Suddenly Koenraad was there. When he kissed her, she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him closer. She wished she had the power to make his troubles go away.
“Sorry I had to change the plan,” he said as he released her. He’d changed into tan linen pants and a lightweight shirt that was unbuttoned enough to reveal the strong column of his throat and a peek of his broad, rock-hard chest.
“It’s not a problem,” she assured him. “Where’s Brady?”
Koenraad indicated the indoor-outdoor tank, but Monroe didn’t see anything.
“You should give him the tranquilizer,” Spencer said. There was a focused look on his face that suggested he was hearing or smelling something that she couldn’t.
“You’re probably right,” Koenraad said, “but he’s eating, and I don’t want to make him sick.”
“Is Brady freaking out?” she asked. When Koenraad had given Monroe a crash course in shark biology, one of the things he’d told her was that sharks would regurgitate the contents of their stomachs when they were stressed.
“He’s not happy,” Koenraad said neutrally.
“Arm,” Spencer said, tapping her shoulder. He held a damp antiseptic wipe. It smelled tart, of alcohol.
Monroe shoved her sweater sleeve up and held out her arm, and Spencer filled two small vials of blood from her vein.
“You’re better than most doctors I’ve been to,” Monroe said when he’d finished.
“He was at the top of his class in med school,” Koenraad said.
“I didn’t know you’re a doctor. Well, that kind of doctor.”
“I never practiced.” He looked down. “You’re healed. We just saved a penny’s worth of bandaging.”
Monroe looked down. “But needles never really make me bleed.”
“There’s no continuing damage on the tissue level,” Koenraad said.
Spencer glanced at his watch. “I’ve got to leave in five minutes,” he said, “but I have a few questions for you, Monroe.”
“I’ll go quickly check on Brady,” Koenraad said.
“Questions?” Monroe asked.
“Is there any history of blood disease in your family?”
“Blood disease?”
“Leukemias, hemophilia, thalassemia, anemia—”
“No.” She’d never heard of thalassemia. “At least not that I know of.”
He asked her a dozen other questions about her medical history before looking at his watch again. “I’ll have to leave it at that for now.”
“Wait.” She glanced in the direction Koenraad had gone. “What’s going on with Brady?”
Spencer motioned for her to follow him out of the room. He waited until the door had closed before answering.
“In short, he’s becoming psychotic. Great white sharks don’t do well in captivity. Long-term survival is a perfect zero percent. If Brady were just a shark and not a shifter, I’d say that Koenraad has a few weeks. But Brady is still a shifter, and I think his awareness of his predicament only exacerbates the effects of the inherently insidious nature of captivity—”
“Say it plainly,” Monroe said.
“He needs to get Brady out of here as soon as possible.”
“And then what?”
Spencer sighed. They’d been talking about weighty matters since the moment Spencer had walked out to the parking lot, but this was the first time he looked troubled.
“What?” she persisted.
“He needs to take Brady away from humans,” he said. “There have been two attacks in the last week.”
Monroe gasped.
“Neither of them fatal, thank goodness. We don’t even know for sure that Brady did it, but Koenraad found him near enough to the location of the second attack only a few hours later, and I don’t have to tell you about Brady’s history.”
So Spencer did know that Brady had bitten her. She was relieved that Koenraad had another shifter to talk to about it. “So Koenraad has to… what? Release him in the wild?”
“He’d need to stay with him to keep him away from coastal areas.”
Monroe felt the blood drain from her face. “What are you saying?” she asked, her voice little more than a whisper.
But Spencer didn’t have an opportunity to answer because the door opened and Koenraad walked through. His hair was wet, and he only wore his pants.
Some unspoken information passed between the shifters, and Monroe didn’t dare ask what it was about. She wasn’t sure she wanted to know.
“Off I go,” Spencer said.
“I think I should leave, too,” Monroe said to Koenraad. Clearly he was in no position to waste time with her. “We can have lunch some other time.”
Koenraad nodded. “Thank you.”
She wanted to wrap him into a comforting hug and never let go, but she could tell his mind was already racing ahead, and his goodbye kiss was distracted.
Spencer walked out with her to the parking lot, and to her surprise, he went right for the pickup and got into the back of the cab.
“What are you doing?” Monroe asked.
“Koenraad brought me here. Originally, one of your new friends was going to drive me to the airfield and then return, but I guess we’ll all go together.”
“You’re flying yourself to Boston?”
“No, just to the mainland. I’ve got a charter from there.”
“Oh.” She swung into the back and dropped onto the seat next to him. She welcomed a few more minutes with him; she was burning with questions.
But she had to be careful how she framed them because of the bodyguards, who were now getting into the front of the pickup.
“What were you saying earlier?” she asked.
Spencer was already nodding. “Koenraad’s parents like to swim around the world. They don’t need to fly or take a boat. If Koenraad wanted to spend time in the open ocean, and if he wanted to take you with him, he could simply take a boat. It would require more planning than just swimming around, of course, but it’s doable.”
She looked at the back of Theo’s head. “And how long do you think he’d want to stay in the ocean?”
“He’s a shark,” Spencer said. “The water is his home.”
If she was understanding correctly, Koenraad would need to stay permanently at sea, not just until Brady was an adult and able to care for himself.
All because of the attacks.
It seemed like a life sentence for Koenraad. And he would do it. He would have to do it because he was responsible for Brady.
And even though the idea of living on a boat in the middle of the ocean frankly terrified her, she was damned sure going with him.
Oh, her mother was going to love that bit of news.
Monroe decided that because she and Koenraad hadn’t discussed it yet, there wasn’t any point to mentioning it when her mother got in. The only goal for her mom’s visit was to convince her that Koenraad would be the perfect son-in-law.
Spencer suddenly swiveled in his seat. Monroe glanced behind her. All she saw was the usual traffic, heavier than she would have expected the morning after such a destructive storm, but she supposed people needed to get out, repair their homes, clear away the fallen trees.
After all, not everyone had a shifter to take care of things.
“I believe Darius and Victoria just drove past us,” Spencer said.
Monroe turned to look harder, but she couldn’t see them. The cars that had recently passed were far away and turning tinier by the second.
“It was,” Theo said. “I saw them.”
Spencer pulled out his phone. Monroe listened as it rang. Frustrated, Spencer hung up and dialed again. And again.
“What’s the problem?” Monroe asked. “They could be going anywhere.”
“But they’re not,” Spencer said. “There’s nothing back that way but the aquarium and some housing that neither of them would be caught dead in.”
He typed out a text, then he pushed the call button again.<
br />
The phone just rang and rang.
Chapter 14
In the back of the large tank, Koenraad treaded water.
Brady was below him. The young shifter swam back and forth, the shark equivalent of compulsive pacing.
Koenraad had triple-checked the dosing of the syringe he now held in his hand. He didn’t want to give oral sedatives when Brady was having such a tough time eating. Hell, he didn’t want to drug his son at all, but when he’d arrived at the aquarium that morning, he’d found Brady bloody and battered from ramming his head into the sides of the aquarium. He’d smelled it the moment he walked into the room.
With Koenraad there, Brady had quieted a bit, but he still had outbursts.
Despite everything Brady had done, Koenraad still loved his son. Brady was a child trapped in a body that betrayed him with murderous urges.
And the boy inside the shark must have felt like he’d been dropped into a prison and abandoned.
If Koenraad were stronger, Brady wouldn’t be there at all.
Koenraad should have ended the shifter’s life the moment he attacked Monroe. If Brady had been anyone but his own son, he could have done it. And he would have.
Shark shifters didn’t necessarily get so attached to their young. On one extreme, there was Victoria, who was cold. She’d seen Brady as a useful tool, something to employ when she wanted to manipulate Koenraad.
Her attitude toward Brady was rare, even among sharks. But not many shifters fought hard for children like Brady. In many ways, the shark mindset reflected a cruel Darwinism, and parents knew to brace themselves for the worst. Better to not get too attached.
Would it be better for Brady if Koenraad put an end to this right now? He wouldn’t even have to rip him apart with his teeth. All he needed to do was up the dosage in the syringe.
Brady would go peacefully.
But Koenraad couldn’t bring himself to do it. If that was a sign of weakness, then he was weak. He couldn’t kill his son. They’d suffered so much to come this far, and Koenraad had to believe the worst was in the past.
He heard his phone vibrating in his pants, which were folded on the concrete platform next to the tank, but he didn’t even consider answering. Monroe was with three strong shifters. She couldn’t have been safer in the middle of the Pentagon.
And Brady was here.
There was no one else in the world Koenraad cared about at the moment.
As he dove toward Brady, he heard the phone vibrating again.
Then the water covered the sound.
Koenraad approached Brady cautiously, worried he would bolt. He surely smelled the tranquilizer, and after the trauma of the night before, he most certainly knew what it was.
But to Koenraad’s surprise, Brady didn’t fight him.
“I’m so sorry,” he said as he injected the contents.
He stayed with his son, stroking him reassuringly, until the boy’s pulse slowed to a calm rhythm.
Then, his arms locked around Brady’s body, just below the fragile gills, he pulled his son toward the surface so that he could talk to him.
There, he made Brady a promise.
“Tomorrow morning, you and I are heading out to the open ocean,” he said. “No more tanks. No more prisons.”
Maybe it was the tranquilizer taking full effect, but Brady seemed to suddenly relax.
“Just the two of us,” Koenraad said. Because he was going to ask Monroe to come with him, but he doubted she’d be interested in that kind of life.
He could tell that Brady was getting tired, and he released the shark, letting him drift groggily to the bottom of the tank so he could position himself in a current.
Koenraad watched for another moment, then he pulled himself out of the water and slicked his wet hair away from his eyes.
There was a towel nearby. It was already soaked from previous use, but it was better than nothing. He considered not bothering to get dressed, but Brady seemed much calmer than Koenraad would have hoped for, and if they were going to leave in twenty-four hours, Koenraad had a lot of things to wrap up.
As he was pulling on his shirt, he remembered the calls. He pulled his phone from his pocket.
They were all from Spencer.
Even though Koenraad knew Monroe was safe, his heart pounded in his throat as he opened the text.
Victoria & Darius heading to aquarium.
He stared at it a moment, but his mind was already spinning. He hadn’t heard anyone enter, but that meant nothing. Huge parts of the building were completely soundproof. Most humans didn’t realize it, but fish made quite a bit of noise, and the penguins, seals, and sea lions weren’t quiet, either.
The shifters who had commissioned this aquarium fifteen years earlier had taken all that into account. As marine biologists, his parents had insisted on making an aquarium the humane way, and they’d taken care to sell it to someone who truly cared about the inhabitants.
His parents’ design had resulted in Tureygua’s aquarium being far larger than others housing similar numbers of animals. Right now, that might work to Koenraad’s advantage; the holding tank was all the way in the rear.
He grabbed the towel and pushed it into a laundry chute on his way down from the platform. He didn’t know why Darius and Victoria would come here looking for him, but he couldn’t let them find Brady.
Koenraad just had to hope they’d been in the ocean recently and that their senses were dulled. Exposure to the sick would make things a lot easier.
There were metal stairs in the rear of the employee area. Koenraad raced up them three at a time, and he pushed into the closed door at the end of the second level.
His eyes scanned the array of black-and-green screens.
There they were.
The good news was that they were near the front of the building, about as far from Koenraad as possible.
They seemed to be inspecting a cylindrical tank of jellyfish.
What the hell were they doing there? There was only the one unlocked door, the side entrance. But they were near the front, where visitors entered.
As he stared at the grainy image, he realized that Darius and Victoria had three buckets. He watched as they emptied them into the tank.
“What the hell?” he murmured.
They stacked the buckets together.
Koenraad turned and ran.
He slowed at the entrance to the long corridor that cut between the network of employee hallways and the main entrance.
Darius and Victoria would be returning this way. If they stepped through the door on their end before he got down there, they’d see him.
The longer he waited, the greater the chance that they’d run into him.
He cracked the door open and listened, but it was impossible to hear anything on the other side because of the whirring of the ventilation machines.
He, at least, had an excuse for being here. He could say he was looking in on behalf of his parents. It was plausible enough.
But as he jogged down the hallway, something told him he didn’t want to get caught.
Now he heard arguing voices on the other side of the far door. He couldn’t make out what they were saying.
There was the sound of plastic banging up against something, and Koenraad was willing to bet that Victoria was carelessly carrying the buckets.
He sensed that the door was going to open moments before it started to swing inward.
There was a little alcove to the side, and he ducked in. There, the sound of the machines was the loudest.
He pressed himself against the large metal column and wedged as much of himself into a corner as would fit.
If they looked, they’d see him, but he wouldn’t appear in their peripheral vision.
He hoped.
“I swear I smell Koenraad,” Victoria said.
He held his breath. They were still at the other end of the hall.
“It’s because he was here,” Darius said. His usual calm, politic
manner had turned rough. “I told you I saw him in the car with his mate.”
“Do you think they suspect?” Victoria asked. She didn’t wait for an answer, and Koenraad had the impression it wasn’t the first time she’d posed the question.
Darius made a noncommittal sound.
“That human is ridiculous. Those bodyguards aren’t going to keep her safe.”
“You’re a stupid child,” Darius said wearily. “You’ll never see the other side of thirty.”
“You said the same thing about twenty, yet here I am.”
They were getting closer, and Koenraad held his breath. The machine was loud enough that they wouldn’t be able to hear him breathing or the beating of his heart, but he planned to leave as little to chance as possible.
“I smell him like he’s still here,” Victoria said. “And I don’t smell that human. If he was giving her a private tour of the aquarium, her scent would be everywhere, wouldn’t it?”
“Shut up.”
Koenraad could just imagine her face, her chin tilted slightly up, her mouth agape as she inhaled and tasted the air. He hated the image because it reminded him of how damned well he knew her.
“Maybe he knows,” she said.
“Did you smell him near the jellyfish?”
“No, but I’m telling you—”
“If you don’t shut the fuck up, I’m going to snap your neck,” Darius growled. “You stupid, weak-willed female. Your obsession with him is blinding you.”
“You’re an ass,” Victoria said, sulking. She didn’t sound the least bit threatened, which Koenraad felt was odd as Darius didn’t lose his temper easily. But then, Darius clearly needed her for something, and Victoria had always been good about knowing just how far she could push someone.
They fell silent, then Koenraad saw them walk past him without slowing.
He listened intently to their footfalls, then to the door on the other end of the corridor opening and closing.
It seemed wise to give them another minute, but Koenraad slipped immediately out of his hiding place and jogged after them.
He eased through the door.
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