Her fingers wrapped around his thick shaft, gave it a loving squeeze. He moaned, jutted his hips.
"Like a right of passage, huh? Cool. It's unique--like you." She stroked him, cupped his balls.
He caught her lips with his, swallowed a groan deep in his throat. He took the soap from her, lathered his own hands, slid them over her breasts, and lower, to her already slick folds.
Her knees threatened to buckle under the teasing onslaught. "Ahh, fuck me! Please fuck me now!"
He tweaked her clit, slid a soapy finger inside her, then two.
"No...ohh...I need you to fill me up."
He grabbed her hips, lifted her, and impaled her on his thick shaft. She whimpered as the sweet, spiral ache of pleasure forced her to clutch his arms, arch her neck, and wrap her legs around his narrow hips.
Each savage thrust tugged on her clit. His teeth latched onto her neck, nipped at her, then licked away the small pain.
"Give me your breasts," he growled as he pounded into her, made her grind on the steel-like spike of his cock. Water trickled from her hair into her eyes. She blinked it away. Then she bit her lower lip and lifted her breasts up to his mouth. The edge of his teeth on her nipples pushed her over the waterfall cliff. It was too much.
She screamed, another climax ripped from her, as he grunted, pulled out and sprayed her belly with his seed. She slid down the wall, would have kept on sliding, if not for the large hands that reached out to catch her. She noticed he was none too steady on his own feet.
They finished their shower and stumbled out of the stall. She managed to grab a couple of towels before she collapsed on the bed.
She passed the larger bath towel to him as he fell onto the bed beside her. "You're amazing. Did you know that?"
"Of course."
She glanced over, saw his smirk. "Why am I not surprised?" What did surprise her was how she'd gotten so lucky. Of all the places for him to wash ashore... Then she recalled the reason he'd been on her small chunk of the Oregon coast.
"Your bandage is wet. We need to change it." She started to lift the soggy tape. He laid his hand over hers.
"I'll take care of that later." He carried her hand to his lips and kissed the back, then her palm.
"Stop that! I'm too tired for a rematch right now, and you seem to find my hot spots too easily!"
"Hot spots, hmm?"
"Nope. Not gonna happen. You behave yourself, stud." She jumped off the bed, snapped the towel toward him.
Not trusting him, she backed into the bathroom and shut the door. She had to catch her breath. My God. He's insatiable!
She brushed her teeth, dried her hair, all the while wondering about her passionate guest. Did she seriously think she could handle a man that...vigorous, for long? He had the stamina of a long-distance swimmer and the body of a Greek god.
Crave seemed too bland a word for the heady, drugging rush of need that his touch inspired. Could she hope to keep up with him? And how long before he got bored with her? The one thing she knew from her previous relationships with men was that his leaving was inevitable. All just a matter of when.
Quit being such a freakin' defeatist! Her friends constantly told her she didn't give herself enough credit. Maybe they were right.
When she came out of the bathroom, she held a packaged toothbrush.
"You can use this, it's unopened. I bought it in case I ever had a guest sleep over. You're my first."
She was unprepared for the odd glare he shot her.
* * * *
Her first? Nay, first and last if he had any say! He took the brush from her hands, and went into the bathroom. Now was not the time to stake his claim on her. He needed to find his cap. See if he felt the same sense of completion with her after transformation...or if the emotion was a mere trick of passion, of sexual need. After all, the land-dwellers were known to use their lusty natures against his kind, cloud their minds with sexual hunger.
No doubt, Terri used well-practiced powers to seduce him, turn him into a lusting beast. She made him crave her touch and the silky grip of her wet heat.
He tore the package open, smeared the horrid minty paste on the toothbrush, and proceeded to rasp it across his teeth. Oyster, now that would be a good flavor. Only land-dwellers would use something as foul as peppermint--blech!
When he came out of the bathroom, he noticed she'd placed a pair of jeans, a shirt and socks on the bed with a note for him to try them on. Only the socks fit. The jeans were loose around the waist and ended far short of his feet. The arms on the shirt barely reached his wrists. The shirt also left a two-inch gap of tanned flesh showing.
He heard two voices coming from the living room, one belonged to Terri, the other he didn't know. He opened the door and sniffed the air. Another male was in Terri's house. He went to meet his possible competition.
A soon as he walked into the room, he scented the lingering aroma of the Fae, and recognized the man as a fellow selkie--a bull-seal! Fierce determination filled him. He would meet the challenge head-on.
"Destin." Terri touched his arm, and guided him to the man sitting in the over-stuffed recliner.
The man stood, eyes taking his measure. His gaze narrowed in warning.
::Down, pup! She is my great niece.:: The thought came through loud and clear.
"Uncle Roanan, this is Destin." She smiled, her hand lingering on his arm.
"How can this be?" Destin looked from the older man to Terri and back again.
::Not aloud, pup! I know you can hear me.::
::She is not selkie. I would have known, sensed it when we first met!::
::I married Terri's great-aunt long ago. Left my kin for life and happiness on land. Terri is a kind girl. I would not look favorably on any who would hurt her.::
"Is something wrong?" Terri asked, just as the doorbell rang. "Oops, sounds like more company." She excused herself and went to answer the door.
"Does she know what you are?" Destin's mind spun at the unexpected news.
"No more than she probably realizes what you are. Are you going to tell her?"
"Did you tell her great-aunt? Would she not give back your seal-skin cap?"
"Assuming a lot, aren't you? Not all land-folk are bad. My wife knew what I was from the first and never tried to steal my cap. I had the choice and I stayed."
"And the sea doesn't call you?"
Terri came back into the room before the older man could answer. Behind her was another female. Destin reached out with his senses toward the new presence in the room. She was different, her scent strong of the sea.
"Uncle Roanan, you remember my friend Jill, right?"
Her uncle took the young woman's hand, bowed over it gallantly, and kissed her knuckles.
::Do not think to start a harem here, pup. This is my colony, such as it is.::
::I wasna. I only wanted to know if Terri's friend was born of the sea magick. Some can mask the scent and taste of their power.::
He'd met the ruling class of merfolk, the Undines, before, and wondered at their ability to hide their true nature so well. To blend in with humans so easily, and not be forced to worry over a missing bit of seal fur.
"Nice to meet you again, my dear." The older male stepped back.
::Your senses don't lie. She is not what she seems. What she is, however, I'm less sure.::
"And this is Destin. I met him last night." Terri introduced him to her friend.
::Very fast work, pup. Congratulations. Break her heart, though, and I'll feed you to the sharks. Piece by piece.::
"Destin, this is my friend, Jill."
"Hello, Jill." Not to be outdone by the selkie bull-elder, he took the woman's hand, bowed over it, then shot a look over her shoulder at Terri's uncle.
::I'd bite out the throat of anyone who thought to harm her, elder. And I already met my fate with a shark yesterday. Did she not tell you how we met?::
::Aye. Terri told me. Why do you think I suggested that particular threat?::
"Destin. You can let go of her hand now." A thread of annoyance, perhaps even jealousy, laced Terri's voice.
He released Jill's hand and stepped away.
"I love your name. It sounds almost like destiny," Jill said
"Bimbo."
Destin glanced over at Terri. She covered her mouth, coughed.
"Jumbo. I have jumbo biscuits--I thought I'd fix breakfast. Eggs, biscuits, bacon. Sound good?" Terri glanced at the wall clock and amended, "Well, I guess it'd be more like brunch? Uncle Roanan, can you stay?"
"I'd love to. Thank you, my dear."
"I wouldn't mind a bite. Always up for something tasty. Thanks," Jill said, a teasing smile on her face. She eyed Destin with speculation--and not-so-teasing hunger. "So, I guess I really should have made it to that workshop last night."
"I didn't meet him at the workshop. I was just telling Uncle Roanan the story. Destin was swimming and got attacked by a shark. He washed ashore, and I found him passed out behind the house."
"Oh! You poor thing!" Jill reached out to stroke his forearm. Her hand felt rough against his skin.
Terri cleared her throat. "Yes, well...I called an ambulance and they came out, but he wouldn't go to the hospital. They said to keep an eye on him, and he had nowhere else to go..."
She went into the kitchen and got out two extra glasses for her guests.
"So you kept him. Hmm, I don't suppose there are any more like you out in the sea?" Jill asked, licking her lips like a cat.
Terri coughed. "Slut."
Destin worried over that odd cough, but answered Jill. "No." More than you might suspect.
"Terri?" Roanan's eyes were twinkling in mirth.
"Soda okay?" She handed Jill and her uncle their drinks.
::Oh, by the way, those are my old work clothes you're wearing, pup. She must have found them in the utility room. I'll not want them back, but they don't exactly fit you well. You need to have the girls take you shopping.::
::I must search for my cap--I lost it on the beach last night. I've delayed too long as it is.::
"Count me out of any shopping trips. I'll leave that to those younger who enjoy it. I might comb the beach instead, try to add to my sea glass collection," Roanan said to the group.
"Uncle Roanan, you could help Destin by looking for his lost clothing, and his cap, uh--baseball cap while you're looking for sea glass."
"A cap, you say?" Jill sat forward. "I hope you find it, Destin."
::Baseball cap?::
::She misunderstood. Thinks my missing cap is a baseball cap. Should you find it, you will give it to me.::
"I'd be delighted to help, my dear. Never know what one can find on the rocks below." The elder winked at his niece, grinned at the faint blush that spread over her sweet face, then cast Destin a dark look.
::No need to take that "tone" with me, pup! I'd not withhold your cap.::
Destin apologized with a thought and tried to be patient. He sat on the sofa across from Terri's uncle, gazed out the sliding glass doors of the deck, and wondered just how long it would be before he could excuse himself and go look for his cap.
An hour later, after they ate, Terri and Jill took him shopping. The two females claimed a friendship, but it seemed to him to be an odd one. Every time Jill used some excuse to touch him, Terri's eyes would burn and that nasty cough of hers would start again. He decided he would ask Terri to see a doctor if it persisted.
When they got back from shopping, he went in search of Roanan and found him farther down the beach. The elder stood from his bent position and greeted him.
"I see you survived the ordeal."
"Barely. Jill just left, and Terri is back at the house, making a space for my new clothes."
"A space, hmm? Sounds as though she believes you're planning to stay. Are you?"
"I have no where else to go at the moment." He climbed onto an outcropping of rocks.
"A bachelor then? I figured as much."
"Can I ask you a question?" he asked the older and, hopefully, wiser selkie.
"Of course."
"You loved your wife. But she couldn't follow you to sea. Didn't that bother you? Or her?"
"It did. But she knew I would return. I never left her for very long. I couldn't." The older man smiled and picked up a bit of green sea glass wedged between the rocks. "Nena's call to me was every bit as powerful as the sea's. I built this home with my own two hands, so I could have everything I loved close."
"Yet you both moved away, left this place for Terri."
::No. I moved away. After Nena died, the memories...::
"I'm sorry, I didn't know. It's none of my business."
He watched the elder visibly pull himself together. Selkies lived so very long. Longer than humans. Their lifespan only one of their many magickal gifts.
Destin knew he cared for Terri, sensed with time the feeling would grow stronger. He could build a new life here, one with her. He tired of being the bachelor, subsiding on the fringes of other's lives--a part of the colony, and yet apart. It was one of the reasons he'd left his old home in search of a new colony. And though he'd only just met Terri, he felt as if he'd known her, loved her a lifetime. Still, he knew it was simply too soon.
"If you stay, you'll eventually meet the rest of the family. I do hope to be on hand for that. Especially when you meet Doreen, Terri's mother. Should be quite a lot of fun."
"Why is that?"
"I think I'll let you find out for yourself." The old bull seal barked with laughter.
* * * *
Terri cleared two drawers in her dresser for some of Destin's things. She also hung some of his new pants and shirts in the closet. She'd always known her uncle was a generous man, but when he'd pulled her aside before she left, and placed a wad of money in her hand, she'd been surprised. She didn't get the impression he'd liked Destin all that much.
Destin had promised to pay her back for the clothes and toiletries. When she explained the purchases weren't made with her money, but her uncle's, Destin had smiled kind of funny and said something in that strange language of his.
Terri poked her head around the sliding glass door. No sign of either Destin or her uncle.
She stepped out onto the deck for a better look, and saw Destin on the other side of the jetties. He squatted, holding a small bundle of clothes. Only a few feet away, sat a gray hooded seal.
Seals, like any wild creature, could become dangerous without warning. She bit her lower lip and wondered what to do. Destin was too close to the thing. Within attack range. And the animal was big.
If she yelled out, it might startle the creature and cause the very thing she wanted to avoid. As she continued to watch, her sense of helplessness and indecision gave way to wonder. Destin nodded his head, as if he and the animal were talking. The beast then raised a flipper and waved, before it turned back out to sea.
She hugged herself, a weird chill in the air. Goosebumps raised on her arms. She shivered and waited. For what, she couldn't say. Destin placed the bundle of clothing in a large, zippered, plastic bag he pulled from his jeans pocket. He hid the bag of clothes under an outcropping of rocks and stood.
Beyond odd didn't begin to cover what she'd seen. Why would he take his clothes and--no wait! Not his new clothes she'd just bought--she'd gotten everything out of the trunk of Jill's car and put all of it away herself. He still wore her uncle's discarded things. So whose clothes were they? Mind rampant, inconceivable answers flashed in her head.
She went back inside the house to think. And where the heck had her uncle got to? She wished he'd come back. She knew he could put her mind at ease. Figure out a simple solution.
The phone rang and she jumped, startled. A quick glance at caller ID showed it was her mother.
"Mom. Now is not a--"
"Shh. Listen first. Jill stopped by to bring me something. I think you need to come over here right away. Bring your new friend, and Uncle Roanan, too."
"Jill brough
t you something? I don't--"
"We have his cap, Terri. It was our circle's call to the elements that brought him to you."
"What? You're not making any--"
"Until Jill called, I didn't know for sure. Plan to be here in an hour. I'll explain more when I see you."
"Why would Jill call you? And Uncle Roanan isn't--" Her mother hung up. "...here."
"For once I wish my mother made sense!"
"Is something wrong?" Destin stood in the open doorway.
"We've been summoned. And Uncle Roanan, too."
"I don't understand? Terri?"
"No need to keep searching for your baseball cap. Although why it's such a big deal I don't know."
"You found it?"
"No. Apparently Jill did, and she gave it to my mother. She wants to see us in an hour." She ran her fingers through her hair, took a deep breath, and wondered exactly how to explain the quirkiness of her family.
"I could use a drink." She rummaged in the fridge and pulled out a beer for Destin and a root beer for herself. She pulled the tab and tapped the side of her soda can to his beer. "Cheers." She let the fizz slide down her throat, and tried not to worry about the weirdness awaiting them at her mother's house.
Later, as they drove up the coast highway, she turned on the heater in her SUV and looked over at Destin. She'd handwritten a message for her uncle to find if he came back to the house, and then she'd grabbed her purse and the man beside her. He looked as befuddled as she often felt when dealing with her family.
She let out a deep sigh. The only normal one was uncle Roanan. "I need to explain something first. I'm just not exactly sure how."
"You are agitated and aggravated. I sense it. If I am somehow the cause, I apologize. I would not wish to inconvenience you. Or upset your family in any way."
"Something tells me it's you who'll be upset with them." She exited the freeway and merged into city traffic. "My mother was raised by her aunts, Nena and Chloe, after her parents died. They were spinsters, you know, maiden aunts. Then Nena met my uncle Roanan and they married. I think Mom was about ten or twelve at the time." She glanced at Destin, to see if he was listening.
SHIFTING TIDES: BENEATH A MIDNIGHT SEA Page 3