Shark Bite (Cyborg Shifters Book 3) Read online

  “It’s healing,” Netto said, sniffing it again.

  It was too late. An image flashed before her eyes of his mouth wide open, teeth bared as he leaned into her, slowly biting off her fingers, up to her knuckles, until her hand was devoured. His heat crashed over her, it put her on edge, and she couldn’t tell if it was from apprehension or from something else.

  Fear? No, she felt safe regardless of her thoughts. Confusion? Maybe. Desire?

  Need?

  “Your serum is old.”

  Rylie took her hand back as if he burned her. “It’s working though.”

  “Not well. Remain here,” Netto ordered. He left her, ducking and entering the ship. Rylie didn’t know if she stayed because he had demanded it of her or if it had to do with the flush she was suffocating under. She didn’t know what to do about her attraction to the Cyborg.

  Janet had always been forthright and blunt when it came to sharing her experiences with her.

  “I wonder what Netto’s teeth do to a girl beneath the sheets.”

  Netto was back a minute later with a wet rag and a small aerosol can and took his place back beside her. Rylie gave him her hand without hesitation. He meticulously cleaned off the old serum and replaced it with the spray version. A puff of soothing cold collected over her coarse skin and eased the discomfort. She was trapped as he massaged the serum into her callouses, his fingers velvet and warm over the cold salve. She relaxed back into the seat and rested her eyes.

  She couldn’t remember the last time she had been touched in such a way. There was affection in her family but nothing so hot and cold as what this Cyborg gave her. The stress of the last several days seeped out of her and was buried under the noise of the spume against the side of the ship.

  “I could get used to this,” she said under her breath. Rylie opened her eyes to his steely ones watching her. “You’re right.”

  “About?”

  “Our serum being old.” She smiled.

  “I’m sorry about this morning,” he said without returning the smile. “It won’t happen again.”

  “What,” she said slowly, “did happen this morning?”

  “I lost control.” Bitterness laced his voice. She shook her head.

  “You cornered me and sucked on my scrape. That’s what happens when you lose control?” She knew she should let the subject drop but her curiosity ruled out. And she was afraid he would stop touching her if the conversation died between them. She didn’t want it to stop.

  It made her wonder if Janet had it right all this time. What had she been missing? Getting in bed with a man who had already been with my sister. Rylie reminded herself bitterly.

  “I’m...” Netto began.

  “Different? Zeph mentioned to us that you were but that’s obvious,” she teased. “Your skin gives you away.” She poked his arm lightly.

  And shut her mouth when he still didn’t smile back.

  “Yes. Different.”

  Tension perforated the space between them. I can’t flirt. I’m horrible at it. Her stomach dropped as the silence grew increasingly more awkward. I offended him. “Are you upset...? With me?”

  Netto stopped massaging her hand but didn’t let it go.

  “No.”

  “No?”

  “No.”

  “You don’t say much.” She moved to pull away but he held her firm, stopping her. Rylie lifted her eyes back to his and found herself pinned beneath his gaze once again.

  “People don’t like my teeth.”

  She frowned, glancing at his lips. Although closed from seeing his abnormality, she knew what his teeth looked like. They made him look perverse. He still looked demonic and uncanny, and his teeth did remind her of some of the dead sea monsters that would occasionally wash up on shore. But the more they talked, the less she noticed them.

  His teeth also made him dangerously attractive—different—like Zeph had said. There was an appeal to their pointed edges, which were shaped in perfect symmetry when he spoke. They emphasized his created nature and she wondered what it would be like to kiss him.

  “I like them.”

  “Crap!” Zeph's voice intruded on their conversation. Janet appeared over the side of the boat, her brows furrowed and her movements jerky, a telltale sign of her internal fire about to burst forth.

  Her sister stomped to the seat opposite her and sat down, leaving a trail of water all over the floor and upholstery. Rylie pulled the towel from around her shoulders and handed it to her sister.

  “Everything we've seen today has been complete shit!” Zeph raged, right behind Janet, who blatantly rolled her eyes. “Montihan, you better have stones in reserve or I swear to hellspace that the EPED will confiscate your land, your holdings, everything it possibly can to not take a loss. You’re a fucking liar.”

  Netto stood up. Rylie jerked back from the sudden vehemence he exuded. His muscles bulged further out, bulking him into an even larger predator, and an even bigger force to be reckoned with. She moved away, putting as much distance as possible between her and the two men who looked as if they were about to kill each other.

  She was awed and breathless, uneasy and aware.

  Netto blocked Zeph's path to the rest of the ship.

  “Get the fuck out of my way, Shark. We need to get back to the ship.”

  “Calm,” Netto's voice was low but thunderous, “down.”

  “They're liars,” Zeph spat, his eyes flared and smoked as he looked at Janet. Her sister sat stiffly. “Where're the crops you promised us?” he whispered, his eyes never leaving his target. His hand opened to show a group of dark grey stones that he pushed against Netto's chest.

  “Zeph,” Netto warned.

  Rylie glanced at Da, who was standing at the helm, a laser rifle in his grip. Netto caught the stones before they fell and looked at them. No one said a word as he turned them over in his palm.

  “Our livelihood is threatened,” Da said, calm as day. “You'll get your end after we get ours.”

  “Are you so sure, old man? Because as far as I know, the lots in the Western hemisphere are doing fine.”

  “With prices to match.”

  Da raised his gun as Zeph turned toward him. Netto placed the stones with the others they had collected.

  “You're already here,” Rylie said, not being able to hold her tongue any longer

  “Yes. We are,” Zeph looked at her. His eyes didn't smolder her like Netto's. “What are you going to do about it?” The Cyborg pushed past Netto and advanced on her.

  Chaos erupted and Janet screamed. A gunshot went off and water cascaded around them as Netto lifted Zeph and threw him into the ocean, following in after him.

  It took her a moment to break from the shock and her sister rushing to the side before she was leaning over the edge too. The water swirled and foam floated toward the surface as she looked for the Cyborgs.

  “Where are they?”

  “They went under,” Janet rushed out. “Did you see that? He lifted him straight into the air, a man filled with metal and taller than god...right over his head!”

  She had seen it, but she hadn't registered it. What she did see now was Da with the rifle raised and pointed over the side, waiting for a victim to emerge.

  Had Netto been shot? “Who'd you shoot!?” Rylie turned to him. “Who did you shoot?” she asked again.

  “He advanced on you, Buggy. We protect our own.” His voice was so matter-of-fact it derailed her. “A bullet won’t kill him, only hinder him.”

  She blanched.

  “He shot Zeph. Look!”

  Farther out, a flash of metal appeared out of the water. Right on the edge of a wall of mist. Da lowered the gun as they watched the Cyborgs resurface and tear each other up. A flash of teeth and a garbled taunt was sounded before they dipped back under the surface.

  Janet leaned forward over the rail, her face devoid of color. Long minutes passed while nothing happened, and Rylie couldn’t stop her heart from wanting to expl
ode within her chest. They were all waiting for something, anything to happen, but nothing did.

  They were gone.

  The sun had disappeared below the horizon and the remaining light cast an ashen glow over the area, surrounding them in a gauzy veil that couldn’t be ripped off. No one spoke and the Cyborgs had yet to reappear. Bubbles emerged now and again but Rylie knew they could be from anything.

  What if they don’t come back? Will the EPED think we killed them? Her fingers bruisingly gripped the railing. Will I ever see him again? She pictured a blue-grey corpse, torn apart by teeth and hungry fish washed up onto the shore. Metal pieces and wiring was torn from the mass, left in a tangled mess in the sand.

  Her hands strained on the ledge. Janet was just as tense next to her.

  “Where are they?” Janet asked. Dead. Gone. Her sister’s question went unanswered as she screamed into the dusk.

  “Netto!” A splash somewhere in the thick of the mist sailed through the air. She heard Da trigger the safety back on his gun.

  “We need to up the shields.”

  “You can’t be serious! We need to go after—”

  “We don’t. They’re Cyborgs. They can take care of themselves,” he quipped.

  “We can’t just leave them. This is all your fault!” Janet's voice rose in anger, turning away from the water. “We shouldn’t have lied to them. I’m going in.”

  Janet moved to release one of the drop pods.

  Rylie kept her gaze on the last bit of ocean that was visible, scanning anything and everything for movement. She found a water-light nearby and dropped it over the side as a precautionary beacon. She knew it wouldn’t do much but it was at least something.

  She listened as her family continued to argue. “They’ll kill each other!”

  “They won’t.”

  “How do you know? How can you know?” Janet demanded, prepping the drop-pod.

  “They don't turn on each other. They're men but men with strong loyal, coded morals. I've seen it in battle, I've killed by their sides. They won't kill each other over such a minor disagreement, only if the act committed by one of them defies their coding, defies the logic, intelligence, and strict behavioral conduct within themselves. The scientists didn't want their super soldiers offing each other from something as primal as their alpha nature, and they didn't want them to turn on their creators, regardless of their hatred toward them. They were created to kill Trentians, to win a war that spanned the galaxy, and to do more than any normal man can.” He sighed. “They won't kill each other. All we can do is let them duke it out.”

  Rylie chewed on the inside of her cheek and heard the splash of one of the pods being released. She turned toward Janet who was preparing to enter it.

  No one stopped her as she stepped into the top. “Even if they don’t, I'm going in. I goaded Zeph and I won't feel responsible for his behavior, nor will I let him go back to his ship. I don’t want to inherit a business under the thumb of the government.”

  “Stay within the watership’s radar,” Da said. “Don't make your sister and I come after you after nightfall because you went too far.”

  “Be careful,” Rylie said.

  Janet nodded. She was beautiful when she was angry. Her sister was beautiful all the time. She was inside the pod and gone the next moment. Rylie turned back toward the ocean but was met with nothing but darkness. Her hands lifted up as the shield ascended from the railing.

  It cocooned the ship within a matter of seconds. The sound of the water was gone. She sat down and gritted her teeth. “What now?”

  “We wait until morning then head back to the settlement.”

  “And the Cyborgs?”

  “If they don't return, they'll meet us there.”

  “How do you know? We're half a day out at sea,” she laughed without humor. “They have no ship. They don't even have their weapons, their armor.”

  He ran a hand over his face, his countenance more tired than she had ever seen it before. She suddenly worried over him as she took in his haggard state. “Are you okay?” Rylie went to him and took his hand.

  He waved her away. “I'm fine.”

  “Da...”

  He stood up fast and turned away. “They're shifters, water shifters,” he said. Rylie knew he was changing the subject. It wasn't like him to leave a question unaddressed but it also wasn't like him to look wrung out.

  He spoke as he headed for the interior. “Netto is a shark, a big one at that. Zeph, I don't know, I haven't figured him out. They're different, the water is their home.” He stopped at the passageway. “I'm going to turn in.” He glanced at the darkness. “I've never been able to stomach the nights at sea. You'll see, come morning, everything will be back to normal.” He turned and left her.

  And for the first time that day, she was alone. Completely, utterly, heavily alone. Rylie went back to her seat and sat sentinel. She didn’t welcome the silence.

  If the morning will be normal, I'm going to watch that happen. She didn't think she could sleep knowing that her sister was out there, or that Netto could be hurt.

  It was a revelation, a hard one to swallow.

  She pulled her towel back around her shoulders and settled in. She rubbed her hand but found it no longer tingled, was no longer covered in serum, and that her skin was healed.

  Chapter Nine

  He couldn’t think, couldn’t breathe, watching in slow motion Zeph turning on Rylie. A wildfire of warning coursed through his tech, sensing and discerning the violent and volatile transmissions coming from his partner. A series of events erupted.

  He saw red.

  He acknowledged a threat.

  Zeph became his number one target. Rylie’s safety was paramount and he accepted it for what it was. Netto thought of her as his, even if she would never be. He had Zeph over his head, throwing him into the ocean and as far from the Montihans as possible—acting more like an animal than a machine.

  Netto let his instinct take over. The plates in his body vibrated as he dove into the water after his target—and was met by the snap of a jaw that overpowered his own. Zeph had shifted into the saltwater crocodile he was and had Netto between his jaws. They sank below the surface and the sharp edges of his metal teeth tore into Netto’s thick flesh, grazing the man-made skeleton within.

  Netto roared, sucking in a gulp of salt water as the pain fueled his rage. My territory. Mine! He howled, unheard.

  Rylie.

  They thrashed like men claiming their own, fighting for what they wanted as theirs, for something they could stake their life in and rule over without competition. Netto slammed an elbow into Zeph’s jaw.

  Zeph flung him back and forth. He maneuvered and clamped down on Netto’s stomach, with the animalistic urge to kill and eat.

  Netto grabbed ahold of Zeph’s transformed head and threaded his fingers between the Cyborg’s incisors and pulled, releasing himself from its grip. He braced against the thrashing as Zeph fought his strength.

  Netto pulled his jaw apart, intent on seeing Zeph’s face explode with gore, the Croc’s head rip in two.

  Zeph’s teeth pierced the padding of his hands. He didn’t feel it. Netto only saw death and with that clouding his head, his eyes, the plates in his back disengaged and shot out to connect to the back of his skull. A sharp back fin with a serrated edge sprung out from his spine. His mouth widened and his head expanded as his jaw grew to accommodate his shark and the additional teeth that popped out.

  Netto became the beast within and Zeph used that shifted moment to release himself with a gush of thick blood in his wake.

  They stared at each other, unmoving, transformed, with the smell of fresh blood between them. Zeph looked hungry and pissed, Netto’s reflection in his green irises.

  The last rays of the sunlight vanished, making their eyes glow brighter, Zeph’s glinting a murky green and Netto’s the greyish-blue of the depths. They sized each other up, waiting for the other to make the first move.

&n
bsp; “Netto!”

  He jerked at the yell and canted his bulging head. The word crawled with the speed of molasses through the water and it took a second for him to register it as his name.

  Rylie called for him.

  Zeph took advantage of his distraction and pummeled him with enough force to battle the press of water. Netto swiveled and brought his hands down on the Zeph’s head, snapping his mouth shut; sharp nails scored and slashed his sides. They frenzied and the water clouded with red. He needed to get to Rylie; he needed to answer her call.

  Zeph tore at his skin, digging into his internal wiring, intent on claiming the win. Netto fought back, Zeph’s frustration grew at being thwarted and he turned on the bull shark, thrusting him down through the deep to the ocean floor.

  Seaweeds and flowers engulfed them. Hundreds of swimmers fled the scene.

  Thorns pierced his thick skin and burrowed into his body, a flush of alien venom flooded his organics. Netto seized, locking the Croc in a death grip below him.

  Their frenzy ended as abruptly as it had begun. Netto released his nanocells to neutralize the venom, as the hold he and Zeph had on each other was reinforced by locking muscles. They no longer had control of their selves, their beasts; the toxins rushing through their bodies had taken control.

  The flowers waved overhead, hiding them from the world above. The release of venom continued as fast as his cells were able to clean them from his body.

  God. Damn. It. Netto cursed knowing even if he did beat it—if the weeds depleted themselves—he would only be immobilized again if he moved away. It could be hours, days even, for him and Zeph to escape.

  Time passed as they stared at each other, as the oxygen levels in their bodies depleted. Every time either one was able to move, the plants freed more barbs.

  Slimy weeds and long tentacles slithered over every inch of his body, into his cuts, over his eyeballs, and up inside his open mouth and across his teeth. They shredded over their sharp points. Whatever passed for sap in these plants tasted awful, Netto decided.

  Dusk took hold, further darkening the water. Netto knew the moonless night would throw them into a pitch black abyss before long. They would be alone, alone with only the lights from their eyes to illuminate their watery jail.