Fire & Rescue Shifters: Coyote in the Sea (Fire & Rescue Shifters: Friends and Family) by Zoe Chant

Author:Zoe Chant [Chant, Zoe]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-03-28T23:00:00+00:00

3. The Gift

They emerged back onto the main streets of Atlantis. The magical glow that lit the city was fading into soft, twilight shades now, mimicking the hidden sky far above. Dusky purple shadows settled over coral buildings. Twinkling points of light danced and sparkled overhead—not stars, but shoals of luminescent fish, gathering to rise to the surface and feed.

“Come.” Finn lengthened his stride, making her have to scoot to keep up with his much longer legs. “We must hasten, if we are to keep our promise to the Prince.”

The streets were busy with sea shifters, but they had no difficulty making their way through the crowd. One glance at Finn, and even the biggest, cockiest sea dragon warrior stood aside.

It was partly out of respect, she knew. But only partly.

Can’t believe they still aren’t over this nonsense. She glared at yet another group of sea shifters as they back-pedaling away from Finn at not-quite-undignified speed. For Heaven’s sake! If a bunch of desert dogs can treat him like a normal person, you’d think full-grown dragons could manage to look him in the eye without widdling themselves.

Finn’s nature was never an issue up on land. Which wasn’t to say people didn’t recognize his power. When Finn did ‘nothing’ in that particular way of his, even the most bone-headed rattlesnake had the sense to mind their manners.

But he never shifted back home in Arizona. He couldn’t, for obvious reasons. And it was one thing to vaguely be aware that the quiet, patient coach who taught kids how to swim at the local pool could also, when the occasion called, turn into a giant prehistoric shark.

It was quite another to actually see him do it.

The Atlanteans had. Finn had never hidden his other form from them—it would have been futile even to try, given that he was nigh-on a hundred feet long and broad as a barn to boot. They’d all seen his silent shadow, passing high above the spires of their city. They knew what he was.

And so it didn’t matter that Finn wore a black pearl around his neck—the only person not of the Imperial bloodline to ever do so—given to him by the Empress herself as a sign of her trust. It didn’t matter that he’d spent decades tirelessly working to defend the people of Atlantis from threats both within and without. It didn’t even matter that he’d retired from politics and war years ago, hanging up his sword and leaving others to carry on his legacy.

To sea shifters, he would always be the Master Shark.

They bowed to him, yes… but they feared him too. They were wary of all sharks, and he was the shark. The terror in the deep; the Big Bad Wolf of their nursery tales. No matter how often he showed them his kindness, his compassion and hard-earned wisdom… all they saw were his teeth.

For his part, Finn didn’t seem to notice the whispers and hastily averted eyes. But watching the crowds melt away before him like butter on a griddle, Martha thought again of the empty space around Seventh Novice.

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