Free Darlings of Paranormal Romance (Anthology) by Chrissy Peebles

moments.
    Hovering
just above the trench, Naia watched as a large school of yellowfin
goatfish changed their coloration and merged with an even larger
school of blue-striped snappers. She giggled. There’s always safety in numbers, even the fish knew that
rule .
    Below her the reef was bustling with
life. Swimming within the protection of the reef were foureye
butterflyfish, emperor angelfish, and yellow pygmy gobies. To her
right she watched a hungry titan triggerfish being followed by a
small moorish idol that was feeding on the trigger’s
leftovers.
    Upon a closer examination, she saw a
small school of blue-green chromis damsels hovering beside a nearby
pillar coral. Then right in front of her she observed a clown
triggerfish squeeze itself into a crevice within the reef, locking
itself in place with its spines.
    The fish weren’t scared of her
presence. She was one of them.
    Perching herself on one of the flatter
areas of the reef, she watched in utter contentment as the fish
went about their business.
    After a while she decided to lay
across the rock and gaze up at the surface where the beams of
sunlight broke through. The waves along the top caused the beams to
flicker below from bright to dim and back again. The deep water
above the reef prevented the sunlight from reaching the ocean
floor.
    Still somewhat tired from her mating
with Atargatis, she decided to stay there and rest. Lulled by
watching the waves above her, she felt her lids getting heavier
until she finally shut them and fell asleep.
    When she woke up, she realized she
must have slept longer than she intended because the sun wasn’t
right above her like it had been.
    Naia sat up and stretched her arms
high above her head. She felt completely euphoric.
    Then it hit her.
    Looking in all the directions of her
immediate vicinity, she slowly lowered her arms, resting her palms
against the reef. She noted the silence surrounding her. There was
no movement anywhere.
    Where are all the fish?
What drove them away?
    Out of the corner of her eye she saw
what she thought was a large moving shadow. It disappeared in the
trench.
    She
rubbed her eyes. Am I seeing
things?
    Suddenly a chill ran down along her
spine and into her tailfin. Her face went flush and she felt an
overwhelming feeling of dread pass through her. She darted off the
top of the reef and hid, putting it between her and the trench.
Panic was rapidly taking over her body. She was frozen in place and
could now see where all the small fish had gone. They were hiding
within the reef’s confines.
    What do
they know I don’t? She tried to convince
herself it was nothing to worry about. It’s probably just a shark. She’d
just wait it out then go home.
    From the direction of the trench she
felt a shift in the water and began to tremble. Something sounded
like it was heading in her direction.
    Mustering up all of her inner
strength, she slowly crept upward and took a peek over the reef to
see what was coming.
    She gasped. Her eyes went wide and her
jaw fell open.
    This was no shark.
    This was a sea
dragon.
    Her eyes were locked on it. She’d
never seen anything this colossal before. Twice as long as a whale
shark and covered with enormous bluish-gray scales, he could kill
her with just one sweep of his massive claw-tipped flippers or the
spade at the end of his tail. He had a single wicked horn centered
between his menacing eyes.
    She finally gathered her wits and
quickly dropped back down behind the reef, hoping it hadn’t seen
her. Then she remembered the stories she’d heard about the dragons.
They could smell their prey from immeasurable distances.
    It passed over where she was hiding
and she turned her head to follow its path. Relief washed over her
when it didn’t see her and disappeared off in the scoping
distance.
    She waited a couple more minutes until
she was sure she was in the clear to come out from hiding and head
home. And as she pushed off the reef, there he was.
    The cold black slits in