Page 2 of Echo and the Homicidal Sea Panda

Echo sensed it would be the last thing he ever saw.

Either the sharks would get him… or the killer whale would.

I’m done for…

The orca’s speed was terrifying. Echo whipped out of the way at the last second, changing trajectory to avoid a head-on collision. The orca never changed course. He bypassed Echo…

And attacked one of the great whites.

Echo blinked a few times, shocked, but his straining lungs didn’t allow him to linger long. He took his golden opportunity and raced toward that massive moon looking down on him. After he reached the surface, his blowhole opened, and he gasped for air.

After a few breaths, he eyed his boat, knowing he should get the hell out of there—yet, idiot that he was, he was too curious to see what was going on below. One orca was no match for two great whites. He spun, keeping his blowhole above the surface, and sent out a few clicks of his echolocation to find them in the dark waters.

Both sharks were swimming in giant circles—seemingly to get the massive orca off their tails.

They weren’t fighting? But why?

Great whites were predators, and there weretwoof them. Even at a size disadvantage, they’d easily gang up on the orca and tear it to shreds if they’d wanted to.

What came next would forever be imprinted in Echo’s brain.

The orca caught up to one of them and plowed into it, flipping it onto its back—which caused the creature to go into a state of tonic immobility, unable to move. Echo had read about it but had never seen it firsthand. Though, as a general rule, he stayed as far away from great whites as possible.

Echo’s blood turned cold as he watched an apex predator go to work. While the great white lay frozen, the orca eviscerated the shark with almost surgical precision. He tore out the liver and swallowed it in one gulp. He’d heard stories of orcas hunting great whites for their livers, but he’d been sure they were pure fantasy. Great whites were too powerful as predators—but he was witnessing it himself.

And he couldn’t seem to look away.

Suddenly realizing the other shark had vanished, Echo sent more clicks, ensuring it hadn’t circled back and come up behind him. The only thing he found was the carcass of the dismembered great white swaying lifeless in the water, blood pouring from its underside.

And the orca swimming his way.

Echo froze, an odd sensation spreading through his body. A part of him didn’twantto move. He wanted to meet his hero and offer thanks. The orca swam with such grace for a massive creature. It was terrifyingly beautiful to see so close up.

So close up…

Did he have a death wish?

He swam closer to the ladder but paused to give one look back. The orca wasn’t traveling at speed. Not like it had before. It didn’t appear to be on the attack—or perhaps Echo appeared easy pickings compared to slaughtering a great white.

Easy work. Light effort.

Get in the boat and leave before he catches up!

Logically, Echo knew he needed to get the fuck out of there. How many of their kind had orcas slaughtered over the years? Countless numbers, both wildandshifter. Yet something prevented him from moving.

A thrumming in his veins. An ache in his belly.

A whisper in the back of his mind.

Surrender.

When the panic grew loud enough to break the trance-like hold the orca had on him, he shifted and climbed up and out in the nick of time. The orca surfaced and quickly went back under, the motion causing the boat to list heavily to one side. Echo lowered his core and rode the wave.

Seconds later, the orca leapt out of the water, high enough that it arced over his small boat and back into the water on the other side—Free Willy style. The jump had to have been at least twenty feet in the air if not more. Water drenched Echo and the inside of the boat—water that had poured off the orca’s massive body.

A massive body that could easily capsize his tiny boat.

Echo leapt to the controls and started the engine. As soon as it roared to life, he shoved the throttle forward, pushing until he got near top speed, all while knowing an adult orca could easily keep pace with his old, tired, little sixteen-footer. He trembled, the image of that shark being eviscerated replaying in his mind over and over. He wouldn’t be the orca’s next victim if he had any say about the matter.

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