“Definitely not. Must be a trick of the light.”
She exhaled in an angry little huff, and that made him grin.
“Where were you today?” she demanded.
His smile died. It was a damned good question, and he didn’t have a suitable answer. “There was an emergency,” he started. “I was in the ocean most of the day, and I lost my cell phone there this afternoon.”
It was a pretty weak apology, he knew, and she wasn’t impressed. “It seems I’m always saying that I’ll make it up to you, and I will, Monroe. It’s like the end of days out there. Everything that can go wrong, has. And then some. That’s no excuse. But I’m sorry. Deeply sorry.”
“I just wish you’d told me you’d be gone all day. I could have made other plans.”
“You’re right. I swear to you, I thought I’d be back for lunch. Then after we texted, I got distracted, and I just wasn’t thinking ahead. I’m completely in the wrong here, and I know it.”
She uncrossed her arms and slid them into his shirt’s sleeves, and he walked up the hill toward her.
Even standing down below her, he was still taller than she was, but only by a couple of inches. He stared into her eyes, intending to kiss her, to melt away the last of her well-deserved anger toward him.
But his cock wanted so much more than that. The first time he’d tasted her, he’d wanted to claim her. At the time, it had seemed the most illogical, ridiculous thing to be going through his mind.
Yet here they were.
He gently took her face in his hands, and when her dark lashes fluttered closed, he leaned in and brushed his lips over hers.
Her mouth parted slightly as his tongue stroked over her full bottom lip. He loved how full and healthy her face was, how strong she was.
It was his blood coursing through her veins. The knowledge made his cock even harder. He was inside of her, part of her. Healing her, apparently, and protecting her.
Though she shouldn’t have needed protection in the first place.
He pressed his lips to hers roughly. He’d meant to be gentle, but he couldn’t help himself. Not around her.
The scent of her skin mingled with his shirt, and he was catching nuances he wouldn’t have been able to even fifteen minutes earlier. Apparently the sick from the water was wearing off.
Monroe made a soft but hungry noise in her throat. He wanted to lay her down right there and thrust into her silken heat. Screw that. He wanted to fuck her in the water. Not just fuck her. Not just sex. He wanted to claim her. To mate with her.
He pulled away, their mouths separating with a soft, sexy kiss. She blinked up at him. He could feel her pulse through his fingertips, could hear it, too. She was surely wet, her body slick and ready for him.
Heaven knew he was ready for her, too. Even though his pants weren’t all that tight, his cock felt like it was being squeezed on all sides.
But before he could even consider doing something about that, there were concerns to address. “How did you end up out here?” he asked.
She managed a little smile, and he smelled her sexual arousal become tinged with, and then overshadowed by, fear.
“You’re safe now,” he said.
She nodded. “I know. I borrowed a bike from the hotel and went out to your place. That shifter, Bamboo, ran me off the road. He caught me, threw me in the trunk, tied my arms and legs. I got untied, but I guess he smelled the blood, because he pulled over.”
“What blood?”
“When I pulled my wrists from the rope.”
He digested that. If Menendez had smelled her blood, he knew Monroe had shifter blood. Not good. Spencer was right after all. Claiming Monroe was the only responsible course of action.
“Why would your boss want to kidnap me?”
“I really don’t know, Monroe. He’s not very happy with me, either, right now, and I never would have claimed he was a nice guy, but… I guess I’d always thought there was some decency in him.”
“Maybe that’s who Bamboo called.”
“He made a phone call?”
“Yeah, a few minutes after he threw me in the back. I couldn’t understand the words. I mean I couldn’t really hear. It was muffled.”
He thought about that. If Menendez had made a call right after grabbing Monroe, that suggested he was taking orders from someone. Likely Darius. If that were true, Koenraad would personally rip him into pieces, bodyguards or no.
“You’re scary when you look like that,” Monroe said. She wasn’t exaggerating; she smelled frightened.
He filed away thoughts of revenge for later. “Despite what Spencer said, he won’t tell anyone about the transfusion.”
“That’s a relief.”
“But Menendez knows. Whether he’ll sit on that information until it would benefit him to share it, I don’t know. Maybe he’s thinking blackmail. Obviously something like that would be worth millions in hush money. I’d hoped we’d have time to decide what to do, but if he tells Darius, and thereby the Council, we might not.”
“That’s who you work for.”
“Yes. And they’re the ultimate arbiters of right and wrong in the shark world.” He kept his eyes trained on her face. “Spencer made a very good point. If I claim you—”
“Yes,” she said.
“Yes?” he repeated, puzzled.
“Do it, I mean.”
Her enthusiasm surprised him. She had no idea what she was asking. “It’s going to be painful. I won’t have any control over myself during the claiming. It’s like… a sneeze. Except longer.”
“And painful. I get it.”
“The barbs…. I won’t have control over myself.”
Her eyes swept down. “Both of them?”
He nodded, and she laughed nervously. “Well, the good news is that I’ll heal pretty fast.”
“That’s definitely a plus. You’ll actually enjoy it quite a bit, but it’s going to hurt.”
“Enjoy it?”
“Yeah. Are you sure you want to do this?”
She nodded.
Chapter 12
“It’s not exactly the most romantic proposal, but yeah, I do,” she said, and she meant it, even if the words coming out of her mouth felt strange and impossible to believe.
Koenraad’s handsome face was somber. “You deserve romance, and you’ll get it. Just not tonight. Not for this. It’s brutal and beautiful and actually quite horrible.”
“Are you trying to change my mind?”
“I just want you to be sure,” he said.
She reached up and stroked his cheek. For all the sex they’d had, she’d barely touched him. When they were in bed, he was on top. When they weren’t in bed, she was usually gathered up in his arms or holding his hand.
“I’m sure,” she said.
“It can’t be undone.”
“Good,” she said, the word slipping out before she could think better of it. But even after she realized what she’d said, she didn’t want to take it back.
If they were going to do this, they’d have to be honest about how they felt. He’d told her that he could fall in love with her. Now her cards were on the table, too.
“Have you ever had your heart broken?” she asked.
“Yes,” he said. “Why?”
She exhaled, relieved. “I don’t know, exactly… Maybe people learn things from bad relationships. Like, maybe we’ll have a better chance if we’ve both been through some stuff.”
“My heart wasn’t broken in a romantic way,” he said, and she detected a thread of profound sadness in his voice. “Listen, Monroe. Remember when I said before that I’m the one taking the risk here?”
She nodded. It was right before he’d said he could fall in love with her.
“It’s the truth. I know we’re compatible, I know your heart, and I know I can trust you. But if I claim you, things between us will be unbalanced.”
She must have looked horrified because he quickly shook his head.
“
Probably not how you’re imagining. You won’t end up barefoot in the kitchen. But you’ll be pulled into my world, and so much of it won’t make sense to you at first. You’ll be dependent on me, and it’s not going to be easy.”
The look in his eyes, a little lost, a little hopeful, gave her a glimpse of what he might have looked like when he was a boy. It was completely at odds with his tall, muscular body. She gently drew her palm down the side of his face.
“You’re a good man.”
His reaction was a short exhalation. He never believed her when she said that, and there was nothing she could say to persuade him that she accepted him just as he was.
So why try to talk him out of it? She could show him, instead, and later, there would be time for him to know the truth, that she’d been lost since the first moment she’d seen him, and she’d been found, then, too.
“Take me,” she said. “Right here, in the dirt.” Her nails scraped gently down his chest, then she grabbed his bulge and squeezed him.
He moaned and leaned toward her. His cock was already stiff, the length of him burning hot even through the fabric. She started to kneel, but he pulled her up, lifting her off the rocky ground. His thick erection rubbed all the way from her belly button down to her pulsing nub.
“I’ll need to take you into the water,” he said, his voice a low growl.
Her breath caught. “Do you think it’s safe? For you, I mean.”
“The contaminant hasn’t spread over the entire ocean,” he said. “But that’s not what you’re worried about, is it?”
Monroe didn’t fight him as he gently lowered her back down. She stared up into his eyes that seemed as dark and secretive as the nighttime sky. “I know you’d never let anything happen to me,” she said. “But I don’t think I’ll ever be comfortable in the water.”
He released her arms, and she immediately regretted the loss of his heat and power. “Do you have any idea how crazy we sound?” he asked. He dragged a hand through his hair. “I’m of the water, and you don’t like the ocean. My life is here, and yours is in New York. How can a shark shifter be mated to a woman who’s afraid of the water?”
“I don’t know,” she said. “Is that a deal breaker?”
He laughed. “How could something I’ve known about all along be a deal breaker? It just means that we’ll be spending a lot of time getting you used to the ocean, that’s all.”
Then his arms were around her, and he was carrying her down the hill. She felt his gait lengthen as the terrain changed from boulders to rocks and dirt, which soon gave way to sand and shrubs.
He set her down when they reached the dunes. Wind blew through tall, reedy grasses, making them whisper. They sounded disapproving, like they were gossiping, and Monroe sighed. “Maybe we are crazy,” she said.
“There’s no maybe about it,” Koenraad said. Monroe pulled away to contemplate him as best she could in the poor light.
“I think… I should see you as a shark,” she said.
“Ok.”
“Ok?” she repeated, surprised. He hadn’t even hesitated.
He grabbed her arm and pulled her down the dune. She had a hard time keeping her balance, but his hand in hers kept her upright.
“Are we going to jump in the water?” she panted.
“The water here is safe,” Koenraad said. He turned toward her, his hands already pulling at her clothes. She shivered as the layers fell away, leaving her naked for him.
She could feel her skin rising in goose bumps, her nipples pebbling, but she didn’t have much time to feel exposed because then Koenraad was naked, too.
He went a few steps into the water, and she took a moment to enjoy the sight of his muscular buttocks. Overhead, the clouds were only letting scattered moonlight reach their stretch of sand, but it was enough for her to see the horrible scars that marred his lower back.
Koenraad turned and held his hand out to her. “Be with me,” he said. “Please.”
She melted. She placed her hand in his, and she wasn’t the least bit afraid. There was nothing in the ocean that Koenraad couldn’t protect her from.
The heat from his body seemed to travel through hers as they walked into the water together. An incoming wave crashed against their knees. Farther out, she saw larger waves gathering, rolling toward them.
“I think there’s a storm coming,” she said.
“Probably not until tomorrow sometime,” Koenraad said, turning to face her. The wind was whipping his hair against his sculpted cheekbones. If she had been him, she would have pushed the hair away.
A strange feeling came over her… and she had the oddest sensation of déjà vu. Except it wasn’t the wind whipping his hair… it was…
Water.
Water splashing over him. He’d been kneeling… someone else had been there. Someone had splashed him, and he’d ignored it exactly the way he was ignoring the wind.
She concentrated hard, but she couldn’t bring the memory into focus.
“Are you alright?” he asked. The water was up to her elbows now. She hadn’t even realized she’d kept walking.
“Yeah,” she said. “I’m fine.” Because even if she was feeling a bit dream-like, nothing was going to stop her from finally seeing Koenraad as a shark.
She’d been up on her toes, and now it wasn’t enough; the sandy beach bottom was too far away. Her mouth opened and she gulped in air edged with salty spray.
“You’re going to be fine,” he said.
“What makes you think I need reassuring?” she asked. “You can hear my heart and smell my fear?”
He laughed. “It’s written all over your gorgeous face.”
The unexpected compliment made her forget all about being freaked out by his super shark senses. It also warmed her, right to her fingertips and toes.
“We’ll go a little farther out. We’ll swim past a current, then there’s a calm patch.”
“Ok,” she said.
“Ok.” He pulled her to him, and she was helpless to resist even if she’d wanted to. She felt like a little bathtub toy, a naked rubber ducky that would go anywhere the waves carried her.
But no, not anywhere. In the broad wall of his chest, pressed up to her back, was safety. She would go only where he allowed her to.
It turned her on, made parts of her even wetter.
She’d been in the water with Koenraad before, but not like this. Before, she’d been terrified. And ok, yeah, she was a little scared now, but she was mostly excited.
The only thing between her and the ocean’s hungry maw was Koenraad. It was all she’d need.
A particularly large wave rolled up, and they rose. Her stomach lurched, and she laughed, throwing her head back. “This is amazing!” she screamed.
Koenraad’s voice was warm against her ear. “I’m so happy to hear you say that, Monroe. Most of the world is water. I want to show you…”
He stopped talking as he wrapped her tighter, turned her around. She felt another wave rolling in, and she happily fell against his body.
His kiss wasn’t unexpected, but it still took her breath away. Her arms tightened around his neck, and she remembered what he’d said about gills… that he had them but she couldn’t see them. Well, she couldn’t feel them, either. She wasn’t even part of his world yet, but there was so much that blew her mind.
The water was carrying them away; she could tell that, but she didn’t care. She was safe in Koenraad’s arms.
As his tongue thrust into her mouth in a promise of what was to come, she rocked her body against his, curious to know if he was hard, and to what extent, but he was holding himself apart at the hips, and there was nothing she could do about that.
He’d told her that involving both his cocks was a conscious decision. She honestly couldn’t wait for him to claim her. It would be her first chance to know all of him.
The water was spinning them slowly, or maybe Koenraad was doing it. With her eyes closed against the spray of the ocean, and
with Koenraad’s mouth devouring hers, she couldn’t even tell up from down.
Then, suddenly, they stopped. Koenraad slowed his kiss, then swiped his tongue along the open gasp of her lips. The gesture had an air of finality to it, and she opened her eyes and shoved her sopping hair away from her face.
“It’s calm here,” he said, and she almost laughed because calm wasn’t the first word that came to mind with the waves rocking her.
“If I let you go, will you feel safe?”
She nodded. He’d told her once that even if she’d turned on his yacht and tried to motor away, he could have caught her. Drowning wasn’t a concern.
“I’m not afraid of water if you’re near,” she said as she fussed at a lock of hair that clung stubbornly to her cheek.
Koenraad tucked it behind her ear. “Then you’ll never have to be afraid again,” he whispered.
He let her go gently, reluctantly, and she knew it wasn’t because he was worried but because he hated letting her go. He’d been like that since the beginning, her big, strong, apex-predator boyfriend who liked to keep her close, to hold her hand, to drape an arm along her shoulders.
He smiled. She’d told him before he was gorgeous, and she wasn’t going to say it again. Her heart was beating faster, and not just because the sexiest man she’d ever met was looking at her like he couldn’t get enough.
She wanted to remember this moment forever.
“How does it work?” she asked.
“I’m going to dive. I’ll shift underwater and come up as a shark.”
A shudder ripped through her unexpectedly. “How will I know it’s you?” It was a stupid question, and she winced.
“You’ll know,” he said, showing he understood she needed a few more moments to brace herself. “There aren’t any other sharks around right now. It’s peaceful here. Actually, a lot of marine life has left the area because of the contaminant. You see a shark, it’s me.”
She licked her lips and tasted ocean salt. “And you won’t… You said that when you’re a shark, you have shark instincts.”
“I will never hurt you, Monroe. If I were starving and there was nothing to eat, I would die before I’d hurt you. Are you ready?”
Oceans Untamed Page 8
