Kissed by the Wave: A Forbidden Realm Novel

by Serena Gilley

  It hit him like a thunderclap: Raea didn’t return his ardor. She was shocked, stunned. She was disgusted. She didn’t want him. She would never want him. He’d been wrong about her.

  His pain at this realization was more than physical. All at once he realized what he’d just lost. Not merely the moments of physical pleasure he’d been so anxious for, but the trust and companionship of a valued friend. It was too awful to consider. He’d given in to his human side and it had cost him Raea.

  “Oh God, Raea,” he said, bringing his lips off hers.

  But that tiny shift resulted in reaction in her body. Without warning, she was pressing herself against him. Her hands were no longer pinned to her sides, but instead slid up to his shoulders. He felt her nails rasp against his exposed skin. He drew in a jagged breath. What was happening?

  Raea was responding to him, that’s what was happening. He was almost afraid to trust his own senses, but when she buried her tiny hand in his thick golden hair, hope threatened to drown him. She pulled his face back toward hers and this time her lips claimed his.

  It was better than his wildest dreams. She sighed, she melted into him, she pressed against his body. She opened her lips to him and allowed his tongue access. As he dipped it into her, she shuddered and there was no doubt what she was feeling.

  Desire. Hot, steamy passion. He wanted her and she wanted him in return. His racing pulse pounded in his ears and he struggled not to crush her in his driving urge to take her fully. But he was determined to take things slowly. Sort of.

  Raea didn’t seem to share his conviction, however. She was exploring his chest with her fingers, tracing his teeth with her tongue, and snuggling up against him so tightly he knew she had to be aware of his very obvious erection. In fact, he was pretty sure she was intentionally rubbing against it.

  Well, by the Skies, he hadn’t been wrong after all. Maybe he hadn’t lost Raea. Perhaps, instead, he’d gained paradise.

  But before he could so much as release one shoulder strap of her feathery costume, his pink paradise jerked away from him. She broke off the kiss and pulled ruthlessly away, staggering back and nearly tripping over a clump of wild daisies.

  “Holy Creator, what am I doing?!” she cried, a look of such horror and disgust on her face that Kyne was sure his heart had been ripped clean out of him.

  Chapter Thirteen

  “What, by everything in the Air, are you doing to me?” Raea yelled.

  She buzzed her wings furiously and got as much distance as she could between her and Kyne. But her body was shaking, unsteady and still reeling from all the incredible emotions and sensations surging through it. She knew she must look ridiculous, stumbling and swaying like she’d lost control of her own limbs.

  Of course she had lost control. What had she been thinking? She was letting Kyne kiss her, touch her all over in the most inappropriate places! And she hadn’t hated it, either.

  Ugh, that’s what made it so shameful. She’d been responding to him! Well, that was hardly her fault. He’d done that to her. He and those smoky human eyes and his despicable human lips and that…oh, Skies above, he’d been displaying that blatantly human male response! And she’d touched it!

  Okay, she hadn’t actually touched it. They’d both been fully clothed. But she knew it was there. Yes, it had certainly been there.

  So Kyne did possess that attribute, after all. She’d always had suspicions about that. She’d stolen peeks down there before, when no one might notice, and she’d always imagined that…

  By the Air and Sea and Land, what was she doing? Fantasizing about what secrets Kyne kept in his pants? How vulgar! Thank the Stars it was still a secret to her, too. Mostly. Even from where he was standing ten feet away from her she could still make out that clearly defined bulge. A very large bulge it seemed, too. More so, proportionally, than many of the humans she’d…

  “If you’re so disgusted by it, stop staring at it!” he said. He sounded big and grumpy and entirely too human.

  Her gaze flashed up to his eyes. How mortifying! He’d caught her looking.

  But his eyes weren’t much safer for her. The fire she saw burning there almost frightened her. And it wasn’t just the physical desire she read in them. Every other emotion blazed there: longing, fear, elation, pain, anger…and something wild and forbidden, too. Something that stoked the embers of an untamed desire in her own being.

  Oh, this was very, very bad.

  “Well, you can’t very well say I started that!” she said.

  “Does it really matter at this point who started it?”

  “Of course it matters! I’d never do something like that if you hadn’t seduced me!”

  Curse that lopsided smile of his.

  “I seduced you?” he drawled. “Seems to me you were doing a fair bit of fluttering those little pink wings and waving your breasts in my face.”

  “I was fluttering because I was flying. And I have never waved my breasts in all my life, Kyne. You are a beast and ought to be ashamed of yourself!”

  “You’re sounding awfully uptight for a fairy who just had her tongue stuffed halfway down my throat, Raea.”

  “Only because you made me! Ugh, I can’t believe I let you…and the germs! By the Skies, Kyne, if I come down with some sort of cold because of this…”

  “Shut up, Raea. You enjoyed it.”

  “You arrogant yellow flower pollinator! I didn’t enjoy one single second of that revolting encounter.”

  She wasn’t usually a liar, but she hoped in this case she was at least halfway convincing. If Kyne ever found out what had been going on inside her while he let his fingers do the walking all over the outside of her…

  “You didn’t enjoy it, huh?” he said, still nailing her with that grin and those simmering amber eyes. “Not even when I did this?”

  She wasn’t quick enough. He rose up into the air and wrapped a solid, sinewy arm around her waist. She pulled against him but all that accomplished was crumpling the one secondary wing that he’d pinned against her.

  She sagged in defeat as his lips came down on hers again. What a sorry creature she was. He tasted like sunflowers and honey and she gave in to the temptation to feel that hot, boiling desire well up in her again. It was delectable.

  “You cannot tell me this isn’t enjoyable,” he whispered into her ear.

  He was right; she couldn’t.

  “Or this,” he added, trailing gentle bites along her neck and sliding his hands down to massage her buttocks.

  Again, he was right.

  “And this,” he said.

  To her surprise he lifted her up a few inches higher. Her skin slid against his and it felt more than just enjoyable. It felt right.

  And now she could feel his huge human legacy pressing against her just at the right spot. The very heart of her steaming need. Oh, so right! She could lean into him, let him hold her like this, and…

  No, she couldn’t. It went against everything she’d ever known, ever lived for. It was wrong.

  “Stop.” She barely breathed.

  He jolted, as if stung by her voice.

  “This is wrong,” she said.

  He let her pull away from him. She sank back to earth, smoothing out her wings and taking deep breaths to settle herself. She needed to regain control, remind him why they could most certainly not do this ever, ever again.

  “It’s wrong,” she repeated finally.

  She made herself look up at him. He had landed a couple feet from her. His breathing was as ragged and uneasy as hers, but somehow his eyes were completely calm. Too calm, she realized.

  “So, this is wrong?” he said after an unbelievably uncomfortable pause.

  She nodded.

  “Wrong. Like what you did out on the lake last night?”

  She struggled not to let him see the dawning concern washing over her. He knew something. But he couldn’t, could he? Oh, no wonder he thought she would have no difficulty succumbing to his lust. He knew ab
out Aliya.

  “Why a mermaid, Raea?” he asked slowly, softly. “An innocent, helpless mermaid, of all creatures. And you threw her to that filthy human just to win a stupid bet. A damn, worthless bet! By the Air, you say what we’ve done here is wrong?”

  “It’s not like that,” she said. It sounded like a weak, pitiful excuse. “It’s what she wished for!”

  Now his grin was gone, replaced by hard, cold disgust. “Oh, don’t even pretend you believe that. I know mermaids; I know what they’re like. You used her because it suited your purposes. There’s nothing in your blessed code about granting wishes for mermaids.”

  “You’re the one who wants to change that code, as I recall.”

  “I want to make it stronger, more focused on keeping us separate and safe from the lustful humans,” he growled.

  She took a step back. How could he say that? Everything about him seemed to cry out to the universe that he had fully embraced the very things the Veil was supposed to keep them separated from. How could he possibly expect her to believe that he was in favor of a more strenuous Great Code? Was he trying to trap her? She was so confused by all of this.

  “What you’ve done is exactly what I’ve been fighting against,” he said, his words clipped and his voice tense. “Can’t you see how powerful passion can be? Didn’t you feel it inside you, building in fury until you felt you must burst from it? Imagine what devastation that could bring if it’s allowed to cross between our Realm and theirs, to allow our magic to mingle with human pettiness and greed, all fueled by the raging torrent of uncontrolled passion.”

  “But I…I merely bent the rules a tiny bit. I swear, I set it all up to go right back to the way everything was.”

  “It can never be the way it was. You crossed the line, Raea. You took advantage of your position and in your selfish conceit you’ve ruined a Veiled creature.”

  “I didn’t ruin her. By tonight she’ll be back to herself again and that human will be long gone. Everything will be just the same.”

  “It won’t. She’s been a human now, Raea. She’s been with a human—really, really with him. All night long, as a matter of fact. You can’t change that.”

  “But it doesn’t mean anything. By the Skies, Kyne, you know yourself how meaningless that physical activity is to humans.”

  His expression changed. What did she see in his eyes now? He was still angry, but that was fading. Now she was seeing the pain. But why should her words hurt him? What she’d said was true. Everyone knew it. All that sex humans were so interested in was just animal instinct. It really was meaningless to them.

  “Is it, Raea?” he said softly.

  Hadn’t he said so himself? She was confused. Kyne had been the one all along condemning humans and their base behavior. He had more contempt for humans—and their sex drives—than most fairies. He wanted to rewrite the laws, even, to see that humans and fairies had even less interaction. He was disgusted by what humans did.

  So why had he kissed her? What could it mean? If he didn’t approve of desire, then why would he allow himself to touch her, to use her, to…Oh, a thought began forming.

  He was trying to trap her! He hated humans and believed Veiled creatures should have nothing to do with them. For what she had done, he probably wanted to take her before the Fairy Council and have her investigated!

  That must be it. He was using his human side to throw her off guard, to make her implicate herself in all sorts of terrible, forbidden things. He was punishing her.

  And she’d almost fallen for it! No, she had fallen for it. Twice now he’d had her melting in his arms, giving in to things she knew she should despise. He’d been the one in control, unaffected by it. Even with his half-human body and those inherent urges he was still unmoved by what they’d done. He must be! How else could he just stand there, glaring at her as if he’d just as soon have her ejected from the planet?

  Well, she wasn’t being taken in like that again. He was right; what she’d done to Aliya was wrong. She’d cheated on the bet and she’d involved her friend in things a mermaid shouldn’t be involved in.

  Of course Kyne wouldn’t care about her explanation, and he’d never believe Aliya really had wished for it. But for all the Forbidden Realm, Raea was not going to let him stand before the council and mislead them about it, about her. No, she’d find a way to avoid that at all costs.

  “All right,” she said after a pause and a big, healthy deep breath. “You’re right. I messed up this time.”

  He looked surprised. “I’m glad you can admit it.”

  “But it’s not too late. I can fix it. This doesn’t have to go any farther than it already has. What went on between us—you and me—was a mistake.”

  “It was illegal.”

  “As well I know, and we won’t talk about it again. I’ve learned my lesson, thanks to you. What I did with Aliya, well, I can undo it. I’ll turn her back into a mermaid, send him back to the shore, and give them both a big dose of Forgetful Dust.”

  “I thought that was a controlled substance.”

  “I’ve got clearance.”

  He nodded. “Impressive.”

  “I’m not a total slouch, Kyne. Despite what you obviously think of me.”

  “How can you know what I think of you?”

  “I know you’re just dying to drag me in to the council,” she said. “And maybe I deserve it. But isn’t the important thing that we keep the balance between the Forbidden Realm and the humans? I can do that. Give me until sunset, and I’ll have it all worked out.”

  His eyes narrowed slightly. It looked like he was considering her words. Good. At least he hadn’t already made up his mind to turn her in.

  “Just one day, Kyne,” she said. “You’ll see. I’m really pretty good at what I do.”

  He smiled, and she knew she’d won. Or…maybe not.

  “I never had any doubts about that, Raea. But be assured, as good as you think you are, I can be better.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  “And these are eggs,” Devin explained, scraping the food he had just prepared out of the skillet onto Aliya’s plate. “I scrambled them.”

  She eyed the fluffy pile dubiously. “Eggs? You mean the unborn offspring of fish?”

  “No, these are eggs from chickens.”

  He watched her frown. Adorable. Naturally, she would have no idea what a chicken was. He smiled. God, it was fun having Aliya around. So many things to show her, to experience through her amazed, innocent eyes.

  “A chicken is a bird. It lives on the land and can’t fly.”

  Her shell-pink lips opened wide. “A bird that can’t fly?”

  “Yeah. A chicken.”

  “But, if it can’t fly, how do you know it’s a bird?”

  He tried not to laugh. She was delightful.

  “Because it has feathers and lays eggs,” he explained.

  She looked back at the food on her plate. “So this is bird’s eggs. And you make it hot over fire?”

  “We cook them. We cook most of our food.”

  “Why?”

  Well, that was a good question. “We like it better that way, I guess,” he said. “And some things just aren’t healthy to eat raw.”

  His toaster popped and she jumped. “Is that more food you’ve cooked?”

  “It’s toast,” he said, smearing a slab of butter on a piece. “Something called bread that’s been heated up until the surface gets browned.”

  “Why?”

  “Makes it crunchy. Here, try it.”

  She tried it, and liked it. “This is good! We have nothing to compare.”

  “Tell me what you usually eat for breakfast.”

  He settled in at the table across from her and listened in fascination as she described the mollusks, small fish, and various plant life her people made meals of. She looked wonderful, her long, nearly white hair tousled and tangled from their active night. He’d given her one of his shirts to put on so she wouldn’t be cold, but
it was almost more tantalizing to see her dressed that way than when she’d come on board completely naked yesterday evening.

  He took his mind off her body and listened, amazed, to her tales of life underwater. She explained the art of recognizing a good snail from a bad snail. For eating, he supposed. Then she told about the annual algae festival where her mother always performed some sort of ritual involving letting air out of a container. For what purpose, he wasn’t quite sure.

  It was all so impossible and surreal, although Aliya was careful to describe things in ways he might understand. It was clearly very real to her. The love and contentment for her life underwater was evident as she spoke, a warm smile touching her perfect lips. He could sit here forever, listening and watching her expressions.

  She had a rich life under this dark lake. She had friends, family, a job. How could he expect her to just walk away from it to come live in his town house on dry land? How on earth was she going to fit in with the life he knew?

  The more Aliya talked, the more Devin felt his heart sinking. She’d promised him forever. He couldn’t make her keep that promise. But how could he let her go?

  “Devin? Are you not feeling well?” she said, interrupting her own telling of the Weekly In-Swim, when mermaids gathered to discuss the trends in commercial fishing and other human activities on the lake.

  “I’m fine,” he said. “Go on with your story. It’s amazing.”

  “It is not.” She laughed. “It’s dull and I can tell your mind has wandered. What are you so worried about that it’s made your beautiful warm eyes hold such concern?”

  He took her hand and gave a squeeze. “How can you know me so well already? We’ve barely just met.”

  “It seems like a lifetime.”

  “No, not even close. There’s still so much about you I don’t know.”

  “Dear Devin, I’ve been rambling on for ages. What could you possibly still need to know about me?”

  “Well, how about your last name?”

  “Last name?”

  “Sure,” he said. “Where I come from, we usually have a first name—like Devin, for instance—and a last name that tells what family we’re from.”