After almost losing his life in the line of duty, firefighter Victor Edwards turned to his true passion: the ocean, the one place he feels at peace. By day, he studies a magnificent shark. By night he is haunted by erotic dreams of a beautiful woman, filled with a longing he can’t understand.

Nali is almost the last of her kind. She knows it’s dangerous to swim so close to shore, but she is drawn to the scarred man watching her and craves his touch on her human form. She can’t help revealing herself to help Victor when he’s injured—and offering herself to him for one week of pleasure. For she only has a few days before she must return to the sea…

The Shifter’s Kiss

Caridad Piñeiro

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Copyright

Chapter 1

The ocean was the only place where Victor felt truly free.

He did a scissors kick with his fins and pushed toward the great swath of coral reef teeming with life.

For the past week he had been riding out with his cameras and other equipment and dropping beneath the calm surface of the Caribbean to the unique world below. As he approached the reef, he caught sight of an immense shark circling around the lowermost edges of the coral. The large female cut through the water with ease, her powerful body graceful. Her deep charcoal skin, far darker than that of a normal reef shark, was a shock against the pink–white coral and cerulean blue of the waters.

All around her teemed yet more reef sharks, both male and female, but none as big or as imposing. It was almost as if she was the queen of the school, not that this species of sharks normally engaged in that kind of behavior. But with her unique size and coloring, he could picture the natives warning him that she was one of the shark gods who protected the many islands along the Kuna Yala, telling him not to anger her by defiling her precious reefs.

He smiled against the mouthpiece of his scuba gear as he thought of the native legends and, for a moment, allowed himself the fantasy of it. He imagined that big beautiful beast patrolling the waters to keep the area safe. Shifting into human form for a short respite on land before returning to guard the sea around the smattering of islands.

Pulling up his underwater camera by the leash attached to his weight belt, he snapped several pictures of the school of predators. Only hammerheads were known to swim in groups, and identifying yet another species with this behavior would be an important discovery for his research paper.

He was so intent on recording the shark’s behavior that he didn’t realize he had let himself drift down into the midst of the school until the softness of sand beneath his feet and the bump of a fin against his side warned of danger. Instinctively he jerked in a breath and held it, a mix of primal fear and intense joy racing through him at the thought of being among such magnificent creatures.

Slowly he settled to the bottom and kept his movements small and nonthreatening. The lesser sharks surrounded him, their dark, glassy eyes vigilant as they kept up the constant movement they needed to survive. Suddenly the sizeable, darker shape of the queen shark slipped into his peripheral vision as she approached.

Sleek muscles powered her near, but he kept his position, watchful but unafraid. Nothing in the sharks’ behavior was threatening. If anything, they seemed inquisitive, especially the unique specimen who inched ever closer with each pass of her formidable body. He guessed her to be almost eight feet in length, far larger than the other nearby reef sharks. Combined with her shadowy charcoal coloring, he wondered if he wasn’t misidentifying her species until she turned and approached him. She had the familiar broad snout that all the other reef sharks in the school possessed, confirming that he had been correct with his identification.

As she swam toward him slowly, he braced himself and kept his breathing smooth. She swung away from him at the last second, but she was so close he could touch her. Had to touch her.

He ran his hand along her deeply muscled flank and the skin was sandpaper rough beneath his fingers. She quickly shifted away but then began that almost lazy inquiring circle around him again. This time, as she passed his gaze caught hers and shock traveled over him.

Nothing was dead or flat about that gaze. If anything, it radiated human-like intelligence and interest.

Impossible.

He shook his head to drive away that thought and checked his dive watch to see if he had been down for far too long. Then he checked his pressure gauge for good measure.

All good. It was just his imagination getting the best of him, but maybe it was time to go in. He already had a load of photographs and data to analyze from the various monitoring stations he had set up at spots along the reef. It would take some time to start the generator, boot up the computer and download the data from the wireless stations.

Time for him to go and get some work done.

He went top side and hauled himself up onto the platform on the back of the boat. His arm and shoulder protested the movement, sending shards of pain throughout his upper body. He released his mouthpiece and pulled off his mask, his teeth gritting against the hurt. All along his arm and shoulder, the scarred skin pulled tightly against more pliant flesh as he bent to remove his fins and tossed them onboard. He sucked in a breath then, taking a moment to fight back the discomfort. When he did, awareness of the fin slicing through the water just a few feet away registered.

The sickle-shaped, charcoal-grey fin cut through the water as the shark approached, and this time fear won the battle. He surged to his feet, the harness digging into his body from the weight of the tanks and adding to his distress.

Fearlessly the shark came right up to the dive platform on the boat, that seemingly knowing gaze looking up as if analyzing him. Then she swam away, and he finally released the harness to remove the tanks. Relief swept through him as he slipped off the tanks and their weight no longer pulled against his damaged body.

He rubbed at his injured shoulder and arm, the scarred skin rough beneath his palm. Slowly his muscles relaxed, and he rotated his shoulder to work out the pain as he watched the shark swim away but then circle back once more.

He crouched, wanting to get a closer look.

Wanting to touch her again.

As she neared, he reached out and stroked the length of her from snout to dorsal fin, her flesh rasping along his fingertips. The power in those muscles was a reminder of the strength he had once possessed before his injuries.

With a sharp swipe of her tail, which banged against the boat with a loud thud, the shark rushed away this time and sank beneath the surface.

Victor eased himself onto the deck of the dive boat. Securing his tanks and other equipment, he started the engine for the short trip back to shore, but as he did so, he looked back and caught sight of her fin again, almost as if waving goodbye.

* * *

She who was called Nali by the local Kuna people listened to the vibrations of the engine carrying him away from her.

His touch still lingered on her body, a reminder of how long it had been since she’d been human. Since she’d experienced the pleasure of warm, soft skin and the rush of desire.

Too long, she thought, swimming along the surface for just a moment before diving down to rejoin her brethren along the edges of the reefs. Not that she was truly like them.

She was of a different kind, one of the last of her race in this area. Over the centuries the others had been taken by fishermen greedy either to claim so large a prize or to rid the ocean of a feared predator.

It was why she usually avoided contact with the humans, but this one had intrigued her over the last few weeks as she watched him from the deeper waters near the reef. He’d had no fear of her cousin sharks, swimming among them, taking pictures. Returning time and time again until she’d been drawn closer and had seen him. Seen the scars on his body that she recognized as burns.

More than once a sailor from a doomed ship had drifted down into her waters with wounds such as his, so she was familiar with them. Understood the pain like she’d seen today on his face as he’d left the waters. His ocean-blue eyes could not hide the distress as they’d met hers when she swam by and he’d touched her again.

A shiver of anticipation worked through her body. How she longed for that touch. For the feel of his nearly perfect body along hers. For the chance to wake to the sight of that masculine face and those intense eyes in the morning light.

She drove away those thoughts with a sharp swipe of her tail, which propelled her back to open ocean and safety. She’d risked too much to come see him. There were too many other humans who’d want to take her, out of fear or greed, and coming in this close to shore just tempted them to hunt for her.

Much like the beautiful man tempted her for other reasons.

As passion stirred within her again, she thought about the man and all that could not be.

She was nearly the last of her kind and maybe that was the way it was meant to be. The burden of not belonging in either world was an obligation she didn’t wish to pass on.

Chapter 2

Thanks to a combination of a moonless night and a bit too much of the old man’s homemade hooch, Victor stumbled up the steps. Not even the delicious meal that his landlord, Saila, had made for him had been enough to combat the effects of the alcohol.

Cursing as he banged his shin on the steps to his rented shack, he managed to stagger to the bed and plop facedown and fully clothed on the sheets. The dizzying circles in his head finally calmed after a few minutes and, because it was too hot and humid despite the faint sea breeze coming through the open windows, he reluctantly sat back up and dragged off his clothes.

Lying back down, he propped up the pillows to sleep upright enough to catch the breeze. It washed over him peacefully, like the soft caress of the ocean, and in his mind he pictured being beneath the waves once more. Floating free in the clear, cool liquid. It was so different from the heat and flames that had been his realm during his years as a firefighter. Heat and flames that had nearly stolen his life in more ways than one.

Dashing away those thoughts, he allowed the memories of the ocean to bring him peace by recollecting that day’s encounter with the shark and the tales Saila had told him during their dinner.

The old man had been a wonderful storyteller, crafting believable and compelling stories of the shark people who lived in the Kuna Yala waters. People who lived and loved the ocean but were enticed by the allure of the land and the humans who were so different from them, so tempting.

He chuckled loudly, perplexed by that. If anything, he was the one who was tempted by the call of the sea, by the gift it gave him in its welcoming embrace.

Behind his closed eyelids, the image of the large shark filled his vision, intriguing him. Her formidable body circled, coming closer and closer. She drove him to shore with the bump of her snout until his feet brushed the silken sand and he rose in the water.

In his mind, he took a step back, watching as the fin dipped beneath the surface until all he could see in the daylight was a dark shadow. A shadow that slowly morphed, shrinking and changing as the fins became arms and legs and she rose up from beneath the sea.

The water sluiced down a body impossible to resist. Full, copper-tipped breasts. A narrow waist and generous hips that flowed into long, muscular legs.

He dragged his gaze back up to her face, and those dark charcoal eyes held him as she approached, the sunlight turning the drops of seawater on her body into glimmering liquid diamonds.

His cock jerked to life, hardening and tightening with need as she moved toward him, a sexy sway in her walk. A knowing, determined smile on her face, filled with promise.

Victor groaned aloud as the woman in his dream reached down and encircled him, her hand slick along his cock from the seawater. Sure and daring as she stroked him, she leaned forward to brush the tips of her breasts along his chest.

He fought wakefulness, wanting to savor the dream. Blaming Saila’s stories and his moonshine for the need twisting his gut and the temptress filling his dreams.

Reaching down, he grabbed hold of his dick and stroked roughly, mimicking the actions of the beautiful woman in his fantasy, reaching for completion until he came with one powerful pull, shooting his seed all along his hand and abdomen, imagining driving himself into the intriguing woman.

Finally spent, he cursed beneath his breath at allowing himself the dreams that had seemed all too real.

Maybe it was because it had been way too long since he had let himself have a relationship with a woman. At first it had been his injuries and what it had taken to recover from them. Then it had been his determination to finally follow his heart. His single-minded focus was what had gotten him this research grant and to these islands.

But he was here now and fulfilling his dream. Somehow it hadn’t occurred to him that doing so alone might dampen the joy of the accomplishment.

Maybe in time he could find someone with whom to share that joy. Someone who loved the ocean as much as he did and would be willing to share it with him.

Maybe, he thought as he pushed out of bed, opened the front door and strode across the sand to the ocean. He sank in the water to just beneath his chin to cool the heat of his spent passion.

The ocean was a midnight blue, devoid of moonlight, but even as dark as it was, he caught sight of the fin and the body moving toward him.

He froze, cursing himself for not remembering it was feeding time for sharks.

But as the fin came closer, he realized it was the large female shark from the reef. She circled around him with lazy, almost exploratory turns that made his head spin a bit thanks to Saila’s home brew.

* * *

Nali had sensed him, smelled him, as soon as he stepped into the water, and she’d been unable to keep away.

Heat flared to life within her as she realized he was naked.

Beautifully naked. His cock hung halfway down a well-muscled thigh, but she dragged her gaze away from that and up his body to the sculpted muscles of his midsection and chest. His arms were floating wide and, despite herself, she swam until his palm brushed along her flank.

She imagined him doing that in her human form—a big mistake because, within her, the need to transform ate away at her control.

Unwilling to reveal herself, afraid of it and all the risk it would bring, she shot away from him like a bullet, finding the gap in the reefs that led to deeper water.

Only there would she be safe from him. Safe from herself.

* * *

The scrape of her skin along his palm surprised him for a moment. It was almost as if she needed his touch, but that was impossible, he knew.

A heartbeat later she raced away through a break in the reefs and then down beneath the surface, where he lost sight of her.

He wanted to follow but then reminded himself of the lunacy of being in the ocean alone at this time of night. Besides, she had been along the reef for days and would likely return again.

With that thought, he returned to shore, slightly more alert as he trudged up the steps and toweled down before dropping back into bed.

As he closed his eyes, she returned in his dreams and he welcomed her.

Chapter 3

Despite what he had hoped, the large female shark had not returned in the past few days.

Victor had spotted another boat in the area during that time. A duo of spear fishermen manned the vessel, and he worried that she might have had an encounter with them. Of course, he probably would have heard about that from someone in the nearby village. News of anyone bringing in as large a prize as that shark would certainly spread quickly through the area, especially in light of the ancient tales of the shark gods in these waters.

As he swam over and through the reef, searching for her, the anxiety of her absence tied his gut into a painful knot until he spotted a large dark shadow emerging from the open ocean.

Gracefully she moved onto the shallower floor of the reef bed, a dozen or more smaller sharks surrounding her like a cadre. He sank down to wait, watching her approach. Anxious to touch her once again. To see that almost-human gaze.

It was so peaceful there as he waited. The only sounds were those of his breath and his heart beating loudly, racing slightly with the anticipation of meeting her once more.

She drifted closer, circling him. Playing a coquette’s game as she came close enough to touch but then raced away when he reached for her.

He smiled at the game against his mouthpiece and waited for her teasing play, but as he did so, a rough sound intruded. The thump-thump-thump of an engine approaching before it cut off. A short distance away, closer to the open ocean, the shadow of a boat darkened the ocean floor.

He looked up just as two men dropped into the water, spear guns in hand.

They moved quickly toward him. Toward her.

Victor realized then that during their little game, she had become trapped in a cul-de-sac of coral walls. The only way out was past him and the two spear fishermen.

Even as he thought that, a flash of silver sped past him in the water and skimmed close to the shark’s body before smashing into the coral.

A second later, a second spear just missed the shark’s dorsal fin as the great animal surged upward, trying to put distance between itself and the other divers.

Victor glanced toward her only to find that her way out was closed off there by one of the divers who swam close to the surface, training his weapon on the shark.

Pushing off the bottom at the same time as the animal dove downward, Victor placed himself in the line of fire and held his hands out, urging the fishermen to stop their assault.

A burble of air escaped the spear gun only a moment before agonizing heat tore through his side, stealing his breath. He looked down at the spear piercing him as dark circles danced before his eyes. Battling the pain, he maintained consciousness only long enough to register the blood oozing from his wound while below him the school of reef sharks moved as one, surging up in his direction.

The blood, he thought. They would begin a feeding frenzy at even the faintest trace of it, much less the steady stream coming from his side as he slowly drifted downward.

He was a dead man unless he could somehow get to the surface and away from them. He tried to swim with his one arm, but the movement brought debilitating agony through his side. Bracing his hand against the spear, he tried to stem the flow of blood as the sharks came ever closer, but he couldn’t.

A bump came against his fins as one of the school swam past his feet, but, to his surprise, the sharks raced past him and toward the two other divers in the water. As one they rammed the men with their snouts as if they were dolphins, driving the men away from him and from the queen shark.

Over and over they attacked until the men had been pushed back to their boat, bruised and slightly bloodied from a bite or two. The swarm of sharks circling the hull of the boat obscured it for a moment, but then the engine kicked in and the boat sped away.

Safe. She was safe for now, he thought as he slowly sank to the bottom and prepared to die. Each time he tried to move, the pain immobilized him. He would never reach the surface without help and he doubted the two divers would be quick to put in a call to anyone.

But still he hoped, calming his breath to conserve oxygen. He kicked weakly to move closer to shore, but the reef he so loved was in the way of salvation.

A shadow fell across the pink–white sand only moments before she joined him on the ocean floor, circling around anxiously. He held out his hand and she swept past it before swimming away. The next time she came, she slipped beneath his outstretched arm and her fin caught against him, lifting him upward.

In his mind he heard, “Hold me.” Or maybe he thought he did. His thoughts were scattered, his brain disoriented from the pain. But even with that, he did as she asked and circled her thick form with his good arm. Beneath it came the flex of muscle as the mighty shark moved him up and over the wall of reef and toward shore.

It was like flying. The reef below him rushed past in a blur of speed until the kaleidoscope of colors and marine life gave way to smooth sand.

He tried to rise as his fins scraped the shore, but his knees were rubbery. With a push, however, she was lifting him upward, above the ocean’s surface.

He spit out the mouthpiece and groaned as the weight of the scuba gear and the spear in his side brought fresh rounds of pain.

“You’re almost there,” he heard in a soft voice—feminine and with the slightest trace of an accent.

He glanced over and forced his eyes to focus past the fog forming on the inside of his mask.

The woman from his dreams stood there, his arm draped over her bare shoulders. Dark-grey eyes filled with worry as she bore his weight and half-dragged him from the surf.

“Who are you?” Even speaking hurt as the breath necessary for words pulled at the spear through his side.

“Nali,” she said as she continued plodding through the surf with him, her gait slightly unsteady. Like that of someone trying to find balance on a rolling ship or a little toddler learning to walk.

That unsteadiness combined with the ungainliness of his flippers sent them tumbling down into the calf-high water. As they fell, she tried to shield his body with hers but failed.

The end of the spear hit the soft sand, driving it deeper through his body in a blast of searing pain.

This time there was no holding back the darkness that clawed its way into his brain and he blessedly released himself to it, ending his agony.

* * *

Nali muttered a curse at his rough groan and the heavier weight of his body.

He had passed out for sure, and as strong as she was, he was bigger. His weight combined with that of his scuba gear was difficult to handle after so many months away from land. Still, she had to get him from the ocean and to somewhere she could tend to his wound.

With a mighty shove that had her feet sinking into the soft, wet sand, she pulled him upright. As she did so, she caught sight of her father rushing toward them from his home.

“Nali,” he cried out, joy alive in his voice until his gaze settled on the man and the blood streaming down his side, turning the water at their feet a sickening pink.

Her father rushed forward through the surf and slipped the man’s other arm around his shoulders. Together they dragged him out of the water and gently lay him down on the sand.

“What happened, daughter?” he asked while he worked at removing the man’s gear.

“Spear fishermen. I came too close to the reef, and they were there, hunting for me. He tried to stop them,” Nali answered, keeping to herself the reason why she had ventured into waters where she was no longer safe.

“The spear has not hit anything vital, but we must get it out to stop the bleeding.”

Nali nodded and jerked her chin in the direction of her old shack. “Is he staying there?”

Her father nodded. “You have not used it in so long—”

“It’s okay, father. I understand,” she said and lay a gentling hand on his muscled forearm. The hairs there were growing silvery, a reminder of the immortality he had given up for a life on land.

“Let’s get him inside then,” her father said. Together they lifted Victor from the sand and dragged him to the thatch-roofed building just yards away from the water. His feet banged the steps with dull thuds as they carried him inside to the bed, where they gently placed him on his uninjured side.

Nali glanced around her old home. It was familiar but not. The man’s belongings had cluttered up the once neat spaces around the single room. In deference to her father, she hurried to her closet, took out a robe and slipped it on before returning to the bedside. As she examined the man’s wound, her father sprang into action, gathering towels and bandages for tending to the injury.

The spear had bit through muscle about an inch in from his side. Deep enough to be painful but luckily not far enough inward to hit anything vital.

She worked quickly to unscrew the barbed head of the spear and placed her hand against his flesh to hold the shaft of the spear steady. His skin was warm with life but wet with his blood. She applied pressure there while drawing out the spear with a steady hand.

Even though he was unconscious, he groaned from the pain. For a moment his eyes flickered open, but then dropped closed once more. Marvelous blue eyes, like the ocean that was truly her home.

As she worked the spear out of his flesh, a sickening sucking sound turned her stomach as the spear came loose and blood flowed freely from the wound. Her father quickly joined her, packing gauze against the exit wound as she did the same to the front. Then they bandaged the injury tightly, using the pressure to stem the bleeding.

Satisfied with their handiwork, they gently lay him flat on the bed. Nali experienced relief at the gentle rise and fall of his chest and the steady beat beneath her fingers as she checked his pulse.

“Will he be all right?” she asked as her father brought over a basin with fresh water and a towel so they could wash his body clean of the ocean’s salt and his blood.

“If infection doesn’t set in.”

Infection. She’d forgotten how fragile mortal bodies were but was reminded of it yet again as she passed the damp towel across the scars marring a large part of his left upper body. She ran her fingers along the rough skin, wondering how he had been hurt.

“Burns,” her father said, in tune with her thoughts. Then he quickly added, “He was a firefighter.”

She nodded and continued her chore. Seeing that she was apparently in no rush, her father pulled up a chair opposite her and sat.

“It’s been too long, daughter.”

“It has, and I’m sorry. But it’s no longer safe for me to visit too close to shore. I wish I could visit and spend more time, but you know that after a week, each day that passes makes it harder to shift back.” Holding the man’s arm, she wiped it clean and tried to ignore the skitter of desire at the feel of his skin beneath her fingers. Tried to keep her gaze from wandering to the leanly muscled body whose beauty was not diminished by the scars. If anything, the scars were like a badge of courage from his past profession.

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