Onlydays ago they'd thought this island a blessing, gifted to them in the aftermathof a storm and the sinking of their ship.
They had been wrong—and now hewas the only one left. The jungle hadclaimed the others, one by one. Blood plastered his clothes to his chest, sticking to his hands, but it wasn'this.
His bootcaught on some vicious, overgrown root of the jungle floor, casting him forward onto his belly justas he broke free of the trees and vines. For a moment he didn't move torise, panting against the coarse sand and listening to the waves. They calledhim, beckoning him to the only escape left.
He lifted his head, and underthe bright moon, he saw the shimmering ocean, beautiful with her offer ofcertain death. He crawled to her, clawing and kicking at the sand in a franticrace to the foam gathering at the edge of her surf.
The ravenous jungle behind himwent quiet, and that silence stabbed at his heart, bringing tears to his eyes."It will not be me. It will not be me."
He stretched, desperate forthe waves. "You will not take me."
His body jerked to a stop,fingers curling back just as the water would have reached him.
A violentbreath sucked deep into his chest, burning through his lungs, hismuscles, his soul—leaving nothing behind but a bodysitting on the beach, smiling at the moon.
With a sigh, he stood. The wavescrashed and rolled with new anger, reaching for him, always reaching. The man,no longer himself, took a step back, and then another until he disappeared intothe shadows of his jungle once more.
Chapter 1
As a child, Valarie DeNola would jump right into the deep end of the pool. Shewouldn't dip her toes or wade in slowly on the steps of the shallow end. Shewouldn't even look into the water before leaping. She just shed her towel andher mother's hand and ran full force to the edge, jumping high and falling hardinto the deep. That never changed. Not even when she traded a pool for theocean.
* * *
To say there is no sound underwater isn't true. The press against her eardrums, the beating of her pulse,and the shifting of her suit was sound all its own—blocking out anychance of quiet. But sound was different below water than above, contained byher skull and echoing from her body.
Val held onto the bar of hercage and stared out into the deep. She loved this moment, the one when waitingbecame almost unbearable. Bits of fish gorefluttered through the water from theboat above. The passengers were chumming while she and the other diverswaited. It wasn't difficult to find predators inthese waters, and experience had taught Val that it wouldn't take long.Through goggles she watched, straining to make out moving shapes, darker bluesdrifting closer. The excitement clogged herthroat, fingers gripping the cage as that body swam closer and closer,unable to tell size and distance until it was finally clear within sight andstill so large.
Herearpiece crackled when the crew on deck saw the shark from theirperch. "Incoming," Jessie said excitedly.
Valreached out to the side to grab onto Terrance's shoulder. He'd beenfidgety in the cage the past few days, but he was getting better. He held ontohis camera with both hands, body turning toward the viewing frame in the bars.But he didn't face it just because it offered the best view. It was where hewould feel the most vulnerable, and that camera in his hands became the lastbarrier between himself and whatever came up from the deep. Terrance learnedquickly, even if it was his first season inthe water with them. Felix liked him, but no one was surprised there. Her husband could befriend a feral baboon ifgiven some time and a bottle of tequila.
Val looked to the second sharkcage dangling there in the open water, bobbing with large, black floaties breaking the surface overhead. Felix and anothervideographer were there to mirror them in their wetsuits and dive gear.
The shark came in close,swimming between the two cages to take a look at the boat before circlingFelix. "Anyone we know?" Val asked, watching him study the massivefish. It was at least sixteen feet and female. If they didn't know her, theyshould. They had been coming to this spot to observe the great whites for thelast four years. Val could see the bright yellow tag on the dorsal fin fromwhere she bobbed in her own cage.
"Looks like Mimi,"Felix replied in her left ear, his thick Spanish accent familiar and alwayscomforting.
Valshifted in the cage to trade sides with Terrance, making sure he had thebest shots he could get. Usually, she would havea camera herself, but with the new show they were filming, they agreed totake on more camera crew and get her into some of the shots for once.
For the past six years, it hadbeen Felix on the screen and Val holding thecamera. She used to tell him what he was looking at, what kinds of fishthey were, and what was normal or abnormal about them, but Felix learned fast;she never had to tell him anything twice.
She had expected Felix to getbored with the ocean eventually, the way he'd gotten bored with skydiving,helicopter flying, mountain climbing, andextreme camping before they met. Butshe had been wrong. Something about the ocean captivated him the way itdid her. They could go to the same spots every year to see the same sharks, andsomehow it never got old.
"We have two more,Val," Felix said over the comm system.Excitement rang in his voice, inciting it in everyone who heard him.
The cage rocked, and Valsnapped her head to the side to see the large body of a male great white pushpast. Terrance bumped into her, and she braced his side to keep him steady whilehe filmed. She was sure he'd get the hang of this job—eventually.
The sharkrushed up to the surface toward the boat, attacking the chum as thoughit might make a run for it.
The thirdshark rolled by in the wake of the male, swimming right by the cage toeye them. For
