Claimed by the Alpha Dolphins: Part One: Bound to the Sea (a BBW Paranormal Romance)
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“But Dario, usually it feels cold to me. If I were a Descendant of Neptune, I would never have felt cold.”
“Ah, that’s why you must partner with a member of the Dolphinae. Neptune decreed that his female descendants should mate with the Dolphinae to provide a legitimate heir. To dissuade them from mating with land dwellers, he made their ability to breathe underwater dependent upon having the seed of a dolphinae inside of them. After we made love, I felt that you had absorbed my essence. Come with me.”
Dario pulled her by the hand and they waded into deeper water. Mona’s heart raced. Yes, the water didn’t feel cold. But the whole story seemed so implausible. Unlike anything she had heard of before. Her fear of failing the trial returned and she almost pulled her hand free. If she let him go, she might never see him again. But she wouldn’t have to risk drowning. For some reason, he insisted on taking her out to deeper water.
Soon, they were neck deep, pushing forward with only their toes digging into the sand as the waves splashed into their faces. Dario smiled as he looked back at her, his skin turning gray. He dove into the ocean and the transformation happened with incredible speed. Once again, he had become a dolphin. She saw his form torpedo away from her.
What now? Was she supposed to immediately be able to assume dolphin shape? On route to the beach, she had tried to pump him for information about the trial, but he had merely insisted she would pass. A sudden, large wave swamped over her, and Mona took a face full of water. Some of it splashed down her throat and as she resurfaced, she coughed. So much for being able to breathe underwater. I’m getting out of here.
As she turned to flee toward shore, something nudged the inside of her thigh, lifting her up. Below, a sharklike form was pushing its way between her legs. The surprise rattled her, but she realized that Dario had shifted into his dolphin form. He wanted her to ride on top of him. He buoyed her up so that her legs straddled his body. Mona hung onto his dorsal fin to keep her balance, and Dario swam out to sea.
With Mona on his back, he didn’t leap through the waves. However, he was strong enough to propel them forward merely by flapping his fluke. Although Dario was powerful in his human form, he was even more magnificent as a dolphin. The speed at which he traveled was stunning. In only a few minutes, she realized that they were hundreds of yards from shore. There was no going back. She would pass the trial or drown like all the others.
Dawn had chased away the stars, coloring the sky with an indigo hue tinted by orange upon the horizon. In no time at all, they were more than a mile from shore and out in open water. Dario dove deep and Mona released her legs so she could rise to the surface. She dog paddled to keep her head above the water as she rose and fell with the ocean swells.
Dario’s head popped up out of the water in front of her.
“You must dive with me now. Breathe in the water and follow.” In his dolphin form, the voice had a melodic texture as if it rang with multiple harmonics. It wasn’t high pitched like a true dolphin attempting speech through its blow hole. His unique morphology created an otherworldly tone. It was strangely hypnotic and enticing.
“I can’t Dario.”
“You must. When you get down as far as you can go, take a deep breath of water. Follow me.” Dario dove before her.
Mona watched his fluke disappear into the depths. Dario had seemed so sure it would work. She wanted to put her entire faith in him. Mona bent at the waist and swam beneath the waves. She was still afraid to take a chance so far from the surface. She would test her ability to breathe here. With great resolve, she tried inhaling a little bit of water through her nose.
Pain burrowed through her nasal passages. And when it hit her lungs, the feeling of suffocation was immediate. I’m drowning! Mona kicked and thrashed her way onto the surface. Mona flailed as she tried to cough the water out of her lungs. Tears streamed from her eyes as she winced at the pain.
“Fucking dolphin!” She choked the words out. Why on earth did she trust him when he told her that most people die during this trial? She had to get back to shore quickly. And it was clear that Dario would be of no help. Thankfully, the sun was low enough in the sky that she could get a bearing on which direction was east. She was incredibly far from shore. But she had to try to make it. She would alternate swimming with floating to save energy. Her ability to withstand the cold had not worn off. Anyone else might die of hypothermia, at least she had a chance of survival. Even if it was miniscule.
Now that she had found her resolve, she courageously struck out toward shore with a steady breast stroke. After only a hundred yards, she felt something grip onto her calf halting her progress. Turning her head, she saw her leg was trapped in Dario’s dolphin mouth. His teeth were clamped tight enough to keep her from getting out of his toothy maw, but he hadn’t broken her skin.
“Dario! Stop! What are you doing?” Mona tried to wriggle free but the teeth dug into her leg. She writhed into a position where she could whack at him with her hands. And then, he dove, pulling her under. She barely managed to get a gulp of air before he pulled her toward the darkness below.
Now panic ran through her veins. She had to get out of the dolphin’s mouth. Why the hell does he want to kill me? She had little chance against his sheer mass and powerful fluke. Even as she fought to swim against him, they sunk fast. She tried beating the side of his stout body. But her blows seemed to have little effect. They were deep now. The surface above grew dimmer and dimmer. And finally her lungs burned for more oxygen. More air. Please, Dario, please. She lost the ability to fight as she strained to keep from gasping water into her lungs. Here, with only a pale hint of light above, Dario released her to float in the somber water.
Finally, her lungs quaked and she inhaled a deep breath of seawater. Convulsing, she choked and took in more water. She thrashed wildly as she drowned. The pain seared her lungs. She was conscious for only a few seconds more before her strength faded, and the void enveloped her.
FOUR
VERTICAL GREEN BANNERS TWIRLED gracefully through shafts of light. In the silence, peace surrounded Mona. Was she dead? She was floating as if in space. Something brushed against her right arm. The contact made her understand she was still alive. It turned out to be a long stalk of kelp. She was drifting through an underwater kelp forest.
Between the strands, she could discern dark forms swimming among the kelp. Knowing the region, she guessed they were either sea lions or otters. Then it hit her. I’m breathing… I’m breathing water like air!
Among the enormous strands of kelp, another form swam over to greet her. It was Dario in his human form. Bastard! You tried to kill me.
He swam up next to her and said, “So, how does it feel to be one with the sea?”
To hear his voice underwater was surreal. Although faint and warbly, somehow he could speak. Mona’s astonishment lasted a few seconds before she lashed out with her fingernails, clawing at his face. As she tried to scream obscenities at him, he grabbed her arms by the wrists.
“Shhhhh…” Dario said, “You’re becoming accustomed to breathing now. Don’t try to speak yet. Follow me.” He dropped his grip and transformed into his dolphin form as he slipped off into the kelp.
Yeah, right. I remember the last time you asked me to do that, you treacherous dolphin. The terror from her past experience was still fresh in her mind. But even as her spirit railed against him, she couldn’t resist the urge to trail behind. After all, she could either breathe water, or she was dead. Or maybe she was just dreaming. In any case, the danger of dying seemed to have subsided.
Dario occasionally doubled back to make sure that she kept up with him. As a dolphin, he darted like lightning through the water. Periodically, he would surface for air while waiting for Mona to catch up. In little time, he led her to a clearing within the kelp forest that had been created by a sunken metal ship sprawled upon its side in the silt below. As they approached, Mona absorbed the wondrous sight of a steel skeleton now rusting and covered with a
myriad of bright sea stars and anemones. Crabs of all sizes skittered across its surface while schools of fish darted through doors and portholes of the vessel. Mona had never been scuba diving, and this was as fascinating as the documentaries she used to watch as a child.
She decided to swim through a huge hole in the side of the wreck and explore its interior. Once inside, she found herself in a well of darkness pierced by beams of light that shot though every open hole in the vessel. Where was Dario? She had been angry, but now she was having a change of heart. He was right about her being a Descendant of Neptune. He had been right all along. Although she didn’t quite know what the entire implications would be, she was grateful that he had shown her a new existence. She swam up to a porthole to peek out for him. Far away in the kelp, she spotted a torpedo shape zooming toward the boat. She stuck her head and arm out in order to wave him near.
Oddly, Dario seemed much larger and darker than she remembered. As the form plunged toward her, she noticed huge white triangles across its face. It was an enormous shark! When she tried to draw back, she realized she was wedged in the hole. She twisted to get her head back into safety, and as her arm followed, the gaping jaws of the shark closed against the side of the boat missing her by an inch. The rusted frame of the sunken vessel shook upon the shark’s impact. She immediately suspected it of being the same shark that had attacked the surfer on the beach the day before.
The shark circled around to spy through the porthole. Its black eye was the size of saucer and had no pupil, yet Mona could sense that it saw her in the shadows. She was probably safe as long as she stayed inside the boat. She began to worry about Dario. Had the shark gotten him? She turned to look for another entry where she might see him. A dark shadow hovered outside, sliding past the open holes in the old boat. The shark was circling and looking for a way in. Unfortunately, the sunken ship’s interior had mostly rusted through. Mona discovered there was a large hole in the hull near the sea floor that the shark might attempt to enter. But she wasn’t quite sure if it were large enough for the beast to squeeze through.
Mona’s fears were confirmed when she saw the shadow appear at the prospective hole. She slipped out of the vessel through an open hatch on the other side. Then, she pulled herself up along the hull and peeked over. The shark had not entered yet but was examining the hole as if gauging whether it was sufficiently large. Finally, it approached slowly enough to tuck its head through.
Immediately, a shape darted out of the kelp and rammed into the shark from behind. It was Dario in his dolphin form and he attacked relentlessly. The hole was too small for the beast, and the force of the first blow wedged the shark’s upper body tight. One of its two side fins got pushed into the hull, and now it was stuck. It writhed and thrashed with its tail driving up billowing clouds of silt. But the more the shark struggled, the deeper it found itself forced into the hole. Its anatomy was only made to drive it forward. The powerful tail fin was not meant to be used in reverse.
Time and again, Dario drove the shark deeper into the hole, pounding into it from behind. It appeared to be growing weaker as clouds of black silt filled the water and obscured the battle from view. Eventually, Dario appeared out of the cloud and swam over to Mona.
She climbed onto his back, and they rose toward the surface. Once into the air, Mona had to cough the water up out of her lungs. It was horribly unpleasant, but she managed to clear them.
Even as she inhaled the fresh air, a million questions rolled through her brain. “Was that the shark from the beach yesterday?”
“Yes.”
“Is he dead?”
“I think so,” Dario said. “But it doesn’t matter much because yesterday he would have surely phoned others. We were planning to leave town last night. And we’d be long gone if it hadn’t have been for meeting you.”
“Hold on… Sharks can’t use telephones.”
“These ones can,” Dario said grimly.
~ ~ ~
LYING NEXT TO DARIO, Mona stretched into a comfortable position on the warm sand. In dolphin form, he had given her a ride back to shore. Before they snuck up onto the beach, he recovered his swim trunks that had been cleverly tucked under a rock a few meters underwater. Apparently, that was their trick for transitioning back to a world where people wore clothing.
Every part of her body ached. From Dario’s intense lovemaking of the night before, to her near drowning experience, the fatigue was overwhelming. She listened while he explained the encounter with the shark.
“We call them the Mordentes. It comes from the old tongue and I guess translated into modern English, it would simply mean ‘the biting ones’. They have been our enemies since the dawn of time. And unfortunately, they have the ability to take human form. Although, when you see one of them on land, you may find their humanity to be a bit questionable.”
“So, that’s why they can use telephones? What you’re telling me is that we’re dealing with some sort of were-shark here.”
Dario sighed. “Normally, I wouldn’t put it in such simplistic terms. But since your knowledge seems to be limited by an understanding based in popular culture, then 'yes'. Even though they are loathsome creatures, they are shifters like us, the Dolphinae.”
“But I don’t get why they’re your enemies.”
“Ah, that nobody knows,” Dario said. “We seek to do them no harm. The ocean should be large enough for both of our races. But they hate us with a burning passion. Perhaps it is because we live in communities while they swim as loners. Maybe they are just hardwired to hate. Our Pod often loses our weakest members to the Mordentes. When we are not vigilant, somehow they manage to prey on our young and our infirm. So, we have learned the best defense is a good offense. We kill them when we can, but only because that is the best course of action. The Dolphinae are not ruthless by nature.”
As Dario spoke, he caressed Mona’s side. He told her how the Mordentes often get into trouble on land. In the sea, their mothers abandon them as pups. A Mordentes typically grows up without any guidance, and thus believes that it’s the most important creature in the sea. Nearly always, this lack of social education gets a young Mordentes into trouble the minute he steps foot onto land. Systematically, a downward spiral of events lands the unwary Mordentes in prison where they learn the worst of human behavior as well.
“I almost feel sorry for them,” Mona muttered. She had a soft spot for people who had grown up in unfortunate situations.
“Don’t,” Dario scoffed. “A Mordentes wouldn’t blink twice before biting you in half. Thankfully, in human form, the tattoos that most of them acquire in prison are plainly visible. If you should ever be unlucky enough to meet one, you will know immediately.”
Mona shuddered at the thought. “And you said there would be more?”
“Yes, unfortunately. For millennia, the Dolphinae have been spared by the fact that the Mordentes are solitary creatures by nature. But during our quest, Lucan and I traveled the beaches of the world. We began to notice that when we encountered one, others soon followed. We haven’t been able to convince the elders in our respective pods, but we believe that somehow the Mordentes are organizing. It would mean the end of our race if they could mobilize against us. They have the numbers and as you have seen, they are vicious killers. We think they may even have been guided by an unknown leader who wants to interrupt our mission.”
Lucan’s voice boomed as he approached, “Dario, where’ve you been since last night? I thought we agreed to leave before they could track us. I packed the car and I almost left without you.”
When Mona smiled to greet him, he stopped dead in his tracks. Lucan’s look of surprise gave way to undisguised chagrin. Stunned, he scowled at Dario and said, “She has the eyes of a Descendant. That’s why you didn’t come back.”
Dario responded, his voice thick with emotion. “We both knew that our pact would end when one of us acquired her.”
Acquired? Mona grimaced. What does he mean acquired? I’m
not a freaking object to be acquired.
“Had I only known,” Lucan said, giving a slight bow to Mona. “I found you equally enticing even when I believed you to be a mere mortal.” Then he stared Dario down. “And so it ends. Your human affairs are in the car. I’m in the orange level of the parking garage down the street. Meet me there in half an hour if you want to recover them. I will wait for you no longer.”
As Lucan trudged away, Mona was flabbergasted at the wall of coldness that risen between them. “What was that all about? I thought you two were friends.”
“Companions in exile. Never friends.” Dario stood up and brushed the sand off. “Our two pods have been waging war for millennia. Recently, our elders reached a truce by agreeing to send the reigning princes out to find a Descendant who could provide a legitimate heir and settle the dispute. Where would you look for a Descendant with one foot on land and another in the sea? Naturally, our answer was to spend years combing the beaches of the world. We were competitors, and at first, we were very aggressive toward one another. But since we were living in quasi-exile until the quest was completed, we also became lonely. Eventually, we became companions and traveled together. Who else could either of us talk to? Our pact was to respect the right of acquisition of the one who first spotted the Descendant.”
He took Mona’s hand and pulled her up. “Come. I have possessions in that car to help me keep my human guise. It would be a pain to go out shopping for such necessities.”
Still exhausted to the bone, Mona followed several steps behind. The word acquisition nagged at her. Is that all I am to him? She had been impossibly attracted to him, but now she felt a pang for Lucan. He seemed generally interested in getting to know her. Yes, Dario was a reincarnation of Adonis. Even though she was annoyed with him, she couldn’t help being excited by watching the hamstrings in his legs tighten and release with every stride. She also couldn’t help being attracted to his self-assured manner even though it was also impossibly aggravating. As he said, he was a prince among his own kind. It explained his alpha behavior. He probably expected everyone he came into contact with to accept his natural superiority. Still, she thought to herself, no one has acquired me. And if the pact required her to go with the one who had spotted her first, Lucan had been the first to see her on the beach yesterday.