Chapter 10
T he water rushed past them in a blur of green and gold.
Klari's powerful tail drove them higher with strong, urgent strokes while his arms locked Greta tightly against his chest.
Greta clung to him, arms wrapped around his neck, legs tangled with his. She could already feel the change starting.
A sharp, tearing sensation rippled down her spine. Her tail — the long, flexible appendage she'd barely gotten used to — began to split. The powerful muscle trembled, then fractured painfully down the center, scales flaking away.
"It's happening," she gasped, voice distorted by the water. "Klari — it's starting!"
"I know," he growled, kicking harder. "Hold on. Don’t let go."
The webbing between her fingers dissolved next, melting away like sugar in warm water. Her delicate pink scales dulled and lifted from her skin in tiny shimmering clouds. Everywhere the change touched burned like fire .
Greta whimpered, burying her face against his shoulder. "It hurts, Klari. It hurts…"
Klari's tail curled tighter around her waist, supporting her as her own tail continued to split and shorten. His focus was locked on swimming upward with everything he had.
"Stay with me," he urged, voice strained. "Talk to me, Greta. Keep talking."
She tried. "This is… the worst… transformation ever," she managed between gritted teeth. "I went from teaching physics to turning into a fucking mermaid… and now I'm un-mermaiding while falling apart…"
Klari let out a short, tense click that might have been a laugh. "You're doing better than most would."
The glowing vein patterns on her arms and chest were flashing wildly now, the light strobing faster and faster as they climbed through the water column.
Greta's legs kicked weakly, no longer strong enough to help. She was becoming dead weight in his arms.
And they still had so far to go.
The pressure in Greta's veins kept building, sharp and relentless.
Her legs were fully formed now — soft, human, and almost useless for swimming. The last traces of her pink scales drifted away in shimmering clouds behind them. Only her gills remained, fluttering weakly along her neck and ribs as they fought to pull oxygen from the water.
"I can't… feel my tail anymore," she gasped against Klari's shoulder. Her voice was growing thinner, more human.
Klari's powerful tail lashed harder, propelling them upward at a punishing speed. His arm was like iron around her back, holding her flush against his chest.
"Stay awake," he ordered, fear bleeding into his click-whistle tone. "Your gills are closing. I can see it. "
Greta tried to nod, but her head felt heavy. The world was starting to tilt. Dark spots bloomed at the edges of her vision.
"Klari…" she whispered, panic rising as her gills fluttered slower, weaker. "I… I can't breathe…"
He cursed sharply in his own language — a harsh, guttural sound — and tightened his grip. His hard cock was still pressed between their bodies, hot and throbbing, but all his focus had narrowed to one desperate goal: getting her to the surface before she drowned in his arms.
"Hold on," he rasped, voice cracking with fear. "Just hold on a little longer."
Greta's lungs began to burn. Real, human lungs that had no business being underwater. Her gills were almost sealed now, only tiny slits left.
She was suffocating.
Her grip on his neck started to slip.
The surface was too far away. They weren’t going to make it. He had to breathe for her. He had to?—
Klari pulled her face up to his. Without hesitation, he pressed his mouth firmly to hers.
Greta's eyes flew open in shock as he sealed his lips over hers.
Then she felt it — warm oxygen flowing from his mouth into hers as he breathed through his own still-working gills, filtered out the water, and forced air into her starving lungs while his powerful legs kept driving them both toward the surface’s distant shimmer.
She stiffened at first, instinctively fighting the strange, intimate invasion.
But then the oxygen hit her system.
And the kiss… started to feel dangerously good.
Greta's mind screamed to push him away .
Instead, her body betrayed her completely.
Klari's mouth stayed sealed over hers as he breathed steadily into her — pulling oxygen-rich water through his gills and forcing it gently into her starving lungs.
Each breath was warm, intimate, and far too pleasurable for the life-or-death situation they were in.
She whimpered into the kiss, fingers digging into his shoulders. At first it felt like drowning in reverse — strange, invasive, terrifying. Then the oxygen hit her bloodstream and a rush of dizzying heat followed right behind it.
It felt… good.
Too good.
Her newly formed human legs kicked weakly against his tail as another ripple of unwanted pleasure rolled through her.
Klari's hard cock was trapped between their bodies, thick and throbbing with every powerful stroke of his legs. She could feel every ridge, every pulse, pressed hotly against her bare stomach.
Klari pulled back just enough to let her exhale, then immediately covered her mouth again, breathing for her without missing a beat. His free hand cradled the back of her head, holding her steady while he swam.
Between kisses, he managed a strained whisper against her lips: "Breathe with me. Don't fight it."
Greta's eyes were half-lidded, cheeks flushed even underwater. She hated how her body was reacting — how the steady flow of his breath into her mouth felt like the deepest, most erotic kiss she'd ever experienced while they were racing for their lives.
"I hate you," she mouthed dazedly the next time he pulled back a fraction .
Klari's lips brushed hers again, voice rough and desperate. "You can hate me later. Just stay awake."
He kissed her harder this time, breathing deep and steady, his tongue accidentally brushing hers as he forced more oxygen into her.
Greta's legs tightened around his waist on instinct, her newly human toes curling against his scales.
The surface shimmered above them — not far now.
But with every breath Klari gave her, the terrifying darkness at the edges of her vision retreated… and something far more dangerous bloomed in its place.
They were close.
Then the surface shimmered above them like shattered glass, sunlight piercing the water in bright, wavering columns.
Klari's legs lashed with everything he had left, powerful strokes driving them upward while he never stopped breathing for her.
Greta clung to him like a lifeline, legs wrapped around his waist, arms locked around his neck. Every time he pulled back to let her exhale, she gasped against his mouth, only for him to seal their lips again and push fresh oxygen into her lungs.
The kiss-breathing had become something else entirely.
It was messy. Desperate. Intimate in a way that made her head spin.
Each warm rush of air from his gills sent sparks racing down her spine. His hard cock remained trapped between them, thick and throbbing against her bare stomach with every powerful kick of his tail.
She could feel how badly he wanted her — how much restraint it was taking not to stop swimming and claim her right there .
Klari broke the kiss for a heartbeat, forehead pressed to hers, voice raw with fear and need.
"Almost there," he gasped. "Stay with me, Griita."
His only answer was another deep, life-giving kiss as he poured more air into her mouth, tongue brushing hers in a way that felt far too good for survival.
Survival should never feel this good.
They burst through the surface.