by P. Jameson
Vada brushed her finger along his jaw in the picture, remembering what it felt like to do the same tonight.
What if that was the last time she would touch her mate?
She slammed the book closed and replaced it on the shelf, pulling another free. This one contained older pictures.
Yes, yes. If there was an answer to what worried her, it would be found here.
Quickly, she searched the photos for the face that still haunted her after so many years. But it wasn’t there. She closed the album, breathing a sigh of relief. There was one more to look through. Just as she was sliding it back to the shelf, a black and white photo fluttered to the floor, landing back side up. The date written on the back was 1957.
No. No, no, please.
On shaking legs, she bent to pick it up, holding her breath as she turned it over in her hand.
Her breath rushed out at the familiar face staring back at her. Him. It was him. The one who had hurt her. The one whose death she was responsible for. And judging by the young male he was pictured with, she could only guess the man from her past was… Jase’s grandfather. The younger one looked like Jase but wasn’t. More likely he was his father.
Despair rippled through Vada like tides against the shore.
She needed to go. Go now, before Jase awoke.
She would go back to the lake where she belonged. Where she would stay.
Because one thing was for sure. There was no future for them. She had ruined that chance a long, long time ago without even knowing it.
Chapter Five
The small streets of Aurora Falls were bustling with activity. Weekends were always that way, so it was nothing out of the ordinary. But today, as Jase scanned the crowd for the umpteenth time, he wished the tourists had decided to stay in.
Where are you, woman? Where did you go?
It’d been three days since his mind-blowing night with Vada. Since he touched the mark on her back and saw things no man should ever have to see. And he’d seen a lot more than his girl turning into a fucking mermaid on an ancient ship as it sank to the bottom of Sapphire Lake in a swirl of magical fire.
Yeah, he’s seen other things. Things that made the man in him all kinds of confused.
Like the vision of Vada swinging a bloody battle axe, her eyes glowing with murderous delight.
He shivered and adjusted his emerging hard-on. What the fuck was wrong with him.
It was hot as hell, yes. But it was equally scary. And good goddamn… he couldn’t wrap his head around the possibility that the woman on the battlefield could be the same one he held in his bed.
That was why he needed to find her.
He needed to ask her about the mark and what it meant. He knew what the vision had showed him, that he was her mate. The one who could break the curse that sent her into the water. But… that was surely some kind of metaphor.
Right?
His imagination running wild. Just like watching her grow a tail. None of that was real.
Right?
Jase sighed, jamming a hand in his pocket to finger the stone of the necklace she’d dropped at his house. He’d never find her like this.
Across the street he saw the popular tourist shop where the gossipmongers liked to hang out. He was familiar with Miggs’ Mystical Mercantile and the woman who owned it. Once upon a time, she’d been friends with his mother. Long, long ago as children. Before she married into the McCarthys and became fodder for people like Miggs who talked.
If anyone had answers as to what the hell was going on, it would be her.
Winding through the tourists who crowded the road and slowed down passing vehicles, he made his way to the shop. It didn’t look very busy yet. Good. The gossip’s lips might be looser if no one was around to listen in.
He swung the door open and stood just inside, looking around. The place hadn’t changed much since he was younger. The same aquatic theme that resonated with so many businesses in Aurora Falls could be found in Miggs’. But if one could exaggerate the mermaid theme more than any of the others, it would be this one, with its fins and sparkles and glittery shimmery shit.
It brought to mind Vada’s mark. He’d never thought himself a fan of shiny things, but Vada’s scales had hypnotized him like a drug.
Near the back of the shop, the older woman was behind the register, checking out a customer. But otherwise, the place was empty.
Perfect.
He pretended to look at some knickknacks while she packaged the good and waved the customer off with a friendly smile, and then he made his way over. No point in stalling.
“Well, I’ll be a button on a robot’s bum. If it isn’t Jase McCarthy walking right into my store like it’s a casual Sunday morning thing to do.” She clucked her tongue, shaking her head.
“Hello, Miss Miggs.”
She waved one hand through the air. “Miss Miggs? Son, there ain’t no need for that these days. Just go with Miggs for all intents and purposes. You keeping out of trouble?”
Jase ducked his gaze out of habit. He was used to people expecting him to be like his father. But it had been a while since anyone verbalized it. And aside from that, he wasn’t sure how to answer.
Was he keeping out of trouble? Because he was beginning to think he’d been inside trouble just a few nights ago. Deep inside trouble.
He cleared his throat.
“What can I do for you?” Miggs asked instead, her tone easing up.
“I’m looking for someone. I thought maybe you’d seen her.”
Miggs raised an eyebrow. “Her?”
“Short… uh, nicely built. Blond hair. Eyes like ice. Only in town a few days a month…”
Miggs eyes flared with recognition. It was just slight, and he might’ve missed it if he hadn’t been watching her so closely.
But she played it casual. “Honey, that describes a lot of women who pass through this town. But it sounds to me like…” She didn’t finish her thought. Instead, she narrowed her gaze on him, as if she had some kind of x-ray vision that could seek out evil inside him. “Jase McCarthy, are you looking to settle down? Is that it?”
That was really none of her business.
“Because if that’s the case, let me urge you in a different direction.”
“What do you mean?”
“Any direction but the one you’re pointed in now. Got me?”
“No. I don’t understand.”
She sighed, looking a little… sad. “It sounds to me like you’ve got yourself hooked on one of those Hunk-a-Month Club beauties. Or in your case, I guess in your case it could be the Babe-a-Month Club.”
Hunka what?”
“What are you talking about?”
“The ones who only come around when the moon is full and then leave to go back to the water.”
Jase frowned. Back to the water. Like a mermaid.
“You mean the miners.”
Miggs nodded, eyeing him strangely. “Yeah. Yeah, the miners.”
How did she know Vada was one of the miners? Unless…
Of course. Shit, why didn’t he think of it sooner.
“Miggs, they are miners. Right? That’s why they live on the North Shore.”
“Have you ever been to the North Shore?”
Jase shook his head. “Nobody goes there. It’s blocked off.”
“Right. So are there really miners back there?” She lifted her arms in a shrug. “Who knows.”
She stepped from behind the counter and started straightening some tiny mermaid figurines that looked like they were carved out of driftwood.
“But the town thrives on the stones they bring. The jewels they sell to Rikard. Somebody is mining the lake.”
Miggs tipped her head to one side in a half agreement, but didn’t comment.
“If they’re not miners, then what? Who floods this town once a month?” He pushed his voice out to keep it from shaking.
“You know the lore,” she murmured. “You know the stories this tow
n is based on.”
But those weren’t true.
Unless they were.
Unless everything he saw when he touched Vada was true and the world wasn’t as he thought it was.
Ironically, it wasn’t that hard to believe. Maybe if he’d wondered before why Mansen and the others seemed so otherworldly, he would have figured it out on his own.
Mansen. His friend. Was he also like Vada?
Miggs staring at him brought him back to earth.
“I need to find her,” he muttered.
“You should run the other way,” Miggs warned. “Just as your mother should have. And your grandmother before her.”
Jase scowled. What did that mean?
Miggs sighed. “But I suppose you’ll have to learn this lesson the way all lessons must be learned.”
Jase headed for the door. He’d go directly to the lake. If Vada was there, he’d find her.
Miggs must have read his mind because she stopped him just as he was about to leave.
“If she’s one of them, then she’s already back in the water. Three days is all they have. You won’t find her until the next full moon.”
He found her concerned gaze and asked through his panic, “What do I do?”
She pressed her lips together, looking away. Her expression was tortured. As if she was betraying some closely held promise.
“Find the one called Huran. He’s on land permanently. Only he and the sheriff can help you.”
“The sheriff?”
“Yes, now go. And never tell anyone what you heard today. Understand?”
Jase nodded his promise to her and left more confused than ever.
Chapter Six
It took several days of pacing and indecision before Jase went looking for the man known as Huran. And he didn’t have to look far. He already knew of him. The man owned the cabins at the edge of Aurora Falls. One of which Mansen kept rented for when he was in town. Maybe Vada did too.
Jase had considered Miggs’ warning to stay away from the lake people.
Lake people? Was it really so hard to call them mermaids? Mermen. Mer. Townsfolk used that word all the time, telling their legends and tales. Why couldn’t he?
He’d considered her warning, and as much as he hated the idea of following in his family’s footsteps… whatever that meant in relation to the Mer… he had decided he wasn’t going to heed it.
He needed to know more about Vada and her past. Especially if he was to be her future.
And the more he considered it, the more he wanted it to be true. More than once while he was wearing a hole in his living room carpet, he had let himself dive into that fantasy he’d had while making love to her. That idea that they could live out the future together. Have a family of their own. Grow old as one, like his parents had never done.
Was it too far out there? Too big of a dream?
He wouldn’t know until he found Huran and learned the truth.
Jase cut the engine to his truck and stared at the small log-sided office building that served to manage the cabin rentals. The blue neon sign in the front window said OPEN. No turning back now.
Stepping from the truck, he followed the stone padded walkway through the trees. Rare rays of sun filtered through the pine needles and gave him the sense that this was going to break him wide open, whatever he found out today.
Whatever. He was ready for it.
If it meant seeing his girl again, he would face whatever came. It had been a week, and he missed her. Damn, he missed her. The way she smelled, the feel of her hair. He hadn’t had nearly enough time.
A bell on the door jangled as he stepped through into a cozy little place. Two desks took up most of the space along with a couple chairs for guests to sit in. Off to the side was a small table with a coffee maker and mugs.
He gave the Mer bonus points for being welcoming at least.
At the desk was a small woman with short dark hair. She was bent over a calendar, scribbling something. “Be right with you,” she murmured through a grin.
Was she a mermaid? A… what would you call it after they’d mated and broken the curse? Former mermaid? Mermaiden. Mer-mated?
When she finished, she glanced up with a friendly smile. “How can I help you?”
“I’m looking for Huran.”
“Oh. You know what? He’s out showing a cabin right now, but he should be back any minute. Would you like to wait?”
Just as Jase was about to answer, the door swung open behind him and the hulking brute walked in. His mass made Jase stand taller as Huran stared him down, a snarl to his lips that read like the word leave.
Okay, not as welcoming as he’d first assumed.
“You here to look at a cabin?”
“No. No, not exactly.”
“Good because their all booked up.”
Jase nodded. “Right. No. I don’t need a rental.”
“What are you here for then?”
“Huran!” the woman from the desk scolded, making him turn a frown her direction.
“What, snuppa? I was just asking.”
Snoopy. Was her name actually Snoopy?
She rose from her chair, walking around to stand beside the big man, and put her hand on his bicep. “Nicer,” she whispered. “Ask, nicer.”
The frown stayed on Huran’s face but he cleared his throat and tried again. “What can I… help you… with?” The words were practiced. As though he had to really work at the pleasantry.
And now he stared at Jase, expecting an answer.
Shit. Okay. How did he say this?
Eh. He’d never been one to beat around the bush before.
“I saw a mark,” he blurted. “A… a mark.” Jase blew out a breath and rubbed the back of his neck. “You know what I mean?”
Huran’s scowl threatened to turn his face inside out, but he didn’t answer.
“Uh. I heard you were the person to speak to when… ah…”
The lady walked back to the desk, rifling around in a drawer and coming out with a purse. She flung it over her shoulder and returned to Huran’s side, lifting up on her tip-toes to peck a kiss on his cheek. “I’ll leave you two alone for a while. Need to make a post office run anyway.” And with that, she was out the door and gone.
“Who sent you?” Huran asked, his voice thundering through the small space.
Jase pushed his shoulders back. The man reminded him of Mansen. The same intense manner. Well, he knew how to handle that shit.
“The secret Confederation of Mermaid Hunters, of course. And now that we’ve found you—”
The words were cut off when he found himself slammed against the wall, Huran’s fingers gripping his throat hard enough to crush his windpipe.
Holy shit.
“There are hunters?” he growled, his furious snarl inches away from Jase’s face.
“No,” Jase choked out. He wanted to add asshole to the back of it, but there wasn’t enough air.
“Then why did you say so?”
“Joke,” he rasped.
“A joke?”
Jase nodded as best he could even though his fight or flight reflex was demanding he at least go for a knee to the other guy’s jewels.
Huran stepped back, the pressure on Jase’s throat disappearing with the movement. He gasped to feed his lungs the oxygen they’d been deprived of.
“Fuck, man. What’s your problem?”
Huran shrugged as if choking a man wasn’t a real big deal. “I protect what’s mine. Don’t know if you’re dangerous yet. The fact that you didn’t fight back makes me think you’re weak.”
“Weak?” Should have went ahead with that knee to the jewels after all. Big dangling jewels, he’d guess. “Fuck you. You don’t know me.”
Huran crossed his arms over his chest. “That’s my point.”
“Fine. Whatever. I’m not a threat.”
“Who sent you?”
“No one. I…” He wouldn’t rat out Miggs. “I’m friends with M
ansen.” Not a lie. Mansen just didn’t know about his situation yet and he couldn’t tell him until the next full moon.
Huran narrowed his gaze. “You’re the one they call McCarthy.”
Jase nodded. “Yeah, that’s me. Jase McCarthy.”
“I knew your grandfather. When we were just barely more than boys.”
His grandfather. As a boy? But Huran didn’t look any older than Jase.
“You knew my grandfather. Hell, I didn’t even know my grandfather.”
Jase thought of all the years Huran must’ve come to the shore with the full moon. The curse kept him young while his grandfather aged. It was explainable, but damn did it twist his mind.
He would have to learn to think a whole new way if he wanted to get things right between him and Vada. And the longer he was away from her, the more he felt the need to find her. It was like an ache in his center, not knowing where she was. Like a chunk of him was missing. He rubbed at his chest where the uncomfortable feeling was.
“Where is your mate?”
“I don’t know. She left before I woke up.”
Huran seemed confused. “Explain.”
“Okay, so it’s like this…” It was awkward explaining to a perfect stranger that you were deep in the woman you possibly want to have your babies, when your grazing hand touched what was thought to be her tattoo, which caused you to black out mid-orgasm. “… and when I woke up, she was gone.”
This time, Huran looked… bothered. “Gone. Where would she go? Why would she go. Mating with…” he eyed Jase with obvious disapproval, “you would make her free from the lake. Not only would she not want to go back, but she couldn’t. There would be no fin for her. Unless…”
He stared at Jase like he was seeing him all new. And hated him even more than before.
“Unless what?”
“Did you release in her?”
“Release in h… the fuck. That’s none of your goddamn business.”
Huran crooked an eyebrow. “I’ll take that as a no. What kind of male doesn’t release in his female?”
“It’s… it’s not a no,” Jase stuttered, defensively. “It’s an I don’t know. Because if you recall, I passed the fuck out when I… you know…” He tipped his chin, hoping Huran would just fill in the rest.