by Aratare, X.
Gabriel collapsed forward onto Casillus. Half of the bath water had sloshed out onto the floor, but Gabriel just couldn’t care even though it left his gills only partially covered by the water. His body was just too blasted by his orgasm to worry about breathing after that. The Mer’s arms wound around him, holding him tightly against his chest. He knew that Casillus was nearly as blown away as he was.
Gabriel, oh, my Gabriel, Casillus said, and other tender, nonsensical things flowed over their bond that had Gabriel’s lips twitching into a smile even as the black spots that had danced before his eyes earlier grew larger and larger until he realized that it was unconsciousness pulling him down.
But at the last moment before blackness hit he thought he saw something over their bond, something in Casillus’ mind. Something the Mer eagerly wanted to happen, something Casillus believed would happen because Gabriel was transitioning. This something was miles high with tentacles. It was streaming out of the deep and swimming towards shore.
Towards them.
Gabriel told himself it was just a remnant of his own dream, because such a horrible creature could have nothing to do with the beautiful Mers.
8
SEEN
Smuggling a merman out of the house before the first light of dawn was far more difficult than Gabriel thought it would be. His grandmother was a notoriously early riser so he had meant to stay awake and lead Casillus to the sea around 3:00 a.m. But he had fallen asleep. Deeply asleep. Casillus hadn’t had the heart to wake him either. Now it was almost 6:00 a.m. and the sun was already rising, and Gabriel was sure that he heard his grandmother moving around in her room.
Grace is stirring. I can almost hear her thoughts, Casillus said. Gabriel turned to look over at the Mer. Casillus’ head was tilted to the side. His blue-green eyes were luminous as he concentrated on hearing her thoughts. Even after so many years, House Liseas’ blood runs strongly through her veins.
Gabriel barely refrained from responding, Not strongly enough. Instead, he said, I hope I’ll be able to hear her some day.
Casillus cupped his face before leaning in and kissing him deeply. You will. You will hear all the Mer and you will never be alone.
You know that still freaks me out a little bit, right? Gabriel smiled as they rested their foreheads together. Being connected to you is one thing, but to others? To people I don’t know who don’t know me? I’m not certain about that.
Casillus’ eyes flickered away from his for a moment, and once again he felt shut out of the Mer’s thoughts. You may find that connections are … in your nature.
Mers weren’t supposed to have secrets, yet it seemed that Casillus was keeping a few from him at this moment. He told himself that Casillus must have his reasons and that the Mer would reveal all in time.
Maybe you’re right, Gabriel said. I’d better get some clothes on so that we can get you back to the sea.
Casillus nodded. I wish you were going with me, Gabriel, but I know that you are not ready yet.
Gabriel paused in pulling on his shorts. If Casillus was right, he had three days left on land at most. His mouth went dry. He responded slowly, You’re right. I’m not ready, though … I don’t want to be away from you either.
I will never leave you, remember? Casillus put a finger under Gabriel’s chin and tipped it up so that they were eye to eye.
Gabriel found himself getting lost in that gaze. Everything became unimportant in comparison to Casillus. Everything except the clock ticking down. His chest went tight again, and this time his difficulty breathing didn’t come from a physical cause but a mental one. Three days. He only had three days. Three days to say goodbye. Three days to leave everything and everyone he knew and loved.
I need … more time to say goodbye to my grandmother and Corey. I have to arrange an explanation about my disappearance. And then—
Casillus touched Gabriel’s temples and shook his head gently. Forgive me, I did not mean to cause you pain or panic with that wish. I know you need time. I would not take it away from you.
Gabriel’s shoulders slumped and he leaned against Casillus’ bigger form. I know you wouldn’t. It’s just … three days. That’s all I have left. If I’m lucky. It just hit me for a second. How can I go into the sea when it still … still frightens me?
Casillus was quiet for a moment. Today, after you go to the site, will you come to me?
Of course … oh, you mean go into the water with you? Gabriel stiffened.
For a swim. We won’t leave the shallows. You’ll be able to stand, Casillus assured him. It would be a first step.
A vision of the two of them splashing in the surf under the warm summer sun flashed through his mind. It would be playful. It would be safe. It would be far from what he had experienced with his parents.
A first step? Yeah, maybe—maybe that would be good.
I am pleased, Casillus said, and over their bond his pleasure was spiced with desire.
Another vision flashed through his mind then: kissing in the surf with their limbs tangled together as their tongues slid against one another. He could almost taste the salt on his tongue.
I want that, Gabriel said.
He didn’t have to tell Casillus what he meant. He knew he had shared that image with the Mer. Casillus leaned down and kissed him. Gabriel’s heart beat faster. His cock stirred again.
I’m missing you already. Gabriel’s mind voice was a whisper as the kiss ended.
Soon we will never be parted, Casillus pointed out, but Gabriel felt the Mer’s reluctance to physically move away from him.
Gabriel was the one to pull back from the Mer. He thought he heard his grandmother’s voice. He hastily reached for his shirt, but it was soaked. With a grimace, he dropped it back on the floor. The gills at his sides were settling down now, but the wet shirt would just reactivate them. He worried, too, that the gills would show through the clingy material even if he did put it on, and it would take too long to grab a fresh shirt from his room. He was certain that his grandmother would emerge from her room at any second. They had to go.
Casillus confirmed that when his head tilted to the side again and he said, Your grandmother is getting up from her bed. She is preparing to put on her dressing gown and go downstairs. I must leave.
Gabriel shut off the bathroom light before he opened the door. He stuck his head out. His grandmother’s door was still closed. Corey’s snores were still drifting down the hall in soft wheezes. Gabriel motioned for Casillus to follow him out into the hall.
Padding down the hallway and stairs was like running an obstacle course of creaking floorboards and groaning banisters. No matter where they stepped or touched, it made a sound. After a very loud crack, Gabriel said, Forget stealth. Let’s do speed.
Gabriel and Casillus hustled down the stairs, through the hall to the kitchen and then out the back door to the porch. Gabriel didn’t take a breath until they were both standing on the sand. The sun’s rays were just starting to kiss the horizon. Gabriel spun around towards the Mer.
We made it! Gabriel grinned.
Casillus’ arms wound around his waist and he pulled Gabriel against him. I am not in the water yet.
No, not yet. Gabriel’s heart clenched. I know we’ll still be connected, but it’s going to be so hard seeing you go back into the water while I remain behind.
You will see me this afternoon. It will not be so long. The Mer looked at him so fondly that Gabriel’s heartbeat sped up.
Right. Swimming together today, Gabriel said.
The Mer nodded. Another soft kiss and he pulled away. They both looked out at the sea. The horizon was glowing, kissed by the rising sun. The waves were a deep blue with creamy white tops. For a moment, Gabriel felt that sensation again, that feeling that something amazing was out there, waiting for him. With Casillus at his side, Gabriel could almost imagine going out to meet it.
I must go now, Gabriel, Casillus’ voice interrupted his thoughts. Grace is about to walk into the
kitchen. She will be able to see me through the window.
You have to go. Yet Gabriel’s hands clung to the Mer.
Yes, Casillus whispered. He stroked Gabriel’s cheek and then took a step back. I am always with you. I will never leave you.
I believe you. Gabriel found himself giving Casillus a wobbly smile as he let go of the Mer physically. It actually hurt to do it, but he stopped himself from clutching Casillus back to him no matter how much he wanted to. Go on. Before she sees you.
Casillus stared at Gabriel as if memorizing his face before he turned and dashed into the water. Gabriel watched that beautiful body dive into the dark blue waves. After a moment, Casillus’ head popped up through the surface for one last look back at him.
I will never leave you, Casillus said.
Gabriel smiled even as Casillus’ head disappeared beneath the waves once more. He was about to ask the Mer how the water was, or even look through Casillus’ eyes at the fish that were undoubtedly darting away, but there was a sound from behind him.
Gabriel whipped around. He was not comforted by what he saw. Instead, his heart began to race and his chest tightened painfully again. Johnson Tims was standing in the doorway of the house. The sound Gabriel had heard was the screech of the screen door opening, but the real question was how long had Johnson been standing in the doorway? How much had he seen?
The Merman: Caller Book 3
1
FOOTSTEPS IN THE SAND
Gabriel Braven met Johnson Tims’ gray gaze and wondered if the older man had seen the Mer Prince Casillus Nerion dive beneath the ocean’s surface. Because if Johnson had, things were about to get very interesting.
“Johnson! I—I didn’t hear you come—come out,” Gabriel said lamely, gesturing to the porch where the man stood. “How long have you been standing there?”
Watching me? Watching Casillus? Spying on us?
Johnson Tims was a former military man-turned-professor at the mysterious and secretive Miskatonic University and, evidently, also Gabriel’s grandmother’s boyfriend. After all, why would the man be in a robe at 6:00 a.m. on Grace’s porch unless he had spent the night? But standing there in the morning light, Johnson didn’t look like a man blinded by love. Instead, his bright, inquisitive gaze was completely clear. Too clear.
What am I thinking? That he spent the night with my grandmother to be near me? That he’s seducing her so that he can find out if Mer blood still runs strong in Braven veins? That’s crazy.
Then again, Gabriel had thought believing mermen were real was crazy, too. However, not only were mermen real, he was transforming into one of them.
Johnson walked down the steps and onto the beach that spread out from the back of his grandmother’s cottage in a fan of gold. The black robe he wore strained over the bulging muscles in his arms. The end of it hung to just above his knees. Gabriel guessed it wasn’t Johnson’s own robe by how tight it was and how little it covered. It didn’t look like one of his grandmother’s either, so that left it being his grandfather’s, a man whom Gabriel had never met as he had died before Gabriel was born.
Wearing a dead man’s clothes? That’s sort of creepy. But it’s certainly better than seeing him naked.
“I’m surprised to see you up and looking so … refreshed, Gabriel,” Johnson said as he stopped alongside him. “You seemed so ill at dinner last night.”
And I thought you went home after that dinner, but evidently not. We’re both full of surprises.
He had spent the night in the bathtub in Casillus’ arms with water surrounding them both. That had relieved some of the weakness that now plagued Gabriel as his body transformed from human to merman. He resisted the urge to touch his sides and assure himself that his gills, which appeared when he got wet, had disappeared. If faint traces of them still remained it would only draw Johnson’s attention to them, so he kept his hands down.
In some ways, the fact that Gabriel was becoming a merman was the most ridiculous thing that could have ever happened to him. He had been afraid of the sea since he was a child. His fear had started after his parents had drowned in a terrible storm on the ocean. Seemingly miraculously, Gabriel had survived the sinking of their boat by two rogue waves, but his love of the ocean had died that day along with his parents. After their deaths, Gabriel had feared and loathed the water as much as he had formerly loved it. And then, just yesterday, Gabriel had nearly drowned again. This time, he had been rescued by Casillus Nerion, a prince of the Mers. Casillus had told Gabriel the truth about why he had survived drowning twice. Gabriel was a Mer, too.
Casillus explained that Gabriel’s ancestors on both sides must have had Mer blood, and once combined in him, there was enough merman DNA that he was transitioning into a Mer. The change normally took place much earlier in life, but Gabriel’s avoidance of the sea had delayed the transition.
Gabriel hadn’t believed Casillus at first. After all, mermen did not exist. Like unicorns and Santa Claus, they weren’t real. But Gabriel had ultimately had to accept the truth as his breathing became more and more labored out of the water and gills started appearing on his sides whenever he got wet. The physical transformation had pretty much sealed the deal as far as proof went. He was not human. Then Casillus had told him one more thing. Mers lived forever, but Gabriel would die unless he entered the water. He only had three days left on land before he had to go into the sea and transition fully into a Mer. Three days to say goodbye to all he loved and go into the ocean he still feared.
The existence of Mers and his transition into one of them had to be kept secret from humans. Only his grandmother and his best friend Corey Rudman could ever know. Gabriel hadn’t had a chance to tell them yet, but Johnson, with his cold eyes and military mindset, seemed to have guessed something. At least, he suspected something.
What does he suspect? What does he know?
“Yeah, well, a good night’s sleep helped,” Gabriel said finally.
Johnson’s slate gray gaze, which had been sweeping the water looking for something—or someone—turned towards him. “I wouldn’t have thought sleeping in a bathtub would be that restful.”
“How did you know I slept there?” Gabriel tensed. “I mean, yeah, I did—did take a bath last night and I fell asleep in the tub, but how do you know that?”
“I thought I heard the bath running last night. It woke me up, and then I heard your voice. You must have been talking to yourself.” Johnson’s gaze was opaque.
Talking to myself? Oh, shit, that was when I was INSISTING to Casillus that it was too intimate to speak through our bond. Why was I so stupid?
“Yeah, I do that sometimes. Talk to myself out loud about … about things,” Gabriel said.
Gabriel immediately shut down his mental bond with Casillus. This bond allowed them to speak to one another telepathically. He felt as though shutting it down would keep the Mer safer from Johnson somehow.
“You had a lot to talk out, then,” Johnson said.
“And you, ah, listened?” Gabriel’s mouth went dry. What had he said out loud? How much of it could Johnson make out?
Johnson dug his toes into the soft, warm sand. “You mustn’t worry. I didn’t clearly hear what you said. Just the cadence of your voice rising and falling.”
“Oh, I—I see.”
And he heard all of this from my grandmother’s bed? For a moment, Gabriel envisioned Johnson and Grace’s bodies entwined. Gah! I have to put that image out of my mind. Then again, I was doing things with Casillus that would curl their hair and we were in the tub just down the hall, so I guess we’re even.
Johnson continued on, “By the length of your conversation, I could tell that you were quite concerned about something. Is it something I could help you with?”
Help me? Gabriel’s gaze slid to the sea. It was beautiful and terrifying, and he had no idea how he was ever going to live in it for eternity. He wished he could talk to Casillus at that moment, but the silence was better. He was protecting the Mer
.
Johnson touched Gabriel’s shoulder. “I can tell you’re troubled. You don’t have to bear this burden alone.”
For one wild moment, Gabriel considered telling him. Without Casillus there to take away his doubts and fears he suddenly felt like he would explode. Johnson’s expression was almost gentle and definitely concerned. The urge to confess was so strong that Gabriel actually opened his mouth to speak, but then he saw the coldness lurking behind Johnson’s eyes. His mouth snapped shut. Revealing any of this to Johnson would be crazy. His confession would be to Corey and his grandmother, not to this ex-military man.
The only reason I even considered telling him is because I’ve cut myself off from Casillus, Gabriel realized with a start. I’m alone again and I’m not thinking straight.
Shaking himself, Gabriel said, “No, it’s nothing you can help me with. It’s something that I’ve got to deal with on my own.”
On my own … no, I’m not on my own. Casillus is with me. He’s out there. Watching. Waiting. Caring for me. And Corey and my grandmother are here for me as well. I’m not alone. Repeating that to himself helped calm down his frantic thoughts.
“But on your own, you fell asleep in a tub full of water,” Johnson pointed out.
“I—”
“You need to be more careful, Gabriel. You could drown doing something like that,” Johnson said too casually.
Gabriel found himself stepping back. He hadn’t meant to react to Johnson’s words, but he couldn’t help it. “Y—yeah, but I’m fine. Clearly, I didn’t—I didn’t drown.”
Terror had him thinking, He knows!
But what did, or could, Johnson know? That Mers existed?
His mind offered, He saw Casillus dive into the sea!
But then his mind then offered, He can’t know Mers are real even if he did see Casillus. Casillus looks just like a normal man. Albeit, an extremely beautiful, nearly naked man who disappeared under the waves and never surfaced for air …