by Starla Night
She stroked his tongue, accepting his intrusion and tangling. Her light shone.
He wanted her. All of her.
Her hands clenched his shoulders.
Too hard. A warning? He released her.
She panted. Her eyes unfocused. Stunned and mesmerized.
He felt the same way.
She rested her forehead against his. “Maybe this can work. With a little more practice, it’ll even become natural.”
More practice?
He claimed her mouth a third time. Plunging between her liquid lips, he drove his hunger into her with hot, even, deep thrusts. Each thrust was a promise. She was his duty. His purpose. His ultimate devotion.
She slipped her arms around his broad shoulders. “Mmm.”
Her soft breasts caressed his pectorals. Pearly nipples traced hot lines of desire. Her knees jutted on both sides of his torso. She slid off her step and into his lap.
He took her.
One arm locked around her flared hips, pressing her to him. The other hand slid up her back, along the curve of her neck, to her damp brown hair.
Her feminine heat ground against his hard cock.
She released her moan. “I want to sleep with you.”
He did not want sleeping. His cock throbbed hot and ready for her slick center. He savored her gently rounded derriere.
She giggled and buried her face in his shoulders. “There’s hope! I want to sleep with you. No hesitation.”
“You are not afraid,” he acknowledged.
“I was never afraid of sex. Only of losing control. But, maybe, I can get swept away and keep my head above water.” She stood and helped him rise. “Let’s finish the ceremony.”
He led her to the top of the steps, scooped a palm full of the shimmery elixir, and held it to her lips. She sipped.
“Tastes salty.” She tilted his palm for another swallow. “How do you know if it’s working? Whoah. Did someone turn on the lights?”
He shook his head.
“I can see.” Milly twirled, taking in the chamber with new eyes, and descended the steps, inspecting the worked stone.
But he would conduct more tests before risking the fright of submerging—
“Cannonball!” She leaped, arms looped over her knees, and smashed into the pool.
He slid down the steps. Waves splashed the steps and smacked the walls. Silence returned.
Interfere? Assist? Wait?
She burst above the surface, coughing and gasping.
He dragged her onto the stairs.
She hacked. “Ugh. I couldn’t breathe. Everyone says the water pours in like drowning the first time — well, the first twenty times — but not like being suffocated in a plastic bag. My lungs never transformed into gills!”
She rubbed her neck.
He stroked her lower back. “Gills.”
She lowered her hand to his location and pinched the tight fabric of her human “swimsuit” and “swim shirt” coverings.
“Oh!” She laughed with relief. “How silly. I knew that!”
And then she peeled off her tight coverings, set them atop her pile of equipment, and rolled backward into the water.
He ducked his head beneath the surface.
She kicked her bare human feet until she was beneath a ledge and then she released her air bubbles and opened her mouth.
So fearless.
Milly seemed cautious. But she could also leap into danger with both arms open.
She thrashed.
He eased beneath the surface, his own shift seamless. For him, entering the water was as easy as opening himself to the weight of the water deep within his body. Shifting to walk on land emptied him, left him ragged and vulnerable.
Milly spasmed, mouth and eyes opened. She rotated backward. Her soul light darkened.
He sped to her. Panic? He touched her leg to pull her back and ensure she was safe.
Milly’s soul darkened.
She wasn’t transforming.
Chapter Eleven
Pitch dark black drowning…
Uvim’s hand gripped her ankle.
How did she know it was Uvim’s hand? Well, it had his calm feelings. Calm feelings? What the heck? How was she thinking at all?
She must not be drowning.
Milly opened her eyes.
Before her, the rock wall crinkled inward. A small, white nudibranch wiggled its bright orange and purple feelers at her. The neon slug sang like a deep-throated crooner. “Boop boop?”
Behind it, another slug responded. Neon red, patriotic blue, and a deeper bass. “Bop bop!”
And another, even closer to her face, glowed like sunshine and sang in baritone. “Bop boop bop.”
Nudibranchs did not sing.
She had transformed.
Uvim tugged her. As she rotated to face him, the lights and sounds of the ocean lit up like an instrument panel. Even in this small, barren area the darting flutes of curious fish and the woodwinds of tiny micro-fauna trilled above the bass line of nudibranchs, sponges, starfish, and other dark cave-dwelling creatures.
Her vivid warrior, broad and strong, suspended in front of her like safety.
Even though the kisses they’d shared moments ago were the opposite of safe.
Desire heated her.
He waited.
“Their lights and colors are so vibrant,” she said. Underwater, her words vibrated in her chest. “What’s that noise?”
“Their souls.”
Oh. Wow. “I can hear their souls?”
“Underwater, resonance is music.”
Like his chest vibrations weren’t real words but she still “heard” his voice. Just in her chest cavity instead of in her ears.
The plants and animals — even the rocks — made a symphony.
Greeeeech.
One instrument needed a tune-up. Like bagpipes with a wheezing hole.
GREEEEEECH.
The sound grew louder as she focused on it. “One’s scratchy.”
“That is a giant cave guardian.”
Cave guardian? Zara had never talked about a cave guardian. “What’s that?”
“Many arms.”
“An octopus?”
He nodded. “Giant.”
She stretched her arms and paddled her stubby, human feet. Even though she didn’t have fins like Uvim, it was so fun to flip and somersault, twist through the water and zoom. She could swim by sound.
Or sight.
Entering this pitch-black cave had triggered her worst fears. Exiting it with new eyes revealed the beauty and possibilities hidden just out of sight.
She was free.
Uvim floated after her. He almost seemed … proud?
“What is it?” she asked.
“You are brave,” he said.
Milly had been many things since her abduction. “Brave” wasn’t one of them.
“Other brides were fearful.” He darted around her, surrounding her at once and flickering away like a match. “Your destiny is the sea.”
She swelled with hope.
Perhaps he was right. Perhaps this was her place.
Could she trust? Could she dare to hope?
Uvim drew her into his arms. “Come with me.”
Her feet tangled with his smooth fins. “Where?”
“Dragao Azul.”
He wanted to make their marriage permanent.
No escape.
His arm tightened around her waist, pressing her belly to his. His lashes fluttered and he looked at her. His gaze warmed and his serious mien eased.
He offered himself to her. She could have him if she dared.
Her feminine core ached with hunger.
“First, I will convey Queen Zara’s message at the echo point,” he said. “And convey the message to my — our — city. And then we descend.”
Right, he still needed to convey a message to his city.
She relaxed in his arms. It was easier in the water. “Let’s take my stuf
f back to the boat. I’ll check my messages one last time.”
He released her, leaped out of the pool, and pushed in her tank and BCU. She deflated the vest for easy carrying. Its bubbles tickled her like a burst of tiny fish. She pushed it through the narrow cave corridors, now well-lit with her mermaid super senses, through the submerged interior of the tiny island.
He trailed with her plastic scuba fins and prescription mask.
The tank was so unwieldy. She banged it against the walls and laughed. “If the ocean was my destiny then why aren’t I more graceful?”
He grabbed the tank, arresting her progress, and traded for the smaller items. “You smile.”
“That proves my destiny?”
They passed a side-passage. The wheezy bagpipes grew louder. An alarmed squeal mixed in. High-pitched, crying for help.
“Is she okay?” Milly asked.
“She?”
“The ‘cave guardian.’ She sounds hurt.”
“They all sound distressed.”
Really? Huh. He was the expert.
She tried to shrug off her discomfort. The return trip went a lot faster now she could see. At the secret pool inside the sacred island church, she flopped onto land. Water drained out of her like a sieve. She coughed and took a deep breath. Air—
Gravel pierced the back of her throat.
She threw up the water and gasped like she’d just survived drowning.
Which, technically, she had.
It took forever to cough out the extra mucus and grossness.
Uvim padded past her on his human feet. He dumped her BCU and tank next to her plastic bagged cell phone and then returned for her mask and fins.
She dragged herself over to her cell phone. The fuzziness of her vision seemed different. Despite not wearing her glasses or her prescription mask, her peripheral vision seemed improved.
In the daylight, her lumpy nude body shamed her. Sure, if she had Uvim’s muscled form, she’d parade around naked. There was her swim shirt. Where was her swimsuit?
Did she forget it where she’d stripped it off in the cave?
Bother.
She tugged on her swim shirt grabbed for her phone. The fuzzy phone icon blinked. Voice message!
“Zara called,” she announced.
Uvim dropped to her side. His knee rested next to her thigh displaying a heady view of his thick, tattooed, aroused cock. He looked her in the eye, unselfconscious. “Her message?”
She tried not to drool at his hard abdomen and below. He was the perfect specimen of male and he got hard only for her.
Milly clicked the speakerphone to play.
“Milly, this is disturbing.” Her older, protective sister sounded exhausted. “You’re not acting as a go-between for the mermen, are you? You don’t belong in their world and you never will.”
Chapter Twelve
Queen Zara’s pronouncement — You don’t belong in their world and you never will — immediately influenced his beautiful Milly.
Her soul light darkened as though her flame had been doused with a bucket of seawater.
Sudden cold chilled his skin. And next came panic.
“You’re too sweet,” Queen Zara continued. “The undersea world is dark and dangerous. It’ll rip you apart.”
Her soul light brightened, then dimmed again. She clenched the cell phone so her knuckles whitened.
“In answer to the question about the hunting party, I could care less. Tell the mermen to do whatever makes them happy.”
He rested his hand on her curved calf.
She startled as if she had forgotten he was sitting beside her.
“And make them promise they’ll never come near you again.”
His heart shuddered with chill.
“Only contact me if the All-Council shows up,” Queen Zara said. “Or a bride. I want to talk to all brides before they descend to the city. Or else!”
Queen Zara’s message ended.
“Well, now you know what to tell your elders.” Milly clicked buttons on her phone. “Are you going back to Faial or can you make your report from here?”
“Here.”
“I’ll call Zara back, but it’s after midnight her time so we’ll have to wait on a response.”
Milly left a message acknowledging her message and promised to call again.
Queen Zara wished to keep Milly away from the warriors. She would be angry once Milly explained. And even angrier once she realized the warrior closest to Milly was him.
The longer Milly remained in this temporary transformation, the more vulnerable she would become to meeting a worthier warrior — and joining to him, instead of Uvim.
Anxiety rubbed his chest like an ill-tied dagger, sharp and cutting.
She rubbed his ankle. “Hey. It’ll be okay. Zara won’t stop us from being together unless we let her.”
As always, Milly understood him even without words.
“But I have to admit, I felt a lot clearer under the water.”
Resonance. It shone brighter under the water. No interference from the air.
And she was not fully healed. She still spoke words that did not match her soul’s wish. The elixir needed more time.
The ocean was her destiny.
Could he accept if her destiny did not include him?
She wore his human covering “swim shorts,” hugging them to her waist with one hand, and dragged her equipment to the lip of the island.
Her boss was sunning on the deck.
Milly waved.
Her boss shouted back. “Welcome!”
They swam the equipment to the boat. He ducked below to detect surface predators — warning sirens of sharks, distant growl of a cave guardian, hissed warnings of poisonous jellyfish. She kept her head above the rolling waves.
Did she fear to shift?
Had she reconsidered his claim?
After transferring their equipment, she climbed the rungs until she almost reached the deck. She pulled off her shirt, tossed it across the deck, and rested her forearms on the smooth wood.
She squinted at her boss. “Uvim’s taking a field trip. I’m not sure when I’ll be back.”
Her boss raised a brow. “You’ve got work tomorrow.”
“Maybe you can put in a good word with my boss.”
Nicolette snorted.
Milly pushed her cell phone in the plastic bag up with the other equipment. “Don’t answer if it rings. It’s probably Zara.”
“I’ll talk her ear off,” her boss said.
“She’s very anti-exposure right now.”
“I’ll talk her into exposing herself.” Her boss grinned. “The Sea Festival is counting on exposure. Lots and lots of exposure.”
“See you soon.” Milly released the ladder and fell back into the ocean.
Nicolette waved at Uvim and clicked a button. The yacht rumbled. A thick chain raised the anchor.
Milly submerged.
He ducked his head.
She kicked away from the surface.
He flew after her. She spasmed. He trapped her arms and legs, completed his own shift, and rumbled. “Yield to the change.”
She sucked in water. Her eyes stared, wide and panicked. Her light dipped and soared. She shook.
Her resistance terrified him.
“Be strong, Milly.”
“God, I hate that.” She focused on him. “Tell me we can reach the cave from out here.”
Yes, it was open to the ocean. “Why?”
“I left my swimsuit and my flashlight.”
He kicked down, senses attuned to the dangers of the open ocean. The boat chugged away from the island.
“Your boss is leaving.”
“I told her to.”
How would Milly return to Faial Island?
He kicked into the narrow entrance warriors used to enter the sacred island.
They separated to navigate the tight turns.
Their progress slowed. And he missed her skin on his, soot
hing and enticing.
“Hey.” She turned her head at the division in the tunnels. The angry growl of the deadly cave guardian rasped. “Are you sure nothing’s bothering her?”
“Who?”
“The cave guardian. She sounds hurt.”
He was sure.
They reached the pool. She groped a hand out of the water and dragged in her swimsuit and flashlight. She looped the flashlight around one wrist and tied the swimsuit to her bicep. “Let’s go.”
“Go?”
“You have to send the message, right? To the echo point.”
“No.” She was vulnerable.
“I’ll protect you. I’m a mermaid now.”
Except she didn’t have powers.
Wild currents, huge denizens, and other warriors infested these waters. His own warriors, or another city’s. Or, in the worst case, the All-Council’s.
The minimum escort for safe travel was five warriors. Five armed warriors.
Or, one fully-empowered queen.
Uvim pointed out one problem. “Your fins…”
She clasped her stubby human feet. “I’ll practice while we travel.”
He knew how to fight bare-handed. But not if his hands were full with a vulnerable bride.
She huffed. “I know what you’re saying.”
“I am not—”
“You’re not-saying I’m dead weight.”
“Milly…”
“I’m too useless to protect myself so why imagine I can protect you?” Her soul light darkened. “I get it. Those mermaid queen super powers don’t arrive instantly.”
“That is not—”
“Sorry for asking something impossible.”
She had become a mermaid to be useful and his halting words caused her pain.
What could he say so she would brighten and understand?
Grrrrhawk!
A raucous growl overhead made them both jump.
A black shadow swirled on the ceiling of their narrow cavern.
His stomach dropped.
The giant black cave guardian heard their soul songs as they heard hers. She had squeezed into the crevices overhead and crept too close.
One tentacle wrapped around Milly’s shoulders, squishing her arms to her sides.
He grabbed Milly’s ankle.
She yanked Milly through the passage.
“Eep!” Milly squeaked.
He held on.
The giant cave guardian dragged them through the twisting tunnels into her lair.