His body was art, every curve and line sculpted by the hands of someone who knew what a real man should look like. He was beauty and grace, danger and power. Everything about him was intimidating and inviting. He was all man and damn if she didn’t want to jump him.
“Now is probably not the best time to look at me like that.” Although said casually, there was nothing casual about the way he was watching her back. The warning behind his eyes barely suppressed the demon longing to be unleashed. She was pretty sure it was only the fact that he was worried about killing her that he refrained from following through with his promise.
Screw it! She wanted to tell him. Do it. It would have been such an amazing way to die, but no way could she put voice to the want. Instead, she dropped her gaze.
“Sorry.”
“Nothing to be sorry about.” He shifted, turning to face the water and giving her his side view. “Nothing the cold water won’t help… defuse.” He glanced over at her. “Ready?”
Nope. Never. Not a bit.
Swallowing with a great deal of difficulty, Riley nodded. “Yes.”
Facing the water once more, he bent at the knees and dove, cutting the air in a beautiful arch of muscles before slicing through the water like a hot knife into butter. Ripples disrupted the calm surface. A thick foam curved in his wake. Riley shot to her feet, her lungs constricted around the breath she held. His figure drifted over the light, a shadow with two arms and two legs before he give a powerful kick and propelled himself into the dark spot she couldn’t see.
Her heart hammered in her chest as she searched the depths for some sign of him. Fear gripped her tighter with every passing of a second, drowning her in its coppery tang. It suffocated her in cold chills that intensified when she ripped off the scarf and hat, prepared to lunge in after him.
“Octavian?” she called, her voice betraying her terror. “Oh God, please be okay!” she moaned, dropping down to the lip of the pond on her hands and knees. “Where are you?”
Nothing. Not even a ripple. The pond had returned to its glassy state.
Frantic, she ripped off her coat, kicked off her shoes and socks and was reaching for the hem of her sweater when something moved on the other side of the pond, the place drenched in shadows.
Anger swarmed over the relief. “That better be you!” she shouted across the distance. “You scared the hell out of me.”
It moved again. Riley squinted, trying to make sense of the shape gliding fluidly in her direction. It passed over the light, but with a flick, disappeared from sight.
Curious, she leaned further over, braced on her hands. The moisture seeped into the knees of her jeans and the gloves still covering her hands, but she didn’t care. Her hair tumbled over one shoulder, forming crimson coils in the water. Her own eyes, wide and green, stared back at her from the reflective surface. She had her bottom lip caught between her teeth and there was anxiety twisting her features.
Where was he?
It was on the tip of her tongue to call for him again when something caught the end of her hair and tugged.
Riley let out an eep and jerked back just as a face slipped into place beneath her, consuming her reflection and replacing it with something so very much not human.
Chapter 22
It was lodged in her throat, the urge to scream, but bone crippling terror paralyzed every breath as the thing staring back at her began to break through the water.
A fin extending from hairline to crown of his gray skull rose first, followed by familiar gray eyes centered beneath a sharp brow that swelled an inch too far from a dominating face. Long crinkles ran over a pushed up set of nostrils and beneath that was a set of firm lips she’d seen drawn into a scowl, a smirk and even laughter. Water dripped from the ends of long, dark hair that fell in a cape over massive shoulders the same gunmetal-gray as the rest of him. His chest consisted of twin breastplates that reminded her of a granite carving. It went down, ridging as his abdomen disappeared beneath the surface. On his arms, silver scales reflected the light like body armor. The same shiny metal clustered over his chest and shoulders. It covered most of his sides and rained down all over him, she noted the higher he rose.
She sat immobilized as he reached huge hands out of the water and set them on the dirt next to her, bracing. Each had five fingers, each one joined by a thin web and topped with razor sharp talons that could probably claw through raw stone. Those shiny scales were grouped on the backs and glinted in the darkness.
Mesmerized, Riley followed the arms back up to his face, to see his eyes, eyes that belonged to the man she’d fallen in love with. He was almost entirely all human and still possessed enough of his human appearance that when she looked into his eyes, she could almost overlook the fact that he had no legs.
“Octavian?” she whispered.
A deep, rumbling sound, like a bear growling in a long, dark cavern, filled the space. It took a moment for her to realize it was coming from him.
“Is that you?” It was such a stupid question to ask. Who else could it be?
The growl was lower, but there was no mistaking it.
Riley gulped, shaking her head. “This is the most bizarre first date ever,” she said.
It was hard it be sure, but she was almost certain the series of rumbles that came from his deep within his chest was laughter. The thing she was sure of was that it didn’t sound threatening. If anything, in a strange way, it was actually kind of… cute.
I’m in love with a sea monster. Weirder things had happened, right? She was pretty sure she’d read a tabloid article with that title once. She’d laughed at it at the time. Now, she was in the middle of nowhere, looking into the eyes of the very thing that had kept her up for two weeks as a child because of a movie and all she felt was an uproar of joy, of complete and unmistakable love. She’d been so certain she’d be terrified, disgusted even, but looking into his eyes, all she saw was her Octavian her mate and she wasn’t afraid. It was a tiny voice at the back of her mind, reassuring her that he would never hurt her. The fact that he was watching her with as much long as she felt only solidified her next decision.
She closed the distance separating them and sat facing him, her knees inches from his abdomen. She peered nervously into his eyes.
“Can I touch you?”
He made another grunting sound that was thankfully followed by a slight nod, or she’d never know what he was saying. Tentatively, she raised her gloved hands towards his face. She kept her gaze locked with his, waiting for even the slightest flicker to pull back. When he remained static, scarcely breathing, she took it was a sign that he was as scared, if not more scared, than even she was. It was a sense of relief really. It meant he was worried enough not to eat her.
“I won’t hurt you, will I?” she asked.
He gave the smallest of headshakes.
Relieved, she set her fingertips lightly on his cheek. It was impossible to tell what he felt like through the gloves, but that didn’t stop her from exploring the rest of him, from combing her fingers through the long strands and tracing the hard lines his shoulders and chest to his abdomen. She went back up to touch his lips, a smile lighting hers.
Feeling bold, brave even, she leaned into him, slipping her arms around him. She felt the tension course through his hard body. She only held on tighter.
“I’m not scared, Octavian,” she whispered into his ear, which looked human if it weren’t for the pointy curve at the top.
His growl filled her ears and vibrated against her chest. It was only then his arms went around her, crushing her like a vice against him. He let out a series of grunts that she was beginning to take as words, but she had no idea what it was he was trying to say. She just tightened her hold on him.
After what felt like hours, he placed his hands on her waist and gently eased her back. He said something.
Riley frowned, shaking her head. “I don’t understand you.”
He stopped, glanced around them as if searching for something befo
re settling on her again. He grabbed the hem of her sweater and tugged, then used his other hand to point to the pond.
Riley laughed. “Yeah, no, that’s not happening. I’m not getting in,” she said. “I didn’t even bring anything to wear.”
He tugged harder, making a deep, purring sound that could not be mistaken for anything but seductive coaxing.
It only made her laugh harder. “Next time. I just want to watch you.”
He huffed, but relinquished his grip on her.
She gave him a light shove. “Go swim.”
Grumbling, he did a flawless backward flip and vanished from sight, but not before Riley saw his long, silvery tail. She scrambled to the edge to get a better look, so certain she would be totally grossed out.
But like the rest of him, the smooth length of dark gray speckled by flakes of reflective silver was beautiful, right down to where it forked at the end, becoming a fin. The light shone over him, making him glimmer beneath the surf. His powerful body glided through the water like an eel, quick and agile. Watching him was mesmerizing. She couldn’t take her eyes off him.
When he finally broke surface and dragged his enormous, nine foot body out of the water, Riley was waiting for him.
“That’s… you’re amazing!” she blurted. “I wish I could swim like that. But I guess you need a tail—”
He held something up in his large hand, interrupting her fan-girl rambling. There, nestled against the gray of his skin, was a bracelet in soft, doeskin brown. Sharp, silver hooks fastened the ends together and across the leather, were a series of words in a language that Riley had never seen before.
“Oh, it’s beautiful,” she breathed, reaching to touch the thin pelt.
Octavian made a sound that had her glancing up at him curiously.
With a great deal of gentleness she really hadn’t expected of him given his sheer size, he wound it around Riley’s right wrist, over her sweater and clasped it into place.
Riley gazed at it, turning it over until she could look upon the words. “What does it say?” she asked.
Rather than answer, Octavian dragged his body fully out of the water, tail and all until he was curled nearly across the entire platform. His fin twitched, flicking back and forth the way a cat’s tail did when it was lounging in the sun. The sight of it nearly made her chuckle.
He caught her looking and his head bent to the side questioningly, a gesture that was so human she nearly forgot he wasn’t.
“You’re like a giant cat,” she told him and did laugh when his grunt came out disgruntled. “I’m sorry, but your tail…” She gestured to the way it was flipping side to side, faster now that he was visibly annoyed.
He grumbled flopping onto his back. He snatched up her coat and draped it over his face.
“Aw, I said I was sorry!” she said, scrambling over to him and shoving at his chest.
She drew back to peer into his obscured face. Such a big baby, she thought, amused. Her gaze wandered down the lean length of him, tracing his dominant silhouette from head to… well, fin. The place where his legs had once been, long and limber, was now a single tail engraved with a million scales the same hard gray as his skin. The top half where his hips would have been connected to his waist was thicker, thinning out only towards the feet area before branching off into thirds like a pitchfork. The fin wasn’t thin and delicate the way they were on fish. The ends were opaque and fanned out like thick lashes.
Riley shuffled over to them and reached out, curious to see what they would feel like, if they had the same dry feel as fish did. It was a difficult thing to gauge when she still had her gloves on, but she ran her hands down the tail, starting from where she assumed his knees would be, all the way to where it forked off.
She jumped when Octavian did. He yanked his fin away from her, rumbling something.
Riley stared, torn between fear that she’d hurt him to dread that maybe he was upset with her. Both melted away when he continued grumbling and twitching his tail.
No. Way!
Astounded now, she dove after it, wrangling it to the ground and rubbing her hand over the fins.
His entire body jerked, nearly knocking her off him as he tried to detangle himself from her grasp. The deep, snorting sound brought a smile to her face.
Riley burst out laughing. “You’re ticklish?”
Big hands swooped down and snatched her up as though she were nothing more than a bothersome kitten and dragged her back up his body. They dropped her gently onto his chest then wrapped around her, restraining her in place.
Still laughing, she reached for his sides, anywhere she could reach with her fingers, poking and prodding until he ripped the coat off his face, tossed it aside and grabbed for her. She was twisted onto her back, hands restrained above her head.
Breathing hard, Riley grinned up into his scowling face. “Cheater.”
He made a sound like a raspberry being blown, but she couldn’t be sure. His lips never moved when he tried to speak.
“All right,” she told him. “I’ll behave.”
He rolled his eyes, giving a snort of disbelief. Nevertheless, he relinquished his grip on her, not that his hand strayed very far. It went down to cover half her entire stomach. He reclined onto his side, his free arm curling under to double as a pillow. Riley mirrored his posture, turning onto her side and using her arm as a pillow as she lay facing him.
“Thank you for bringing me here,” she murmured.
He gave a slight nod of his head.
“Can I come again?”
He rambled off something, but he must have remembered she couldn’t understand him, because he stopped and just gave another nod.
“Will you change back soon?” she asked.
He nodded a third time.
“When?”
He lifted the hand he was resting on her side and brushed at his chest as though dusting something away.
Riley frowned. “When you’re clean?”
He shook his head, wiping at his arms and wringing the water from his hair.
“Oh! When you’re dry?”
He nodded.
She lay back down, giving a wide yawn. “That could be a while. There’s a lot of you. What do you normally do when you’re here alone?” She hesitated. “You do come here alone, right? You don’t bring other women, do you?”
He made a sound that could have passed for amusement. He raised his hand, bending the index finger so when he gently poked her in the chest it wouldn’t be with his nail. He grumbled something. Then reached down and took her hand, the one with the bracelet. He held it up for her to see. He said something else before releasing her and splaying his hand over his heart.
Riley had no idea what he was trying to tell her, but she understood enough to get no other woman had come there with him.
Pleased, she closed her eyes. “Good.”
She was only vaguely aware of being tucked into his wilderness-scented arms. Everything else slipped into a blissful slumber.
“Riley?” Something cool and soft brushed her cheek. “Time to wake up, Green-eyes.”
Disorientated, Riley opened her eyes. She blinked at the thick canopy of branches knotted above her head and the hard ground beneath her. She shifted, groaning as her stiff body protested the movement.
“What happened?” Her voice came out hoarse, thick with sleep and confusion.
“You fell asleep.”
Still not sure where she was or why, Riley turned to the pond running alongside her. It took one glance at the glassy surface and it all came rushing back.
“Octavian!” She whipped around, searching for him.
He was kneeling a few feet away from her, fully dressed, fully human and absolutely gorgeous. He offered her a smile that melted everything inside her.
“Welcome back.”
She felt herself flush. “I’m sorry.”
He rose to his feet and offered her a gloved hand. She took it and let him help her up.
“Turning usually takes seconds, turning back takes a bit longer and the wait is tedious so nothing to be sorry about.”
She peered up into his face, searching for some clue that he was a sea creature in his spare time, but there was nothing there. His eyes were a breathtaking gray once more, his hair a raven black. His skin held the same golden glow as always and he had no tail.
“How are you?” he asked.
She shrugged. “I still think that was all a dream.”
His eyes narrowed teasingly. “Good dream, or a nightmare?”
Riley shook her head. “It was amazing. I thought for sure I would be scared out of my mind but the minute I saw you… I wasn’t scared. I mean, I was a little at first, but I think it was your eyes. As soon as I looked into them, I felt…” She trailed off, at a loss for words.
Octavian's Undoing (Sons of Judgment) Page 25