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CHAPTER EIGHT

NISHA WATCHED as the redheaded merman swam away. The wound his friend inflicted wasn’t much—just bad enough to make a point that this was Nisha’s territory. The only males he allowed here were friends.

The temptation to go after him was great, but now wasn’t the time. Besides, he had more pressing matters, namely the human swimming hell-for-leather toward the shore. With a flip of his tail, he took off after Kannon. Kannon was still a good, strong swimmer.

His mate was still over his head when Nisha grabbed his ankle. The suddenness of the action pulled Kannon under. Kannon twisted around. Nisha threw up his hands, hoping to show he meant no harm.

Pulling him under had been an accident. He hadn’t meant to do that. Sometimes he forgot the humans weren’t as strong as his kind in the water. Kannon surfaced, and Nisha followed him up. As they bobbed in the water, the other merman and Brooke slowly swam toward them. Brett had his arms around both their shoulders.

The glare Kannon flashed at Nisha should’ve left him writhing on the ocean floor. Finally Nisha sighed, tired of the stare-off. “Kannon, I need you to remain calm. I’m not going to hurt you. Surely you know—”

“Holy shizzballs, you can speak like… like… like that?” Kannon blurted.

Bewildered, Nisha could only gape at Kannon. “Of course I can speak. Why wouldn’t I be able to speak? You speak.”

“Ah… ah…ah…” Kannon’s eyes widened as he treaded water.

“Should I assume just because you’re human you can’t swim?” Nisha hiked a perfectly shaped blue eyebrow at Kannon, who just happened to be treading water.

Kannon blinked at Nisha. “I-ah… yeah, okay. Um, you’re part fish. So no, I wasn’t expecting you to speak in perfectly clear English like that. Whatever was I thinking?”

A strangled cough came from behind Kannon, and he swung around to face the other merman who was helping Brooke and Brett to the shore. Nisha also looked at his friend. Marcus had the same long blue hair and pointed ears as himself, but his eyes were a pale, pale blue. He had a scar that ran through his right eyebrow.

“Yes, I can speak also. I know my ABCs and 123s, and—”

“Marcus, behave,” Nisha warned.

Kannon swung back toward him.

“Just pointing out I can speak. Oh. Forgot to mention I know my colors too.” Marcus flashed a toothy grin.

Kannon jerked his head back toward the other merman. “Um...”

Nisha rolled his eyes.

“And there goes the eye roll,” Brooke added.

Nisha huffed. “Both of you just stop. Marcus, Kannon’s freaked out enough without you acting stranger than normal. Don’t scare him.”

“A little late for that,” Kannon muttered then glanced at Brett. “Are you going to be okay?”

“Got some gnarly blisters, but basically, yeah,” Brett affirmed.

“Good. Good, I’m really glad to hear that. Seeing you stuck down there like that scared me silly. I was worried you might drown.” Kannon eyed Brett’s neck. “Guess I shouldn’t have been, though. Cool breathing apparatus you got there. Care to explain the new look?”

“Well… dammit,” Brett huffed. “You weren’t supposed to find out this way, but it’s too late to worry about that now.”

“I’ll say,” Kannon retorted.

“Brooke and I mated about a year ago. It’s a long story, and I really don’t want to go into it here, in the middle of the ocean—”

“Just so you know, I’m not exactly having a blast out here either.”

“—I can breathe underwater now thanks to being Brooke’s mate.”

“I see,” Kannon said. “Well no, actually I don’t, but that’s a discussion for later. So you knew she was a mermaid?”

“Yes,” Brett said. “Actually I found out not long after we met.”

“Uh-huh. Did you know Nisha was a merman too?”

“Yes, yes I did,” Brett plunged ahead. “But—”

“Did you know he was the one who attacked me fifteen years ago?” Kannon demanded.

Brett looked at Nisha then Kannon. “Well—”

“Now wait a minute.” Nisha shot a quick look at Kannon. “I wouldn’t exactly call what I did—”

“Attack?” Stunned, Marcus glanced at Nisha. “You attacked—”

“—I do now, but I didn’t then,” Brett hastened to add. “Brooke told me when she revealed she was a mermaid.”

“I see.” Kannon launched himself across the water at Brett. “You son of a bitch! You knew, you knew , and you never told me? After all these years?”

There was a mad scramble as Kannon tackled Brett.

“I couldn’t tell you,” Brett yelled as Kannon grabbed him by the shoulders. Both of them went under the waves. Brooke screeched, Marcus laughed, and Nisha swore loudly as all of them dove down and tried to separate Kannon and Brett.

After several minutes Kannon, being the only one who couldn’t breathe underwater, had to surface.

“Why? Why didn’t you tell me?” Kannon demanded.

“He couldn’t,” Brooke answered. “You… you had no ties to us, so it was forbidden.”

Nisha immediately wrapped his arms around Kannon. He was glad to see Kannon didn’t struggle, even though he shot a truly horrendous death glare over his shoulder at Nisha.

“Are you sure you want to do this now? In the water?” Nisha asked as he let go of Kannon. “Besides, while I understand your anger, Brooke needs to treat Brett’s blisters.”

“Fine. We’ll talk about this once we’re out of the water. It’s not like this is the most comfortable place for me.” Kannon threw another glare over his shoulder at Nisha. “Thanks to you.”

It was all Nisha could do not to cringe. “I am sorry for that, Kannon. I promise I will explain what happened that day, and why I did what I did just as soon as we get out of the water.”

“Yeah, can’t wait to hear this.” Kannon set off toward the shore.

Brett looked at Nisha. “He’s mad.”

“You think?” Brooke snapped. “I don’t think I could have devised a worse scenario for him to find out.”

Marcus snorted. “We might want to talk about this later. Nisha, your human is leaving us behind.”

Nisha sighed silently as the four of them trailed slowly behind Kannon. Unfortunately Kannon hadn’t given them an opportunity to explain they couldn’t just walk out of the water like he could.

The public beach was much too visible. Brooke and Marcus took Brett to a nearby cove that had a cave which was only assessable by water. Nisha went as far as he could toward the shore, and then stopped. Once Kannon was on the sandy beach, he turned and glanced back out at the ocean.

Nisha called from the water. “I’ll meet you back at your bungalow.”

“You’re not going to… Oh, I… I didn’t stop to think about… Know what? Why don’t you just not? I’ve had about all I can handle tonight.”

“We need to talk, Kannon. This can’t wait. Give me twenty minutes, and I’ll meet you at your bungalow.”

Kannon threw his hands in the air. “Why even bother asking if you’re going to do it anyway? Fine. Guess I don’t have much of a choice. Not that I’ve had much so far. I’ll see you there.”

NISHA CUT through the dark water, swimming swiftly toward the cove. He needed to transform and get to Kannon’s bungalow as fast as possible. Kannon’s last words scared him. Kannon made it very clear he didn’t wish to speak to him, but at this point that wasn’t an option.

He understood Kannon felt he was pushing, but the last thing Kannon needed was time to think. He spotted the entrance to the underwater cave and darted to it. The cave wasn’t all that large, not like the one closer to his above water home, and it had a small opening at the top that let a little light inside.

There was a beach and room for a small boat. He surfaced and quickly made his way to the shallows. He hauled his body out of the water and beached himself. Now all he had to do was wait.

He truly hated this part, but he fanned his tail with his hands to hurry along the process. Like that’s going to do any good. The color of his tail lightened, signifying his skin was drying out. More time passed, and he struggled with his impatience.

Bracing his elbows against the sand, he leaned back and prepared himself for the tearing to start. Come on, come on, come on. The bottom of his tail tingled then ripped . Fuck! The pain made him queasy, but he held on. Luckily the process never lasted long.

The flipper part of his tail split, and the tear continued up his body. Minutes crept by as the two parts separated and slowly morphed into human legs. His fins devolved into feet, and finally the transformation ended.

He was up and heading toward some rocks on the small beach that hid several waterproof bags. One contained clothes. He fished out a pair of shorts and sandals. Once dressed, he used the passage which led upward to a hidden opening in a cave... on land.

It was one of the reasons he and the ones allowed in his territory used this cave. The passage gave them more options, and reduced the risk of discovery when they transformed. He hurried to Kannon’s bungalow. The moon had now dipped behind clouds, and darkness shrouded the landscape.

As he drew closer, he heard the sounds of a scuffle and harsh, panting grunts. Oh no. No, no, no! The sound of a fist hitting skin reached his ears, and he picked up his pace. He darted around the side of the bungalow. Through the glass he saw Kannon fighting with the redheaded merman.

Horrified, he hurried up the steps and exploded into the living area. “Cree! Let him go, now!”

“I don’t think so.” Cree dodged Kannon’s fist and grabbed his arm. He swung Kannon around and pulled him close, locking them together in a parody of an embrace. “You refused me the right to mate with your sister. Gave her to a damn human, of all things. A human .”

“I didn’t give Brooke to anyone.” Nisha froze. Last thing he wanted was for Cree to continue to hurt Kannon. “Brett was who she wanted, not you.”

“So what? Humans are worthless, weak. She could have mated me and kept him on the side. I’d have been fine with that as long I could play with him too.”

“He’s straight, you overgrown blowfish,” Kannon snarled, twisting in Cree’s arms.

“Like that matters,” Cree hissed as he stilled Kannon with a sharp twist of his arm. Cree glared at Nisha. “Why you even gave her a choice is beyond me. She’s a female.”

“That right there is why I refused you permission to mate her,” Nisha growled. “She deserves better. Even if she hadn’t found Brett, I still would’ve refused you permission.”

“You mean… you mean to tell me that—”

“Even sea slugs are too good for you. That’s what I mean.”

Cree screeched. “A sea slug? How dare you! Too good for me, huh? Well then.” Cree looked at Kannon, smirked, and then licked his cheek. “Mmm. He tastes good.”

Nisha snarled and stepped closer. “Let. Him. Go.”

“Now, now.” Cree flashed his sharp teeth at Nisha. “Wouldn’t take much to rip his throat out. He’s a pretty little thing too, isn’t he? Imagine my shock when I heard that not only had you marked a human as yours, you hadn’t finished the ritual. Of course I had to investigate.”

“He has nothing to do with this.”

“Nothing to do with this? Are you suffering from dolphin pox? He has everything to do with this. You denied me the right to have your sister, so I think I’ll deny you the right to this human.”

Spinning, the redheaded merman tossed Kannon up against the nearest wall and pinned him there with his body. Kannon yelled as he crashed into the wall. Cree buried his hand in Kannon’s hair and jerked his head to the side as he bared his teeth. He leaned closer to Kannon’s neck and Kannon struggled furiously, but it did no good.

“No!” Nisha barreled across the room and flung his body at the two against the wall.

A red haze obscured his vision and blood pounded in his veins. Anger flooded his body. The need to rip—to decimate anyone or anything that threatened what was his—consumed him. All he could hear was a roaring in his ears as he grabbed hold of Cree. Nothing made sense, nothing but the sheer driving need to save his mate.

With a mighty heave, he threw the other merman across the room. “You dare to touch what’s mine? I will kill you for that alone!”

Cree’s body slammed into another wall in the bungalow then dropped to the floor. There was an indention from where he hit. Snarling, Nisha stomped across the floor, hoisted Cree by his long red hair, and wrapped it around his fist.

He used that to drag Cree out of Kannon’s bungalow. Cree immediately clawed at Nisha’s hands, yelling painfully and kicking his legs. The sound was sharp and screeching, but Nisha couldn’t understand him for the pounding in his head.

All he could hear was kill, kill, kill . But he couldn’t do that on the land. At least, not the way he wanted. He needed to be in his merman form to be able to use the defensive spikes that came from his clenched fist.

“Nisha!”

Somewhere in the middle of his rage a voice called to him.

“ Nisha ! Stop!”

Hissing, he stopped pulling Cree behind him and turned back to the voice calling to him. There in the doorway of the bungalow, backlit by the lights in the living area, stood Kannon.

“Please.”

Nisha looked down at Cree and then back up at Kannon.

Kannon held out his hand. “ Please ?”

It was a no-brainer. He let go of Cree’s hair and the vague sound of Cree’s head hitting the ground broke through his rage. His mate needed him and nothing else mattered. Emotions bubbling, he trekked back to Kannon. He clasped Kannon’s hand and everything in his world righted and made sense once again.

“Are you okay?”

Nisha grunted.

Kannon glanced out to where Cree struggled upon to his knees. “Um, what about him?”

Nisha turned around and looked at Cree. Human words were beyond him now thanks to his anger. Sharp, shrill clicking noise came from his throat, and Kannon slapped his hands over his ears. Cree struggled to his feet and sprinted toward the water.

He hoped he hadn’t made a huge mistake letting Cree go and clutched Kannon closer. Now that the red haze of anger had cleared way, another need rose fiercely to take its place. Holding Kannon in his arms, he turned his mate around and quickly picked him up.

Kannon grabbed hold of Nisha’s neck. “W-what are you doing?”

He grunted again, wishing Kannon could understand his native language. A tumble of emotions rolled through him, forcing the more primitive side of his nature to take over. The predator in him chanted mine, mine, mine . The desire to claim ruled his mind.

He wouldn’t allow any more threats to Kannon. He’d waited fifteen years—he wasn’t waiting any longer. The fact he hadn’t properly claimed Kannon echoed through his head, a sickening taunt of what could have happened. He had to remedy that, and now.

“Um, Nisha? Where we going?”

He heard Kannon’s words, but they didn’t really make sense. His mind was a whirlwind of worries and alarm. All he knew was there was no fear in Kannon’s voice. Holding his mate he returned the way he’d come earlier, back toward the cave that led back down to the water.

“Nisha? Can you talk to me, please?”

Nisha buried his nose in Kannon’s hair and sniffed delicately. His nose bumped Kannon’s ear, and he vocalized softly. The trilling notes were sweet and soft, a deep hum that continued as Nisha walked.

“O-okay, that didn’t sound quite human. In fact, it kind of reminds me of a CD I have. It has all these neat sounds from dolphins and whales on it. I, ah, I’m going to assume for some reason you can’t speak to me right now. I’m not hurt, you know. He got in some good hits, but so did I. And I’m babbling.”

He whistled quietly. Still carrying his mate in his arms, he entered the cave and made his way down the passage to the beach.

“Oh boy. I hope you can see, because I sure can’t. It’s really dark in here, Nisha. Please don’t get us lost.”

He knew exactly where he was going. Nisha sniffed at Kannon’s hair again and clicked softly. Such a lovely color it was, and smelled so nice.

“I guess that was supposed to be some sort of reassurance, but it really isn’t. At all. Nope.” Kannon rested his head against Nisha’s shoulder. “I’m not sure what’s going on with you. I really, really wish you’d speak to me. This is a little unnerving.”

Nisha couldn’t tell him the fight and resulting fear of losing Kannon had prompted the more animalistic side of his nature to take over. It was why he was vocalizing instead of speaking. It was just easier than trying to force the sounds past his vocal cords that were words.

He might look human in this form, but he wasn’t. He didn’t think like a human, and he certainly didn’t act like a human. Human morals were not his. And this wasn’t his preferred form. This form was nothing more than a guise he needed to be able to pass among the land walkers.

When he calmed down and got control of his body, he’d regain the ability to speak. Once he reached a sandy part of the beach, he set Kannon on his feet. He gently patted Kannon on the shoulder.

Hopefully his mate would understand he needed to stay still for a moment. Nisha hurried to one of the waterproof camping lanterns. Soon there was a blaze of light through the darkness of the cave.

“Thank goodness,” Kannon said.

Nisha lifted the lantern and made his way around the cave, lighting the others. Now Kannon had the light he needed. He set the lantern down and walked to Kannon. He didn’t see fear in Kannon’s eyes, but he did see wariness and a healthy dose of curiosity, which pleased him.

It was time. Mind made up, he walked to the bag that held his clothes. He dug around until he found what he was looking for then returned to where Kannon stood. He held the lube in his hand, waiting to see what Kannon would say.

“Lube?”

Nisha nodded and held it out to Kannon.

Relief flooded his body when Kannon took it. He held out his other hand. His breath left him in a whoosh when Kannon entwined their fingers. Walking backward toward the water, he held onto Kannon. He saw Kannon gulp.

The water rose up to his knees, then onto his thighs, and then finally up to his hips. There he stopped. He slowly reeled Kannon closer to him and pulled him into his arms. Nisha was relieved to see his mate wasn’t fighting. He tenderly pressed a small kiss against Kannon’s lips.

Kannon sighed after it ended and rested his head against Nisha’s shoulder. Nisha clicked softly. He rubbed his hands up and down Kannon’s back as they stood waist-deep in the water. He nudged Kannon’s chin up and looked into his eyes.

Threading his fingers through Kannon’s wet hair, he again kissed Kannon, but this time the kiss was much less sweet. Kannon opened his mouth under the gentle assault, and his tongue darted out to play with Nisha’s. As the kiss intensified, Kannon moaned, pulled him closer.

Nisha let go of Kannon’s hair. He brushed his lips over Kannon’s while pushing Kannon’s swim trunks down. Once he had them off, he threw them onto the beach. His soon followed. Their breath mingled as he ran a finger down Kannon’s cock.

He swallowed Kannon’s moan as he teased him. Nipping Kannon’s lip, he wrapped his long fingers around Kannon’s shaft and squeezed. Kannon lurched in surprise. Tracing the crown of that veined shaft, Nisha released Kannon’s mouth, both desperate for air.

Not wanting to give Kannon time to think, he knelt in the water and engulfed Kannon’s cock. Even underwater he heard the strangled gasp from Kannon. He knew Kannon teetered on the edge—he’d either give up control or panic at what was happening.

He closed his lips over the dome of Kannon’s shaft and sucked on the crown, running his tongue over the head. His tongue teased the slit, and more precome leaked into his mouth when he went farther down Kannon’s shaft.

Finally his lips pressed against Kannon’s groin. Closing his eyes, he relaxed and lodged Kannon’s cock in his throat, cutting off his air. He swallowed, and his mate shuddered as his throat muscles massaged Kannon’s shaft. Backing off, he bobbed his head up and down Kannon’s thick cock, determined to make his mate lose himself to the pleasure.

He released Kannon’s cock and surfaced. The tube of lube floated close by. He clicked softly and Kannon looked at him. Desire, lust, and a bit of uncertainty flickered in Kannon’s eyes… but no fear.

Then Kannon saw the lube floating close by and blushed. He grabbed it. “Yeah, it got away from me. I, ah, was a little distracted.”

Nisha nodded.

“Um, why did you stop?”

Nisha grinned. His mate didn’t want him to stop? Then he wouldn’t. He stepped back. He kept moving away from Kannon, going deeper in the water. It slid past his stomach, up to his chest, and finally water touched his nose.

He took a deep breath. Here goes nothing.