Page 5 of Whispering Waves

She flipped the first steaks and put on the two with a rare destiny.

She turned to smile at the newcomer and had to hold the smile with a sheer force of will. He was huge with eyes like the darkest depths of the ocean. Her tattoo burned, and she whipped around while he looked surprised.

“Um, pleased to meet you, Kimo.”

“Pleased to meet you... Nina.” His voice had gone from deep to a purr.

The mark on her back was having a riot, trying to get noticed, but Nina kept her focus on the steaks. Six minutes later she looked at Drake. He held out a clean baking sheet, and she loaded the steaks onto it. She shut the grill off, double-checked it, and followed the men around the corner and to the table. Drake set up her plate with salad, dressing, potato with all the fixings, and her little steak. Kimo held her chair out for her, and she sat while the waves crashed along her spine and hips. The guys went quiet.

She looked up. “If something is missing, I can go get it.”

Kimo murmured, “Don’t you know not to run?”

“Yes, they take us aside and tell us that, but I was thinking of a slow walk and a retrieval of salt or something.”

The steak was good, the mushrooms were buttery, and the potato was sweet from the steaming and unrecognizable under all her preferred toppings. The salad was a nod to vegetables.

Drake chuckled. “There is so much butter in here, we won’t be able to dive tomorrow.”

Kimo said, “You are going out?”

“Yeah, the blues are due back in the area, and I think that Nina would lose her mind seeing them cruise past.”

She paused and swallowed. “From the boat, right? I am not getting into the water with whales when all I can do is snorkel.”

Drake smiled. “You’re smart; you will get the hang of it.”

“I’ll just watch the boat.”

Kimo murmured, “I can teach you to dive here. There are sheltered coves where it would be a simple matter in a safe place to learn.”

“Uh, I have come here to visit my brother.” She looked at her brother and stared.

Drake was a cross between amused and panicked. “Kimo, she is very new to the area and is just here to visit me and get away from stressors in the city.”

She nodded. She didn’t tell him that in a trauma-awareness situation, she had allowed her story to be portrayed in a video with details of the case displayed. She didn’t want Drake to find out what happened. She wasn’t raped, but she was drowned in a lake by one of his ex-teammates. Her survival kicked in when her back caught fire. Water had surged up to attack her attacker, and witnesses had called the police. Cameras had caught the water jet that she gave off.

Her parents had confessed that they loved her, but the attention they were getting because of the video and the dredging up of the legal case made them intensely uncomfortable. They hated that the attack rippled through to their daily lives. They really had no idea of how it affected her, but that was okay. They still had polite phone calls that didn’t mention anything of consequence.

Kimo nodded but said, “It is a necessary skill if she is to be here for any stretch of time, and while you are on the clock, I am not. I am a certified instructor and am more than willing to help her learn.”

She spoke up. “What Drake isn’t saying is that I currently have a bit of a water phobia.”

Her brother stared at her but didn’t say anything.

She looked at his confused face and sighed. “I really didn’t want to tell you about this, but there has been some publicity, and I want to make sure that you can see I am okay when I tell you.”

“What is it, Nina?”

“Well, three years ago, Andros Lingam broke in my apartment door, dragged me out of bed by my hair, and hauled me to the lake. He held me under while I struggled until I sucked in water, and everything went dark, and then my back caught fire, and the water surged out, left my lungs, and knocked him on his ass. Witnesses had already called the police, and he was hauled off for breaking and entering, stalking, kidnapping, and attempted murder. It was all on the security cameras, so there was no doubt, and I just had to make a statement from my hospital bed.”

Her brother looked furious. “Where is he now?”

“High security for the next three years, and then he gets out.”

“Andy... fuck! Why didn’t you tell me?”

“You were doing your practical exams, and I was fine. I talked to Mom and Dad, and if I didn’t make it, they would have called you. Pretty sure anyway.” She felt the other three alphas staring at them. “You are going to calm your shit down and finish your dinner and get your second helping of mushrooms because you love them, and I am fine. You can’t punch everyone who cuts me off in traffic, and I refuse to live in a tiny box.” She glanced at Tono. “But I know that is your favourite holiday spot.”

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