Oceans Untamed Read Online Free PDF Page B

to find her.
    As she walked across the lobby, she couldn’t help but look warily around, expecting Thomas to ambush her again. But he was long gone, of course. With any luck, he was already on the plane.
    She hadn’t walked this way to the beach when shewas with Koenraad, and the resort signs were confusing, sending her in circles. She passed a giant kidney pool, a smaller kiddie pool, and a four-lane lap pool that had to be Olympic size. All of which were filled with tourists.
    Noting that the bartender was serving drinks at the kidney pool, she continued down a few sets of concrete stairs. Fat iguanas sunned themselves in her intended path.Slowly, so as not to startle them, she withdrew her camera from her beach bag and squatted down as far as she could, trying to get on the same level as the animals.
    They looked like small dinosaurs, and she’d never seen so many shades of blue and green. She wondered if the crest of spikes that ran down their backs was dangerous. They looked a little floppy. Actually, they reminded her of a coworker.He was balding, and he spiked his hair with too much gel. For the first time, she almost missed work. Almost.
    The iguanas’ tails, in contrast, were like long whips, and their toes ended in claws. Best not to get too close.
    There were certainly plenty of them around, in all shapes and sizes. She wondered if they were considered pests. People ate them; she’d flipped past a morning television showabout them when she’d been lounging in bed earlier, right after Koenraad had left. The show had been in Dutch, but there were visuals.  
    In her opinion, iguanas were too cute for words. But then, she was also starting to think of sharks as cute. Their big, dark eyes looked surprised rather than hungry. Maybe when she got home, she’d get a lip piercing and a studded collar, too. Trade in her dressesand tights for tight jeans and shit stomper boots, and ride the subway with an albino python. She wondered what Koenraad would think, if he’d be amused and find it hot, or if he’d be scandalized. Thomas would have been scandalized, even if she got the python a little Harvard baseball hat and taught it to play the stock market. Koenraad… she wasn’t sure.
    She dropped her camera into her bag andstood. “Sorry, fellas,” she said as she took a step forward. The closest iguana hauled itself off the path, into the rocks and bushes, its long tail dragging along the ground. It seemed to have been a lot of effort for him, and she felt guilty.
    She was so busy trying to plot the least disruptive path through the lizards that she didn’t look up until she reached the sand.  
    Starting just a fewfeet ahead of her, the beach was roped off. Every twenty feet was a typed paper sign inside a plastic protector.  
    Due to seasonal reproduction of endangered sea turtles, the beach will unfortunately be closed until further notice. We appreciate your understanding and cooperation in this matter.
    Sea turtles? She didn’t buy it for a second. Not after what the clerk at the other hotel had confidedto her about the ocean going crazy. Shifters weren’t the only ones who’d noticed something was wrong. Several vacationers had drowned. The government didn’t want to scare away tourists, so the hotel must have decided to be proactive and close the beach to protect the guests. She wondered if all the resorts were doing that. And what about the public beaches?
    The way Koenraad had run out that morning…This was bad.
    There was a group of palm trees and hammocks to her left, on the safe side of the rope. She installed herself in a hammock and opened her book, but her gaze kept moving to the hypnotic blue-green waves rolling onto the shore.
    What was wrong with the water here? She shivered. She hoped Koenraad was safe.  

Chapter 4

    Koenraad sat on the steps in front of the mansion, a towel wrapped loosely around his waist, his head buried in his hands. He heard the outer gate closing behind the truck.