Page 16

IT WAS late afternoon when Blair dropped anchor.

A year had passed since he returned to the islands after his harebrained flight from Marcus and what he was. During that time Brett acquired papers for Marcus, making him legal. Once Marcus could prove his identity, Blair helped him open a checking account to deposit all the money from the gold coins he sold. Blair also bought a little touristy shop in town where he featured many of the local artist’s work, including Marcus’.

After they established the business, they bought oceanfront land that fell somewhere between Brett’s resort and Kannon and Nisha’s bungalow. They were in the process of building a bungalow with a nice boat slip for the yacht Blair bought not long after he moved to the islands.

Blair stood on the deck watching the sunset below the ocean’s horizon. They came together first on the boat. Now that his life was changing again, it seemed appropriate the next step—the last mating bite—happen here, on his boat.

Warm, bare arms wrapped around Blair’s waist. A long, dark lock of blue hair fluttered in the breeze. “How do you feel?”

“Pretty good, actually. The nausea has passed, and my head no longer hurts.” Blair turned in Marcus’ arms.

They had made love earlier, and as Blair came, Marcus bit him again. Everything was a little fuzzy after that—but he was pretty sure Marcus fucked him unconscious. He’d been out for several hours, and apparently Marcus also napped during that time.

Blair woke to a warm sensation spreading from the bite on his neck, but it quickly faded. It wasn’t painful. His body tingled—legs, arms, back, neck—which was what woke him up. He was restless, and seeing how peaceful Marcus looked, he decided not to bother him.

He slipped out of bed and left the cabin to go stand on the deck. The toxins or bacteria—whatever it was in a mer’s bite—took a few hours to integrate fully into human cells. There was a scar where his shoulder and neck met, proof of their mating. He wore it proudly.

He gently touched both sides of his neck where his gills were. The skinfolds Marcus told him about hid the gills, so they weren’t noticeable. Now that the transformation was completed, the gills would always be there whether he was in the water or not—whether he was using them are not.

Marcus kissed the bite mark on Blair’s shoulder and stepped back. “Do you want to try?”

“Are you kidding me? I can’t wait.”

“Okay, then.” Marcus took Blair by the hand, and they headed back down.

Blair went willingly. He understood the need for caution. Last thing he wanted was for some satellite or something to get pictures of them while they worked on opening his gills.

They both sat on the edge of the bed, Marcus still holding his hand. “Okay, this is going to sound funny, but work with me. I want you to clear your mind and think about how you breathe. Your diaphragm tightens and moves downward. Your lungs expand. Now push the air out and exhale. Focus on the pattern. In and out. In and out. Good.”

Blair smiled. Marcus sounded so serious.

“Turn your attention to your neck. It’s long, and smooth, and there are muscles there, right? Nerves too. Focus on your neck and see if something feels different. Odd.”

Blair frowned and shook his head.

“It’s there, trust me. Tried to visualize your neck in your head. Can you see it? Maybe if you closed your eyes?”

Struggling not to become annoyed, Blair did as Marcus suggested. He closed his eyes and tried to visualize his neck, but he got nowhere. Finally, he sighed and opened his eyes. “Nothing.”

Marcus stood and tugged Blair to his feet. “Okay, let’s try this.” He pulled Blair over to a mirror in the cabin and stood behind him. “Look in the mirror. Now, I want you to try to imagine what it’ll look like if you had gills there. Concentrate for me.”

Several minutes passed as Blair stared into the mirror. A bead of sweat traveled down the side of his face as he stared. So engrossed with staring at the mirror, he almost missed the first tingle. Hot damn, that was a fucking tingle. He jumped.

“What?” Marcus asked.

“I… I don’t know.” Blair frowned. “My neck kind of… tingles.”

“Oh, that’s good. That’s exactly what we want. Concentrate on that tingle.” Marcus’ voice dropped. “Now, I want you to focus on your breathing. Hear the air rushing in and out of your lungs and try to lose yourself in the rhythm. Keep focusing on the tingling.”

Blair went back to staring hard in the mirror.

“Perfect. I think you’re ready. Kannon said to tell you to pretend you’re opening a window—a window that’s been painted over and is stuck. I want you to force the window open, Blair.”

Blair tried to visualize what Marcus told him. He pushed at the imaginary window, but nothing was happening. His breathing increased as tension flooded his body. He glared at his image. He kept visualizing the window, but that was getting him nowhere.

Maybe I need some fucking imaginary hands to open this fucking imaginary window. Dammit. This isn’t working. Time for Plan B. In his mind he created a glass container with a lid—like what pickles came in. Those fuckers were hard to open.

Closing his eyes, he tried to visualize himself gently tapping the glass bottle on a counter to loosen the lid and then gripping it firmly. He strained trying to unscrew the top. Teeth gritted he put more force behind opening that lid. By God, he was going to open it if it was the last thing he did. One more violent turn and suddenly something quivered on his neck.

His eyes popped open, and his glance went immediately to his reflection. He gasped. “Oh. My. God!” He had gills—three perfectly shaped gills on each side. Blair reached for his neck, but Marcus caught his hands.

“Whoa, now,” Marcus said from behind him. “They’re new and very sensitive. You want to be very gentle if you touch them.”

“Fuck man, that’s the coolest thing I’ve ever seen.” Blair turned his head this way and that, trying to see his neck at every angle. “I can touch them?”

“Yes, you can’t hurt them just from touching, but like I said, you need to be very, very gentle.” Marcus pulled Blair’s hair away from his neck.

Blair tentatively ran a finger over the right side of his neck where the gills were. “Oh wow, it tickles… and feels so damn strange.”

“I imagine it does.” Marcus kissed the back of Blair’s shoulder. “I’m very proud of you.”

Blair turned around and went straight into Marcus’ arms. “I did it.”

Marcus hugged him back and pressed a kiss to the side of his head. “You did. I never had any doubt. But we’re not done.”

Blair stepped back, a question on his face. “No?”

“No. Unfortunately the next part isn’t going to be as easy, so listen while I explain the mechanics to you. Fish breathe oxygen, right?”

“Yup.”

“Their gills pull oxygen out of the water. Merfolk do the same, and now, so can you. The most simplistic way to explain it is water is forced across the gills. Dissolved oxygen is taken in by tiny blood vessels and veins in our gills. Seawater carries away the carbon dioxide.”

“Fascinating. Absolutely fascinating, but what I really want to do is hit the water.”

“We’re getting there. As I said, the next part isn’t going to be as easy as you think. You’re no longer human, but I promise your mind hasn’t adjusted to that yet. You’re not used to breathing underwater. Your instinct will be to hold your breath. That’s exactly what you don’t want to do. You can’t drown, but unfortunately your mind hasn’t had a chance to accept that truth yet.”

“But you’ll help me.”

“Yes, I will. Remember, you can not drown.”

“Oh man, this next part is going to be a pain in the ass, I can tell.”

“Until you overcome the fear of drowning, most likely. Let’s get in the water to do this next part. I’ll go overboard first and change. Then join me and I’ll take you through it.”

Blair rubbed his hands together. “Right. Let’s do this.”

They went back on deck. Marcus stripped off his boxers and dove into the ocean. Blair struggled to keep from pacing while he waited for Marcus to signal he was ready. Blair’s excitement built, but there was also nervousness.

Marcus surfaced and waved for Blair to join him. Blair dropped the boxers he wore—to an appreciative whistle from Marcus—and dove into the water. He popped up next to Marcus, and holding hands, they sank beneath the waves.

Blair tried to clear his mind, but a voice in his head insisted on counting off the seconds he was submerged. He tried to focus on Marcus in his merman form and how otherworldly he looked to distract himself… but nothing helped. He seemed stuck and unable to make himself let go and do what he needed to do.

His heart raced, and he glanced toward the surface. He knew he couldn’t drown. Marcus’ words pounded through his head. He knew that. He’d seen the gills. He understood how they worked. But he couldn’t make himself let go of his preconceived notions.

As he was ready to struggle toward the surface, Marcus wrapped himself around Blair. His mouth slammed down on Blair’s. Passion flared brightly between them as Marcus rubbed against Blair’s groin.

Shocked, and aroused beyond belief, Blair grabbed a handful of Marcus’ hair and returned the kiss just as fiercely. He jerked back, his eyes crossing, when Marcus grabbed a handful of his cock and ran his thumb over the tip.

And Blair took his first breath underwater.

Blair jerked. He blinked then a grin split his face. He released his hold on Marcus’ hair and grabbed him by the shoulders. Holy cow, he was breathing. Breathing underwater. He couldn’t believe it! Dear God, this was the best rush ever. He was breathing underwater!

He opened his mouth to tell Marcus and nothing came out that remotely resembled speech. Surprised at how strange that felt, he slapped his hand over his mouth. Marcus made a strange clicking sound and winked at him.

Then he remembered Marcus also said since he had human vocal cords and wouldn’t be able to speak underwater. Well, damn. Now he was impatient for their bond to hurry up fully form so he could speak telepathically to Marcus. Marcus trilled, and Blair fell a little bit in love with that sound.

He blinked at Marcus in shock. Well hell, the “L” word came out of nowhere. There were a lot of things about Marcus he truly enjoyed—like his humor and his patience. He’d also found Marcus had a wicked sense of humor, but he kept it pretty much under wraps except around his friends. He was loyal and would literally give the shirt off his back to someone who needed it.

What was there not to love?

Marcus reached out and Blair threaded his fingers through Marcus’. He lifted their joined hands to look at the webbing. Then he looked at his hand. He didn’t have that webbing nor did he have the fin below Marcus’ wrist.

Marcus whistled. Blair glanced back at him. With his other hand, he reached out and traced that pointy ear of Marcus’. Marcus shivered. They never made love while Marcus was in his merman form and suddenly Blair burned to do just that.

Hanging suspended in the water, he wrapped his legs around Marcus’ waist. Marcus let go of his hands and cupped Blair’s ass. He rubbed his hard cock against Marcus, his intentions clear. Marcus’ cock slowly protruded and brushed against Blair’s.

Blair gulped. He knew Marcus’ cock was contained inside Marcus’ body in a pouch. When aroused, it protruded through a slit in the skin exactly where his human penis would’ve been. Their cocks rubbed together as Marcus’ long tail slowly moved back and forth as they sank deeper, both of their hair floating gently above their head as they descended.

As much as he wanted Marcus’ shaft in him, he also wanted to see it. He wiggled. Marcus let him go, his eyebrow raised, but gave a sharp thrust of his tail to stop their descent. Maybe Marcus figured out what he wanted.

He placed his hands on Marcus’ hips to steady himself as he floated down. His body was stretched out behind him. Maybe he looked odd, but who was going to see him? Besides, he had something else on his mind. When he was level with Marcus’ groin, he kicked lazily in the water to keep him where he was.

The tip of Marcus’ cock was rounded and narrow, but he also noticed how it flared out as it grew. Blair bet that would open him up nicely as it slid inside. He started to touch, but paused, glancing up at Marcus. Marcus threaded his hand through Blair’s hair and urged him closer.

Now that he had the green light, he hesitantly stroked it. Even though his shaft looked different in this form, it was still warm and firm—and an iridescent blue, just like his tail. Well now, of all things he’d been expecting, that never occurred to him. He stroked Marcus’ cock from root to tip. Above him Marcus shuddered.

Oh yeah. Merman cock or human… when you stroked one of these bad boys you got the same response. Marcus trilled, a soft growling sound that struck a chord of need deep within him. He stroked faster, his cock arrowing up toward his belly. Marcus’ tail jerked and thrashed as Blair worked him.

Finally, Marcus grabbed him by his shoulders and frantically urged him up. God, Blair wished he could speak to him. Marcus grabbed Blair’s legs and once again wrapped them around his waist. This was going to be interesting, if Marcus was about to do what Blair thought. Blair wrapped his arms around Marcus’ neck and planted his mouth on Marcus’.

Marcus tongue-fucked his mouth as his cock, hot and slick, probed at his entrance. He arched in Marcus’ arms, suddenly unsure. Marcus hadn’t prepped him at all, and they had no lube. Thank God they had made love earlier and Marcus had pounded his ass. Hopefully he was still greased up and loose.

Grabbing his ass, Marcus’ shaft slid inside, opening Blair up like he thought it would. He moaned, but the water washed the sound away. Holy shit, that felt different from a normal dick. It wasn’t bad, only different. Using his tail to thrust, Marcus fucked into him. He tightened his hold on Marcus and held on. He just thought he got pounded before.

The warm water caressed him as they moved together, swirling around his skin and increasing his pleasure. Marcus released his lips but immediately buried his face in Blair’s shoulder. He nibbled at the skin, leaving little stinging bites as he fucked Blair harder.

Blair grabbed a handful of Marcus’ hair and tugged, hoping Marcus understood he was about to come. Marcus thrust harder. Blair threw his head back and screamed. Blair’s orgasm forced Marcus to come, his seed flooding Blair.

Marcus pressed a gentle kiss against his lips as he supported Blair’s weight. Blair sighed, again wishing he could speak. He shivered as Marcus’ cock slipped out of him. He unwound himself from around Marcus and watched as Marcus’ cock slowly returned to his pouch and disappeared. Neatest. Thing. Ever.

Together they treaded water. Marcus pointed up at the boat then lowered his hand and motioned toward the landscape around them. Eagerly Blair nodded his head. They might not be able to talk but they could still communicate. And no, he wasn’t ready to return to the boat. Taking Blair’s hand, Marcus led the way to a coral reef they could explore together.

Blair glanced at Marcus, and his heart gave one hard thump. Never in a million years had he imagined a life like this, and he couldn’t wait to see the new things Marcus would introduce him to.

If he could find the guy who knocked him overboard on that dinner cruise so long ago, he’d shake his hand and thank him for the priceless gift he found—his very own merman.