Wet and Wired (5 page)

She had no confidence, but she picked up speed and tried to run through her paces. The moment she cleared the water, her instincts took over and she landed on all fours with her tail dragging behind her.

He shot out of the water and landed beside her, grinning down at her, wet and naked. “Five-point landing, well done.”

Leda flopped her beast’s tail and shifted back to human. “I am sure that I can manage to work through the beaver landing. Now, let me show you how to deal with trees.”

Altion wasn’t a natural when it came to dam building, but she drew out the basic structure in the sand, and he tried again and again.

Leda remained in her human form and directed him in sapling placement. When she was satisfied at his ability to pick the right young trees to build a dam, she walked over to him and patted him on his head.

“Time to go and find some food.”

He chittered at her and shivered. He resumed his fey shape and stretched.

The view was extremely impressive.

“Altion, I have a serious question for you.”

He relaxed from his stretch and spit out some of the bark in his mouth. “What would you like to know?”

“Why didn’t I have any sex drive under the water? You were pretty enough, but there wasn’t anything going on.”

He grinned. “Ah, that. Yes, well, we mate out of the water. Inside the water, we can move, fish, eat and do everything but mate. Our kind has diluted our bloodlines into every fishing community in the world.”

“So, you don’t keep to one mate.”

“Of course we do. As long as that mate is fey. Humans don’t last. It drives us mad.” He shrugged.

“Literally?”

“Yes. Merfolk who lose their mates go deep sea. The match is far beyond the physical. Their minds are linked, and one is never the same after the other passes.”

“So, even with that, you were willing to mate with a shifter?”

He smiled and touched her cheek. “Any chance at a future is better than what was looming. I put off locating a mate of my own people and then was ordered to court where I was selected to represent the merfolk as their first sacrificial merman.”

She looked into his eyes. “Do you think we are really tied together?”

“I have bark in my teeth to prove it.”

She laughed and leaned up on her toes. “That doesn’t bother me a bit.”

Their kiss was a little stranger than she would have imagined, but the flavour of the trees was as familiar as his taste was exotic.

He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her against his body.

The energy that crackled between them now circled them and bound them tight.

She was wearing her silk, and it was all that stood between their very eager bodies.

“Geez. Are you doing my work for me?” A dishevelled woman walked up the creek bed where Altion had been practicing.

Leda turned her head and looked at the newcomer. The woman wasn’t shifter, wasn’t fey, she was all mage. She was also gnawing on a corn dog.

“Good afternoon, Melwiss. Why are you here?”

Melwiss swallowed and grinned. “Funny thing. I don’t have to wait until you two declare yourselves. I can balance you at any point. When your magic called to me, I showed up.”

Leda blinked, and even Altion was startled. “We haven’t even started our courtship.”

“I beg to differ. Your beast has taken up residence in him and his magic in you. I just have to even things out a little and seal the transfer.”

Melwiss looked around and shoved the corn dog into her pocket stick first. She wiped her hands on her shirt and extended them to Leda and Altion.

Bemused, Leda took her hand. Altion did the same.

Melwiss asked the questions, and they answered each one with
I do.

“Do you give?” The words echoed inside and out of their minds.

Leda felt the magic inside her pulse and swirl with excitement; it and her beast surged through the connection of Melwiss’s hand and remained in the mage for a moment.

“Do you take?”

The surge of energy into her body and her beast revelling in the power was heady. Altion was shaking as the previous sample had only given them a glimpse of the other’s true power.

“Do you agree to become what the magic will make you?”

When they had whispered their words, the binding magic wrapped their new balance into them and held it until it was absorbed by blood and bone.

Melwiss finished the locking, slumped forward and then straightened and retrieved her corn dog. She grinned. “Have a nice afternoon. I would get somewhere private before the rest of that kicks in.”

The heat in her blood warned Leda of what she was referring to.

Leda narrowed her eyes at Melwiss. “Did you do that?”

“Nope. Merfolk are exceptionally frisky. They cool it in the ocean depths, but on land, they have trouble keeping it in their pants. Since his pants are already gone, either get to your rooms or shove him in the water. Your choice.” Melwiss walked away with a swing in her step, making inroads on her wiener on a stick.

Leda looked up at Altion. “So, water or the tower?”

His erection pressed against her abdomen, and she knew which one she wanted, but if he wasn’t with her, this wouldn’t work.

He kissed her and threaded his hand through her hair. “Tower. Definitely.”

“Fine. Let go of me and find your wrap. I promise I will be here when you are semi-dressed.” She winked.

It took a few seconds for him to get his erection down to where he could wrap the fabric around his hips. When he was dressed, he held his hand out to her, and with a grin, he swept her into his arms.

He moved amazingly quickly on land, carrying her down the coast and into the tower with a minimum of fuss.

“Why are you carrying me?”

He grinned. “Because I move faster than you do, and I really want to get us to privacy before you change your mind.”

She stroked his cheek. “I am not changing my mind.”

Juno tried to speak to them, but Altion whisked past her and up the stairs.

* * * *

Juno looked over her shoulder as Derix came up behind her. “Well, I think they are a couple. Either that or Leda has some kind of fainting sickness that gives Altion a boner.”

Derix kissed her neck. “And yet, we were no better in the first few days after balancing. Let them have their time.”

Juno chuckled and leaned back against her mate. “Teal is texting frantically, and Leda’s family here is trying to keep her father from showing up and demanding her return.”

“So, you don’t have to do anything along those lines?”

“Nope. We are an adjunct. All we are in charge of is this tower and tiny town. And Melwiss. We are definitely in charge of Melwiss.” Juno pinched the bridge of her nose.

He chuckled. “She is powerful.”

“She is nuts. I love her, but she is nuts.”

Melwiss’s voice piped up, “I am, and I love you, too, Juno. Funnel cake?”

Juno looked at the deep-fried dough covered with powdered sugar and slipped out of Derix’s embrace. “Sure.”

Her mate said, “Hey!”

She took one of the funnel cakes that Melwiss offered and thanked her before sashaying back to her mate. “You can have some, too.”

Melwiss snorted. “I am off to find some more snacks. Have fun, you two. I like my couples before they are completely naked.” She winked and left the tower.

Juno was nibbling at the treat and smiling up at Derix. “Care for some sugar?”

He laughed and swept her off her feet, carrying her up the stairs to their quarters. Juno made serious inroads on the funnel cake before he set her on her feet. He took the deep-fried treat from her, and it disappeared in seconds. When she sucked the sugar off his fingers, his eyes darkened and he kicked the door open, hauling her inside.

The guardians of the Isthmus needed a nap, but first, they had to earn it.

* * * *

Their clothing hit the floor moments after they were in Leda’s room.

His skin was thicker than she had thought, but when she drew her nails lightly over his torso, he lifted her high in his arms until she wrapped her legs around him. He mimicked her caress on her back, and she shivered wildly in his arms. The blunt scrape across her skin had a stronger impact than a thousand light touches.

“What is doing that?”

“With your changes, you now have the skin-based sensory organs that let us sense the impact of prey in the water. It is less useful on the land, but if you know that the sensors are there, it can be a lot of fun.” He waggled his blond eyebrows.

She kissed him quickly, using her teeth to pull on his lower lip. “Show me.”

He used the rough pads of his fingertips to work up and down her body. She twisted and writhed in his arms; his cock was between them, and in a few minutes, she was more than wet, she was ready to incapacitate her mate in order to have him inside her.

Altion took the hint from her squirming and mewling. He took the few steps needed and dropped to the bed.

Leda grunted when his weight came down on her, but she undulated her hips against him in invitation until he pressed the head of his cock against her.

When he slid into her, he groaned. The energy that sparked between them appeared in long, connected arcs that bound them together as he worked inside her and started to move.

Leda’s senses burned, her skin felt every brush, every caress, and the liquid words that he was speaking in whatever language merfolk used were heightening her senses.

He slid into her and pulled back, shoving forward in the dance that transcended species. She stroked her hand between them, caressing the plane of his belly before touching the column of his cock as it moved inside her and withdrew again.

Altion shuddered and moved faster, so she switched to the slick nub of her clit and took herself over the edge. Her low moan preceded her bite to his shoulder by a heartbeat. His own bite struck as he jerked and shuddered inside her.

Magic sparked in a bright flare and then absorbed into their skin.

Altion released her skin, and she returned the favour, licking at the wound she had caused. She had never bitten a lover before, and the wide crescent looked a little intimidating from that angle. She couldn’t imagine what his jaw had done to her.

Altion nuzzled at her jaw before he kissed her. “Well, it might have been unplanned, but it is definitely a solid match.”

Leda sighed and squirmed under him. “It seems so. My father is going to flip.”

He shifted to lie next to her. “No mother?”

“Oh, my mother will be fine with it. She is hungry for more grandkids. If they can swim in any environment, so much the better.”

“You want children?”

She shifted to lie facing him. “Not immediately, but unless your magic concealed a condom I didn’t notice, I think that it is a possibility I had better prepare for.”

He ran his hand over the curve of her waist, resting it on her hip. “I suppose I should be embarrassed about that.”

She shrugged. “No, just aware that I was aware and I didn’t say anything.”

He grinned. “I think I heard you squeak once or twice.”

Leda smirked. “That was all you.”

He pulled her close and inhaled sharply against her neck. “How can you smell better out of the water than in it?”

“Shifter magic. How else would we find each other in human form?” Leda chuckled.

“I would simply look for the most beautiful woman in the room until I found you.” He kissed her softly.

She kissed him back, stroking his hair and enjoying his scent of sea air and sunlight.

Daylight and sea air streamed in through the open balcony windows, and she felt surrounded by her favourite things in the world.

Coming out of the shower, Leda faced a dilemma. Her clothing was gone.

Altion was getting his things from his room, and her work clothing and her gown were gone. She doubted that he had taken them, so she kept her towel on while she explored the room. “Any chance of clothing?”

The room blew cool.

“You are kidding. You are mad at me for finding a mate? That is what he was here for, and it wasn’t my fault we got stuck in the under-space where our magic blended.”

She pressed her hand to the wall, and the tower didn’t respond. It was sulking.

Altion came back with his bag, and he raised his brows. “Not that I object, but is there a reason you aren’t dressed?”

“The tower took my clothing. It is mad at me for finding a mate.”

He stopped. “You are joking.”

She crossed her arms. “I am still naked, and my tool belt is gone.”

As she said it, her tool belt appeared on the bed.

Altion blinked for a moment and then gallantly opened his small case, opening it and handing her a white button-down shirt. “Here. Wear this.”

She picked up her tool belt and held it between her knees while she pulled the shirt on. She wasn’t chancing the tower taking off with it again.

When the shirt was on, she loosened the towel and fastened her tool belt around her hips. The shirttails hung to her knees, and Altion was looking a little perturbed. “What?”

“How do girls know how to change like that?”

“Practice. When you have to share a room with a sister, you learn all kinds of tricks to get in and out of everything without exposing any skin.” She smiled brightly. “So, shall we go and test the portal?”

“In a moment. First, I think we need to check out my cousin’s dress shop. I think she might have something that suits you or, at least, will be more comfortable.”

“Your cousin?”

“Oh yes. Lorai is here and delighted to be so. The Isthmus is being populated with fey, mages and shifters. It is an experimental town, and we are here to see how things are going to shake out.”

“We? You are going to live here?”

He smiled. “If you don’t mind, I thought
we
could live here. You can still be on call with the council but be dispatched from here.”

She looked down at her bare feet, the shirt and her tool belt. “Well, since the tower isn’t going to be nice to me, I hope you have a place lined up in the town.”