by Bianca D'Arc
“Stairs for you to walk into the water when you’re in human form and a ramp for those with tails to slide on. It’s already coated with something that won’t rub your scales the wrong way. The idea of the subtle grade was that you could go into or out of the water while still in shifted form. What do you think?”
“It’s ingenious,” she answered, examining the construction from every angle.
“And in a few days, there’ll be lockers here for your people to store clothing and belongings. They’re also going to install showers and other amenities. All completely private. For shifters only.”
“Shifters?” she asked, looking at him with one raised eyebrow and a sexy little smile on her face. “Not just mer?”
“Well, some of us bears like the water too.”
“You don’t say?” Her smile was challenging and a bit flirty. Sven moved closer to her. He couldn’t help himself. “Are you going to swim tonight too?”
In answer, Sven pulled his sweater over his head and let it drop onto the decking beneath their feet. Nobody could see them from the road, even though the building wasn’t complete. There was enough privacy for them to get into the water from here, and the dark of the night would hide them once they entered the water.
“My furry side needs to stretch his muscles a bit, and he loves the water as much as I do. Do you mind sharing the water with a white bear? I promise I won’t bite…unless you want me to.” His voice dipped low, answering the flirtatious mood she had introduced.
Thankfully, she didn’t seem to be backing away. If anything, she was moving closer as her smile deepened.
“Keep your teeth to yourself, bear,” she teased, pushing one hand against his chest. Little sparks ignited against his skin where she touched, and he tried hard not to gasp.
Their magic had been like this since the beginning—a little at odds, but rubbing along deliciously together when they touched. Of course, she’d been at such low energy before, whenever he’d touched her, he’d only felt an echo of the power that sparked between them now.
“At least until you’re invited,” she went on, pushing past him toward the stairs. Then, without another word, she loosed her long hair until it lay around her shoulders in a tumbling mass.
Keeping her back to him, she performed a sort of strip-tease while Sven stood there, his mouth open in surprise and utter awe. He’d seen her naked before, but she’d been injured at the time and near death. He’d known she was beautiful, but now, here, in the moonlight with the sparkling ripples of water reflecting the mellow light of the moon onto her skin… She was the Goddess made flesh. The most beautiful woman on Earth, in heaven or among the stars. She was magic, personified.
And he wanted her. Oh, how he wanted her.
With a giggle, she dove into the water before shifting and slid deep into the dark waters of the cove. Sven, released from the spell she had cast over him that had made him freeze into motionlessness, sprang forward to the edge of the stairs. He tried to look for her beneath the lapping water, but didn’t see a single trace of her passage until she surfaced, her mer form having taken hold while she’d been out of sight.
She was even more beautiful, if such a thing was possible. Her fragile human skin had been replaced by a flexible armor of pearlescent scales, fine and colorful around her face, and farther down her luscious body, hiding her nipples beneath their protective curves. He couldn’t see much of her tail beneath the water, but he did note her wet hair slicked back from her forehead to trail down her back and into the water where it spread out, flowing freely.
She was breathtaking. Truly stunning.
“So what about it, doctor?” she asked, smiling slightly. “I’ve never seen a polar bear up close.”
“You’re about to,” he said, knowing his voice was filled with the growl of his inner bear. She didn’t seem to mind. In fact, her smile broadened, her scales glistening faintly in the reflected moonlight.
Sven stripped, not bothering to hide his body from her. He was a shifter, after all.
Make that an aroused shifter. Still, she didn’t seem to mind that either.
Chapter Ten
Sirena had to catch her breath when Sven dropped trou right in front of her. The man had no shame. Of course, with a body like his, there was absolutely no need for shame. In fact, his tall, lean, muscular form was a living work of art, and his erection… Well, it made her speechless. And greedy.
She was about to overheat, turning the water to steam around her, when the most amazing thing happened. All that buff hotness was surrounded by a swirling snowstorm of white-hot magical energy that made her blink. When the nearly blinding flash ended, Sven was gone, and a massive—downright giant—polar bear stood in his place.
“Wow,” she breathed, watching him as he watched her.
His eyes had changed shape slightly, but the blueness of them was the same, as was the snapping intelligence. She had no doubt it was Sven behind that furry muzzle and the row of razor-sharp teeth.
The claws were pretty impressive too, she thought as he walked slowly toward the slide. There was a somewhat devilish cast to his features when he plopped himself down on the slick surface and let gravity do its thing. He entered the water with a little splash, and she submerged, wanting to keep an eye on the giant predator that had just joined her in the waters of the cove.
She spotted him immediately, keeping a respectful distance, as if he understood her trepidation. She hadn’t been in the water since her injury, and sharing space with a dangerous beast with sharp teeth—even though she knew intellectually that it was Sven and not the leviathan—was bringing up some unresolved issues she hadn’t really realized she had.
That Sven seemed to have taken it into consideration was another thing she had to admire about him. With him keeping a decent distance between them, she was able to calm down and overcome the worst of her fear.
As her panic began to subside, she realized the shift had done wonders for her overall wellbeing. She took a quick moment to take stock of her injuries and was pleased to find that all the little wounds that had been left were now gone in the flash of her scales. The most serious of the injuries were still a bit tender, but much better than they had been. She could flex and bend her midsection in ways she hadn’t been able to just moments ago, in her human form.
Shifting had definitely done its part in her healing, and she felt joy bubble up inside her for the first time since being hurt. Sven had brought her here. He’d stayed with her while she’d been at her lowest point and willed her to live. He’d given her the time and the space she’d needed to make a comeback, and she would always be thankful to whatever benevolent power had landed her in his care.
Thinking of him, she looked at his bear form with all due consideration. He was an absolute monster. White in the sparkling waters of the cove. His fur waving in the current as his paws acted like massive clawed paddles, helping him stay in position, several yards away, watching her. He seemed to be waiting for her to make the first move. He also seemed to be observing her as carefully as she did him, but she didn’t mind. She took it as yet another sign that the good doctor was there for her, watching over her recovery.
Although…the man had been very aroused just a few moments ago. Impressively aroused, in fact. Sirena hadn’t seen a male like that in…well…ever. Sven truly was a specimen to behold. Long, lean, powerful, and just made to please a woman, she’d bet.
That little part of her that had always seen how attractive the doctor was sparked in interest once more. Now that she was feeling better and had overcome some of her dislike of him—which was really dislike of being so ill that he had to look after her—the attraction had flared once more. It was pretty clear, based on the evidence, that he was interested too.
Sirena began to think about Sven in a purely carnal way that would have made her human skin turn red with a flush of excitement. She hoped her scales hid the naughty direction her thoughts had taken, but she couldn’t be sure. Th
e polar bear doctor had proven very perceptive of the past few days.
With a playful flick of her tail, she turned and headed out into the cove, looking back at him and waving him onward, inviting him to join her. She would deal with the attraction later. For now, her mer side wanted to glory in the freedom of the water and learn the new environment of the cove.
She also sensed others from her pod not too far away. The mer were a social people when they gathered together, though the vastness of their domain in the oceans often had them swimming in smaller groups. Still, when the pod gathered, there was usually a party, and the joyful vibrations of the water told her the young and old alike were having a good time in their new playground of the cove.
Sirena moved out ahead, but Sven didn’t waste much time, swimming strongly a few yards behind and to one side of her. He was surprisingly agile in the water for such a large beast. She hadn’t really expected how at home he was in her element, though he did have to surface occasionally for air, where she could just use her gills.
The cove wasn’t terribly deep along the edges, but as she moved deeper into the peaceful waters, she was surprised by the rocky drop-offs and craggy areas that would make excellent dwellings for those with young to protect. In fact, as she swam along, she saw that several of the areas she spotted were showing signs of new habitation. It looked to her like the mer had moved in and were working toward making a home in the tranquil waters of Grizzly Cove.
Sirena felt so much better than she had just an hour ago. Shifting had definitely been a good idea. Having Sven along as a giant furry chaperone seemed odd at first, but as she got used to his looming presence near her in the water, she began to feel a sense of safety she had seldom felt in the open ocean.
Part of it was the cove itself. There was a tranquil peace about the waters here that could only be described as magical. The spell that had been cast over this water made it inviting and even sort of welcoming to the mer, and Sirena wasn’t immune to the soothing effects of the water here. But a large part of the feeling of security that warmed her was Sven himself. He made no overt moves, taking his cues from her, but if the least little thing looked like it might cause her trouble—a stray stand of tall kelp, or a tangle of sea grass—he was there, batting it back, out of her way.
She felt like a princess. Or some kind of celebrity who had handlers and security to ease their way through life. With Sven around, she felt like nothing would ever harm her again. Not if he had anything to say about it.
The fierce beast with teeth and claws had, at first, brought back memories of terror. Her response had morphed, though, into feelings of protection and care. She knew, in her deepest heart, that Sven would never turn those lethal aspects of his dual nature on her. On the contrary, he’d use his attributes and abilities to protect her, if at all possible.
She missed her weapons. Usually, when she swam out with her hunting party, she carried several blades and her spear. She’d have to ask what had happened to them later. She assumed the spear, at least, had been lost, because the last time she’d seen it, it had been sticking out of the creature that had attacked her, buried deep in its ghastly hide.
The fact that the beast hadn’t even flinched when she’d hit it with all her might made Sirena want to shudder, but she refused to ruin this moonlit swim with thoughts of that terrible battle. That was over and done. She had to live for this moment, this beautiful evening with a man who intrigued her more and more.
As she thought that, Sven swam up beside her, closer now, but still giving her space. He was a big white blur of fur and motion. He seemed to be motioning over to the right, beckoning her to follow. Curious, she swam in the direction he led her in, wondering what he wanted to show her.
It wasn’t long before she spotted the secluded spot some of her people appeared to have chosen as a gathering place. The water was deep here, but Sven seemed to manage it for reasonable periods of time, though he had to surface now and again to take a breath. That he’d known where to find her people told her he’d been out here before, swimming reconnaissance, perhaps? Or maybe the leader of the pod, Nansee, had given the bears the information for some reason.
That wasn’t the usual way. Mer were secretive and tried to remain hidden at all times in the open ocean, but this whole situation wasn’t normal. The mer had never worked with a shifter group on this scale before, to Sirena’s knowledge. And, of course, nothing like Grizzly Cove had been attempted before either, that she knew. So, perhaps, they were all just muddling along, making up the rules about how this relationship between their peoples would work, as it happened.
Sirena swam into the gathering place, grateful to see a few folks she knew. None of her hunting party were present, but she received nods of welcome and even the brush of a webbed hand or two along her tail fin from a few of those she counted as friends. Mer weren’t terribly demonstrative in their scaled form, but she felt the love from her people, and the pleasure they took in seeing her well and able to swim once more.
They were a little wary of the giant polar bear, but seemed more used to seeing him—or those like him—than she would have expected. Then again, the others had been swimming in the cove since day one and probably knew the bears here a lot better than she did at this point. Maybe some of the other furries liked swimming too. For such large land predators, they certainly seemed well able to adapt to the water environment, at least based on what she had observed with Sven. If grizzlies were as aquatic as polar bears, perhaps the mer had been swimming with the big furry guardians of the cove for a while now.
Sven left her below, rising to breathe. He lingered on the surface for a bit, giving her time to reacquaint herself with her people. He was a thoughtful man, a powerful bear, and a kind protector. The more she was around him, the more she liked him.
Sirena stayed below for a bit, swimming with her pod-mates and seeing the work they’d done already to transform this part of the cove. She was impressed with how perfect the natural landscape of the cove had been to start with and what her people had managed to do in such a short time to make it even more hospitable to their kind.
Sooner than she would have liked, she started to feel the fatigue that seemed never far away from her lately. It wasn’t nearly as bad as it had been, but she wasn’t used to swimming long distances now, after being laid up for so long. She’d have to work on rebuilding her stamina—but not tonight.
Sirena took her leave of the gathering place and rose to the surface, using her tail to propel her on a leisurely path toward the moonlight that filtered down into the clear waters of the cove. The disc of the moon shone bright above her, more visible the higher she rose in the water, until finally, she broke the surface to find it shining down over her.
Mother Moon was in fine form tonight, Sirena thought, sending a prayer of thanks toward what her people thought of as one of the many faces of the Goddess. She Who Ruled the Tides was a powerful force in their world. One to be revered and respected for all her awesome beauty.
Basking in the moonlight, Sirena floated for a bit, knowing her companion bear wasn’t far away. In fact, she could feel his magical energy watching over her, swimming light circles around her floating form. She’d been afraid of Sven at first, but not because she really thought he would ever harm her. No, it had been leftover fear of sharp teeth and agony that had assailed her, but was quickly dealt with in the face of Sven’s goodness and willingness to give her space.
He let her swim free, though he was a protective presence the whole time. She supposed, just a few weeks ago, she might’ve been annoyed by the idea. She’d been independent to a fault, mad at the world and most of the men in it. But a lot had changed since then. She’d been reminded of her own mortality and had come close to succumbing to the soul-stealing leviathan.
Sven had refused to give up on her. He’d brought in specialists and hadn’t stopped until he’d found a solution for her. He’d been her guardian angel, in a way, and she would never be able to t
hank him enough for believing that she could be healed. His faith had kept her going, even when she’d felt about ready to give up on herself.
His bear form was enchanting—at least from a distance. She decided it was time to see how their magics would react to each other. Swimming with purpose, instead of just floating, she moved closer to the white bear.
Rather than repulsing each other, as opposing magics often did, she felt drawn to him. As she drew closer to him, their magics pulled them together in a way she’d never really experienced. Like a gentle whirlpool, spinning her close to him as they both tread water in the peaceful cove, under the light of the Goddess moon.
Sirena shifted her face so that she could speak through human teeth rather than her sharper, pointier mer teeth. Her scales flowed away, down her neck, halting at the water line, leaving her in human form from there upward. Mer were experts at shifting only parts of their bodies so as to pass for human when the need arose. They practiced it from a young age.
The bear tilted his head, watching her with those piercing blue eyes, then a flash of white snow energy made her look away. When she looked back, the bear had become the man. Sven tread water in human form, not three feet from her, and he was very, very naked. Yum.
“You’re a great swimmer,” she told him.
“Looks like shifting did you good,” Sven said, smiling at her in the moonlight.
“It worked wonders. I feel almost back to my old self again. I’ll just have to work on my stamina a bit.”
His brows drew together in concern. “Are you okay to swim back?”
She moved closer, putting her hand on his shoulder. She shifted her scales back so she could feel his warm muscle under her human fingertips.
“I’m fine. Just not as strong as I was before being injured. But it’ll come back. I’m certain of it now. A little work and a lot of swimming will have me back in fighting form in no time.”
“Just don’t overdo it. I don’t want to see you back in my infirmary for a good long time.” He didn’t move away. In fact, it seemed he was infinitesimally closer, and getting more so all the time.