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Reaching within myself, I found the place of calm I accessed right before I took out a target and watched. My skin itched with the need to move in, but I stayed put, my ass on the edge of my seat. We were too far away to hear what the bodyguard said, and it wouldn’t have mattered even if we could since neither of us spoke fluent Italian. The bodyguard ended the call, nodded to his comrade, who stood and tucked his phone back into his pocket. He moved quickly to the table where Scivolo sat, her eyes again obscured by large sunglasses while she read the newspaper and watched the tourists in the square.
The second the bodyguard leaned down to whisper in her ear, her entire demeanor changed. She was out of her seat in theblink of an eye, walking quickly toward the dock, her bodyguards flanking her on either side.
When they cleared the sightline of the cafe, I rose to my feet, ready to take off after them. “Let’s move.”
But Jack didn’t.
“What are you waiting for?”
He finally got to his feet. “If we go tearing after them, they are going to catch on that they are being followed.”
“Fuck that. If we wait here any longer, we’re going to lose them, and this is the most action we’ve seen from her for days.” I held out my hand. “Give me the keys. If you want to wait around, fine. But I’m following them.”
“I’m not giving you the keys, Cal.”
I growled my frustration, then remembered I didn’t need a goddamn boat to follow them through the canals. I ripped the gold band off my finger and tossed it onto the table, then took off running through the square.
I heard Jack yelling for me to stop, but I didn’t care. I ran toward where we’d docked our borrowed boat and saw Scivolo and her bodyguards pulling away from the dock and out into the canal. I already had my shirt off, yanking it over my head as I hit the dock and tossing it into our boat as I jumped onto the deck. I let my jeans fall as I toed off my boots and socks. Shifters were common around the world, but public nudity was still frowned upon in some places, so I stripped quickly, then jumped into the brackish water of the canal. Someone on a boat farther down the dock yelled at me, presumably shouting that there was no swimming allowed, but it was too late. I’d already ducked my head under the water, calling my animal form forward, and when my shift was complete, I came up just long enough to take a breath before disappearing under the surface again.
My eyes had been trained on Scivolo’s boat the entire time I was on the dock and while I was shifting, and I was able to spot it easily in the water, motoring down the canal at a brisk pace.
The water was deep enough that I could stay fully submerged while I was in pursuit, and I used my fluke to propel me forward, putting on a burst of speed.
Jack and his boat could kiss my ass.
CHAPTER
TEN
JACK
“Goddamn it, Cal!”
My feet hit the dock just in time to see him go over the side of the boat, landing in the canal with the slightest splash. A split second later, I saw his massive black-and-white form under the surface as he took off down the canal, chasing Scivolo’s boat.
This was one hundred percent not lying low. This was a nightmare. There was no way in hell people were going to miss a giant sea panda cruising through Venice.
Untethering the mooring line, I jumped onto the boat and threw the key into the ignition almost all in one movement, then I turned the boat into the canal, trying to catch up with Cal.
My heart stuttered in my chest every time Cal almost got clipped by a passing boat or sent a gondola rocking, and I hoped a trip to the hospital wasn’t in our future, though if a passing boat didn’t maim Cal, I might do it myself as a consequence for being an impulsive asshole.
We wound through the canals, and in the distance, I could see Scivolo’s boat. They were traveling far faster than the posted five-kilometer-per-hour speed limit. As fast as they were moving and with a killer whale obviously following, we were bound to garner unwanted attention. I had no choice but to slow downand attempt to look like I was just another boater on the water, making my way through the canals.
The farther into the city we traveled, the more and more narrow the canals became, but still Scivolo’s boat didn’t slow, traveling the waterways like the man piloting her boat had been doing it for years. As they made their way between two redbrick buildings, I noticed something Cal couldn’t see.
Red and white signs emblazoned with Solo Gondole and Attenzione: Canale Stretto began appearing with greater and greater frequency until they were joined by a Do Not Enter sign.
I stopped, killing the engine, and watched what happened next like it was occurring in slow motion. Scivolo’s boat made a sharp turn down another canal between two buildings, leaving waves in her wake that probably made it hard for Cal to see that she’d turned.
So he didn’t.
He passed the Do Not Enter signs, and I couldn’t look away as he continued at speed into the narrow canal.
Until his big body scraped against the building foundations on either side, and he got stuck.
Served him right for going off half-cocked. I tried—and epically failed—not to laugh as he tried to kick himself free with his fluke. His pectoral fins were pinned between the buildings, completely useless for helping him turn around in the tight space. Not that he had room to turn in the tiny canal anyway.
My laughter echoed off the surrounding buildings, tears streaming from my eyes, as Cal gave up and shifted back to his human form. He swam toward my laughter, hauling himself up onto the boat.
