Kissed by the Wave: A Forbidden Realm Novel

by Serena Gilley

  She writhed as she felt the humans on board twist in each other’s arms. Her hair wrapped about her, binding her arms and blinding her eyes. The vibrations were coming stronger and she could feel the full force of them. Once more, nothing else mattered but touch and sensation. She rolled in the water, feeling every molecule wash over her scales, permeate her skin, and surge through her lungs as her body drew oxygen and nutrients from it. She struggled not to cry out, to make herself known to the lovers above.

  The release would come soon and come hard. She expelled her last draw of watery breath and floated free, her nerves singing with anticipation, waiting for the slightest message to arrive in the tremulous sea around her. Her body undulated, burning from her own caress and desperate for the delicious torrent to finally be over. It was terrible and wonderful. Familiar and forbidden.

  When she thought she could stand it no longer, at last the end came. The panting rhythm surrounding her pounded to a fury, then came crashing to calm. The water stilled and she knew the humans were left clinging to each other and gasping for air. Their dry air, where she could not go. Aliya was alone in the chill water below, her body sagging but not satisfied, forever separated from whatever it was these vibrations made her seek.

  She pressed her pale hand against the boat to steady herself and get her bearings. The humans were still, the man undetectable to her now. The boat was merely a cold, barnacled thing; a piece of the dry that invaded her world. She felt empty and drained. And sad. The sadness that human carried with him, she felt it wrap tightly around her now. She understood his hopelessness, how alone he felt.

  She should not have done this. She must leave them now and go back to her work. Her folk counted on her to keep all things human from ever encountering them. There was nothing for her here and never could be. She had done her duty to make sure everything was well, and it was. Being seen lingering near a boat would only get her into trouble.

  To be on the safe side, she gathered her composure and made a quick inspection. Indeed, the boat was sound and the humans had nothing to worry about. A stranded or sinking vessel, after all, would bring all manner of humans out onto their waters. Her folk needed to know if they must vacate the area, didn’t they? She tried to convince herself she was merely doing her job as she made another circle around the boat, watching, listening, seeing.

  There was nothing worrisome, though, to be seen. She did, however, see him.

  The human male had come back out onto the deck. She could see his form looming above, gazing down into the water. She was foolish for it, but she did not dart away as she should. Did he recall her? Was his mind reaching out for her, craving another touch, another glimpse with his eyes?

  She must be a fool. No true Sentinel would endanger herself this way. She needed to think about her Realm, the damage that could be done to the Veil if humans became aware of them. There were repercussions and consequences to her actions; she knew all that. At the same time, she knew she could not ignore what she felt.

  His pain. It cut through the water and begged her attention. Since the first night she had encountered him, she’d never been able to ignore it.

  It was a pain that consumed him beyond conscious thought. He felt things in a way that most humans she’d encountered did not. Night after night he’d returned to this same spot while he tried to drown his emptiness. He immersed himself in passion, distracted himself with carnal enjoyment, yet that torturous pain never fully left him. Aliya had been transfixed, trying to make sense out of sensations.

  But she was beginning to realize there was no sense to be made of it. She should not have tried. The pain this man felt had gradually transferred itself to her. After all her time spent watching him, touching his mind when she knew she should not, now his grief echoed in her own heart. The man’s hollow yearning for what he had lost had slowly become hers. She would have wept for it if she could have.

  But for the fact that mermaids were not able to cry.

  * * *

  Devin stared out over the water. There was a slight chill to the wind, but he didn’t need clothing. There was nothing and no one around for miles, just water. The way he liked it.

  His companion slept soundly back in the bunk, but he was restless. He was always restless, especially on nights like these, however that could be possible. By rights he ought to be exhausted after the gymnastics with Stacey. He hoped he remembered her name right.

  He’d done that girl twice already tonight and she’d been worn out after. He’d met her last week at one of those boring fund-raising banquets his firm always supported. She was interning for a colleague and probably thought by coming out here tonight she was giving herself some advantage when it came to landing an actual job. Yeah, he’d put in a good word for her with his human resource department. She was not the most inspiring lay he’d ever had, but he couldn’t really fault her enthusiasm. She’d put some effort into screwing tonight and he’d taken full advantage of it, for all the good it had done him. He hoped she didn’t realize how uninvolved he’d really been. It wasn’t her fault she hadn’t been enough for him.

  When would he ever learn? He kept expecting the pain to go away, hoping, praying, wishing for lust and desire to somehow swallow up the ache. Every now and then his wish almost came true, but it never lasted long.

  Sure, for a while he could distract himself with the sex. Sometimes it was nearly good enough. But after all the thrusting and panting, he was always right back where he started.

  Alone.

  Judith was gone and he was alone.

  He could nail every hot young thing on the planet and it still wouldn’t bring her back.

  Sleep was no retreat, since that was when he relived the tragedy. Every time he closed his eyes he was back there again. He’d see the flames, hear his wife’s scream. Then he’d wake up to cold reality. All he had left was wishing he could forget. He would run away to the cool, wet safety of the lake and bury himself and his memories in some warm, willing female.

  And there were plenty of them, he’d found. His money attracted them like flies. Everyone wanted their night with Devin Sandstrom. By day he was the CEO of Sandstrom Industries, making deals and negotiating takeovers. By night he was just another man who used women as playthings and didn’t bother to remember their names. He didn’t need to remember—when he was done with one, there was always another waiting for her turn to warm his bed. Hell, they never even complained. It was like people expected this from him. He had power, position, and wealth enough to get anything he wanted.

  It hadn’t been enough to save Judith, though, had it? No, it hadn’t been. In the end, all his money was little more than kindling. It could do nothing to put out the memory of those flames that turned his heart into ash every day.

  And so here he was again, on the lake with a woman who didn’t matter and couldn’t help him. All the wishing in the world wouldn’t change that. Still, he kept coming back. It seemed like the only thing that could douse those flames licking at his sanity was this big, cold, uncondemning lake. But it didn’t seem like that was enough anymore, either. Lately he’d felt his sanity slipping.

  Hell, he’d thought he’d seen a freaking mermaid earlier, hadn’t he?

  Proof of that, the water beside his boat shimmered and parted silently as a pale figure appeared there. Fair hair flowing out into a liquid halo, skin that glowed under moonlight, and the face of an angel.

  Yep, not much of that sanity left.

  But he smiled just the same.

  “Hello,” he said.

  His apparition smiled in return and he more felt than heard the gentle sigh she made. He’d felt it earlier, too, when she visited him. Or rather, when he imagined her visiting. Of course he knew she couldn’t be real. His desperate, depraved mind had invented her. A fantasy. A mermaid.

  “Hello, Devin,” she said, her voice drifting around him and making him dizzy.

  Hell, he sure had one active imagination. She was so perfect in every way. He
might be insane, but he was a genius along with it. To have invented such an elaborate, amazing daydream!

  Maybe he should write a book.

  “You can’t sleep again, I see,” she noted.

  He felt as if she were caressing him even from this distance, but that was all just a part of the wonderful illusion. It was as if she actually knew him. She’d even called him by name! It seemed perfectly natural to be sitting here naked, having a conversation with her.

  “I can’t shake the dreams,” he replied, knowing she’d understand.

  She was his own invention, after all. Of course she’d understand better than anyone ever had. Her sigh drifted up from the water and embraced him. He would have closed his eyes and reveled in the feeling, but then he would not be seeing her. Experience had taught him that fantasies never lasted long enough and he refused to miss any of it by giving in to the loneliness.

  “The dreams are getting worse, aren’t they?” she asked.

  He nodded. Even his therapist didn’t know that, but she did. His own private mermaid.

  “Devin,” she began softly. “How can I help you?”

  “Just let me look at you.”

  Okay, so maybe that was a standard pickup line, but this time he meant it. Watching as she floated there, wrapped in waves of her long beautiful hair and glinting blue sparks off her shiny body, he had to admit the emptiness faded just a bit. Somehow, this crazy fantasy made him feel better. He couldn’t explain it. He must be going full-on insane, but he sure did like looking at her.

  Her eyes were deep and endless and green, like the water at daybreak. She floated there, her perfect breasts buoyed and bobbing slightly with the waves. The moonlight made her nakedness glow. She let him stare to his heart’s content. No self-conscious blushes, no nervous shifting, just an easy and sensual smile meeting his gaze.

  She was everything he wanted. She was kind, she listened, she didn’t ask for anything, plus she was flawlessly beautiful. And she was a being of water—that was the best part of this fantasy. Fire could never touch her.

  That damned, ravenous fire. God, why had he not been able to stop it? It had kept coming, devouring everything in its path. He’d beat it back, his own hands were scorched, but nothing worked. He’d failed. He lost everything that mattered to him that day.

  “Devin,” the mermaid said. Her lilting voice pulled him out of the hole he was slipping into.

  “Come into the water with me.”

  Like waking from a dream, her invitation washed over him, drenching those terrible memories. She wanted him to join her in the water. Well, it was stupid to question his own daydream. If getting into the water with her was an option, he was all for it. Hell, he was already getting hard just at the mere thought of it.

  He moved to the ladder and lowered himself into the water below. It was cold. He welcomed that, though. Maybe the wet and the chill would help clear his thoughts. He plunged his naked body into the water, letting go of the railing and pushing into the lake. The chill ran over him, through him, but he ignored it and willed himself to regain his grasp on reality.

  Not that he wanted this slick, tempting mermaid to be gone, but he recognized his fantasy was becoming more real by the moment. As much as he wanted to escape his reality, he knew it would not be right. He shuddered from cold and burst up through the surface, expecting to see nothing but moonlight and the usual loneliness all around him.

  But she was still there. Damn it, his imagination was running wild tonight. She was right there, snaking through the water with her shiny wet body and watching him with her strange watery eyes. His cock throbbed even in the cold. His gaze raked over her as if she were the first woman he’d seen in a year.

  And she wasn’t even a woman, was she? She was a mermaid, of all things. Yeah, he was losing it, for sure.

  “I’m Aliya,” she said, her words drifting like mist over the water.

  It was a beautiful name, but not one he’d heard before. If she was a figment of his imagination, how had he come up with that name? Not that he was complaining. He could think of nothing better to call this beautiful, surreal creature before him.

  She drifted toward him, slowly, hesitantly. Did she fear him? No, of course not. She was his fantasy, after all. She wouldn’t be afraid. It almost seemed as though she was moving cautiously so as not to frighten him. That made him laugh. Even his own daydream knew just how close he was to going over the edge.

  “You are laughing, Devin?” she asked.

  “I’ve never been swimming with a mermaid before,” he said.

  “You have,” she said with a soft smile. “You simply were not aware of me.”

  “Well, I’m aware of you now.”

  “And I’m well aware of you, Devin.”

  Her eyes were unblinking. She moved close enough that he could see water droplets collected in her pale eyelashes. God, she was gorgeous. He’d never seen skin like hers and he was aching to touch her.

  Since she didn’t seem to mind, he stared unashamed. Her face was human and as perfect as any woman he could have imagined. Her neck was long and slender. A man could spend hours just working that neck and those perfect shoulders. And the breasts.

  Good God, what breasts.

  She was aware that he was staring, but instead of slinking away she actually rose up higher in the water before him. Rounded breasts heaved with the water, floating just at the surface a couple feet from him. Her nipples puckered.

  His cock throbbed, aching for satisfaction. Again? In the cold lake water? This was the perfect fantasy, after all. She was perfect. No man could remain unaffected by Aliya.

  Below the water’s surface her woman’s body subtly tapered to something…different. The pale of her skin gave way to a glistening fishlike body. He could see her moving back and forth down there, a graceful dance to keep her upright and above water. It was tantalizing.

  “You have so much pain,” she said finally.

  “I want to touch you, Aliya.”

  She smiled and glided toward him. The sound of water lapping against their bodies was seductive. He involuntarily moved back toward the boat and clutched the ladder with both hands behind him.

  God, he did want to touch her, though! But she wasn’t real, nothing more than a desperate fantasy he’d dreamed up. What would happen when he reached out? She’d evaporate, disappear. His fantasy would be gone and he’d be the fool, alone in the frigid water with his own guilt and stupidity. And the hard-on to end all hard-ons.

  “I want you to touch me,” Aliya said. “Please.”

  Her timid half-smile was pleading with him and he could see the desire in her eyes. Did he dare? Was he ready to reach out and ruin this beautiful dream? Then again, this was his fantasy, wasn’t it? Maybe he could imagine that she wouldn’t disappear. Maybe he was lunatic enough by now that he could make her feel real. Hell yes, he was going to touch her.

  One hand on the ladder, he stretched his arm out. Farther, farther…nearer…he touched her. By God, she didn’t disappear. She let out a breath that was a combination sigh and caress. He brushed two fingers across her face. Damn, she felt so real. She came closer.

  He cradled her face in the palm of his hand. She felt as soft and solid as any woman. And ready. Her tender moan sounded perfectly real, and perfectly willing. She slid her body up against his and she felt so good it was all he could do to keep his head above water.

  For the sake of survival, he was forced to keep one hand on the ladder. But she still remained tight up against him, still sighing as he touched her face, her neck, the slope of her shoulder. This was his daydream, his mermaid. He wanted her. What was to stop him from taking her?

  He leaned his head toward the water, where her full breasts with those ruby nipples lay at the surface. He let himself sink slightly into the water, cupping one of those moon-kissed breasts. It was warm and soft as silk. He dipped his head and caught her nipple in his mouth.

  She drew a quick breath, making a sound almost
musical in nature. It filled the air and water around them. Its vibration reached into Devin’s bones and rocked his soul. His own nipples tingled with sensation. He pulled her closer, higher. His mouth covered her areola, his tongue worked her nipple.

  And he felt her response in his own body.

  It was an odd sensation, but he knew immediately that he was experiencing what Aliya was feeling. For every move he made, every gentle sucking motion or caress, he felt it. The experience was irresistible and he wanted more.

  She moaned and the sound became the wind, warm and encircling them. This was new to her, he could feel that, too. Whatever it was merpeople did with each other, it was not this. At least, Aliya never had.

  The realization stoked his heated passions. It didn’t matter anymore whether she was real or fantasy. What they were both feeling right now was very real, and he couldn’t let it stop. He wanted all of her, needed all of her.

  And she felt the same. She was skimming her cool fingertips along his arms, his back, and down toward his hips. The combined sensation of his reaction and hers was driving him wild. As much as he wanted this to last all night, he knew he would never let it. He needed release soon. For both of them.

  Her ragged breaths were like the gales that fell and twisted from the sky, swirling around them in sound and emotion. He teased first one nipple, then the other, and let his kisses trail back up to her neck, where he nuzzled her ear. The area there was especially sensitive for her and she arched under his assault.

  Then he captured her lips. Salty, sweet, unlike anything he’d ever felt. She was warm, but it was tempered by the water. She was firm, but her body seemed to mold itself to him, wrapping her fishy tail around his legs. He parted her lips with his searching tongue.

  She greeted him eagerly. As he showed her the way, she began tasting him, toying with his mouth. The surge of current through her body was mirrored in his own and his muscles began to weaken under the strength of their passion. He gripped the ladder, fighting to keep from giving in to the desire to leave reality behind and become one with Aliya.