by Zoe Chant
“We released Gizelle from a madman’s prison less than a year ago,” Scarlet explained. “She remembers nothing but being a gazelle for all of her life in his zoo. We have no idea how old she is, or where she came from before then. She may even have been born there.” She gave Jenny an intense, appraising look. “How much do you remember?”
Jenny gazed back at Scarlet without seeing her. “I remember driving. It was Laura’s car, I was just going to get her a few things from the supermarket. There was an explosion - I lost control of the car, and it went off a curve. I remember going through the guardrail…”
She shuddered, remembering the scream of metal and the drop into the shattering ocean below, hitting her head, waves and water and sinking…
Comfort came from an unexpected source.
I caught you. I was there for you.
Jenny pushed back. She didn’t want to be grateful to the interloper in her head.
“I shifted,” she said woodenly. “I’ve never shifted before. I didn’t know I could. I don’t think I could, before.”
Scarlet listened, but offered no comment.
Jenny worked her mouth, trying to find words for what came next. She had been more otter than herself, eating, swimming, floating in sleep. She was drawn south, swimming earnestly, day after day, through currents that became gradually warmer.
“I found Laura after her boat exploded. I didn’t really think about things, only knew that I had to help her, and where I could find that help.”
“Shifting Sands was always meant to be a safe haven for shifters,” Scarlet said, nodding.
Jenny felt her eyebrows scrunch together. “Shifting… Sands. I worked on the contract for this place.” Life before this seemed impossibly distant and long ago. “I was - I am - a lawyer.”
“What else do you remember?” Scarlet asked gently.
“I remember Fred,” Jenny said firmly. “He betrayed us. He was the one who sabotaged Laura’s car, and her boat. And… our parents. He killed our parents, so long ago.” Somehow, it stung as much now as it had when Jenny had first uncovered the treachery, weeks ago.
“He’s in custody,” Scarlet promised fiercely. “He will never be able to hurt you again.”
Jenny tried to take comfort in the idea, and nodded.
Somewhere, far away, there was a beep of a car horn and shouting voices, and Scarlet frowned. “Let me take you to the dining hall. You’ve missed lunch, but there’s a buffet available and you must be hungry after your long ordeal.”
On cue, Jenny’s stomach rumbled, and she and her otter finally agreed on something.
“I’m famished,” she admitted. Then she added, “Just please, tell me I don’t have to eat raw fish or urchins for a long, long time.”
She didn’t think she would ever enjoy a sushi bar again.
Chapter 3
Travis rolled out bed when he woke up, habit driving him to get dressed before he registered that it was already midday, and that he actually felt well-rested.
He got dressed and wandered to the kitchen to appease his lynx’s cries for food, and found a quarter of a pie dish full of shrimp kale quiche with his name on it. The cake had a new note on it: “Dragon germs don’t scare me.”
Through the open windows of the house, he could hear distant sounds of the resort below, the ocean and the pool waterfalls making a pleasant backdrop to the hum of activity. It was quieter than the day before. Travis imagined the last guests, nursing hangovers, hauling their luggage to turn in their keys and file into the van that would take them to the little airfield on the far side of the island. The resort staff would spend the day cleaning up at a leisurely pace, putting everything back in order for the next, much smaller, wave of guests.
Quiche inhaled, Travis went to find his tools. He knew there would be work for him today, but he also knew that the insane pressure of the last few weeks was lifted, and his steps felt light and eager for the first time in a long time. His work gloves and boots had been dried, shaken out, and hung up. Travis gave a crooked smile for the thoughtfulness of his housemates.
His feet automatically took him to the largest building on the resort, the building that held the dining hall, kitchen, and conference room on the top level, the bar and mechanical rooms on the next level down, overlooking the pool below. The staff bulletin board in the conference room was where the calendar was posted, and where they left notes for each other about problems that needed fixed.
The calendar was marked “Travis: DAY OFF” and “Breck: Return the keys to rooms 7 and 12.” The dry-erase board had a note: “Fix washer four.” In new handwriting someone had added, “And dryer three.”
Knowing he didn’t have to handle it perversely made Travis want to.
There was singing coming from the kitchen, a tragic opera song in Chef’s booming bass voice. Travis smiled to remember that Magnolia would be returning any day. The resort would feel normal again.
Normal still didn’t feel… complete.
“Travis! What are you doing up so early?” How Breck, the head waiter, managed to look so fresh and energetic after what Travis knew could only have been a few hours of sleep was a mystery.
“It’s after noon,” Travis said skeptically.
“You still look like you need a week of sleep,” the leopard shifter said critically.
“Thanks!”
“You’re off the books today,” Breck reminded him, frowning at the toolbox. “There are only about four guests left, so don’t sweat anything.”
“There will be more coming, though,” Travis reminded him.
Breck was looking at the calendar and checking the notes. “Not until tomorrow, and next week will be cake compared to the last few.” He gave Travis a suspicious look. “Speaking of…”
“I didn’t touch your cake.”
Breck gave him a theatrically skeptical look, then took off towards the kitchen, opening the door with a surprisingly good harmony to Chef’s song.
Travis shook his head and walked past the kitchen door as it swung shut, heading for the back staff stairs down to the laundry and mechanical room.
The relative stillness of the pool deck and the bar was welcome; it was strange, after the past few days, not to have to elbow through throngs of guests to get anywhere. Tex was behind the bar, and his new mate sat before him on a bar stool.
Our mate, Lynx said, unexpectedly in his head, and Travis had to freeze at the intensity of it.
That’s Tex’s mate, Travis assured him, shaken. Yes, she was a gorgeous woman, and Tex was lucky to have her, with that velvety dark skin and those beautiful curves, but that he would even give her a second glance felt like betrayal.
No, Lynx growled. She’s ours.
All Tex could do was stare.
Chapter 4
Jenny followed Scarlet up the winding white path to a pool deck that she vaguely remembered from the previous night. It looked quite different in daylight, brilliantly gleaming in the tropical sun. It was bigger than it had looked in the faint light of pre-dawn, and was edged with palm trees. What had only been the sound of splashing water proved to be twin waterfalls, flanking a grand staircase that came down into the pool from the upper deck.
Jenny was grateful for the dress Scarlet had brought her, but found herself keenly aware that she was wearing no underthings beneath it as Scarlet led her between scattered sun chairs. She was glad to see very few people, most of them looking hungover and dragging luggage.
“I suspect that Gizelle was not the best person to wake up to in a new place,” Scarlet explained. “But she may be uniquely suited to helping you with your new shifting abilities, and she seems to want to. I apologize for not being able to stay longer and help you get situated, but I have a great deal of paperwork to do in the wake of your arrival.”
It wasn’t quite an accusation.
“I’m sorry, I don’t know when I will be able to pay you for our stay,” Jenny said hesitantly. “The money is going to be tied up in legal battles for a while
.” The life insurance money that had been denied to Jenny and Laura when her parents had been murdered would be difficult to access while the justice system unraveled the depths of Fred’s activity. Jenny’s head hurt, thinking about the layers of bureaucracy they were going to have to go through to put the whole sordid affair to rest. She usually loved a messy challenge to unravel, it was part of the reason she had dived into a career in law. But right now, the idea of facing anything more complicated than a sandwich felt overwhelming. She wasn’t even sure if she’d be able to access her own slim accounts; her laptop had been destroyed and she couldn’t remember any of the details or login credentials.
Scarlet looked as if she had been deeply offended. “You are our guest,” she said in icy tones. “I will put you in touch with some legal council I have connections with once you feel up to it.” Her skeptical tone made Jenny suspect Scarlet rather doubted her ability whether she felt ‘up to it’ or not.
The red-haired woman led her up a wide flight of stairs up to a deck that overlooked the pool and a collection of chairs and tables outside of an open bar. Tinny country music in Spanish was playing on radio and Jenny’s chest squeezed at the familiar sight of her wolf shifter sister, sitting in front of the bar.
“Jenny!” Laura leaped off the barstool and tackled Jenny in a fierce hug.
Jenny was not sure if she should weep on Laura’s shoulder or flee, suddenly feeling terribly unsteady. She clung to Laura much longer than she normally would have, and awkwardly hid her webbed hands behind her when they finally ended the embrace.
“Jenny,” Laura said nervously. “I want you to meet Tex. Or, er, meet him again.”
Tex was leaning over the bar, and Jenny immediately remembered his bear smell, and the beat up cowboy hat he was wearing from the night before. “I’m sorry about the hat,” she said hesitantly.
There was something else familiar about him, and she couldn’t put her finger on it until Tex’s handsome face split into a grin and he put fingers automatically to the rim of the hat in question. “You don’t have anything to apologize for, ma’am,” he drawled, and he extended his hand to shake.
Jenny stared. “You’re the bartender! From Texas!” It had been at least five years ago that they’d met; he’d been an absolute gentleman, and she’d been an embarrassment.
Tex smiled at her. “I am indeed the bartender from Texas.”
Jenny winced to hear how stupid it sounded. His name was Tex, and he was standing behind the bar. “The other bar, I mean the bar in Texas.” She realized Tex still had his hand out, but it had been offered too long now, and she didn’t want to put her webbed fingers in his.
Laura sidled up beside her as Tex casually took his hand back, and Jenny could feel the energy and excitement that beamed from her. “Jenny, Tex is my mate.”
Jenny looked from one of them to the other, marveling at the way they gazed at each other. She had never seen Laura look so content.
She started to smile, genuinely glad that her twin had found happiness, then remembered her pointed teeth and stopped. “Congratulations,” she said, strained.
Scarlet had been waiting through the introductions impatiently, and finally said, so politely that it was verging on cold, “Please excuse me, I have a great deal to do.” And she tapped off, a distinctive click from her low-heeled shoes over the tile.
“I’ve got the number from her for a guy back in America who works for a government shifter agency,” Laura said, patting the barstool next to her. “He can expedite having Fred turned over to US custody, and help with getting the insurance money sorted. He may even be able to get things in motion regarding getting the cartel behind bars, I’ll have to talk to him about that.”
Jenny sat numbly on the stool and stared at her sister. Where had this capable, confident woman come from? How the tables had turned! Now, she felt like the screw-up sister, hardly able to make sense of simple words, and not even able to shift fully into her human form. She curled her webbed fingers into balls and winced when the claws scratched her palms.
I’m hungry, her otter insisted. Something smelled heavenly.
“There was food?” she said faintly. She didn’t want otter to drag her out into the ocean after fresh fish for lack of options.
Laura and Tex both jumped. “Of course!” Laura said. “There’s a buffet just upstairs, you sit here and I’ll bring you a plate.”
“I could get it,” Tex offered, but Laura brushed him off.
“I know what she likes!”
They exchanged a swift kiss so intense that it made Jenny look away in embarrassment, and then Laura was slipping away through the backdoor of the bar, presumably to stairs that would take her up to the deck above them where the heavenly smells were coming from.
Tex put a bowl of mixed nuts in front of her, and poured a tall glass of pale juice. “You should get something in your stomach,” he advised kindly.
Jenny tried to keep her hands low, positioning the glass between her fingers and Tex as best as she could. He seemed to sense her hesitation, and turned away to do obvious busywork at the far end of the bar. “I’m glad to see you up and about,” he said without pressure. “Your sister is so happy to have you back again.”
The drink proved to be lemonade, sweet and tangy, and not too strong. Jenny sipped it down eagerly and emptied the bowl of nuts without thinking about it.
Easing her hunger didn’t bring the clarity of thought that Jenny had hoped for, but it did ease the overbearing intensity of her otter’s presence a little.
She turned in her chair and looked out over the deck. Sunlight danced over the rippled surface of the pool, and dappled through the shade from the palm trees. The place had this strange sense of promise to it that Jenny had never felt before.
I’m hungry, her otter told her, and it wasn’t the kind of hunger that a bowl of nuts was going to touch.
There was a man standing at one of the doors marked ‘Staff Only.’ and Jenny tried not to stare. He was all lean strength, the staff polo shirt doing nothing to mask the muscles of his shoulders and arms. She thought he was Asian at first, with short, dark hair and golden skin, then he turned away from her abruptly, and the planes of his cheeks as the sun hit them made her think ‘native.’
He was gorgeous, like a sculpture, or a model, and Jenny was keenly reminded that she was still not wearing underwear. She squirmed on her stool, unable to look away as he yanked the door open and disappeared inside.
I’m hungry, her otter repeated ferociously, and Jenny shuddered and cringed at the intensity and immediacy of it. If the otter had her way, they’d be scurrying over the white tile to catch the man, and her otter had very specific ideas of what they’d be doing with him once they caught him, regardless of where they were or who else was there.
She was still fighting down the carnal wave of need and animal lust when Laura returned with a platter full of Jenny’s favorite food: glistening cubes of fresh fruit and cottage cheese, and a heaping green salad with slices of eggs and avocado, scattered with squares of real bacon and feta cheese and drizzled with a vinaigrette. A roll so fresh it was still warm topped off the plate.
Jenny was achingly glad there wasn't a hint of fish or seafood on the plate, and with a whimper, she fell upon it, channeling all of her energy to eating.
Chapter 5
Travis shut the door to the laundry room without flipping on the light switch and leaned against it in the dark, breathing as heavily as if he’d just run a marathon.
Lynx, in his head, was suggesting other courses of action. Filthy, detailed suggestions that made Travis keenly aware of how long it had been since any hand but his own had been in contact with certain parts.
That’s Tex’s mate, he insisted desperately. She’s gorgeous, but she’s not ours. He had to wonder why Lynx hadn’t had this reaction the first few times they’d met, but whyever that was, he wasn’t going to betray his code of conduct and so much as sniff in her direction if she belonged to another.
Travis turned on the light switch and winced in the harsh light. He had to adjust himself to kneel at the service port for the washer in question. Several of the other washers were churning along in their duties, and the piles of dirty laundry were epic, even though housekeeping was probably still stripping down beds as guests checked out.
She has a service port we could use, Lynx said slyly.
You are a dirty, dirty tomcat who ought to be fixed, Travis replied. Tex’s mate, remember. Tex’s mate!
He replaced the worn-out motor bearing that he knew was the cause of the washer’s problem, gritting his teeth and ignoring Lynx’s continued insistence that they fling the door to the mechanical room open and chase their mate down, fighting off Tex or anyone else who tried to stand in their way.
The dryer fuse was next to replace, as Lynx continued to demand that they pursue her, now, now, and Travis tried to shut out his persistent voice. Travis even moved laundry from the washer to the dryer when one of them stopped, and loaded up the two empty machines with new laundry from the piles.
He might have hidden in the mechanical room until night, but Lydia, the black swan shifter who ran the spa, opened the door and wheeled in a cart of laundry.
“Don’t you have the day off?” she asked, in her rich Spanish accent.
“I slept in,” Travis protested. “Aren’t you supposed to be at the spa?”
“Everyone’s gone, thank the stars,” Lydia said, scooping towels and sheets and massage table covers out of the basket to add to the piles. “But we’re down at least two housekeepers, so I’m helping out where I can.”
Some of the staff had only been temporary, hired for the duration of the World Mr. Shifter event that had just ended. Travis hadn’t expected to lose them so quickly, but Scarlet was nothing if not efficient.
“Did they take the extra staff back to shore in the boat, then?” he asked. “It’s on my list to tune up the second engine.”