to the shop and back with beers and a few nutritional essentials. They unloaded in the kitchen and Tara did the honors of cracking the beers open.
“Thanks, love,” Eliza said, accepting hers, and she felt heat rush into her cheeks at the casual endearment.
“Shall we sit outside? Catch the breeze?” Tara suggested, as the shack didn’t have central air conditioning and it was getting uncomfortably warm inside.
They stepped outside to the sandy “patio” included in the shack perimeter. It was little more than a sunshade stretched between sadly sparse trees, but it had a beautiful view of the bay.
Silence stretched between them, but Eliza didn’t mind—she was just grateful for the company. Just quietly being with someone was an underrated joy.
“How long have you been a guide?” Tara asked suddenly.
“Not really all that long,” Eliza said, truthfully.
“I only got promoted to this position this year.” The Essential Oceans Network (EON for short) was trusting her with a lot by giving her the keeping of the shark scientist beside her.
Millenia old secrets were at Eliza’s fingertips, yet she was charged with keeping their space safe for the juvenile shark shifters that traveled through the area.
The study between Tara’s university and EON had taken a long time and a lot of negotiation to set up, through third party entities of course.
The world could barely handle sharks, even with how important they were to ocean ecosystems, there was no way the greater world was ready to handle shark shifters.
“How does one get into the business, anyway?”
Eliza shrugged, tipping her beer for a sip. It was a little warm, but the fizz was refreshing. “I grew up around here. My mom was a kind of park ranger in the area, when I was a kid.”
“That’s cool, a family gig. She must be really proud of you.”
“She’s dead.” Eliza smiled weakly at Tara to soften the cold turn to her voice. Maya Boyer had been killed by a fisherman upriver from their home on the estuary. Nothing but a trophy hunt.
“I’m so sorry.” Tara fidgeted with her beer, a flush darkening her cheeks. She took a swallow that was too big and choked, requiring Eliza to thump her on the back. “That was not how I was hoping this ice breaker topic would go.”
“It’s alright, the ice is melting in this heat anyway.” That same current from before surged through her again at the touch, and Eliza shuddered, holding back the shark within her and fighting what she now recognized as a mating instinct. But she couldn’t get involved.
She finished the beer and handed the empty to Tara.
“I should get going. Thanks for the beer and company.” Company she shouldn’t have let herself enjoy.
Don’t get carried away at work, she reminded herself as she stalked away up the street to her houseboat.
It never ends well. “See you tomorrow.” And I’ll keep it all business, she promised herself.
She didn’t hear Tara whisper after her, “Come back anytime.”