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I didn’t know what it would cost me to take more, but I was beginning to think I didn’t have a choice.

The bonfire’s light faded, dousing us in shadow. A small silhouette moved across the sand at a snail’s pace, passing in front of Keith.

Oh no. Not now.

The werewolf advanced toward me.

I thrust out a hand. “Mind the hatchling!”

Keith’s grin turned wicked. He pivoted and punted the hatchling out to sea. A small silhouette sailed through the air and landed beyond the waves with a splash.

If I thought he was a monster before…

The whole ocean seemed to move, and not from the waves or the impact of the hatchling.

Holy hellfire. How had I not realized this sooner? Those weren’t baby loggerhead turtles in the protected nest.

They were baby Aspidochelones.

I clocked the precise moment the werewolf spotted the remainder of the hatchlings in the nest.

“Keith,” I said in a warning tone. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”

“Or what? You’ll arrest me for breaking the law.” He cracked his knuckles. “Guess what, sweetheart?”

I cringed. Don’t say it, Keith.

“I am the law.”

Ugh. He said it.

“This is my island now and I’ll do what I please with it. If I want to play baseball with baby turtles—” He scooped another hatchling from the nest and hurled it into the water.

Shadows of the deep rose to the surface, causing the sand to shift beneath my feet. I took a few steps away from the surf.

Keith misunderstood my movements. “I’m glad we finally understand each other. Let’s put this whole disobedient business behind us.”

The gargantuan sea creature slid to shallow water with the stealth of a shark. Poised between the surf and the nest, Keith continued his despicable diatribe.

“Wait until you see the plans I have for you. I may not be able to get inside your head, but I can still make you submit through other means.” His tongue darted out and swiped the perspiration from his upper lip. “I can be creative when I want to be.”

“Keith, you might want to⁠—”

His hands balled into fists. “Don’t you get it, you dumb bitch? I’m in charge. Stop trying to tell me what I can and can’t do!”

The Aspidochelone struck. The gargantuan creature opened her gaping mouth and swallowed him whole. The creature’s visible eye regarded me with uncertainty.

“I’ll protect the nest,” I said. “Go find your babies and bring them back to shore. It’s safe now.”

The creature slid backward, disappearing beneath the blackened waves, taking Keith with her.

There would be no need for a ritual now.

I sank to my knees in the wet sand.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Harriet was the first one to reach me. Her gait was lopsided.