Free Mere Temptation by Daisy Harris

body. He reached across the bed for Isa, but she was gone—a split second of fury flashed before the shushing stream of the shower registered. The taste of her scent in the air calmed him, and the humidity of her bath gave the room a pleasant terrarium feel. Sidon growled in pleasure.
    He grabbed the washcloth and opened the shower door to Isa’s naked body. Water streamed down her long hair and over her perfectly round behind. He placed little wet smooches all along her back and rubbed the wet towel over her shoulders. She sighed happily. Words bubbled up from nowhere, almost against his will.
    “Tell me again why you can’t stay in Sirena.”
    Isa stiffened, and he fought the urge to hit “undo.” It was wrong to bring this up so soon. He’d just have to play it cool, make his mistake work in his favor.
    “Si, you know the answer to that. I like living in Landworld.”
    “Well.” He roamed his hands down her body now, seeking out the spots that made her whimper, kissing them. “You could just live there some of the time then come back.”
    “Not if I’m marked.”
    Sidon frowned against her hip as he kissed it. “No, maybe not. But we’re not talking about you changing. I’m just asking why you can’t live here at least part of the time.” That was the ticket. Sound reasonable, Jedi-Mind-Trick her so she couldn’t say no.
    Isa paused and thought about it for a moment. “You’d want to change me eventually.”
    His fingers ran along the inside of her knees, and he couldn’t resist teasing her. “Ya think?”
    She sighed at his attempt to be light. “I won’t change.” She said it in a small, defeated voice, and he felt like crap. It wasn’t her fault marked mere didn’t normally leave the Keys, or that most dragons treated them like chattel. In her shoes he might make the same choice.
    His calm scrubbing continued, moving to her calves and gently lifting a foot to clean the sand from between her toes.
    “I’m not asking you to change, Isa. I’m just saying… I’m just saying I’d like it if you stayed for a while. If you can.”
    Panicked fear of rejection scalded him as she peered down. Barely two days and he was washing her feet, practically begging her to stay with him. This would stop immediately. He gave her his best offer, and she could either take it or leave it.
    He prepared to stand and walk out before he humiliated himself more but steeled himself for her reply.
    “And we’d just continue going down on each other indefinitely?”
    He almost barked his laughter. Yeah, she’s staying. Sidon started kissing his way up from her ankle. “Sounds good to me.”

    * * * *

    Dr. Pierson Grathers looked over the subjects one by one. He allowed himself a little internal thrill at the site of them, his first real mere samples. He’d had the others for a limited time. He could only take blood, spinal fluid and a few tissue samples before the protocol required him to toss them back into the sea. These were his to study and dissect. Yes, there would be more subjects for this arm of the study, many more. He looked forward to their arrival, but these little mermaids would be the objects of his first investigation, and that made them special.
    Pointing to the youngest, he asked his lab assistant to prepare her for surgery. The subject started to cry and scream, and he considered again the possibility of re-writing the protocols to include removal of the samples’ larynx. Too bad they needed to study the phenomenon of mere song. But still, it was something to consider once they identified a few alternative gene markers for maturity.
    Dr. Grathers jotted some notes as his assistant secured the subject to the table and began intubation. The subject’s distress calls were fascinating, similar in some ways to those of a human child. With a stab he recalled that his daughter had made a similar sound. Sometimes the disease that slowly cut off her vision and breathing made her cry out in