Harris, Daisy - Shark Bait [Ocean Shifters 3] (Siren Publishing Classic) Read online

  Ocean Shifters 3

  Shark Bait

  “Raider had spent years honing his front, but as Sophia calmly assessed his erection it occurred to him--no male holds the upper hand when his pants are around his knees.”

  After seventeen mating refusals, sea dragoness Sophia Aleahar is getting more than a little desperate. But when she swims to a potential mate to convince him to reconsider, she’s taken hostage by shark-shifter pirates.

  Mere-shark hybrid Raider ShaCrayz has spent ten years in the hold of his father’s ship. The tiny dragoness prisoner inspires his most vicious and most gentle impulses. When she offers him freedom in exchange for helping her lure a mate, Raider decides he wants to be more than just a beast on a chain.

  Raider desires her like no male ever has, but Sophia needs to learn that no handsome dragon is worth more than the bad-boy shark who loves her.

  Genre: Paranormal, Shape-shifter Length: 53,238 words

  SHARK BAIT

  Ocean Shifters 3

  Daisy Harris

  EROTIC ROMANCE Siren Publishing, Inc.

  ABOUT THE E-BOOK YOU HAVE PURCHASED: Your non-refundable purchase of this e-book allows you to only ONE LEGAL copy for your own personal reading on your own personal computer or device. You do not have resell or distribution rights without the prior written permission of both the publisher and the copyright owner of this book. This book cannot be copied in any format, sold, or otherwise transferred from your computer to another through upload to a file sharing peer to peer program, for free or for a fee, or as a prize in any contest. Such action is illegal and in violation of the U.S. Copyright Law. Distribution of this e-book, in whole or in part, online, offline, in print or in any way or any other method currently known or yet to be invented, is forbidden. If you do not want this book anymore, you must delete it from your computer. WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000. If you find a Siren-BookStrand e-book being sold or shared illegally, please let us know at [email protected]

  A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK IMPRINT: Erotic Romance SHARK BAIT

  Copyright © 2011 by Daisy Harris E-book ISBN: 1-61034-097-3

  First E-book Publication: January 2011

  Cover design by Jinger Heaston

  All cover art and logo copyright © 2011 by Siren Publishing, Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission.

  All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.

  PUBLISHER

  Siren Publishing, Inc.

  Letter to Readers

  Dear Readers, If you have purchased this copy of Shark Bait by Daisy Harris from BookStrand.com or its official distributors, thank you. Also, thank you for not sharing your copy of this book.

  Regarding E-book Piracy This book is copyrighted intellectual property. No other individual or group has resale rights, auction rights, membership rights, sharing rights, or any kind of rights to sell or to give away a copy of this book.

  The author and the publisher work very hard to bring our paying readers high-quality reading entertainment.

  This is Daisy Harris’ livelihood. It’s fair and simple. Please respect Ms. Harris’ right to earn a living from her work. Amanda Hilton, Publisher www.SirenPublishing.com www.BookStrand.com

  DEDICATION

  To my mother and my husband, who both love the sea. To the Discovery Channel for raising shark awareness. To Captain Paul Watson and Sea Shepherd for protecting the oceans. And to my daughters, who prefer swimming in lakes.

  SHARK BAIT

  Ocean Shifters 3

  DAISY HARRIS

  Copyright © 2011 Chapter 1

  Dragoness Sophia Aleahar paced her bedroom like a lizard in a box. Her pink-painted talons scraped at the shag carpet. Her grayish, serpentine tail knocked over lamps and figurines. Though she was twenty-two years old, and far too old to still wear one, the metal prongs of her fang-retainer surrounded her long head. She counted down the minutes until her mother would allow her to take it off.

  She paused in front of the mirror and tried to look upon her reflection in a positive light. Eyes too round stared back at her, topping off her too-short stature. Behind her, vertical pink stripes decorated the walls. Lace trimmed each of her throw pillows. The plush space fit around her like a little girl’s jewelry box.

  “Sophia? My guests are arriving.” Manicured talons curled around the edge of her door.

  With a deep sigh, she replied, “I’ll be right down, Mother.”

  “Let me take a look at you.” Alexandra Aleahar strode in, her ebony tail flashing iridescent. Her proud snout led up to aristocratically slanted eyes that Sophia had sadly not inherited. “Oh, I forgot you were still wearing your appliance. I’ll help you take it off.”

  Alexandra’s talons pinched at the scales behind her neck as the older dragoness unhitched the dental apparatus.

  “And remember to stand up straight. It doesn’t help your height when you’re all curled in on yourself.”

  She resisted the urge to bite at her claws at her mother’s admonition. She extended her serpentine neck and raised herself to maximum height, which was still a head shorter than her mother.

  Alexandra sighed. “Well, there’s only so much you can do, I suppose.” She started walking back to the door. Before leaving, she added, “And for the gods’ sake, Sophia. Remember to watch your tongue!”

  Minutes later, Sophia slithered down the stairs, hoping to sneak into her parents’ feast room unnoticed. The wallpapered stairwell flickered with tea lights, happy lashes of color contrasting with her dark mood. She’d never been popular, but since Kai Nasu broke off his arranged engagement to her, Sophia’s life had become a downward spiral of social disasters.

  When she reached the landing, her pulse raced. Upwards of fifty guests attended the birthday party her parents had ostensibly planned for her. Fifty-plus opportunities to look like a freak.

  With a deep breath, Sophia approached the first bunch of highranking debutants her parents had invited. “Um, hi guys.” She tried to tilt her snout up to appear taller.

  Her least favorite female, Patsy Herilian, pinned her with a fierce stare. “Sophia. You must be terribly excited about this grand party.”

  Sophia’s forelimbs rose in nervousness. “Not Really.” For mercy’s sake, did I just say that out loud?

  Sophia watched as each girl’s mouth dropped in horror. The familiar sound of geckos chirping filled the silence.

  “Um.” She swallowed. “What I meant is…I’m sure I will be excited…When I get settled…I mean…” The debs skulked away as she spoke. Sophia blinked and ducked her head, focusing her attention to the center platter where several roasted deer lay, surrounded by her parents’ finest china and silver.

  Unfortunately, her eyes landed on Aydes Reeves—tall, sinewy, jet-black—most handsome of all the dragons in Underwater City. He stood near the carcass surrounded by his horde of admirers, both male and female. A little sigh escaped her open jaw, and a passer-by’s cruel giggle erupted behind her.

  She snapped her jaw closed and turned abruptly. A footstool caught her hind limb, and she sprawled forward. Her long body crashed to the polished-marbl
e floor with a resounding thump that turned every head in the room. Sharp pain shot up into her palate. The tissue around her fangs, sore from the effects of her dental appliance, started to bleed. Sophia closed her eyes.

  She pretended no one else was around and slowly pulled her limbs underneath her. As was their way, the dragon nobles ignored her while she collected herself and skulked away limping. Sophia ignored the covert glances of Patsy Herilian and her friends as she headed for the stairs back up to her room. Her mother couldn’t begrudge her a moment to wash the blood off her scales. Her parents had set this party up so Sophia could attract another potential mate, but there was little chance of that now.

  The slither of a familiar tail sounded from behind her. “Don’t mind them, Soph!”

  A breath Sophia hadn’t even known she was holding left her lungs. “Frida! Oh my gods, I didn’t know you’d be here!”

  She turned to find her best friend smiling up at her from the bottom of the staircase. “Wouldn’t miss it! Now get back down there and find a male!”

  Sophia’s forelimbs rose up, her talons scraping against each other in a habit she knew her mother hated. “Oh, Frida, I really don’t think I can. General Nasu never even met me and he turned down my parents’ bid!”

  Frida smiled as if what she had said was funny, but Sophia felt tears well up. She hadn’t even told her friend the worst of it. “It’s not funny, Fri! I could go into heat any time. If I’m not claimed by then…”

  “Oh, stop being such a drama queen. You’re likely years away from your first heat.”

  One of Sophia’s large teeth pressed into her lower jaw as she struggled not to speak the truth of her situation. Changes wracked her body, intensifying each day, aches in her belly, intermittent swelling at her vent. “I don’t know, Frida, early heat runs in my family.”

  When Frida rolled her slanted eyes, Sophia added, “And I’ve had seventeen bids turned down already.” She tried to keep the emotion out of her voice. No good came of letting others know how much each and every one of those rejections had hurt.

  Her friend growled low in her chest, a sultry sound like a purr. No wonder Frida would be mated by the end of summer. “Maybe Kai would accept if he actually he met you.”

  In her desperation, Sophia lighted upon a thought. Perhaps her best friend was right.

  * * * * Sophia dashed through the house like a thief. Servants shuffled around the feast room, cleaning up the last bones and grizzle from the floors. She dipped into shadows, shifting the color of her scales to match the paisley walls. When her wizened butler opened wide the back exit to take out the garbage, the dragoness slipped past him and out onto the street.

  The sidewalks of the vast, bubble-enclosed Underwater City shone with greenish-blue lighting. Not a soul walked the footways, but Sophia gathered her courage. The journey to Murrough Island required several days of swimming alone. She might as well get used to solitude.

  She came to an entry point. The elevator-sized room held back the ocean and enclosed the bubble of air surrounding the City. This late at night, the guards slept soundly in their glass cubicle. Her nervous claws passed along the thick strap attaching her drybag to her body. She’d packed identification to enter other dragon areas, clothing to wear in human form, and her Iridium satellite phone. She pressed the button, and the double doors pulled open.

  Sophia sealed the entry point behind her and opened the door ahead. Water rushed in, and she pumped her tail and shot into the ocean. Sophia swam as fast as she could, enjoying the thrill of freedom before heading west to the Indian Ocean.

  Kai Nasu was stationed in the Arctic, and the journey would require several days. Sophia only hoped her heat would come right when she saw him. No dragon could resist the draw of a fertile female. In truth, Sophia felt a little guilty at the notion of trapping him that way, but she had gotten more than a little desperate.

  She swam through the deep green haze, chasing fish and skimming reefs and rocky caverns. On the third day, she reached Greece and circled a chain of islands, watching colored lights twinkle and listening to unfamiliar rock and roll music. She continued out the Mediterranean and watched the humans on a night beach in Nice. Only her dark eyes broke the surface of the water as she floated. Shouts of strangers’ revelry carried over the waves.

  The waters grew colder and bluer as she turned north. After a half day with no sign of land, Sophia wondered if maybe she’d made a wrong turn. The icebergs floated close together overhead. She’d raised her snout above water a few times to look, but the chill air burned her eyes and slowed her heart. All the adventures and exploration she’d read about in books now seemed overrated. What she wouldn’t give for her warm room and a dead carcass.

  A school of large fish passed close, and she dove after them. Most seafood she’d eaten in her life had been served on a bed of sea greens, caught by teams of the dragons’ servants, the mere. Of course, dragons dined on whole kill at feasts, but those animals were captured far from the Underwater City—sometimes even by humans. Before this journey, Sophia had never hunted a day in her life.

  She rushed to follow the delicious-looking fish, circling them into a tight ball; then she speared through the group, mouth wide open. A couple caught in her jaws at each pass, and she chewed with a hungry moan. Wisps of red blood surrounded her kill, and she struggled to catch the tiny bits of flesh that floated away. Too late, she realized she could have used her claw to hold her capture still while she ate. Sophia filed that discovery for later use.

  Surrounded by blood and destroyed food, Sophia felt the full weight of her loneliness. No one had followed her, and she wondered if her parents were happy to be rid of her. They had been trying to mate her off for years. Given a dragon’s three-hundred-year life-span, she wasn’t exactly an old maid. But noble women of her caliber tended to marry earlier, all the better to produce lots of little pure-bred dragons.

  Lost in her self-pity, she swished her tail to swim on when a large, pale gray body flashed in the distance. She turned in the other direction and swam a few meters only to see another gray tubular torso with black eyes. Her gaze darted back and forth, and then down over her scales and claws. Blood surrounded her and hung suspended in the still waters.

  The sharks edged closer. At least two dodged behind icebergs. She pulled deep breaths of water through her gills, readying to attack. True, she’d never been in a physical fight, but no doubt these dumb animals would depart once she proved she was neither injured nor helpless.

  From behind a floating wall of ice, the largest swept forward, so close she saw the whites of its eyes. Good Mercy! She’d overshot Svalsbard and entered into the shark-shifter-infested Russian waters. She swung her gaze around, counting as more and more emerged, enough to tear her to shreds. The largest swept so close his rubbery denticles brushed her scales.

  He rasped through the water. “What do we have here? A pretty little lizard from the Pacific? What a delicacy!” His chuckle filled the water, and his men answered with cruel laughs of their own.

  Unable to speak underwater as mere and shark-shifters could, Sophia attempted a roar, which ended short as a yelp. The sharks circled closer, unimpressed. She swiveled side to side to keep them all in her line of sight, but gray bodies and broad jaws lined with rows of teeth flashed from every side.

  The shark spoke again. “I’ll bet you’d fetch a nice ransom, dearest.”

  Sophia thanked every god she knew that her body was not human at this moment. No doubt she’d blubber like a child. Instead she clenched and unclenched her talons to ease her nerves and allowed herself to be herded by the school.

  * * * * Raider ShaCrayz opened one eye and surveyed the metal cage, heavy chain and bed of cardboard that comprised his province in the bowels of the vessel Cape Fear. He listened. No feet scuffled above. Both eyes open, he glanced at the porthole. Night. Silent feet carried him to inventory his stores.

  He eased his rusted coin from between the old cabinet joists and pressed
hard into the furrow in the near-hidden screw. Twisting, he drew the small metal fastening from the weathered wood. He pulled forward the door and reached inside for his treasure.

  His bread and cheese had run low, necessitating a trip to the kitchen. His dirty brown fingers roamed the rest of his belongings.

  Raider closed the cubbyhole and fell forward onto his arms. He pressed his body upward, rushing to get in at least three sets of pushups while none of the crew was nearby to mess with him. His muscles burned, but he dared not stop to stretch. His arms worked in efficient, confined strokes. He exhaled through his nose. Not even breath escaped his lips.

  Feet shuffled on the deck above, likely a shift change. Raider skimmed back into his corner and burrowed his head more deeply into the hood of his cloak. This time of night, the crew sometimes checked on him.

  Heavy boots tromped directly overhead and shouts sounded. A thunk sounded on the deck above. Perhaps the crew had bagged a seal. A moment later, he heard a female voice, strident and grating. He couldn’t make out the words, but if she spoke to his father like that, she must be very, very stupid.

  The hatch opened, but Raider didn’t look up. He listened as body after body descended. Our of the corner of his eyes, he noted his shark-shifter crewmates, dressed only in ragged sweatpants, with a female behind them. His hooded gaze took in her narrow, coffeecolored ankles and tiny bare feet.

  “It’s totally unnecessary for you to keep me in a cage. It would be unreasonable for me to try to flee. If you need reassurance I won’t run, you can hold onto my ID!”

  Raider tensed for the blow his father would deliver to the irritating female. None landed. She must be rich.

  A heavy thud sounded as his father threw a bag into the cupboard and a clang rung as he dragged out a set of shackles. “Try to shift wearing these, dearest, and you’ll slice off your hands.” Oh, she’s dragon.