Newport/Aftport #2: Danea

by Diroll-Nichols, Karen

  That instantly trapped Noah’s attention, both men moving down the stairs quickly. Wade went into the kitchen while Noah did a quick search through the other rooms.

  “Her car’s outside,” Noah commented, staring toward the main door.

  “Does she run? Jog?”

  “No…hell, no, she went swimming,” Noah ran back up the stairs and grabbed a shirt and shoes, aware of Wade behind him doing the same.

  “It’s not storming. Should we intrude on her private time?” Wade asked, hopping on one foot down the stairs and following to the door.

  “Only if her father…”

  Both heads turned to the sharp, loud squawking and pecking at the patio door.

  Galileo stood tapping and letting loose with loud noises that made them wince.

  “Something’s wrong,” Noah said in a rush, running to the front door and throwing it open.

  Neither spoke as they ran down the drive toward the open expanse of ocean spread before them. Galileo flew overhead, squawking as he went.

  Red had spilled onto the flat sands, visible before they reached her. She lay on her side, a twelve inch steel bolt arrow through her left shoulder, blood seeping around the edges on both sides.

  “I can’t take it out,” Noah was on his knees, a barbed end and a sharp pointed arrow on the other. “We need to get her to the urgent care.”

  “Wait…” Wade pulled his shirt off. “Be ready to stuff it on both sides of her shoulder.”

  “What’re you doing?”

  “I can’t heal her. But I can remove it…” Wade dropped to his knees, his palms held out in front of him as he chanted, reciting from memory. His gaze was locked on the pale features, the faintest of flutter in her eyes holding his attention. He didn’t exhale until the arrow disappeared from her shoulder and fell with a light plop into his palms.

  Noah moved quickly, snuggly wrapping the sleeves of the shirt around her shoulder to squelch the bleeding. “Get my SUV…I’ll bring her to the road.”

  Wade took off running for the house while Noah lifted Danea carefully against him, the injured shoulder out. He hadn’t missed the impact point. Someone had shot her from the beach, not from the water. There were prints on the sand and two dozen gulls swarming on the beach, watching him.

  Whatever was intended, he was certain the only reason she was still on the beach, were the gulls. Another piece to the puzzle. He felt his heart thudding in his chest and realized it was beating in time with hers. Steady and firm, he refused to let her go. They…refused to let her leave them, in any form.

  He climbed carefully into the front of the SUV, holding Danea close. He reached out with his left hand, tapping buttons. Sirens filled the air.

  “Don’t hesitate, Wade,” Noah told him firmly.

  “Did she wake up?”

  “Nothing. Her eyes are moving…and her heart’s steady,” Noah said quietly. “I think the bleeding’s stopped, but she’s lost a lot of blood.”

  Silence surrounded them until they pulled beneath the brief overhang outside the huge building with the hospital sign on its side. Wade stepped from the SUV and followed behind Noah.

  “Carolyn! Where are you?” Noah shouted into the crowded emergency room.

  “What is all the racket?” Carolyn Jennings stepped from a room off to the side, her scrubs a multi colored collection of small animals to keep the kids entertained. “Noah…what happened? Bring her down here…” she grabbed a sheet from one of the closets and followed, draping it carefully over Danea as she went to unwrap the shirt from her shoulder.

  “Let me in there!”

  “Camelia?” Noah and Wade said the name at the same time, both looking toward the hall and the silver haired woman striding into the room.

  “Dr. Polnari? What are you doing in the area? And here?”

  “This is my daughter,” she answered, removing the light jacket she was wearing and tossing it to one of the straight chairs in the room. “I’ll treat her.”

  “How the hell…” Noah started.

  “Galileo,” Wade said quietly.

  Camelia didn’t respond, her hands moving to replace Carolyn’s. “The bleeding’s stopped…there’s damage…she’ll need surgery…” she looked up abruptly from her daughter’s throat to Noah. “You marked her.” She demanded sharply.

  “That’s important now?”

  “You,” she turned her attention on Wade. “Have you marked her, as well?”

  “I…yes…why…”

  “Carolyn, I want two empty blood bags, now,” Camelia, wiped her hands down the sides of her jeans and went to the sink. “Sit, gentlemen…this won’t hurt a bit.”

  “What are you doing? Get Danea into surgery,” Noah ordered gruffly.

  “She won’t need surgery. What happened?” She asked, carefully cleaning around the wound while she waited. “Hang the bags, Caro and take half a pint from each of them.”

  “Yes…they’re mates?” Carolyn looked at the sheriff and then at the professor.

  “More importantly, they’re her mates,” Camelia said with a nod. “And not to be too delicate since it really isn’t my forte to begin with…but you have had sex with her? Both of you? Shared body fluids…that kind of thing…”

  Camelia laughed at the expressions on their faces. “Men…who knew my little girl had it in her…two strapping young men like you.”

  “How is this going to help?” Wade looked down at the red fluid entering the sterile blood bag. “You don’t even know what type we are?”

  “It doesn’t matter. Not to mates. Once you’ve marked her…a miracle of a hybrid, gentlemen,” Camelia prepared Danea’s arm, watching as Carolyn combined the two bags a few minutes later. “She’ll heal herself,” she whispered, taking the bag and setting the needle into the crook of Danea’s arm.

  Noah’s hand came out, gripping Danea’s fingers before Camelia could sink the needle in.

  “Are you positive?”

  “It’s what I’ve studied all my life,” she told him. “You honestly believe I would risk my child’s life on an uncertainty?”

  She continued when he nodded once and removed his hand. She watched the way his fingers curled around the much smaller hand, the other one on her other side, holding her daughter’s other palm in his.

  “It won’t take long,” she assured them confidently, watching the warm red fluid vanishing into her daughter.

  Long seemed a relative term, Wade thought, pacing the floor while Camelia removed the IV. Noah had already removed the slim band-aid, the wound closed in the crook of his arm. Wade was staring at Danea when he saw the skin around the wound begin to move together, from the inside out. Slowly the skin closed around the jagged opening, a few minutes later the only indication there had been a wound was the blood stains on the sheet covering her.

  “Good girl,” Camelia whispered, kissing her daughter’s cheek with a long, long breath. “You never told me how this happened.”

  “We don’t know,” Noah answered. “She went swimming before sun-up. Galileo came pecking at the glass…” He shook his head. “Someone was on the beach and shot her with a spear gun bolt. We don’t talk to gulls, so we don’t have the answer. How did you know she was here?”

  Camelia frowned and looked slowly from one to the other. “You don’t know. She’s mated with you both and still… She hasn’t told you…”

  “She told us you seem to always know when she needs you. That she admitted to the last time you appeared,” Wade said, speaking before Noah could erupt. And he could easily see the urge in the other man’s eyes.

  “Now we know she’s a hybrid, but a hybrid of what?” Noah’s voice was low, his lashes narrowed.

  Camelia went to the door, closing it firmly before stepping to the supply cabinet and pulling out a large bottle clearly labeled ‘SALINE’. She turned the cap and walked to stand beside the gurney holding Danea. Without speaking, she up-ended the bottle, pouring the liquid from Danea’s waist to her feet until the bo
ttle was empty.

  “What…?” Wade stopped when the sheet began moving. Danea rolled to her side, her head turning and soft little moans coming from her lips.

  Both men stared.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Wade gripped the edge of the gurney and stared.

  No, he thought, stare is too polite. He gawked. His mouth fell open for a very long minute as his eyes traveled the length of the curved woman spread on the table.

  And over the edge of the table.

  Muscular and tinted shades of pearl and opal with the faintest hint of pale turquoise in the final tail fin that had a width of almost four foot across. It was translucent with a delicately woven pattern of spider webs and morning dew in the split fin. The colors continued over the entire lower portion of what was now her body. They formed a bra-like cup around each rounded breast and traveled from the waist down to where her toes used to be. His hand rose, shaking a little, and stroked over the smooth, silky scales. He’d expected them to be dry and scratchy, but they were completely opposite.

  A mixture of the softest clouds and gossamer.

  “I had all the clues,” Noah whispered in amazement, his own hand out and stroking along her hip. “Why would she want to keep it from us? Was she afraid we’d run?”

  “We lived in a small village when she was young. Very young,” Camelia said softly. “Unlike your shifter heritage, Danea could shift the instant salt water touched her skin. She swam before she could walk. Only the people in the village weren’t accepting and the children as cruel as the adults. I relocated us as soon as I realized the type of place I’d chosen, but I don’t think that…that humiliation…has ever left her mind, even after all these years.”

  “Alright,” Noah began carefully. “She’s a mermaid. You said she was a hybrid. Of what? What’s her father?”

  “Her father is a pure. He’s from Micronesia. His territory and people occupy that warmer climate,” Camelia told them. “I’m from the Arctic. An arctic mermaid…but my grandfather wasn’t a merman,” she moved to the head of the gurney, her fingers soft over the pale brown hair. “He was an angel. That’s how I know when she needs me. I feel it as surely as if it were me…she wasn’t supposed to be. My miracle baby girl…”

  “The hair…” Wade murmured, nodding to himself.

  “She’s always hid it, since she was old enough to discover hair coloring,” she drew her fingers through the long strands of thick pale brown. “She loves the water…so much. She could easily avoid her father, just move where there wasn’t an ocean. One of the great lakes…”

  All three heads turned at the loud groan. Camelia’s fingers stroked over her forehead.

  “It’s alright, baby-girl…it’s all better now,” she crossed the room to the small fridge and pulled a bottle of water from inside.

  “Do you think her father would have come for her?” Noah asked sharply.

  “With a spear gun?” Camelia looked at him like he’d lost his mind. “The man is a slut, but he’d never hurt his daughter. And he doesn’t believe in weapons. Not human weapons.”

  “Oh god…what happened?” Danea rolled her head on her shoulders, her hands rising and fingers raking the now dry hair back. “I was swimming…”

  Then the scream pierced the air. Her gaze flew from her body to the men in the room to her mother and back to her body.

  “Mother! Oh my god, what’d you do? What’d you…Mother! How could you!” She hissed furiously, the long, muscular tail flipping angrily into the air and almost striking Wade. Heat burst into her cheeks, her lashes slamming shut as she tried to make herself focus, worked to make her body respond.

  “Danea…” Noah reached for her, only to recoil when she jerked out of his hands.

  “No…no…don’t…where are my clothes?” She demanded, shoving at his hands.

  “Danea, calm down…we’re not going to hurt you,” Wade came up the other side of the gurney, his hands on her shoulders and pulling her back against him, trapping her hands at her sides. “I’m not letting go until you slow down and take a few breaths.”

  “Let go of me!” She whispered feverishly.

  “We found you on the beach,” Noah began, his hands framing her face and holding her head up so she had no choice but to meet his gaze. “If you close your eyes, we could be here all night. I’ll stop talking and Wade won’t let go. We aren’t letting you run.”

  “You had a short steel arrow through your shoulder…just above your heart,” Wade said softly, nodding at Camelia as she left the room. “Your mother was surprised you hadn’t told us.”

  Wade felt her body relax, the long, shimmering mermaid tail replaced by normal girl legs and toes that peeked out of the bottom of the sheet.

  Danea turned her face into his shoulder. “I didn’t see anyone,” she whispered. “I finished swimming and thought I’d make it back before you woke up. Then…” her voice cracked. “There was so much pain. And I heard Galileo…and the others…I heard voices but…”

  “How many voices, Dani?” Noah asked softly. “Think…please…”

  “Two. Two men…just…I couldn’t focus…I tried getting up…”

  “Shh…baby, it’s okay…” Wade stroked one palm over her head, letting her turn completely into him and gathering her close.

  “I found a pair of scrubs she can wear and return later,” Carolyn handed them to Noah and looked from one to the other. “Camelia left,” she met Danea’s gaze. “She said she’ll talk to you later…and to get some rest.”

  “Thank you,” Danea murmured, avoiding looking at either of them. “She shouldn’t have told you.”

  “We planned to tie you to the bed until you told us yourself,” Noah teased, waiting until she met his gaze with a shocked look on her face before winking at her.

  “But we still don’t understand why, Danea,” Wade slowly released her. He took the top for the scrub set and shook it out, handing it to her. “Let’s go home, Danea. I’ll fix breakfast and we can talk. You need food.”

  “I know it’s going to sound stupid and you probably won’t understand, but I just didn’t want people to know,” She squirmed and shimmied into the cotton top, reaching for the pants and shoving her legs into them. “People don’t have a very nice opinion of us…drawing sailors to their death, causing ship wrecks…forcing sailors to dive in ‘cause they think we’re drowning…”

  “You can’t be serious?” Noah snorted with a laugh seconds before Wade’s palm came out and clapped him on the arm.

  “Sensitivity training, 101, sheriff,” Wade said with a growl.

  “We’re rare!” She hissed at him. “People want your scales and hair and…and believe that our tears have magical properties…”

  “Alright, that I’ll accept,” Noah glared at them both and glanced at her feet. “It’s not that cold out there, but the concrete…”

  “I will be fine,” she informed him, whipping her head to the front and yanking the door to the small treatment room open. “Thank you, Carolyn. Send me the bill and I’ll take care of it,” Danea smiled at the stunned look on the face of the receptionist and continued out into the parking lot. She looked up at the sky, the circling couple gulls recognizing her and sending out a series of noises that reverberated through the skies.

  She didn’t have to look to know both men were behind her. She was pretty sure they were searing holes in the seat of the thin scrubs she was wearing and damn, if the concrete wasn’t cold!

  “She’s stubborn,” Noah commented, the sound of jingling keys through the mid-morning.

  “But those scrubs and her ass…” Wade bit back the laugh when she spun to face them both. He was feeling too lightheaded just knowing she was alright to do more than relax.

  “This is going to be one of those times where I end up apologizing later…” she began and felt herself already cracking. Then her knees gave out and she crumpled against Wade, her hands on her face.

  “Get her inside the vehicle,” Noah ordered
, opening the door quickly and sliding behind the wheel. The SUV responded to the key turning and he began driving the instant he heard the sound of the other door closing.

  Wade cradled her against him, one arm firm and secure while the other hand stroked over her head.

  Neither of them spoke on the drive to the house. Noah reached over the back seat and pulled a thick blanket to the front, slowing at the light and helping Wade tuck it securely around her. She was shivering and crying with a silence that worried them.

  “Maybe she shouldn’t have left the hospital,” Noah ran a heavy hand over the back of his neck. “We don’t know if Camelia…”

  “N-no,” Danea stammered out the word, swiping angrily at the streaks of tears on her cheeks. “I’ll be fine. My mother knows what she’s doing. I’m hungry and I don’t want to be in the hospital.”

  “Why were you afraid to talk to us, Danea? Did we do something…” Wade barely got his chin out of the way of the suddenly lifted head.

  Danea sniffled and pulled the blanket a little closer.

  “Lame or not, this isn’t about you. Believe me, if I thought it would scare you away, I would have blurted it out the first time Noah stood staring at me after a swim,” she said with another sniffle that shivered through her body. “I’m okay. My toes were cold…concrete is so much colder than water.”

  “And obviously being carried isn’t permissible,” Wade teased, refusing to open his arms when the SUV pulled before the stairs to the house.

  “Too bad on that one,” Noah tossed out, slamming the door and striding around to the passenger side of the SUV. “Hand her over. She’s going into a hot tub while we work on breakfast. I make a mean omelet.”

  “You guys…I can walk…and I don’t need a bath. Just my own clothes and some food,” she tried squirming and was rewarded with a set of arms tighter than anything she’d ever felt around her. But not squishing her or hurting. She sighed and let her head fall on Noah’s shoulder. “I wanted to go shopping…and get some things from my apartment.”