A few yards before, he turned and swam to the beach, to leave the water and shake himself. Droplets of sea spun in every direction and splattered the sand like raindrops. He padded over the sand and watched his paw prints leave a trail. It was as well, this was his island, and few people ever came here. If a trespasser did, then those footprints would either send them screaming away, or bring the world’s press running. Neither scenario was appealing. Marloth snarled and ran as fast as he could along the narrow strip of land between the shore and the palms.
His lungs filled with the salty air, and suddenly, he knew things would be all right eventually. He slowed his speed and turned back toward the jetty. Once he reached it, he shook himself once more and shifted. As usual, he’d forgotten the small problem of clothes, or rather lack of them. Well, it was his island, and only he and Meryl were there, so as far as he was concerned, his nudity was nothing to worry about.
Except sunburn. He didn’t think a burned cock would be much use to him. Whistling, Marloth went onto the boat and found a pair of shorts, and then he picked up the food and Meryl’s bag. He took the direct route back to the house.
He could hear Meryl singing as he reached the shaded patio. She’d set the table there and he smiled at the way she’d set their chairs at right angles to each other. He remembered her saying it was the perfect way to sit at a table. Close enough to touch, and to be able to see each other’s faces. He knew they’d need both of those things before the day was over.
He unlocked the cool box as she walked through the open windows, a jug of water in her hands. She’d tied a towel around her like a sarong, and Marloth itched to undo the knot, and taste her once more.
“Oh no, down boy. I need food.” She recognized his hungry look and interpreted it correctly. “I’m not on the menu.”
“Yet,” Marloth said and started to take out the food.
“Yet? Maybe never, who knows. Boy, that looks good.” Meryl sat down and put her elbows on the table and then rested her chin in her hands. “I could eat a horse.”
Marloth put the cool box onto the floor and sat in the other chair. “Not a tiger? I’m gutted.”
“Well, you would be if I ate you, now wouldn’t you?” She put food onto her plate.
Trust her to be literal. Marloth sniggered to himself and copied her actions.
As they ate, Meryl realized they were chatting like old friends with no worry or constraints, even though they both knew there was a lot of talking to be done. Eventually, she put down her cutlery. Marloth gazed her.
“What? Do I have lettuce in my teeth or something?”
He shook his head and smiled. “No, I’m just looking at you because I want to. Because I can. And because I want to know what went wrong, and why. Not for one minute do I think it was down to us. However, someone, somewhere didn’t want us to be together, and I need to find out who and why. Are you up for that?”
He needs to ask that? She realized he waited for her answer and looked worried as hell. “Of course. Where do we start?”
“Before I met you.” Marloth stood up. “Shall we go and sit on those loungers? Then at least we’ll be comfy before what I tell you makes us uncomfy.”
It sounded worrying. However, Meryl was of the school that it was best to know what you were up against and fight accordingly. “Lead on, oh wise one.” She let him take her hand as they moved toward the long soft seats set on one side of the shady patio, near a sparkling pool.
To her delight, Meryl noticed a clever gap in the bushes that gave a glimpse of the sea. If this were her home, she’d be more than delighted. She wondered if it would ever be likely.
“So where do we start? Or I guess where do you start, because I’m assuming it all ties in with who you are and what you do?” She waited as Marloth turned a piece of fruit over and over in his hands. It wouldn’t be worth eating, but the action seemed to help him. He took a deep breath.
“I think so. To get things clear in both our minds, maybe I’ll go back to when I realized I was different and I discovered what my life was due to become.” He coughed, and Meryl got up to grab the jug of water and their glasses. She poured him a glass, and handed it to him.
“Thanks.” Marloth took a deep swallow. As ever, the ripple of his throat made her body tingle. It wasn’t the time to get hot and horny. Meryl followed his actions and drank.
“So, let’s go back to my twenty-first birthday. When my father told me my history. It’s a strange thing in my family, but you don’t shift until you come of age. That is twenty-one. Oh, and by family, I mean it more than a mum, dad, grandparent sort of thing. I guess other sorts of shifters will have clans, and packs, and stuff. We have a family. Each to their own. Anyway, where was I? Oh, yeah. I have no idea how or why it happens like that, the being twenty-one stuff, but it does. So, the night before that date, you’re invited to meet up with the council, for your coming-of-age ceremony. It’s all very hush-hush and no one ever talks about it afterward. Even now, I’m not going to explain things to you, except to say, I was told what would happen, and how. I had to pledge certain things, as well. Of course, at twenty-one, and in front of all these people you’ve known as friends of your father, it was scary. I couldn’t help but wonder about mafias, or mason-type things. Overawed and overwhelmed was an understatement. Not only that, one of those things indirectly involves you.”
He shivered. Meryl squirmed. She was uneasy and didn’t want to show it. A sheen of sweat beaded on Marloth’s skin, and Meryl herself felt clammy. Tentacles of fear were once more busy and crawling over her body, and she had to know more. It wasn’t something she did very often, but Meryl prayed that Marloth would be able to explain without breaking any oath he’d taken. “It does? How?”
“Let me do it all in order, ‘kay? Then I think you’ll see things better.” He hesitated, and then picked up her hand to play with it, stroking the back, and rubbing her fingers with his. If that connection helped him, no way was Meryl going to tell him that each feather-light sensation was making her hot, needy, and wet.
“So, after the big day, I was told to go back to university, and finish my last semester. Then once I’d graduated, they’d begin my . . . my education as a shifter, I guess. The first time you shift is not easy, not comfortable, and damn well not something you can talk about over a pint. I guess if you learn from an early age it might be different, but we don’t.”
“And do you know who else is like you? You know, have meetings and things?” Meryl was interested in the mechanics of it all. When she’d known him the previous year, and inadvertently walked in on him as he shifted, she hadn’t freaked out, as he seemed to think she would. Instead, with his permission she’d watched, fascinated as he changed from man to beast, and then later, back again. Now it seemed something sinister was tied up in his abilities, with her entangled in it.
“Not as such, but yeah, I guess you could say like senses like. And of course, you do know some people. Those who guide you, for instance, like Faran does for me. He’s my cousin, and powerful in our families. Also, you know some, but not all those earmarked to be part of your life.” He sighed and his hold on her hand tightened.
“Like a wife?” Meryl guessed. “And we met, and I put a spanner in someone’s works?”
“Something like that.” Marloth kissed each finger of the hand he held. “You see, I was at, well, not a loose end because I knew what I wanted, but I wanted to paint. It’s all I’ve ever wanted to do. Put a canvas in front of me, and I’m away in my own world. I worked like an idiot for a few years and then said I needed a gap year.”
Meryl giggled. “I thought most people did them immediately before or after uni?”
“Well, I like to be different. No, honestly? I wanted enough money as a cushion so I could paint. When I came into your coffee house, I’d been in Europe and worked my ass off in a painting frenzy. I headed back to Scotland to check out some of the country’s scenery. Then I saw you and knew I needed to check out your scenery i
nstead.”
“That a new way of describing it? My contours, you mean? All the lumps and bumps?”
“All of them, perfect,” Marloth assured her with his own form of reassurance—a series of tiny nibbles up her arm. “I love every tiny dip and hidden valley of you. Every. Single. One.” He finished off with a long sensuous kiss that had her tingling to her toes. Damned, if he couldn’t make her a heap of mush in two seconds flat.
Meryl returned the kiss with enthusiasm, and her tongue met his thrust and swirl for thrust and swirl. If she was going to be hurt or worried by his revelations, she might as well enjoy this and have something positive to think about.
They were both flushed and panting when Marloth finally drew his lips away. Meryl could feel the frustration and tension that reverberated from him. His eyes were dark, a deep pool of heat that seared her, and made her dream of all things hot and needy. She shuddered and he kissed her nose.
“Yes. I feel it as well. All I really want to do is wrap myself around you and never let you go again. Instead, I’ve got to finish this sodding awful story. Right, so I met you, fell like a ton of bricks, and knew you were my soul mate. Nothing’s changed there. And praise be, you seemed to feel the same.”
“I did, and heaven help me, I still do.” Meryl leaned against his shoulder. “And I need to know the rest.”
“Well, it seems that I’d been let loose on a long lead, so to speak. Someone, and I still don’t know who, had followed me to make sure I kept within the boundaries of what the family decided was acceptable. Meeting and falling for you wasn’t. Letting you see me shift was evidently the last straw. That, and the way I’d been eyeing up rings in the jewelers. So I was told to return or face the wrath of the family. Even I knew what that meant.”
“So you told me it was over and buggered off. Without explaining. It was that that hurt. To be told you thought it was best we part. Just that. I felt like some cheap worthless heap of nothing.” Meryl shivered as she remembered that awful feeling of worthlessness and despair that she’d had to fight to get over. If it hadn’t been for Mia, she had no idea what would have happened. “And now you think I was pregnant? Not in a million years. And if I had been, I wouldn’t be here now. I’d be at home loving our child.” She got up and walked to kneel in front of him. “What next?”
His somber expression scared her. “I don’t know, except I don’t want to lose you again. Not now I’ve glimpsed heaven. I need to find out things. Like why, once I’d gone back to the council to say I’d found my love, and you weren’t a shifter, I was told you cared so little for me, you aborted our child. I was even shown a paper with the dates of your admission.”
“What?” Meryl was shaken. All this time, she’d felt he had thought so little of her, that she’d been no more than an easy lay, and some, some asshole had been screwing with them both. If she ever found out who it was, she’d screw them. Into the ground, using their cock or boobs as the tool. “To where? I’ve been nowhere. The last time I was in hospital was to have my appendix out. I was ten. Something stinks.”
He nodded and ran his hand over her hair and across her shoulders. “They were adamant it was true, but wouldn’t tell me where they got the information from. Then they made sure I was kept busy. I’ve got to get it sorted out, and know nobody is going to harm you. Faran warned me once I started on Isola that everything wasn’t as it seems. I think he has his own worries, as well. And he’s not talking about them.”
Meryl rested her head on Marloth’s knees. So what do we do now? I’m damned sure not going to sit back and let you be offered up on some altar of shifter-sacrifices. You’re mine.
“I am, and ditto,” Marloth said, and pulled her onto his lap. “And yes, I read your mind. I think I need to be able to do that all the time now. Because if we’re serious—”
“Well, I am,” Meryl interrupted him.
“So am I. So we need to plot and plan. Find out what’s going on, and stop it. It’s not just Faran and me; I know Dylan has had problems as well in his neck of the woods. So, here’s how I think we need to play it.”
* * * * *
By the time they’d plotted to Marloth’s satisfaction, so much time had passed that Meryl’s tummy rumbled. Not that she minded. Being able to sit on his knee and know that he hadn’t forgotten her, or left because he didn’t love her, was a great help in stopping her need to murder someone fast. Unfortunately, it did harden her resolve in vowing if she ever found out who was behind it all, she’d make sure somehow they died a slow and painful death.
“Why are some shifters such shits?” she burst out as she put her hand over her tummy. “I mean why go to all the trouble of painting me black? Why not just tell you that you have to take a shifter as a partner, and it was x or y.” Her tummy growled loudly, and she rolled her eyes. “Damn it, you’d think worry would make me not want to eat, not the opposite.”
He chuckled as she meant him to. Marloth was grey with worry and once more, Meryl wished she could do serious damage to whoever was behind all the hassle. It wasn’t fair. Damn, I sound like a two-year-old who can’t get another lolly to suck. Not that that’s what I want in my mouth, but still . . . .
“Let’s feed you, and make sure we both know what we’ve got to do. It isn’t going to be easy and I have no idea how long it’ll take, but I promise you, we’ll get there. We’ll go to the boat. There’s more food there, and we’ll need to set back soon.” He stood up, and Meryl slid to put her feet on the floor. It was a pity they had to go. She could have stayed as she was—on Marloth’s lap—and on their island forever.
She sighed and her shoulders lifted. “I guess. Okay, lead on and let’s get the action started. Do you have any idea at all what’s behind this?”
“What is? Yeah, me telling the council once I was back that I only wanted you. Who is? Nope, not a sausage. I don’t even know who they wanted me to mate with. Or even who it was who wanted it. All I got was not you, and then lots of shit about how little you thought of . . . hold on . . . we both sent emails and never received them.”
Meryl nodded as she followed him along the direct path to the jetty. “Yeah, so someone must have intercepted them. If we can find out whom, then it’s one step closer. I bet not everyone can do that sort of stuff. Er, look, I just have to know something. Where is home? You know, where you had to go back to? You never ever told me, just that it was everywhere. I’d decided you had such a shitty home, you didn’t want to talk about it.”
Marloth turned to face her and laughed bitterly. “That’s one of life’s ironies, love. About thirty miles from where you live. I went to uni in St Andrews.”
Meryl would have fallen down if there hadn’t been a handy tree to lean against.
Marloth bent over the engine. His face was grimy and his expression grim. The swear words were earthy and explicit. After deciding he couldn’t do anything positive, he lifted his head and grimaced. “It’s buggered. Engine and radio. Not only that, somehow my power of transmission is like a dodgy connection. All fuzzy. In theory, there should be a way of letting Isola Dei Sogni know where we are or that we’re stranded. Someone wants to make mega problems for us. Not just waves, but a tsunami.”
“Well, won’t someone come for us when we don’t get back?”
If only it were that easy. Own up time.
“Well, if I’d taken you where I was supposed to, then yes. But I wanted to bring you here. No one knows that, not yet anyway. Not until I send a mind message to Faran. If it will work.”
Meryl stared at him for so long he got twitchy. Then she leaned back against the side of the cockpit and laughed. It was the last thing he expected.
“So we’re not supposed to be here, but somewhere else, and our engine is buggered. Accident or design?”
He considered her question. Every fiber of his being screamed sabotage. But why and how? “I think there’s as much chance as a snowball has in hell for it to be an accident. Why? I don’t know yet. Who, likewise. But it hint
s at someone on the island. So we follow our plan to the letter, yes?”
He watched Meryl’s face go white and then a steely determination showed in her eyes. “Oh yes, so one last kiss?”
Marloth sniffed the air, he couldn’t sense anyone, but dare he trust his senses? Why not. “Down into the cabin quick. Close the blinds and the curtains. Bend over the table and don’t make a sound.” Her glance was a puzzled one, but she gave a brief nod and clattered down the three steps into the cabin. He took once last sensing smell around. Nothing. With a kick to the engine housing, just in case someone somehow saw him, he followed her.
Meryl had done as he asked, and her bikini-covered ass faced him as he jumped the last step and swung down to the floor. The room was dim, and the lowering sun made little impact on the light. It was hot, airless, and very sensuous.
“Hold on to the far edge. Don’t let go.” He waited until she complied and made short work of pulling her bikini bottom down her legs and off one foot. With a grin, he knew she couldn’t see he blessed the fact the front and back was held together by tied ribbons, and undid them with his teeth.
“Spread your legs and don’t move.” He pushed her ankles apart until her legs formed an upside down ‘V’, and used each part of her bikini bottoms to tie them to the table legs. She moaned, a hot fuck me now sound that made his insides shake. Bent as she was over the narrow table, her pussy and clit peeked shyly between her legs to tease and tantalize. Marloth’s cock went from interested to down right needy in a half second. He took a foil packet from the pocket of his shorts and put it carefully on the table, within easy arm’s reach. Then he loosened the ties at the waist of the boardies and kicked them off. Meryl wriggled and spoke to him, her voice muffled by the cloth over the table.
Temptation Page 5