“Still the problem of no suit. And before you say I can go in clothed and it won’t matter, I’m not climbing in there with my clothes on.”
Mark shrugged as she looked directly at him while she talked, like she sensed he was going to add something.
“I was going to say you could come in naked and that would solve your dilemma.” Mark smiled brightly at her.
Sam growled from beside her and swiped his hand to hit Mark on the back of his head. That just made Leo laugh. The bus started, and the whole room shook a little.
“If you sit on the edge and transform, then you can slide in,” Sam explained as he did just that. His feet merged together before they ever hit the water, and he threw his fin over the edge before sliding in the rest of the way. He made it look easy, but Whitney knew he made everything about being a fishy easy.
Sam patted the rim of the tub next to him. Reluctantly, Whitney flipped off her shoes and slid onto the tub next to him. It was a bad idea, but what else was she supposed to do? Perched on the edge, she was ready to transform when the bus lunged to the right. Without much to hold on to, her momentum carried her right into Sam’s waiting arms with a splash. So much for keeping her clothing dry.
Mark and Leo burst out laughing at her gracefulness. Sam had a couple chuckles before looking at Whitney with her arms crossed and pouting. She had transformed and knew it was less effective to be mad when she looked like she was made for water in her siren form, instead of the mad girlfriend being dumped in a hot tub clothed. Being the nice boyfriend that he was, Sam reached down in the water and yanked his two friends under, cutting off their laughter. Whitney smiled and attempted to move off his lap.
“Hey. I don’t think I’ve gotten my proper welcome back to land kiss yet.”
Whitney tried to go back to pouting, but Sam’s lips were on hers before she could get the corners of her mouth down. Tingles zapped between them as they touched. Warmness flooded her body all the way down to her toes. It was like magic now that they were both in their night human forms. Heck, Whitney swore she saw sparks, but then again she was just happy to be right there in Sam’s arms.
“Ugh. Can you at least keep the kissy face to a minimum while we’re all here?” Mark complained.
Whitney didn’t turn to Sam’s friend as she added, “You’re just jealous he has a mate, and you don’t.”
That made Leo laugh, and Mark push their friend back under the water.
Whitney decided to not get off Sam’s lap, and instead enjoyed the time in his arms. Sam held her close as the guys talked about something on the island that Whitney didn’t understand. Meanwhile, Whitney just sat in the tub, enjoying the water and the warm mer body holding her tight. Lazily, she traced the lines on his upper body as she sat there pretty much ignoring the guys’ conversation. There was much she wanted to discuss with Sam, but she didn’t want to do it in front of his friends. In fact, she didn’t want to talk on the bus at all as the mers had better-than-normal hearing and would probably hear anyways. Laying her head against his chest, she closed her eyes and let the rumble of the bus and the warm water lull her to sleep.
Whitney woke as she felt the cold air on her bare legs. She wasn’t sure where she was for a moment before remembering being in the tub with Sam. She slowly opened her eyes since she already knew the warm body whose arms she was curled up in. She had felt his smile before she saw it. It was still dark out, but she was pretty sure they were sitting outside. But that was impossible; they had to still be on the bus.
“Where are we?” she asked, rubbing her eyes.
“On the way to the island,” Sam replied. “We stopped at your house and picked up your bag from your room while you slept. You’re such a sound sleeper.”
Whitney opened her eyes and looked around. Yes, it was cold air she felt on her legs, and yes they were outside, but they weren’t just sitting on a bench somewhere like it felt. All around her was water. From her seat, ocean water surrounded her on all sides. She should have picked that up from the rocking of the boat and the song of the sea, but she was still waking up.
“Let me get this straight. You carried me out of a hot tub, drove me to my house, picked up my bags, drove me to a boat, put me on a boat, and I slept the whole time?” That had to be impossible. Why hadn’t she woken?
“You missed the part where I fed you and when you said my name six times in your sleep.” Sam grinned.
Whitney smacked his chest at his smugness.
“No. Really, how did I sleep through all that?”
“When you feel safe, it’s easy to sleep soundly. We might have done everything the whole time I held you, and by we, I mean Mark and Leo. Hey, those two owe me, and they won’t be paid back anytime soon,” Sam added as she lifted an eyebrow to him ordering his friends around. Normally he was nice to them, but something said that he didn’t plan to be the normal nice Sam anytime soon. “And I did feed you because you kept licking my neck every time I moved you on my lap.”
“I did not,” Whitney tried to counter as her cheeks turned red. She didn’t need Sam to tell her she had fed on him; she still had the taste of his blood on her tongue. She was mostly embarrassed that she would do something like that while sleeping.
“I don’t mind, you know,” Sam said, finally loosening his grip enough for her to stand. He kept a steady hand on her waist as she did so, as if he knew it was going to be tough for her with the rocking of the boat.
Whitney stood in place and let the boat rock to and fro for a moment. Soon enough the rocking momentum went away, and she was brave enough to step away from Sam. He stood and followed behind her as she moved from their bench to the closest railing.
“Okay, so we are going to the island on a boat?” Whitney looked over the side of the railing and saw a level below them that had several people on it. “And everyone there knows about it?”
She leaned a bit more before turning around to see the logo on the wall behind them. It was some commercial boat touring company she had heard of before. It wasn’t a private boat like she thought, which was a bit confusing. It wasn’t like Sam had time to tell her anything. She was lucky that Mark had told her to pack a bag earlier in the week or she wouldn’t have done that, either.
“No. We are the only special passengers,” Sam replied.
Whitney raised her eyebrows at his description. “Okay, still not making sense …”
“When we need to take things to the island we use this dolphin and whale watch boat as cover. They’ll drop us off at an island close to ours to go camping, hence our bags.” Sam motioned to the very full camping bags that had sleeping bags attached to them.
Whitney nodded, even though she was still confused.
“Once on the island, a couple friends will come by to pick us up,” Sam continued to talk without specifics of who or when. “We have about another fifteen minutes before we have to go below to get off.”
“So that’s enough time for you to explain how you can tell that we’re the only ones that are special.” Whitney grinned, pulling Sam back to their seat. She felt confident enough to walk, but then again she didn’t want to press her luck and accidentally fall in the water. Then everyone would know how special she was.
“Well, first off, you have to be able to tell the difference between a normal and …” Sam didn’t know what to call them. Whitney was sure he was going to use abnormal, but he would never insult the siren like that.
“Special?” she prompted. Sam nodded. “I think I can do that when they are close, and you can smell them. If they smell like food, then they are normal. If not, then I’d guess special. But I don’t know how you can tell that from up here.”
“Yes, normal and special humans,” Sam continued. “I think the best way to do that is to look for our bond.”
“The bond can be seen?” Whitney’s cheeks turned a little red. She would never be able to go home now. Then again, the skinwalkers had an incredible sense of smell. They would know something was different
with her from her scent alone. Yes, she was never going home again.
“You really learned nothing of bonding?”
Whitney tried to give him her best “well duh” look. She’d told him she really didn’t know anything and she meant it.
“All night human bonds can be seen, and that’s a really good thing. When you meet a night human, you can immediately see that they have another night human they’re linked to. It’s two against one this way.”
She watched Sam as he talked. It was like the whole night human world was his enemy and he was ready for a fight at any moment. Then again, as a member of an outlawed race of night humans, that was pretty much true.
“When you were a night human, how could you tell when you saw another night human?”
“Smell,” she answered easily. “Every night human has a distinct scent, and shifters have a really good sense of smell. I think I could smell a person at least two miles away.”
Sam nodded. “But how did you know how every night human smelled? Did you meet every kind before?”
Whitney had never thought of that. Everyone just had a certain scent.
“I’m guessing that information came from your alpha. If the knowledge is passed from one generation to another, then they can just keep adding to it.”
“Have the siren ever encountered the skinwalkers?” Whitney had a small hope now that she could see her brother and friends again if they didn’t know how she smelled.
“We’d have to look through the records on the island. I truly don’t know. I was raised to assume every night human knew what a siren was, and as such avoid them. But from our concerts and my travels, I have a feeling very few people, night human or not, know about siren.”
“So how do I know about other night humans?” Whitney got them back on track as the boat kept moving farther into the ocean.
“Back to bonds.” Sam let her lead the conversation. “Look at me and look for a small shadow of light around me.”
Sam backed up and sat on the opposite edge of the bench. She stared at him and didn’t see what he was talking about. There wasn’t a shadow of anything because there was no sun in the cloudy sky. She squinted more and still couldn’t see anything. She blew at her hair falling on the side of her face in frustration. Normally the night human stuff came naturally for her. This wasn’t natural, or working for that matter.
“Okay. Let’s try this a different way.”
Whitney was startled as suddenly an image of herself came across her mind. She moved her hand to rub her forehead, and the image Whitney did the same.
“Wait. What’s going on?”
Sam chuckled at her reaction. “With the bond, we aren’t just able to see into each other’s minds, but we can send images along with words to each other whenever we want.”
‘Not always,’ she thought as she remembered earlier in the week wishing to be able to talk to him when he was in the water, but couldn’t.
“Okay. I don’t get that part yet, but normally we can. I was just sending you an image of what I see so that I could explain it easier.”
“Oh.” She really didn’t have any other response.
“Let’s try this again.”
Whitney again saw herself as she sat.
“Now if I concentrate on the edge of you,” Sam explained, and the image focused on her exposed legs.
‘Really?’
The connection broke, and she was looking at Sam again without seeing herself at the same time. Sam was giving her a stern look for breaking the connection between them. She wasn’t trying to interrupt him, but it was obvious he liked the short shorts she had worn to the concert the night before.
‘Okay, I’ll give you that one,’ Sam replied to her thoughts. ‘Now back to seeing the night humans around you.’
Sam focused back on her and this time was on the exposed skin of her arm instead of her legs. His vision blurred a little and then she saw it. There was a faint glow around her skin that was very hard to notice. When he looked at her normally, she didn’t see it at all, but now with a little blurring, it was clear. Sam’s vision traced the line around her down to the ground and then she noticed more amazing was the faint trace didn’t stop around her body. It continued on to the ground and toward him.
‘That’s how we’re connected. That bit of glow is the night human in you, and the bond between us makes it brighter and easier to see than normal. That’s why it’s hard for any couple to stay on the mainland once they bond. Other night humans, if they are really good, can see that bond, too. They won’t know what sort of night human you are, but they will know you’re one.’
“So you use that bond to see everyone else?” Whitney broke the connection again and stood up to walk to the railing. She gazed down on the few sightseers below that were still on the deck as the skies turned to a soft mist.
“Yes. If you can see that bond, then you can see who night humans are.”
Whitney stared at the people below, wondering if normal day humans had that also.
“No, they do not. Only night humans, so it’s very helpful.”
Turning back to him, she looked to where he leaned against the other railing. She stared at his bare arm and tried to see the glow. It wasn’t there. She looked back over the railing at the brave people still in the misty weather, and to her, Sam seemed the same as them.
“Try it again,” Sam suggested as he obviously could feel her disappointment with not seeing it. “But this time, don’t look for the light, but instead for the exact spot where the air touches the skin—the area so close to the arm that you would have to step forward to see better.”
Whitney did as he told her and sure enough, with concentration, her vision blurred a little. The moment it distorted the faint light appeared around him. The light surrounded every part of his body. She grinned as she noticed his smile.
Sam didn’t wait for her to do anything more as he took three giant steps across the deck to sweep her into his arms. “You were meant to be one of us.”
CHAPTER 5
Sam was thrilled to bring Whitney back to the island. They had taken the detour to an island close to their hidden siren home and waited for his friends to pick up their bags as he had tried to explain before to her. Once they were free to leave, he had taken her by sea to the island. They could’ve caught a ride with Mark and Leo, but he wanted her to see the island from the water. He wanted to be the only one with her the first time she saw it as she should have.
Standing in the shallow water, Sam offered his hand to Whitney. She took it and stood beside him. He could feel the awe come off her as she remained in the shallow water and stared up at the lush mountains surrounding them and the beach. He had taken her to the remote side of the island where very few people ventured since it was too quiet for most of the siren. They preferred to be around others and in each other’s business. This little corner was almost always quiet and Sam’s favorite place to be. Reachable only by sea, they were guaranteed alone time. Their bags were on the shore waiting for them as he had ordered his friends to do, but Sam was very willing to just let Whitney soak in the beauty.
The white sandy beach almost sparkled in the sunlight, and the dense tropical trees kept the steep trek they were about to make hidden from view. Flowers bloomed in the trees, and fresh fruit dotted the canopy. Just this small part of the siren island was paradise in its own right. The whole island would be better if the siren weren’t there to ruin it.
Once Whitney finally moved on from admiring the landscape, she noticed the bags on the shore.
“Special delivery?” she asked.
“More like we owe you big time delivery,” Sam replied.
He still hadn’t forgiven his friends even though they had no choice but to do as his father commanded. He wasn’t about to see if his father could command Whitney as easily, and planned to spend the whole weekend on the quiet side of the island.
“So we aren’t going back to your place?” Whitney looked around f
or a pathway off the beach. There wasn’t one.
“Our place.” Sam couldn’t help but correct her.
He wanted her to understand it was her place now, too. They were bonded, and that meant much more than she seemed to grasp. Yes, that was going to have to be another lesson for him to teach her. Hopefully this time she wouldn’t tune him out as she had when he had tried to explain the history of the siren in the night human wars.
“While I’d rather sit around all day on the beach with you, we better get hiking.”
Sam gave a little tug on her hand to get her to move forward with him. She glided through the water as graceful as any mer, like she had been one her whole life. Sam had to keep himself from just stopping to watch her. The pink and purple swirls on her arms were now visible in her day human form to him as they were close to his father, or rather close enough to the king of the mer to show themselves all the time.
Whitney bent down and picked up the first bag. Setting it down, she took the second instead. Sam chuckled. With her night human increased strength, either would be easy to carry, but Whitney being Whitney wanted the lighter one.
Reaching forward, Sam pulled the discarded pack on his back and looped his fingers in Whitney’s. She turned and gave him one of those smiles that made him want to ditch the bags on the shore and pull her into his arms. Too bad his father had given him an order. Otherwise he would have done just that. Forcing out a smile of his own, he pulled her to the edge of the beach where the trees met the sand.
“Ready for a fun hike?”
It wasn’t going to be fun uphill to the waterfall he planned to stay at all weekend, but he could pretend, and maybe she wouldn’t notice.
Whitney caught on that he was being more than a little sarcastic. Okay, who was he kidding? When wouldn’t she notice something he had said in jest?
“Are you sure you wouldn’t rather just stay here on the beach?” She already saw the pathway as they passed the trees and the small, almost invisible path led uphill.
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