Chapter Four
An hour later, Meeda and Syaln had agreed he needed to talk to Xida while she was in town. He would get his ass to Wonder in the morning and figure things out from there.
She said, “When we get to the dock, I am going to jump into the water.”
“Okay. I am getting ready to jump to the dock as he lets go.”
She had her equipment around her hips and nodded. “I will grab the rope and pull you in if you want.”
He chuckled. “I can swim it home from here. It was just quite the distance.”
She nodded, and as Akervel let the rope go, Syaln leaped through the air, diving and shifting at the same time. She cleared the surface and looked at Akervel. She bowed and indicated for him to proceed, and he paused then began to swim away at speed. The race was on.
She flicked her tail and focused on him, pushing herself faster than she had ever bothered going before. Water rushed through her gills, and her hair streamed back from her forehead as she pursued him. He was fucking fast.
She was nearly able to reach out and grab his tail when she was struck from the side with a sharp nose.
The shark pushed her to the side, and she thrashed in its grip.
She put her hands on the nose and sent a stunning pulse through the brain, not enough to kill, but the beast let her go. She fucking wanted to cry.
Meeda needed to surface. She had no idea where she was. She surfaced and quickly saw the second island of Wonder. She was nearly home.
Akervel was long gone, and she focused on healing the bite as she swam at a more leisurely pace for the big island.
She approached the shore and looked for the marks for Mia’s house.
When she got close, she saw Akervel in his merman shape, grinning.
She was crying hot tears of pain, and he looked at her, her hands still pressing the wound that was leaking blood.
His outrage was extreme, and the water around them roiled.
He slipped an arm around her, protecting her bad side and supporting her as he swam them to her house.
He shifted his grip on her when they reached the shallows, and he carried her out of the water when he shifted. His gills purged, and he said, “When did that happen?”
“Just as I was about to grab your tail. Second Wonder Island.” She fought the whimpers that tried to come out.
He walked her up to the deck, and a smiling Mia came out, turning to a Mia who cursed and ran inside.
Akervel said, “Where did she go?”
“Water from the sacred pool.” Mia came back. “Meeda, I need to cut your suit off.”
Akervel hooked his fingers in her suit, and his claws peeled it open. He set her on a lounge and removed all the fabric.
She was breathing in short gasps, and Mia held the bottle over her. “Ready?”
Meeda nodded and held her breath. The dribble hit the bites, and Meeda wanted to scream, but what would the neighbours think? She let the tears course down her cheeks and sobbed silently.
Mia’s voice was thick when she said, “I have to do the back.”
Meeda nodded, turned, and clutched at the lounge underneath her while the burn through the myriad wounds paralyzed her senses into white-hot agony.
Mia whispered, “They are closing.”
Meeda nodded as hands picked her up and cradled her carefully. Akervel whispered, “I am sorry that I didn’t see it happen.”
She croaked, “There’s a camera on the front of my suit. The Darings probably have the whole thing.”
Mia sighed and brought out some fabric. “For when you want to get dressed. I am going to get you some juice, Meeda. Akervel, can I get you anything?”
“Water or anything would be fine.”
She was still shuddering from the pain of the healing. She sighed. “Sorry. I guess we aren’t to be. I am not doing that again.”
He kissed her forehead. “You don’t have to. You wanted me enough to come after me, and that is enough for him. He needed to be sure you wanted him.”
She said, “Can you get me the com unit?”
He didn’t move, but she was handed the small unit. She put her earpiece in. “Hey, Skaay?”
“Meeda! You made it. Holy hell. I saw parts of the attack. Are you okay?”
“Mia doused me with Dorian’s water. Oh, that sounds bad.”
“That was a huge fucking shark. What is your guess?”
“Based on me being hauled around and the bite marks, I would say sixteen feet.”
Her chair was suddenly very tense.
She said, “Can you send me the footage of the moments before the attack?”
“Why?”
“I nearly caught a sea monster. I want to prove it.” Her voice was a croak.
“You will have it in five minutes.”
“Okay. I am home. I am safe. I am not going to be wearing a bikini anytime soon.”
She felt light touches on her side and saw tentacles slowly touching the red tooth marks.
Skaay smiled. “Come by and visit the baby when you can. Thera is desperate for company that can swim.”
“Okay. I will try.”
They signed off, and she removed her earpiece. “I don’t think I am going back in the water anytime soon.” She said it to herself. She looked up with a watery smile. “Good thing I didn’t catch you.”
Akervel kissed her temple. “I am healing you a bit. Is that all right?”
“Sure. Go ahead, buddy.”
He smiled slightly. “I hope to upgrade my title to lover one day.”
She frowned. “But... I didn’t catch you.”
Akervel kissed her cheek and then her lips. “You caught me.”
The tentacles were slicking her injuries and slowly massaging the slime in.
She returned the kiss and held very still as she was coated in slime. Meeda pulled back and whispered, “This is weird.”
He smiled. “I have seen some cartoons that had scenes like this.”
She laughed. “I am enjoying the live action.”
He pressed his forehead to hers, and she heard Mia chuckling at the table.
She sighed and touched his cheek. “Sucky start, but this time, I ended up bitten.”
“Are you hungry? You could...”
“It gets a lot stranger when we are both naked.”
He whispered in her ear, “I really want to try that.”
“I don’t think that will be today. I am really tired and trying not to have a panic attack when I look at the ocean.”
He caressed her cheek and said, “When you are ready, I will come with you until you are confident again.”
“You may be waiting for a while. He was a very big shark.”
He smiled slyly. “Did you get his name?”
“No. I stunned him to make him let me go, and while he sank in a slow spiral, I tried to heal myself and stop the bleeding, so I didn’t make any more fishy friends.”
“I should never have played with you in deep water.”
“I knew better myself, but I just wanted to see what you would do if I caught you.”
Mia walked over with Meeda’s phone. “It just repeatedly chirped.”
Meeda blushed but said, “Thank you.” She took the phone and was surprised at how easy it was to move.
She unlocked her phone and checked her email. There was an email from Skaay and several others with video files attached.
She picked the one marked this is the one you want.
He murmured, “Turn it sideways.”
She rotated the screen, and there was the sound of water in the microphone, and the image of her fingers a centimetre away from the swish of his tail. She stopped the playback there. “See? I didn’t make it.”
He asked her, “What happened after that?”
She looked at him and then handed him the phone. She covered her ears. She didn’t need to hear the impact and her laboured grunting as she fought to come up with a plan of attack as his tail disappeared into the darkness.
Crimson surrounded her in ribbons as she pressed the wounds closed and began to swim for the surface.
At that point, she heard the ragged sound of water wheezing through laboured lungs.
The little sound she made when she saw Akervel was embarrassing but proof of how she hadn’t thought she would make it.
That was the end of the video.
He forwarded it to himself and did the same with the other videos.
“Just today’s stuff.”
“Of course. I rarely get to see my beast from head to tail.”
“Oh, there should be a shot of me swimming along your length, almost. I had to go back to the boat.”
He smiled and handed her phone back. “I am going to have a chat with that shark.”
“He was just following instinct. I was flapping more than swimming, so it would have been natural to think I had been a wounded animal.”
“He will learn that you are not on the menu.” He stroked her hair with his fingers. “And now that your wounds are closed, we can rinse off the salt.”
She smiled and looked down at where the tentacles were slowly stroking, but her skin just had small white marks where the teeth had been. “Wow. I forgot they were touching me.”
He nodded. “That’s good. It is encouraging, actually.”
She smiled. “The shower is—oh wait, you were here earlier.”
“I was.” He walked over to the freshwater shower and stood with her as he rinsed her off.
He slowly let her feet touch the cobblestones and washed the slime off her body.
His hands were gentle and careful. When they were done, he lifted her again, walked over to where the robes and wraps were, and carefully dressed her before putting on his own wrap.
“How is it that you have a wrap when you get out of the water and then you don’t again?”
He grinned. “It’s part of me, like the tentacles. If I need it, it’s there, but this way, you get used to me, and I become used to restraining myself around you.”
She blushed. “Thanks for the restraint.”
“It isn’t easy.”
She laughed and balanced carefully, making her way over to the table, where a pitcher of juice was waiting. It took intense focus, but she poured herself a cup.
Meeda sat down. “This started out to be such a fun day.”
He sat next to her, and when she drank the first glass of juice, he poured another. The next was water, and they sat quietly, and she drank to replace what was lost.
Mia came out with food and said, “So, what the hell happened after you left?”
Meeda smiled and explained about meeting with the others, spending time chatting and plotting. And then the emergency call.
Mia turned to Akervel. “I thought you guys could all teleport.”