AllFreeNovel
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An entire existence separate from the one I share with Wes.
I love having a life outside of my future husband’s shadow and limelight and schedule.
I love my ability to maintain some independence.
Even if it’s just for a few nautical miles at a time.
“Overbooooardddddd,” my best friend and partner in ocean crime announces prior to wedging his oxygen mouthpiece between his lips.
His behavior is swiftly copied by Pyev and Auclair leaving me and Lance Kang to assist in lifting the plastic tank of baby stingrays over to the edge of the boat to them.
Due to this litter being larger than normal as well as our own aquatic organization ready to release some of our recently hatched, Calen and I were called in to aid in the relocation. Him being in the water is the better call – given how bad my stomach’s been lately – and I truthfully don’t mind screen duty.
Don’t get me wrong.
The view of the ocean in the ocean is fucking incredible.
It just doesn’t hurt my feelings to get to see it this clearly without the fuss and muss of squeezing my sexy ass into a wet suit and having to do a deep scrub and conditioning of my hair afterwards.
And I damn sure don’t hate not having to dive this early when the waters are this choppy.
Kang and I move to the main part of the boat to watch the feed on the monitors. Seeing the babies eagerly disperse in various directions, anxious to eat and find their way, fills me with the same sense of pride it always does.
I love when creatures find their way.
Maybe because I get it.
Maybe because I know what it’s like to be wading water, simply hoping you get your shit together to do more than just barely survive.
The three in the water maintain a safe space during the fish’s continued departure by freely exploring the territory for other injured ocean life that may need a minor or major hand. Admiring the beautiful hues around them nearly hypnotizing me like normal, however, before I can completely lose myself in the moment I spot unexpected activity in the far corner.
“There.” Tapping the left side of the screen is attached to my questioning, “What’s that?”
Kang rotates the camera and instantly zooms in.
“Looks like a fishing net,” mindlessly leaves me while surveying the scenario. “And we aren’t in commercial fishing waters.”
Kang grunts his irritation prior to picking up his radio to contact the authorities regarding the situation, yet I keep a visual on the situation, monitoring the area, curious to what could possibly be happening until I see it.
Red.
Streams and streams of red.
“Finning!” I shriek at the top of my lungs. “They’re finning!”
Whether it’s my screaming or the teams sudden shift in swimming directions that spooks them isn’t certain, but the creatures that begin to be thrown overboard at a much faster speed are without a doubt sharks.
Poor defenseless, juvenile sharks.
Being left to bleed out.
Suffocate.
Die.
The team in the water darts over to see if any can be saved as Kang puts a call into the Coast Guard.
Helplessly, I watch the three, swim around, checking the dying creatures, desperately seeking survivors, pleading to themselves and whoever it is they pray to that at least one can be saved. One hand curls around my mouth at the same time the other tucks itself around my stomach, bile ruthlessly burning its way up the back of throat over the gory shambles they’re sifting through. Despite my own disgust and the tears threatening to blur my vision, I assist in the process the best I can, being an extra set of eyes.
