Page 92 of Not Your Ordinary Shifter

In another couple minutes we were on the move again, Beck and I back in our mudskipper forms. We found the first guard sitting on a sun lounger. Once I’d snuck up behind him, I changed back to human and had him in a choke hold before he had the chance to react. Once he’d passed out, Beck took his weapons and tossed them to Will. His cell phone went overboard. Glancing around, I tried to find something to tie him up with.

“This would be so much easier if this was a kill mission,” I muttered under my breath.

“No killing,” Will replied. “I’m going to find some rope or zip ties.”

Once Will returned, I swiftly immobilized him, covered his body with a nearby throw to conceal the fact that he was tied up, and changed back to my mudskipper form. The next guard was so busy watching TV that he didn’t have a chance. He was put to sleep the same as the others. The one after that caught us trying to sneak up on him, so Will stepped up and punched the guy with a perfect uppercut, knocking his ass out.

We had the rest of the guards knocked out and tied up in a surprisingly fast amount of time. Good thing these guys weren’t good at their job. And never mind the information we’d come to retrieve, the ship held all the evidence Roy would need to put Trent away for a very long time.

Beck and I got dressed in some borrowed clothes we’d found in a laundry room and then we rounded up the crew. They behaved surprisingly well, probably out of fear, as we gathered them together in one of the large lounge areas. We were lucky that they were running bare bones, so we didn’t have more people to worry about.

Beck dragged the captain in. He struggled to get away, earning a cuff on the back of the head from Beck. He shoved the man onto a lounge chair and then removed his gag.

“Just sit there and shut up,” Beck said.

An older woman, about fifty, raised her hand and when Will nodded at her, spoke up. “What are you going to do with us? Are you going to kill us?”

I was surprised at how calm she was. The others shifted warily at her words.

“Again, no harm will come to you,” Will replied.

She glared fiercely at Will. “Where is Nova? Is she okay?”

“She’s okay,” I jumped in to reassure her, glad that at least one person on board seemed to care about her.

“Then why isn’t she out here with us?” Her stare didn’t waver. “I’d hoped you were here to help, but obviously not. If you hurt her, I’ll?—”

“I’ll go get her. You can see for yourself that we haven’t harmed her,” Beck said.

At Will’s tight nod, he took off at a jog. I hated to admit it, but I’d feel better after laying eyes on Nova to make sure she was okay. I don’t know what it was about the woman, but something told me fate had brought us all together.

Chapter

Five

NOVA

When there was a knock at my door, I tucked the gun behind my back while approaching it. “Who’s there?” I called out.

“It’s me,” Beck said. “It’s all clear out here, so come on out.”

I yanked the door open and flung myself at the unsuspecting man. My arms wrapped around him for a moment before I sheepishly let them fall to my sides. It was disappointing to realize he had found clothing and was no longer naked.

“Sorry. I was just worried something had happened to you,” I admitted.

“We’re all good. Nothing we couldn’t handle,” he reassured me. “We’d like you to talk to the crew. We’re going to need some help if you insist on making our escape on this monster. Any chance you know how to sail her?”

“I’ve never even entered the wheelhouse,” I replied as we made our way toward the stairs leading up to the main salon. “Are the crew members all okay?”

“Yep. And so are the guards. We’re going to dump them on a life raft and get the fuck out of here as soon as we figure out how.”

I felt a surge of relief knowing that nobody had gotten hurt because of my rescue. Walking up marble and stainless steel, I ran my hand along the gigantic chandelier that hung the entire length of the circular staircase.

“It really is a beauty. Trent does have good taste, the asshat.” When we reached the salon, I was shocked to find Mary standing in front of Will, wagging her finger at him.

“My Nova is a good girl. You heathens better let her go or there’ll be hell to pay,” Mary yelled.

The poor man looked like he didn’t know what to do with her. “If you’ll just wait?—”

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