Free Making Waves (Mythological Lovers) by Vivienne Savage Page B

fingers over my cock. The hard length jumped beneath her fingers and eagerly twitched. “We’re never going to make it to the cove if you keep doing this.”
    “I’ll stop,” I said, chagrined. The guys would beat me to the bottom of the ocean and bury my corpse in the sand if I didn’t make good on my promise to let them meet an actual human. One of them had no experience whatsoever with his human body, but they were all eager, as if she were the mythical creature that belonged in fairy tales.
    Somehow, I managed to cool off along the walk to the cove. With her hand in mine, she chattered about the show, how well the female audience members responded to the addition of two mermen, and how much she’d secretly missed playing the part of the mermaid princess.
    “Alessa?”
    “Hmm?”
    “There’s something I want to try, and I know it’s going to sound crazy to you.”
    “Is this a baby making thing? I told you not to get discouraged. My period isn’t due again for another week so we’ll know soon.”
    “No. It’s not about that exactly. Loosely related but not entirely.”
    Alessa peered up at me. “What then?”
    “I want to...” Licking my lips nervously, I searched for the words to voice my desires. “I want to make you mine, but if you accept it, it’s kind of a one-way road for me.”
    “Yours?”
    “It’s a soul bond meant for mates, like the mark on Marcy’s shoulder.”
    “She told me he bit her.” Alessa raised one hand to her bare shoulder and touched the flawless skin. “Would you bite me there, too?”
    I shook my head. “No. We don’t bite. That’s a dragon thing.”
    “And she said it’s like being married. So... are you asking me to marry you?”
    My heart hammered against my chest. “In the only way my kind do it, yes.”
    Alessa was quiet for the next few steps, her expression contemplative. “So, how does it work?”
    “I’ve never done it, but everyone says it comes naturally once the beast takes over.”
    “Do you mind if I think on it for a little while? I mean, in case I have something else I want to ask you about it?”
    “Of course,” I replied. The last thing I wanted was to rush her. “Look, I see Hyrum and Lycus. They’re both a little unfamiliar with their human bodies, so you’ll have to excuse them if they don’t greet you on two legs.”
    “How many friends are coming? You never said.”
    “Hyrum and Lycus are on the rear guard with me, but Zeno and Helena are mated.”
    A worried expression flickered across her face. “She’s not going to hate me for stealing you away from the herd is she?”
    “Oh no. Most mares are friendly,” I explained. “They may be choosy, but they’re not unkind. These two would have brought their foal, but they’re unsure of you.”
    “A foal...” She gazed dreamily at the water, clutching the Nikon resting against her abdomen. It dangled from the black nylon strap secured around her neck. “I see them!”
    Four equine heads rose from the waves, leading powerful frames made for cutting effortlessly through the waves. Hyrum, a six-year veteran of the rear guard, fearlessly came ashore first. Like me, his pelt was in darker shades, but dappled gray and black swirled with hints of white.
    Alessa squealed and adjusted her camera lens. It clicked, focused, clicked, and focused anew with each photo of the hippocampi emerging from the ocean. “Oh my God. He looks like a horse! Like a stallion with fins! Are these flippers or hooves? What do you call them? Can I touch him?” She whirled to face me. “Is it okay to touch him? Is that breaking a rule?”
    I translated her request to Phoenician then my bold friend moved across the sand on his flippers. Our hooves varied from our land counterparts. Instead, they flattened out into a webbed, flipper shape to help us propel in the water. Lacking hind legs, his barrel-shaped equine ribcage tapered to a scaled, sapphire blue fishtail packed with muscle. Hyrum lacked a dorsal