The Mermaid's Kiss

by Darlene Kuncytes

  Sometimes it was nice pretending to be someone else, and over the years she had stashed away quite a few human treasures.

  Marissa could hear him hacking and coughing as she hastily donned a sundress and grabbed the lantern and waterproof matches in one of the bags she kept stashed away here.

  She dashed back to where he lay and lit the lantern, illuminating the space in a flickering, golden glow that only served to enhance his incredibly handsome features.

  He was so strikingly beautiful that it took her breath away, and even though she knew that she shouldn’t be thinking it, she couldn’t seem to help herself. It was just a fact that couldn’t be ignored.

  He turned and caught her eyes and she was thrown by the intensity of their silver depths. She had never seen eyes that color before. They were startling, like mercury.

  She could see a muscle in his perfectly square jaw twitching dangerously as he seemed to size her up, struggling to get to his feet, but the broken bones were effectively preventing that from happening.

  “Don’t try to stand,” she instructed quickly, her hand unconsciously reaching out and touching his shoulder, and damned if it didn’t feel as if she had laid her fingers upon solid granite. “You’re badly hurt.”

  He pulled back from her touch, glaring at her as if she were a disgusting piece of filth. “Just who in the Hell are you?” He growled, and she knew beyond a doubt that the husky timber of his voice was not due to all the water he had just coughed up. That was natural.

  He looked ready to pounce, and she was pretty sure if he did, she’d be done for, even with his many injuries. He had at least a foot on her and most likely well over a hundred pounds.

  Not to mention that he looked ready to kill.

  She scuttled back slightly, lifting her arms in an attempt to show that she meant him no harm. She could see the cuts and bruises marring his face and body, and her heart did another little flip inside her ribs. This time with empathy. She would never understand how beings could be so horrendously cruel to one another.

  “Please,” she whispered, her voice seeming to stick in her throat. She attempted to clear it and took a breath. “I promise, I won’t hurt you.”

  He chuffed sarcastically, as if the mere idea of her causing him any harm was funny as hell, before his eyes broke free of hers and began skimming across her features and down her body in a slow, thorough appraisal, bringing a rush of heat to wherever they happened to venture and she felt herself frown, her temper beginning to flare up with his blatant perusal of her.

  He sure as hell had some damn nerve ogling her like a well-fed tuna when she had saved his sorry ass from certain death!

  Chase Bastaine clenched his jaw, trying his best to contain his fury as he watched the woman in front of him cautiously, ignoring the shooting stab of pain from his battered body, even though it was screaming at him to take notice. Those sons of bitches had sure as hell done a number on him, and he was thoroughly pissed off and wanted blood!

  Damn filthy bottom feeders!

  When he made another move to rise, his ribs screamed out in agony like he had never experienced before, making him dizzy and bile to rise in his gut, not to mention the blaze of pure fire that shot through his leg; but he sure as hell wasn’t about to let this little slip of a woman know that.

  Not until he knew exactly who in the hell she was, and just what her part in all of this bullshit was.

  She made a move back towards him and once again reached out a delicate hand, but he snarled in return, causing her to pull it back, almost as if she had been burned.

  “Who in the fuck are you,” he repeated venomously, although the power behind his words was sorely lacking as the overwhelming feeling that he was about to lose consciousness hit him like a sledge hammer between the eyes, but he fought it for all he was worth.

  Until he knew just what in the hell had happened, and who this woman was, and where his damned attackers were, he needed to stay focused. He couldn’t let himself succumb to the darkness trying to overtake him. No matter how much he wanted to fall into its sweet embrace.

  “Please. I…I only want to help you,” he heard her murmur, her voice soft and eerily soothing, almost musical, and he found himself relaxing the tiniest bit. Either that, or his exhaustion was winning. “The men who…who hurt you, are gone. They believe you were dead.”

  He studied her silently a moment, trying to clear his aching head enough to try and read if she was being truthful or not, but it was proving to be damned hard, if not impossible. He felt as if he had been run over by a truck.

  A very large truck.

  “Why?” He asked finally, and noticed that she seemed to swallow with what looked to be difficulty.

  “Why, what?” she questioned, and Chase fought off a rousing round of nausea as he struggled to keep his eyes focused on the delicate little beauty.

  Christ, he wasn’t even sure how much longer he was going to be able to hold on.

  The rushing of blood to his ears was deafening. Not to mention the pressure behind his eyes that it was causing.

  “Listen, Sweetheart,” he croaked out icily, “I don’t know just who in the hell you are, but I need answers, and you know what I mean. I feel like shit, and I’m not in the mood to play games.” He slowly moved his head and glanced around the dank cavern a moment as he pushed away the feeling of claustrophobia that was descending on him before glaring at her once again. “Where are we?”

  “It’s…it’s a cave. It’s safe,” she stammered in response.

  “How did I get here?”

  “I brought you here when they threw you into the water.”

  “Do you know who they are?” He threw back at her, more than just a bit irritably.

  This back and forth was beginning to sap what little strength he had left, and he closed his eyes a moment to try and gather some momentum before opening them just in time to see her nodding slowly.

  “Who?” He snarled, a part of him wanting to lash out at her. To grab her and just shake that pretty little body of hers until she told him everything.

  He knew that she had to be a part of this! Why else would she have brought him here? She had most likely been given the task of watching over him until those bastards returned from wherever they had gone.

  Although, he silently thought, as he once again looked her up and down, even in his battered state, this beautiful little nymph didn’t stand a chance against him if he chose to attack. He would be able to snap her like a twig.

  He glared at her.

  Waiting.

  His patience was being pressed beyond its limits and he bit back the growl that hovered at his lips. He was done playing twenty questions. He wanted answers.

  It wasn’t even that he was angry with her exactly. He was just thoroughly frigging pissed off that he had let his guard down long enough to have been attacked in the first place. He had been fucking blindsided and he didn’t like it!

  At all.

  And if she was a part of the group who had jumped him…

  His hand instinctively went to his chest, looking for his amulet, only to discover it gone and he exploded once again.

  “Where is it?” he hissed between teeth that were so tightly clenched that a small part of him wondered why they hadn’t shattered like glass. This time he did reach out and grabbed her by the wrist, pulling her down to her knees beside him as a frightened squeak erupted from her.

  “What?” She breathed out as she attempted to pull her arm from his grip, but it was futile, and she knew it. He could see the panic building in her eyes. “Where’s what?”

  “The stone of Dragaan.” He snapped back as tiny stars began to dance and spin crazily in front of him, which he was certain were caused from the energy his rage was sucking from him. He dropped her wrist to press his palms against his eyes in an attempt to stop their spinning.

  When he finally looked back up at her, it was in time to see her eyes deepen from that lovely aqua to an almost emerald
green with what could only be taken for her own anger, and she scuttled back out of his reach, her chest heaving with indignation as she plopped down on her ass and rubbed her wrist.

  “Do you mean your necklace?” She asked, her eyes narrowing as her full, pouty little mouth set itself into a tight frown.

  “Yes!” He all but roared, and the stars happily swimming in front of him suddenly burst into blinding flashes of brightly colored light, and he felt the cave beginning to spin and lurch around him, causing a wave of nausea to hit him.

  The last thing he remembered before everything went black was her musical voice telling him that the men who had jumped him had taken it with them.

  Marissa watched in stunned silence as his eyes rolled back in his head and he collapsed to the cavern floor, his huge hulk of a body so incredibly still that she feared he was dead, this time for real. She moved in a bit closer, crawling over to where he lay only to breathe a sigh a relief when she heard the faint sound of air whistling through his lungs.

  She stood and moved to where she kept her stuff stashed away, and grabbed a few blankets. She bunched one up to place under his head, the other she draped over his body, noticing how it barely covered his shins, and figured he had to be well over six foot.

  She paced the cave, wondering what she should do next. The man was an insufferable arrogant ass, and seemed to be able to push her buttons with just a single word.

  But…he was also a creature in need of help, and she couldn’t forget that. He needed to rest and to have his wounds tended to. She didn’t have any medical supplies down here to speak of, and glanced down toward the dark space at the back of the cavern, wondering if she dared to venture on land.

  Just the thought of going above caused a pit to begin to form in her stomach, and she held her breath, trying to work up the courage to do what she knew had to be done. She couldn’t take the risk of his wounds getting infected, and he would need something to eat, and fresh water…

  She anxiously nibbled at her bottom lip as she debated on whether or not she could do it. Could she really go above among the landwalkers again? It had been years since she had, and she knew that it could only have gotten worse up there; but she would not let her fear keep her from helping someone in need. No matter how abominably they had behaved.

  Marissa had been smart enough over the years to have had the forethought to sell some of the gold coins found on the ocean floor for human money. Keeping it safely stashed away for her journeys to land, she would purchase the things that would catch her eye. She wasn’t sure how much was left, she hadn’t bother to count it in a very long time, but she was sure there was more than enough.

  She stared down at him, her body beginning to grow clammy from nerves, and willed herself to relax. He would be out for a while, she was sure, and if she only grabbed the bare necessities, she could be back before he woke.

  “Son of a sea-witch,” she grumbled as she stomped over to where she kept a pair of shoes and a jacket and slipped them on. “Just the bare minimum,” she whispered to herself as she took off down the passage that led to the land above. “In and out. It’ll be easy. Nothing to worry about at all. You can do this.” She rambled on to no one in particular.

  Marissa knew that even if he did wake in her absence, he wouldn’t be able to walk, let alone find the small crevice that led to the beach above, and he sure as heck was in no condition to swim it. Besides, she’d be back long before that, even though the growing dampness of her palms begged to differ. She straightened her back and pushed on, refusing to let the butterflies roiling around in her belly stop her.

  Chapter Two

  Marissa could hear the sounds of laughter, curse words and music drifting on the air as she made her way closer to the small beach town. At this time of night, the bars would most likely be filled to capacity. The landwalkers would be dancing and drinking to excess, looking for the easiest warm body to take home for the night.

  Some things never changed.

  She forced herself to tune out the sound as she forged ahead, the smell of shrimp boiling hit her nose and caused her tummy grumble with neglect. She realized that she had not eaten anything at all that day, and was famished.

  She shoved her hunger aside and headed towards the small general store she remembered at the edge of the town square, hoping they would have everything she needed. She didn’t relish the thought of having to go looking for another. The very last thing she wanted to do was wander about among the landwalkers. Especially in the dark.

  It will only be a few moments. In and out. Just get what you need, and you can go back.

  In and out.

  She silently repeated the words to herself over and over again as she walked along, hoping to ease the unease that was building up inside her with each step that she took, as if by saying them, they would keep her protected, safe from the dangers that lurked about in the shadows in places like this.

  The ding of a bell announced her arrival as she stepped through the entrance of the store, which seemed much larger than she remembered.

  The lone cashier looked up from the magazine she was perusing with disinterest for the briefest of moments before glancing back down and flipping the page with an audible snap.

  She was a young, pretty girl, and if Marissa had to guess, she would say no more than eighteen years old. Much too young to be working alone at this time of night. She pushed the thought from her mind and headed down the first aide aisle, hastily grabbing whatever she could find. Bandages, alcohol, all the while repeating her mantra.

  In and out. In and out.

  By the time she had gotten everything she needed, including some water and food, she was more than ready to head back. The paranoia creeping up on her was getting worse, and she was finding it harder and harder to breathe.

  Like a fish out of water.

  She would have laughed at the thought if she wasn’t so uncomfortable, and quickly paid for her purchase before dashing from the store and back down to the beach, knowing full well that if anyone had seen her or paid attention to her, they would have thought her stark raving mad for running away as she had. Either that, or that she was possibly a thief, running from the scene of the crime. Thankfully, the people of the small town were much too busy throwing back shots and having a good time to worry about her.

  Marissa silently slipped through the opening in the rocks, and pulled her bags in behind her, hurrying back to where she had left her guest, and praying that he hadn’t woken.

  As she had hoped, he was still out cold, and she quickly set to work cleaning and dressing his wounds as best she could, all the while making a sound of disapproval deep in her throat, furious at the damage those animals had done to him.

  The best she could tell, he had several broken ribs, and his leg had been badly damaged, and she realized that she had heard it snap. She cringed at the sight of the bone protruding from his shin, and shoved away the urge to burst into tears with an audible swallow as she did what she could to set it. It wounded her to think that someone would be so cruel as to inflict such brutality on another being, and the realization that it had been her own people who had chosen to inflict such damage, cut her to the quick.

  She wrapped pieces of cloth around the makeshift splint with slow and deliberate care, doing her best not to jostle him more than was necessary.

  Finally, she leaned back a bit, wiping the sweat from her brow and studying her handiwork. It seemed fairly straight, and she was more than just a little grateful that he had stayed unconscious during the whole process. The thought of the pain he would have experienced as she set his leg frightened the pearls out of her.

  Not to mention the fury his discomfort would most surely have caused, and that scared her more than anything. No matter how handsome the man was, he was still intimidating as hell, and until he realized that she was only trying to help him, she wanted him to remain as anger free as possible.

  Marissa set her medical supplies off to the side and began b
uilding a small fire. Luckily there was plenty of oxygen in the cavern and the way it was set up would keep anyone with prying eyes from seeing the smoke. Still, she kept the fire small, just enough to warm the area up a bit to help him dry out, and cook up some food when he woke.

  When she had the fire burning steadily, she sat back down opposite of where he lay, and pulled her knees up to her chest, resting her chin on them. She sat there quietly, studying the man lying there so still, only the movement of his chest indicating that he was alive.

  He was fascinating.

  She still couldn’t be one-hundred percent sure exactly what type of paranormal being he was, but she knew that he was definitely not human. And, he had asked where the stone of Dragaan was, so if she had to make an educated guess, she was leaning heavily toward dragon shifter, which only piqued her interest all the more.

  She had never met an actual dragon shifter in the flesh, but their legend was infamous far and wide. They were considered to be the highest tier of the paranormal realm. Warriors, leaders and protectors by nature, they were also known to be fiercely loyal to their people. Their quick tempers and sheer brute strength were something that was also to be feared by others in their realms, and it was said they just couldn’t seem to be tamed.

  She had heard the tales over the years. Tales of their strong wills, and how they ruled their clans with a strength and intelligence that was admired and revered.

  Would that group of asshats been stupid enough to have messed with a dragon? She silently wondered, and instantly realized they would have.

  Marissa pulled her dry hair over her shoulder and unconsciously began toying with the strands before pulling it into a nice fat braid. A habit she had picked up as a child whenever she was distracted. She jumped in surprise when he moaned, shifting his massive frame to the side facing her, and she held her breath.

  It seemed her guest was waking. She only hoped he was in a somewhat better mood.