Wet and Wired (6 page)

Warm air blew across her legs, and the air was scented with lemon and lavender. It was as close to an apology as the tower could get. It still didn’t offer her her clothing, so she was guessing that her work gear had met an unfortunate end.

“Lorai has a fondness for the land that has been considered unseemly. She works with Mak’s company as a designer from time to time.”

“Why unseemly?” She walked up to him and laced her arm in his.

“The merfolk insist on clinging to the coastlines, and she enjoys going landlocked on a regular basis. She says it increases her appreciation of the freedoms that she has, but our family thinks it is freaky.”

They made their way out of the bedroom and down the steps, his carryon in his free hand and her on his other arm.

Juno and Derix were perched on the desk that would eventually become the check-in area of the tower. Juno clapped happily. “You are staying!”

Leda gave Altion a glare. “So, I was the last to know?”

He grinned. “They are in charge of the Isthmus. Of course they would know that we had been assigned a house.”

Derix nodded. “First house on the left, blue trim, facing the sea side.”

Altion asked. “On the coast?”

“Correct. You will be far enough for privacy but close enough for convenience.” Derix smiled as if he had designed it himself.

Juno rolled her eyes and kicked her feet. “Go on and check out your home. Oh, and the dress shop is open for business. Altion’s cousin is setting it up, and I think she would enjoy a client. Oh, that reminds me.”

Juno hopped off the counter and walked over, fishing in her pocket for something. She pulled out one silver band and the smaller one in a matte metal and snapped them around their left wrists.

Altion looked down and then frowned at Leda’s wrist. “It isn’t silver?”

Leda grinned. “Titanium. Non-conductive so I won’t electrocute myself while working. I am surprised it held the enchantment.”

Juno smirked. “It took some doing. Melwiss worked on it all night.”

“So, what will this do?”

“Well, it is now your payroll access and your living credit card. You can shop with it anywhere in the Crossroads, including here.” Juno grinned.

“So, what you are saying is that I need to go and spend some of my hard-earned money. Well, I do suppose I could use some shoes.”

Leda chuckled and Altion snorted.

They made their polite goodbyes and headed out to find a change of clothing for Leda and their new home.

Lorai’s name was engraved in an elegant depiction of a seashell. The woman herself was the pale gold of a pure sandy beach.

“Oh wow. I wasn’t expecting anyone this soon, but come in!” Lorai was all energy and cheer. Her pale, wispy appearance was belied with the speed at which she moved and shifted boxes.

Leda accepted the hug that Lorai suddenly gave her and smelled bright sunlight and oranges in the merwoman. “Hello.”

“Hello, cousin Leda. So, what are you looking for?” Lorai looked her up and down.

“Well, the tower ate all of my clothing in a jealous huff, so I need anything you can provide from the skin out.”

Lorai grinned. “Well, I can definitely start from there. Come with me. Altion, you can go and get your lady some breakfast. She looks hungry.”

Altion blinked. “I can’t register an opinion?”

“Your opinion can be made on the clothing that fits. For now, we are looking to outfit her. So, I will see you in a few minutes. Shoo.” Lorai waved him off with her hand.

Leda stared at the pale woman with surprise. The surprise came when Altion simply left in search of food.

“How did you do that?”

“Mermen are really easy to manipulate. You just have to say everything that you want to say with conviction. Fish are rather timid when confronted with predators, after all. They would rather do what you ask and avoid you, coming back later when they have a plan of attack.”

“Handy.”

“It is. The key is to have another order waiting for them when they circle back around.” Lorai chuckled and went through her boxes, flinging fabric around with abandon.

Panties and bras were found in short order, and from there, a collection of fabric grew with alarming speed.

When the pile was big enough, Lorai looked at it and nodded. “I will get you started with this and then find some work clothing. I am guessing that you live with that tool belt, so I will plan accordingly.”

The next two hours disappeared in a flurry of fitting, static cling that electrified her hair and a lovely fruit salad that Altion located for her.

The black work pants that Lorai presented had an amazing amount of flex and didn’t gape at the lower back. Leda was in love.

The pile of clothing that Lorai finally bagged up for her was staggering, but Leda had to admit that she had covered all of her annual shopping in one day.

The shoes that she picked were all flats that were easy to get in and out of. It was a shifter standard. The dresses were wash and wear, but light and airy. They were perfect for getting wet and drying quickly.

Her new cousin was a joy. There was such bright, good humour in Lorai that it made Leda feel surly in comparison.

A furious texting round with her father while Lorai packed up her new stuff and Leda had agreed to bring Altion home for dinner on the weekend. It was two days away, and she knew what would be demanded of him.

When he looked up from the high heels that he was looking at wistfully, she waved her phone. “You are going into training. My dad wants us over on the weekend.”

“Training?”

“Yup. Beaver males need a certain set of skills, and you don’t have them yet. We have two days to get you ready to face my family.”

He blinked. “Do you think it’s enough time?”

Lorai piped in. “Can I watch?”

Leda grinned at her. “If you like. It is going to be a little boring.”

“I haven’t been around transformed shifters. I would find the experience fascinating.”

Leda laughed. “It is the same as the transformation to mermaid, only with fur, claws and a tail. Oh, and big freaking teeth.”

Altion sighed. “I am terrified. I just don’t have the hang of the four feet.”

“I will shift with you and chase you around a little. No shenanigans while we are shifted, but yes, we can play in the water.”

Lorai chuckled. “At least it wouldn’t be as bad as mer water sex.”

Leda cocked her head. “I thought we couldn’t do that.”

“Oh, we can, we just need a few hundred miles and the men have to do all the work. They thrust and shove us forward and then have to flick their tails to get any kind of friction going. It takes forever to come. Seriously frustrating.”

The information was fascinating. Leda smiled. “It suddenly strikes me at how dependant a newly mated fey-shifter cross is on their mate’s information. We have no community or family history to draw on.”

Altion blushed. “I promise to give you more information and answer anything you want to know.”

Lorai smirked, “And what he misses, you can ask me.”

Altion slumped his shoulders. “You can ask her if you don’t believe me. You will have a second opinion.”

Leda laughed. “Well, if that is everything for today, I can pay for this and we can haul it all to the new house.”

Lorai smirked. “I am honoured to extend to you my family discount.”

“Whatever it costs, it keeps me from shopping again for another year.”

Lorai chortled. “Oh, I promise that I will have something irresistible for you before that. It is my personal perversion to get folks hooked on my clothing designs.”

Leda hefted two of the bags, and Altion grabbed the rest as well as his own case. Leda swiped her wrist across the payment plate without even looking at the cost. It didn’t matter. She had money to burn. Living with her family and starting her career early had left her with a ton of savings and working for the council didn’t hurt.

They walked together through the town with her booty, and she wiggled her toes in her new shoes. “Your cousin is very nice.”

“She is like a stuffed animal come to life. She once swore to only mate with a man who had more cheerful energy than she did. We get the feeling that she is upping her game just to keep the possibility at bay.”

“Well, she is the perkiest person I have ever seen. It would be annoying if she didn’t look so ethereal.”

They made it through the town and turned seaward. There, with blue trim, was their new home. About fifty metres from the main bulk of the Isthmus was a house that was the first of about a dozen on the seaside.

Leda staggered up the steps with her burden, and she blinked in surprise as Altion divested her of her bags. She didn’t know what he was up to, but when he lifted her in his arms, opened the door and stepped over the threshold, she teared up a little. It was a sweet gesture. She almost regretted what she was about to put him through.

Leda lumbered forward with a sapling in her jaws. Altion mimicked her, and when she used her body weight and neck to shove her sapling into position, he followed her example.

She watched his placement, the weaving technique and the push that he gave to lock the wood in place so that it wouldn’t ease out again.

Finally, she entered the water and slapped her tail once to get him to follow her. Swimming in fresh water was different and more shoulder than tail. The tail was for steering, and the rest of the limbs did the propulsion.

She showed him how to gather mud in his jaws and carry it to the top of the dam. He didn’t look too impressed, but he did it, patting it into place with his paws and tail.

The procedure got easier, and when they had coated the first layer in mud, they built up a little more.

She had done most of the design, but he had caught on, and when she swam down to enter their dam, she tested that construction.

There were leaks and the walls trembled, but there was breathable air inside. She carefully turned around and waddled to the exit. When she came out, he went in, and she watched the quivering of the structure.

It didn’t collapse, but she could see the suction of the water as it was pulled into the dam. As suddenly as the structure rushed in, it stopped. The magic that he was using was funny, but it was working.

It never occurred to her that she could use some of the new power zipping through her to shore up her work. Leda headed to the surface for a breath of air.

Juno and Derix were sitting on the edge of the rapidly growing lake. Juno beckoned her over.

Knowing what was coming, she tried to send a message to Altion with a slap of her tail, but she had no idea if he got it or not.

She swam leisurely up to Juno and shifted to human. “Yes?”

Juno was smirking. “Do you plan on cleaning this up?”

Leda grinned. “I do. That is the second lesson. First is building, second is demolition.”

The rapidly forming lake was lapping close to buildings and walkways.

Altion swam up to her, and he shifted as well. “What is happening?”

Leda waved her arm. “Dam side effect. We made a lake where a lake shouldn’t be.”

Altion nodded and flicked his fingers. A ball of water spun along the surface before it disappeared and struck the dam. The rush of water left them standing naked twenty feet from the narrow river.

Leda looked down and sighed. “I am going to have to start putting my clothing in a tree.”

Juno chuckled. “Shifter’s dilemma. Well, at least the fey don’t seem to mind.”

Derix and Altion tried to look innocent, but Altion noticed that Derix was looking, and he put himself in between Leda and the other fey.

Leda tapped Altion’s shoulder. “It’s fine. Nudity is just another skin. You will have to get used to it. After we meet with family a time or two, you won’t even notice when I am not wearing clothing.”

Altion turned his head and looked down at her. “I will notice.”

Juno glanced down and looked back at Leda. “He is definitely noticing. Are those scales?”

Leda laughed as he pulled her in front of him to defend him from the fox’s eyes.

“Well, we drained the new lake, but we will need a spot to practice when Dira is feeling up to it.”

Juno grinned. “Noted. When do you head home?”

“Tomorrow. We are testing the portal again today, and if it lets us both through separately, we are good.”

“Excellent. Well, good luck with that. By the way, where did your clothing go?”

Altion answered from behind her. “She made me march here as a beaver.”

Leda snickered. “Right. I wasn’t thinking about the clothing thing.”

Altion suddenly whispered, “Race you.”

He sprinted away, and Leda made a hasty goodbye to Juno and Derix while the two were laughing themselves to the ground.

Leda chased her golden mate along the freshwater segment and over the pathway that separated the two, to the seaside. She was just catching up with him on the shoreline when he stopped, turned, caught her in his arms and jumped sideways into the water.

The tail thrashing and tag continued in the water, right up to their deck. Leda thrashed, left the water, purged her gills and landed on the wood.

Altion was right behind her. “Well, done, Leda. You win.”

“I think you let me win.”

He smiled and wrapped her in his arms. “I do love watching the flick of your fins.”

Leda grinned and leaned against him. “You love every shape I take.”

“Whatever bound us knew what it was doing. So, shall we run the portal?”

Leda nodded. “Just let me get dressed. I can run around here no problem, but sprinting naked through the Crossroads proper just isn’t my cup of tea.”

They walked into the house, hand in hand and headed to the bedroom. She had a couple of months before her beast went into heat, so in the meantime, she was getting used to her mate as quickly as she could.

They were going to need to present a united front when they met her family, and she was going to need to feel confident in all her forms when she met his family. It was a lot to take in in a very short time.