Hammerhead

A love as vast as the ocean, a mystery as deep as the sea…

After a lifetime of violence, former mercenary and Alpha hammerhead shark shifter Miguel longs for a fresh start. Sent to the Kinkaid Clan with the rest of his small pod of sharks, he’s determined to leave his dark past behind and build a future filled with peace - and maybe even love.

Deidre, a selkie from the magical shores of Ireland, arrives in the Gulf to visit her Kinkaid kin and her playful curiosity draws her to Miguel. Their connection is undeniable, and the sultry waters of the Gulf can barely contain their growing passion.

When a mystical island appears on the horizon, shrouded in mist and brimming with ancient magic, their budding romance takes a dangerous turn. Deidre becomes entranced by the island’s seductive pull, and Miguel must rush to save her from its enchantment. Can Miguel and Deidre overcome the forces that threaten their fledgling relationship and claim the love they were destined to share?

Dive into a world of magic, mystery, and fated mates in this unforgettable tale of romance beneath the waves.

PROLOGUE
On the Top-Secret Plum Island military base

Miguel’s wrists ached in the uncomfortable iron cuffs. His shark snarled beneath his skin, but shifting would only leave him flopping around on land, unable to breathe. He might be on an island, but these military shifters weren’t going to let him anywhere near the water.

Oh, he could shapeshift to get out of the cuffs, then shift back to human, but the men around him would probably kill him before he managed the second shift. They hadn’t let him or any of his men alone long enough to even try to escape since being captured on the beach. There weren’t supposed to be shifters on this island. The intel for this op had been sorely lacking, which only made him angrier at the predicament he now found himself in.

Miguel forced his breathing to remain steady as the lion shifter across the table leaned forward, golden eyes gleaming in the dim light of the interrogation room. Kinkaid lions didn’t play games. He knew that much. Everybody knew that much.

“You think we should just let you go? When you’re probably working for the Venifucus?” The man across the table—a Kinkaid, for sure—glared at Miguel, his golden eyes gleaming. His delivery was smooth, but there was a dangerous edge beneath his calm façade.

Miguel didn’t like hearing that word. Venifucus. He might be a shark and therefore living in the morally gray area between the Light and darkness, but he wasn’t evil. None of his guys were that bad, really. And none of them were allied with that ancient order known as the Venifucus.

Miguel lifted his chin. “We’re not your enemies.”

The man’s brow arched. “No? Because from where I’m sitting, you and your little band of sharks are working for the same son of a bitch who keeps trying to kidnap my friends. The same bastard who ordered a hit on the women closest to them. Civilian women. Human women. In order to get to the men. That’s pretty low. Even for a shark.”

Miguel swallowed hard, working to control his anger. He didn’t like this lion, or the snotty way he spoke of sharks. “We didn’t know what we were getting into when we took the job.”

The lion snorted, seemingly unimpressed. “Didn’t know? You’ve been trying to kidnap soldiers by targeting their families. That’s not just not knowing—that’s willful ignorance. Or maybe you’re just blindly following the orders of your Venifucus masters.”

Miguel said nothing. What could he say? That he’d been blinded by the promise of an easy payoff? That his pod had wanted to buy homes, build a small coastal community like those damned bears in Grizzly Cove? That they’d needed the money to escape a life of endless fighting?

Excuses. Weak justifications. None of them would change the fact that they’d taken blood money.

“Look,” Miguel growled, “we didn’t kill anyone. We didn’t intend to kill anyone. We’re not proud of what we did, but we’re just doing a job. We’re not them.” He couldn’t bring himself to utter the name of that ancient, evil sect.

The shifter’s lips curled into something that wasn’t quite a smile. “Not them, huh? Then tell me, Miguel Aroyo—who exactly are you?”

Now, that was a really good question. Too bad Miguel didn’t have an answer.

The lion shifter stood, pacing slowly around the table. “We should have let those Green Berets finish you off.” He growled a bit, his cat issuing a warning. “But my Alpha thinks you might be worth something, so you’re not dead. Yet.”

The door creaked open before Miguel could respond. Another man walked in, but this one wasn’t a lion shifter. He carried himself differently—graceful, calm. Predatory in a way that made Miguel’s instincts sharpen. He smelled faintly of the ocean.

This one had to be a seal shifter. A selkie. The Kinkaid Clan had plenty of them, too. Miguel had no name for this one, but he knew the look in his eyes well enough. This was a man used to dragging secrets from the unwilling.

The selkie set a thick file on the table and flipped it open. A stack of surveillance photos slid across the surface. Miguel didn’t need to look to know what they contained—images of him, his brother, and his podmates moving along the coast, meeting with Kettering’s men. Proof of their sins.

The selkie finally spoke. “Let’s talk about what you’re going to do to earn your keep while you’re in our custody.”

“You’re not letting us go,” Miguel said quietly, mustering what dignity he could. “But you’re not going to kill us. What gives?”

“We have other plans. Unlike your former employers, we like to think we have a bit more patience in learning the truth about those we capture. We can’t let you go, but we’re not murderers. If you abide by our rules, you’ll stay alive and even come out of this with a bit of money in the bank. If you cross us, you’re dead. We’re giving you a chance, but only one. Screw up and you’re all history.”

Miguel exhaled slowly, feeling the cuffs dig into his skin.

Shit.