The Willow Rescue Read online

  The Willow Rescue

  The Aquaterrestrial Task Force

  Renee Hewett

  The Willow Rescue

  Copyright © 2019 by Renee Hewett

  Published by M.T. Worlds Press, Inc.

  Winter Springs, FL 32708

  http://mtworldspress.com

  Cover design by Yocla Book Cover Designs

  Edited by Tina Winograd

  Formatting by Eighth Ripple Press

  All rights reserved under the International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission in writing from the publisher.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, organizations, events or locales is entirely conincidental.

  http://mtworldspress.com

  Created with Vellum

  Contents

  Acknowledgments

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Epilogue

  Other FPU books with characters featured in this story

  Federal Paranormal Unit World

  About the Author

  The Willow Rescue

  Willow Baldwin is a member of the Federal Paranormal Unit’s (FPU) Aquaterrestrial Task Force. As a zebra moray, her assignments frequently take place in the deep sea where it’s impractical for the land shifters. She’s not thrilled with her next job—investigating some missing fish. But that changes when she discovers the job is near Ursanis, an underwater domed city in the Arctic, off-limits to outsiders.

  Graham Auman, prince of Ursanis, is in the middle of his multi-year trip from his home to the land-dwelling world to find a mate. But really, what woman would give up their land life to live underwater with him forever? Learning that trouble is brewing at home, he takes the opportunity to return, without a mate. Oh right, he’ll have to check in with the FPU before he flies north.

  Life has a funny way of throwing at you what you need when you least expect it.

  At their first meeting, Willow and Graham know they are mates, but that takes second seat to the mission. They have to stop a cult from stealing the fish keeping an Old One asleep, because if the ancient monster wakes, it could mean the end of the world.

  This is a sea shifter romance in Milly Taiden’s Federal Paranormal Unit world.

  Acknowledgments

  Thank you, Milly Taiden, for opening your world to new authors, for supporting our journey, inspiring us to write these kinds of stories, and for being a superhero angel, even though you don’t know that’s what you are. You’ve not only made this possible for me, but you’ve also reinforced my desire to continue helping others. You make such a difference. The world is a better place for having you in it.

  Thank you, Savannah Verte, for how excited you became when hearing about our water shifter project, and for not only loaning us your characters, but for your help in making sure we got them right. I will never forget your kindness and enthusiasm.

  Thank you to our local author group for the Mondays full of writing, chatting, and support. Especially to the other Aquaterrestrial Task Force members, Mandy Rosko, TB Mann, Jodi Kendrik, and Alexa Gregory. You ladies are fantastic, and I adore you all. Let’s keep the projects coming!

  1

  “If he doesn’t give us a good one this time, I swear I’m cashing in my vacation time and going somewhere tropical. If I don’t get into the water, and soon, no one will want to be around me.” Hair dark with a white stripe, face grim, and clad in her leather jacket, Willow Baldwin was the poster child for an irritated employee waiting for a Monday-morning staff meeting to be over.

  “You say that like people want to be around you now, as it is.” Risa snickered, and Willow took a fake swing at her.

  “You’re getting some nerve.” Willow acted irritated but was secretly proud. Risa was breaking out of her shell a bit, finding more confidence in herself. It was exactly what Willow had wanted when she brought the young agent in to be her partner at the Aquaterrestrial Task Force.

  Risa turned serious. “If you get a field assignment, do I get to stay here? I’m so much better behind the computer, looking up information as you need it, than out there.” The perky blonde’s blue eyes showed a whisper of fear, and Willow had to put a stop to it.

  “Of course not. I get an assignment, you come with me. That’s the way this works.” Risa already knew that, but Willow was still working on getting her partner’s field courage up. As an agent curvier than Willow, Risa was very self-conscious and felt she didn’t belong with the badass field agents. She preferred staying at her desk, out of the way, hidden behind computer monitors.

  Willow believed in Risa and knew she had what it took to be a great agent. Willow understood what it was like to want to be an agent but not feel good enough. She’d been lucky enough to train under awesome women who helped her get her footing when she was just starting out.

  Taking Risa as her partner was her way of giving back, but Willow wasn’t careless. If Risa didn’t have the skills and ability, she wouldn’t take her into the field and endanger herself and others. Willow wouldn’t risk bringing on a partner who could be a liability. She knew Risa could handle herself, and her size didn’t factor into things. Her nonstop chatter and never-ending chipper attitude—now that was something Willow had more of a challenge with.

  Or at least that's what she let people think. In reality, Willow appreciated the rapport she'd built with Risa. Willow didn't have much in the way of a social circle outside of work with people thinking she was either too serious or weird. Still, Risa accepted her as she was, offering friendship without any expectations in return.

  Willow valued her partner more than Risa probably realized. Willow just hoped that her nonexistent love life didn't rub off on Risa too much. She wanted Risa to find a man and settle down to live out her dreams. Something Willow never managed to make happen for herself.

  If only every guy she’d ever dated didn’t annoy her after a few dates. Or if the ones who didn’t annoy her had actually enjoyed trips to the ocean. That in itself was a deal-breaker. Willow couldn’t be with a man who didn’t want to spend every extra moment with their skin soaking in the salty sea.

  Willow focused on where she was, saving her romance worries for another time. Dreaming about a hunk on the beach wasn’t exactly a good idea while leaning against a cubicle wall, the fluorescent lights making her see how pasty her skin looked. If she indulged in any fantasies, she might just make good on her threat to take a vacation.

  The weekly stand-up meetings collected all the agents on-site, gathering them around the boss’s office to “touch base,” so everyone knew what the ATTF was working on. Jack Williams, the task force director, droned on about the progress on assignments and other things that didn’t concern her. If she didn’t get a field assignment from the meeting, she’d be back to going through old files and working on research and making calls. She itched to get away from her desk. Speaking of her desk, her coffee was back there, waiting for her. Getting cold. She glanced back, wondering if she could dart back quickly and grab it.

  She tuned out while Jack talked to Carson about some West Coast murders involving unusual bite marks. She glanced at
Olivia, a new volunteer who joined the team to help with another mysterious case. She’d been so affected by the murders in her town that she’d approached the ATTF to help, and it seemed to weigh heavily on her.

  “You doing okay?” she asked the woman, carefully observing her reaction.

  “I guess.” Olivia shrugged, more interested in playing with her thick red hair than sharing details. Willow didn’t pry any more than that. Sometimes, her mother-hen tendencies annoyed her coworkers, so she tried to let them come to her if they needed to talk.

  Then she heard her name. “Baldwin. FPU has another case they’re shooting down to us, and this one is yours.”

  Willow's heart jumped. "Yes, sir! Risa and I are ready." She was thinking about all the badass possibilities that FPU could be sending to her. Jumping out of airplanes, rescuing kidnapped children, solving serial murder mysteries...

  “Missing ghosts.” Jack looked at her with a straight face.

  “Excuse me?” Willow looked down at her tablet, but the assignment files hadn’t loaded yet.

  “Will-o’-the-wisps to be more specific.”

  Now she was sure he was messing with her. She knew where he was heading.

  “You know, Willow, chasing will-o’-the-wisps.” He nudged Chase, who offered a half-hearted laugh to please the boss, but a helpless shrug to Willow. Not for the first time. Willow wondered if she should accept the transfer to Sabrina Newday’s FPU team. Willow wouldn’t have to suffer the same lame dad jokes if she worked under Sabrina, the formidable sea serpent and legendary FPU director. Of course, leaving the ATTF also meant spending time on non-water jobs, which was the only thing keeping her from making the jump.

  "Okay…" Willow refreshed her tablet and fully expected some joke file to show up. Instead, one with "Ursanis Pyrosomes" popped up.

  "Okay, okay, seriously, though. The FPU wants you and Risa to head up there and meet the Ursanis representative before flying to the Arctic to look into the missing pyrosomes. Fish things. They really do look like will-o’-the-wisps though. They glow and everything, so I'm told."

  "Missing fish? You got these knuckleheads investigating murders, and the FPU wants me and Risa to go look for fish?"

  “Technically, pyrosomes are colonial tunicates.” Mike, the resident goblin shark, felt the need to inform her.

  "Sure, Mike. Exactly." Jack looked disinterested in using the specific names. "Thing is Fedya Afanasi, over at FPU, just had a strange case in his department with some chemically modified marijuana. Something FPU might not put a lot of time into, just some plants, so we thought. Turns out they were making the plants glow, and then using them along the Back Bay floor to guide a submersible connecting to some human trafficking operation, so we're all on high alert at the moment. We've been asked to send someone to look into this missing fish thing, and that's what we're doing."

  “It’s the name of the game, salty,” Kai ribbed her. “We can’t take it, we’re on a three-man job.” He indicated to his two dolphin brothers.

  “And I’m on the kraken business,” Olivia said.

  “Did you miss the part where he said we’re going to Ursanis?” Risa piped up. “Like, we have to fly to the Arctic, but then we get to go to one of the underwater domes that no one ever gets to go to.”

  “Aww, damn, I’ll trade you,” Carson offered.

  "No take-backs," Willow said, the prospect of going to the dome making her feel better. Sure, it wasn't tropical island water, but she could deal with the cold in the name of visiting a place that was usually off-limits to outsiders. "Those little missing fishies just got a bunch more interesting."

  “Tunicates!”

  Jack moved on to the next item, but Willow continued to look over her files.

  “If you’re meeting an agent in DC, then you probably won’t need me.” She could hear Risa’s voice already going up a nervous octave.

  “You’re going.” The hardness in her voice put an end to the topic, and Risa buried her nose into the files on her tablet.

  Willow looked over the information on Ursanis, finding nothing more than she already knew. Underwater domed city, formed centuries ago. The only outsiders allowed in were new mates of their citizens.

  The information on the pyrosomes was more interesting. They were a large population of creatures that lived in a crater near the dome. The Ursanis lore called them will-o’-the-wisps, and stories passed down from generation to generation said that as long as the pyrosomes lived there, the Ursanis people would find peace and prosperity.

  And if they ever left, it would signal the end of the world.

  2

  "Hey, Monty, long time no see." Graham shook hands with his colleague. A bit shorter than Graham, with hair styled in a buzz cut, Monty had the blue-colored skin with darker stripes that told the world he was from Ursanis. Graham, having lived on land for a while now, still had his glamour on so the humans wouldn't see his otherness.

  He guessed he could drop it now though, considering he was in the Federal Paranormal Unit building, and around those who knew “others” existed. The lobby of the building seemed very quiet and devoid of activity. Most workers had probably arrived earlier that morning.

  “Sorry it wasn’t under better circumstances. I guess the party’s over, huh?”

  Graham shrugged and rolled his eyes. “I wouldn’t call it much of a party.”

  “I’d heard your parents were upset that you hadn’t found a mate yet. Were you really standing up the dates they’d set up for you?”

  It was only because Monty was like a brother to him that he wasn't angrier at his parents for sharing that information. "It gets tiring after a while, you know?"

  As soon as he said it though, he knew that Monty didn’t know. Monty had gone an old-school route in finding his mate. He’d gotten on Gerri Wilder’s dating agency list as soon as he was of age. He’d had no interest in trying out the dating life. He wanted to meet his mate and have that be that.

  The challenge Graham would face was convincing her to move to an underwater dome city for the rest of her life.

  Which was one reason Graham hadn't tried too hard to find his mate. People fresh in love make rash decisions, and once the novelty is over, they come to regret them. He'd seen it happen too many times to couples in Ursanis. He'd seen too many land-dwellers leave a spouse and children behind because they just didn't want to live in seclusion anymore.

  Not that he could share these thoughts with anyone, Monty included. The people of Ursanis were very protective of their city, their tradition, their ways. Growing up, any time Graham had suggested that maybe he didn't want to live in Ursanis anymore, his parents would act like it was the end of the world. Never mind bringing up his duty to his people and the citizens of Earth.

  Because he was the crown prince of Ursanis, the people tasked with guarding the sleeping Arctic Old One. When his parents were gone, it was up to him to ensure the legacy lived on.

  Which was why Graham figured the whole pyrosome “emergency” was just a way for his parents to get him to come home for a visit. One filled with guilt and lectures and threats of bringing Gerri into it. Other Ursanis people could take as much time as they needed on land searching for their mate and getting acquainted with the outside world, but the crown prince was expected to be quick about it.

  All Ursanis people were encouraged to do their part to procreate and bring new guardians into the dome. But his parents wanted it even more. Graham was their only child. He had a responsibility to find his mate and start making babies.

  Avoiding the topic of his love life, or lack thereof, Graham changed the subject. “Have you already been up?” He gestured to the sign that listed the floor and the departments on them, including the main Federal Paranormal Unit office. The FPU for short.

  “No, I thought I’d meet with you first, fill you in before we go up to notify the FPU of our intended actions.”

  “So what’s up then?”

  “Pyrosomes are missing.”
>
  “I know that much, Sherlock.” In Ursanis, they read the same stuff that the land-based people read. “Are they dying off?” It was always a worry, especially the way the oceans were polluted.

  “No, we’re not finding bodies.”

  “Then what’s going on?”

  "We believe the grindylows are taking them."

  “What? Why would they do that?”

  "According to our scouts, they believe the story that the pyrosomes are will-o'-the-wisps, and they've got it into their heads that we're keeping them all so we can reap the benefits."

  “Benefits?”

  Monty shook his head. “I’m not sure. I’m also not sure where they got the idea from. It’s an outsider’s notion. Something the grindys haven’t cared about for all the centuries we’ve lived side by side.”

  A quagmire since the grindylows didn't associate with outsiders. They were barely able to communicate with the Ursanis community when needed.

  “So, we’re here to inform the FPU that we’re going to take action against the little bastards if they don’t cut it out.” And he was sent there because his position in the community, and his current location outside of the dome, made him a perfect representative. “And then we get home and figure this all out before things get out of hand.”

  He stopped himself from rolling his eyes as he said “out of hand,” because he still thought it was likely a made-up situation, courtesy of his parents. Even if it wasn’t, and the pyrosomes were really missing, he’d stopped believing the kid’s story about the Old One long ago. Missing pyrosomes would mean some issues with ecosystem upset, but not apocalyptic cataclysmic Old One induced damage. That, plus the Ursanis people having to deal with reality once they realized all they knew was a lie.