The Gano River, however, was hell.
Shade kept us well back from the bank until the lumbering-on-land-but-deadly-in-the-water cyclodiles mostly cleared out and went back to their den or burrow or mud pocket or whatever it was they had upriver. A few lingered, their knobbly backs breaking the surface like prehistoric monsters before disappearing again under the eddying ripples.
A multicolored flutter caught my eye. “Shit!” I flapped my arms wildly, but the graceful long-necked bird swooped down from the treetops and landed in the middle of the river anyway. Two seconds later, it disappeared in a thrashing of foam and feathers. A bit of pink, yellow, and white plumage popped back up and swirled downriver on a blood-soaked current.
I made a face. “Awesome date, Shade. You took me to murder highway.”
He shrugged. “Predators. Prey. It’s just the natural way of things.”
“Says someone who’s only been a predator.”
He went quiet, and I instantly regretted my words. I hadn’t meant to bring up his bounty-hunting days and ruin our morning together.
“Mostly,” he finally said, “but not always. I’m pretty sure I was easy prey for Scarabin White when he was holding my father’s gambling debts over my head.”
I tightened my ponytail, getting my hair off my sweaty neck. “You were young and grieving. Anyone might have made the same mistakes.”
He looked away and then back at me, a small self-critical smile flattening his mouth. “Maybe.”
“If you’d won that bet White offered, it all would’ve worked out. You’d have had your docks, debt-free. We all make choices, and only hindsight can tell us if they’re good or bad. I’m choosing to protect Mareeka and Surral and Starway 8, even if it means the Overseer getting some enhancers from my blood.”
Shade took my hand in his and led me toward what looked like a bridge, although I was kind of hoping the long, narrow, vine-hung contraption wasn’t our next destination. The cyclodiles were already terrifying enough.
“I hope you don’t live to regret your decision, like I regret mine,” he said.
“I don’t regret your decision.” I swung our joined hands a little. “It’s selfish, but I don’t.”
Shade rubbed the back of his neck, his gaze firmly trained on the river. The hand that held mine squeezed. “You know what? Maybe I don’t regret it anymore, either.”
My heart leaped, the hard beat rocketing heat through my whole body in one quick rush of blood. Grinning, I ducked my head.
“Careful now.” Shade snagged me around the waist and whirled me away from the riverbank. As we spun, I saw a flash of teeth. Heard the snap of jaws. I yelped, getting ready to run. Shade clamped a hand around my arm.
“Shh. Hold still. They’re attracted to sudden movement and noises.” His voice just a hint of words in my ear, he added, “Having one eye means their hearing is well-developed.”
I didn’t move a muscle, not even to breathe. The beast turned and slipped back into the water with a scaly twist, the tip of its ridged tail disappearing last.
Quietly, I dragged in a shaky breath. “I thought they were done with their breakfast.”
Shade wrapped his arms around me and nuzzled my neck. “Mmm. You are tasty. Can you really blame them?”
“Yes!” I shoved away from him, his warm kisses not enough to distract me from the remnants of total terror. “And I’ll blame you when I’m dead, mauled and eaten by cyclodiles.”
He chuckled, as though that weren’t a genuine possibility right now. “Let’s cross the bridge. We climb up and away from the river on the other side.”
I eyed the bridge, getting my first good look at it now that we were closer. “Yeah, I don’t think so. Ropes? Wooden slats? Hung between two trees? That, Mr. SRP, is a hazard to humanity.”
“Where’s your sense of adventure, Captain Bailey? Besides, I wouldn’t be a Space Rogue Phenom if I didn’t know which jungle bridges were safe in the galaxy.”
I huffed. “It might be rotten in the middle. We’ll fall straight into a monster’s gaping maw, landing whole inside its huge belly to be slowly digested by stomach acid along with a flock of shredded birds.”
He cracked up. “You do have an overactive imagination.”
“Like I said, it’s very helpful. In keeping me alive.”
“The bridge is perfectly safe. The resort maintains it.”
I narrowed my eyes. At him. At the bridge. At the now-undisturbed water. “Can cyclodiles jump?” I searched the river for signs of impending doom. “Where is that thing? Lying in wait? Licking its chops? Planning something gruesome?”
Grinning, Shade held my hand and tugged me in the direction of obvious disaster. “Cyclodiles can’t jump, but they can run, even if it’s awkward. We’d be safer on the bridge than here, and the far bank is even safer.” He continued toward the jungle walkway that looked like something people had stopped building about a bazillion years ago—for good reason.
Half-heartedly dragging my feet, I eyeballed the whole construction. There were at least six-inch gaps in between each of the planks across the wide, lazily moving river. You had to climb a huge old tree to get onto the bridge and climb down a huge old tree on the other side to get off it. The only way up or down was a freaking rope ladder.
Excitement rose inside me nevertheless. No way was I missing out on this. “Is encouraging guests to face possible death just for fun and resort ambiance?”
“That’s what I’ve always assumed. Really livens the place up.” Shade winked at me, handsome and cocky enough to pull even that off without seeming ridiculous. “But seriously, who would come here if they couldn’t take a little kick of adrenaline?”
“Someone who’s being led around blind and doesn’t know what she’s getting into,” I answered dryly.
Playful challenge charged his expression with little sparks of humor that lit up his brown eyes. “Tess Bailey: the galaxy’s Most Wanted. Can jump into a black hole but won’t cross a river?”
“I didn’t plan on surviving that trip. This one, I rather hope to come out of.”
“And you will.” Shade grabbed the bottom of the rope ladder and gave it a few hard tugs to show me it was sturdy. “See? Nothing wrong with it.”
“Ow!” I slapped an insect from my wrist. Crap. Too late. My sixth itchy red welt of the day rose, puffing into a lump right under a freckle like a bull’s-eye for the next vicious little biter. “Damn it. If I don’t get attacked by a hungry one-eyed reptile or fall off the rickety bridge, I’m probably going to keel over from some weird Reaginine venom.”