by Devyn Quinn
He nodded. “Of course. Quite easily, as a matter of fact.”
Confusion hit her from all sides. “I don’t understand. I’ve never seen a male Mer.”
Jovon laughed, emitting a rich deep sound of amusement. “We do not call ourselves Mermen,” he replied. “I am a Nyx.”
Lips pressed into a tight line, Mason McKenzie stared into the choppy sea. More than an hour had passed since Addison Lonike had disappeared into the choppy water. As yet, he had spied neither hide nor hair of her.
Mason tightened his grip on the railing. Knowing full well the danger that lurked beneath the surface, he’d already imagined the worst—that Magaera’s soldiers had returned and taken Addison hostage.
Despite the lure of dry clothes and a hot drink, he forced himself to remain in his place. The remnants of his wet suit clung to his skin, leaving him feeling cold and clammy.
Commander Hawkins approached. “Would you like me to take over the watch?” he asked.
Mason shook his head. After Addison had gone into the water, he’d ordered the ship to come to a full stop and drop anchor. The winds from the pending storm were already beginning to kick up, pushing the ship several miles away from her dive site.
“No, thanks. I’ll keep watch.”
Hawkins checked his watch. “She’s been gone quite a while,” he ventured. “It might be she isn’t coming back.”
Or she can’t, his mind filled in automatically. The dolphins had long since disappeared, abandoning their watch and returning to the deep. Perhaps they’d again tried to defend Addison against Magaera’s soldiers—and lost.
“How the hell am I going to explain to the Secretary of the Navy that I’ve lost the mermaid?” he demanded. “That she jumped off the ship, disappearing without a trace into the sea.” It was too damn dangerous to go into the water. Otherwise he’d have put on his gear and gone in after her. As it was, there was nothing he could do but wait.
“I wouldn’t want to be in your position, sir,” Hawkins ventured carefully. “All you can do is tell the truth.”
“And watch my command and my career go down the toilet,” Mason finished.
Hawkins clapped him on the shoulder, attempting to offer some reassurance. “If it’s any help, I’ll testify that you warned her not to go back into the water. That she ignored your advice.”
Cramped and weary from standing so long in one place, Mason rubbed his eyes. He’d looked at the water so long that his vision was beginning to blur. “Thanks. I doubt that will help much, but it might be the only thing that saves my ass.”
“Apparently, the Mer have their own way of doing things,” Hawkins said.
That brought Mason’s ire up. “I’ve never met such a stubborn woman,” he said. “She’s going to do exactly what she wants, and damn the consequences.” He hated the feelings of helplessness and the fact that he was worried sick about her well-being. In his role as a leader, he found his instinct was to ensure the safety of the men and women serving under his command. He would never ask any man to do something he hadn’t or couldn’t do himself.
Hawkins released a chuckle. “Well, whether or not we like it, we’re going to have to get used to dealing with them. It doesn’t look like the Mer are going away any time soon.”
Mason rolled his eyes. “If I could go back to the beginning, I think I’d refuse this assignment.”
“You just don’t like having anyone talk back to you, Cap.”
“I like things orderly,” he admitted. “And I like people who know how to take orders and do their jobs right.”
“She may look human, but she isn’t one of us. She’s a mermaid, and our rules and our regulations just don’t apply.”
“Tell me about it.”
“And it may just be me, but I think there’s more than a little personal friction between you two.”
Mason’s brows rose. “Oh?”
Hawkins grinned. “It’s hard to miss it when you two are around each other.”
Mason forced himself to blank his face. “Think what you want,” he said, putting a measure of ice into his voice. “But I assure you I have no interest in Addison Lonike beyond her role as an adviser.”
His second-in-command looked at him levelly. “It happens to the best of us seafaring men,” he said. “Sooner or later we all fall to the siren’s call. Of course, you would have to go one step farther and actually bag yourself a mermaid.”
Mason felt uncomfortable under his friend’s knowing gaze. “She’s not my mermaid,” he said, refusing to be baited. Being tied down to one woman—any woman—was unthinkable. He liked his freedom, coming and going as he pleased. It would take more than a little redheaded Mer with an attitude to capture his heart.
To his relief, Hawkins was wise enough to leave it at that. Instead of pursuing the matter, he tipped his head back, staring up at the leaden sky. “Looks like the worst of it might go around us.” Even as he said the words, the sun dropped beneath the clouds. Golden shafts of light spread out over the water, almost blinding in their intensity.
Mason immediately lifted a hand to shield his eyes. “Looks like you could—,” he started to say, then froze. Right at that moment a figure broke through the shimmering surface of the water. He caught a flash of red as the woman threw back her head to clear her hair out of her eyes.
His heart seized in his chest, missing one beat, and then two, before resuming its regular rhythm. Thank God she’s safe, was his first coherent thought.
“Looks like our Mer has come back,” Hawkins commented.
“It’s about time.”
Catching sight of the ship, Addison headed toward it. She swam like an Olympic champion, propelling herself through the water with strong, sure strokes. Her scale pattern shimmered in the sunlight—a kaleidoscope of blues, pinks, and greens.
Mason leaned over the edge of the railing. “I see you’ve decided to come back.” He could barely conceal his smile.
She tossed him a saucy grin. “Were you worried about me?”
“Pissed is more like it,” he shot back.
Shifting out of her tail and back into her wet suit, she reached for the ladder. “As if that’ll last.”
Mason felt his heart roll over, pounding against his breastbone with enough force to shatter it. Everything about Addison drove him crazy.
Drawing himself up to his full height, Mason squared his shoulders. “You’ll be confined to quarters if you don’t start behaving and acting like a member of this team.” He motioned toward Commander Hawkins. “I’ve got to think about the welfare of the people aboard this ship.”
“I understand.”
Mason cut her off. He wasn’t finished. He’d eat her up one side and down the other, just as he would any crew member who acted against his orders. “I can’t have you going off half-cocked just because you have some notion you need to swim with the dolphins. What’s in these waters isn’t exactly welcoming to our presence. If something happened, I’d have no way to help you.”
Her smile immediately faded. “You’re right,” she conceded after a moment’s hesitation. “It was a stupid thing to do, and I apologize.”
Her admission caught him short.
Mason had expected to be blown off. But she’d taken the shakedown like an adult. Every time he thought he had Addison pinned down, she showed a different side of herself.
“Just don’t do it again. Okay?”
She nodded. “I won’t.”
“I don’t suppose you saw anything while you were in the water.”
Her smile returned. “Actually, I did.” Walking back to the diver’s deck, she made an odd whistling sound.
A graceful figure broke through the surface. Head and torso appeared, skimming across the water. Seconds later, strong hands grasped the side ladder.
Commander Hawkins’s eyes went round. “What the hell is that?”
Mason’s jaw dropped. “I don’t know…”
Tipping back his head, he stared at the being
climbing onto his ship. The creature offered a commanding presence that unnerved him more than the sight of any enemy soldier he’d ever encountered. All he saw was broad shoulders, lean hips, and well-muscled legs that seemed to stretch on for at least a mile.
The man—or was it a creature?—stood at least seven feet tall. Silver-blue hair streamed over his shoulders, all the way down his back. His skin, too, was silver—shiny, smooth, and hairless. Obviously a male, he stood naked and proud. Like Addison’s, his skin bore a distinctive pattern. Unlike her, he had a slash of gills on the right and left sides of his neck, extending down from under his ears. He also had fins on his forearms and calves. Something that looked like a thin leather cord attached to a small rock hung around his neck.
Mason swallowed hard. “What, uh, who the hell is this?” Even from a distance he could smell his scent, a cloying mixture of salt and brine. Intelligence and a subtle cunning glinted in the depths of the creature’s silver eyes.
Addison glanced up at the tall figure. “Remember when I told you I thought the dolphins were trying to communicate with us?”
Still disbelieving his eyes, he nodded. “Yes.”
“They weren’t just dolphins,” she explained. “This is Jovon, and he’s king of the Nyx.”
“So I see.” His gaze immediately locked with that of the visitor. A brief moment of wariness and suspicion passed between them, two territorial males checking each other out.
Mason refused to blink. This is about to get complicated.
Chapter 19
“Are you telling me that he’s one of those dolphins?” Mason asked after an excruciating minute had passed.
“I am.”
Mason eyed the tall, naked figure. “Is this”—he swallowed hard—“a merman?”
Much to Addison’s relief, Jovon answered for her. “Mer is the name our females chose for themselves,” he said, speaking perfect English in a low but pleasant baritone. “Our true forename is Nyx, which roughly translates to ‘water spirit’ in your language.”
Addison’s brow wrinkled. She’d had no clue males of her species even existed. She’d been raised to believe that humans were the natural mates for Mer.
Apparently we’re still missing a lot of pieces about our history. She hoped Jovon could answer the questions pinging around in her mind.
Mason’s eyes widened in surprise. “You understand me?”
Jovon flashed a smile. “Of course. As telepaths, we can pick up and interpret many languages quite easily. Just because we are a water-bound people doesn’t mean we are as mindless as insects.”
Mason cleared his throat. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t meaning to imply your kind had a lesser intelligence.”
Jovon cocked his head. “Yet your companion is wondering about the naked idiot standing with his privates dangling in the wind.”
Mason whirled toward Commander Hawkins. “Put a lid on it, Commander.”
Hawkins turned ten shades of red. “Sorry, sir,” he mumbled, dropping his gaze. “How was I supposed to know he could read my thoughts?”
Addison forced herself not to laugh. No, from what Jovon had told her underwater, the Nyx couldn’t read minds, but they would pick up and interpret impressions based on a person’s vibrations and body language. Everything about the Nyx was oversized, including his genitals. Except for his head and eyebrows, his body was devoid of hair, giving everyone who cared to look a clear view of his male assets.
She had to admit his build was magnificent. Muscle rippled beneath taut flesh. When she’d first seen him, the sight of his magnificent body shook her to the bone. There was no ignoring the sinew beneath his skin or the jut of his manhood, impressive even when flaccid. The strange pattern on his skin only added to his masculinity.
Feeling a hot blush singe her cheeks, she forced herself to look elsewhere. Her thoughts were beginning to stray in a most inappropriate way. She’d seen a lot of good-looking men in her life, but nothing had quite prepared her for the sight of a man who hailed from a species comparable to her own.
I wonder… She quickly squelched the thought, hoping she’d put the kibosh on her body’s physical emanations before Jovon picked up on them.
Clearly struggling to regain his composure, Mason said, “He meant no offense. Among our people, it’s customary to cover our, ah, privates.”
Jovon eyed the two men. Although Mason still wore his wet suit, Commander Hawkins looked crisp and sharp.
“I understand,” he said. A crackle, followed by a brief shimmer, covered his body from shoulders to feet. When the glimmer faded, he was dressed in a simple tunic that looked like linen dyed a muted blue shade. Short breeches were cut off at the knee, and leather sandals laced around his ankles. It wasn’t anywhere close to modern, but it looked comfortable enough. “Is this acceptable?”
Mason nodded. “Yes, thank you.”
“I do not understand the human need to cover up from head to foot. Bare skin is much more comfortable.”
“We do it to spare our more, ah, delicate parts exposure,” Mason said by way of an explanation. “Also, it is unacceptable in our society for males and females to go unclothed around each other.”
Jovon threw back his head and laughed. “Ah, you humans and your strange taboos.”
More than a bit self-conscious, Addison glanced down at her clinging attire. “Well, since we’re being proper here.” She thought about excusing herself to change, then realized she didn’t have to.
Closing her eyes, she focused her own inner energies. Picturing the clothing she’d left in Mason’s cabin, she mentally transferred the garments onto her own body. Within the blink of an eye, the wet suit had vanished and she was suitably dressed.
Jovon looked at her in surprise. “So the Mer haven’t lost their craft.”
She shook her head. “Nope. It’s still as strong as ever.”
By now, word of the strange visitor had spread among the crew. People were beginning to gather, albeit at a cautious distance. Addison could almost feel the weight behind their stares boring straight through her.
Mason noticed the crowd. He leaned over, whispering to Hawkins, who immediately set off to disperse the onlookers. “I think we should find someplace more private to talk,” he said. “Would you care to accompany me belowdecks? We have a dining area that’s more suitable for entertaining guests.”
Although his regal face revealed nothing, Addison picked up a ripple of uneasiness from the Nyx. Despite his great size and the sheer power of his bulk, he was nervous about leaving the open water behind.
She laid a gentle hand on his arm. “They mean you no harm. But perhaps you would be more comfortable speaking to the captain in private.”
Jovon hit her with a direct, unblinking stare. “So he is the leader of his people?”
“I’m not the leader,” Mason corrected. “But I do represent my government in our efforts to make contact with the Mer.”
“And the Nyx,” Addison hastily added.
“We should talk,” Mason added. “I’d like to know why you helped us.” He paused, then added, “And I will give you my word that you will not be harmed in any way while you’re aboard my ship. You can leave anytime you like.”
A long minute passed, and then another.
Jovon finally nodded. Even though his face carried a neutral expression, the currents emanating off his tall frame indicated that he didn’t trust humans. He was all adrenaline and raw nerves. “That is satisfactory.”
A look of relief crossed Mason’s face. “Please, come this way.”
Jovon looked to Addison. “You will come as well.” It was not a question but a statement.
Addison nodded. “Of course.” There was no way she’d miss this.
She glanced toward the horizon. The sun had begun to descend in the west, appearing to sink into the water. The surface of the sea rippled with a strange gold-red-orange glow. It was a beautiful and breathtaking sight. The sky, however, remained ominously dark, as if the eleme
nts were plotting their next move against the earth below.
There are so many secrets hidden in the depths of the sea, she thought. As a little Mer raised in Maine, she knew almost nothing of her people or their true origins. More missing pieces of the puzzle were beginning to fall into place.
Mason led them belowdecks, through the narrow corridors and into a small recreation room off the galley. As the communal area aboard ship, this was the place where people gathered to decompress after a long stretch on duty. Hawkins had cleared out the area, leaving only a few seamen on duty.
“Please, sit.”
Jovon eyed the narrow, benchlike seats bolted to the floor to prevent them from moving during inclement weather. Even if he had tried to sit on one, his bulk would have made the fit uncomfortable. Nothing was designed to accommodate a seven-foot-tall male. “I will stand.”
Mason elected to stand as well. Addison compromised by propping her rear on the edge of a nearby table. No one said anything for a while.
She decided to be the one to break the ice. “I don’t understand why I’ve never heard of the Nyx,” she said by way of an opening. “I’ve been in the water a long time, and I’ve never seen one. Where have you been all this time?”
Jovon’s mouth drew down in a severe frown. “Trying to survive.” He cast a glance toward the humans. “Which is why I am glad to see the Mer have reappeared in these waters. It gives me hope that we may have a chance against the humans who slaughter our kind.”
Mason broke in. “Whoa,” he said, making a time-out gesture with his hands. “Just what are you talking about when you say we slaughter your kind?”
Jovon didn’t blink. “Humans continue to rape our waters, and many of the Nyx die after becoming entangled in fishing gear, or colliding with vessels. You also do not stop to think that fishing depletes our food sources, or that coastal habitats are destroyed by development. Even more demeaning is that some species are targeted to supply the demand for aquariums.”
“We have laws against that,” Mason said.
Jovon laughed unpleasantly. “Please, spare me from being treated like a stupid, unknowing creature. Such laws are largely ignored.”