“You mean you want me to shift? Here?” I glance around nervously. There isn’t anyone else around, but someone could walk in at any time. Gio’s warning repeats in my mind, but Liam looks so hopeful.
“But there’s no water,” I say as an excuse.
“I haven’t shown you everything. Come on.” Liam takes my hand and pulls me over to a door I didn’t notice before.
We walk into a large, moist room that smells like the sea and immediately takes me back there. I gasp as my eyes rove around the room. Tanks of water line one wall, each one housing a different sea creature. Some swim lazily with no destination in mind, while others dart erratically back and forth from one end of their tank to the other. One enormous tank is filled with all different kinds of corals, and reef-dwelling fish peek around the formations. Large, low tanks sit in the center of the room, holding bigger creatures.
I spot a sea turtle snoozing in one and run my fingers along his thick, hard shell. I move from tank to tank, recognizing lobsters, crabs, sea urchins, anemones, starfish, and dozens of other animals from the sea.
“Why are all these creatures here?” My voice is soft and low with awe.
“We study them, analyze their biology, monitor their behavior, run experiments.”
The pictures in Liam’s mind terrify me. This is what Gio is afraid of, that I’ll become one of the animals in the tanks, held captive so that humans can experiment on me and watch my every move. My heart breaks for each of the creatures whose life has been reduced to circling an empty tank, most of them in isolation.
“Why, Liam? Why do you need to study them?”
He doesn’t see the distressed look on my face, he’s too busy staring at a tank full of fish. “So we can learn about them and how they live. Marine lifeforms are fascinating. They’re very different from land animals.”
“So this is all just to satisfy your curiosity?”
“Well, not entirely. It also helps us understand climate change and allows us to monitor the effect that human civilization has on the ocean in an effort to reduce our negative impact on marine habitats.”
I don’t know what most of those words mean, but his voice sounds detached, clinical, superior. My face wrinkles up. He must finally recognize my concern because he moves close enough to stroke a hand down my arm.
“It’s important, Coral. Without this research, many more marine lives would be at risk. The information we gather here helps us prevent their endangerment. And we’re not hurting them. We’re just studying them. They’re animals, Coral, not humans.”
“And that makes it okay? I’m not a human, either, Liam. Is this what you’d like to do to me? Put me in a tank and study me?”
I push past him and out of the room, desperate to get away, away from him and away from my own nature. I’ll never truly belong here because I’m not human, and I’ll always be something strange and foreign. Even the man I’ve mated with is willing to put me at risk to learn my secrets.
I dash through the specimen lab and towards the door, my legs obeying my heart’s panicked instructions, but I stumble to a halt as soon as I get there. My hand presses against the door, stopping me from leaving. Where can I go? Back to the sea? I don’t belong there, either. Not anymore. And I can’t survive here without the guys’ help.
Liam rushes up to me and grabs me, wrapping his arms around my body from behind. When I flinch and stiffen, bristling like a pufferfish, he lets go of me. My body shudders for a moment against the strain of my juxtaposition.
“Coral, please, look at me.” Gone is the confident self-possession. Instead, Liam’s voice is pained, worried, filled with more love than I’ve ever heard.
I turn to see Liam’s face twisted with remorse. “Coral, you know that’s not what I want. You know I don’t want to lock you in a cage.”
I heave a sigh. “I know.”
He runs a hand down my cheek, his soft eyes begging me to understand. “Come on, let’s get out of here.” He takes my hand and pulls me out of the room.
“I’m going to stick this blood in the analyzer, and it will spit out a bunch of data. That’s all I’m going to do, okay? I just want to look at the numbers, then we’ll leave.”
I nod, feeling foolish for getting so worked up. I know Liam doesn’t mean any harm to me, or the other animals, so why am I so agitated? Maybe it’s just the fear of discovery. This is important to Liam, this is what he loves, and I want to make him happy. He’s done so much for me; I can do this for him.
“I’ll do it,” I blurt out, grabbing his arm. “I’ll shift here so you can… examine me.”
Liam’s face melts, and he puts a hand over mine. “You don’t have to, Coral. I don’t want you to do anything you’re not comfortable with.”
“No, it’s okay. I know you won’t hurt me. I want to do it for you.”
A smile transforms his whole demeanor. “That would be amazing, Coral.”
Liam grabs a few supplies, his body jumpy with anticipation. Then he peeks out the window in the door to make sure no one is nearby before he leads me back into the specimen area. He points at one of the low tables full of water.
“This is a saltwater tank. If you sit on the ledge and put your legs in, I can watch your metamorphosis up close. I want to take a quick scraping of your scales, then you can dry off.” He grabs a handful of towels from a bin, dropping them on the ground beside the tank.
No one has come into the lab the whole time we’ve been in here, but anxiety still floods my body at the thought of shifting here. My skin ripples with shivers, the hair on my arms standing up and waving like sea grass.
I ignore the sensations and slide off my leggings then perch on the edge of the tank, waiting for directions.
Liam sets up a device on a three-legged stand near the tank. “This is a camera. I’m going to take a video that I can review later.”
When he pushes a button, a red light comes on. He sits on a stool right beside me, a round piece of glass with a handle in his hand. “Okay, Coral. Whenever you’re ready.”
I suck in a deep breath and glance once more around the room, verifying that the only witnesses are sea creatures, then swivel my body so that I can slowly slide my legs into the water. Liam leans forward as soon as I do, gazing intently at my lower half through the round glass.
The tank is shallow and the water clear, so it’s easy to see my scales erupt from my skin layer by layer, starting at my ankles and working up, covering my legs in an iridescent armor that goes all the way up to my hips. A wide fin grows around my feet, the joint reworking itself so that I can flex forwards and backwards. I instantly feel whole, like my body has been squished into too-tight clothing, and I’m finally able to relax. The cool saltwater, though not true seawater, soothes my body in a way nothing else can.
Liam trails his fingers up my tail, exploring the texture. I know it’s not meant to be sexual, and my scales aren’t quite as sensitive as my skin, but it still feels like a caress and sends waves of pleasure rippling through me. Liam notices me quivering and smiles at me.
“You’re gorgeous, Coral. Absolutely magnificent. These scales are amazing. Do they ever shed? I’d love to examine one more closely.”
I reach down to the bottom of my tail and pluck a small scale, wincing. Liam’s mouth falls open in awe as I place the scale in his hand.
“Thank you, Coral.” He quickly grabs a small container, fills it with water from the tank, drops the scale in, and screws on the lid.
“I don’t want it to dry out. Do you mind if I scrape a few cells to examine under the microscope? It won’t hurt.”
When I nod, he sets the container with my scale on the nearby counter and grabs a long, thin, metal tool from a drawer. He runs it along my scales then scrapes the collected material into a circular, glass dish.
Suddenly, a small beeping sound out in the lab startles Liam. “Shit! Someone’s coming! Dry off, Coral!”
He jumps into action, turning off the camera, pulling a small, black rectangle fr
om the side of it, and pocketing it. Panicked, I fling my tail out of the water and grab a towel, my hands shaking uncontrollably as I furiously wipe myself dry. I feel deafened by the pounding of my heart and the rush of blood pulsing through my head, so I’m surprised when I hear another beep right outside the door.
Liam’s eyes flash my way, his face contorted. “Hide!” he hisses when he sees my tail is still visible.
I throw myself onto the floor behind the tank, hoping the person coming through the door can’t see me.
“Max! How are you? Good to see you!” Liam’s voice is high and shaky, overly excited.
“Hey Liam, how’s it going? What are you doing here?” A deep, male voice replies.
“Oh, I’m just, um, doing some, uh… studies on—”
Liam’s voice falters as footfalls head towards me. Suddenly a head peeks around the tank. The man glances down at my naked, human body, covered only with a small towel, and smirks.
He turns back to look at Liam who has come up behind him. “Studying female anatomy? Nice, bro. Whatever turns you on. I personally prefer a human audience, but who am I to judge someone else’s kink? I’m Max, by the way.” He glances down at me with a wry smile.
Liam winces. “This is my girlfriend, Coral. Would you mind?” He waves his hand towards the door.
“Nah, go right ahead. I don’t mind.” Max gives a playful leer, waves a hand, and leans against the counter.
“Max, get the hell out of here so my girlfriend can put her clothes back on,” Liam growls.
“Oh, so Tommy the turtle gets a front row seat but I gotta wait in the lab? I see how it is.” Max chuckles as he slips out the way he came.
As soon as he’s gone, Liam covers his face with his hands and groans. I scamper over to my clothes and quickly pull them on.
We head back out to the lab area. Liam chats with Max for a few moments, but his mind is trying to come up with a way to retrieve my blood samples and the analysis report without Max noticing.
Since Max’s back is to the machine, I wander over, pretending to be exploring the equipment, then quietly open the centrifuge and pull out the vials, sticking them in the waistband of my leggings.
Suddenly, Liam’s thoughts are very distinct. He wants me to push a few buttons on the machine then retrieve the printout. He asks Max a question that distracts him for several moments, giving me a chance to do what Liam wants. Thankfully, Max likes to talk.
My fingers shaking, I quickly press the buttons in the order Liam pictured, keeping one eye on Max to make sure he doesn’t notice what I’m doing. As soon as I press the last button, Liam’s thoughts holler at me to drag the stool out from under a nearby table. I don’t understand why until the wooden legs squeal against the tile floors, masking the sound of the printer.
Max whips his head around at the noise, but his eyes are on me, not the machine spitting out paper. He turns back to Liam and resumes his chatter as soon as he sees me moving the stool. I stop when the printer does and sit down on the stool. Liam resists the urge to smile at me, but his thoughts tell me I did a good job.
A few moments later, I silently slip off the stool and grab the paper from the printer, folding it up and sliding it under my waistband. Liam breathes a sigh of relief.
“Well, it was good to see you, Max. Coral and I have plans, so we’re going to head out.” He pats his friend on the arm and heads towards me.
“Nice to meet you, Coral. I like your outfit, by the way, but the first one was better.” He winks at me, and Liam scowls at him and takes my hand, pulling me out of the lab.
Once we’re outside, Liam grabs me in a hug, his face split wide. “You were amazing, Coral! You did everything exactly the way I thought it.”
I grin back, thrilled that I pleased him. A worry about how Gio will react if he finds out crosses my mind like a dark shadow, but I try to ignore it. He never has to know what happened. It’s done, and no one saw anything.
Chapter 21
“I wish I could’ve stayed to look at your scale under the scope, but I have a smaller one at home.” Liam pauses outside his apartment and sticks his hand in his pocket. His face instantly morphs from ecstatic to horrified.
“I left the scale and the scraping in the lab. This is not good, Coral. This is really not good.” Liam rubs his face with his hands, stretching his skin.
“What should we do, Liam?” I whisper.
“There’s not much we can do. If Max saw them, he knows they’re mine. That scraping is still wet! If he looked at it, he would’ve realized in an instant that it’s something he’s never seen before. Our only hope is that he didn’t see it. I’ll go back on my way to the party and try to get them before anyone else does.” His face darkens as he imagines the possible outcomes. None of them look good.
“I’m so sorry, Coral. Please, don’t breathe a word of this to Gio,” he whispers.
“I won’t, Liam. I promise.” I shake my head, trying to convince him I’m not upset, but Liam is wracked with guilt and worry, and all his earlier excitement has disappeared.
“Everything go okay?” Gio jumps up as soon as we walk in the door like he’s been sitting there worrying the whole time.
“Yeah, of course. No problems at all.” Liam gives him a dismissive look, but I avoid eye contact. I hate the thought of lying to Gio, but I know if we tell him he’ll throw a fit.
Liam shuts himself in his room, claiming he needs to get ready for the party, but I can hear his distressed thoughts crashing through his mind like the pounding surf. He’s angry at himself for risking my discovery, but even angrier that he still desperately wants to examine that scale. I want to tell him that I’m not upset and I’ll give him another scale when I get a chance, but I don’t think he can hear that right now.
When he comes out, he’s more relaxed, smiling even. He looks amazing in a black suit, a crisp, white shirt, and a bright green tie that matches his eyes.
“Wow, now I’m really glad I’m not going to your party. If that suit doesn’t scream pretentious, I don’t know what does,” Gio mutters.
“I think you look really nice, Liam.” I pad over to him and run my hands down his shiny lapels.
He must see the longing in my eyes, because he says, “I’d love to take you with me, Coral, but I know how my parents’ friends are. They’d eat you alive. Trust me, you’re better off not going.”
I squish down my disappointment like a sea sponge and try to believe that he’s looking out for my best interests and not just embarrassed by me.
Impulsively, I reach up and kiss him, trying to smooth things over between us. I feel like this whole day has done nothing but divide us, when all I wanted was to get closer. Liam kisses me back like he feels the same way, his hands pulling me tight against him and his mouth claiming mine.
The heat of his body, warm from the shower, and the scent of his spicy cologne wrap around me, intoxicating me, making me feel woozy. I cling to his suit, clutching the thick fabric in my fists, wrinkling it, as I try to stay on my feet.
“I’ll miss you tonight, Coral,” he says between kisses, making me feel a little better.
“I’ll miss you, too,” I mumble into his mouth.
When I pull away, I notice Gio staring at us, his eyes dark with emotions — envy, desire, need. He quickly looks away when he sees me looking at him.
“I’m not sure what time I’ll be home, but it’ll probably be late.” Liam looks forlorn, and his thoughts tell me that he wishes he could stay home with me instead. I wish he could, too, but I think some separation would be good at this point. Besides, I have other plans for the night.
Once Liam is gone, I head over to Gio, trying to put Liam and the day’s troubles out of my mind. It’s my first chance to be alone with Gio since we’ve been here. I want to make the most of it.
“Hi,” I say quietly, sidling up next to him. He’s sitting at the bar top, using Liam’s computer.
He turns to look at me, offering me a small smile. �
�Did you have a good day today?”
The day was too intense, too emotionally draining to be considered good. “It was… interesting. I’m looking forward to tonight.”
Gio grins at that. “Oh yeah? I guess I’ll have to make sure you have a good time, then.”
“Can’t wait.” I bend down and give him a small kiss.
His eyes get dark again. He stands up and reaches for me, pulling me to him, but as soon as I lift my mouth towards his, he pulls away, closing his eyes.
“We should go. Bella is waiting for us.”
Disappointment dampens my enthusiasm, and I have to force myself to smile. Why won’t Gio give in and admit his feelings for me? I know he wants me. I can feel his desire clouding the air around us like octopus ink, so thick and heavy we can hardly breathe.
I long to mate with him and strengthen our relationship, but he keeps pushing me away. It makes me wonder if he truly wants me here. He promised me he’d take care of me, but does he really want to, or does he just feel obligated? Even his thoughts are hidden behind a wall meant to keep me out.
Gio and I drive to the home where Bella lives. On the way, he explains the foster system to me. It’s not unlike what merfolk do if merlings lose their parents, except everyone in the shoal knows each other, so orphaned merlings aren’t taken in by strangers like Bella was.
We pull up to a large house with two sets of windows, one on top of the other. There’s a lush patch of grass and pretty pink and white flowers around the front of the house. I follow Gio up to the front door, suddenly terrified that I’m going to say the wrong thing. I grab his arm, digging my fingernails in.
He pats my hand till my claws retract. “It’s okay, Coral. Just let me do the talking.”
A woman answers the door with a kind smile. She’s probably twice my age and reminds me of Muriel, my handmaid back in the shoal, even though this woman is shorter, rounder, with short, curly, brown hair. She’s wearing jeans and a loose top with flowers on it.
“Hello, Gio, nice to see you again.” She holds out a hand, and Gio shakes it.
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