by E. M. Leya
SAGE
© 2012 by E.M. Leya
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This book is a work of fiction. References to historical events, real people, or real locales are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author's imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or persons or locales, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Cover Photo by: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
OTHER WORK BY
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The last few months have flown by and I can't believe the wonderful things that are happening. I have a great group of friends who support me through everything and to all of them I say a huge thank you! To those who help me get this book readable, I could never do this without you. You guide me, support me, and are never scared to argue with me over things you see that I might be blind to. You all help make my books what they are and I can't imagine having to do this without your input. Thank you, Marcia, Sarah, Karissa, Adriana, Tammi, Jack, Carolyn, John, and most of all, my daughter, whose smile and laughter echo through the house as I work.
CHAPTER ONE
Gary sat on the rock and stared out over the ocean. The waves stirred recklessly, an ominous warning of the storm that headed for the coast. Gary sighed, thinking how his life was as out of control as those waves.
Down the beach, kids played, tossing a Frisbee back and forth as two dogs tried to catch it from them. He smiled as he watched them, wishing life could always be so simple and carefree as it probably was for the children.
It was late, the sun just setting in the distance, and Gary wondered who let their kids stay on the beach so late without being supervised. Oh well, wasn't his problem. He had enough to worry about at work.
Since his father's death, Gary was the sole owner of the Dive-In Scuba shop, a responsibility he wasn't sure he wanted. Sure, he loved scuba diving, but was he up to running the place? His heart just wasn't in it.
He wanted to paint. Share his love for art with the world. He had the chance to really make a name for himself if he could just get the time to work on his paintings, but now, with the business his father left him, time was something he didn't have much of.
He rubbed his palm over his face. He shouldn't even be wasting his time here, but he needed to clear his head, think about things, and there was nowhere better to think than by the ocean, with the fresh air blowing against his face.
A loud scream drew his attention down the beach. The kids who had been on the beach now played in the water. He sat up straighter as he realized they weren't playing. One of them was farther out in the water and it looked as if he was struggling against the waves as he tried to keep his head above water.
Forgetting about everything, Gary took off at a run, his sandals digging into the soft sand until they finally fell from his feet, allowing him to use his toes to dig into the sand, increasing his speed. He hit the water without even thinking of his own safety, diving into the ocean once it was deep enough, and swimming out toward the small child.
The waves smashed into him and the undertow pulled at him as he struggled to stay on course, making his way to where the child bobbed. Gary made it to about five feet from the kid, when the child cried out once before disappearing underwater.
"Shit." Gary dove down, trying to see the child in the murky water. He could make out shadows, but nothing more. Coming up for air, he searched around him, treading water as he tried to keep from being sucked under the incoming waves himself.
Something brushed his leg and he reached down to grab it, hoping it was the child. His hand grasped at something, his fingers gliding over a soft fin like object.
He jerked his hand back in fear. If it was a fish, it was a large one. He took a breath and dove down again, sure that his imagination was playing tricks on him and it was nothing more than seaweed. His eyes burned as he struggled to see anything, reaching his hands out around him in an effort to find the boy.
The water pushed his body back and forth, forcing him to struggle to move forward under the water. He was about to surface for air, when he saw the large fin in front of him. It was like nothing he had ever seen before. Even under the dark water, the gold and silver of the fish's scales shimmered.
He moved toward it, curiosity stronger than fear. The tailfin looked to be at least a foot wide. He reached out his hand to touch it when something above him grabbed him by the hair and pulled him up.
He choked on a mouthful of water as he gasped and surfaced.
"Take him." Another man faced him, holding the young child in his hands.
Gary stared in shock at the most gorgeous man he had ever seen. Deep black eyes stared back at him, and long dark brown hair swayed over the water around the man's shoulders. His skin appeared so soft that Gary wanted to reach out and touch his cheek to find out if it was as soft as it looked.
"Take him. Get him to safety." The man shoved the small child into Gary's arms.
Taking the child forced Gary to turn his attention from the man. He quickly wrapped one arm around the child and held him to his chest as he used the other to help tread the rough water around him. The boy was not awake, but Gary could feel the child's heartbeat against his arm and see the slight rise and fall of the boy's chest.
Glancing back over at the man, he nodded. "You saved him."
The man smiled, once again causing Gary's chest to tighten, and the stranger gave a slight nod. "Take care of him." The man turned and dove back into the water, heading out farther into the ocean.
"Wait, don't go out there. It's not safe…" He frowned as the man disappeared in the ocean.
His own strength failing, Gary's only choice was to head back to the beach and hope that the man found his own way to safety. Forcing thoughts of the beautiful man from his mind, he concentrated on fighting the waves and undertow and getting him and the child to the beach.
He could make out several people standing at the water's edge and focused on them as he rolled to his back and kicked his legs. He was careful to keep the child's head above the water, ignoring the ache in his muscles as he made his way to the shore.
As soon as he could get his footing, he stood and a rush of arms came at him, one taking the ch
ild from his grasp as two other people helped him from the water. Wiping the water from his eyes, he let them lead him up to the beach where he collapsed onto the sand.
His chest ached and muscles screamed. It shocked him to feel so weak. He wasn't an inexperienced swimmer or diver, he was in good shape, but he might as well have been an eighty year old, out of shape man for the pain he now felt.
"How's the boy?" He gasped the words as he tried to catch his breath. He lay in the sand, turning his head from side to side, trying to see the child.
The woman who knelt over him, smiled. "He is okay. He's with his parents. There is an ambulance on the way. You are a hero."
Gary brushed his hand over his forehead and grimaced. "No, the other man got him. I just brought him back. I would have never found him on my own."
"What other man?" The woman looked down at him confused, her brown hair falling forward to cover half her face.
"The other man who handed him to me." Gary pushed up so he was sitting.
"There wasn't anyone else out there. You were the only one who went after the boy." She reached out and touched his forehead. "Maybe we need to have the paramedics look at you, too?"
"No." He swatted her hand away. "I'm fine." He turned his gaze to the ocean, looking out over the waves as he tried to figure out what happened to the man who handed him the child. He wasn't imagining things. The image of the man's face was etched in his mind. He was real.
"You sure? You're lucky you weren't killed out there. You must be a great swimmer." She sat back on her heels.
"Yeah, I swim some." He looked past her to where the crowd circled the young boy. He pushed up in the sand and stood, swaying slightly as a wave of dizziness washed over him. He took a couple deep breaths and made his way toward the crowd, needing to see for himself that the boy was okay.
As he neared the crowd, they moved back, allowing him to get to the boy's side.
"Thank you. Thank you for saving my son." A blond woman cried as she held her son to her chest.
The boy was now awake, but still looked weak. He coughed and then vomited as his mother brushed her hand down his back.
"He's okay?" Gary reached out and touched the boy's cold foot.
"I think so." She nodded. "Thanks to you. I don't know how I will ever thank you enough."
Gary shook his head. "I'm just glad I was close enough to help." He glanced around at all the others, wondering how many others were close enough but didn't jump into the water like he had. He shivered and wrapped his arms around himself. He needed to know if they saw the other man. "Was there another man in the water with me?"
Several shook their heads and the boy's father reached out and touched his shoulder. "I owe you my son's life. You were the only one who went after him."
Gary once again looked over the ocean, positive he had seen someone else. He remembered the sound of the man's voice as he shoved the child at him. "I'm glad he is okay." He smiled at the boy's father and stepped back as medical help arrived.
He moved several feet away and sat down again. He watched as several EMTs looked over the child before loading him on a stretcher and carrying him off the beach as the parents followed. He was glad the child seemed okay. It would have been a different outcome if not for the man who had found the boy.
Gary rubbed his hand through his drying, brown hair and shook his head. A man no one else had seen. Was he losing his mind? Had the rush of adrenaline forced him to imagine things? He was sure there had been another man out there. The others just must not have seen him through the waves, but that still left the question… Where did he go?
CHAPTER TWO
Sage stared over the water from where he sat on the small island. He could see his brothers swimming in the distance and smiled as Heath snuck up on Randy and dunked him. Any other day he would be out there with them. He loved spending the afternoons with his brothers. It was the only escape they had from their father and the duties of the court.
He pinched his nose, trying to fight back the headache that plagued him all afternoon. If he had any nerve, he would tell his father once again that he didn't want to be king and would step aside and let Heath have it. Heath was the genius in the family, the one who deserved to ascend to the throne. Sage didn't want it. All he wanted to live a normal life. He was tired of studying the history of his people and memorizing laws. He wanted was to work the coral, search for gems, and trade with the humans.
He smiled as he thought of the humans. He enjoyed watching them and seeing how they lived. Their lives weren't so different from his own, yet there was something about them he was drawn to. Something he was missing by being hidden away in his own world.
Maybe that was it. Maybe it was as simple as the humans didn't have to hide. They were free to come and go as they liked, accepted for who they were. His own kind feared being found out and that fear kept them trapped in the ocean and the small islands around his home.
Sage lay back on the sand, stretched his legs out, and closed his eyes as images of one human formed in his head. The one human he let get too close, and now he couldn't get him out of his mind. He should have minded his own business and not interfered. Surly, the other man would have found the child and saved him without his help.
He knew it was a lie. The boy had gone too far out. The waters had been too rough. The human might have drowned himself if Sage hadn't come to their aid.
He frowned, thinking about what his father would say if he knew Sage had risked so much to save the child, a human child at that. Sage had gotten too close in his natural form and risked the entire species in his carelessness. Still, as he thought back on everything, he had no doubt he would make the same choice again.
Sage shivered as he remembered the brush of his tail against the man's legs. It had been just a simple brush, but it had sent waves of awareness through his body, like none he had ever known. He would never forget the man's brown eyes or his light brown hair. Thoughts of the man kept him awake at night and caused his days to drag as he fought to concentrate on work while trying to push the man from his mind.
This was crazy, he shouldn't even be thinking of a human. It wasn't uncommon for his kind to find pleasure with other men, after all, with no females around, they took their release where they could find it. Some were even couples, but to take an interest in a human male, it just wasn't done.
His people mated with human females from time to time. It was mandated that each male would mate with a human female once in his life and produce an offspring, some chose to do it more. Male offspring inherited the father's genes and would come to live in the ocean when they came of age, while female offspring were left with the mother since the gene didn't pass to them.
"You going to lay here all day?" Heath's shadow blocked the sun as he stood over Sage.
Sage opened his eyes and sighed. "I was just relaxing."
"You okay?" Heath sat down beside him and shook his wet hair back, sending water flying over Sage.
"Dammit, Heath." Sage sat up and wiped his arm over his face.
"Sorry." Heath frowned. "What's eating you?"
"Nothing. I just didn't need that sudden shower."
"Bullshit. You've been tense for the last few days. Something's bothering you." Heath stared at him with genuine concern reflecting in his deep blue eyes.
"It's nothing. I'm just tired. You know I hate all this preparation Father is forcing on me."
"You have to know it all to be king."
"I don't want to be king. You should be king. We both know I'm not cut to lead. I have no desire to do it. I don't care who was born first. You should be our next leader." Sage hugged his arms around his knees. "Hell, I bet you already have all this shit memorized. You wouldn't have to spend the hours I do trying to learn everything."
Heath stared down at the sand. "I've tried to talk to Father —"
"I know, so have I. I'm not mad at you. Just tired. The last few days have been harder than most. I'll get through it. Once I
am king I can change the rules so no one has to go through this again." Sage shrugged. "Besides, Father might live twenty years."
Heath glanced at him and smiled. "You would make a great king, Sage."
"Being a great king and wanting to be king are two different things. I'd rather be out in the water, working and exploring. The thought of sitting in that cave every day for the rest of my life is depressing."
"Stand up to Father. You can refuse." Heath reached over and touched his arm. "You know I'll support you."
"At what cost? Banishment?" Sage stood, glancing once more at his brother. He needed to get away for a while.
There was no doubt what he was about to do was the stupidest thing he had ever done, but he needed to know. Had to find out what it was about this human that had him on edge.
He wasn't even sure he could find him again, but he would take the chance. He moved to the water's edge and then farther until the waves brushed his knees. He called back to his brother. "I'm going for a long swim. I will be back later."
Heath stared at him. "You're supposed to meet with father tonight."
"Not until later. I'll be here in time." Sage closed his eyes and willed the change as he jumped head first into the water.
As the ocean closed in around him, he swam in the direction of the beach where he'd last seen the man. If nothing else came of things tonight, the long swim would hopefully ease his nerves.
CHAPTER THREE
Gary glanced at his gym bag and frowned. He wasn't in the mood to hit the gym tonight. He'd been so good about working out regularly, but tonight, his heart just wasn't in it. Besides, it always seemed to be busy at the gym. He needed fresh air, not crowds. After being stuck at the scuba shop all day, he wanted freedom, a bit of alone time, away from the tourists and kids who wandered in and out of his shop all day.
Ignoring the gym bag, he quickly changed into a pair of shorts and a clean T-shirt. He glanced out the window. A jog would make up for missing the gym and he could come back after, settle down, and paint.
