Lovers in Deep: A Reverse Fairy Tale Merman Romance (The Sea Men Book 3)

by Dani Stowe

  And now I’m hungry and...

  Lonely.

  I sit up, unzip my bag to climb free, and walk close to the shore. “Athena!” I call out across the ocean. If I could trade places with her right now, I would. I would go back to the way things were. For her. So she would not have to live this way.

  “Athena!” I call out again.

  It’s been months. Why will she not show herself to me?

  Waves roll over my feet and something knocks against my toes. I look down, seeing an odd container of sorts. It’s silver-colored, like the bat I was struck with, and the metal is just as dense, strong, and stiff.

  Steel is very common in these times.

  I pick up the container embellished with fine flowery carvings and turn it around to find an engraving. I have to squint in the dark to see:

  Cora Morae

  1948 to 2018

  Most Beloved Aunt

  “Ah, Ms. Morae,” I say. “Still not finished with merfolk, are you? I thought Shelley had freed you from your obsessions, your madness, your curse.”

  I turn to the beach house wondering if I should return the urn to Shelley, but a seagull caws to scold me from overhead.

  “Yes, okay, my friend,” I nod, using as much muscle as I can to unscrew the top.

  One second is one second too long to be contained against one’s will.

  A furious wind blows, but it’s warm. The wind comes in from the south, sweeping the ashes from the urn as I pour Cora’s remains free so that she will be united with her family and her one true love—the sea.

  I rinse the urn and take a look at the inscription once more. Considering the way Shelley has talked of her aunt—as a nuisance—I find it very strange that Shelley would include the inscription of Most Beloved Aunt. I would not think Shelley would call her aunt such a thing. It’s a divine gesture really...

  Divine!

  I must call to Athena by her most divine name.

  I drop the urn, searching the vast darkness—both the sky and the ocean—for any hint as to what Athena’s divine name would be. Athena is my most beloved, but that’s not a name and it doesn’t feel right to call her that. Not when I just read it on a dead woman’s urn. The other seamen use the word, girlfriend. It doesn’t feel right to call Athena that either. She’s no girl.

  Athena is also not family, not a relative or even my wife, although she should be, so there is no title I could think to call her other than...

  My legs suddenly feel grounded in the sand. I march them into the cool ocean’s water. My arms swing and I swear, I’ve never felt so strong. The thrum of my heart beats with a most heavy and well-paced rhythm and I’m ready to collect what is mine—my true treasure—after all this time.

  Slogging through the shallow until I come thigh deep, I inhale deeply and call out to Athena, calling her by the most divine name only I could give her.

  “Lover!” I shout. “Come to me, my love!”

  A shadow. The tiniest rounded shadow pops above the surface but a few feet in front of me.

  I can’t make out visually what I see, but the flick of something...

  A fin? It quickly unfolds over the surface with a small splash sinking back into the deep.

  Aye, that was a fin. A mermaid’s fin.

  “Come, Athena.” I stretch out my arms, curling my palms, signaling. “Lover, come to me.”

  19

  Athena

  I don’t want to go. Not to him. Not to the man who resisted me for most of my life. I see now he was trying to protect me from this realm, but I refused to heed his warnings and look at me now.

  I am possessed by magic.

  “Come,” he calls. His voice is irresistible. Like bait, it lures me.

  I’m trying to resist but a hunger—a need—to flutter my fin and get closer is driving me towards him.

  I’m a fish, circling the baited hook knowing well there’s danger in front of me. But still, I move closer because there is nothing more intriguing in all this vastness than what is right in front of me.

  He smiles, waving me towards him.

  Oh, dear gods. He is magnificent. The memory of him in my bed makes me ache more now than I did when I was a teenager, wondering what it would be like to be with him.

  Have him.

  But I can’t have him. Not like this. And I don’t want him to see me like this either—half covered in scales. He’s been transformed back into something beautiful. I, on the other hand, have been transformed into something bizarre and horrible.

  “Lover,” he sings, treading towards me.

  His voice casts what feels like an invisible net and I’m struggling to swim away.

  He comes closer. Water sloshes around me as he makes his approach. His hands find my shoulders, gripping, and I don’t fight. It would be useless. Willis caught me long before he ever even touched me.

  “Athena,” he growls, pulling me to him. “Why have you been avoiding me?”

  Pulling my head back with a fist of my hair, he kisses me. His flesh is salted and cool from the winds while his kiss is hot.

  I push away, pouting. “Stop, Willis. I wasn’t avoiding you. I was avoiding...” I flick my fin, looking down at the deformity that is my cage.

  Willis and I can never be together, not as long as I am in this form, not in the way I know he needs, the way a man needs to be with his woman.

  He lifts my chin, sweeping his thumb across my lips. A smile hints through his voice. “You know damn well you could never avoid me. We are like the earth and sea, you and me. Two bodies that can never be separated.”

  He picks me up. If I could kick I would, but I have no legs. I wiggle but I stop, feeling silly like a fish flipping exaggeratedly after it’s been hooked and plucked from the water.

  “Willis, you don’t want this,” I tell him. “You don’t want me. You have legs now. You deserve more. You deserve better.”

  “Strange,” he says, squeezing tighter, dragging my lower half as he treads towards the sand. “I remember I used to think the same thing about you.”

  Willis brings me to shore where he sits, cradling me in his arms. I nuzzle my face into his chest to hide my shame, hoping he’s not looking at me too critically. He nudges me back and takes off his shirt.

  Shamelessly, I stare at his chest and I notice a trinket hanging from around his neck. He slips the trinket over his head to hold it up, dangling a golden compass above me.

  I blink, recognizing the treasure with magical powers, powers I can already feel working through my spine.

  A tingle in my lower back shoots through my tail. As Willis opens the chain from which the compass hangs to place it over my head, the tingle becomes a shock, and the shock brings crushing pain.

  “Ugh,” I gurgle as the single column of bones running through my tail shatters.

  Clawing into Willis, I confess, “It hurts,” feeling the lower portion of my body tear right down the middle as if I’m being ripped in half.

  “Shh,” Willis coos, trying to calm me. He strokes my hair and rubs my back, planting kisses sweetly over my cheeks and neck.

  Only, his touch seems to make the ache easier to bare. “Hold me,” I beg. “Kiss me more. Cover me,” I request as if Willis could shield me from this pain.

  Quickly, I am rolled onto my back. My body, transforming, lands flush against the sand. My mouth is the first to be covered by Willis’s lips along with his tongue as the rest of him slowly rolls like a warm wave on top of me.

  My tail finally splits completely and the shattered bones, once a single extension of my spine, collect to become leg bones.

  Willis breaks our kiss to peep down at our lower halves. He’s straddled over my thighs.

  “Make love to me,” I say, “before the magic goes away.”

  Sure, I’m wearing the compass which should allow me to stay in this form, but I don’t want to risk this moment getting away from us.

  And neither does he.

  Willis’s button and zipper
come undone. His pants are barely down his ass before he’s upon me again, splitting my legs apart with his knees. He glides the tip of his erection along my slit, barely dipping, checking to see if I’m wet. He coats his cock with my arousal before he sinks himself into me.

  Fully, he drives his thick hook within me as his hands glide and grab along the contour of my body while he grunts and moans.

  He kisses me deeper than he’s ever kissed me before. I feel like I’m drowning. Into my core from both openings—between my legs and at my mouth—he is plunging, taking my breath away.

  With each grind of his hips against my groin, I feel his rough curls rake against my heated flesh. My core tightens which makes his cock throb, pulsing thicker and longer within me.

  He groans as I fist his hair and wrap my legs tight around his waist. His body caves, his abs constricting tighter and tighter with each thrust, as he works his length repeatedly deep and hard.

  Somehow, I manage to pull him in deeper. My hands wrap behind his back, squeezing, and I’m jolting in unison with the rhythm of his pleasuring thrusts.

  “Mmm,” he growls, slowing down to nibble at my chin, my collarbone, and then my nipple.

  My back arches and my hips buck with the overwhelming stimulus connecting with my clit. Pulling and tugging, lapping and sucking, his mouth is working wonders at my breast as he manages to burden my core with his cock.

  “I’m going to flood you,” he says. His voice is low and intense, like a warning.

  My jaw, so tight, unhinges as both of his hands make their way behind my back and towards the nape of my neck where he pulls at my hair, exposing my neck to him. He buries his face while his hips thrust with even more power.

  Our friction burns. His length is deep and his thickness is splitting me apart.

  But his power consumes and excites me.

  Ecstasy is within my grasp. Like magic, its elusive power lingers and I want it badly. Desperately. This is the magic I want to possess me. I want Willis to possess me. I want him to own me but he’s not the type to take what he wants so I’m going to have to give myself to him.

  “Drown me,” I say, clamping tight around him.

  Gripping beneath my knees, he flexes, lifts, and spreads my legs wider, so he can slam into me again and again.

  The crest... I feel it coming.

  Solid and with great force, he crashes into me and, like a wave, my orgasm smashes—clobbering me—and washes over me to leave my body tingling from the crown of my head to the tips of my toes.

  Willis grunts as he shoots against my inner walls, flooding my cavern to coat my inner cave with his semen.

  His muscles twitch as we both relax and I stroke my hands up his sides. My eyes follow my fingers as they trace his dewy skin until they make their way up to the top of his chiseled chest and I make eye contact with him.

  He’s grinning and I turn my head away bashfully.

  “Aye, come now,” he says, grabbing my jaw and turning my head to face him. “You can look. This is always what you wanted to see, isn’t it?”

  I can feel my eyes getting glossy as I look him over. I’m such a freak! With or without legs, I’m still a freak when it comes to him because I’m just as fascinated as if I was still a child. He’s so beautiful and I’m still so... me. I worry if he really feels as in love with me as I am with him.

  “Willis, do you—”

  “I love you,” he says, rolling to his side, bringing me with him until he is on his back and I am resting on top. “Forever you are mine now. I don’t own you, but you still belong to me. Aye?” He lifts my chin to lock eyes with me.

  “Aye.”

  He smiles, scrubbing some sand free from my shoulders before he tightens his arms around me and nuzzles a kiss, rubbing his lips back and forth and then puckering his lips to suck at my forehead. The gesture is cute and it makes me giggle.

  “What are you laughing at?” he scowls.

  “What was that?”

  “What?”

  “That!” I point to my forehead. “Was that a kiss?”

  “What’s the matter? You don’t like that?” He puckers his mouth, making fishy lips.

  I plant my chin on his chest shaking my head with a smile.

  “Would you rather I pant like a dog?” He sticks his tongue out panting and I glower.

  “I had no idea you were so strange.”

  “Strange?” He squints one eye, furrowing his brows, and he swats my bare ass! “I’m completely human.” Willis tickles me, making me squirm. “I’ve even kept my eyes and everything and now you think I’m strange.”

  I bury my face in his chest, mumbling, “Do you think I’m strange?”

  “Yes,” he says and my breath hitches as the chambers of my heart cease to open and close with such a painful revelation. “You were a strange girl who grew to be an even stranger woman, but lucky for you, I’m accustomed to strange things.” He grabs my bottom and squeezes. “And you, my love, are unlike anything to have ever lived on this earth or beyond. You are the magical, rare treasure every adventurer seeks.” He lifts the compass to his lips, kissing the trinket. “You are my most beloved of all things.” Another kiss comes to my mouth. “Am I also your most beloved?” he asks.

  “Yes.”

  “Aye, see. Then you must be strange to love a man like me.”

  Music plays from the interior of the beach house and I look up to see the other couples inside are wide awake and dancing.

  “Do you want to go in?” I ask.

  “Later,” he says. “I want to enjoy the spoils of all we’ve conquered together.”

  Seemingly content, Willis closes his eyes to rest while sprawling his limbs wide across the sand. Like a starfish, he spreads himself out, flat across the beach, except for one arm which he keeps wrapped around my back.

  Pressing my ear to his chest, I listen for Willis’s heart. I close my eyes, also content, when I hear his human heart beating.

  Months Later...

  Tap, tap, tap. I glower at the creature behind the glass. Tap, tap, tap. I bang the tip of my finger a bit harder this time.

  “He doesn’t like that,” says the receptionist, a silvering brunette, behind the counter.

  “Who doesn’t?” I ask with a devious smile.

  “The critter in the tank,” she replies and goes back to typing.

  I peek back into the glass at the animal trapped in the aquarium. I wonder how long Lenora plans to keep Levi locked up in there and as a fish or... whatever the hell he is. He has arms and legs plus a tail but his oversized head is spearheaded with his mouth, surrounded by tiny tentacles placed under him. It appears he must sift through rocks for food.

  “Serves you right, bottom feeder.”

  I tap on the glass again when I jerk back! Levi has speared his head into the glass.

  I’d like to spear him with a knife! “Why you little shi—”

  “Athena,” calls Lenora. “I’m ready for you now.”

  I look up. The doctor looks lovely today. She’s wearing slacks, which I know she loves wearing pants, with a bright red shirt under her white coat. Her hair is down and I love the tiny curls, which seem to have grown substantially longer since just last week. I wish I had her powers to make myself look that good in so little time.

  “How are you?” she asks.

  “I’m good,” I answer, although my nerves are firing off like crazy as I follow Lenora out of the waiting room, past her receptionist, and down a short hall where we find ourselves in an examination room painted of sea life.

  She rolls the ultrasound machine over as I hop up on the cushiony covered exam table. “Lift your shirt and pull the waistline of your pants down below your belly and lie back,” she says.

  My hands are shaking. I do as she instructs swiftly, so Lenora won’t suspect that I’m scared.

  “I know you’re afraid,” Lenora says, smiling.

  I forgot, she can read my mind. Even with the compass around my neck, allowing me to
live on land with legs, I’m still somewhat of a sea beast.

  “It’s okay,” Lenora nods her head. “This isn’t going to hurt.”

  “But what if my baby...” I choke. What if my baby is a freak? What if my baby comes out deformed?

  “We’ll deal with whatever comes our way,” Lenora replies, squirting clear jelly on my belly as she sits.

  She tucks a towel over my pants and under my shirt. I suspect it is to protect my clothing from the gel. Placing the head of the ultrasound wand on top of my stomach, Lenora presses firmly, taps a few buttons on the keyboard, and then moves the wand around firmly.

  Minutes seem to pass. She’s not saying anything. Sweat is beginning to bead at my forehead and I’m about to snap when Willis enters the room.

  “Sorry, I’m late,” he flips off his navy-blue baseball cap to reveal his cropped haircut, which he hates. But Pike, his boss, insists on short hair. The cap matches his uniform with the words, MARINE POLICE, printed across the front. He kisses me before he slides the cap over my head. “Everything okay?”

  I smile up at him but roll my eyes over to Lenora. “She hasn’t said anything yet.”

  “Because I’m not done.” She hits a few more keys.

  “Is there something wrong?” I’m beginning to panic. “There must be something wrong. Clearly, there’s something wrong if you’re not saying anything.”

  “Whoa.” Willis strokes the small tendrils of hair away from my upper lip that are beginning to stick because I’m perspiring. “Give the witch a minute to work.”

  Lenora stops what she’s doing to flash Willis a wicked glance. “I’m not a witch. I’m a—”

  “Healer,” interrupts Willis. “Yes, yes. My apologies.”

  Lenora’s demeanor instantly changes. “Are you ready, Athena?”

  “Ready? Ready for what?”

  There’s a twinkle in Lenora’s eyes. “For this?”

  A swishing sound cuts through the room. The sound is quick, fast-paced, and even.