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“Yes, of course,” he said as if I were silly for even asking.
“Mermaids are real?” I gasped in amazement. “Why didn’t anyone say anything?”
“How would this conversation begin, and how would it be relevant?” he questioned, eyebrow raised. “The mermaids are simply a failed Wiccan experiment. Most only live weeks at most before the magic breaks, and the creature dies.”
I frowned, all the excitement building in me shattered to pieces by his words. “I always wanted to be a mermaid.”
Theseus looked at me confused, not at all pleased. “Why would anyone desire to be half fish? Wiccans always wish to test the limits of their powers. As humans have scientists, so do they. I fear if you, by rare chance, ever see a true mermaid, you would never wish such a fate on yourself.”
“So, you are saying they don’t look like they do in the movies, with long hair that is never ruined by the water and pretty tails moving through the ocean with all their colorful sea friends.”
“They are the things of nightmares, not fairy tales.”
“Some would say that about vampires,” I challenged.
“True,” he replied, placing his palm on the side of my face. “However, I can vouch for our beauty or, at the very least, yours. For either on land or at sea, you are a sight none can dare compare to.”
I was a sight? Did he not see himself? Did he not see how the water glistened off his hair and ran down the muscles of his body? How his eyes glowed like the moon, even on this moonless night. He was the sight that would cause any woman to shiver with lust, especially me. And I assumed he noticed as his palm dropped from my face and moved to my waist, drawing me through the water and closer to him. When our naked bodies touched, he leaned over and kissed my shoulder.
“Forgive me for this. It was highly improper.”
I had almost forgotten what it was he was talking about. The pain had long since gone away, and there was no scar or evidence that he had ever bitten me.
“My mind was in a haze. I wished to know you were really there,” he said softly in sadness. “Though all I saw was you seeing me as I came through the trees. I looked crazed.”
“Yeah. But it’s all right. I’m fine.”
“Yes, I know, and it is both comforting and infuriating,” he replied, holding me in his hands.
“Infuriating?”
“I had gone mad. When I could not find you, could not sense you, it was as if thorns were growing within me, and with every move I was cut, I ached. Moving, speaking, even looking out in the world without you was a cut that ached. My world shifted under my feet, and while I was experiencing such heartache, you were in the library, none the wiser.”
Ah, that was why it was infuriating.
“I’ll forgive you for the bite if you forgive me for whatever happened.”
“Normally, I would say I would forgive you for anything, but after this experience, I will say that I can forgive you for anything but leaving me. I shall let it pass this once, however—”
I laughed, resting my arms on his shoulders. “Well, aren’t you gracious?”
“Aren’t I?”
Rolling my eyes, I tried to drift away, but he brought me back to him, wrapping his arms around me tightly. He stared down at me, not saying a word, just holding me with a slight smile on his face.
This was bad.
When he was speaking, I found myself wanting to kiss him.
And when he was silent, I also wanted to kiss him.
So I did what I wanted. I grabbed his face and pressed my lips against his. His chest pressed against my breasts. Gripping my thighs, he lifted me with ease, making sure my legs wrapped around his waist before bringing me up against the rocks. But I felt nothing but him.
“Ah,” I moaned as he separated his lips from mine, choosing instead to kiss beside my face.
“I must tell you,” he whispered into my ear, “before you disappeared, my father ordered me to mate you fully, by ritual.”
“I figured. I’m not stopping you,” I whispered back as he kissed down my neck. His right hand cupped my breast, pinching my nipple, while the other moved between my thighs. I bit my lips to keep from crying out as his fingers entered me, but he did not seem to like that going by the growl that reverberated through his chest.
