Mere Temptation (11 page)

“Mere aren’t like dragons! We can’t go back and forth whenever we want! Once I’m marked, I’m stuck in the Key. A half mile from the water and I’ll dehydrate!”

“Isa!” Sidon shifted to human and climbed out of the water. He crouched on the rocks. “Firstly, there are plenty of places within a half mile of the ocean. But more importantly, I’m. Not. Going. Anywhere.”

Isa humpfed.

“Seriously, Isa!” His fingers scrubbed against the rock. “The Council has all kinds of ideas about what I should do, but I’m not leaving the Key, and I’m not planning to marry anyone.”

Isa turned to him, disbelief rubbing deep in her belly. “Why not?”

Sidon’s forehead knit in thought. “I don’t know. I like it here. I grew up here. The mere need me.”

“That’s baloney.” Isa scoffed. “You just like being a big fish in a small pond.” She laughed ruefully at her unintended joke.

Sidon pulled back, his lips narrowed. Isa realized too late the venom in her voice.

“Believe what you want.”

Despite his obvious anger at her, he sat on the rocks alongside her, and she felt guilty. Whatever his reasons for staying in the Key, who was she to judge? Her anger was more because he could leave, could take the form of dragon or a human whenever he wanted. He could make love without worrying about the consequences. She had the limitations of all mere. The same limitations that made the dragons look down on them, and made humans see them as a cute little fantasy. Frankly, she was sick of being a second class citizen, even if only in her mind.

“Si, look, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have… I’m just sorry.”

He moved closer to her then and took her hand. “Listen, Isa. I should have told you. I should have told you about the Council and all their stupid plans for my life. It’s just that if I talk about what they want, it makes it more real.”

“Sidon, it is real. Jeez, Si, these guys are seriously well connected. And if you work for them—”

“Yeah, yeah, I know. They pay me money and I have to do what they say.”

“So, if you don’t do what they want, they’ll fire you?”

“Not likely. Being Key Guardian isn’t exactly a choice position. I mean, guardians normally just get their starts in the mere habitats. Once we get a few years under our belts, the Council starts to groom the ‘promising’ ones for other positions.”

“So, you’re doing something below yourself here?” She bristled again.

“No, it’s just they can’t really fire me for insisting I keep a job other people don’t want. They want to promote me, I’m happy with where I am. They’re not thrilled about it, but they’re not going let me go.”

“And have you told them this?”

He looked away, coloring slightly. Damp hair swung as he shook his head. “No, I haven’t told them.” He looked up to see her expression. “But I will, I promise.”

“When?” She challenged him with her tone.

“Soon. As soon as we’re done figuring out this kidnapping situation. Isa, I swear I have no plans to leave the Key. I just, I guess I just let them believe what they wanted.”

“But what about the whole ‘betrothed’ thing?”

Sidon gave her a shaky laugh and pressed a little closer. “Oh, that’s just bull. Dragons can have a hard time breeding. So the Council has been trying to step in as matchmaker, handing out wives like assignments. I’ve never even slept with a dragon.”

Isa stared in the distance. Her anger still simmered, but he seemed heartfelt in his explanation. “Really, Si? There are females you haven’t slept with? I’m surprised.”

Leaning toward her, he stroked one long lock of hair. “They can’t tell people who to marry. Well, they can’t tell me.”

Isa’s brows knit together. “So what’s she like, this dragon ho you’re supposed to marry?” She kept her voice casual, but Sidon’s expression said he didn’t believe it for a second.

“Isa, I barely know her,”

“But is she pretty? Tall? Long, exotic fingernails?” She wound her hair around one hand as she spoke.

“Isa!” Sidon turned her face to meet his and pressed a kiss into her lips. “I barely know her. And you’re the one who’s pretty.”

“But what if she shows up and you get to know her and you decide you do like her?”

He kissed her hard, wrapping his arms around her cold mere-form body and lifting her, tail and all, onto his lap. “I only want you, Isa.”

She let out a disbelieving laugh. “Even with everything?”

Sidon kissed her again. “Yes. Even then.”

* * * *

In the depths of the Pacific, Oceanus muttered quietly into his phone, talking to a Board member from a company called Dendric Research.

“Chairman, we are offering you a considerable sum of money. There’s no way your business holdings in the habitat off Key West are worth this much.”

The old dragon peered around his office, his eyes coming to rest on a small picture of a mere woman with a little half-dragon boy. He’d maintained the tiny colony for far too long, unwilling to hurt the feelings of his only son.

“Yes, I understand, and I agree. We will remove our protection from the island, but I ask that you refrain from hunting until we have time to evacuate the dragon population from the area.”

“With all respect, sir, time is money. A dragon has nothing to fear from us. We only want mere.”

Oceanus felt his muscles expand, overfilling the large chair as he puffed up in anger. “I won’t run the risk that you’ll injure one of my people. You’ll wait to hunt or incur the wrath of the Council.”

“I understand. I’ll wire the funds to your account as soon as possible. Can I have your assurances that we can begin collection within forty-eight hours?”

He relented. “Yes, that should be fine. Most citizens have servants to help them pack.”

Replacing the handset on the receiver, he prepared to make another call.

Chapter 7

Flipped

Karon stared down at Gracie sleeping, for the first time ever, in his bed. Her face was so different asleep than awake. He wished he’d gotten to know her under different circumstances, maybe before Dendric captured her, before he even worked for them.

The succubus stirred, giving him a broad, open smile the first second she saw him, as if they were lovers. Then the armor slapped back onto her expression, and she was marble again.

“Good morning, Captain Karon.” How could she pour so much seduction into four words?

“Hey, Gracie. You sleep well?”

“Yes, very well. Thank you.”

Gracie was standing already, pulling on her clothes. “So, when you make your next catch, how long before
Dr. Mengele
takes them ashore? Or is the plan to keep the next group on board as well?”

Karon knew perfectly well what Gracie was trying to do, but he found he didn’t have the heart to steer her away. “It sounds like they’re going to keep the subjects on board for a while. Grathers seems to think I can fit twenty of them down in the hold while he gets started with tests and stuff here on the ship.”

Gracie looked at him like she was trying to read his mind.

“But, this is a big project, right? They’d want to take them somewhere else eventually?”

Karon looked at her sadly. Whatever he wanted to give her, it wasn’t what she needed. He knew what would make her happy.

“Yeah, there are big plans to build a new research facility nearby. If you’re interested, you could take a look at the proposal. I have a copy in my office.” He gave her his extra keys. He expected her to grab them with the same ice she took everything else. Instead she came closer and folded herself into his chest.

He breathed the honey scent of her hair as her slim arms wrapped around his body. Then she lifted her face and rose on her toes and gave him a gentle kiss before whispering, “Thank you.”

* * * *

Sidon swam in half-dragon form a short distance behind Isa, enjoying the up-down beating of her tail. She darted off to the side through seaweed grass. He twisted to search the sunlit water, but she swam up behind him, poking and teasing him. Floating close, she touched his shimmering skin and the muscles of his abdomen as they transitioned into scales at his hips. Then Isa ducked and swam around his oversized body, laughing as he swiveled, not fast enough to catch her.

Sidon anticipated her next dart, and he swept his forearm across her belly, wrapping her body into his. He turned her to face him, and was thrilled when her tail reflexively arched forward under his body, locking them together. Satisfied that Isa couldn’t escape, he used his free hand to stroke her face, her shoulders, her back. Her skin was so soft, and the warm water smoothed it like a lotion. He trailed his fingers down to her tail, where the skin became firm and rubbery. It was smoother there, not as soft as her human half, but as he grazed it Isa let out a squeaking keen, more than a little like the bark of a dolphin.

Though most of his lovers over the years had been mere, Sidon had never thought to explore any of them in their water form. It suddenly occurred to him that he’d never let any woman touch his dragon scales either. Sure, during his guardian training he’d been touched plenty—with fists, knives, swords, fire, and most often with a very large stick. But no one had ever touched his reptile body in adoration.

Isa seemed to read his mind. Shimmying out of his hold, she continued her exploration and skimmed along his body to his hind claws to palm each of his sharp talons. He struggled not to jerk and scratch her at the tickling between his toes. Curiosity about his feet satisfied, the mermaid swept along his tail then back up his underbelly. The hard slats of skin were thinner there, and the feel of her wiggling limbs against the delicate shingles made him groan into the water. Her naughty fingers curled into the pouch where his sex was tucked, and he practically jumped out of his skin.

He’d been stroked intimately by many women, many more than he liked to admit. But no one, not even him, had ever handled his reproductive organs in dragon form. In fact, he wasn’t entirely sure how dragons had sex, and given that he was one, this struck him as a serious hole in his knowledge base.

He bent away from Isa’s prying hands and was met with her most wicked grin. Then her body pressed against his and he kissed her deep, forcing his half-dragon frame smaller to fit her. She swished her tail, so the tip flicked along the edge of his vent, setting a red haze of reptilian heat through him. He bathed in the warmth of wanting her, both as a dragon and as a man and knowing he couldn’t really have her either way.

* * * *

The next morning, Isa shoveled pancakes in her mouth and listened as Sidon explained everything he’d learned on the boat. Though her jealousy revved when he described what he’d witnessed in the captain’s office, Isa appreciated his honesty. She watched his back while he scrubbed plates in the sink and considered asking him for more details, maybe re-enacting part of the scene, when a knock on the door signaled the dragons’ arrival.

Sidon turned her way and waggled his eyebrows as if he knew perfectly well what she’d been thinking. Isa blushed as he walked to the doorway and opened the door. The two human-form dragons stormed in without saying hello.

“I would prefer it if you called before showing up,” Sidon practically growled at them, and Isa moved to stand behind him and rubbed against his arm in appreciation.

“Yes.” Laird, who tended to act like a mediator, stepped between Kai and Sidon. “Well, we needed to inform you right away that we have received word from the Council. They are evacuating the dragons from the Key.”