Kissing the Shark (Maritime Monsters #1)

Chapter 4- The Shark

CHAPTER 4- THE SHARK

SURFACE VEHICLES ARE never comfortable, but I have only ever been in what my Aunt Sarah calls her truck. I cannot help fidgeting as we drive through downtown Mareflow towards the coast. My discomfort is primarily from the fact that I may or may not be getting closer to finding my mate.

I breathe in the saltwater air as we approach a building on the cliffs. With the windows down, I listen for the crashing of the waves. As always, the sea calls to me. But Aunt Sarah insisted that if we are to do this, we enter through the front door like surface dwellers.

The vehicle comes to a stop and I gaze at the structure before us. The beige and blue exterior is decorated with rudimentary outlines of dolphins and manta rays. Massive glass doors make up the front facade. Several concrete walking paths lead to the ocean and the posterior of the institute. There are stone steps, and several patrons leave their vehicles to walk toward the entrance of the building .

“Now, you remember the plan?” Aunt Sarah asks from the driver seat.

“Yes. We will sign up, and then, after a few days, try to hunt down the owner of the key.” I hold up the precious totem in my hand.

Mother moves forward, blocking my view. She’s sitting in between us, since the truck has three small seats in the front. “Are you sure, Son?”

“Yes.” I nod and play with the key chain in my hand. “I do believe this man is my mate.”

“My precious shark, you know I don’t mind that you like men. And yes, I’m thrilled you want to be more involved with the surface world. Heck, I even want to meet this man. But he might not be accepting of you.”

She takes my hand and squeezes it. “Society has come a long way since the Halloween Wave morphed us all, but not everyone is accepting. And even if he’s cool with you being a shifter, and even if he’s gay, he just might not be interested in you, as a person. The odds of him falling for you are like finding a singular golden shark pup in the Pacific Ocean.”

I hum and take in her words. I stare out at the institute, then back to my left. Aunt Sarah and Mother both stare at me expectantly. “I need to see this through. I feel the pull to him, and it is imperative I find him. He is my golden shark pup.”

Aunt Sarah swoons and Mother puts her hand on my face. Her eyes gleam, and deep emotions I don’t recognize thrum between us. “I renounced my human identity, and I never looked back.”

“Except for the occasional milkshake,” Aunt Sarah murmurs.

We all chuckle. “Right. Except for that.” Mother wipes my face and my eyes burn despite the laughter. “But I knew I couldn’t keep you hidden away in the ocean forever. I only hope that any pain that you might experience here on the surface is worth this journey you’re about to embark on.”

“Thank you, Mother.” I pat her hand on my face. “But I am the razor-jawed predator of the sea. I can take the pain, I promise.”

Several minutes later, we’ve checked in at the front desk area of the MM Institute. The three of us are escorted past the museum area toward what I’m told are the offices. Gazing at the lobby is a fascinating moment as well. Banners float above, along with aquatic artwork from the floor to the ceiling. My poor literacy means I cannot quite make out what the posters all detail, but there are several pictures of young humans pointing at fish in windows.

Why would fish be placed in windows? Is this what they will do to me, keep me in a glass cage?

We are ushered into a small office to meet the executive of the institute. “I’m so glad to meet you all.” The blonde woman in the pantsuit instructs the three of us to have a seat. The plastic chairs aren’t too uncomfortable after I adjust my tail. “I’m Emma. We are so honored to have you in our liaison and research program.”

“It’s not for me. It’s for my son,” Mother says.

“Of course. Now, Sarah told me on the phone that you live primarily in the ocean?”

“Exclusively,” Mother says. While they talk, I grip the key chain tighter. When can we find my mate?

“And you would like to enroll him in this program?”

Mother looks at Aunt Sarah, then me, and I nod. “That is correct. He is twenty-one years old, and we’d like him to learn more about surface life.”

“This is so wonderful.” Emma types away at her laptop, and I fight the urge to impatiently tap my feet. “We’ve been looking for a true maritime monster. Your experience will help us tremendously in our research projects.”

“Of course,” I reply, but mother lifts her hand up quickly.

“What would that entail?”

“Nothing invasive. Lots of questions and answers about sea life. Measurements of your abilities. You would eventually work alongside the rest of our team, helping with rehabilitation projects of animals. The amount of knowledge you have about the ocean must be staggering.”

She chuckles but the three of us simply exchange glances. After a few seconds of silence, Emma’s smile drops and she glances down at her laptop again.

“Anyway…” she says.

“When can I meet your researchers, the ones who use lockers?” I ask, sternly.

“Nephew, play it cool,” Aunt Sarah murmurs.

“Ah, eager to start today. I love it!” Emma replies cheerfully. “Just some quick logistics.”

“Then the tour? Meeting the staff?” I ask, not wanting to draw this out.

“Of course!” Emma looks down. “First, name and date of birth?”

“He was born right after Halloween in…” Mother rattles off details of my birth date and about the Ha lloween Wave. Emma seems fascinated by the fact that Mother needed to be hauled into the ocean from the delivery ward of a public hospital.

“It was fortunate that you didn’t shift in some land-locked state!” Emma laughs and we all nod.

“Yes. The ocean has been our refuge.” Mother looks at me and smiles, almost dolefully. “But now my son wants to learn from you.”

“Preferably from men!” Aunt Sarah chirps. If my scaly cheeks could blush, they would right now.

“Wow! Fascinating!” Emma continues to type. “But I never got your name.”

“My last name is Shaughnessy,” I reply.

“And first name?”

The three of us are once again speechless. Since Mother and I only communicate with Aunt Sarah, I have never needed a name. After all, the other creatures only know me as the predator.

I clear my throat and gaze into Emma’s bright eyes. “Razorjaw.”

The next day, I arrive at the institute via the shore. The building is built on a short cliff surrounded by higher, rockier structures, nearly untouched by mankind. The opposite side of the museum houses several enclosures for marine life study—Emma assured me they are for the safety of the creatures, and I have no choice but to believe her.

I walk up stone steps that dip into the ocean, striding past a small dock. We had informed them how much easier it is for me to enter via the sea, and Emma seemed genuinely fascinated. I approach her on this midmorning while the sun blazes down on us. Before I reach them, I shake my shoulders and tail so as to not track saltwater into their buildings; land folk are particular about their buildings being wet, for some reason.

“Good day, Mr. Shaughnessy!” Emma waves, and another person, a man, is next to her.

“Good day, Emma.” I nod and turn to her companion.

“This is Skyler Dillinger! He’s part of our team of researchers, and he’ll be your mentor.”

The man pushes up his glasses and beams at me. “Nice to meet ya!” He has a fair amount of manly stubble and spikey blond hair. On some instinct, I suspect he is homosexual, but none of that matters. He is not the one I want, the person I need.

I briefly shake his hand. “I am Razorjaw, apex predator of this corner of the ocean, feared by all other sea life.”

Skyler shares a look with Emma that reads as both surprised and impressed. “Wow! A real shark shifter!”

“Raised in the ocean,” Emma points out.

“I would like to meet your team,” I say in a stern tone. When the two humans look at me in confusion, I recall Aunt Sarah’s words. I need to, as they say, play it cool. “I feel there is much I can do to assist your entire staff when it comes to your relations with ocean life.”

They both nod, seemingly pleased with this response. “Then follow me, I’ll give you the tour,” Skyler says.

Five minutes later, we’re inside the museum, striding toward what they call the research lab. Emma has left, leaving only me and Skyler. As we walk, I try to subtly take in the other patrons and staff. The museum isn’t open yet, so I see mostly cleaning crew. I spot a few shifters, such as werewolves and zombies, but so far, there are mostly humans mulling about.

None of these strangers are the face I have memorized in my dreams, the same person I saw on the beach two weeks ago.

Skyler flashes a card and we proceed to ride a glass box to a higher part of the building. What they call an elevator makes me somewhat dizzy, but I need to be alert. I need to find my mate.

The doors open and we arrive at a bright hallway with white, almost sterile walls between the large windows. “And these are offices,” Skyler says. “It’s where we consolidate the data. Boring stuff. A lot of our hands-on marine life experiments are downstairs near the tanks.” He spins around and walks backward while chatting away. To our right, I walk by several desks and computers, all more advanced than Aunt Sarah’s technology. None of the workers here are my target, and I begin to lose hope that my mate is here. Perhaps the key chain in my hand was not a clue at all?

“We do a lot of planning and programming for the museum up here in the offices,” Skyler says. “It’s our star, our sea star if you will.” He laughs and pushes up his glasses. “ People love the marine life exhibits. Just three months ago we had an awesome kid’s event for Valentine’s Day. We raised a lot of money for the MM Institute.”

“Money has no value in nature,” I grumble.

Skyler pauses and gives me a concerned look, so I stop. I need to remember to be polite; these humans are just doing their part in a large institute.

“Um…Mr. Shaughnessy, is there something I can help you with?”

I clear my throat and straighten my back; even without my dorsal fin, I tower over Skyler and most of the others in this office. “What I meant to say was…can I meet all of your staff? I wish to begin telling the men about what it is like to live on the ocean floor.”

Skyler nods and relaxes his shoulders. “Well, we’ve got plenty of ground to cover. Ground and sea. You know the beaches better than I ever could, but we can show you our aquatic enclosures and tanks.”

“And the staff?” I ask impatiently.

He gives me a confused look. “They’re trickling in. Some are working the museum, some near the enclosures.”

“I would like to meet them all,” I say, nodding my head. “It would assist in building trust between me, a monster, and you, humans.”

Skyler gradually looks me up and down in skepticism. After two seconds, he waves for me to follow him. “We actually have monsters on staff, too.”

“I saw a few downstairs,” I reply.

“Yeah. But very few of them are fish shifters. One of my close friends is an eel shifter, but he doesn’t feel comfortable in the ocean, as you probably know. ”

Skyler laughs, and I follow him as we walk down. “I do not know every single creature in the ocean. I am merely the apex predator with razor jaws in my corner of the sea.”

Skyler shrugs and we stop near a room. I can hear male voices nearby. Is my beloved here? “Really frightening stuff,” he says. “So this is my desk, and around the corner is the group office. I can introduce you to some of the folks you’ll be working with.”

When we turn the corner, my heart nearly bursts at the sight.

It’s him. My mate .

He’s standing at a table near a few other people as they peer at a scattering of papers. His black hair is dry, and he is wearing a white button-down shirt along with an ID card around his neck, like all employees. His face is adorable, with the slight stubble I remember grazing with my hand. His trousers are tight on his hips, and he looks divine.

The monster god has blessed me on this day. I found my mate again.

Skyler says something about how often they want to study my body, but I cannot hear him. All of my energy is spent on the shock of seeing this land-dwelling angel before me. How does no one else see his divine beauty? Do the oceans not part in their soul just by being in his presence?

The people in the office spare me a few curious glances, likely because I am the only shifter in their presence. My mate eyes me curiously, and I could gaze into those gorgeous dark orbs for hours. I want to pull him in and kiss those perfectly pink lips, but as Aunt Sarah says, I need to play it cool.

But this is what I have been waiting for, for weeks, but also, my whole life.

So, as Skyler talks about experiments, I make my way closer to the beautiful man on my mind. Everyone stares at me, but I do not care about them. At long last, I am within arm’s reach of the man I wish to be with, the one I wish to claim.

“Um, hello,” he says. Even his voice is heavenly, a low tenor I want to hear every day.

I gulp, then raise my hand and let the key chain dangle. “Is this…yours?”

Everyone in the room has stopped talking, and my beloved looks around at all the attention on us. Then he takes the key chain and eyes it.

“Oh yeah, this is my key. How’d you find it?” He looks at me and smiles, and I all but melt inside. My inner predator wants to whisk him underwater to hold him forever.

“I…discovered it on a beach.” Technically not a lie, but this is our meet-cute; I do not want him uncomfortable.

“Wow, thanks.” His soft smile fades, then he sticks out his hand. “Welcome to MM Institute. We’re glad to have a real-life shark shifter in our presence. I’m Karlo. Karlo Castillo.”

“Karlo…” I say in a low tone. Hearing his name further ingrains my desire for him. Touching his hand, I am overwhelmed with… need .

I cannot hold back any longer.

So, in this room full of humans, I get down on one knee. His face morphs into one of confusion, but I do not let him or the others in the room deter me.

I take his hand in both of mine and stroke it lovingly. “Karlo Castillo. You are the most beautiful being I have ever seen, in the ocean or on the surface. Do me the honor of being my mate, and I shall spend the rest of my days making you as happy as possible.”