Wrecked Intel

Chapter One

CODY LIVINGSTON STARED at the bonfire before him, his beer in one hand, and a guitar propped near him in the sand as he sat on a beach blanket. The night air had a slight chill to it, which wasn't exactly normal for that time of year in Costa Rica, so the bonfire was a welcome addition. Next to him was a sexy brunette (whose name he didn't bother to catch or ask) who was downing yet another beer while she wore a bikini that covered next to nothing.

Not that he was complaining. Looking at her was no hardship by any means.

But he was pretty sure she should have stopped drinking several beers back. She and her girlfriends were in Costa Rica celebrating the upcoming marriage of one of them and had all flown from California to spend a week letting their hair down and apparently their panties as well.

If Cody was right, the bride-to-be was currently down the beach a way, having sex with two surfers she'd been hitting on earlier at the bar that was a short walk from the bonfire. What he did know for a fact was that neither of the surfers the woman was boning was her soon-to-be husband.

Cody didn't care one way or the other about the morality of what was going on. If the people involved were all consenting adults and having a good time, it wasn't his business. Sticking his nose in their affairs wasn't something he planned to do. It wasn't as if the woman was his soon-to-be wife or anything.

He snorted.

Not that he'd ever had one of those.

A wife. Soon-to-be or otherwise.

Hell, he didn't even have someone who could be labeled a girlfriend, let alone a steady one. He slept with a different woman each time the need for sex hit him, which was often, with his condition as an alpha male shifter. He didn't bother with things as trivial as names of the women he slept with or whether they were married. He wasn't exactly proud of that but since it was his truth, he didn't much care. He didn't need to know their names or relationship status. It wasn't as if he'd see them again. They were aware he wasn't in it for anything more than sex. He was never shy about stating as much upfront.

No need to promise something he'd never deliver—commitment.

To date, no woman had turned him down. Hell, he rarely, if ever, needed to ask. They just offered themselves up to him. The woman beside him had more than hinted at wanting sex from him already.

Any other time he'd have been all about banging a hot chick, but he'd been off his game the last few nights. The urge for sex wasn't there. And if it was, he hadn't noticed it over the unease and anxiety that had been at the forefront as of late.

The woman giggled and tugged on his arm, nearly making him spill his beer. She had one of those laughs that was off…forced. As if she didn't really find whatever it was that had prompted the laughing funny. Maybe she thought she was being cute. Or that her laugh was sexy.

He could assure her. It wasn't.

The hiccup that followed made him wonder just how far in the bag she was.

While Cody had made sure she and her friends weren't driving, he'd had no luck convincing any of them to slow down on the drinking. While he may not give two shits about their marital status, he did care about drunk driving. Innocents could end up hurt.

He was no role model, as he took another drink of his own beer. Then again, he wasn't driving anywhere. The small beach bungalow he was renting temporarily was just up the beach a short walking distance. It didn't matter that with his shifter metabolism, he would have to drink ten to twenty times more than a human just to feel the effects. It wasn't in him to put other people's lives on the line, and that was what someone did when they got behind the wheel impaired.

Since he wasn't driving, he was doing his best to make that ten to twenty times more drinking thing a reality. He wanted to numb himself. Specifically, his overactive brain. While it wasn't impossible for him to get drunk, it took some doing.

He needed something to take the edge off his current tense state. He didn't like feeling this way. Feeling worked up for no reason. Saying he'd been agitated was putting it mildly.

He glanced over at his longtime friend, Wheeler Summerbee, to find the man was kissing a sexy blonde who was also in a barely there string bikini. Evidently, the group of women shopped together at a store that was all about conserving fabric.

And bless that store for that fact.

Wheeler's current make-out partner was a member of the wedding party too, as noted by the sash she wore proclaiming her to be the maid of honor. Ironically, the sash had far more fabric to it than her bikini. She'd also been the one to encourage the bride to take off and have as much fun as she could before she got married.

Wheeler had picked a real winner.

The woman next to Cody ran her hand up his back and leaned in closer. She trailed a finger over the tribal tattoo on his upper arm. It was of a shark.

"Tiger shark?" she asked. "Or bull?"

Cody nearly took offense at the fact she'd guessed the wrong shark, two times in a row. "Uh, no. Great white."

She shuddered. "They scare me. I wish they'd gather up all the sharks and kill them. Make the waters safe for us."

Cody's jaw set. He did not share her opinion.

Then again, he was biased.

Even if he wouldn't have been able to change fully into a great white shark, he'd have taken exception with her comment and way of thinking. Sharks were vital to the ecosystem. Only dumbasses thought otherwise. Since it was clear her attributes didn't extend to brain power, he kept his mouth shut.

It would have been easy to launch into a diatribe on the decimation of a species, but he had a feeling the entire talk would go right over the woman's head. She didn't seem the type to have deep talks about anything other than the latest gossip about what celebrity was dating who and why. She'd also spent a good thirty minutes updating another of the women on what had happened on a television show she was obsessed with. Cody had never heard of it, but that wasn't a huge shock. He didn't watch much television or many movies. He'd rather be outdoors, surfing, swimming, or doing anything active rather than cooped up staring at a screen.

While he'd totally planned to let her comment about wiping out sharks stand, he found it bothering him more and more. "Humans have been doing a pretty damn good job of wiping out sharks. Might get your wish."

"Good," she said, before trying to run her hand boldly down the front of his bare torso, right to his groin.

Talking about the slaughter of his kind was hardly going to win her any points. Even if she didn't know what he really was—a shark-shifter.

He caught her wrist, stopping her before she'd have made contact with his cock. The act, on her part, was brazen, and if he were feeling more like himself, it would have been welcomed. But not now.

"Don't you want to find a private spot with me? We could have a lot of fun." She offered up a fake pout, combined with another of her forced laughs. It was a huge turnoff.

He released her wrist, giving it the smallest of nudges away from him. He didn't want to be touched by her though he couldn't exactly explain why. She was attractive. Very much so, but he wasn't in the mood for her or sex.

She pushed in closer to him, lowering her voice as she spoke, not that it would do much good since Wheeler had supernatural hearing. "You can do whatever you want to me all night long."

When he didn't answer right away, anger flashed through the woman's eyes and she raked her nails over his back hard enough for him to take note, but not hard enough to draw blood.

"I asked if you wanted to find a private spot… with me?"

He lifted a brow. "Heard you the first time. Not interested."

He'd have been nicer with the rejection if she wouldn't have scratched him the way she had. As it stood, he felt no need to spare her feelings.

With a huff, she stood and scurried off in the direction of another group of surfer guys. It didn't take her long to find her next mark. The man she picked headed off with her toward a darker area of the beach to no doubt spend the night doing what he wanted with her.

Good.

Better him than me.

One of the surfers near where she'd been looked over at Cody and raised his beer in the air, giving a small nod. Cody returned the gesture, sipping his own beer in the process. That guy knew he'd be getting fucked soon.

Cody found that slightly funny.

That guy could deal with the drama that no doubt came attached to the chick.

Cody and the other surfers flocked to the area a couple of times a year for the breaks. Costa Rica really offered it all when it came to surfing. Didn't matter how skilled a surfer one was; the region had something for them. He'd taught more than one man to surf on the bumps there over the years whenever he was in the country.

Many of the other surfers were familiar. Some were new. Like Cody, most of them were nomadic and went where the waves took them. Except for Wheeler. The man was about as far from a surfer as one could get. He wasn't in Costa Rica for the surfing. He was there for Cody.

Wheeler was not a fan of open water. He could swim. Cody had seen it. But Wheeler had an irrational fear of sharks, which was super ironic since he was one of Cody's best friends. Wheeler also had a fear of bats. That in itself was hysterical considering his supernatural side was often linked to the flying creature.

Wheeler was only in Costa Rica to spend some time with Cody and was due to head out soon. Another of their friends was supposed to have joined them, but he'd been a no-show. Kaiko Kahale was something of a free spirit. So much so, he made Cody look downright grounded.

Kaiko was like Cody in the sense that his shifter side required the ocean. But unlike Cody, Kaiko's shifted form was that of an orca, or more commonly known as a killer whale. More than once the two had spent time out to sea together. That had to confuse a lot of marine life, since great whites and killer whales weren't exactly known for palling around.

Cody laughed softly as he thought about the optics of it all. He didn't really know why his shark side didn't take exception to swimming around with Kaiko in orca form. He'd never really put a lot of thought into it. It could have been weirder. Kaiko could have been a weredolphin or something.

That would have been hilarious to see.

Kaiko hadn't called or sent word on where he was or if he was still coming or not. That didn't raise any red flags, since he was notorious for going off and doing what he wanted whenever the mood struck him, despite having made plans. He was probably out in the ocean, giving in to his baser needs and being one with his shifter side. A side he'd been born with—unlike Cody, who was a man- made supernatural.

That, or he was holed up in a tiny motel room with one, two, or ten hot women.

Yet another thing Kaiko was known for. He made womanizing look as easy as drawing in air. Didn't hurt that everything about the guy seemed to appeal to the opposite sex. From his imposing height—which somehow managed to be even taller than Wheeler and Cody, who were both well over six feet—to his year-round tanned skin. The coloring came from his Pacific Island roots. He was Samoan, and while he held true to a lot of his past, he'd had to let just as much go over the years.

Such was the way of it with immortals.

While it would have been nice to spend time with Kaiko again, since it had been a couple of years since they'd been around one another, it was probably for the best he'd been a no-show. Already Wheeler and Cody were courting danger being in the same location for a week.

It wasn't safe for them to be together in one spot for too long. Meeting as they did was already tempting fate. Pushing for more time was foolish. Unless they wanted to end up dead or lab rats— again.

They weren't exactly run-of-the-mill guys.

They were something humans wouldn't be able to easily wrap their minds around. That was part of why humans couldn't know the truth about them or what was really out there. Thank the gods for that.

Hell, Cody had been a card-carrying member of the supernatural club for decades, and even he found himself overwhelmed and shocked at different times. He learned something new daily about the underground world of the supernatural. Most of it he wished he didn't know.

Ignorance had certainly been bliss.

Life before it all had been hard, for sure, but those had been simpler times.

Innocent days.

All of that was long gone.

A life on the run was what it had left in its wake.

Wheeler broke off the kiss he'd been deep into and glanced over at Cody. A cocksure grin spread over his face. "Since when do you turn down a night of whatever you want?"

Cody tightened his hold on his beer and stared out at the ocean. The moon was reflecting off it, giving it even more appeal than it normally held for him. Considering he could shift shapes into a great white shark, that was saying something.

"Earth to the Code-stir," said Wheeler, his slight Southern drawl showing through as it often did. "You feeling all right there, buddy?"

Cody managed a nod and sipped his beer. "Tired."

That wasn't entirely true. Yes, he was tired, but it was more than that. He'd not been sleeping right for days. His nights had been marred by strange, disturbing dreams. They had filled him with the urgent desire to seek out some person who needed him. Someone who was in mortal peril. Who this person was had been a mystery to him. He didn't actually see them in his dreams. He simply sensed them. Their need.

Despite having no name, no face, no idea of who they might be, the feeling of having to get to them and help had been so overpowering that sleep eluded him.

The pattern of fitful nights and waking from bad dreams of someone needing him had left Cody irritable and off his game, to say the least. To answer Wheeler's question, no, he was not all right. He was pretty fucking far from all right.

Just before morning light, Cody had shot awake in bed, disoriented, lying in a pool of his own sweat, breathing fast. For a few tense moments he'd thought his heart might pound right out of his chest and his ears were ringing.

The lack of good sleep seemed to be having a negative effect on his shifter side as well. His shark felt volatile, as if it might force a change and eat everyone in sight if provoked. If he wasn't careful, he'd have a lot more in common with a bull shark than he wanted to. They ate just about anything they could get their nonexistent hands on.

"No offense, brother," said Wheeler, studying him carefully. "But you look like hammered shit."

Wheeler's lips twitched before a tiny smile tugged at them.

"Love you too," said Cody.

Wheeler's nearly ever-present acoustic guitar was sitting in its worn case that was lying open in the sand next to him. He rarely went anywhere without the thing, it being something of a security blanket for him. And he was good. Really good. He could play just about any instrument out there and sing as well.

Cody's musical talent was limited to the guitar, but he wasn't anywhere near the level of skill Wheeler was. From what Cody knew of the man's past, the guitar was something Wheeler had played since before he'd become immortal. And Cody strongly suspected it represented a tie to the man Wheeler used to be.

To a life he could never return to.

Such was the way of it.

The guitar case had faded stickers from various locations around the world. One of the Eiffel Tower was not only faded to the point it was barely recognizable, it was also peeling in various spots. At the rate it was going, the Eiffel Tower would be much, much shorter than when it started.

Cody could remember when Wheeler had gotten the sticker. They'd been on a mission in France to find others like them—Outcasts.

It was a label Cody wore with pride. To him, the term Outcast represented everything he'd gone through in his life, and fought for every day, and why he'd dedicated his life to helping those like him who were in trouble. It was a badge of honor. Not the pejorative some saw it as.

No. To him, Outcasts should hold their heads high. Sure, they weren't natural-born supernaturals, as was the case with most of the operatives who worked for Paranormal Security and Intelligence (PSI), save the vampire division, but the Outcasts had come out of the other side of a shit hand dealt to them by life, and stronger for it all.

That was worth taking pride in.

Years ago, he'd volunteered for testing while he was serving as a soldier. He'd been told the testing would be minimal, noninvasive, and would more than likely result in him being able to go longer without sleep and possibly increase his reflexes. It had done far more than that. Those conducting the experiments (his own government) had lied to the men they'd recruited. In truth, the testing was nothing short of torture, and in some respects, they'd succeeded in making the men monsters.

Thinking about everything he and his fellow brothers-in-arms had been subjected to still made Cody shudder and his pulse race to this very day. He'd endured atrocities the likes of which others could only think of in their worst nightmares, all in the name of science, and the government's quest to create a super soldier.

Men who were stronger, faster, and deadlier.

While the scientists had ultimately been successful in their mission—creating supernatural males from humans—their path to glory was littered with botched experiments. Failed attempts. Broken soldiers. Ones they considered to be failures.

Cody was part of that group.

So was Wheeler.

The rejects.

The Outcasts.

The broken operatives who had been pulled from the testing and from duty and tucked away in various private, secret facilities around the world until the day the people in charge decided it was too costly to keep them alive and too risky to set them free.

Their solution?

Kill the Outcasts.

To hell with the fact the men had put their trust in them. That they'd given up everything and everyone they knew in their previous lives to be part of the experiments and had gone through hell in the name of science. None of that had mattered to the government in the end.

It all had come down to money and liability. The government didn't want the public to know what it'd been doing. Especially since around the same time they'd decided to get rid of the evidence, Hitler was in the height of his Nazi eugenics craze. His creation of a master race.

No.

America, and the other governments who had stood with them in the testing, didn't want to sully their names with the truth. That they'd started it all. That Hitler had recruited a large number of their scientists to carry out his sadistic plans of racial cleansing and mass genocide.

They'd succeeded in killing a number of the men he thought of as brothers, but many had gotten away and gone to ground. Cody had spent decades helping them and any others like them. Over the years, that help morphed into something bigger, leaving him and a select number of others assisting those who needed aid.

He liked what he did.

Most of it was highly illegal, but he was a walking dead man, so he didn't much give a shit. On paper, he'd died in battle during a war that happened before most humans were born. He was a ghost who didn't exist.

In reality, he was a force to be reckoned with.

And he was fine with that.

It had taken him a long time to come to grips with what they'd made him—a man who could shape-shift into a great white shark.

It was enough to make some men fold and throw up a white flag of surrender.

Not him.

Wheeler had it worse than Cody. The gargoyle and vampire DNA introduced to his system had left Wheeler a mix of both, yet not fully either. A dangerous and deadly hodgepodge with an around- the-clock hunger for blood and a sensitivity to full sunlight.

His life wasn't easy, yet he rarely if ever complained.

Wheeler reached and grabbed his guitar, which was near Cody's, and positioned himself just right on his beach blanket in the sand. The woman he'd been making out with smiled and rested her chin on his bare shoulder as the man started to strum the guitar.

Wheeler began to sing an Eagles song whose title had the word sunrise in it. Ironic, since Wheeler was a vampire and sunrises weren't exactly welcome by him. Didn't stop the man from belting out the lyrics as he moved his foot along with the beat.

It wasn't long before additional surfers joined them, sitting around singing and drinking as they watched the fire burn. Their song choices made Cody feel like he'd taken a step back into the '70s. Not that he'd minded that era. It had fit well with his lifestyle of driving around in an old van that was converted with a bed in the back and everything he needed to basically live out of it. The top of the van had surfboards mounted to it and anything else he might want or need. He'd had the same van for decades and whenever he was back in North America, it was where he basically lived.

Much to Wheeler's chagrin, who could not fathom living out of a small van. Wheeler liked his creature comforts far too much to ever give them all up for the carefree lifestyle Cody tended to lead.

When duty called, Cody answered, but any other time, he could be found on a beach or in the water, in shark or human form.

He liked to think his nomadic lifestyle had something to do with him being part shark. If sharks stopped swimming, they died. That biology was what kept him always on the go, always on the move. But deep down, he knew there was more to it than that. Like on a Freudian level. He just didn't want to delve deeper. Doing so would mean he'd have to take a good hard look at his life, his emotions, his fears, and his desires.

No thanks.

He'd settle for open water and freedom. No psychoanalyzing shit for him. He didn't need his urge to be on the go all the time explained. He clung to any excuse he could to avoid examining himself and his life choices. That was fine. He excelled at fixing other people's problems but was shit at solving his own.

As far as other people and their issues, all had been relatively quiet in the underground network he'd dedicated the last several decades of his life to. That was a good thing. Quiet meant no one he knew and thought of as a brother was in danger. And that the bad guys weren't doing anything that put innocents at risk.

Bad guys.

The term bad guys used to be very cut and dry to him. It wasn't anymore.

Hell, he could be seen as a bad guy, depending on who was telling the story. He made his living off shady dealings and backdoor jobs, but no innocents were ever hurt in the process, so he didn't lose sleep over it. What he did while skating the morally right and wrong served a greater purpose. And gave him the funds he needed to live a very comfortable life if he wanted.

But that wasn't really who he was. Material things mattered little to him. So long as he had a surfboard and open water, he'd sleep on the beach if need be. Fancy wasn't something anyone who knew him would label him as.

Beach bum was more fitting.

Fine by him.

He simply squirreled away his earnings for the day he might want to settle down and plant roots. As highly unlikely as that scenario was, he'd been alive a hundred years. He knew a thing or two about planning for the future. His rainy-day funds would sustain him and any family he might have for a very long time.

The odds of him ever having a family of his own were slim to none. He wasn't human, and not many women would be fine with that truth, should he ever actually tell one. He couldn't reproduce— unless he believed the rumors about the genetically engineered soldiers from the Immortal Ops Program finding mates who were natural-born supernaturals. Which he did not. And to top it all off, he was a wanted man.

"You're deep in thought again," said Wheeler. "What's got you contemplating so hard I can see it happening?"

"Nothing," returned Cody before giving in and telling his friend what was on his mind. "Just thinking about how I save my money for a family I might one day have. Seems asinine when I say it out loud, considering what I am."

"What we are," corrected Wheeler, glancing over at the woman he'd been making out with, who was deep in conversation with another surfer. She was paying them little mind. "I'll admit to thinking about it myself once or twice. Not that I'm wanting to settle down anytime soon or anything. Don't much care to know my options were taken from me though, if that makes sense. Rather the choice of not having a family be just that—a choice. Unlike it is for us."

That summed it up perfectly. Their choices had been stripped from them by a group of scientists and doctors.

"Ever wish you could go back and stop yourself from saying yes to it all?" asked Cody, thankful that even if one of the others were listening in, they'd have no idea what the men were talking about.

Wheeler glanced down. "Don't much see the point of kicking my own ass over something that can't ever change."

"So, you're saying if you had it to do again, you would?"

Wheeler glanced away a moment. "No. It wasn't worth it."

"Part of me is thankful for the immortality, but the cost was steep," confessed Cody. "You lost more than most of us in it all."

Wheeler gave a slight shrug, attempting to appear as if it didn't bother him that he'd been left with the need for blood and a serious sensitivity to sunlight. "I'm used to it now."

"Really? I'm not sure I'm ever going to fully be able to wrap my mind around it all and what we went through. Not for lack of trying though," said Cody.

"Maybe you'll find an answer in those books and poems you're always reading," stated Wheeler with a grin. "Want to bore me with more poems that are older than we are? And, Cody, we are fucking old as dirt."

Cody laughed. "We're up there. I'll give you that much. Of the two of us, I'm aging better."

Wheeler flipped him off. "Neither of us has aged a day since it all happened. Nice try."

"That just means I was better-looking going into it all," added Cody, grinning wider.

Wheeler bent backwards and went for the cooler with beer in it. He flipped the lid, grabbed himself another and glanced at Cody. He lifted a brow. "Want another?"

Cody polished off his and set the glass bottle next to him in the sand to clean it up before they packed up for the night. "Sure."

Wheeler handed him a beer and then sat up, twisting the cap from his before taking a sizable drink. Neither man spoke as they sat there nursing their new beers. Cody could only guess that Wheeler was mulling over the events of their past as well. There was little room for uncertainty that Wheeler was as troubled by it all still as Cody was, regardless what the man said on the matter.

Cody stared at the water as he fought an inner battle with his shark. It was agitated and was behaving oddly. It wanted to be out there swimming, not sitting on the beach. He'd spent about a week in fully shifted form not long back. Normally, his shark side would be content for at least a few more weeks.

But no.

It did its version of clawing at him from within.

It took him a bit to realize the music had stopped. He found Wheeler staring at him, a worried look on his face. "We gonna have a problem?"

Cody pressed a smile to his face. "I'm fine. I swear."

"Sure you are," said Wheeler, handing the guitar off to another of the men. Since it was his prized possession, no one was normally permitted to touch it in any way, shape, or form. He treated it with kid gloves, which was funny since he had plenty of money to buy more. He just really liked that one. The fact he was handing it off to someone else spoke volumes.

The others around them were engrossed in song and conversation, and Wheeler's woman excused herself to go get something else to drink. Once she was out of earshot, Wheeler nodded to him.

"What's going on?" demanded Wheeler. "Am I going to have to knock your ass out to prevent an issue?"

"I don't know," confessed Cody, touching his abs. "My beast is freaking out about something. As much as I want to say you won't have to render me unconscious to protect everyone else, I can't make any promises. Might come to that."

Wheeler sat up more. Concern touched his brow as it wrinkled. "How much freak-out are we talking about here on a scale of one to Jaws?"

Cody grunted.

Wheeler grinned. "What? Honest question."

With a rub of his upper chest, Cody swallowed hard. "Whatever would be past the top end."

Wheeler jerked. "Shit. I'm not sure I can mesmerize everyone on this beach tonight so how about you not change into a shark right here in the sand? Okay? Besides, I'm strong, but not lift-a-fucking-two-plus-ton-shark-off-the-beach-and-into-the- water kind of strong. Not many of us are."

Cody pushed to his feet, knowing his friend was right. The safest thing for him to do was to get in the water and swim off whatever it was that was eating at him.

Wheeler stood as well and made a move to walk toward the water.

Cody snorted. "You're not seriously thinking of coming with me, are you? I scare the crap out of you while I'm in shifted form. Not to mention you're not a fan of being out on the water for any length of time."

Wheeler held up a hand. "No. You don't scare me. Sharks do. Your shark I trust. It's an ocean full of the rest of them that I don't."

Cody stiffened as he thought about the gnawing in his gut. "Wheeler."

"Yeah?"

"Right now, the last thing I'd trust is my shark," confessed Cody. "Don't get near it right now, okay?"

"Shit," added Wheeler. "That bad?"

Cody nodded. "I think I need to maybe swim it off. Get the excess energy out of me or something. I don't know."

"I'll come with you. I'll charter a boat or something to be close, in case you need help," said Wheeler.

While the offer was kind, it wouldn't work, and both men knew that.

"Wheeler, you do realize the sun will come up at some point and you'll be out in the ocean, with nowhere to take cover?" asked Cody. "Not sure I'd trust a boat to be my safe haven if I was you."

Wheeler curled his lip. "Well, when you put it that way, I think I'll just stay right here and keep the hotties company while you do whatever it is you do out there."

Cody laughed. "Thanks. Don't wait around for me. I'm guessing this will be a long trip out."

"Understood," said Wheeler, his attention going in the direction of the woman he'd been making out with. "I think I can keep myself busy until I fly out."

"Oh, I'm sure you can," said Cody with a laugh as he hurried toward the water.

His shark picked then to rear up, nearly making him shift then and there in front of everyone.

Thankfully, he managed to make it under the water before it happened.

Chapter Two

AS CODY SWAM in full shark mode, he reflected on his loss of control on the beach hours ago and what had prompted it. He still wasn't entirely sure what the catalyst had been, but he did know it wasn't a great sign that he was struggling as hard as he was with his shark. Even remaining in shark form, swimming for hours, past the point of dawn and now well into the morning light, had done nothing to help take the edge off what he'd been feeling.

The beast was still restless. It was as if it were hunting for something or someone.

Not hunting, he thought.

Searching.

Yes, that was it. The shark was searching for something or someone but felt no real need to clue Cody in on more details. Instantly, he was hit with visions from his dreams. Impressions of someone needing him. Of mortal danger.

Of death.

A tugging started deep in the pit of his stomach. It was as if he'd been caught on a fishing line, but without a hook or any tangible item. The feeling of being needed washed over him, filling every inch of him as he increased the speed with which he swam. He shot forward with purpose, despite the end goal being a mystery. Deep within, he knew it had something to do with the recurring dreams. The ones of someone he cared deeply for being in mortal danger.

The shark was still on a mission. Still searching for whoever or whatever it was on the hunt for.

Before long, he was near the waters of a protected area. The spot had been given protected status some time ago to help with the marine wildlife there. But that did nothing to stop the illegal poaching that occurred all the time.

More than once he'd heard talk of fishing vessels chumming the waters there to draw in as many sharks as they could. Shark fins were a hot commodity in certain countries. Shark fin soup was something of a delicacy, said to be beneficial to the health. In reality, it was something the elite treated themselves to at the expense of an entire species.

Finning was the practice of catching sharks, cutting off their fins to sell for shark fin soups, Eastern medicines, and whatnot, and then dumping the gravely injured shark back into the ocean to die. Shark populations were suffering because of the massacres, and if finning was left unchecked, sharks would die out.

People who feared sharks would think that was a good thing—like the hot chick who had wanted to do him back on the beach. Until they realized how vital sharks were to the ecosystem. Not that the woman would have grasped that concept.

The act of finning was disgusting, and if given a chance, he'd totally allow his shark side to munch on as many of the men partaking in the act as it saw fit.

He had half a mind to take the lead from his shark side and steer away from the fishing area, near a small island, but the shark seemed adamant they continue onward. Wanting to see how it played out, Cody didn't protest.

It was then he sensed something was off.

Danger.

Serious fucking danger.

But the inner alarm wasn't sounding for himself —no, it was for someone else.

The very same panicked feeling that he'd felt when waking from the nightmare came back to him tenfold. The shark did its version of acting out by moving like a torpedo through the water, right at the fishing vessels that lay ahead.

For a split second, Cody thought the shark would ram one of the vessels.

The beast wasn't fond of steel cages or certain metals used in the hulls of some boats. It disrupted its system of sense organs along its lateral line—the ampullae of Lorenzini. The shark had been known to charge more than one steel diving cage in its time. Thankfully, more and more cages were being constructed out of aluminum, which was all around better, as it didn't rust either.

He'd come up against things that overloaded his sensors and senses in the past, but this was different.

This wasn't confusion and sensory overload.

This was calculated yet frantic.

Help.

Someone needed his help.

It was then he picked up on the telltale sounds of splashing and the faint beating of a heart. He knew without being told the heartbeat was human. For a fraction of a second, his heartbeat fell into sync with the one he was hearing, as if the two hearts were beating as one.

The feeling passed and when it did, he heard the other heartbeat beginning to fade, to slow, and everything in him went on high alert.

No!

The shark veered off in the direction the sound of distress was coming from, and for a moment, the morning sunlight that was piercing through the water near the surface made it hard for Cody to make out what he was seeing. Then, it took his mind even longer to process it all.

It was a child.

A little girl, to be exact.

And she was sinking in the water, on her rapid descent, as blood floated around her.

She was hurt, and if what he was hearing was correct, she was dying.

Like hell!

Cody shut off, his mind a blur of panic and rage. Why was a little girl out in the middle of the ocean, sinking like a rock, with no one around to help her?

His senses told him he wasn't the only predator in the area. That all the blood from the finning, combined with that of the child, was attracting other species of sharks. If one of them thought of harming the child, Cody would bite clean through them.

The little girl went limp in the water, her small arms floating up and above her head as she continued downward. Her long black hair swayed and danced around her face and head. As it lifted higher, he spotted a large gash at the base of her neck. Blood flowed from the open wound freely, swirling in the water, leaving a surreal pattern in its wake.

She was in a pair of white shorts and a blue top, both of which had blood on them. When he saw she was in sandals, and not barefoot or in a swimsuit, he wondered if she'd come from one of the fishing vessels.

Even if she had, he wasn't going to let her die.

It wasn't in him to let a child suffer, even if she had been with assholes who thought cutting the fins off his kind was a good idea. That was hardly her fault. Beyond that, there was something about this child that made him intent on saving her.

No matter the cost.

Cody reached her and tried to shift back into human form to be able to grab her with his hands, but the shark wasn't having any part of that. It was as worried about her as he was. And clearly, it wasn't going to chance the human part fucking this up.

He got the distinct impression it thought he'd take the situation as seriously as he took most things in life—not very much.

But that wasn't the case. Cody was dead serious about saving the child.

Not that the shark cared about his opinions on it all.

The shark took matters into its own hands, positioning itself under the little girl and thrusting its head up. The action forced the child upward. Unfortunately, it also left his razor-sharp teeth catching the delicate skin of her right forearm in the process. Instantly the taste of her blood filled his mouth. It didn't ignite hunger in the shark, as Cody feared it might. Rather, it made the shark's burning need to see the child safe intensify to a level that made it hard for Cody to concentrate.

The shark tried to be more gentle with her as he nudged her toward the surface. Once there, it backed off to some extent, detecting what Cody did.

Other sharks were in the area, attracted by the blood and noises. To make matters worse (not that it wasn't bad enough), the sharks he was sensing were ones with reputations for attacking humans.

Bull and tiger sharks.

A lot of people thought tiger sharks weren't in the waters around Costa Rica anymore.

They were wrong.

They were still there, just not in the numbers they had been. And right now, all the ones that were seemed to have converged on the area.

Just fucking great.

Most were pushing fourteen feet, which was large for their kind. And while he was much bigger, there were far more of them than there were of him. Not to mention, more sharks were appearing left and right. Already he was grossly outnumbered. But that did nothing to dissuade him.

He heard the faint sounds of someone yelling frantically from the island not far from where they were. If memory served, there was a rocky cliff face nearby. Had the child tumbled over it and into the chumming and finning area?

Cody struggled with his shark, wanting to return to human form to get the child to safety—to land. The shark's senses were in overdrive and it was as panicked as he was. Maybe more. Which was saying something because his shark side didn't get nervous or freak out.

Ever.

But something had unnerved it more than once.

Not something, thought Cody.

Someone.

The little girl.

He and the shark worked together to keep the little girl's head above water, the sound of her heartbeat waning more and more. The very thought of her expiring then and there sent Cody into a state of abject terror that he couldn't even begin to explain. There was simply no way in hell he was letting her die.

None.

Not happening.

He thrashed and went at a large tiger shark who had come in too close to the child.

The tiger wisely retreated but didn't go far.

No.

It, along with countless others, circled the perimeter, stalking their prey. They didn't seem to understand that if the finning crew didn't get them, Cody would. In truth, they stood a better chance of survival with the finning ships than they did with Cody should they make a move to attack the child.

Gathering as much control as he could, he pushed out with his mind, sending a signal to the marine life around him. No harm was to befall the child. Period. The signal was similar to how he could communicate to other men like him—other Outcasts. They had a shared mental pathway they'd all been taught to use.

For now, he could only hope the very way he'd reach out to his brethren when they were in shifted form would reach the non-supernatural marine life. That his warning would be understood and respected. He didn't want to take any of their lives if he could help it. Already the finning vessel had slaughtered so many sharks. Ending more wasn't in Cody's plan but he would if given no choice. He'd kill them all if it meant the little girl was safe.

Cody heard shouting in a foreign language. Then the sounds of a motorboat reached him. The engine was small, meaning it didn't belong to the fishing vessels. Deep down, he knew that whoever was coming would assist the child. That didn't mean he was leaving her just yet.

He circled under her, and she sank once more.

This time, her eyes opened. Her hair lifted again, showing him the gash on the back of her neck once more. It was severe.

Her tiny body twisted in the water, turning with the force of the current pushing around her. Her gaze locked on him. Still, no fear showed in her.

She couldn't have been more than nine or maybe even ten years old, and scarcely weighed anything.

He expected fear to show in her dark brown eyes. Grown men would have been terrified given the circumstances. She was drowning, was injured, and a giant shark was next to her.

That wasn't the case.

Curiosity was there…and a strange calmness.

No signs of terror at all.

Was she in shock?

Maybe she was too young to fully grasp the danger she was in.

He went toward her, his intent to push her to the surface for air again.

Her tiny hand darted out—and she did the strangest of things when he was close enough.

She ran her hand over his head, petting him as if he were a dog, not a nearly three-ton predator.

As her fingers connected with his skin, the fierce need to protect her and keep her safe intensified to the point it was maddening. It became hard to hold on to anything close to his focus. The shark took hold of the momentary lapse and ripped away any small thread of control Cody had from him.

He roared from within, fearing the shark's nature would leave it harming the little girl.

When the shark nudged her up to the surface before darting wide to circle and come at her again, he calmed slightly. It repeated the act several more times, each time pushing her with as much care as it could to the surface for air.

The sound of the approaching small craft intensified.

Cody went wide again, needing to tip sideways slightly to maintain a visual on the child, his intent to remain close to the girl until help arrived.

He was almost to her again when something pierced his back, sending pain shooting through him. He'd been tagged once before, by well- meaning scientists, but it hadn't felt like this. He'd barely felt anything when they'd done it. But the act had left him having to dig a tracker out of his back when he'd returned to human form.

It had also given Wheeler one hell of a good laugh because Cody had needed the man's assistance.

Getting tagged was nothing like what he'd just felt.

Nothing at all.

In the next second, netting was under him, closing him in, yanking him toward the surface in the direction of the fishing vessel.

He was hardly a small shark.

His species alone was massive. Cody, being supernatural and not a normal shark, was even bigger than others.

Lifting him out of the ocean in full shifted form wasn't something that should have been possible with the ease in which it was occurring, yet that was exactly what was happening.

He thrashed, trying to free himself, to no avail.

As he broke the surface, he saw men leaning over the side of a vessel that was positioned near the fishing boats. He'd not noticed it before. The markings on the side weren't ones he'd ever seen. The shark couldn't make any sense of them, but Cody could. The logo read Donavon Dynamics Corp Research Vessel.

Great. I'm getting tagged again. Never going to live this down.

He waited for the men huddled near the rail of the ship to set about tagging and releasing him. The researchers in the past had always been very quick about taking their measurements, applying their equipment, and getting him back in the water. It was why he'd never shifted back into human form to get away.

There was no need to reveal the secret that supernaturals were real.

But there was a need now.

The little girl required his assistance. He didn't have time to play the dutiful part of the research shark for eggheads. They'd have to get their data elsewhere. He tried again to take control and shift, but the shark was stunned, its sensors off more than normal around large metal vessels.

Something was wrong.

Cody saw one of the men on the research vessel holding a small box. When he realized the box was emanating a sound wave that was interfering with his shark side, he took serious note of the men there, all watching him with nothing short of glee in their eyes. Not the excitement typically seen in biologists elated to be close to one of the biggest white sharks they'd ever seen. No. This was far different.

Disturbing even.

One of the men put his hand on a taller man's shoulder, patting it as he did. "Well done, Jasper. Looks as if the witch was right. He would be summoned here with the right bait. Get him in the holding tank and be sure to begin administering the drugs to keep him from shifting back. The acoustic disruptor won't keep him sedated long. See to it the vessels around us are paid to look the other way. And handle the small boat that came from the island."

"Yes, Helmuth," said Jasper. "Can I watch when the nerds cut him open to see what's inside? What makes him tick?"

Helmuth's gaze swept to Cody as the netting was brought up and over the deck. "I plan to keep him alive as long as possible. A dead wereshark is no good to me. He'll give samples and what I need for centuries. Perfect."

Wereshark?

They knew what he was?

Reason said Cody should have been worried about himself, since it was clear he was in jeopardy and these men were no ordinary boatful of eggheads. That they were more than likely supernaturals themselves, and Cody was in a world of shit.

But Cody's only concern was for the little girl. He'd lost sight of her in the chaos.

"David!" yelled a woman, her voice shrill, loaded with fear. It sounded as if it were coming from the direction he'd first heard the small craft approaching from. "Do you see her?"

"Cut the engine!" shouted a male before Cody heard the distinct sound of a boat slicing through the water.

Had help reached the little girl?

Was she going to be okay?

As he was lifted fully from the water, he realized he wasn't going to be okay. In fact, he was about as far from okay as he could get.