Page 3 of Dry as a Fish
It was an order filled with the intention of Chaos, repeated by the stones and passed on from monster to monster. Give her back. Such a simple command, but complicated by the fact that no one could agree on what it meant. Some said the command was for the Dungeon, given the way it reacted to it, shifting about like it was churning something up in a cauldron moments after the command came, but if that was the case, then why give it to the rocks to spread out for everyone?
There would be no killing of any 'her' until the mystery woman was rescued from the school and handed over to the Chaos God as he demanded.
I held the mundane woman against my torso and threaded my other hand through her hair, cupping the back of her skull and her neck.
Since we didn't know who she was, the plan the pods, the herds, and the tribes had all agreed on was to ready any female we managed to get our hands on. The rest of the monsters didn't gather in groups, but they heard the call as well.
I pressed my lips over the mouth of my still-struggling catch and let the filtered air from my gills flow.
Her lips parted.
She inhaled, and for a moment, her body stilled against mine. In the soft peace of the moment, we floated there, the water stirring around us with the gentle in and out of the riverthat filled and flowed from it. Her body was soft under my hands, cooled by the water that surrounded us, pulling the heat from the surface of my skin with every press of her flesh against my own.
In the still sanctity of the moment, I felt it, the pulse of knowing rushing through my system, the rush of certainty unstoppable like a tidal wave crashing towards the distant shore of what my life had been and what it was about to become.
One small webless palm slid upwards from where they were pressed against my chest. Her fingers brushed their way up my neck, feeling their way to my gills, sending shivers of sensation that battled the heartsong building in my chest.
It was her.
I found my heartsong.
My heart danced with the wonder of the moment, the beauty of the song that floated silently through me, ready to be released and sung to the woman whose existence was fated to entwine with mine, like seagrass swaying in the current of life. We were meant to be together. It was poetry in motion, such a beautiful rarity of a moment in my life that I would treasure forever.
She jammed her fingers into my gills.
The abrupt pain shocked me out of my wonder.
Her nails scratched into me as she clenched her fingers, digging them into the tender flesh of my gills.
She yanked hard.
I choked, wrenching my head backward as I tore my mouth from hers. I could taste my own blood in the water. Searing pain of flesh-tearing consumed my focus, and I let go of her so that I didn't claw her flesh in reaction to my own pain. She let go, her hands and feet scrambling against me before she curledin the water to thud her feet against my chest. She thrust against me, using me as an underwater springboard to launch her toward the surface.
I watched her scramble above me as I floated below her, the taste of my own blood in the water. The moonlight pierced the supple surface of the lake, backlighting her as she reached up, clawing her way with limbs frantic with terror, her flailing triggering that instinct in me that whispered: prey.
I found my heartsong and she was a mundane.
She was terrified of me.
I flexed my tail, knowing that what I had to do next would make everything worse.
Chapter
Three
SLOANE
Iburst through the surface of the lake like a little mermaid who just got her legs and didn't have to worry about decompression sickness. I sucked in the night air in a deep grasping breath as I moved my hands in the water, twisting this way and that as I tried to find the shore. I didn't know how badly I hurt the lake monster, but I knew I had to get out of the water before it came back for round two of... kissing.
He had kissed me.
My first kiss was with a monster.
He had a tail, arms, and a hard body that radiated heat and masculinity, and as he held me underwater, he pressed his lips against mine and breathed into me in a moment that would have been beautiful if I had wanted to be kissed underwater by some monster I didn't know. Instead of stealing my breath away, the kiss had brought me to life, filling me with a fire that I didn't understand, like there was a classical orchestra in myheart that woke up and decided to become a soundtrack to my soul.
None of my conflicting feelings mattered; there was only one thing that mattered - getting away.
Even though part of me wanted to dive back down into the dark waters below.
