Page 21 of Tempting Triton (Mated Myths #2)

Elena

T his merman. For someone who has only known about the existence of the clit for a handful of days, he sure knows his way around one. Triton’s eagerness to learn how my body responds to him all but makes up for his lack of knowledge and the differences in our anatomy.

His tongue swirls against my clit again before sucking at it.

His teeth graze ever so gently against it, and I recognize the pattern from earlier.

I chuckle internally before another moan slips out; it seems my merman has discovered a winning combination.

I tense. My merman? Is that what he is now?

Is that what I want him to be? I groan. Now is not the time for another existential crisis over our mate bond.

My body and brain have been at war, with the bond between us igniting our hormones every time our bodies are all but an inch too close.

Urging us to lose control, urging me to let him have me, body and soul, and right now, I just want to come.

But I can’t. I’ve lost the momentum of the moment, my brain taking over in its spiral.

The arousal cannot be soothed with the mate bond between us.

I’m too in my head, my body has become tense, and Triton notices the change.

He pauses what he’s doing, removing his head from between my legs, and I curse my brain.

It can’t just let me have one orgasm. We can go back to stressing about our situation as soon as this godforsaken itch is scratched.

“What is wrong, my Elena? Have I done something to displease you? Did I bite too hard?” Triton looks at me, stricken, equating my tension to something he may have done or not done correctly.

I sigh. “It’s not you. Well, I mean—it is, but not in the way that you think.

” I reach for his hand at my waist, pulling him to meet me back at eye level.

He tucks me into his body and wraps his arms around me in a hug.

I smile softly into his chest as he does something that is an entirely human action to him.

“It is the mate bond?” Triton mumbles into the top of my head.

I huff and nod. “I like you; I really do. I just don’t know if I’m ready for this to be the rest of my life.” It’s easier to talk to his bare chest than to his eyes, not wanting to see if there’s hurt in them. Like a coward.

“There are so many unknowns. How do I leave everything I know behind? We don’t even know how long I have left to decide, until this is permanent,” I cry, gesturing to the gills beneath my ears.

“My Elena, we do not know if you will be able to get home again, at least until after we finish inspecting the barrier. Let us tackle one problem at a time.” Triton strokes my hair, helping to ease some of the tension in my shoulders.

“Would it make you feel better if I do not share my essence with you once it has run its course? I do not think it will last too much longer, and then you can take some time above the surface to think. We may know the answers to some of your other worries by then. I do not want you to feel like being with me is the only choice you have.”

I sniff, my throat tight with emotion. “But what if your essence wears off while we’re out at the barrier?”

Triton tips my chin up, so I have no choice but to look him in the eyes. “Then I will swim you back to shore. ”

“But—”

“My Elena.” His tone is firm. “If that happens, we will figure it out together. One problem at a time.”

Triton is right, focusing on one problem at a time might stop me from feeling so overwhelmed and helpless about my situation.

Barrier first, gills second, and the rest of my life, third. Ugh.

“The water feels cooler today,” Triton notes as we exit the warmth of the cave waters fed by the Pierian Spring and continue our journey back out to the barrier.

“Does it only feel that way because the cave was so warm?” Worry fills me at the thought of the temperature affecting Triton the way it had before, almost making him comatose. If that were to happen while we were out at the barrier, we would be up shit creek without a paddle to say the least.

“Perhaps.” Triton is thoughtful, before spinning to face me, a wicked smile on his handsome face. “Last one to the barrier is a rotten oyster!” He flips in the water, flapping his tail in such quick bursts that he’s so far ahead of me before I even register what he said.

I growl. “That cheating son of a—” I push myself onwards, kicking through the water, determined to catch up to the overgrown fish .

We reach the barrier in record speed, Triton practically lounging against it by the time I reach him, his arms folded across his chest while he waits.

“Took you long enough.”

“You cheated!” I splutter, swimming right up to him and poking him in the chest.

“Did I?” Triton feigns innocence, wrapping his hand around mine and pulling me into his body before placing a kiss against my lips.

“You said—” I protest.

“No essence, I swear.” He lifts my hand to his mouth and kisses the back of it. “Let us get to work, my Elena.”

We spend hours swimming along the barrier, testing it for weak spots high and low before we begin to lose daylight.

I link my fingers and stretch my arms behind my back, groaning as I try to loosen the tension that has settled back in between my shoulder blades.

“We have stayed out too long. We will likely not make it back to shore before we lose the sun, but I know of a place we can rest for the evening, and we will not have to swim as far to the barrier in the morning.”

Triton seems off; his lightness from this morning long since disappeared.

I can’t tell if it’s because we haven’t found a break in the barrier yet or because he doesn’t want us to.

On one hand, maybe his family will get to come home.

On the other hand, I get to go home. Regardless of what we may or may not find, one of us will lose something.

“Thank goodness, I’m exhausted.” I let out a squeal as Triton scoops me up in his arms and swims off towards wherever it is we plan on resting for the night.

I should feel offended that he thinks I am too tired to swim the last leg before we stop for the night, but honestly, I’m relieved to take a break, so I say nothing and snuggle into his broad chest, letting him carry me.

I’m embarrassed to admit it, but the journey is a lot quicker when Triton isn’t limited by my human speed.

I didn’t realize how much I had slowed him down, and I wonder if I should ask him to just drop me off at shore and finish off without me, since he’d be done in half the time.

“One more night and we should be close to home by the end of tomorrow.” It’s like he can read my mind, and at this point, I wouldn’t even be surprised if mind-reading was a secret Mer power.

I’ve noticed I’ve gradually become more comfortable with the mind-bending realities that meeting Triton has opened up to me.

We draw close to the wreck of a sunken ship sitting half-buried in the sand. The fading light casts the wreck in shadows to look like the open jaws of a shark, the rotten and broken wood like rows of sharpened teeth.

Goose pimples erupt along my skin. “We’re not staying in there, right?”

“Of course we are, my Elena, unless you want to sleep out here where the sharks might mistake you for a tasty treat. You are not scared, are you?”

“Well, I wasn’t. But now I am. I didn’t think there were any sharks!

” I cling to Triton as we slip inside the sunken ship and become shrouded in darkness.

The claustrophobic feeling of being stuck in the cave yesterday is still too fresh, and I hold onto Triton tighter, daring him to let me go.

While being unable to see my surroundings, I’m as stuck to him as a barnacle on a boat.

Triton’s chuckle vibrates in his chest. “Yes, there are sharks. They will not bother us while you are with me. ”

“And that’s because?”

“I am the more dangerous predator.”

“I was thinking more along the lines of you are one with the sea animals.” I let out a whoosh of bubbles as Triton takes us to wherever we are inside the ship and plonks me down on a bed, I assume, due to the cushioning beneath me.

I’m suddenly glad I can’t see the extent of the rotten mattress and timber I imagine I might be sitting on.

Triton leans over me, my hands flat against his chest as he pushes me backwards, and I realize that he can probably see everything. Only I am at a disadvantage right now.

“You do not think I am dangerous?” he growls in my ear, and it’s like the ‘on’ switch to my lady parts has been flicked.

“I think you have the potential to be dangerous. To anything other than me.” He has already proven that he is incapable of hurting me because of the mate bond. Otherwise, I’d probably be Mer food by now.

“Hmm.” He runs his nose along my jaw and down my neck, and I’m immediately hot, aching and desperate for him. The mate bond ramps up a thousand volts, and I must shed my sports bra and shorts immediately lest I die from overheating.

Triton growls as I struggle to get my sports bra over my head, and I experience a flash of worry that he might tear it off me and I’d be without clothes in the morning, but then every sensible thought flees from my mind.

When a warm mouth and tongue and palm find my breasts, I whimper as I attempt to wiggle out of my shorts, his slick cock already protruding from his pocket.

It thrusts between us as I lift my hips to get my shorts down, unintentionally rubbing against it, causing Triton to groan against my nipple.

I get my shorts off, and Triton brings his hand to my lower belly where his resting cock has spread its lubrication across my skin. Rubbing his fingers through the substance, he then brings them down between my legs to encircle my clit.

“Yes.” I sigh, my body instantly relaxing under his touch. “More.”

Rubbing my clit with one hand, his natural lubrication helping him slide them against me, he brings his attention back to my nipples, licking and sucking and nibbling. His fingers dip further between my legs, finding my entrance, which has him pausing.

“No,” I whimper. “I was so close.” The ache between my legs is so intense, I’m desperate for something to fill me.

“What is this?” I’m grateful I can’t see anything within the shipwreck as Triton, who I’m absolutely certain can, throws my legs over his shoulders and dips down to presumably inspect my vagina.

“That is where your cock would go. If you would stop edging me.”

“I still do not understand what you mean by our bodies being incompatible if my cock goes in here.” He teases at my entrance with a finger, and the mate bond has me so worked up, I almost come just from that alone. Human men could never.

“Your cock would fit fine; it’s your extra bits that have nowhere to go.”

“They would not fit in here alongside my cock?” His finger dips inside me, working in and out.

He’s not trying to make me come. It’s as if he is testing the limitations of how far I could stretch, but it’s doing something to me nonetheless.

I squirm beneath him, itching to rock against his exploring fingers.

“Not unless I was really, really wet.” I can’t help myself. I press down against his finger; I still want more.

“We are underwater. You are always wet.”

His observation makes me want to giggle. He’s not wrong, but he’s so literal, and I can’t believe we’re having this conversation while his finger is working in and out of me at such a slow and steady pace. Triton isn’t even aware of what it’s doing to me.

“When human women are aroused, they self-lubricate to make it easier for a cock to fit inside them. Kind of like how your cock has its own special lubrication.”

“This is very interesting and has given me many things to think about. But now, I wish to explore some more.”

“Oh, thank goodness.” I sigh in relief as his mouth comes down upon my clit, and he continues to work his finger inside me until I’m writhing beneath him, my climax vibrating through me with a scream.