Fight the Tide (24 page)

“There are big waves coming that way.” Adam pointed.

“I know. The wind’s changing. Northwest. Thirty knots now.” He gripped the wheel as they rocked up a large swell and down the other side.

“This is what you were afraid of.” They were both wearing life jackets and were tied on with rope, but Adam still backed away from the railing, struggling to keep his balance as they rode over another dark swell. “Shit. Parker—”

“Talk later!” He cranked the winch, muttering again. “Keep watch. If there’s anyone else out here, we don’t want to hit them.”

Bracing himself, Craig appeared at the top of the steps. “Are we okay?” he called tensely.

“We will be. Put on your life jackets and stay below!” Parker shouted. He leaned over the panel of instruments. “I’m going to get us to this goddamn island.”

The swell of affection that crashed through Adam mirrored the roiling waves. He held on as another one came.

*

In the end,
it took almost twelve hours to make it to the other side of the stream, released from the unrelenting current. In the steely light of day, the waves had been all the more forbidding, breaking with white froth as the wind hammered from the northwest. If it had switched completely to the north, Adam was sure they could have been swept over. Even dropping the sails and motoring across had proven more difficult than he’d expected.

As he and Parker sprawled on the benches, letting
Bella
drift with sails down for the moment, he said, “This is the part where you get to say ‘I told you so.’ You earned it.”

Parker managed a small smile. “We made it. That’s all that matters.” He gazed around. “Well, we made it out of the stream. Now we’re in the middle of the ocean. Let’s get out the charts.”

“In a minute.” He snagged Parker’s hand, brushing their knees together, bare beneath their shorts. “Enjoy this victory.”

Fidgeting, Parker’s brow creased. “It’ll be a victory when we find this island, it turns out to be awesome, and Jacob gets to see a doctor or nurse or someone who knows more than we do.”

“You’re amazing, you know that?”

He kicked off the shoes, flexing his toes. “Sure. I told you that the first time we met.”

Chuckling, Adam lifted Parker’s hand and kissed his knuckles. “An A student.”

Parker leaned in, sliding his tongue into Adam’s mouth. They kissed for a few heartbeats, their stubble rubbing, breath stale and lips salty. Adam heard little feet approach, and he reluctantly eased back to smile at Lilly. She still wore her too-big life jacket, cinched around her middle with Craig’s belt. She smiled shyly, cheeks dimpling.

Adam smiled back. “Hey, kiddo.”

“Did we make it?” she asked.

“Through the Gulf Stream, yeah,” Parker answered. “We’ll head south again in a minute. It’ll be dark in a couple of hours, and we can look for the island. How’s Jacob?”

Her face dropped almost comically, as if she’d allowed herself to forget for a minute. “Bad. His fever’s really high. Daddy’s very worried.”

“We’ll come and check on him in a minute. Okay?” Parker gave her a smile.

“Okay.” She turned, but impulsively whirled back and skipped forward to press a kiss to Parker’s cheek. “Thank you.”

Then she scampered away, and Parker blinked after her. He glanced at Adam. “Kids are weird. But pretty great. Sometimes.”

“Sounds about right.” Adam kissed Parker’s other cheek.

Three hours later, he peered into the binoculars, his heart thumping as he made out the definite shape of land amid the gentle waves. “It’s really there,” he whispered.

Parker squinted at his instruments. “The latitude and longitude are just about right.” He straightened up. “Wow. It actually exists. Well, I guess we’ll see what happens.”

Craig blew out a long breath. “Please, God. We need…” He didn’t finish the thought, and the three of them looked at each other in the moon’s ghostly gleam.

The stars were a brilliant field of silver stretching to infinity, and Adam peered toward the island. “You guys stay here. I’ll approach in the dinghy like we planned.”

“I should go with you.” Parker’s pulse rabbited, and he tapped his fingers on the wheel.

“Captain stays with the ship,” Adam said firmly. “I’ve got this.”

“Let’s hope I don’t go down with it,” Parker muttered softly enough that Adam suspected Craig didn’t hear.

Adam determinedly smiled, ignoring how his palms sweat. “I’ve got this.”

Parker kissed him a few beats longer than necessary, and when Adam cut through the sea in the dinghy, he could still feel the pressure on his lips.

As he disappeared into the night, Adam opened up his senses, reaching out toward the dark hulk of the island. Lights shone in the distance, flickering. He realized it was firelight, torches and perhaps bonfires burning on the expanse of sand rimming the island.

Cutting the motor, he lifted the binoculars, still far enough away that anyone on the island would never be able to see him, even with binoculars of their own.

With his enhanced vision, the heat of the island came into focus, and he listened intently, the patter of hundreds of heartbeats echoing in his bones, deep within. But there was something else…

Gasping, Adam jerked, dropping the binoculars, the leather cord pulling on the back of his neck as the black plastic thumped against his chest. Across the salt water, the unmistakable musk reached him, a deep pull of sense memory. It was as if he could reach out and touch fur, playing with his parents and sisters, nipping with teeth and notching with claws, not hard enough to really hurt.

The hair on his body grew, standing to attention, his vision going completely gold as he transformed, answering the insistent urge. Careful of his claws, Adam fumbled the binoculars up to his eyes. Twisting the dials, he focused in on a jetty lit by flickering torches. His heart leapt as a woman filled his vision. She was facing the shore, her dark hair dangling in a ponytail. Then she turned, and his heart swelled as she looked right at him.

She howled, and before he knew what he was doing, Adam returned her call across the waves.

M
aybe it was
a bird.

Parker listened carefully, but the sound didn’t come again. He could have sworn it was a howl, and it was Adam. Was Adam hurt? Was he in trouble?

“I should have gone with him.” He paced up and down
Bella
’s length. “Fuck! You heard that, right?”

Craig hovered by the stern, squinting into the darkness. “I’m not sure what it was. It was far away.”

The gun tucked into the waistband of his cargo shorts pressed against Parker’s lower back, and his fingers itched to heft its weight and flick off the safety.
What if it’s not Adam coming back? What if they got him, and it’s someone else? What if…

“I’m sure everything’s fine.”

Parker wasn’t sure who Craig was trying to convince, but he nodded. “Adam can take care of himself.” Images of the soundproofed basement laboratory at the Pines flashed through his mind as if to prove him wrong. The jars containing bloody chunks of Adam’s flesh labeled neatly:
Arm, Leg, Back.

He squeezed his eyes shut for a moment, nausea flooding his mouth with saliva. “As long as he doesn’t get hit with a tranq dart or something.”

Craig’s eyebrows drew together, and he looked back out to sea, shifting his machete from one hand to the other and back again. The kids were downstairs, Jacob out of it with fever. Parker watched the waves, waiting for the dinghy to reappear, saying a silent prayer to whoever that it would be Adam in it, safe and sound.

Parker muttered, more to himself than Craig, “I swear to God, he’d better be okay. He’d better—”

The drone of the dinghy’s outboard motor sounded jarringly loud in the darkness. The boat came into sight, and Parker exhaled in a rush. He’d know the slope of Adam’s wide shoulders anywhere. He gave Craig a reassuring smile and clambered down onto the launch platform to haul up the dinghy. He held out his hand, and Adam took it, his grip warm and almost too firm.

Adam was practically vibrating, humming with something Parker hoped wasn’t fear. He couldn’t quite tell, and asked, “What is it?”

“Wolves.” Up on the deck, Adam smiled, tremulous and breathy. “
Wolves
.”

Somehow, Parker thought he should have known, but it hadn’t even crossed his mind. “Wait…seriously? Wow.” His head spun.

“Other werewolves?” Craig asked. “You said there weren’t many.”

“There aren’t, not that I know of. But they’re here. Come on, pull up the anchor. It’s safe.”

“Whoa, whoa.” Parker held up his hands. “We don’t know that. We don’t know shit. Tell me what happened.”

Adam did, words tripping out almost faster than he could corral them. He was excited in a way Parker had never seen.

Parker said, “Okay, so she saw you and howled, and you howled back—which we heard, by the way, thanks for freaking us the fuck out. Then you came back here, and…what? We’re just going to sail right up and they’ll roll out the welcome mat? How do we know they’re not evil?”

“It’s a feeling.” Adam breathed shallowly, his fingers twitching. “I can’t describe it. But when she called to me, it was like… It felt like home. I’m not running away this time. And Jacob needs a doctor.” He reached for Parker’s hand, squeezing. “Trust me.”

“I do. It’s not you I’m worried about. We can’t—”

The unmistakable sound of a motor was a low rumble on the waves, and Parker jerked away from the railing. “It’s them.” He tried to tug his hand free from Adam’s so he could pull out his gun, but Adam hung on.

“It’s okay. Let’s listen to what they have to say.” Adam nodded to Craig. “Okay?”

After a moment, Craig tucked the machete behind a pillow on the bench by the table. “I’ll follow your lead.”

It was a small motorboat that appeared in the silver-tipped moonlight. Slowing, it pulled up to starboard, not too close, but close enough to speak without raising their voices too much. Of course Parker supposed that being wolves, they could have whispered to Adam. They cut the engine, and a middle-aged woman raised her hand.

Her dark hair was pulled back in a ponytail, and she wore jeans and a light jacket. She looked completely normal. Average. Unremarkable. Pretty in a way Parker’s mom would have called “earthy,” which was kind of an insult, since Pamela Osborne had preferred more spit and polish, glossy manicures and Ann Taylor cardigans.

The woman was too far away for Parker to check if her eyes were the same hazel-leaning-towards-gold that Adam’s were. He hadn’t thought about it until later, but Ramon’s eyes had been that color. Adam had confirmed that his family had all had the same eyes, so Parker thought perhaps it was a defining werewolf trait.

At the wheel of the boat was a younger Asian man who was probably twenty-five. His dark hair was cropped short, and he was compact and trim. He gave them a nod, apparently waiting for the woman to say more.
Is he a werewolf too?
Parker couldn’t be sure of his eye color either.

“Evening.” She smiled, her teeth flashing white. “I’m Theresa. This is Kenny. We’re glad to meet you.”

Adam spoke, still holding Parker’s hand. He introduced them and Craig, and added, “We have two children below deck. Lilly and Jacob.”

She smiled again. “Very good. We love children.”

Because they taste the best? That succulent young meat? Super juicy. Or maybe you’re just huge perverts.
The worst-case scenarios whipped through Parker’s mind, and he pressed his lips together to keep from blurting them out.

“My son needs a doctor,” Craig said, and Parker swallowed a groan. Way to give them the upper hand.

“I’m sorry to hear that. We can definitely help. If you want to follow us, we can take you in to dock and go from there.” She added, “I understand that you likely have concerns, but we only want to help. Salvation Island is a safe place.”

Adam gripped Parker’s hand even tighter, and Parker snapped his mouth shut. He hadn’t even realized he’d opened it. But no, screw it, he had some questions. “Are you all werewolves? Why would you want to help us?”

“We only had wolves here before the virus, but we welcome all survivors now. Before, this was a sanctuary. A place for us to reconnect and be ourselves.”

“Like werewolf camp? Or a resort?” Parker asked.

A smile flitted over her face. “Basically. Now it’s a sanctuary for everyone. Had a boat arrive from Europe last week.”

His breath caught. “Europe? Where, London? My brother Eric…” The odds Eric was on a ship crossing the Atlantic were so infinitesimal that Parker stopped talking, his cheeks burning as everyone looked at him. “Forget it.”

But Theresa didn’t scoff. “No one named Eric on board. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay,” he muttered.
You’ll never see him again. Stop hoping.

Theresa addressed Adam now. “Your friends know about our kind? Is there anything we need to explain?”

“They know the basics. They know…what I know.” He sounded so vulnerable in that moment, and Parker wanted to hide him away and keep him safe.

Theresa gave him an appraising nod, seeming to file away questions for later. “You’ve heard our messages, I assume? Salvation Island is a safe haven, and from what we understand, there aren’t many safe places left.”