Chapter 30
Keri
I stand at the edge of the pool and watch as Ro streaks through the water. Gryn stands a few feet away, eating yet again as he watches. The experiment with the tides still weighs heavily on my mind even though this is our last day to have use of the dolphin pool and I need to keep my mind on work.
I know I should go below to record Ro now that he is swimming at his full, natural speed for me, but I’m reluctant to go down just yet. I know that we truthfully have nothing else that we require the pool for. The only thing I’ve yet to observe is how Aquana move when they hunt, but I’m not really mentally prepared to put a small animal in with him just so he can show me how he would kill it if he were in the sea, so the council is going to have to live without that particular study being carried out. In any case, the aquarium is eager to have their access to it back so tomorrow we will be back at the lab.
I remind myself once more that I should be down in the observatory area taking advantage of this, but I can’t seem to make my feet move from this spot. My point of focus leans so strongly toward him that I don’t have the desire to go anywhere. I just want to stay there with him. This is feeling more and more like love and that kind of scares me since I still don’t know if he feels the same way. Although he hasn’t offered more words since those at the beach house, he has certainly made me feel loved with everything he does and his every touch. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that he loves me. The fact that I’m practically fawning over him like a lovesick fool hasn’t inspired him to share his feelings further either.
Why can’t this love thing be easier?
The direction of my thoughts is interrupted when Ro’s head breaks the surface, his white hair plastered against his head and streaming in the water around him as he swims toward me. I can feel the silly smile tugging at my lips, but I simply can’t resist as he watches me just above the edge of the water with his large aquamarine eyes. They gleam with a hint of a smile that I can’t clearly see beneath the water, and then he dives, his tail flicking as it briefly crests and sinks below the water. He speeds toward me, a blur of white, pink, and red until he comes within just a few feet and his double tailfins spread wide like enormous fluttering fans to slow him to a stop before rising once more to break the water’s surface.
I don’t move as he draws closer to the edge of the pool, not even when he sprays droplets on my feet when he puts his arm up along its side to rest his head on it to watch me more comfortably. His gaze shifts to Gryn with a faint look of annoyance as if he had forgotten that he was there. I glance between them, trying to think of a way to get rid of the younger male when a shout from the entrance saves me.
“Yoohoo! I’ve brought sustenance and drinks to celebrate your last day in the tank,” Adiele calls, her high heels clicking on the cement flooring as she heads toward us.
She sets a long cardboard box and tray of drinks on a table a short distance away before turning to give us a long, knowing look. Her lips hitch in a smirk as her eyes turn toward me and I nod my head slightly toward Gryn as I give her a pleading look. He’s been even harder than usual to shake lately and it’s making Ro testy. Her smile widens and she smooths her dress with her hands before turning toward Gryn.
“Hey, kid, let’s get out of here. I’m sure watching Ro swim in circles is about as interesting as watching paint dry. I got you some strawberry lemonade. Let’s grab our cups and snacks and hit the road. What do you say?”
“Thank the holy moon,” Gryn groans with such a sigh of relief that I’m a little taken aback by it. I arch an eyebrow at him, but he merely grins over at me unrepentantly as he pushes away from the side of the tank and hurries over to Adiele. “I thought I was about to go moon-turned watching them. All he does is swim and flirt while she cluelessly moons over him. Another minute of that and I probably would have jumped in there with Ro and really annoyed him.”
That little brat. I gape at him as he rushes over to the table to inspect the tasty things Adiele brought. Un-freaking-believable. Gripping his straw between his teeth, he grabs his cup and picks several pastries from the box that he holds up and waves in a silent farewell. My friend smiles over her shoulder at me and gives me a conspiratorial wink before turning on her heel and following after him. Gods bless her.
The aquarium door opens and slams shut, signaling that we are finally alone. If I didn’t know better, I would swear that entire thing was planned—then again, I do know Adiele and there is a good chance that it was. I laugh softly and turn back toward the pool, my heart feeling a bit lighter with the excitement of finally being alone with Ro again. I am not entirely surprised to find him half out of the tank and leaning over the side as his fins splay flirtatiously in picture-perfect imitation of the first time he flirted with me from the tank at the lab.
Arousal heats his eyes in invitation, and he hums softly, singing sweetly to me. This song isn’t so intense where my nerves feel fried with lust but is like a warm bath washing over my senses sending an exquisite warmth deep into it. While I know he isn’t intentionally trying to lure me in with his song, that melodic humming gradually builds in my blood, sending a shiver through me that makes me want to cast caution to the wind. I swallow hard, my eyes widening as pulse fills my ears and thrums through my entire body with every beat. I stare at him, and my lips part in wonder at the magic caught between us in this moment.
He cocks his head, and a knowing look crosses his face as he becomes alert and lifts his chin from his folded arms. He lifts a hand and offers it to me, emotion swimming in his eyes that I’m still uncertain of how to decipher. “Join me,” he whispers.
My eyes slide shut, and I shiver again. Those two words practically feel sung with the way they vibrate melodically through me, even though I know that they were not. “I’m a little scared,” I admit. Scared that I will fall even more in love with him after coming to embrace and know all of him and of being shattered if he chooses to leave.
“I am scared, too, Keri,” he rasps, and my eyes snap back open.
“You are scared? Why”
The sad look in his eyes makes me feel terrible for asking, but the smile that follows is full of understanding.
“Because I know now what humans think of my species. I am afraid to touch you when I am incapable of pretending to be human.” He gestures to his tail. “This won’t feel human, and I cannot pretend that it will. Or know if it will disgust you. I am afraid to have you in the water and lose you forever because of that.” He gives a self- deprecating chuckle and smiles wryly at me. “For all your lore that would have my kind portrayed as the ones to trap humans, I would say that given the tendency of my species, I’m the one caught. This feeling is like wrestling in the grasp of a sea snake and being powerless to do anything about it. But I still have enough to hope that you will accept me and want to enter the pool with me and touch me as I truly am. And to trust me.”
Tension that I didn’t even know I had eases within me at his words. Whether he loves me or not, he is also wrestling with feelings and worries of his own. Whatever happens in the future and however our story ends between us, it is good to know that this is a journey that we are truly taking together. I’m not prey for him to amuse himself with nor a passing interest.
I look at his extended hand, my gaze lingers briefly on the delicate curve of his claws and the super fine scales that I know from experience are silky soft when he runs them over me. Suddenly I want nothing more than to cast all worries aside and step into the pool with him. If he set aside his fears enough to invite me in, then I can set aside my own fears of being abandoned by him for another female to mate and join him in the water and embrace all that he has to give.
Sliding my hand into his, I feel like I’m stepping beyond a point of no return. There is a ledge over an unknown abyss and I’m drifting over it as his fingers curl around mine. A smile spread across his face with so much unconstrained joy that my heart aches with the love blooming inside that I’ve been holding secretly within myself.
His hum becomes louder and the water rushes around him, lifting him even higher as the water condenses into a thick, spinning column lifting him until he towers just slightly over me. I blink in surprise at the sudden height difference. It’s as if he is standing right in front of me. I want to inspect this unique form of aquatic magic, but I’m distracted when he wraps his arms around me and pulls me close to his chest. The cool water soaks through my clothes but I couldn’t care less. I’m exactly where I want to be at this moment in time.
My lips tip in amusement. “Don’t get too excited. I may allow you to drag me into a pool but I’m not so sure if I would let you go this far into the sea. To be honest, I’ve always found the idea of being dragged into the sea a little terrifying.”
Laughter bubbles from him but he presses his lips tightly together to keep it contained enough to give me a solemn nod. “I would not wish that for you either. But I think I might be able to convince you to enjoy the sea in my company.”
My eyebrow raises at his self-confidence. “Oh yeah? Convince me, then,” I whisper.
Ro smiles as he reaches for me and gently drags me into the water with a splash. The cool water rushes over my head but I only feel a hint of panic for a second before we surface and I’m able to wipe the water from my face and drag in a much-needed breath of air. Ro doesn’t comment on it or apologize. He just holds me against his chest, his song and the current of our magic filling my mind and hearts as we drift in the water with only the languid movement of his fins steering us. I feel something tickle my belly when his tail shifts below me. I can feel it snake in the water between us, becoming plumper with his arousal. From my memory I also know that its pink color is also darkening as it twitches and writhes whenever it brushes against me as his tail slowly pumps to keep us afloat and moving.
“I will show you everything I am,” he rasps as he lowers his head, his lips so close to mine that his breath brushes against my mouth. “Then you will know that there will never be anything to fear when I am with you—no matter where we are or what form I take. You can always trust me to take care of you.”
His mouth covers mine, his lips sipping at mine with tiny tugs and exquisitely soft caresses make me fall in love with him even more. The salty-sweet taste of him as he darts his tongue between my lips stirs a desire and need so brilliant within me that it churns and spins through my core. I spin through the water with him, not noticing that we are no longer drifting on the surface. Our breaths mingle, our magic mingles and entwines further until it is a current that rips between us, carrying us on a tide of lust as our mouths mesh over and over again, and still he kisses me, dragging me into the depths of all that he is.