Making Waves (Mythological Lovers) (8 page)

“I still want to do this, Dante, but I think we need to clear some things up,” I said.

“I’m listening.” He plucked at the hem of my t-shirt, having a look before I could swat his hand away.

Damn. He saw.
“So, while your, uh, alpha male thing is sorta hot, you can’t just show up whenever you feel like it for a quickie.”

“Who said it would have been quick?” Dante grinned.

Double damn.

Obviously quickie wasn’t in his vocabulary. Sometime later, deep into the afternoon, he had reduced me to a sweaty and limp pile of useless limbs. Sprawled facedown on my bed with Dante stretched out beside me, I was reminded of my dream. He stroked his warm hand over my back while I drifted in and out of consciousness. Each time I dozed off I startled awake, only to find he was still beside me.

“My willpower is weak,” I mumbled against the pillow. “I was going to resist you.”

Dante peppered kisses across my shoulders. “Come out with me for a swim. I want to make it up to you for yesterday.”

“I can’t even move off the bed and you want to swim?” I laughed and managed to flop over onto my back. “Besides, I think I’m supposed to lay here and let your guys have their chance. Tomorrow?”

“I’ll give you an hour.”

“Masochist.”

Dante leaned down and kissed me. “I’ll settle for a movie at IMAX, but tomorrow, you have to let me put you on a board.”

Noooooooo,
I thought. “I don’t have the balance for that!

“You’re in luck because I happen to be an excellent teacher.”

~Dante~

I
looked forward to every passing moment with Alessa.  We visited each other every day and made love frequently, but I could never kiss her enough to sate the ache she created in my heart.

The inner stallion in me wanted more than sensual matings in her bed, and every time I caught her performances at the mermaid tank, the drive to claim her grew more irresistible.

I didn’t know how long I could last. How long I’d have the restraint to keep the wild beast in me at bay. The past weeks had been both heaven and hell, worsened when she revealed our first attempt at pregnancy ended in failure. With no alternative, we tried again.

“How do you know she doesn’t want it?” Teo asked me. Swimming no longer distracted me from the pressing need to make Alessa mine, so I’d abandoned my trunks and weighed them to the bottom of the ocean with a rock before hurrying to Teo’s island. My father’s useless proclamations rang in my ears, making me desperate for advice from a man who would understand.

Feline eyes peered at me from the thick foliage bordering the garden where we chatted. Teo’s free range jaguars always kept out of sight whenever I visited; I hadn’t yet earned their trust. Or they were waiting for me to let down my guard to eat me. I hoped it was the former.

Bright pink hibiscus bloomed from several bushes and the sweet smell of orchids floated on the balmy afternoon breeze. Behind us, a hot spring pool gently bubbled. Teo’s home was an island paradise.

“While you have the privilege of living beside your mate every day of the year, I’m not so fortunate, Teo. I’ll be away in the ocean half of our lives. No woman wants that.”

“Allow her to make her own decision,” Teo insisted. “A smart woman knows what she wants, and Alessa is no exception.”

Teo’s mate arrived bearing a tray in her hands. The voluptuous human woman wore a scarlet sundress, neatly coiffed black waves against her bare shoulders. For her comfort, Teo and Kekoa kept spare clothes around for shapeshifting visitors. I wore a modest pair of board shorts and a big smile when the scent of sugar and vanilla reached my nose.

“Are you boys hungry?”

“Cookies?” Teo straightened in his seat, resembling an eager school child.

“I couldn’t help but overhear the conversation but...” Marcy bit her lower lip. “I think my husband is right this time. This rare, singular time,” she repeated for emphasis while lowering a plate of still warm cookies in front of the dragon. He sulked until she set the glass of milk beside them.

“Where is Javier?” I twisted around and searched for their little boy. I’d given the child a ride in the water a week ago and found myself longing even more for a foal of my own. I hoped for a little colt with Alessa’s gray eyes.

“Down for his nap,” Marcy replied. “Otherwise he’d be out here eating all the cookies with his daddy. Don’t worry, I saved him some.”

“In that case.” I helped myself to several cookies from the plate. They were warm and gooey, filled with cheesecake and caramel centers. The sweet delights melted on my tongue.

“Anyway.” Marcy ran her fingers over Teo’s hair, combing her slim digits through his shoulder-length waves. “You men need to trust us to know what we want sometimes. Don’t make decisions without consulting with us.”

I washed down a couple more cookies with my glass of milk. “How long has it been since you both became mated?”

“Nearly ten years now,” Marcy said happily. Teo swept the woman into his lap and fed her a cookie. They were the definition of contentment, the kind of peace any shifter would aspire to possess for himself.

“I have no regrets about the path our lives have taken together,” Teo said.

I wanted a semblance of his life for my own. Hours later, when leaving their home after dinner, the ocean raised my hopeless spirits and carried me toward the resort. Thoughts of Alessa weighed heavily on my mind, along with my inner beast’s yearning to make her mine and to be owned by her in return.

***

M
y stallion’s possessive and jealous nature made attending Alessa’s shows unsafe for the people around me. For the third time in a row, I missed her performance, but this time, I had a damned good reason. A surprise for her. The girls all squealed when I cracked the dressing room door open to shout inside.

“Keep your swimsuit on, Alessa! We have plans!”

“Dante!” She popped into view and squeezed outside to shove her palm against my chest. The color flushing her cheeks matched her hair. “Do you
mind,
pervert?”

“I didn’t step
inside
,” I grumbled. “I didn’t think you’d hear me through the door.”

“I would have heard you loud and clear.”

My eyes swept over her body, lush curves, thick thighs, and rounded hips perfect for childbearing. The green bikini bottom snugly clung to her fair skin. I hardened in seconds.

“Maybe I couldn’t wait to see you.”

“Maybe you need to learn to wait a few minutes,” she shot back. Her voice softened and a smile crept onto her face. “Why do I need my suit on?”

“Because, despite how much I’d like you to be without it right now, I want to introduce you to some of my friends.” I set my hands on her hips and squeezed, enjoying the pliable flesh beneath my fingers.

“We have most of the same friends, Dante.”

“No.
My
friends.”

When the understanding dawned on Alessa’s face, her mouth formed a small ‘o’ of surprise. “Let me grab my stuff then.”

After a stop by her house for her to dump her belongings and fetch her digital camera, we headed down to the dock and borrowed Teo’s spare boat. He’d given us permission to meet on the cove at his personal island. Less than a half hour later, we reached Teo’s dock and I moored the boat in place.

“You ready?”

“I’m not sure. Do they know you’re bringing a human?”

“They know everything about you,” I confirmed.

Alessa shot me a skeptical look then we made our way onto the wooden dock and across the sand. With her camera secured in an expensive, waterproof case, she’d hoped to capture the afternoon with us magical creatures in digital form.

I’d never allowed anyone to photograph me before, but I knew my father would flip his shit if he found out.

Screw him,
I seethed internally.
Let her take a hundred photos.

“Dante? You okay?”

“Hm?”

“You looked...” She gestured helplessly with a hand, a worried expression causing her lips to press together in a thin line. “Upset.”

“I’m fine.”

“No, you’re n—mmph.”

I kissed her, hard. Pressing my fingers against her ass, holding her tight against me, letting her feel the hard-on she could inspire with only a press of her lips alone. Thinking about my father dampened the mood, but being with her chased away his unjust expectations. I palmed one full breast and slipped my hand between it and the bikini triangle cupping her flesh. She moaned into my mouth, question forgotten and her lust unmistakable.

Breaking the kiss, I turned my lips to her throat and skimmed my mouth down the slender column. “They don’t have clothes. Is that okay with you?”

“Okay, so cove full of naked hotties. Gotcha. Oh, yeah... fine with me,” she breathed out.”

I pinched her nipple, earning another quiet moan. “Can you remember that we won’t hurt you?” Alessa’s body was so damned responsive I couldn’t stop touching her, and skin to skin contact had become an addiction.

“I trust you, and if they’re your friends, I trust them... but...” She trailed her fingers over my cock. The hard length jumped beneath her fingers and eagerly twitched. “We’re never going to make it to the cove if you keep doing this.”

“I’ll stop,” I said, chagrined. The guys would beat me to the bottom of the ocean and bury my corpse in the sand if I didn’t make good on my promise to let them meet an actual human. One of them had no experience whatsoever with his human body, but they were all eager, as if
she
were the mythical creature that belonged in fairy tales.

Somehow, I managed to cool off along the walk to the cove. With her hand in mine, she chattered about the show, how well the female audience members responded to the addition of two mermen, and how much she’d secretly missed playing the part of the mermaid princess.

“Alessa?”

“Hmm?”

“There’s something I want to try, and I know it’s going to sound crazy to you.”

“Is this a baby making thing? I told you not to get discouraged. My period isn’t due again for another week so we’ll know soon.”

“No. It’s not about that exactly. Loosely related but not entirely.”

Alessa peered up at me. “What then?”

“I want to...” Licking my lips nervously, I searched for the words to voice my desires. “I want to make you mine, but if you accept it, it’s kind of a one-way road for me.”

“Yours?”

“It’s a soul bond meant for mates, like the mark on Marcy’s shoulder.”

“She told me he bit her.” Alessa raised one hand to her bare shoulder and touched the flawless skin. “Would you bite me there, too?”

I shook my head. “No. We don’t bite. That’s a dragon thing.”

“And she said it’s like being married. So... are you asking me to marry you?”

My heart hammered against my chest. “In the only way my kind do it, yes.”

Alessa was quiet for the next few steps, her expression contemplative. “So, how does it work?”

“I’ve never done it, but everyone says it comes naturally once the beast takes over.”

“Do you mind if I think on it for a little while? I mean, in case I have something else I want to ask you about it?”

“Of course,” I replied. The last thing I wanted was to rush her. “Look, I see Hyrum and Lycus. They’re both a little unfamiliar with their human bodies, so you’ll have to excuse them if they don’t greet you on two legs.”

“How many friends are coming? You never said.”

“Hyrum and Lycus are on the rear guard with me, but Zeno and Helena are mated.”

A worried expression flickered across her face. “She’s not going to hate me for stealing you away from the herd is she?”

“Oh no. Most mares are friendly,” I explained. “They may be choosy, but they’re not unkind. These two would have brought their foal, but they’re unsure of you.”

“A foal...” She gazed dreamily at the water, clutching the Nikon resting against her abdomen. It dangled from the black nylon strap secured around her neck. “I see them!”

Four equine heads rose from the waves, leading powerful frames made for cutting effortlessly through the waves. Hyrum, a six-year veteran of the rear guard, fearlessly came ashore first. Like me, his pelt was in darker shades, but dappled gray and black swirled with hints of white.

Alessa squealed and adjusted her camera lens. It clicked, focused, clicked, and focused anew with each photo of the hippocampi emerging from the ocean. “Oh my God. He looks like a horse! Like a stallion with fins! Are these flippers or hooves? What do you call them? Can I touch him?” She whirled to face me. “Is it okay to touch him? Is that breaking a rule?”

I translated her request to Phoenician then my bold friend moved across the sand on his flippers. Our hooves varied from our land counterparts. Instead, they flattened out into a webbed, flipper shape to help us propel in the water. Lacking hind legs, his barrel-shaped equine ribcage tapered to a scaled, sapphire blue fishtail packed with muscle. Hyrum lacked a dorsal fin, and for that reason, he’d been found unsuitable for mating by our eligible fillies.

While the other three hung in the shallow surf, he marched up to her and dipped his head in respect.

“He’s telling you it’s okay.”

A trembling hand raised to touch the black fur covering Hyrum’s equine face. The stallion remained still, taking my warning to heart. I’d told them all she was shy and had never met a supernatural creature before up close and personal except for the island’s owner.

Then Zeno had demanded to know why I’d never let her see me.

Because I’m terrified. Because if she sees the real me, that I’m a sea monster, she won’t want me anymore. I’ll lose her.

“His fur feels like sealskin... Oh my God, oh my God.” Alessa repeated herself over and over while running her fingers over Hyrum’s mane. He soaked up the attention while I watched, jealous and wanting to be in his place instead.

Maybe she can love me and see I’m still
her
Dante under all the fur and scales.

“He’s magnificent. Thank you.” Alessa’s smile lit up her entire face. Watching her flooded my heart with joy and an undeniable urge to throw off my clothes and show her my stallion.