by Sennah Tate
Half of the store was occupied by the offering of fresh caught fish and seafood. Fisherman in the area had the luxury of both salt and fresh-water fishing spots, with plenty of brackish areas in between. It made for a huge variety of fish, but that left less square footage for things Gabi deemed more important, like produce.
“Yeah, I’ll take all the blue crab you’ve got,” she heard a familiar voice say. A little shiver snaked down her spine — she recognized the voice, but she couldn’t place it.
“This catfish just came in this morning,” the older man behind the counter said.
Gabi peered around the corner of the cereal aisle, being nosier than she had any right to be.
“Sure, I’ll take a couple of those, too,” the familiar man answered.
All Gabi could see was the broad expanse of his back, strong shoulders and muscled arms clad in a fitted khaki shirt. Her eyes roved over his tight backside and how impossibly tall he was. There was only one person who had ever made her heart flutter the way it did now: Tucker.
She couldn’t be sure, but if that was him, she had to make her escape and fast. Tucker never knew she existed, but every time they’d interacted in the past she’d wound up a tongue-tied blubbering fool. In high school, he’d been the older boy, dreamy, charming, a little bit of a daredevil and Gabi was head over heels.
That was a decade ago, though. He never even knew her name and she wasn’t still hung up on a school girl crush.
So why did she nearly sprint to the check-out line?
Before she made it to the conveyor belt to unload her items, she was intercepted by an elderly woman that she recognized as one of the elementary school teachers.
“Gabrielle Fairway! My stars! What a beauty you’ve grown into, just like that pretty momma of yours,” the old woman gushed, placing a chilly arthritic hand on Gabi’s arm.
Gabi tried to shrink back into herself as she felt eyes turn in her direction from all corners of the store. Fairway wasn’t always a welcome name in this town. Her father had a reputation for being a crackpot and even though they’d lived in the area for decades, most still considered them outsiders.
“Hi Mrs. Drummond,” she muttered under her breath, wishing beyond all reason that her grocery cart wasn’t blocked in.
Glancing over her shoulder, looking for an escape, her eyes met with the man at the fish counter and she froze like a deer in headlights. It was him.
A sudden lump lurched up her esophagus and her pulse quickened. Tucker. Of all the people to be at Renton’s this morning.
Maybe he didn’t recognize her. Gabi and Tucker’s younger brother Ben had been in the same grade and Gabi’s crush on the older boy had started early. Tucker was an All-star athlete, a cocky playboy and a reckless daredevil rolled into one. But that was then. Had he changed since High School?
Mrs. Drummond nattered on incessantly, but all Gabi could hear was the persistent rush of blood in her ears and the thumpthump of her heart’s frantic beating.
Tucker took his wrapped up crabs and catfish from the man behind the counter without ever taking his eyes off of Gabi and before she had the chance to escape, he was upon her, making her feel small and cornered.
The hungry look in his gold-green eyes didn’t escape Mrs. Drummond’s notice and the old woman made an excuse for herself with another pat on Gabi’s arm.
“Tell your sister I said hello,” she said, wheeling her cart away.
Gabi nodded mutely, still transfixed by the way Tucker stared at her.
“I take it your father made it home alright, last night?” he asked, not even bothering to hide his appreciative appraisal of her curves.
She stuttered for a moment.
“M-m-my father?”
It was then that she finally dragged her star-struck gaze from his strong stubbled jaw and other-wordly eyes to notice the uniform he wore.
“You’re Parks and Wildlife,” she muttered with sudden understanding.
An almost imperceptible smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. He’d somehow gotten more attractive with age — like a fine wine that she never wanted to stop drinking.
“Yeah, thanks. He made it home okay.”
“That’s good,” Tucker said plainly.
Silence hung between them for a moment. Gabi glanced around, not sure what else to say, but she got the impression Tucker wasn’t ready to release her from the conversation just yet.
“I… uh…” she faltered, “I heard about Benny. I’m sorry.” After graduation, Tucker’s scrawny younger brother had gone into the swamp and never come out again. Rumors and accusations flew through a little town like Sunset Glade thicker than the swarms of mosquitoes that came after heavy rains. She was surprised he’d stuck around after the tragedy.
His face fell into a hard mask and he nodded, “Thanks. Good seeing you.”
Tucker pushed his cart away, leaving Gabi feeling dumbfounded as usual. Why did he always have this effect on her? He wasn’t at all like she remembered. This Tucker seemed quieter, sullen — broken.
He’d definitely changed since High School.
Gabi finished making her purchases and left the store with an uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach.
Dense cloud cover blocked out the sun and cast the parking lot in deep shadows. Her skin prickled.
Don’t be ridiculous, she chided herself. There’s nothing coming to get you, weirdo.
She often made up entire scenarios in her head of the worst possible outcome. Being in a darkened parking lot by herself in a town that didn’t appreciate her family was a situation that lent itself to her mind running amok.
Her sudden unease made her fingers tremble as she tried to unlock the trunk of her car. It was just seeing Tucker again that had made her so off-balance.
She never even heard them approach.
“Your old man is messing with things too big for him,” a raspy voice growled behind her.
She jumped, startled and dropped the bag of groceries. A jar of pickles shattered as it hit the pavement, sending sparkling shards of glass across the lot.
Her heart hammering in her chest, Gabi turned to face the man and found not one, but three muscled men with dark scowls closing in on her.
“I… uh… what?” Gabi stammered, backing into her car as they advanced on her. She didn’t recognize any of the men, but the predatory gleam in every pair of eyes told her she should be afraid.
The man in the middle took another step forward. The other two closed the space behind him — middle was clearly the leader. He advanced until she could smell the coffee on his breath.
“You’d do well to tell that father of yours to keep his filthy little nose,” he pinched Gabi’s nose between his fingers for emphasis, “out of others’ business. Keep him on a tighter leash or something… unfortunate might happen to him.”
The two lackeys snickered and Gabi fought the urge to scream. Would anyone in this town even try to help her? Or would they look the other way because of her last name?
Her voice trembled, “I don’t know what you’re talking abou—”
“Get lost, Silvanus,” Tucker growled, pushing his way between the strange man and Gabi.
Her eyes grew wider. Tucker, again? What was he doing jumping to her rescue? God, could he really smell that fantastic? It seemed inhuman.
The other man didn’t back down, “Stay out of this Loner. This is between me and this pretty little lady. I just don’t want to see her crack-pot daddy get himself into a mess he can’t get out of.”
Gabi stiffened at the patronizing insult. She’d long known what people thought about her father, but to hear it was different. She wanted to jump to his rescue, but she was frozen in fear.
A sickening crunch pulled her attention back to the testosterone-fueled standoff, just in time to see Tucker’s fist connect with the other man’s jaw.
The two lackeys suddenly seemed much more frightening as they closed in menacingly. Their leader held up a hand to stop them a
nd spit blood on the pavement before turning back to Tucker with a split lip.
“If you know what’s good for you, you’ll stay out of this, Auric.”
Tucker bristled, “Good thing I don’t know what’s good for me,” he answered with a steely glare.
“Watch your back,” one of the other men sneered.
He didn’t move until the three strangers left. Once the coast was clear, he stooped to start picking up Gabi’s discarded groceries.
“What the hell was that?” she muttered to no one in particular, still shaken by the threats and subsequent fight.
“Silvanus and his crew moved into town a few years ago. They like to think of themselves as thugs, running the place. You don’t need to worry about them,” he said, depositing her bags in the car.
Gabi slammed the trunk closed and leveled a fierce glare at him, “Like hell I don’t! They threatened my father. They threatened me. What the hell were you thinking? You probably just made things even worse!”
This was not how she wanted her first day back to turn out. She worried enough about her father without gangs of thugs wandering around threatening them. And what had he meant about Dr. Fairway messing with things too big for him? What was her father up to now?
Her heart hammered against her ribcage like a hummingbird’s.
“I was trying to save you, if you hadn’t noticed,” Tucker answered, his expression hurt.
“I didn’t ask you to save me,” Gabi snapped. “You’re insane. You can’t just go around punching people. Don’t try to help me again.”
She climbed into her car and backed out of the parking spot, ignoring the crunch of broken pickle jar under her tires. She needed to get her father squared away ASAP and get the hell out of Dodge before things got any crazier.
Chapter Two
Tucker
You’re insane.
Well, she had that right. Tucker groaned and flexed his sore hand as he watched Gabi’s tail lights retreat down Main Street.
What was he thinking?
He wasn’t.
He’d heard glass shattering, smelled Silvanus and his crew, heard Gabi’s frightened stuttering, and leaped into action without another thought.
Insane was an understatement.
He’d punched the Alpha for her. And she was mad at him for it? Did she have any idea what a suicidal move that had been?
Of course not.
She didn’t know anything about his kind. She wasn’t supposed to. Neither was her father.
That didn’t stop the good Doctor from snooping around, gathering evidence of things he didn’t understand.
Brock Silvanus wasn’t wrong to be warning the Fairways away. It wouldn’t take much for their protected enclave to be inundated with people looking for proof of the supernatural and paranormal. Dr. Fairway wanted wildlife cameras covering every square inch of the Glades. That wouldn’t do.
So why had he challenged him? A lone panther couldn’t take on the entire pack — hell, he couldn’t even take on the Alpha on his own — but that thought didn’t cross his mind when he threw the punch.
He’d heard Brock’s insult and Gabi’s nearly imperceptible intake of breath. He felt her mood shift from frightened to angry and her emotions seemed to propel his arm forward.
Tucker shook his head.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?” he muttered under his breath as he climbed into the SUV with the logo of his department emblazoned on the side.
He’d be lucky if the other panther shifters didn’t come after his head now. He wouldn’t stand a chance — not even with Benny’s help.
Tucker drove through the winding muddy roads that led back to his cabin deep in the swamp. Certain times of the year, the roads would be washed out and only his giant mud tires were able to get back to his property. Even when the roads were intact, not many people ventured out this far. Strange things happened in the Glades. Unexplainable things. Tragic things.
He thought about Benny, wishing he could do more to help his brother.
By day, he kept the peace in the thousands of acres that were under his purview. He followed up on poaching calls, helped find lost campers, and made sure everyone played by the rules.
At night, everything changed.
After a long day of mulling over his own stupidity, Tucker was more than ready to go home and crash.
The sweet smell of garlic and seafood greeted him as he hopped out of the SUV and grabbed his gear from the back. His stomach gurgled in response.
As much as his human side wanted to go home, eat, shower and sleep, his panther sensed something else.
Leaving his gear on the front step, Tucker tried to pinpoint what his panther already knew. They weren’t always in complete communication — his shifter nature often left him at war with his dual personalities — but if the panther said something was wrong, Tucker tried to listen. Usually.
He ventured past the clearing of his front yard, gingerly stepping over dried leaves and sticks in an effort to stay silent.
“Why can’t we just make camp here?” a female voice whined.
“Where? On that rock? Come on, I think there’s a clearing up here,” a male answered.
Tucker frowned. There was a clearing. His clearing.
They were too close to his house. Close enough to see things. Hear things. He couldn’t take a chance.
He dropped his resistance to the panther; the cat took over immediately, morphing and changing Tucker’s body until he was a sleek, stealthy — and deadly — Florida Panther. Unlike panthers in the rest of the world, Florida Panthers were beige in color and more closely related to pumas or mountain lions than their South American namesakes.
The panther stalked after the campers, intent on protecting his territory. Tucker stayed in the back of the cat’s mind, reminding him to only scare the intruders, not hurt them.
He padded softly through the underbrush, moving through tangled vines and dense foliage without a stumble.
“Ugh, how much further?” she whined again.
“Would you just chill out? It’s only—”
“Dave?” the girl cut him off with a hysterical edge to her voice: she’d spotted the reflective glow of the feline’s eyes.
“Seriously, Cam, it’s not even another hundred—”
“Dave,” Cam said, panic more evident in the high pitched plea as she remained frozen in place.
Tucker didn’t move. She’d seen him. Their eyes were locked.
“What is it?” Dave asked, losing his patience.
Cam gestured to the panther, her eyes still wide. Tucker could hear the rush of her pulse, the shallow frightened breaths. He could smell her fear.
Dave turned and finally saw what his companion did.
He froze.
“Okay, just, back away slowly,” he said, his own heart race increasing exponentially.
The panther growled, revealing lethal canines as he did.
The campers turned heel and ran as fast as they could, stumbling over fallen logs as they did.
Tucker stayed in place, watching them with detachment as they fled. When he could no longer hear their bumbling escape, he turned back home, resuming his human form.
“Glad you finally decided to come home,” Benny said when he walked in the door.
The entire cabin smelled of garlic, lemon and the ocean.
“Smells good,” Tucker answered with a deep inhale.
“Of course it does. I made it. I tried a new blackening blend on the catfish, you’ll have to tell me what you think,” his brother answered with a wry grin.
Tucker grunted and plopped down at the rickety kitchen table without another word.
He couldn’t get Cam’s look of terror out of his mind. Was this what he’d become? A monster instilling fear and panic in strangers? Destined to be alone?
Benny brought a big pot filled to the brim with crabs, shrimp, corn and potatoes to the table and plopped it down.
Well, he wasn’t alon
e. He had his brother.
Benny reached a furry arm over the table and fished a crab out of the pot, going to town on the crustacean like he were part otter.
There was a time when Tucker was carefree. When he didn’t care about intruders and prying eyes. When he never would have bothered with a low-life like Silvanus.
Benny had always looked up to him. Wanted to be like his big brother. Benny didn’t have the shifter ability, though. As a teenager, Tucker never had time for his kid brother.
Then everything changed. Benny went into the swamp that night as a normal eighteen year-old human and when Tucker found him the next day, he was… different.
“Why the long face?” Ben asked, crunching down on a crab’s carapace.
“Unh,” Tucker answered, plucking a few shrimp from the pot.
The reckless teenaged Benny had managed to get himself cursed into a hideous fur-covered beast known locally as ‘skunk ape’.
In other regions of the world, Benny might be called ‘sasquatch’ or ‘bigfoot’, but to Tucker, he’d always be just Benny, his pain in the ass kid brother.
Once upon a time, Tucker dreamed of doing something meaningful with his life — now he dedicated himself to protecting Benny’s secret. It was his fault that Ben got himself into this, the least he could do was keep him away from government probes and crazed monster hunters. Like Dr. Fairway. Gabi.
When had little Gabi Fairway blossomed into such a… a… woman? His mouth went dry at the memory of her curves. The moment he heard her voice the night before, old feelings flooded back to him. The shy bookish girl was long gone. He’d always admired her kindness and adventurous spirit and he’d found himself wondering what she was up to on more than one occasion. Last he heard she was in Miami studying to be a nurse. Why was she back in town? Starting trouble with the other shifters wasn’t the best idea, but she couldn’t know.
Benny broke through his musing with a stern look.
“Just because I’m stuck being a recluse doesn’t mean you have to be, too,” Ben nudged gently, “you should try to have a normal life.”