by Starla Night
Again, all the warriors turned to the videographer.
“It is not the squids,” Ciran corrected, frowning, “but the red mirror stones the warriors use to control them. How do you know this?”
“My stepmom ran into them south of here. They operate out of the Bermuda Triangle.”
The Bermuda Triangle.
Thousands of disappearances, unsolved mysteries, rumors of ghost ships, sudden fog, monsters.
It all fit.
She didn’t want to believe it.
Dannika repeated flatly. “Are you serious?”
“Serious as the grave,” Stevie said.
“Oh, for goodness’ sake. Please be joking.”
“I wish. I’ve been searching for Bex ever since…” Stevie calculated. “It’s been almost twenty years. And I asked around a lot after mermen emerged. It’s why I took this job. I was always hoping to find something.” He jerked his thumb at the warriors he’d filmed the previous days. “These guys know.”
They averted their gazes.
He again tapped his camera against his thigh. “As soon as I finish editing, I’m chartering a boat and seeing what I can find.”
“It will not be much,” Ciran warned.
“My stepmom’s a survivor.”
“The Lusca do not leave survivors.”
“She escaped once. They sank her sailboat, and she later got picked up by a yacht with a satellite phone. Red fog closed in and cut us off. I give it decent odds she escaped again.”
“The Lusca destroy all humans. This stepmom could not live on the ocean for twenty years. It is impossible. And if you search those waters, you place yourself in danger.”
“I know. But we are in the age of the GoPro, and I have an advantage Bex didn’t.”
“Which is?”
“I know they’re out there.” Stevie made a fist. “And I’ve had twenty years to prepare my anti-squid devices for combat.”
Chapter Six
Dannika finished the interviews with a darker soul than she had started.
Whenever Stevie’s camera turned away from her, she studied her cell phone or worried the chunky, colorful rings adorning her slender fingers.
“You are in no danger from Lusca on the land,” Ciran assured her at the end of the interviews when they boarded the car to the airport. “And our warriors are skilled at avoiding them beneath the ocean.”
“It’s just another thing.” She blew air between her soft, plum-colored lips. “The Sons of Hercules don’t need any help to make the mer look bad. But if they’re right about this…no. I can’t let fear win.”
He rested an arm on the seat behind her. “I will protect you.”
“In a physical fight, I know you would.” She buckled him in as the car began driving across the island. “But in the land of public opinion and politics, this is just another unfortunate setback.”
“Tell me your resources. I will conceive a strategy.”
“I need to convince a senator to reconvene his committee and open visa applications for the mer.”
“Show him our size.”
“I’m sorry. I know you guys are muscular, but I’m trying to be as non-threatening as possible. The concern is—”
“Of our mating gemstones.”
“Oh!”
“Humans value these Sea Opals, yes? Show him our largest sizes. We give these to our brides, and our brides enrich their land. Perhaps envisioning, touching, manifesting the potential bounty may change his mind.”
“As they say, money talks.” Her lips curved. “I feel you’ve worked in politics before.”
“Undine youths train first in strategy and second in skills of a warrior.” He leaned closer. “Tell me all your problems, Dannika. I will solve them.”
Her soul flared, and her gaze dropped to his lips as though tasting him. Her tongue grazed her lower lip.
She was hungry.
Hungry for him.
And then she shook herself and oriented her knees away. “You know what? I’ll turn you over to our public relations expert as soon as we land.” She stared intently into her cell phone and gave a heavy sigh. “We can use all the help we can get.”
Ciran leaned back.
He could be patient.
The landscape passed in a blur. So many humans populated the land. Some had bright souls, some dim, all colors and sizes, in growling cars, and strolling along the gray pathways in front of the pastel, square, and glass shelters.
At the airport, they transferred to a small, open car and crossed to the sharp-nosed plane. Their driver met with other humans and loaded cases of Sea Opal elixir into the underside baggage compartment. It glimmered with an unearthly shine.
Normally elixir took centuries of steeping mating gemstones in the ancient sacred churches. Drinking the steeped liqueur gave brides the ability to transform long enough to return to a warrior’s city and sip the nectar of the Life Tree, which would make the ability permanent. But since many sacred churches had been destroyed, and Atlantis had never had its own sacred islands, healer Balim had discovered a method to steep the mating gemstones in only a few hours using a human technology called an Instant Pot.
Indigo had drunk one bottle when she’d accepted Zoan’s claim. Ciran had left a case of elixir with Lotar for any more brides discovered on Bermuda. The rest would return to MerMatch.
Dannika ascended the narrow stairs, then pivoted. “Oh, that’s right. I wanted to—oh!”
Her heel slid on the hot metal and she teetered.
He caught her easily.
“Ciran, I…” She slid into his arms, fitting perfectly against the crook of his elbow. Her breasts brushed his rib cage. She rested a hand on his chest. “Oh.”
The gentle dip of her waist, the fertile flare of her hip, the rounded cushion of her buttocks pressed to his side. She was female and perfect. A sharp, hard need pierced him. Mine.
His silent claim seemed to cross the air.
Time suspended.
Her lashes fluttered, lowering, and her chin tilted up.
Dannika offered her soft lips? He would claim them.
And her.
Heat pounded into his cock.
Ciran lowered his head.
“Yoo-hoo!” A cheery woman in a button-up uniform waved from the top of the steps.
Dannika sucked in a huge breath and turned her head at the last moment. Ciran’s mouth grazed her cheek. She paused there, so close, yet so far.
Need coiled around his cock like a vise.
He no longer felt so very patient.
Dannika pulled back and looked up the stairs. “Hm? Val?”
“Are you coming?”
“Yes! Oh, goodness. I got a little…ah…I tripped and Ciran caught me.” Dannika disentangled and avoided Ciran’s gaze. She ascended the steps, gripping the railing on both sides, and ducked to enter the metal tube. “Val, it’s a pleasure, as always.”
“You, too. And this is Ciran? So nice to see you all.” The woman tipped her head. Her soul was a dark shade, showing that she had no affinity for the sea, but her manner was friendly and welcoming. “I’ll be your pilot this afternoon. As always, no cell signals during flight. Don’t want to spook the instruments.”
“Of course.” Dannika embraced the woman. “Tell Mr. Ryerson thank you so much for lending us a company plane on such short notice.”
Val patted Dannika’s elbow. “I sure will do that. Howdy, Ciran, and welcome aboard. You’re my first merman. I guess after this you can call yourself a flying fish! Say, how often do you mermen fly?”
“Never.”
“There have been a few flights,” Dannika said, “but most were emergencies.”
“Well, I am going to take care of you. No emergencies on this twin-prop today. Have yourself a seat and we’ll mosey.”
Dannika walked down the aisle between seats. Her hips swung back and forth, feminine grace with a powerful promise of undulating fertility.
He wanted to clamp her hips
and grind his cock into her arousing buttocks.
Which he had just felt. His body throbbed with the memory of her imprint.
Patience.
The first row was reversed. Dannika selected a forward-facing seat and rested her woven shoulder bag on the small table.
He dropped into the seat facing her.
She would not evade him.
Not in this small metal tube where he had her trapped.
She glanced over the other seats, then shook her head. “You’re sitting there?”
“Because a warrior does not part from his bride. As I told you. At the stairs.”
“Right.” She bit her lip. “I admit that I have a tendency to let you get a little closer to me than I should. It’s not fair to you. It sends mixed signals.”
“Because the truth is in your soul. Your body responds.”
“Well, it’s…it’s a little more complicated than that.”
“Only because you resist.”
“Right! That’s it exactly.” She smiled as if he’d agreed with her. “And so I’m sorry, but, there will be no more almost-kissing, no more near-misses or anything like that. Agreed?”
“Yes. If you offer your lips to me again, I will not miss.”
She blinked.
And then her chest glowed with acceptance.
She enjoyed remembering their kiss. She wanted him to claim her.
He knew it. He saw it, sensed it, felt it like a ray of warmth lifting his own heart.
She splayed her hands across her chest as though to shield the truth from him. “You are driven. Your future bride is going to love that trait. Oh, that reminds me.” Dannika pulled a sheaf of papers from her bag and set it on his lap. “Look at these bride photos. I’ll set up a meeting with anyone you like. Go ahead. Take a peek.”
“Dannika.” He rested his hands on the sheaf. “I will wait for you to accept me. I will accompany you and meet any human you wish. But know this. I will never select another bride.”
Her soul flared and then dimmed. “You have to.”
“Our souls resonate.”
“Then I’ll figure out a way to make it stop.” She forced a smile to her lips as she settled into her seat. “Just you watch me.”
A sliver of fear speared him.
Could Dannika do that?
Was it possible?
Queens were powerful. They could do anything.
Could Dannika end their resonance through sheer will?
Ciran’s eyes bugged.
Dannika had to look away before she burst out laughing.
As if she could stop their resonance with her mind.
If she could have stopped this unearthly attraction, filling her veins with pinging desire and making her squeeze her thighs together because she ached for his cock, she would have done it months ago and saved them both a lot of heartache.
But since she had to deal with it all the time, it was fun to watch him squirm.
He was just so irritatingly certain. So impressively logical.
So deliciously attractive.
She clicked her seatbelt and took off all her rings—except her wedding band—tucking the loose jewelry into her caftan. Her fingers always swelled when she flew. But the wedding band never left her ring finger, swelling or no.
It was her protective talisman.
Look what happens when you love someone.
Ciran had never been devastated by love. He felt frustrated now. That was nothing.
If only he’d choose someone else…
Val walked through and stopped at his seat. “Hey, there, hon. Call me overly cautious, but I’m going to have you switch sides.” Val patted the seat across the aisle from Dannika. “You can move back once we’re in the air.”
He changed to the opposite side and followed Val’s instructions to fasten the seatbelt. The sheaf of binder-clipped bride profiles rested on the seat where he’d left it.
Oh, he wasn’t getting out of it so easily.
Dannika unbuckled to hand the sheaf to him. “If you won’t look for yourself, why not look for your warriors?”
He took it reluctantly. “I receive no useful information from these flat images.”
“You can picture which of your warriors might look good with one of these brides.”
“Their looks do not matter. Only souls.” He fixed his hot, gorgeous gaze on her. “Only resonance.”
Want hummed beneath her skin. He plucked her desire like a string. And it took all of her will not to tear off the seatbelt, clamber into his lap, and plaster herself to every square masculine inch.
Whew. A hot shiver traveled up her spine. Mm, licking his skin and feeling the teasing bite of his kiss on her neck…
No, no.
No.
Dannika sat back in her seat and opened her own folder of notes while Val completed the pre-flight checks with a cheery monologue. “Suit yourself.”
This was going to be a long flight to Miami.
Dannika flipped through her papers.
Ciran flexed his fingers over the bride papers.
If she could make herself no longer be his soul mate…
What a nightmare.
An abyss of blackness.
“Look at the bios,” Dannika said, without looking up from her papers.
Ciran opened the folder.
Squiggly patterns—human letters—lined the white papers. Small, glossy square papers captured female torsos and heads. Faces froze in…what? Smiles? Hard to know for sure without seeing a soul light.
And humans saw this every day.
Knowing no one’s true feelings, how did humans mate? How did their race survive?
And yet, humans had survived. Blind, confused, and guessing, they had even thrived.
No wonder Dannika could not respond to him.
He must not let her cut off their resonance. He must reach her another way.
Zoan said to focus on Dannika’s words. She expected him to hear her meaning and ignore the fluctuations of her soul light.
How?
The airplane doors closed. Val strode through for one last check and then disappeared into the front of the plane. The engines revved. The metal body of the plane reverberated with discomforting fragility, and they rolled forward. Bumps jostled him in the seat.
He gripped the rests.
Dannika glanced over. “Don’t worry. The plane is like a large car.”
He raised his voice over the engines. “But more isolated. You avoid all attacks from rivals.”
“Right.” She knitted her fingers together and pressed them against her chest. “If someone attacks up here, you crash.”
The silver ornament of her husband glistened. Once, she had accepted the claim of a male. She had believed that male’s words. And she had loved him.
Ciran needed to become as worthy as that warrior.
Patience.
He would have all the time together on the mainland to convince her.
They had all the time in the world.
Chapter Seven
Their plane bumped along the long, flat ground at the human airport. The gray and green landscape outside the windows moved faster and faster. Then, a gust of wind whooshed and Ciran’s stomach dropped. The ground fell away. They were flying.
How strange.
The cluster of islands shrank into the turquoise ocean. Low clouds puffed outside his window. The engine made a new sound, both low and unsettling, like the current across a particularly depthless cavern. It numbed his chest.
But the isolation was a key point. Warriors always had to calculate their safest route between points in the ocean to avoid meeting rivals. No wonder humans were always taking airplanes.
“Hello and good afternoon, you all.” The pilot’s voice sounded tinny from overhead. “Flight time to Miami today is three hours. The weather doesn’t get any better, and we refueled in Bermuda. You are free to move around the cabin and help yourselves to drinks and snacks. This trip was brought
to you by your friendly host, Cal Ryerson of Ryerson Enterprises.”
Ryerson Enterprises constructed things known as oil platforms on the coastline of the United States. The sea platform over Atlantis, in the middle of the Atlantic, was one of the largest projects in the world. It anchored over the deepest water humans had ever attempted.
But after it was complete, the warriors would have their floating island, and they would be able to once more meet with sacred brides.
How had the ancient warriors built the original city? It could rise to the surface or sink beneath the waves with the push of a lever. Ciran had helped excavate several stages of the ruin. The mer no longer possessed the skill to build up—or that knowledge was locked in the hostile All-Council archives.
“Hey.” Dannika leaned across the aisle to Ciran. “This flight plan goes directly over the Bermuda Triangle, and I know we only talked about squids attacking ships, but planes run off electricity and quite a few have gone missing in the region. Are we in danger?”
“No. A squid attack begins with red fog.”
Dannika glanced out the window at the clear blue sky.
Yes, they should be safe today.
She nestled something in her ears and traced the wire back to her cell phone.
He unbuckled and dropped into his original seat across from her. “Do not spook the instruments, Dannika.”
She removed the plug from one ear. “It’s in airplane mode. At the moment, it’s a self-contained audio player.”
“There is no risk?”
“None.” Then she twisted her lips to the side. “Well, not to the instruments. Our security expert, Starr, sent more recordings of the Sons of Hercules leader. His voices is distorted, but the rhythm and word choice are so familiar…I know it’s someone I’ve met.”
“That makes identification easy.”
Her eyes widened. “Easy?”
“Set meetings with everyone you have ever met. You will find the leader.”
“Everyone!” She laughed, and her soul light brightened with a cheer that warmed him. “Do you know how many people I’ve met?”
“Even if the list is a hundred names long, the importance of the task means you must do it.”
Her laughter subsided. “Is that how many mermen you’ve met in your life?”
