Lightning in a Bottle
TEMPEST
S
trolling along the Boardwalk with a basket full of trinkets and supplies, Tempest stared out at the calm sea and the bright moon overhead. Her shopping completed, she should head home, but wanted to linger a little longer in the twinkling lights and soft music of the Moonlight Market.
Perhaps just a few minutes more,she thought to herself. Just then, she caught the scent of the bakery tent up ahead. A sweet treat to go with her joy-filled drink would certainly aid her in sleeping well tonight. She turned toward the display to see what baked goods were on display for the evening’s event.
A sudden impact knocked her against the wooden railing and sent her basket flying. She watched in disbelief as the items she had carefully gathered over the last hour spilled out onto the wooden planks and rolled away from her. Adrenaline and anger sparked like a lit match inside her. Tempest’s eyes going steely and dark.
When she turned to snap at the perpetrator, who had been knocked onto his ass despite the fact he was much larger than her, she froze.
“Apologies, miss,” said a deep, rumbling voice.
The man it belonged to could not be human. His other
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worldly beauty captivated her completely. Ink black hair hung down over his shoulders, wisps of it framing his sharp features perfectly. Strong, chiseled jaw. A perfectly straight nose.
She couldn’t help but notice the toned muscles of his body. He leaned back on his elbows, his fist still closed around the handles of a shopping bag that smelled of fish. The man beamed up at her as if nothing had happened, his crooked smirk distracting her from what she had intended to say.
“It seems I’m not very good with these things yet,” he continued in his deep voice. “It’s my first time on human legs. Please forgive me for running into you.”
Tempest blinked slowly at him, replaying the words in her head. That was when she noticed the turquoise fins where his ears should be and the scattering of matching scales in a handful of places across his otherwise blemish-free skin.
First time on human legs, what a strange thing to say,she thought.All the shifters here had the freedom to change their form at will, so long as they were touching seawater.
As she scanned his body for other signs of what his true form might be, she realized he wore what looked to be a pair of fitted white European-style swim trunks. They barely concealed anything. Tempest looked away, face burning as she tried to clear her head.
“You will forgive me, won’t you, miss?” asked the man, concern wrinkling his pretty face.
“I…,” she hesitated, trying to string her words together. “Yyes. Just help me gather my things. It’s fine.”
“Thank the stars,” he breathed out softly, as if praying to theheavens.
Flustered and confused, Tempest hurried to grab her overturned basket. She simply needed to collect her scattered supplies and get home. This man, this stranger, with his gorgeous face and twinkling eyes, would go on with his life. She had no reason to believe he had come to Crescent Cove longterm.
She’d never seen him in Crescent Cove before, which meant he didn’t live there. He must be some kind of shifter, passing through on his way elsewhere. One by one, she gathered her things and tucked them carefully back into her basket.
Just as Tempest reached for the Sea Mineral serum she’d been so excited to find earlier, the stranger extended a strong forearm. Their fingers brushed as he took hold of the little jar with its sage green label. Electricity coursed through her like lightning, the sounds of the world around them fading away as she met his eyes.
Hazel, she realized. His eyes were hazel; a soft, light brown rimmed with a hint of green.
“Let me get that for you, miss,” he rumbled, his breath tickling her neck.
“Tempest,” she corrected.
“Ah, like a storm,” murmured the stranger with a wistful smile. “My name is Reed. I’m a merman of the Cascadia pod who lives in the seas not far from here.”
That caught her off guard. There had been no sightings of mermaids in this area for many years—long enough most residents assumed they’d taken up residence in another ocean. The selkies and seal shifters had not reported sightings of mermaids, either.
Could there truly be an entire pod of mermaids living nearby?She wondered.
Surely they would need something from the town and other shifters. How bizarre that this was the first Tempest had everheard of the Cascadia pod living on their coast. After all, it was her job to patrol the waters surrounding Crescent Cove.
“There you go,” said the merman sweetly as he slipped the little jar of purple serum back into her basket.
