Making Waves (Mythological Lovers) (17 page)

After a few minutes of talking, Adon excused himself and prepared to leave.

“Adon?”

“Yes?” He paused at the door and looked back.

“There’s a man out there who claims he saw a hippocampus twenty-five years ago. He... he’s looking for you guys now, and he’s a bad man. A really bad man.” I frowned. I had a terrible suspicion about the identity of the diver who had killed Dante’s mother. Was it safe to share it with them?

“Teo warned us. We are keeping close to his island.”

Dante showed up at the door five days later with unshelled scallops and a bouquet of flowers. He barely dropped his gifts in time to catch me; I’d leapt into his arms and peppered his face with kisses.

“You look so much better,” I admired between our soft kisses. “I was so worried.”

“Forgive me, Alessa.”

“Already done. I’m just glad you’re all right again.”

Sometime after I tired of kissing my man, I collected my net of scallops and placed my bruised bouquet in water. Dante wandered in with Phoebe in his arms.

“She has grown so much in a week,” he marveled. Phoebe squirmed in his hold, gave him a gummy smile, then promptly filled her diaper.

“Here, I’ll go change her,” I offered while giggling at Dante’s bewildered expression. “In fact, I’ll get her into the bath while I’m at it.”

“Okay. I’ll start shucking the scallops.”

“Silly girl,” I cooed. I cleaned her while the tub filled.

“Dad told me you guys had a long talk!” Dante called from the kitchen.

“We did. I’ll tell you everything about it when I’m out.”

Soothing water surrounded my ankles once I stripped and stepped in the foaming bath. I cuddled Phoebe close and squatted to dip one wrist into the water. Perfect. We both lowered into the warm suds, and I settled her against me.

“Isn’t this nice, Phoebe?”

My red-haired baby splashed and flailed, kicking up water against the cream-colored tiles and over the edge of the tub. I tried to hold on to her without success as she became a slippery mass of wriggling limbs. And tail. Seal fur and sleek scales. She dove away from me toward my toes and I screamed.

“Dante! Come here!”

My shrieks called Dante to us. His footsteps thundered through my living room floor and he burst into the open doorway, his eyes wild with worry.

“What’s wrong? What happened?”

When he saw her, his features transformed from terror to astonishment. Wonder filled his handsome features as he stepped forward to kneel beside the tub. We watched together as Phoebe barrel rolled in the water and tested out her flipper like front legs. Her little tail splashed.

Thank God I used the sensitive bubble bath, and not much of it,
I thought, suddenly worrying for my baby’s scales. Her scales. My baby had scales. All along, we knew there was the likelihood of her changing at some point and taking her non-human body, but I’d thought she would be older.

She’d gone from a helpless infant, completely dependent on me, to an energetic and eager water foal. I cried. Tears of happiness and sorrow, an odd contrasting mix of my welling emotions, fell down my face while I watched her explore the water and eventually return to me. Big, blue eyes gazed into my face with recognition and love.

“She’s radiant,” Dante murmured. He’d been so silent beside us I almost forgot he was there.

His observation drew attention to her tail. Golden scales faded to fiery-red streaked with purple at the end of the fan like a magnificent sunrise. A tiny tuft of red mane decorated her graceful neck before and behind her sparkling dorsal fin.

“She’s much smaller than the foals born in the water, but I think she’ll be ready for the ocean soon. Maybe ready in time for our departure this year.”

And with his words, my heart broke. I was no more ready to let her go than I was to see my new husband leave.

~Dante~

P
hoebe took to the water as if she’d lived in it since birth. Her natural instincts kicked in, but I had to convince Alessa to allow a practice trip to Teo’s island without the boat.

Her solution was to snorkel beside us, and together we frolicked under the waves while chasing colorful fish. Phoebe delighted in all manner of play favored by our youngest foals, but she especially loved our cuddles and the kisses we gave her along the way. The amazing transition between cooing infant to semi-independent foal amazed both of us.

Her thoughts came as childish babble to me, incoherent syllables that would one day form the basic components of our native language. I talked back to her as was common among our kind, while Alessa swam on oblivious to our chatter. I watched both of them as my heart welled with pride.

It took us a little less than a half hour to reach the shallow waters bordering Teo’s Island. Alessa scooped up our wriggling foal, and as I emerged, I caught sight of Marcy and Teo picnicking on the beach with their son. The trio greeted us with enthusiastic waves.

“Oh my God. But she’s so young!” Marcy exclaimed. “How did this happen?”

Alessa explained while I sprawled across the shore and allowed Teo’s son to crawl onto my back. I’d been giving him rides since he was old enough to clutch my mane. Remaining in my hippocampus form, I chuckled and pulled my large body across the gritty sand.

Phoebe squirmed until Alessa released her to join me. She watched at first but appeared eager to emulate my actions. She tried to keep pace on her slender forelegs and delicate flippers while the tropical sun warmed our wet bodies.

“I wonder if her ability to change coincides with the herd’s return,” Marcy murmured.

Teo stroked his chin. “It’s possible. If we had placed Javier in a challenging situation, he may have changed at a younger age.”

“But I didn’t put her in a challenging situation. I only put her in the bath tub. Christ, it wasn’t even salt water, Teo,” Alessa said. “Now she’s swimming alongside us.” Suddenly, Alessa looked ill. “What if she won’t become my baby again?”

“She will,” Marcy assured her. “She’ll always be your baby. If she’s anything like Javier, or my friend’s daughter, Astrid, she’ll change back when she’s ready to nap.”

Marcy’s words appeared to soothe Alessa and I was never more grateful for such good friends. When it was time for the herd to leave again, this time with Phoebe and myself, I knew my wife wouldn’t be alone.

Bored with me, or maybe more interested in my daughter, Javier abandoned my back and plopped down beside Phoebe instead. His brown limbs elongated, skin becoming raven hued scales. The young dragon shook out his feathered wings then pounced forward.

“You have to be very gentle with Phoebe, Javier. She’s only a baby,” Marcy coached him. Because dragon half-breeds aged slower than human babies, Marcy’s five-year-old didn’t appear to be more than a young toddler in his human form. He and Teo had similar smells, the scent of wild earth I associated with black dragons.

The shy dragonling touched noses with Phoebe and smelled her. Equally curious, Phoebe butted her small head against his snout.

“It’s a shame Astrid isn’t here to play with them. We’ll have to arrange a playdate,” Marcy said.

Dragons, playing with my child. A few hundred years ago, we would have been food for them.
The thought prompted me to take my human shape so I could grin and laugh, pleased with the idea.

“What’s so funny, Dante?” Alessa asked.

“Time has changed so much, is all. I think a playdate is an excellent idea. Phoebe should know other special children like her.”

We played until the kids exhausted themselves. Phoebe sought out Alessa, ready to nurse, and took her human form. She fell asleep within minutes, cradled in her mother’s arms.

“Why don’t you two stay here tonight?” Teo invited.

“Yes, please,” Marcy added. She sat beneath a palm tree, Javier asleep in lap.

“I’d really like that, thanks.” Alessa smiled and looked to me for my thoughts on the matter.

“I would as well, but while you all rest I’m going to go check in with the herd. I can’t wait to tell dad about her first change. He’ll want to come see her.”

“I believe they are out on the reefs, Dante,” Teo told him. “I saw them heading out earlier today during a swim.”

True to the dragon’s word, I came across my people out past the reefs. A third of the herd had ventured out to graze in the open water, searching for crabs, urchins, and luscious sea grass. My father stood out, a shining beacon of golden scales, observing the feeding mares and youngsters.

“Dante, you’ve come.” Adon glided toward me. We rubbed our muzzles in affectionate greeting.

“Phoebe made her first change today. I thought you would like to know.”

Pleasure radiated through our mental link. “Good, good. We will go see her together after everyone is fed.”

The ocean above us suddenly thrived with food. Our world became saturated with delicious morsels of salmon and shelled clam, inducing a feeding frenzy unlike anything I’d ever witnessed.

I refused to give in to the feeder’s instinct and held back to watch. As a rule, lactating mares and foals ate first while the rest of us circled like sharks from below, prepared to ward off any predators hoping to ascend from the ocean depths. The guard had always eaten last, but now we were dispersed throughout and protection of our most helpless herdmates was everyone’s responsibility.

Wait. Why is there so much fish? Where’d it all come from?

The storm of fish continued to fill the waters from above. The shadow of the boat carried past.

“No! Wait! It’s a net!”

My warning came too late. Netting sliced through the water and took most of our meal with it. And countless mares. Our foals. The ones who escaped the trap screamed in panic and went rushing into the ocean depths.

I broke surface and watched the boat continue on its course, my mind filled with the terrified screams of hippocampi women and children. The trawl net dragged them along as helpless prisoners. I dove under again as Hyrum reached me.

“Dante, what’s happening?”

“Do you remember the boat we saw to the east years ago? The large fishing vessel?”

“Yes, I recall,” Hyrum said.

“This is a bigger version of it. It was made to capture sharks! We won’t be able to free them on our own,” I said.

“What can I do?”

“Go to the dragon’s island and tell Alessa we need help!”

~Alessa~

As much as I loved the sight of Phoebe in her other form, I preferred her pink skin and silken baby curls.

Teo, ever the sweet man, excused himself to allow us girls some time to chat amongst ourselves.

“Teo, I didn’t mean to intrude on your family picnic,” I began, only for him to smile and shake his head.

“No. It is no trouble at all. I intended to leave sometime this afternoon to make a visit to the mainland. I plan to visit a friend over a certain matter of piracy.” The corner of his mouth raised in a smirk. “And to make a bribe or several to guarantee my orders will be carried out.”

With our invitation secured for chilling in the cabana on the shore, I relaxed on a reclining lounge chair and napped until Kekoa arrived with cold drinks and light snacks. As I was raising my piña colada to my lips, my ears picked up the sound of a frantic cry. A horse’s cry, deep and terrified.

Fear twisted my belly into a nauseating knot, ruining my taste for the alcoholic beverage. I set it aside and rose from my seat in time to see the top of an equine head. Hyrum rushed across the stretch of beach and neighed once more with his head raised high.

“Hyrum! We’re over here!” I called back. I waved with my arm in the air and moved to intercept him.

We met in the middle as he shifted to his human body. A volley of Phoenician spilled from his mouth, all of them gibberish save for a single word: “Emergency.”

“What happened? Slow down,” I coaxed him in his language.

He shook his head and bent over with his hands on his knees, his face was flushed and he appeared exhausted. “Human boat... nets,” he panted out in English. “Boat take mares. Take children. Dante plead you hurry. Need help.”

“I’ll go find Teo,” Marcy said, her brown eyes huge in her face

“I don’t have time for you to locate Teo, Marcy. Hyrum says it’s urgent! If it’s poachers taking their mares, it has to be Castlebury.”

Marcy groaned. “Ugh. We should have known he wouldn’t give up.”

“I’m going with Hyrum now. Maybe I can talk reason into Castlebury or stall until help arrives. Sent Teo if you can find him quickly.”

“I’ll get on the phone and alert the authorities, too. Fishing of any kind around Teo’s islands is prohibited.”

“They could be gone by the time someone gets there.” I kissed Phoebe’s chubby cheek and breathed in her baby sweet scent. “I’ll be back, precious. I promise I’ll be back.” After passing my infant to Marcy, I hurried alongside Hyrum to the sandy bank.

“Do you really think that asshole is going to listen to you?” Marcy demanded.

I shook my head. “No. But I can’t stand by and do nothing either.”

“We can send Kekoa—”

“This is my
family
,” I cried back to her over my shoulder. “I’m going.”

Kekoa shook his head. “I will go with you to give whatever help I can offer.”

Hyrum took me on a blindingly fast ride beneath the surface. Underwater scenery flew past me in a blur of colors and shapes, quicker than the swim I’d taken with Dante. He didn’t slow until we reached the location where the herd encountered the fishing boat. From the surface, I shaded my eyes and searched, but there was no sign of the trawler.

We both sensed it at the same time. “East!” I cried, pointing with one hand as he twisted in the water. Instinct tugged at my mind and heart, telling me where to go.

It didn’t take us long to find them. Startled cries and panicked voices carried to us on the ocean wind. In the distance, I saw the ship under attack. Adon sailed through the air and landed on the deck where he swung his massive tail at one of the poachers. They looked like a well-equipped mercenary squad, all hard men with muscles and armed with harpoon guns.

He fought like a beast from hell despite his disadvantage on solid ground, crushing one man beneath his heavy bulk. As another man backed to the railing and raised his weapon, Dante heaved himself up, grasped the man by the shoulder, and dragged him to a watery death. Shouts in Spanish called for them to kill the sea monsters.