But when Emery finally took his bearings about twenty minutes later, he spotted Wyatt standing in the bow, his attention fixed on a point to their east.
He dove and swam underwater to the boat, shifting before he poked his head above the surface at the bow.
“What’s wrong?”
Wyatt’s expression was unreadable behind his sunglasses. “Don’t know if anything wrong, man.”
“Then why do you look like you’re on alert?”
“Just bein’ careful. Y’all be careful down there.”
Emery turned to where the other boat was anchored, but couldn’t tell from his vantage point if there was no one in the boat, or if he just couldn’t see them due to the angle.
“Where’d they go?”
“Don’t know. That would be my concern. But you suddenly hear me revvin’ the engine like a wild man, you get your asses up to the surface ASAP so I can pick y’all up. Hear?”
“Yeah.” Emery submerged again and shifted, using his echolocation to quickly locate Ambrose and Stephen, who were once again diving on the deep side of the drop-off.
What disconcerted him even more was the fact that now he sensed three large shapes in the water which hadn’t been there before, at a distance but closing.
“Guys, we need to surface and head to the boat for a few.”
Ambrose blew out a line of bubbles and rose, circling them, never touching or breaking them. “Why?”
“Something’s not right.” He sent out another echolocation blast and found the three shapes were closer.
And definitely felt shark-shaped.
“Now.” Emery looked around, the disquiet he felt upon waking that morning back with a vengeance.
“Okay, sure,” Ambrose said. “Calm down. Let’s go.” He headed back toward the boat.
Stephen had breeched for a breath and dove again. “There’s nothing wrong, Em. Everything’s fine.” He headed down the wall once more. “I’ll be there in a minute.”
Emery swore, rose for a breath, then headed down after him. “Seriously, dude, you can call me a pansy later, but we need to go back to the boat for a few.”
Stephen was about to reply when a large shape barreled out of the depths toward him. He let out a chattering cry as he spun away from the shark’s jaws, but still took a rasping sidelong blow down his right flank from the shark’s sandpaper-like hide.
Emery swore at the sight of blood, appearing almost black at that depth and clouding the water along Stephen’s side.
The other two sharks appeared from the depths, but almost looked shocked. Emery started toward them and they turned tail and disappeared.
That meant the attacker was likely John.
Emery wheeled around again, knowing the six-foot-long shark had a tactical advantage of not needing to surface to breathe. Stephen tried to climb along the wall, staying close to it and zigzagging to avoid the shark. Emery stayed with him, using his echolocation to track the shark down again.
Sure enough, the next attack came from below. Emery summersaulted in the water and drove himself, hard, into the shark’s side, knocking him off course and allowing Stephen a chance to make more progress.
Whether his wounded friend could make it all the way back to the boat, without having to expose himself to the surface to breathe, remained to be seen.
And Emery was close to needing another breath as it was.
In the distance, he heard the boat engine crank and frantically rev.
I know, Wyatt. Little busy not dying here.
He sensed Stephen’s growing panic and knew they wouldn’t make it back to the boat. Hopefully Ambrose could help guide Wyatt, get close enough to them to give them a little cover and pick them up before the shark shifter could eat them.
Spinning around, he located the great white, now circling, toying with them, feinting lunges at them and wasting their precious lung capacity as it stayed between them and the surface.
He sensed the shark laughing at them.
Above them, Wyatt put the boat into gear. The sound of the engine grew louder, soon joined by another boat engine.
Stephen broke away from the wall and tried to head for the surface, but the shark shifter came in again, forcing Emery to once again ram its side as Stephen retreated to the shelter of the wall, nearly at the top and about to break for the surface. Emery was barely aware of the boat almost on top of them, now shifted into idle.
“Head up,” he ordered Stephen, his echolocation now fixed on the shark. “Get to the boat.”
The shark shifter changed his tactic, coming in low from the shallower depths at the top of the wall, swerving Emery’s charge at the last second and then doubling back before Emery could spin around and give chase.
That’s when a dark streak dove through the water, above the shark and heading right for him. Emery barely had time to make out the alligator’s mouth clamping down on top of the shark’s head, right at the gills.
Wyatt didn’t let go, death-rolling him and disappearing with him over the edge of the wall and down into the depths.
Emery, torn between wanting to go after Wyatt to help him and needing to breathe and ensure Stephen was all right, followed the other dolphin to the surface.
Ambrose was alone in the boat. He reached down to pull Stephen from the water. Emery was glad to see that, while still bleeding, the shift back to human form had healed most of Stephen’s wound to nothing worse than mild road rash.
The other two sharks were in the other boat. “Is he okay?” one hollered over.
“What the fuck is you assholes’ problem?” Emery screamed at them as he climbed in. “He could have fucking killed him!”
“Dude, seriously, we thought he just wanted to scare you. I swear, we didn’t know he was going to do that shit. That’s why we came back to the boat. We warned your other guy. Told him to come pick you up.”
Emery grabbed his swim trunks and yanked them on. “Keep an eye out for Wyatt,” he told Ambrose as he checked Stephen’s wounds. He pulled a bottle of water out of the cooler and used it to rinse the injury, which covered his friend’s right side, knee to armpit.
“You want to get in and do another shift cycle? That might heal it.”
“Fuck that shit sideways. Not with that goddamned maniac still out there. I’ll live.”
The other boat pulled closer, the men shutting their engine off and grabbing their boat’s railing as they pulled alongside.
“Seriously,” the first said. “I’m so fucking sorry. John’s a dick sometimes, but we never thought he’d stoop to this.”
Emery wanted to deck him, but now that he knew Stephen would be okay, his immediate concern was Wyatt. “You see Wyatt yet?” he called to Ambrose.
The other dolphin shaded his eyes against the glare. “Not yet.”
“He can stay down a lot longer than we can,” Emery said. “Look for bubbles, anything.”
For several long, agonizing minutes, they all studied the water’s surface.
Then, a few yards away, Wyatt broke the surface in human form and stroked over to the boat.
Emery grabbed his arm and hauled him in, bear-hugging him. “Holy fuck, dude, you have no idea how grateful I am.”
Wyatt nodded and clapped him on the back before reaching for his own discarded trunks.
The second shark quietly asked, “Is he okay?”
Wyatt turned and glared at him. “He tried to kill my friends. What you think happened, I gave him fuckin’ ice cream? I warned him the other night, he start shit, I’d finish it. Well, I finished it. Permanently.”
The two sharks swallowed hard, eyes wide, faces pale despite the bright Florida sun.
Wyatt grabbed a towel and ran it over his head before donning his sunglasses again. Water beaded on his ebony skin. “Em, call your dad,” he quietly said. “He need to know this.” He headed back to the bow, where his fishing pole rested in a holder on the rail, and reeled in his line.
The two sharks stared at each other.
“What do we do?” the first one asked the other.
The second shook his head. “I don’t know, man. I guess I should call his dad.”
* * * *
By ten o’clock that night, there were ten people gathered in the hotel suite, including the other two sharks, Joseph Nadel, Floyd Edick, and two of Edick’s sidekicks.
Through it all, Wyatt remained quiet, only speaking in answer to direct questions from Joseph or Floyd, a close friend of John’s father. Apparently, this wasn’t John Berringer’s first run-in with other shifters.
It would, however, be his last.
The other two sharks, Bill Gatly and Don Willingham, told the events in somber tones, shame in their voices.
“We had no idea,” Bill swore. “We thought sure, scare the dolphins. Fine. No one gets hurt, John gets his jollies, and maybe lets this drop, okay?”
Don nodded. “If we’d known…” He shook his head again. “We would have talked some sense into him. We wouldn’t have gone into the water, and we would have warned the dolphins. I swear, we didn’t know.”
“We went back and warned their other guy once we saw what was happening,” Bill said. “We told him what was going on so he could get them out of there.”
Floyd’s grim scowl and black eyes rarely strayed from Wyatt.
Emery raised his hand. “I take full responsibility for this. Wyatt’s my friend, and he was defending us.”
“You don’t need to take the rap for something I don’t deny doin’,” Wyatt said. He met the senior shark’s gaze without flinching. “I’d do it again in a heartbeat, too, someone tries to mess wit’ the people I care for. No excuse for what that boy did. He drew first blood. I warned him the other night, he started somethin’, I’d finish it. I’m a man of my word.”
Emery felt some satisfaction when the senior shark’s gaze eventually wavered and moved from Wyatt.
Joseph took in all the people in the room. “Even the two sharks who were there and know the victim say it was self-defense.” He put the ball squarely in Floyd’s court. “Well?”
The shark didn’t seem happy about it, but eventually gave a curt nod. “Agreed. I’ll call his father in California and tell him.” Then he focused his ire on Don and Bill. “If I ever hear of you two being involved in anything like this again, you’ll want to move with no forwarding address. Do I make myself clear?”
“Yes, sir,” they both immediately parroted.
Wyatt stood and walked over to the shark, extending his hand to Floyd. “We good, then?”
Floyd’s jaw worked for a moment, tense, before he finally shook with Wyatt. “It was justified. No retribution.” He snapped his fingers at the two younger sharks and left the room without further comment, the other two sharks he’d brought with him also falling into step.
When they were alone again, Joseph let out a weary sigh and collapsed into a chair. “I’m thinking maybe tomorrow we all head home.” He’d flown into the small Key West airport on a charter flight. “There room in the car for me?”
Wyatt grinned. “Sure ’nuff, Papa Flipper.”
He pointed at Wyatt. “You, my son, I have something to say to you.”
Wyatt’s smile faded. “Yeah?”
Joseph pulled himself up and walked over to Wyatt, where he engulfed him in a hug. “Thank you for taking care of them. As far as I’m concerned, you’re as good as family. And you’re always welcome in my home.”
Chapter Six
Emery pulled into their driveway and looked at Sean, who’d quietly listened to the entire tale without interruptions.
“Well?” he finally asked, unable to stand his mate’s silence.
Sean frowned. “Why did you think I’d be upset by this? You guys didn’t do anything wrong. If you’d told me this before, I might not have been nearly as pissed off at Wyatt when he scared the crap out of me in the pool that night.”
Emery shrugged. “It’s not your everyday occurrence. I didn’t want to freak you out.”
Sean snorted. “Um, yeah, like the whole my-boyfriend-is-a-dolphin stuff wasn’t freaky to begin with? Honestly? This is less freaky than that was.”
“Really?”
Sean rolled his eyes at him. “Duh.” He grabbed Emery’s shirt and pulled him close, kissing him. “You got any other secrets you want to share with me before I take you inside and fuck your brains out?”
“Maybe one.”
“What’s that?”
“I really like it when you sometimes totally take charge and fuck my brains out.”
Sean grinned. “Dude, that’s not a secret. I figured that one out a while ago.”
“Well, I do have another secret.”
“What?”
Emery crushed Sean’s mouth in a blistering kiss. “Tonight, I want to fuck your sweet ass.”
Sean melted in his arms. “Again, not much of a secret.”
By the time they hit the bedroom, they were both naked. Emery pushed Sean down onto the bed and fell onto him. He laced his fingers through Sean’s and held his arms pinned over his head.
“This is what I want tonight,” Emery rumbled against the base of Sean’s throat. He nipped and nuzzled, Sean squirming under him and trying to gain traction for his cock.
Emery shoved a knee between Sean’s thighs and got his legs wedged apart, further immobilizing him. “You don’t stop wiggling, I’m going to tie you up.”
“Ooh, now that’s kinky. We haven’t tried that yet.”
Emery bit the side of Sean’s neck. “You won’t be liking it if I keep you tied up all night and don’t let you come.”
Sean stopped moving. “Oh, now that’s just plain mean. I didn’t torture you like that earlier.”
He tightened his grip on Sean’s hands. “Then you’d better settle down and let me drive.”
“I’ll beg. I’m good at the begging stuff.”
Emery lowered his mouth onto Sean’s, bruising kisses that left them both breathless and finally put an end to Sean’s chatter by disengaging his brain.
Emery sat up, careful to keep hold of Sean’s wrists with one hand, and leaned over, opening the drawer of the bedside table. He pulled out a bottle of lube.
“Show me that sweet ass, babe.”
Sean drew his legs up, rounding his back and exposing his puckered rim.
“Perfect.” He deftly squirted lube in his crack, then drizzled some on his own stiff cock, before closing the bottle and dropping it to the bed.
He slicked his shaft then played with Sean’s ass for only a moment, lubing him before pressing his cockhead against his rim.
“Fuck me, dammit!” Sean begged.
“You’ll be begging me to take it out, I fuck you too hard, too soon.”
“I want it rough, dammit. Fuck me!”
“Wish granted.” He did slowly feed his cock into Sean, pausing once he was fully seated to shift position a little, pressing Sean’s knees into his chest, ankles over Emery’s shoulders.
He held onto Sean’s hands with both of his and looked down into his mate’s sweet brown eyes. “Now you’re mine.”
“I’ve been yours. Fuck me!”
Emery grinned. “I’m going to fuck you, all right.” He took a hard, stabbing thrust that made Sean loudly groan.
“Again. Please!”
He let the weight of his body rest on the backs of Sean’s thighs. Completely immobilized, he felt Sean relax, knowing all too well that sweet sensation of being completely owned and controlled. “Whose ass is this?” he rumbled.
“Yours!”
Emery took several hard, fast, deep thrusts. “Damn right,” he said. “You’re going to go to sleep with a butt plug in tonight,” he said, biting the base of Sean’s throat again. “And tomorrow morning, I’m sending you to work full of cum.”
Sean let out a whimper. Emery felt his lover’s cock twitching, pinned between their bodies, pre-cum already pooling against their flesh.
“Got it?”
“Uh-huh!”
He took another short, hard series of strokes. Sean moaned in disappointment when he stopped again. “I think maybe tomorrow night when you get home, you’re going to stay naked, on your knees, sucking my cock the way I sucked yours earlier. What do you think about that?”
Sean nodded.
Emery knew he only had a couple more short bursts in him before his own cock exploded, and he used one of them up, Sean moaning even louder when he stopped this time. “Gonna keep you well lubed, bend you over the counter and fuck your ass, not let you come. Keep you nice and hard all night, tease you until I have you crazy needing it.”
He shifted his body, rubbing Sean’s cock and drawing another long moan out of his lover. “And you’d better come before I do, just like this, or I will tie you up tonight so you can’t get yourself off and make you wait until tomorrow to come.”
He slowly withdrew, keeping his body pressed against Sean’s, feeling Sean now trying to wiggle enough to come. Emery slammed home, hard and deep.
“Yes!” Sean gasped.
He did it again, and again, until the sixth stroke did the trick. Sean let out a cry as his ass began spasming around Emery’s cock. That was when Emery started fucking him, hard and fast. “That’s right, baby. I feel you coming.”
Sean’s cock exploded between them, allowing Emery to slide back and forth as he caught up and pumped his cum into Sean’s ass, fucking him until he finally collapsed on top of him.
They were both breathing hard.
Sean leaned his head forward and caught Emery’s earlobe between his lips, nuzzling it. “I have an early day tomorrow,” he said, his voice back to normal. “Sorry.”
Emery slowly pushed himself up. “Aw. No butt plug tonight?”
Sean shook his head. Then he grinned. “Not unless you want to wear it.”
Emery laughed and carefully untangled himself from Sean. “Too many meetings in the morning myself with clients to be distracted.”
“Oh, well.” He propped himself up on his elbows and surveyed the sticky mess on his belly. “Rain check?”
Emery stood and went to go clean up and bring him a wet washcloth and towel. “Definitely, babe. Definitely.”