by Holly Gunn
I am not skin and bones.
I am not flesh.
I am rain.
I am river.
I am pond.
I am not a creature of the water.
I am the water.
“Don’t let it take you, Lexie,” a voice whispers. I don’t register the voice as a human would but as water would. As though another part of our being, another part of the water is speaking to me. It’s telling me to stay the woman I am, the woman I’ve created myself to be.
I am flesh once more.
But I am also water.
It is me.
Shark may be of the water, but I am the water. I am that which surrounds him and protects him in a way.
Suddenly, I know what Sera intends to do.
She intends to remind these creatures of the home we provide, of the protection we offer. She intends to, in effect, ground these creatures of the water, offer them the surety that we have not, nor will we ever abandon them.
“I get you, Seraphina,” I whisper, my eyes no longer on the water but on bright jade-green eyes that look not like grasses or any other form of green I’ve ever seen. It’s a green that is water. I know mine are a darker ink, not bright. A black not like coal, not like slick roadways, but like the depths of the waters. Like the ink of a water creature. So dark, so deep, a place the light does not reach. Getting lost in their depths should be scary. But I feel the depths of the water now, I feel the power to its core, not letting myself get sucked in because I am still flesh. Still, I let it settle within. Who I really am: Lexie Leland, Sea witch and queen of the Shark tribe. Nothing has ever been so clear.
I smile and lower my head and speak the words that come to me, not caring how they sound. The creatures need a queen. They need the surety that their home, their waters are safe, that they won’t be taken away. I am that, that water, that ruler, that surety.
“I am here. I am your home. I am your queen.” The waters seem to struggle, to fight. The sharks gather closer. “Settle, friends,” I say to them, injecting authority and power into my voice. When you know who are, you don’t fear your power any longer. It’s just who you are, and fuck what anyone else thinks. I lean forward and still floating naturally in the water that I have become a part of, I caress and offer comforting touch to a few of the sharks. “You are safe, little ones. I am here. You are protected.”
Simple. Not weird at all. I smile. Okay, maybe a little weird to someone else, but to me? Not at fucking all.
The sharks and fish gather closer, this time not in aggression and fear, but I can sense all that they are now, the whole of who they are. Beings in schools, beings in groupings, but individuals. Souls connected. To me, to the shifters, to the plants below the waters, but also to the birds that are now circling us, singing rather than squawking warnings.
“See,” Sera says quietly. “That’s magic. Nothing cataclysmic. Just what’s natural and already in there.” Her eyes serious, she adds, “But it’s also intent. What you put out there, our gifts make our deepest wishes and desires possible. We are water, and that means we can do some pretty fucking cool things with it, like when I seem to disappear or just show up.”
I realize that what I thought about before all this, was that she’d find her peace. That bubbles up in me again, stronger.
Her face, so serious and troubled, but more free here in the water, goes slack. Then, her wide eyes on me, she tries to warn me, to say, “Lexie,” but before I can stop the bubble from expanding outward, she’s gone.
“Sera!” I cry her name, and feel the waters around me stir, coming to my call.
I can’t let the creatures within it know I’m agitated. I reach out to an eel and soothe her. “It’s okay, sweet slimy awesome beastie. She’s okay. She’s okay,” I whisper.
I know it was my wish for her, that she finds peace, that sent her away. I take comfort in that, trust in my gift, send a little prayer out to I don’t know who, and I hope I’m right.
The sound of a police siren reaches us just as the three men shift back to their human forms, their clothes coming back with them. They don’t ask about Sera. I guess we’re all used to her vanishing. Only this time, I wonder if it’s my wish that’s made her disappear. Still, I know in my gut that she’s okay. That doesn’t mean that, as soon as Rudy hands me my phone, I don’t text her.
Right after, I glance back at the men who’ve shifted. Although Shark has shared with me that they return to their human form with clothes, I feel an eensy bit jipped that I’m with three hot shifter men, and I don’t get to see any of them in their birthday suits. Being queen should totally get me perks.
When I share this with Shark, he grins, his eyes trailing my body from head to toe. I shiver, especially when those bright-blue eyes linger on my breasts then at the juncture of my thighs. The tingle from the magic subsiding rushes back, and I have the thought that water sex might be something spectacular between a shark king and a Sea witch.
“We’re so gonna have water sex,” I blurt out.
My eyes go wide.
When he pulls me forward, his lips on mine, I forget my embarrassment.
His hand is on my butt, his other is pulling my hair free of its tie and he’s running his fingers through its length.
I stand on my tip toes, grip his shoulders, dig deep with my own fingers, and hold on. In the water, I am the home. I am protector. I am the soothing water that sustains the life below. Here, though, it is my king who surrounds me, who reminds me that I am Lexie, a woman who has never felt more at home than she does in this man’s arms.
Wet tongues touching, breaths coming fast, adrenaline pumping through us, my butt held roughly and being knead in full view of the two police officers exiting their vehicle as well as my best friend and two of Shark’s best friends—I really don’t care. The whole world could be watching. Because all I know is Shark. And when his tug on my hair causes me to say, “Oh,” there’s a hardening against my belly. I reach forward but his hand stops me.
We break apart—his fault, not mine.
“Babe,” he says with a smile in his voice.
My eyes go wide. “Oh, crap.”
I glance toward Rudy, Poison, and Spider who are all smirking and biting back laughter in various ways. They’re also trying to avoid looking our way, probably because my guy has the biggest boner and I’m sure my tits are extra happy.
“You don’t need to see my best friends without their clothes on to get amazing perks, nerd,” my king whispers in my ear as he steps behind me.
“Something’s perky,” I whisper back, glancing toward his cock briefly then shifting my gaze forward, I cross my arms against my chest hiding my own perking nipples.
I twist my head around. Meet his eyes. Then bust out laughing. He watches me for a second, I sense he enjoys seeing me laugh as much I enjoy seeing him do the same. Then, his laughter joins mine. I’m snorting and laughing when the male and female officer show up.
Not a good look, I have to admit.
Me in my suit. My king at my back in only board shorts. Three other men standing next to a dead body. All of us near a part of the river that’s been closed down.
We look like a bunch of smiling, early-bird-gets-the-worm, serial killers.
I wipe the smile from my face and try to channel Sera.
Serious face.
When I hear a snort from Poison, see his gaze on me, and then a chuckle from my king, I think maybe my serious face looks ridiculous.
Fine, I’ll just be Lexie.
I point to the body and say, “It wasn’t us.”
A younger officer, female, with dyed grey hair and soft laugh lines, but not-so-friendly eyes, lifts an eyebrow.
“We know,” she says. “Got a call from a couple locals who saw a man swimming.”
She glances around. “Strange thing, the two locals who called it in also said they saw two women floating in the water, a lot of creatures surrounding them but not attacking, and …” She turns to Rudy, Poison, and Spider. �
��…a rather large spider and a wolf. As well as a man covered in birds.”
I think suddenly that I’ve never felt more surrounded by my people.
Weirdos of the world unite, I chant on the inside.
“Huh,” is my reply.
She’s not lying. Neither are the witnesses.
Shark sees something in the woman I don’t though.
“Nice eyes there, Officer.”
She holds his gaze, then her eyes finally smile, and I see the promise there fulfilled. She’s one who laughs—and often.
Her partner’s been quiet, but I see it then. Both have golden eyes, shifter-bright eyes.
“We thought it best we come. Call came out, and Tompson and I were in the area. We took the call.”
“Appreciate it,” Spider replies and reaches out his hand first to Officer Warren, then Officer Tompson, the man (it says so on his uniform).
Poison shakes their hands as well and asks, “Wolf?”
Warren and Tompson smile. “Not the kind you’re thinking of.”
It hits me. “No!” I say aloud, smacking my knee. “Wolves but not the same?” I glance back at Shark, who’s smiling but watching the officers warily. “You aren’t saying …” My voice trails. Then, I jump once. Twice. I hold out my hand and shake both of theirs—vigorously. “So, so, so, so cool! Werewolves!” I shout it then turn back to Shark. “Do you see? We’re standing next to werewolves! That … is … so … seriously … cool!” My booty shakes and I have pointer-fingers out like the dance I did the night of the bonfire.
The wariness I sensed in Shark evaporates before my eyes and he chuckles, shakes his head, and pulls me close, his hand smacking my butt. I don’t have to tell him it turns me on. I see in his eyes that he knows it has.
Good lord, I want to jump his bones.
The officers clear their throats, and I turn in Shark’s arm to face them. Warren’s smiling. Tompson’s stern face twitches. His face is about to crack. It does when I say in a serious tone and nod my head, trying to be cool, “Nice to meet you, fellow supernatural creatures of the Nashville area.”
He’s not the only one smiling. In fact, he’s not the only one laughing. They all crack up, Warren even leaning forward, her eyes wet with tears.
A few days earlier, I would have taken this to heart, would have felt their laughter as something dark and dirty, as an outward sign that I’m defective. Instead, I smile and snort.
When the laughter dies, though, it’s Warren’s serious tone that grabs my attention. She’s much better at being serious.
“As much as we’re here to stop the locals from swimming in this cordoned off area of the river. We’ve got a body that we need to call in now that the witnesses did not make us aware of, probably because they were a little distracted.”
“I’ll say,” I add. When her serious face lands on me, I say, “Oh,” and zip my lips—literally and figuratively.
She continues as if I haven’t said a word. If I hadn’t started liking the Lexie Leland I’m becoming, I’d want to be Officer Warren when I grow up. “We’ve also got to take at least one of you in as a lesson, so folks don’t think they can come here any time they get a fancy to do so. So, are we drawing straws?” She glances toward my king and I tense. “Or, since you’re the shirtless one, the only one who’s actually wet, and you’re in board shorts, we could just pull you in, give you a warning, and be done with it.”
“I’ll go,” Rudy offers.
“You just want to go because the werewolf’s hot,” I say, not thinking.
Instead of being embarrassed, Rudy totally gives the wolfman a head to toe the likes of which makes even me hot. Officer Tompson smirks and returns the perusal tit-for-tat.
I shiver and twist to say to Shark, “Totally having water sex later.” Then amend, “Or really any sex.” Pause. Another shiver hits me. “Lots of it. We may never come up for air again.”
Shark reaches up to play with my hair and says, “I’ll come.”
It takes me a second to realize he’s not being dirty. He’s telling the officers he’ll go with them.
“Do I need to put you in cuffs?” Officer Warren asks.
I say, “Totally,” at the same time Shark answers, “Well, Ma’am, I’m not really into kink.”
Spider and Poison finish the bantering with, “Liar.”
I snort.
Then, my man is hauled (or you know … walked away) by two werewolf officers who’ve also called in the body.
Shark’s driven away in the back of the cop car, his boat on the shore waiting for the officers to bring it to impound, and we escape in the large Toyota SUV Shark’s parents bring to take Spider, Poison, and I to Lion and Jules.
It hits me as the landscape of Nashville passes by in a rush, a feeling that my one-week vacation has, in fact, turned into a life. A full one. It’s not everything it will be—not yet. But it’s a start.
The back-cracking hug Jayden Irons gives me, and the firm but gentle one Oula offers, is just part of that. When we’re in the car and driving to get Jules and Lion, Poison makes comments about how much Shark’s had his hands on my ‘ass’. Spider smirks and says I’m now the queen of the sharks, but asks how I feel about being mated to a man who’s going to have a record. Rudy reiterates the story of what happened to Jayden and Oula.
I’m surrounded by family and friends, a part of something. Not outside it, looking in, observing, treating everyone as an exhibit and only getting mere moments to be a part of their world. No, I’m a part of this world.
In the back of that SUV, squished between a spider king and my best friend, I am finally, really and truly, living.
Just a few days earlier, I thought that all I wanted was a lifetime of playing, of meeting new people, of learning and laughing and strange happenings.
I wanted to live—and with these people, with my king, as Lexie Leland, the real Lexie Leland, I can.
SHARK
“Surfer boy turns ex-con. The newspapers are gonna eat that shit up, baby.”
I grin and as soon as I sign the paperwork and get the slip to pick up my impounded boat, I make my way toward my queen.
“Remember, nerd, you’re the one who’s shifter-married to that ex-con.”
“Sir, you’re not an ex-con,” the female officer says from behind the desk. Not Officer Warren, but another female. This one, human. Her tone says she’s educating us but there’s a smile there. She thinks we’re dorks. We are.
I turn the officer’s way and prove her right. “Officer …” I look at her badge, “Figueroa, I appreciate that you serve and protect and know more than I do, but a man gets out of prison, he wants the sympathy of his babe. That means milking it so he can get some post-incarceration nookie.”
“You were already getting nookie because it’s for me, too,” Lexie shares. I know it’s before she can stop herself because those black eyes of hers go wide. Then she smiles and snorts.
I turn back toward the desk when Officer Figueroa chuckles and shakes her head.
“Two hours in questioning, most of it spent drinking bad coffee and kicking back your heels. A warning not to go near the waters we’ve shut down. A $500 charge to grab your boat from impound.” Still shaking her head, she says, “None of that makes you an ex-con.”
My mock offended, “Cock blocker,” has Lexie snorting again, and the officer chuckling.
“Just stay away from the waters we’ve shut down, Mr. Irons.”
I salute her. “Ma’am, yes, Ma’am.”
“Good lord,” the older female officer says and leaves us to our moment.
I want to grab my girl and get out of there, take her to my cottage, and fuck her brains out. That’s my thought. When I glance behind her, though, the others are smirking. From their expressions, I see my best friends at least know my thoughts.
Lexie pats my chest and turns to the others, fitting into my side, her head resting against my shoulder. Close. So close, I can’t help the squeeze I give her hip. She
tilts her head up and smiles at me, her eyes shining, she says, “No nookie yet, felon.”
That look and her smile belong to me, to her life here. She’s happy. I make her happy. My friends and family make her happy.
And when I ask her tonight to stay—after giving her lots of sex and making sure she’s only coherent enough to answer the question the way I want her to—I hope that happiness remains for the rest of our days.
“See you caught one who sees things your way,” Jules comments.
“Caught one,” Lexie repeats Jules’ words with a loud laugh. She snorts and glances around. “Because he’s a shark, get it?”
“Totally can’t wait to get you and Chanty in a room together,” Jules comments.
My queen twists her head back my way. “We bonded while squished in the back of your parents’ SUV on the way here. Did you know Jules is like a thousand pounds as a lion?”
I grin and nod.
“Totally nifty,” she says in wonder, and I know she’s always going to be excited about the discoveries our world has to offer.
“What about the fact that our clothes come back with us?” Jules says. “That’s a relief.”
Lexie scrunches her nose. “Well, for you, I’m happy. But just saying”—she uses her thumb to point at me, almost poking me in the eye since my chin’s resting on her head— “it would not go badly for Shark should his clothes not come back with him.”
I bite the inside of my lip.
Jules leans forward. “That good?”
“Jules,” Lion growls.
“What, Lion-O? Stop ruining my fun. Having other girls here means I get to have more fun.”
Lion leans forward, also at his queen’s back, and says something in her ear. I think I’m the only one who can hear. We all have amazing hearing as shifters, but we also learn at a young age to whisper and keep our secrets secret. Shark sonar hearing isn’t something even shifters prepare for, though.
“That position we did earlier was fun.” He pauses and whispers against her ear, even lower, so low I almost miss it and the opportunity to razz him later in the process. “Thinking that book Chanty gave you as a wedding present, page fifteen … later.”