“Was there a human in here? Wavy blond hair? About this high?” He held his hand in the vicinity of his shoulder. The redhead started at his feet and worked up, her gaze lingering at his crotch before continuing upward.
She cleared her throat. “Um… sort of silver blond… and a bit taller than that.” His disappointment must have shown. She looked at him sympathetically, then continued. “He was human, but he knew something was odd about the place. Maybe he’s a talent or something.”
The other woman nodded in agreement. “He was older… maybe in his late 40s… but hot. Kind of an ageless Margaritaville sort of guy.” She grinned at her friend. “I’d take him home on a rainy night!”
Hope began to tingle up and down his body. Kai readjusted his mental image of Riley. He’d be older now, so his hair might be graying. And he’d still been a teen back then… Human males sometimes continued gaining height into their twenties. “Did he have a name?”
They both shrugged.
“Riley.” The Fae drifted past, picking up the women’s plates. He gave them a smoldering gaze, causing Kai to readjust his opinion of the waiter’s sexuality. “He owns a surf shop, down on the beach most likely.”
Kai didn’t bother to ask how he knew. The Fae knew pretty much everything and that which they didn’t know, they could find out.
“Your food’s getting cold, Maui.” The server smiled down at the women once again, and then looked at Kai. “After you eat, you might want to head south.”
Maui. The Fae shouldn’t know that; nor should he know the proper pronunciation of the name: May We.
But this was the Final Cut, and he doubted many people had secrets from this particular waiter. He returned to his table and sat, forcing the food into his mouth even as his heart slammed in his chest. When he was finished, he took the plate to the bar and set a hundred dollar bill next to it. The Fae watched him quizzically. He reached deep into his pocket and dug out a perfect round, golden pearl. He’d found it in a wild oyster on the ocean floor near Tahiti. To the humans, it would be worth a great deal of money. The Fae lifted it, an otherworldly light coming into his eyes. The Fae understood it was truly priceless.
He headed out the back of the bar, grabbing his board and leaping into the deep water of the canal. If he found Riley, he’d bring the match to that first pearl. The Fae would have earned it.
Chapter Four
Like the previous day, clouds built on the horizon. In the distance, lightning flashed. It was too far away to hear the rumble of thunder, but renters trickled in, ending their day early. It wasn’t bad; Riley charged per day and would be able to go home early. He sent Kimber home an hour before the rain started. He wasn’t sure where the impulse came from, but Riley felt compelled to go to the beach, to let the stinging salt of the ocean wash over him. With his board in hand, he made the short walk and planted his board in the wet sand, sitting down to watch the water grow rough and wild. He stripped the shirt from his body so the rain had an unobstructed path to his skin.
In the distance, thunder rumbled. Stupid thing, being out here in a storm, but it felt good. He felt alive. His sluggish blood quickened, and his cock went hard in his shorts. He grabbed himself and laughed, grateful there were no onlookers.
“Riley.”
The voice was so close, he jumped. His hand dropped from his cock and he looked up, seeing nothing. No one. But he’d heard someone. Riley stood, searching out over the beach. Except for a dog trotting in the distance, he was alone.
“Riley. Come with me.”
Fear stripped him of any desire to be on the beach. He grabbed his board, wondering what in hell he was doing out here in the first place. Someday he’d like to see fifty. Hell, he wanted to live till he was a bent old man, spending his days beachcombing. He’d like to fish the Keys and sail the Caribbean. He had nearly enough saved to buy a sailboat… No, not one like the Melody, but something nice.
He turned to face the ocean again. Out in the heavy swells, a single man straddled his board, waiting for his wave. When he spotted Riley, his hand came up, gesturing. He wanted Riley to join him? He gave a short laugh and shook his head. Maybe he wasn’t destined to cruise easily through life. Maybe it was a sign that he needed to run for the risk again.
He watched the rough, choppy waves. They weren’t world class, not like the waves he’d surfed in Hawaii and California, but they were wild and unpredictable. He took a step into the water, feeling its warm clasp around his ankles. He took another step, and another, finally tossing the board, taking it out over the surf. He lay on his belly, rising up, searching for the other rider. A couple miles out, lightning forked down to the water and seconds later, a clap of thunder shook the air.
This was crazy! He laughed, partly from fear, partly from exhilaration. But concern overtook excitement; he couldn’t see the other man. Had he caught a wave? Maybe he’d gone under. Riley straddled his board, looking around. He was alone. Rain hissed into the water around him and Riley looked at the sky. The late afternoon sun fought through the clouds, setting him in a weird landscape of purple and green, punctuated by blue-white flashes of lightning.
The surges grew and suddenly, this was no longer fun, it was just stupid. Rain and wind was one thing, lightning was something else completely. But still, if he was getting back in to shore, he’d have a hell of a ride. Quickly, with skill honed by years on the water, Riley caught his wave, cutting through the temperamental tossing water. Though focused on his ride, he noticed the figure on the beach and felt a wave of relief. The other surfer had made it in.
He relaxed into the ride, grinning and tasting the salty tang of the water. Rain pelted him and the surf cascaded over his board. Unfortunately, years of experience hadn’t prepared him for what happened next.
Something slammed into him with the force of a truck, forcing the nose of his board up into the air, throwing Riley backward. A million thoughts rushed through his mind in that second… shark… the board was coming down… he wasn’t ready to die…
He shouted, swallowed water and choked, and then was under the waves, tossing and rolling in the violence of the storm. Impossibly, he heard thunder, saw a white bolt of lightning, and smelled the stench of singed fiberglass and hair. He went down and down, into the depths of the sea. Even as he gulped water and frantically kicked for the surface, Riley knew this was wrong. The water was too deep; the current was too furious. He forced his eyes back open, blinking against the sting of the briny water.
Dark figures danced and slid from his vision. Weird lights swayed and darted away. The pressure built. He looked around for the surface, unable to orient himself. Stale air burst from his lungs and reflexively, he gasped, sucking in a lungful of water.
Fuck.
Frantically, he struggled against the grip of the water. When something huge and powerful clasped his arms, he screamed.
“Riley. Calm down.”
He froze. Impossible. He held his breath, feeling the distinct sensation of hands clamped around his arms, a body close to his. It took every ounce of control he possessed, but Riley opened his eyes and looked at the man -- the creature -- before him.
Kai.
The struggle went out of him and he went limp, unable to look away from the face he’d craved for so long. Kai. He shook his arms loose, raising his hands to cup the other man’s face. Suspended in the twilight of the ocean, Riley panted in shock. He realized he was… breathing… underwater. That seemed too crazy to be important. Unable to process the information, he set it aside to focus on the other wonder before him.
His fingers explored Kai’s face… still young and exactly as he remembered it. When Kai leaned in, capturing his mouth in a deep, gentle kiss, he didn’t fight or struggle. He closed his eyes, soaking up the feel of lips and tongue and the warmth of the other man’s skin. His eyes stung with the salt of his own tears.
“I’m dead,” he thought, certain he’d shaped his own version of heaven. Kai broke the kiss, leaning back to smile
at him.
“You’re alive. With me. Safe.” His lips moved, but Riley heard the voice in his head rather than with his ears. “I didn’t think I’d ever see you again, Riley.” He came in and kissed Riley firmly, pressing their bodies closer.
Riley felt the swell of their erections press together and reached down, running a hand down Kai’s smooth, powerful back, over the curve of his buttocks. “No tail,” he commented without breaking the kiss. In this dream… this hallucination, Kai was clearly telepathic, which made communication much easier. He got the impression of a smile and under his fingers, smooth scales formed, and Kai’s lower limbs fused together. “You are a merman.”
“No, not a merman.” His long hair floated out behind him like a veil, each strand forming perfect corkscrew curls. In the blink of an eye, he was back to human. “Not a shifter either.”
“Then what?” Riley didn’t resist as the other man moved back a bit. It allowed him to look some more. Kai deftly loosened Riley’s shorts and they drifted away, leaving both men naked.
“Some other magic.” He suddenly grew larger, a bit older. This was the man Riley had seen in the Final Cut. His heart caught somewhere between the pit of his stomach and his throat.
“I saw you the other night. You looked familiar, but too young to be my age.” Kai was kissing him again, lips running up his throat, teeth digging gently into his jaw. “It hurt to see you, so I left.”
“I’m so sorry.” He tugged at Riley’s ear, licking up the edge. “I’ve searched for you so long. I was about to give up.”
It was crazy. It had to be a hallucination that preceded death. Even now, Riley’s body was battered and tossed around in the shallows by the storm. He didn’t care. His hands roamed Kai’s body, fingers tracing his powerful muscles. Of course he was bigger; he’d grown up. And he hadn’t really aged because magical beings never do grow older, just as lost loves never age in memories.
As one, their hips began pumping and thrusting. Riley ached to take him, to taste him and feel him deep within his body. He needed to feel all that powerful muscle around his shaft. But right now, he was in too big a hurry. The water proved to be no deterrent to their movement. Kai held him close and they rubbed, their cocks sliding and catching, their testicles squeezing with each thrust. He groaned, pressed his forehead into Kai’s neck, and winced as the other man’s teeth gripped his shoulder. He shuddered as they began to move wildly. He groaned, throwing his head back, gasping for breath. Kai bit harder. The pain snaked from his shoulder down his belly, straight to his balls. It was too fast, too slow, and just right.
The moment his seed jetted from his body, Kai’s sharp teeth punctured his skin. The huge man shook and trembled, and the water clouded with blood and their combined seed. Orgasmic waves swamped Riley again and again, squeezing every bit of semen from his balls. He clung to Kai, holding on until the wave of passion ended, finally daring to open his eyes and look up.
Kai was still there, and the water was hazy with their fluids. As the blood touched their semen, it glowed, encompassing them in a soft light not unlike the bioluminescence they’d once drifted in. And finally… finally… Riley knew fear.
They’d started something all those years ago, something big. Something had gone unfinished, rendering his life incomplete. And whatever was happening… wasn’t finished. He’d spilled his semen, and now his blood. He’d put his life in the hands of someone -- something -- of unimaginable power.
He kicked away from Kai, and as soon as they parted, Riley began to choke and sputter, drowning in the depths of an ocean that shouldn’t exist. He kicked hard, swimming desperately, but he didn’t know where.
“Riley!” The voice was faint in his mind now. He was drowning, and the world was going dark.
Chapter Five
“Riley.”
Someone shook his arm, and Riley jumped. He blinked, looking at the familiar surroundings of the surf shop.
“That’s the last of the rentals. You want me to lock up?” Kimber leaned on the counter next to him, her green eyes bright with curiosity. He shivered, realizing that she had an uncanny resemblance to Kai. To the Kai of his dream, that is. He glanced at the clock, and then looked outside. Had he really imagined his journey to the beach, and to the bottom of the ocean? Had he just had hot, impossible sex with some sort of sea god… in a daydream?
“Ah, yeah. Let’s get everything put away, and then you can take off.”
“Okay. Cool.” She worked quickly, cleaning and stowing equipment while Riley did the receipts for the day. He hated the paperwork, but it gave him a few minutes to gather himself. He was dry and wearing the clothes he’d put on this morning. Obviously, he hadn’t sent Kimber home; it was sunny outside. The storm had already blown through. He took a deep breath and felt the twinge of a pulled muscle, the sort of pain that would follow a nasty fall on his board. But he hadn’t been surfing. He was sure he hadn’t taken the board out.
Riley shoved back his chair and went to examine his board; it was propped in the corner just as it always was. It was dry and polished. He lifted it, examining it thoroughly. No scuffs or chips. Whatever he’d hit would have left some sort of mark. This was proof he’d imagined it.
He snorted in wry humor. Here he was, having hallucinations, and not even having the fun of getting wasted. Must be age. He sat in his chair, gazing idly at his computer monitor. As always, it was online and the weather feeds scrolled along. He clicked on one, reading a news brief about a freak storm that had risen, causing treacherous waves and riptides. It had come and passed in less than an hour. Several swimmers had been rescued all along the beaches. But not Riley… He’d been here the whole time.
“Boss?” He glanced up at Kimber. “You okay?”
For once, she didn’t have a snide remark or an insult about his Hawaiian shirt and tattered cargo shorts. He forced a smile to his face. “I’m fine. You can take off now.”
She lingered a moment longer. “You want to maybe grab dinner? I forgot to go shopping, and was just gonna stop at the taco place down the street.”
He started to refuse, and then reconsidered. Maybe food would help. He had a headache starting and his stomach rumbled in sympathy. Riley nodded, shutting down the computer for the night. “Meet me up front. And dinner’s on me.” She gave him a smile and left the little office, waiting by the front as he shut down the lights and set the alarm. Riley locked up behind them and paused to gaze at the ocean. It was peaceful now. He wished he felt that calm. He rolled his head, trying to work a kink out of his neck. His shoulder throbbed with the movement and he reached up to rub it. The muscle burned and ached. As they walked, Riley’s fingers traced the bite mark in his skin.
Once again, everything he thought he knew was wrong.
* * *
“Could you possibly have made this worse?”
Kimber paced the wooden dock behind the Final Cut, fury and frustration trailing in her wake. Without the illusion she hid behind, her skin glowed and she was much… more.
“How long have you known where he is?” Kai was furious as well, and he’d been tamping his anger for hours now. Kimber turned to stare up at him. Kai stood a bit straighter, making himself taller and a bit more intimidating. To no effect. Kimber was his elder by decades. Nevertheless, thunder rumbled in the distance and wind riffled the calm surface of the canal. If he wanted, he could summon a waterspout that would leave her wet and frigid.
“Grandfather sent me here a few months ago. Obviously, he’s known where Riley was from the start.” She put her hands on her hips. “Riley’s a really nice man, Kai, and who’s to say what his life might have been if you hadn’t messed with him to start with. You should just stay away from him.”
Kai fumed, watching her pace. His anger manifested in the lightning out over the ocean.
“Tone it down, Kai. You might hurt someone.”
He clenched his fists, focusing on stillness. The wind dropped. “I can’t stay away from him. I love him.”
She snorted. “You had a quick fling with him decades ago, and you’re in love?” She shook her head. “Obviously you took it too far back then. Did you take him down to the bottom? Did you offer?”
“We both offered to the sea. But Grandfather interfered. Riley nearly drowned.” Anger rippled through him again. Kai had made his choice back then. What right did Grandfather Maui have to put his foot in it? At the memory, Kai felt the thunder rolling up in his veins again.
“You offered? Both of you?” Kimber rubbed her temples, as though she had a headache. “What about this time?”
“We offered. And I marked him.”
“He bled?” Her eyes went wide. Kai nodded. “Oh, Kai, do you know what you did? Never mind. You do. That’s the problem.” She slumped against the wall. “You did tell him what that meant, didn’t you? I mean, all these years…” She trailed off. “You didn’t tell him, did you?”
His cheeks went hot with shame. He’d been young back then. That wasn’t much of an excuse, but it was true. He’d been so infatuated with the blond, blue-eyed youth that he’d known Riley was his mate. He’d felt it the first time he’d seen him on the docks, laughing and flirting with the pretty girls on vacation.
He’d followed the Melody on its journeys, pushing the limits of his grandfather’s rules. He’d shifted into a great bird, shadowing the boat, or perched in a tree, listening to the young man having sex with one of the tourists. He’d been so fascinated he’d never even been jealous. When he’d had the opportunity to seduce Riley, he’d taken it and had sealed the deal as well, ensuring that there was a bond between them.
Today, he’d taken it further.
“Kai, did you mate with that man and not tell him?”
He nodded, not meeting his cousin’s sharp gaze. She sighed in frustration. “He’s a human, Kai. Grandfather won’t allow it, and now you’ve tied Riley even tighter to you. You’ve made him lonely for years, and now even more years stretch out before him.”
Come, go with me Page 3
