“I don’t belong in these rags anyway,” Cobalt replied.
Kane reached to his collar and ripped his shirt off, throwing it at the ground.
“Send her home,” Kane said, pointing at Sylvia.
“Her home is with me,” Cobalt said.
“Both of you stop it!” Sylvia yelled.
“You said you want to be with me,” Cobalt said. “You need to see the life I live. Always hunted. Always treated like nothing more than a monster.”
“You’re the monster who killed my sister,” Kane said, “aren’t you?”
“And you’re the one who killed my brother,” Cobalt snapped back, not denying Kane’s accusation.
Wind howled around them and waves crashed against the shore, coming dangerously close to their feet. Kalina knew if it touched them, they might both shift right there on the beach. Then again, great whites seemed to have more control over their abilities. Poet had been able to shift at will. She imagined his brother could do the same, and if Kane was a great white too, then he might have the same power.
Lightning cracked over the ocean and the clouds lit up. Thunder rolled. Sylvia yelled and Rafe’s voice joined her. They were both so full of hope. Neither of them understood the notion of a challenge. These two alphas were already past the point where they could turn back and shake hands. In the animal kingdom, a show of force is the only way to prove your dominance, and these two great whites were determined to show who was the bigger man and the baddest shark.
Cobalt raked his own chest with his fingers so hard blood showed at the scratch marks. She’d seen this once before when a great white friend of Thane’s had battled one of Kalina’s group while in human form. Their fight hadn’t been as serious as this one, and definitely wasn’t to the death, but the great white had spilled his own blood by dragging his sharp nails across his chest. The tiger shark had done the same as a show of respect for the blood match.
“Is that your way to show how tough you are?” Kane asked.
“You’re not really one of us,” Cobalt said with a laugh. “You don’t even know our ways. I won’t waste time on a pretender. You should stay on dry land with your boats and your guns and your wasted threats, Coward.”
Cobalt turned to walk away, and Kane ran at him, going for the low blow. He jumped onto Cobalt’s back and tried to choke him, but the bigger man was too massive for the smaller man’s arms to keep hold. Cobalt flung him off and onto the beach.
“Stop!” Sylvia screamed.
“You attack from behind?” Cobalt yelled. “You spineless piece of shit.”
He turned and ran at Kane, picking him up in a football tackle, and raced toward the lifeguard stand. Cobalt hit the wooden pillar at the base and shattered it, shoving Kane’s body through it and onto the sand on the other side. The lifeguard stand leaned and threatened to topple. Cobalt gave it some help by kicking one of the other legs until it smashed inward. The stand fell on top of Kane. Wood and metal rained down on the man so quickly he didn’t have time to defend himself. Cobalt walked away.
“He’ll die a coward’s death,” Cobalt said as he spit on the ground next to the pile of broken wood.
“No!” Kalina heard herself yell.
She ran at the pile of rubble and began pulling the heavy pieces of wood up and throwing them to the side, searching for the man buried beneath them. Rafe was at her side helping him.
“Kane!” he yelled.
The fight had begun and ended so quickly. If Kane had predicted Cobalt’s reaction, he might have been able to dodge the tackle. The fight might have lasted longer. Or if the lifeguard stand had never been there, both men would have landed on the moist sand. Kalina felt suddenly protective of Keelan Kane. She wasn’t sure he was her brother, but if he was, she owed him so much. He’d spent his entire life trying to get revenge on all sharks…everywhere. And she hadn’t lifted a finger to stop him from this fate. He could be dead for all she knew.
“Keelan!” she yelled, using the man’s first name for what was probably the first time.
She’d grown used to calling him Kane. The name fit so well with the mean bastard. Like the old biblical tale of the man who’d murdered his own brother over jealous rage, she’d always thought the name symbolized evil, and Keelan Kane had practically been the embodiment of the word for her and her people. Only Evelyn was worse.
Finally, Kalina tossed aside the metal casing of a spotlight and threw off the last piece of wood, the heavy square base that would have been the inside floor or maybe the ceiling. There he lay, his flimsy, lifeless body covered in dust.
“Keelan!” she shouted again.
“Kane!” Rafe yelled.
Keelan Kane coughed up dirt and blood. His face was a mess. A large gash crossed his scar at his cheek and his forehead was scratched and bruised.
“Where is he?” he asked, wiping a hand at his face and trying to sit up.
Kalina looked back over her shoulder and saw that Cobalt was gone. So was Sylvia. The bigger man had won the blood match and had claimed his prize, taking her out into the ocean with him. Kalina couldn’t help thinking that Cobalt was a bully. But he wasn’t really. Right? Whose side was she on? Kane had always been the one picking on everyone. Now, he was nothing more than a broken man lying on the beach in his own blood.
“He’s gone,” Kalina answered.
“I guess I lost that round,” Kane said.
“You lost that fight,” Rafe replied. “There won’t be any more rounds. Just leave it alone.”
“He killed my sister,” Kane said. “You heard him. He didn’t deny it.”
He lay his head back on the beach and stared up at the night sky. Kalina watched a tear fall from each of his eyes. Only one tear each, but she saw them clear as day.
“All this time,” he said. “My God…all this time. And I’ve found him. Cali…I’m finally going to do it. I’m going to kill the shark that got you.”
Cali. Calista. That was my name!
Of course, Kalina thought. It made total sense. At eight years old, she’d been Calista Kane. Her father was Calvin and her mother was Cassandra. Her brother was ten-year-old Keelan and he always called her by her nickname, Cali. She’d seen something glowing in the water that day on the boat. Something under the water had caught her eye and she’d leaned over to see it better. And she fell. On the island, she’d told everyone that her name was Cali. Thane had been the first to call her Kalina, his guess at what her name might mean since she’d never told them it was Calista. The rest was history. She’d had a crush on Thane since day one, so if he called her Kalina, that would be her name.
“The shark got her,” Kalina said. “But he didn’t kill her.”
“What do you mean?” Kane asked, lifting his head the best he could.
“I’m your sister,” she said.
As the words escaped her lips, a heavy weight she’d never known she’d carried lifted from her and swept up into the breezy night sky. Her next breath was fresh and seemed to seep further into her body than any had before. She was finally free. A thousand pounds of sorrow had floated off on the wind.
“I’m Cali,” Kalina said. “I’m your sister.”
Then she wept tears that must have been held down inside since she was eight years old.
Chapter 19 – Sylvia
Sylvia had never been one for fighting, and the only time she’d ever been more scared than she was tonight was that evening on the barge. Yet, she had to admit to herself, seeing Coby pick that cop up like he weighed absolutely nothing and then throw him through that wooden shack like some useless sack of meat was invigorating. It excited her. It turned her on.
Now, as he soared through the ocean with her holding onto his fin, she gasped for air with each rise to the surface, and then closed her eyes as they glided through the dark ocean. The saltwater stung her eyes the one time she’d opened them, and she decided the feeling of being whisked away by her man was so amazing she needed to simply hold on and enjoy it
. The hardest part was figuring out what to do with her legs. This wasn’t a horse she could sit on properly with a saddle, and the speed at which he flew through the water nearly knocked her off a few times. His body was so massive she couldn’t fit her legs around him, so she had to hold onto his fin and pray to God if she fell off he’d notice and swing back around to get her before something else did.
Before something else does.
Fear had her gripping him so hard she was afraid her nails might puncture his skin, even though she knew that was highly unlikely. So many sharks and other creatures had to be swimming around her right now. Possibly even the sharks who’d attacked the barge. Bloodthirsty, ravenous beasts looking for their next snack, and here she was, a simple human woman, dangling from the side of a great white like some underwater parasite.
When will this fear go away? God, please, make it stop.
Here she was, clinging to the side of a shark shifter, falling in love with the man, and was probably as safe as any person in the world could be. Coby would never let anything happen to her. Yet, all she could feel was fear. She focused on Kalina’s words and remembered her promise that once she became like them all that fear would go away. Her people weren’t meant to be afraid. More than ever, she wanted to be like them, so she could focus on revenge instead of the absolute terror she felt every time she stepped close to the ocean. If she’d had enough time to argue with him, she would have turned Coby down on his offer to give her a ride to the island, but after seeing the fight with Kane, she was in a bit of a daze and had only nodded her head without giving it enough thought.
Coby towed her through the water, only rising to the top long enough for Sylvia to inhale, and then he sank back down below, probably only a few feet from the surface. Forcing all the negative thoughts from her mind, she tried to relax into the cool pressure of the water pressing against her body, and before she knew it, she was loving every minute of it. As the water rushed across her cheeks and pushed against her eyelids and moved through her dress, she imagined she too was a shark and that she was racing alongside him. They were a pair and he would always protect her.
The water was chilly at night and she tried to ignore what she knew could be a thousand eyes watching her in that dark pool all around her. Other sharks, whales, squids, snakes, and jellyfish could have been to the left of her, to the right of her, and definitely beneath her. Yet, she knew she was with one of the most feared predators in the ocean. Nobody and nothing fucked with a great white unless they or it had a death wish.
When they finally reached shallow water, Coby bucked her off and she fell to her knees in the muddy sand. She took a few steps forward and then fell again as she fought to find her footing after not needing any for so long. The first thing she noticed was that she wasn’t on the island with her friends. No cabins sat in the distance and no campfire was lit. It could have been another part of the beach, but she got the feeling they were in an entirely different place.
“Where are we?” she asked.
“The place where everything changes for you if you want it,” Coby said from behind her.
She turned to see him standing behind her, knee deep in the water, his cock dangling in the moonlight. Her eyes were drawn to it and her knees went weak as she thought about him being inside her again. Her mouth watered, and her eyes moved up his gorgeous body until she was staring into his face.
“What does that mean?” she asked.
“Be with me,” he said. “By with me, I mean be my mate. Be by my side forever.”
“Are you asking me to become…like you? Like a shark?”
“Yes,” he said.
If she stopped to think seriously about it, she might have said no, but her heart was doing the answering and she knew that even through his coldness and his inability to speak about his feelings and his reluctance to be human even when in human form, she was drawn to him like she’d never been with any other man in her life. Was it love? She didn’t think so. It couldn’t be. Not this early on, but there was something…something important…and it was strong enough to make her head nod yes when she knew she probably should have said no.
“Yes?” he asked.
“Yes,” she said again.
Then he was on her. As if she were another opponent of his in a blood match, his legs moved quickly through the water, shoving it out of his way with a loud sloshing as he stalked toward her. She had no time to react before he’d reached her and hoisted her into the air and up to where the tide was sliding up to reach the dry sand. There, in the low tide puddle, he spun her around so her back was to him, bent her over so that she was on her hands and knees, and reached up to the spaghetti strap shoulders of her drenched dress. In one quick jerk, he ripped the dress right down the middle. Her bra and panties were ripped free just as smoothly and before she knew it, she was completely naked on all fours.
“My clothes,” she said in panted breaths.
“You won’t need them anymore,” he said. “Not unless you want them.”
Sylvia gasped in anticipation, even hornier with the thought that she could be naked with him all the time if she wanted to be. She craved his cock and the way it stretched her open. No man had ever come even close to making her feel the way Coby did, and as his hands dug into the sides of her waist, she waited to feel him. Her eyes closed, and a smile formed on her lips as she waited, but then he did something she wasn’t expecting. His tongue entered her, sliding through her lips. She nearly fell on her face. She was so fucking turned on. This guy was an animal. He was her animal. When his teeth sunk into her she screamed. Her hand slapped the thin layer of water over the sand and she cried out in pain. He’d chomped down on her right pussy lip and the pain was immense.
“What the fuck!” she yelled.
“To be like me,” he said, “this is how it’s done. I claim you. Every inch of you. Do you want me to stop?”
“No,” she said, her voice shaky. “Keep going.”
His tongue soothed the hurt as it swirled around her, scooping up through her folds again, tonguing her pussy, and she knew he must have been sucking on the blood drawn from her. The deeper he went, the more her thighs quivered. Then he bit her left pussy lip and she cried out again.
“Fuck!”
Any man in the past who’d ever tried to use teeth on her had instantly been slapped, but this was different. Coby wasn’t nibbling at her in the throes of passion. He was biting her in his ritual. A sexual ceremony that would convert her to his religion, his lifestyle. She was becoming his mate.
He bit her ass and slapped it hard. Of course, she couldn’t see what he was doing but she was sure his teeth broke through her skin. She felt the sting of razors slicing through her. The pain doubled when she felt the head of his cock push into her with more force than any time previously. This time he wanted her to hurt. All pleasantries were gone. He was claiming her through pain, and the most surprising thing to her was that she wanted more of it. Each inch of his cock sliding into her brought a new wave of agony. His right hand reached around her and cupped her tit, squeezing it and pinching her nipple.
“Oh my God!” she cried out. “It hurts!”
“Tell me to stop and I will,” he said, “but then this is all over. We can end it if you want.”
Silence. He’d stopped thrusting into her and was waiting for her answer. She replied by pushing back against him, driving his enormous erection deep into her soaking wet pussy. She felt herself shake around him, convulsing from the inside as her orgasm exploded without any warning. It was fast. She’d come so quickly.
“I’m coming already,” she said.
This seemed to anger him, or maybe it drove him mad with lust, because he slapped her ass again, hitting the spot where he’d bit her, and pulled his cock out before thrusting it back into her. Her insides lit up. She couldn’t handle it. She was about to pass out. Then he reached down and pulled her body up so her back was to his chest, and he bit her left shoulder so hard she felt bloo
d ooze out and down her back. His mouth stayed on the spot, tonguing her blood as he continued to fuck her.
“That hurts so bad!” she yelled.
It did, but she wasn’t even close to telling him to stop. In fact, the pain felt so good she wanted to turn the other shoulder over to him. As if reading her mind, he lifted his mouth from her and then bit down hard on the back of her neck. Again, she felt her blood run and heard the sound of him sucking it up.
Is he a shark or a fucking vampire?!
She tried to look over her shoulder, but all she saw was a red stream running down her left breast. He’d definitely broken the skin.
“Make me like you!” she begged. “Fuck me! Bite me harder!”
Heat built up inside her body and felt like it might shoot down each of her limbs as another convulsion began to hit her deep in her pussy where the head of his cock nudged at her so good she began to scream. She pulled away from him, turned, and sat on his cock again, this time facing him. She leaned back against the sand with one hand and pushed herself onto him, fucking him, letting him see her naked tits in the moonlight. Blood ran down over her chest and he liked what he saw. His grin was wide. She was afraid for a moment, seeing herself painted red like that, but then she remembered Kalina’s words and how she’d explained that fear didn’t belong with their people. They were battle-born she’d said. It was time for Sylvia to prove it.
“I’m close,” Coby said. “Are you ready?”
“I’m so ready,” she assured him. “I’m so fucking ready. Make me yours.”
“You’ve been mine since I saved your life that first night,” he said.
Then he drove up into her and bit down on her right shoulder. His teeth tore into her and at the same time, she felt his cock grow a couple of inches. It shouldn’t have been possible, but he filled her deeper and wider than he had before. Sylvia’s insides stretched, and she felt something rip. She screamed so loudly it echoed off the water and bounced around the trees. She felt his cum shoot into her and it was scorching, burning her inside with a soothing heat that took her to another universe. Her eyes slammed shut and she rode her man, euphoria sweeping over her as he dripped from her pussy. Her spirit left her body and dove into the ocean and leapt into the sky. Numbness crept into each toe and each finger before traveling up each arm and each leg. Her own heat mixed with his and she was coming again, joining him in heavenly bliss. She kept riding and riding until she realized she wasn’t anymore. Her hips were still bucking in mid-fuck, but Coby held her in his arms like a man carrying his bride over the threshold, only he was taking her into the ocean.
Bite Me Harder (a paranormal shifter novel) (Guardians of the Deep Book 2) Page 20