Saving Grace (5 page)

But she shook her head, and his heart lifted.
“No, that was definitely unique. And kind of exciting.” Her
shoulders quirked as a tiny smile returned to her face. “What do
you think it means?”

Jack sighed and lowered his forehead to rest
lightly against hers. “I think it means that we’re compatible,
sweetheart.
More
than compatible. Our magics like each
other. I wonder if our beast sides could get along? Is there even a
way to find out?”

“Bears swim, don’t they?”

“We do,” he agreed. “But the cove is off
limits right now. Don’t you need water to shift?”

She nodded slowly. “I do, but it doesn’t have
to be salt water. Is there a swimming pool in town?”

“Not in town, but my neighbor has one. It’s
not large, but he uses it for therapy. It’s one of those wave pools
where he can swim against the current.” Jack lifted his forehead
away from her. “He was injured pretty bad in the Middle East last
time our unit was there. Takes a lot to mess up a shifter.”

“Do you think he’d mind if I used it
tomorrow? Shifting will help heal me a lot faster. I’d attempt it
tonight, but I’m a little too tired. I think it’d be better after a
few hours sleep.”

“I’ll call him. I don’t think he’d mind. We
can probably go over there tomorrow afternoon.” Jack was already
thinking ahead to what he’d need to do to secure his friend’s
agreement. Georgio could be temperamental since the roadside bomb
that had almost killed him.

But Jack knew how to approach him. Hell,
they’d been best friends for a long time.

“Okay. So I’ll shift tomorrow, heal up, and
you can see how your bear reacts to a mer up close. For tonight,
I’m sorry to say, I have to sleep. I’m fading fast here, not that I
didn’t enjoy the little zip of energy I just got from the way our
magics meshed, but it’s not enough to keep me running. Sorry.” She
yawned, and he let her go a little more.

He had to content himself with the progress
he’d already made tonight. This morning, he hadn’t even known
mermaids really existed, and tonight, he was halfway to trying to
convince one to share the rest of his life with him.

Maybe he was pushing this just a little too
fast. Or maybe not. Shifters usually knew a lot faster than humans
about matters of the heart—or so he’d always been told. He wondered
if mermaids were the same.

In a way, he was really looking forward to
finding out all the little things about mermaids—and Grace, in
particular—that made them tick. He could make learning about Grace
his life’s work, and he wouldn’t mind in the least. In fact, he
couldn’t think of a more fascinating subject. Or a more beautiful
one.

He stood, helping her settle down into the
bed with economical motions. She was so lithe, yet so muscular. But
then, she’d have to have strength to propel herself through the
water. Those sleek lines helped her slice through the waves the way
his much bulkier musculature helped him live off the land in his
bear form.

They had that in common. They might not be
the same kind of shifter, but they were both shifters. They could
make this work. He hoped.

Tomorrow would tell a large part of the
story. If their beasts got along, then maybe the human halves would
have a chance. Of course, the opposite was also true. If their
beasts hated each other on sight, they wouldn’t have a prayer. Best
to know sooner, rather than later.

He tucked her in and kissed her forehead,
stroking her hair gently.

“Rest easy, my little mermaid.” He grinned at
her as she yawned again. She was losing energy fast, and he moved
back as she drifted off to sleep.

“Moment of truth,” Grace muttered as she
lowered her legs into the water.

She was sitting on the edge of the small wave
pool at Georgio’s house. It was midafternoon, but the badly scarred
shifter looked like he’d been sleeping when Jack and she had driven
up in Jack’s SUV. Georgio had a bad limp and lots of scars, but his
demeanor had been curious toward her rather than hostile.

In fact, Jack had asked her if she minded if
Georgio saw her in her shifted form. Upon reflection, the idea
seemed to bother Jack a lot more than it bothered her. She’d
agreed, and Jack had laid down some stipulations about how he
wanted to give her time alone first—well, with Jack to supervise,
in case she needed help—before he’d allow Georgio a glimpse of the
real live mermaid who wanted to use his pool to shift.

She just let Jack do what he wanted. She
could smell the water, and her skin prickled as her scales itched
to come out. Her fishy half wanted to swim, and it would not be
denied.

Pleased to learn that there were no chemicals
in the water of any kind, she dunked her toe in, watching the
scales ripple over her human skin as it began to glow. She put her
feet side by side and felt the tingle of magic as her legs formed
into the tail that propelled her so efficiently through the
water.

She had shed her clothes—some sweats borrowed
from Jack that were way too big on her—moments before and sat naked
on the rim of the small pool. Her hair was down, and it covered the
essentials. When she shifted, she wouldn’t feel naked anymore. The
protective scales would form a tough skin that hid her human
characteristics well enough, and her fish side didn’t really
understand the concept of nudity.

It knew hunting and playing, friend and foe.
Whether it would see Jack as the former, rather than the latter,
remained to be seen. All she had to do was shift and let the primal
side of her have control for a bit. It would heal her wounds the
rest of the way, and it would get a gander at the male who was so
very attractive to her human side.

Any minute now…

She slid the rest of the way into the pool
and let herself sink to the bottom. Her gills formed as her scales
developed, and in the blink of an eye, she was breathing
underwater. Her fish side had arrived, and she wiggled her tail,
working out the kinks from her recent injuries.

The shift to mer form had gone a long way in
healing her. The shift back to human would probably do the rest of
the job. For now, she wanted to try out this odd little pool the
shifter who lived here seemed to like. She’d never seen one of
these therapy pools before, and she was looking forward to trying
it out. Though, to be honest, she didn’t think it would be able to
keep up with her. She’d probably have to temper her pace.

A shadow loomed over the edge of the pool.
Jack.

Her mer form was cautious about anything from
up top, but her human side knew it was Jack and rejoiced. The mer
side was reserving judgment for the moment.

She pushed up to the top, breaking the
surface of the water, her hair streaming down her back.

“How are you doing?” Jack asked.

“Feels good,” she told him. “Can you turn on
the current now? I want to try it out.”

“Sure thing.” Jack moved around to the
control panel at the front of the pool and hit a few buttons. Jets
came on under the water, and she smiled when she felt the stirrings
of the current. It was more than she’d expected.

“Is that as high as it goes?”

“That’s in the middle. I figured you could
work your way through the various settings, if you wanted.
Remember, you’re just out of your sick bed.” He frowned a bit, and
her heart melted at the fact that he was worried about her.

“But I feel so much better already,” she
assured him. “This was definitely the right thing to do. My mer
side is happy now, and the magic of the shift took away most of the
injuries.”

“Most?” he repeated, clearly concerned. “Not
all?”

“Don’t worry. The shift back will do the
rest. For now, I want to swim a bit and work out the kinks.”

“Go for it. I’ll be right here, and if you
want me to up the speed, just stick your thumb out of the water.
Point it up for more speed and down for less, okay?”

“Perfect,” she told him, already moving away
to set herself up in the middle of the current.

Humans probably stayed on the surface to
breathe, but she dove down a few feet, testing the different levels
of the current, learning its shape and speed. She rose and stuck
her thumb up each time she wanted him to raise the speed.

Her mer side was definitely warming to him.
It liked the way he worked with her. He would be a good hunting
partner, which was what mattered most to her at times when she was
mer. He would also be good for play, she thought. He was attentive
and kind, playful and knew how to temper his great strength with
compassion. He would be a good companion in the ocean, if he were
mer.

But he wasn’t.

And that stymied the mer side a bit. It
didn’t know what to make of a man who couldn’t swim by her side.
Unless…

She rose up to the surface and swam lazily
against the current. She’d been right. The speed of the water was a
bit slow for her, but after her injuries, it was just right. This
therapy pool turned out to be good for injured mer as well as
injured humans. Imagine that?

“How long can you hold your breath as a
bear?” she asked Jack out of the blue.

“Not as long as you,” he answered with a
slow, sexy smile. “But way longer than a human.”

“I don’t hold my breath.” She splashed
playfully in his direction.

“Then you really do have gills?” He was
looking her over as if trying to locate where they were.

“Didn’t you see me in mer form when I washed
up on shore?” she had to ask.

“Not really. You were shifting when I found
you. Glowing. I think it was the magic of your scales fading into
your skin. I saw your tail, but I didn’t see any gills.”

“They’re hard to spot,” she allowed. She
lifted her hair away slightly, turning a little so he could see the
small gills located just above her ribs on her sides.

Her mer side felt flirty all of a sudden. It
definitely liked the spark of warmth in his brown eyes. It liked
his sleek muscles too. And his wit. It weighed and measured what
she had learned about him in the short time they’d been together
and came up with a favorable review.

The fish half liked him. Imagine that.

Jack wanted to dive into the small pool and
take her into his arms. She was as beautiful to him in her mer form
as she was in her human skin. The spark of laughter and
intelligence in her lovely blue eyes made him want to be close to
her. And her magic rubbed against his, warming and welcoming
instead of repelling, which was a really good thing.

He had a theory that they were becoming more
compatible the longer they spent in each other’s company. Their
magics were getting used to one another, aligning—much as he wanted
their bodies to align in passion and the explosive magic of being
together.

He wouldn’t wait long after she was healed to
press his suit. He’d seen her first, and he wasn’t about to let any
other bears catch her eye while she was in Grizzly Cove. He wanted
to stake a claim in the most emphatic—and pleasurable—terms. If
only she felt the same way…

“Mind if I join you?” In true independent
bear fashion, Georgio hadn’t waited to be invited. He limped into
the pool area, leaning on a cane that Jack knew housed a very
sharp, very lethal blade inside its carved wooden shell.

“Not at all,” Grace answered, smiling at the
other man. Jack wanted to growl. Her smiles were supposed to be for
him, not some other bear. But she didn’t know that yet. Jack had to
suppress his possessive tendencies until he’d made his claim, or
risk scaring—or more likely, pissing—her off.

“How’s the pool working out for you?” Georgio
asked politely as he approached.

“It’s great,” Grace replied, then flicked her
tail out of the water. “See?”

Georgio stopped short. “I wouldn’t have
believed it if I wasn’t seeing it with my own eyes. You really are
a mermaid.”

She smiled, but Jack could tell she felt a
little uncomfortable with Georgio’s scrutiny. Still, she was being
a good sport about it.

“If it’s okay, I’d like to swim a bit more,”
she said. “This pool really is lovely.”

“Be my guest,” Georgio replied, sounding more
courteous than Jack had ever heard.

With a flip of her tail, Grace went back
below water, swimming lazily against the fast current. Georgio came
up beside Jack, his gaze trained on the mermaid in his pool.

“She really swims just like a fish,” he
murmured, watching her as if mesmerized.

Jack said nothing, simply watching the
graceful way she moved through the water. She really was named
appropriately. Jack had never met a more graceful woman—up to and
including the Russian ballerina he’d briefly had a fling with while
on a protection detail in Moscow some years back.

“Did you put this pool in yourself?” Jack
turned, asking his friend and neighbor. That started a discussion
about the pool itself. Jack took mental notes, thinking already
about building something like this on his property.

If he was going to be entertaining
mermaids—or at least, one in particular—he wanted to make his place
comfortable for them. He could also put in a much larger swimming
pool, but he had figured the ocean was close enough to swim in when
he’d built his home. Now, though, that there was so much danger
lurking in the ocean…

He started thinking about where he could put
a pool, not just for Grace, but because he liked to swim too. He
missed his dips in the ocean.

Although it was pretty clear Georgio would
stay in the pool area all day to watch the visiting mermaid, Jack
realized, at some point, Grace would want to get out and shift back
to her human form. Her
naked
human form. When that happened,
Jack’s inner bear would go nuts if another male was around to
witness it. Jack started guiding Georgio back into the house,
promising to help with gathering refreshments and cajoling him into
giving the lady some time alone
.