by Tara West
“It’s beautiful here,” she said as Ladon helped her down the moss-covered steps.
“It’s one of our favorite places,” he answered. “I’m glad you like it.”
They were alone, and she wondered if other shifters had an aversion to the lakes or if they were just lucky. She hadn’t had sex in water in a long time, not since she and Acacia had experimented with each other back at Siren’s Cove. She didn’t know if it was because of her siren blood, but making love in water felt even better, her orgasms magnified as every inch of her skin hummed with sexual energy. She longed to feel the magic once again.
She arched back when Draque turned to her and thought she saw him flinch before he held out a hand.
“Do you want to go for a swim?” he asked.
She backed up as images of them gaping at her long tail and gills flashed through her mind. “You said you wouldn’t pressure me.”
“We’re won’t, but you want to swim.” His voice dropped to a low, sensual rumble. “I can see it in your eyes.”
“No thanks.” She sat on a nearby ledge, gazing at the water that lapped at her feet.
Teju gave her a pitying smile. “You don’t have to be afraid to shift around us.”
“I’m not,” she lied, drawing her knees to her chest.
“Do you mind if we go in?” he asked, his eyes too innocent.
She waved him off while her heart thudded. “Do what you want.”
His brothers hooted and hollered and stripped down to their swim trunks, then ran into the nearest pool. When the water reached knee level, they partially shifted, sprouting long, spiked tails, fin-like hands, and horned heads.
She sat upright, admiring the way the torchlight reflecting from the pools bounced off their scales, creating prisms of color. “You look like swamp monsters.”
“We are.” Ladon chuckled, then dove head first into the pool.
Draque splashed her with his tail. “You don’t get to be the only one with a tail.”
She watched with envy while they played, their laughter echoing through the cavern as they worked their way deeper into the pool. Then all three of them disappeared in a maelstrom of bubbles. She waited several minutes for their return. Jumping to her feet, she scanned the water. The beautiful rainbow colors were only on the surface. Below was an inkiness that appeared to have no limits. What if something happened to them? They didn’t have gills. How could they hold their breath so long? Pacing, she chewed her nails, sick with worry.
A solitary bubble popped on the surface, followed by another and another.
Draque sprang into sight, blowing out a stream of water and shaking droplets from his head. “You sure you don’t want to come in?” he asked with a wink as his brothers popped up around him.
Hands on her hips, she scowled, unable to keep the tremors from her voice. “What took you so long? I thought something happened to you.”
“We’re fine. There’s a whole new world down there. We were just exploring.”
They were trying to tempt her but why? Was it that important they see her ugly tail?
“Come on, Serah.” Ladon splashed her legs.
She frowned at her wet denim, feeling her skin tingle. You want to release me, Serah, Thelix said. Why fight it?
She wondered the same thing. Just because her grandfather had said siren tails were ugly didn’t mean everyone thought so. She remembered her carefree days as a siren, how fast she could dart through the water, her hair fanned out behind her, tickling her bare back. She wanted to swim again.
Before she lost her nerve, she unzipped her jeans and tossed them on the rock shelf behind her, ignoring the appreciative whistles coming from the dragons. If they wanted her to become a siren, so be it. If they thought she looked unattractive, at least she’d know where she stood with them.
After stripping off all her clothes and checking to make sure her earrings were secure, she walked naked into the water, looking boldly into her lovers’ eyes while they gaped at her breasts.
“Careful of the drop-off,” Ladon said, holding out a hand to her.
She thanked him and slid off the ledge, her feet disappearing into the dark water. She treaded water, wrapping her arms around his neck.
When his scales chafed her skin, she knew she was being foolish. Releasing him, she swam backward and summoned the change. Her skin burned at first, and she cried out as her bones ground together before snapping and fusing. The shift was slow and agonizing, like learning all over again how to ride a broom, but by the time it was finished, her legs had transformed into a powerful aquamarine tail and her sides had sprouted gills. The rest of her upper half remained unchanged.
Giggling, she dove under the water, delighting in their protests when she hit them with a powerful wave. Her siren eyes saw three pairs of human-like legs and three dragon tails that acted as rudders. Their strokes were awkward and choppy. Clearly these dragons weren’t meant for swimming, but they’d brought her here anyway. She dove deep until she saw a pinprick of light, her lovers following her, pulled toward the light by a current. She glimpsed a beautiful underwater world of colorful plants and creatures and heard someone call her name. Teju had fashioned another bubble, and he and his brothers were inside it. She swam toward them, and Ladon pulled her through the wall. She shifted to human form, and he draped a towel around her shoulders. Suddenly self-conscious, she noticed the brothers had transformed into humans and were wearing swim trunks, she wrapped the towel around her naked body.
This bubble was much smaller than the one she’d spent the night in for detention, set up like a day camp with a few folding chairs and an ice chest stocked with beer and sodas. Ladon handed her a grape soda, and she sat in a low folding chair meant for a sandy beach, praying the metal didn’t pop the bubble when her weight dipped the chair.
Their transport carried them through a dark river of deep purple bubbles under the lake. Other than bubbles, there wasn’t much of a view.
“Keep watching,” Ladon whispered, sitting beside her. “It gets better.”
A thrill coursed through her when he placed his damp hand on hers. She loved having him near. He was such a comforting presence.
The bubbles changed from a dark purple to violet and then lavender as light reflected off the current. She blinked hard when a tiny being no bigger than her palm attached itself to their bubble, two little eyes staring at her while its curved body pulsed violet and aqua and green. Another creature followed suit, and then more, until the entire bubble was lit up in blinking colors.
“What are those?” she asked Ladon.
“Sea sprites,” he answered. “Didn’t you have those in Siren’s Cove?”
“No.” She crawled off her chair and pressed her palms to the bubble wall, laughing when the creatures’ buzzing bodies tickled her skin.
“We’re about to land,” Teju said, latching onto her arm. “Get ready.”
“For what?” she asked, then gulped when they hit something solid and she bounced into Teju’s arms. She panicked when the bubble began filling with water. “What do I do?”
“Don’t worry,” he said with a wink. “I’ve got you.”
The bottom fell out from under them, and she sucked in a mouthful of salty water. Salt water? Had they traveled to the ocean?
She shifted, this time much faster than the last, and propelled upward, holding Teju’s hand. He’d shifted into a half-dragon creature. They swam until they breached the surface.
They landed in a cove with a beautiful beach nestled beneath a rocky overhang, its wide shelf casting a curved shadow over the white sand. Behind them was an endless sea of undulating turquoise water. The ocean. She breathed in deeply, filling her lungs with the familiar scents of seaweed and salt. She hadn’t tasted the sea on her lips or felt the ocean breeze ruffle her hair in three years, and she was long overdue.
Balancing above the water with her powerful tail, she frowned when Ladon and Draque surfaced beside their brother, all having shifte
d back into their human skins.
“Don’t you like your tails?” she asked them.
Draque climbed on a rock, standing waist deep in the water. “We don’t need them.”
“But you can keep yours,” Ladon said, shaking droplets from his hair as he sat beside his brother. “It’s far prettier than ours.”
“Thanks.” She feigned indifference, afraid to let him see how much his praise meant to her. “It’s just a tail.” She circled the rock, careful not to scrape her tail against the colorful coral.
“It’s a magnificent tail,” Draque said.
Her breath caught in her throat. The intensity in his eyes was enough to make her bones turn as soft as seaweed.
A wave of pheromones washed over her as she looked at him with heavy-lidded eyes. “Thank you.”
Did they really think her tail pretty? Grandfather had said it was unsightly, that it was unnatural for witches to grow tails. These brothers didn’t seem to mind that she was both witch and shifter. In fact they appeared fascinated by her.
“Where are we?” she asked.
“Some people call this place the end of the earth.” Ladon smiled. “We call it heaven.”
The blood in her veins turned to ice. They’d called Siren’s Cove the end of the earth. How close were they to her family?
“The sea smells familiar. A-are we near Siren’s Cove?”
Teju climbed onto the rock. “Siren’s Cove is a few hundred miles that way.” He pointed.
She scowled, narrowing her eyes on the line of water that disappeared beyond her line of sight. Could her family swim hundreds of miles? She’d been the only siren to leave the cove in centuries.
“They can’t hurt you here, Serah,” Draque said, twin storms brewing in his eyes, “and if they tried, we’d burn them to crisps.”
She swallowed back the lump of emotion that had lodged in her throat. “Thank you. I hope it would never come to that.” Despite how badly her family had hurt her, she never wanted to see them harmed.
Ladon slipped back into the water, cupping her chin in his strong hand. “We know.”
Her heart melted when he kissed the tip of her nose. Her siren purred as she wrapped her arms around him, nuzzling his neck. She wanted to make love to him and to his brothers, too.
She swam beside them as they traversed several rocks that acted as a bridge across the lagoon. When they reached the shallow end of the cove, she shifted back into human form.
Teju smirked. “You don’t have to shift yet if you don’t want to.”
She froze at that. Did she want to remain a mermaid?
Yes, yes, you do! Thelix cried.
She flopped back into the water and swam in the cove, exploring every coral structure and petting as many sea sprites as she could. She discovered right away they liked to nibble bright yellow leaves from an odd looking fern that grew in the ocean. The sprites had human eyes and long, flowing hair, but long snouts and mermaid tails. They were silly looking but so adorable, she wanted to take them all home. Even more amazing was how trusting they were, following her as if they were ducklings and she was their mother.
Every so often she stopped to watch her lovers sunning on the shore, but they just let her be her, Serah the Siren, who until that moment hadn’t realized how much she’d missed her tail.
This is where you belong, Thelix said, her gentle tone a sharp contrast to her usual snark.
I can’t stay in this cove forever, she answered, her libido awakening when she swam close enough to catch their strong, masculine scent.
Not in the cove, Thelix chided. With your dragons.
Her heart thumped. “My dragons?” she whispered to herself. If only.
BY THE TIME SHE SURFACED, the sun was hanging low in the sky, and her dragons had built a campfire. She watched them from afar, her stomach rumbling at the scent of roasting meat.
After swimming to shore and shifting back, she was greeted by Ladon, who draped her with a large towel, kissing her shoulder. The feel of his lips on her skin made her siren moan in delight. Mouthing her thanks, she wrapped the towel around herself, tucking it securely by her breasts, and squeezed salt water from her hair.
“What are you cooking?” she asked.
“Salamin.” Ladon nodded at a net filled with flapping fish.
“Mmm.” She licked her lips. “My favorite.” She’d been so consumed in exploring the cove, she hadn’t even noticed they’d been fishing.
Sitting in a low folding chair, she warmed her feet by the fire and drank another grape soda, thanking Teju when he handed her a large filet on a wicker mat. It was delicious, the pink meat seasoned with the perfect amount of sea salt and lime. As the sun dipped behind the horizon, Draque stoked the fire with his dragon’s breath.
Ladon nudged her, pointing to the lagoon. “Look.”
She gasped when she saw the water was awash in millions of multicolored lights.
“The sea sprites are saying good night.” He grinned. “They must really like you.”
She was unable to keep the awe from her voice. “This place is magical.”
Taking her hand in his, he brushed his lips across her knuckles. “Because you’re in it.”
“More fish, Serah?” Teju asked.
She patted her stomach and smiled. “No thanks. I’m full. It was delicious.”
“I’m glad you liked it.” He brushed a wayward strand of hair behind her ear, his gaze lingering on her lips.
Her heart hammered out a staccato she felt all the way to her toes. She caught Draque’s eye; he was staring at her so intensely, it was hard not to look away.
When he stood and circled the fire, coming toward her, she fidgeted with the frayed end of her mat.
“Serah.” His voice was a hoarse whisper as he gently pried the mat from her hands.
She didn’t want to look at him. It would be her undoing. Her heart was still raw from their fight earlier.
Do it! her siren cried.
“Yes?” Against her better judgment, she looked into his eyes, and then she was undone. The longing in his eyes nearly took her breath away.
“Did you enjoy your swim?”
Her tongue felt weighted as she fought to find words. “I-I did.”
He flashed a devastatingly sexy smile. “You should do it more often.”
She turned up her chin while clenching her fists tight, praying he couldn’t hear her racing heart. “Maybe I will.”
“We enjoyed watching you from shore.” He bit his lip, leering at her from beneath thick lashes. “We wanted to go in with you, but we thought you needed some time to get reacquainted with your siren.”
She swore her heart did a backflip. “I did. Thanks.”
How awesome were these guys that they could sense what she wanted? For too long she’d repressed her desires.
His dazzling eyes darkened, then turned bright gold, human irises becoming dragon-shaped. “Everything about you is beautiful, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.”
She nodded and felt strong emotion. For three years she’d longed to hear those words. Not even Prometheus had admired her siren. He’d agreed with her grandfather, that she needed to be locked away. After swallowing back her emotion, she finally found her words. “Thank you for bringing me here.”
Still holding her hand, he gently stroked the back of her wrist, the simple gesture enough to make her heart pound wildly. “We’re happy to share it with you.”
Teju knelt beside her, placing a hand on her knee. “We hope we can share it with you more often.”
She smiled. “I’d like that.”
Did this mean they still wanted her to be their girl? She wanted these three amazing shifters as her boyfriends, consequences be damned.
“We can’t let you go back, Serah.” Draque squeezed her wrist.
Ladon said, “We want you to stay with us, where we know you’ll be safe.”
“I haven’t graduated yet. I need to find another school.”
“We can homeschool.” Draque glanced at Teju. “Our brother knows as much as most professors.”
He’s an expert at licking pussy, too, Thelix growled.
Serah wished circumstances had been different, that her grandfather didn’t despise shifters so much. “I’ll be disinherited if I don’t get a real diploma.”
Draque flinched and released her. “Does the money mean that much to you?” he snapped, and she heard the dragon.
He acted as if it would be easy to walk away from her life. She absently fingered an earring. “It means security. I only need a few more months of school to graduate.”
“The money means nothing to us,” Ladon said, squeezing her hand. “Your safety is all that matters.”
She thought about her grandfather’s dire warning. She’d almost been disinherited after her affair with the professor. She’d given her heart to him and what had it gotten her? He easily turned his back on her when she’d needed him most. And what about how cold her dragon princes had been to her just that morning, after they’d discovered she was the Goldenwand Heiress?
Unable to stand the plea in their eyes, she shook off Ladon, and grabbed her grape soda from the cup holder, playing with the metal tab. “I’m afraid, especially after the way I’ve been burned.”
“By the professor?” Ladon asked.
She nodded. It had only been a week since they’d been caught and her world had imploded. “He had me convinced he was in love with me. It was a lie. He didn’t even fight for us.”
Draque stood, towering over her while steam poured out of his nose. “He was a fool.”
“He took advantage of you,” Teju said, pity in his eyes.
Thelix swore. Serah wanted them to understand her hesitation, and she didn’t want their pity.
“Look at me.” Ladon pried the soda can out of her fingers and squeezed her hands. “We would never take advantage of you. We love you.”
It was as if time stood still. It took her several stuttering heartbeats to finally find her voice. “You love me, Ladon? You’ve only known me twenty-four hours.”