The Master Shark's Mate (Fire & Rescue Shifters Book 5) Read online

  “May I cut in?”

  Panting with exertion, Martha looked up—and lost her breath entirely.

  The Pearl Empress, ruler of all the shifters of the sea, smiled down at her. Her towering, indigo-haired mate stood behind the sea dragon queen, face solemn but eyes gleaming.

  From the startled look on Finn’s face, he hadn’t been expecting them either. He started to go down to one knee, but the Empress stopped him with a gesture.

  “We’re not here on official business. Just to dance at your mating celebration.” The Empress raised her eyebrows at Martha. “If you’ll let me borrow your mate for a few minutes?”

  Martha relinquished Finn to her. He still had a slightly stunned look on his face as he took his Empress’s hands. They whirled away, the Empress falling easily into step with the music.

  “I am afraid I am not one for dancing,” the Empress’s mate said to her, bowing a little. “But perhaps you will walk with me?”

  Martha took his offered arm. She racked her brain for how he’d introduced himself back in Atlantis, but all that she could remember was that it had been long. “Uh, I’m afraid I forgot your title.”

  “Royal Consort of the Pearl Empress, Imperial Champion for the Pearl Throne, Knight-Poet of the First Water, and Firefighter for the East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service.” He smiled down at her. He was even taller than Finn. “But you can call me John.”

  “Firefighter?” she couldn’t help asking, as they headed away from the dancers and toward the peace of the lake shore. “Really?”

  He inclined his head in confirmation. “It is a long story. But if you are ever in England, I would very much like to introduce you to my comrades on Alpha Team. One of them is…somewhat akin to your Master Shark. Born to a position of power, and isolated by his unique nature. But you, I think, would not be intimidated by him.”

  “I’d love to. Um, though don’t hold your breath. I’ve already had one exotic vacation this year, and England’s kind of a long way away.”

  He shot her a somewhat mysterious glance, one corner of his mouth twitching up. “Perhaps it may be closer than you think.”

  She narrowed her eyes at him. “How did you get here tonight, John? Sea dragons don’t fly, as far as I’m aware.”

  “No more than sharks do.” He glanced back at the dancers, his expression sobering. “If I may ask…is he happy here?”

  “Think so.” A sudden fear seized her heart. “That’s not why the two of you are here, is it? To ask him to go back?”

  John shook his head, the gold charms braided into his hair catching the firelight. “On my honor, we are not. And we would not. His days of service are done. She came to give him some gifts, that is all.”

  Martha let out her breath, slowly. “Good. Just be warned, if I ever get the feeling you all are nagging at him, I’ll put a flea in your ear. And any of my kids will tell you that you don’t want that.”

  “I will consider myself warned.” He chuckled. “Though we may need to ask you to berate the Sea Council. They are begging the Empress to bring back the Master Shark.”

  “What?” Martha’s eyebrows shot up. “I thought the other sea lords hated him?”

  “Oh yes. But at least there was only one of him.” John’s white teeth gleamed against his dark skin, his smile rather predatory for all that it wasn’t as sharp-edged as Finn’s. “Now there are five. The Empress reinstated the Council of Teeth, giving them all official positions as part of the Sea Council.”

  Martha smirked. “Five Shark Lords instead of one Master Shark. Sounds like a fair trade to me. Though I’d have liked to have seen the sea lords’ faces when she announced it.”

  “I am surprised you did not hear the screams from here.” He gazed out at the reflection of the moon in the lake. “My Empress wished to speak with your mate…but I came to speak with you. I would ask you for a favor, if you would permit it.”

  Martha blinked at him. She couldn’t imagine this strapping young man needing anything from her. “What kind of favor?”

  “I am the Imperial Champion, and my greatest and foremost duty is to protect my mate.” His voice softened, his pride and love clear. “She is strong—stronger than even she knows—but even the strongest leader sometimes needs guidance from those older and richer in experience. She would never disturb the peace that he has earned…but I would ask you to visit Atlantis, from time to time. For her sake.”

  “That we’ll do, and gladly.” Martha smiled up at him. “It’ll take us a little while to find the balance that works, how we’re going to live our lives from now on. I’ve still got my hands too tight on the reins here to let go easy. But if a Master Shark can learn to step back and let others have their turn driving, I guess an old coyote can do the same. You’ll be seeing us in Atlantis, never fear.”

  He bowed to her, like a knight from a fairytale. “We will be honored.”

  “Ready to go, John?” The Empress walked toward them, Finn at her side. He had a slightly strange look on his face, as if he was trying to process something. There was a black pearl around his neck, strung on a silver chain, that hadn’t been there before.

  Martha went to her mate, taking his hand. “All okay?”

  He nodded at her, but it was the Empress he addressed. “I will think on it. Expect to hear from me soon.”

  The Empress touched the pearl at his throat. “You know how to reach me. Thank you, Master—that is, Finn.”

  The pair waded into the lake. A wave of displaced water surged over the shore as they shifted, their human shapes blurring into the impossibly large, sinuous forms of sea dragons.

  The Empress was black as the night, every scale shining like the pearl around Finn’s neck; John, a deep, rich indigo, the exact shade of his hair in human form. The water closed over their jeweled backs.

  “What did she want to give you?” Martha asked Finn, as they watched the V-shaped ripples head toward the center of the lake. “That pearl?”

  He nodded, touching it. “It is for scrying. I used to have a similar one, when I was the Voice of the Empress. It will allow me to speak to her, when I wish, using the surface of a pool of water.”

  “Sounds handy. And what’s this thing you told her you’d think about?”

  He hesitated. “She…told me some news. The Pearl Empire will have a new heir, this time next year.”

  “Oh! They’re having a baby?”

  “Yes.” His gaze tracked the distant ripples of the underwater sea dragons. “She asked if I would be the child’s champion. Godfather, I think you would call it.”

  She squeezed his hand. “Sounds like quite an honor.”

  “It is.” He looked down at her, his deep-set eyes shadowed. “But…it is a tie to Atlantis. I did not know whether you would approve of that.”

  She nestled closer to his side. “Of course I do. It’s where you come from, Finn. I don’t want you to never see your home again.”

  He kissed the top of her head. “You are my home.”

  “Oh, you.” Martha narrowed her eyes. The ripples on the water had vanished, suspiciously abruptly. “Hey, where did they go? For that matter, how did they get here?”

  His lips curved in a slight, mysterious smile. “Do you have your pearl?”

  “Of course I do.” Martha touched the golden locket that she always wore around her neck. “Why?”

  Without a further word, he waded out into the lake. Turning, he held out his hand to her.

  Martha glanced back at the distant bonfire, with the silhouettes of their pack gathered around it. The party was starting to die down now, parents gathering up dozing children and carrying them off to blankets under the stars. A few other couples were quietly slipping away into the trees, hand-in-hand. Soft laughter carried on the warm night air.

  Their pack was safe, and happy. For a few hours at least, they wouldn’t be missed.

  Her pulse rose in anticipation as she joined Finn, the lake water lapping around her thighs. Taking her hand, he dr
ew her deeper, until the lake lifted her off her feet and into his waiting arms.

  He bore her up in the water, her back to his front, his calm, strong heartbeat echoing in her own chest. Tipping back her head, she stretched out her limbs, letting the water stream like ribbons through her spread fingers. The cloudless night was ablaze with stars. Weightless in the water, she could scarce tell where the lake ended and the sky began. She floated through eternity, wrapped in her mate’s embrace.

  “Ready?” he said softly into her ear.

  “For what?” she started to say, but he was already ducking them under the water. Her words were lost in bubbles, the pearl around her neck glowing as its magic took hold.

  The water of the lake tasted different than the sea had; a hot, muggy June day rather than clear winter air. It was murkier too, so that she could barely see Finn’s pale form swimming beside her. She kept a tight hold of his hand as he drew her down into the depths.

  And then-

  She gasped in shock at the sudden salt tang in her mouth. The green-brown lake waters turned to crystal-clear turquoise. The unmistakable murmur of the open sea filled her ears as they floated up to the surface.

  The instant their heads broke into air, she flung her arms around his neck, whooping with delight. She could feel him smiling against her lips as she kissed him.

  “A Sea Gate?” she said, when they broke apart at last. “Why didn’t you tell me there was one in our lake?”

  His deep, rasping laugh vibrated through her bones. “Because there wasn’t, until tonight. The Empress made it. The third gift she came to give us.”

  She hugged him tight, tears of joy mingling with the saltwater on her cheeks. “So now the sea is always just a short swim away. We can stay with the pack, and still visit Atlantis whenever we want, and—oh, Finn.”

  “Not just Atlantis.” He turned her in the water, pointing. “Look.”

  An island rose out of the sea, its low peak crowned by stars. The breeze carried the faint scent of jasmine across the waves. In the distance, she could just about make out a few scattered lights, nestled above the wide, sweeping bay.

  All the breath sighed out of her. “Shifting Sands?”

  He kissed the side of her neck. “It seemed only appropriate.”

  The slight pressure of his teeth against her skin made her toes curl in the water. “How fast can you swim?”

  The answer, it turned out, was ‘astonishingly fast.’ Before she knew it, he was carrying her out of the surf. She sighed again in delight as she recognized the tiny, hidden cove with its tumbling waterfall.

  The place where she’d first shown him her coyote. The place where he’d first given her his smile.

  “Oh yes,” she breathed. “Here.”

  The white sands still held the warm heat of day. He lay her down on them, covering her body with his own. She closed her eyes as he kissed her gently, languidly, as though they had all the time in the world.

  And oh, they did, they did.

  The sea murmured in soft applause as they took their time. She was intimately familiar by now with every hard plane of his body, yet awed delight still rose in her like the tide every time she touched him.

  She ran her fingers over the curve of his chest, down the hollow of his spine. She traced the tracks of old scars with her tongue. So many battles, so many long hard years, and yet he had fought his way home to her arms.

  He stroked her in return; the laughter-lines at the corners of her eyes, the callouses on her fingers, the stretch marks curving over her hips. She knew that he treasured every part of her, as much as she treasured every part of him. They were who they were. Neither of them would have it any other way.

  She arced up into him as he nipped his way down her body. He was always so careful, so exquisitely careful, with those sharp-edged teeth. But tonight they scraped just a little harder, teasing, tormenting. She gasped as he pressed them into the soft flesh of her inner thigh, anticipation flooding her core.

  “Now, Finn,” she begged, winding her legs around him, offering herself up to his hungry mouth.

  But still, he didn’t bite. Oh, he claimed her with his mouth all right, until she writhed against him and screamed out his name, pleasure pounding through her louder than the waves. Yet he still didn’t bite.

  Spreading her legs wider, he pulled her upright, so that she straddled his lap. She cried out in wordless satisfaction as he slid into her. Slowly, so slowly, his bared teeth clenched with the effort of holding himself back. She bit at him, near-blind with need, but he didn’t relent. He made her wait, his calloused hands hard on her hips, as he gave himself to her inch by exquisite inch.

  At last, he filled her utterly. She trembled around him, held right on the brink of ecstasy, an excitement more intense than any she’d ever known singing through her veins. His shoulders were hard as iron under her hands, his breathing ragged. She knew he was a hairsbreadth away from losing all control, and just the thought of that nearly tipped her over the edge all on its own.

  His eyes were just a ring of silver around deep, dark pupils. Feather-light, he kissed her lips, then worked his way down her neck. She whimpered with every touch of his mouth, clenching around him.

  And still he didn’t bite.

  He rested his mouth right on the junction of her neck and shoulder. “Martha,” he breathed.

  “Finn.” She tipped her head back for him, giving him her throat. “My mate.”

  The sharp points of his teeth pressed down. And he was in her and she was around him and at last, at last, they were one.

  He was her mate, and she was his. And they would never be separated again.

  “Will it leave a scar?” she asked him sleepily, much later.

  His rough lips brushed tenderly against the shallow bite-mark, already scabbing over. “I think so.”

  She stretched happily, watching the horizon lighten with the first rays of dawn. “Good.”

  He chuckled, moving above her to claim her mouth again. *My mate,* he said softly, mind-to-mind.

  Oh, his voice was beautiful in her soul. Deep and rich and strong as the sea. She would never tire of hearing the music of his true, secret self.

  *My mate,* she said back, reflecting that pure, endless love.

  Her stomach chose to break the moment by growling loudly. She groaned, covering her face in embarrassment, as Finn’s shoulders shook in his dry, silent laugh.

  “Oh Lord. Well, that certainly brings us back to reality with a bump.” She sat up, brushing sand from her hair. “We’d better swim back home and find some breakfast.”

  He quirked an eyebrow at her. “It occurs to me…there is an excellent buffet on the other side of the island. It would be a much shorter swim. And we did cut our vacation short by a day.”

  “Oh, no, we can’t just turn up at the resort unannounced, without even a reservation.” She bit her lip, tempted despite herself. “Can we?”

  “There are certain advantages to being a shark,” he said, holding out his hand. His gray eyes gleamed wickedly. “No one expects me to observe social niceties.”

  Laughing, she let him pull her to her feet. Hand-in-hand, they headed for the sea, their footprints side-by-side in the white, eternally shifting sands.

  <<<<>>>>

  A Note from Zoe Chant

  Thank you for buying my book! I hope you enjoyed it. Please consider leaving a review on Amazon - I love hearing what my readers think.

  The Master Shark’s Mate is a crossover between my Fire & Rescue Shifters series and my Shifting Sands series. The Master Shark himself was first introduced in Firefighter Sea Dragon, while Tex, Magnolia, and the other resort staff are from the Shifting Sands series.

  There will be two more books in the Fire & Rescue Shifters series, and the next one (yes, series fans, it’s Hugh’s turn at last!) will be out soon. If you’d like to be notified when I release them, please click here to join my mailing list. As a thank you, I’ll send you a free book!

 
; Keep reading for a very special sneak preview of Fire & Rescue Shifters Book 6. If you’ve read the previous books in the series, you’ll know why I’m not revealing the full title just yet…

  The cover of The Master Shark’s Mate was designed by Augusta Scarlett.

  Also by Zoe Chant

  Firefighter Dragon (Fire & Rescue Shifters # 1) A curvy archaeologist with the find of a lifetime + a firefighter dragon shifter battling his instincts + a priceless artifact coveted by a ruthless rival = one blazing hot adventure!

  Firefighter Pegasus (Fire & Rescue Shifters # 2) A curvy pilot wary of flighty men + a firefighter pegasus shifter determined to win her heart + a high speed air race with even higher stakes = one explosive romance!

  Firefighter Griffin (Fire & Rescue Shifters # 3) A curvy single mom burned by love + a unique half-eagle, half-lion shifter firefighter with a wounded soul + the little boy who brings them together = one heart-warming romance!

  Firefighter Sea Dragon (Fire & Rescue Shifters # 4) A lonely woman who feels like a fish out of water + a firefighter sea dragon baffled by human ways + a forbidden love that will shake the whole sea = one magical romance!

  Tropical Tiger Spy (Shifting Sands #1) A unique shifter in search of her past + a tiger shifter spy on an undercover mission + a shifters-only resort with secrets to hide = a dangerous and thrilling romantic adventure!

  Tropical Wounded Wolf (Shifting Sands #2) A curvy math teacher on vacation + a wolf shifter who spent years in captivity + an accident that leaves them stranded together in a jungle paradise = one thrilling romance!

  Tropical Bartender Bear (Shifting Sands #3) Coming very soon…

  And many more!

  Special Sneak Preview

  Fire & Rescue Shifters Book 6

  When I find my sister, Ivy Viverna thought grimly as she flew through the cold night air, I am going to kill her with my bare hands.