by Неизвестный
Eyes still fixed on the bar, Ismaelda asked, “She one of your harem?”
So damn easy to rile! “Sometimes. But tonight I’m in the mood for just one.”
Ismaelda turned back to him, face scrunched, jaw low in outrage.
“Unless you want company.” He baited her further but screwed it up when the corner of his lips twitched.
“You’re disgusting,” she replied with scorn. He caught her small grin.
“Oh, now you’re just trying to butter me up.” Her eyes twinkled, spurring him on. “You don’t have to do that, you know. I’m a sure thing.” The last words came out deeper than intended, and he noticed the tiny hairs on Isa’s arms stand straight.
A thunderclap in the distance brought him back to reality. Get back in control, man! Thinking of something else to keep her smiling, he met those light blue eyes. Her pupils were dilated, and her cheeks were flushed.
The look grabbed him and pulled hard. Impulsively, he hooked his grip behind her neck and led her mouth to his. Regret stabbed for a split-second, then Isa’s lips parted in a gasp, and he kissed her like a drowning man sucks air. Her bee-stung top lip got bit in his frenzy, and when she yelped he forced himself to gentle against her.
His hand snaked along the side of her breast, across her belly, and down to cup her hip. She was so perfect, exactly like he remembered, right down to her drug-like smell and the way her body shivered. Her back arched, pressing her breasts into his chest.
She still tasted like salted mango. His tongue probed, slow and deep, and then he swept a firm lick forward along her palate. He felt her tension drain away so that her body melted into his waiting hands. His grin firmed against her lips.
She leaned away. Her angry eyes hinted she would scold him, but then her gaze panned down his body. Her breaths came hard and fast. The first drops of rain plinked on the tin roof and Sidon felt his body harden He crept forward just an inch.
Isa sprang from her seat.
Her taut little rear end bounced as she ran for the door. Her fragrance hung thick on his body, and her taste clung to his lips. Oh, how that girl used to make him beg. Breathing deeply, he slowed his heart and rolled his neck, taking his time to rise. She was a visitor to the Key, and someone had to keep an eye on her. Unfortunately, that job fell to him.
By the time he reached the door she stood by a tiny beat-up car and fumbled with her keys. Her head snapped up at his approach, though he stood his ground in the doorway. She peered back and forth between her car and the water’s edge like a scared deer caught in the middle of the road. Her gaze finally settled on the rocky ledge at the canal’s bank. He took one step toward her. She dove into the black, running away from him. Again.
* * * *
Isa relaxed into the ocean’s full-body hug. Her legs melted together and contorted until her lower body took on a dolphin-tailed form. She winced at the pain, rubbing her hands over her tail. Shifting stung lately. It took a split second longer, too. Maybe she was out of practice.
The storm-fever, or dragon-fever, or whatever possessed her back at Sandbar washed away as she swam. Now-destroyed bikini bottoms hung at her waist, and her sundress caught on her small fin. She shrugged off her clothes, tucking the remnants under a nearby rock to retrieve later.
She swam aimlessly at first, enjoying the way her strong tail shot her forward with each pump. Her thick hair streamed behind her, tickling her shoulders. The warm ocean felt light, like air, and the current cooled her like a breeze. The echoes of sea life surrounded her—the twittering of fish, the clatter of fighting crabs, even the eerie calls of whales calving in the shallows. Isa longed to sing out to others of her kind, but her voice was small. Only marked adults displayed mere-song. Since that was a route Isa wouldn’t take, she’d have to settle for imagining.
Kicking south, she headed for her sanctuary near the edge of the reef. The area was in Landworld waters, and not even Sidon could find it. Oh, he knew of it, but not where. “A lady,” he used to say, “should always have a few secrets.” The memory made her snicker. She surfaced for a breath then dove deep, plummeting through the moonlit water toward the cavern hidden in an outcropping ahead.
Three human forms appeared just beyond the craggy black wall. A riot of bubbles rose from each body, and a dive light flashed from the hands of one. Isa pressed herself into an indentation to investigate. As they approached through the greenish haze, Isa could make out their scuba tanks, extra gear piled high on their backs, and spear guns held across two chests. They could be recreational fishermen, but something convinced Isa they were after larger prey. Fear crept up her spine.
All the times she’d been stalked or chased, no one ever tried to catch her underwater. She needed to get away fast, before the hunters confirmed the existence of mermaids. Four more divers materialized behind her, a net stretched between them. Her gaze darted between the group ahead and the group behind. The men signaled to each other with precise hand movements, communicating how to spring their trap.
A dragon hurled toward them. He flashed for only a second before his scales shifted color to match the rocky background. Isa pitched side to side, darting away from the net.
A long snout struck at the one with the torch. A thwack of his tail knocked the man unconscious. The limp body hung immobile, and the team gestured wildly in the dark, trying to identify the threat and determine their next move. Isa caught Sidon’s enormous eyes, black and cold, assessing the men.
He swept below the group with the net then speared up and gripped a man’s leg in his jaw. He whipped the body back and forth. The movement gave away his location, and the divers closed in to eliminate the threat to their catch.
His scales cut by her side as he attacked the divers in turn. Even through her blinding panic, Isa couldn’t help but marvel at the reptile’s form. Easily forty feet long, his talons matched the size of her forearms. His long snout displayed jagged, very white teeth. The snake-like eyes held nothing human.
In a last ditch effort, a diver fired his spear gun at the dragon. Isa ducked to the side as the projectile sailed by and pierced deep into the sand below. Sidon’s rage pulsed off him in great waves, the pressure churning the seas till they boiled. He spun as he morphed and adopted a half-man half-dragon form Isa had never seen. Thick black hair danced around a face contorted in fury. Ridged muscles coiled along his upper body, and strong shoulders narrowed to a chiseled waist before descending into scales. She should be frightened, but some primitive part of her ached for this beautiful monster to drag her back to his lair.
The sea creature wrapped his human hands around the man’s neck and wrenched sharply. Another diver launched his spear toward the beast. Though Sidon dodged it easily, the projectile punched through the end of Isa’s tail. A scream of pain tore through her as blood billowed from the wound.
Noise and bubbles signaled the start of an engine in the water above. Isa peered up at the hull of a motorboat, and a moment later a harsh tug dragged her through the bucking water.
She tried to swim away, but a blast of nauseating pain stilled her. The grisly ripping paralyzed her tail. Blood loss made her shivery. Far away shouts became whispers. Closing her eyes, she welcomed the loss of consciousness and rose toward the fishermen’s grasp.
Chapter 2
Schooled
Sidon’s roar pounded the water and knocked back the last hunter. He saw Isa rising, a fog of blood in her wake, and launched after her. His talon cut the line. He clutched the mermaid with the spear still through her flesh and carried her to his cave.
Fury ran like lava through Sidon’s veins as he pulled her up onto the muddy sand. He cursed himself for scaring her at the bar, cursed the men who dared try to capture her. All around him clouds of Ismaelda’s blood stained the shallow water. He rushed for his medical supplies, hoping to remove the spear before the air caused the shift to her weaker human form. His hands shook as he tended her wound. One thing was certain. He would never let her loose again.
/> “You’re going to be okay. I’m going to help you, sweetie. Just try to relax.” He plunged a syringe into her arm, and her eyelids fluttered, but didn’t open. He lifted a large snap cutter and crushed the hooked end off the spear. Despite the drugs, she screamed. He pressed a large pack of gauze against her thick outer membrane and quickly drew the rod out through the other side of her flesh.
* * * *
“Good thing you’re awake, son,” Doc Rouger said from next to Karon’s bed. “Grathers wants a full report. Two of your guys didn’t make it. The others were ripped open. What the hell happened?”
Karon blinked and shook his head, shrugging off the last of the unconsciousness. “I don’t know, Doc. A sea-monster type thing attacked us. It seemed like a giant crocodile or a huge sea snake, but then it looked part human.”
“Could it have been a shifter of some kind? A shark, maybe? The bite marks don’t fit, but…”
“Not a normal shifter. It was definitely reptile. Don’t know what it was doing in a mere area. If it’s human enough to let the locals know we’re here, we’re fucked. We need to bag our subjects ASAP.”
“Well, first you need to rest up, son. I gave you a shot of ParaMend, so you’ll be on your feet again in a few hours, but in the meantime take these for the pain.” He handed Karon a couple of plastic containers.
Doc nodded once and turned to head out. “Oh, and Dr. Grathers called. He said to phone him when you woke up.”
Karon raked his hand through his hair before picking up the cell phone by his cot. Grathers would be ticked that they’d gotten so close, blew their cover, and then let the acquisition escape.
“Dr. Pierson Grathers.”
“Karon. Calling to check in. You heard what happened?”
“Yes, the basics. I expect a full report by tomorrow.”
Karon laid his head back against the cot. “Of course.”
“Are you sure it was the same mere you tracked?”
“Positive. Early twenties in human years, no noticeable song or markings. Any chance there are more like her in the area?” That would certainly make Karon’s job easier.
“I doubt it. We’ve been waiting a long time to find a sample this far along, and if our predictions are correct we have a narrow window.” Grathers’s voice increased in pitch as he spoke. Karon knew that tone. It meant the scientist feared losing his funding.
“I’ll take the team out again as soon as possible.”
“You do that. And let me know when you’ve collected the other mere as well.”
Pain shot hard down his mangled leg, causing Karon to suck air in through his nose before answering. “Twenty-five is a lot to take from a single area. We only took five from the Arctic Ocean habitat.”
“That’s just the beginning. I probably shouldn’t be telling you this, but the board is considering maintaining a presence in this area for the duration of both the Pisces and the ParaGenesis projects.”
“I’m not following.”
“We may acquire the entire community as a sample pool. We’re even considering breeding different subject lines. It’s all very exciting. Don’t share it with the crew yet, though.”
“Yes, sir.”
Karon hung up and groaned. The last thing he wanted to do was send out more of his crew to get killed. Until they figured out what this monster was, hunting mere would be far more dangerous than anyone thought.
He grunted at a fresh spike of pain and took a fist-full of medicine. His muscles cramped and stung. Healing on ParaMend was fast, but it hurt like hell. He shifted on the hard surface, trying, and failing, to get comfortable.
“Hi there, Sailor.” Gracie appeared at the door, and Karon felt the edges of his usually-drawn mouth rise. The succubus was like a vision from his hottest dreams. She wore her chestnut hair loose over her back today. Her big hazel eyes were down, like she had a secret. Her shapely mouth plumped into her signature pout.
“You want me to kiss it and make it better, Captain Karon?”
“Sure, baby.” Being with her drained him like a bitch, but he didn’t mind. His short lifespan was something he’d made peace with long ago.
Her tongue snaked out to wet cherry-painted lips. She always liked to give a good show. “Show me where it hurts.”
With a smirk, Karon pointed to his cheek first. Gracie bent over and pecked him chastely, playing along. Then his fingertip led her kisses down his body. When her face rose from a sultry smooch low on his hospital gown-covered belly, he paused, wishing she’d take charge, climb on and ride him. The thought disappeared as fast as it came, though, because her nose nudged the hem of his gown. Her hot breath scalded his bandaged thighs. He lifted the thin cloth. When her mouth was just an inch away from his cock, she tilted her heart-shaped face to him, a parody of a one accepting communion.
Karon fought not to buck as Gracie delicately licked his cap and then pulled away, slid over the head and pulled away again. All the while she bent over at the hips, her clothed breasts brushing against his sore wrapped limb.
Lowering his hand to her head, he gripped her silky hair. “Baby, that feels so good.” At his urging, her lips descended, plunging to his base. “Oh, fuck.” Her self-satisfied smile stretched around him. She was damn near perfect—slick tongue, lightly scraping teeth, bathing his cock again and again in her soft, willing mouth. The tight sleeve of her throat worked his tip, making him crazy. She cupped his sack, but it was the sight of her other hand pressed at the V of her jeans that sent Karon reeling to climax.
Gracie moaned against his shaft. The vibration struck like lightening. His orgasm shot hot and hard. She sucked him mercilessly till the end. Pain shot down his thigh, mingling with jolts of pleasure. Exhaustion struck and Karon embraced the momentary loss of consciousness. By the time his vision cleared she sat next to the bed sipping his glass of water and popping one of his more enjoyable pills.
“So I heard your mermaid capture failed.” The succubus cleared her throat. “You must be upset.”
“Oh, we’ll catch her. Another day, another lab-rat, right?”
She bristled at the reference, and to his surprise, Karon felt a twinge of guilt. “So how was your day?”
She softened at his attempt to make nice. “Lovely. I finally seduced that visiting microbiologist.” A small laugh left her lips, but her eyes were sad. “The silly man cried afterwards. I mean really, who still has moral compunctions in this day and age?”
Karon usually got a kick out of her bawdy stories about his co-workers, but today he wasn’t in the mood. “That’s nice.”
“So, do they know yet how many mere they want to take from the area?”
Karon’s hackles rose. Strictly speaking, Gracie knew more than she should about Dendric’s work. It was unlikely she would leak information to a competing company, but she was an ex-lab rat. He really should have dropped her off in Greece last week like he was supposed to.
“Grathers doesn’t know yet. We’re starting with twenty-five.”
“That’s a lot.” Gracie eyed him suspiciously. “Are they all going to be kept on the ship?”
“Fuck, no. They’ll go straight for processing at headquarters.” He didn’t know why her questions bothered him. Of course, her opinion of Grathers’s work was probably different from his.
“So how long will you hold them?”
Eager to steer the conversation to different waters, he swung his arm out and wrapped it around her shoulders. “Get over here, baby.”
She turned that gorgeous face to his, studying. What she learned, though, he didn’t know.
“Karon.” Doc shuffled in, determinedly not looking at Gracie. “The results came back for the creature that attacked you. It was a dragon.”
A fresh wave of pain shot through him as his muscles clenched. Gracie looked back and forth between the two men, her eyes finally settling on him. “So what does that mean?”
“It means I’m more screwed than I thought.”
* * * *
/>
Isa woke up to the soft shushing of low waves. She lay in an expanse of white. Raising her head, she saw the ocean.
A large and beautiful man rolled toward her. “Good morning, sunshine.”
Sidon’s bed was enormous, not to mention ridiculously comfortable. Water lapped on the other side of a wall-sized window. The effect reminded her of an inverted fishbowl.
“How did I get here?”
“I carried you, of course. You couldn’t really swim with a spear poking through your tail, sweetheart.” His voice was gentle, intimate, and he pressed a little kiss into her T-shirt covered shoulder.
Too confused to process the term of endearment, Isa continued, “But then why am I not in a hospital?”
“I took care of you here. No organs or bones were injured. And when you shifted, the worst of the damage healed.”
Isa frowned and looked down at the bandages covering her still-tender calves. Other than being sore and weak, her body sizzled with life.
“After a few days’ rest you should be as good as new.” Sidon kept talking, but Isa barely heard him. Her attention focused on wondering why, despite blood loss and punctured tail, she felt almost giddy.
“Oh, holy heck, the injury didn’t turn me, did it?”
Sidon’s eyes narrowed, his lips thinned, and his body hardened like stone. “No, princess, your precious humanity is intact, just like your cherry. If you want to be human so badly why haven’t you sealed the deal already?”
Isa flushed in hurt and embarrassment. Looking away, she said primly, “Why I haven’t chosen to become human permanently is none of your concern.”
“If you stayed in Landworld it would have been none of my concern. But as you found out last night, still being unchanged makes you a liability.”
Her temper spiked. “Oh please, you don’t care that I haven’t gone through the change. You’re just pissed I never let you change me. It’s been a long time, Si. It’s really sad you’re still angry we never fucked.”
His expression hardened and he pushed off the mattress. “Screw you.” Sidon stalked across the room and placed his hands on the window, staring out over the water. His muscles flexed above his boxer shorts, but the crease in his brow told her he was more frustrated than angry.