Harris, Daisy - Mere Temptation [Ocean Shifters 1] (Siren Publishing Classic) Read online

  “Of course I do. I just thought. I don’t know, I guess I thought we were past the point where you might run off in the night.”

  “Oh, well, okay.” Something in her tone was still not-quite-happy.

  “If you want to keep wearing it—”

  “Do you have one of these on anyone else?” Yes, she would definitely be the death of him.

  “No. It has never occurred to me to tag anyone besides you, sweetheart.” He tried to sound reassuring, but worried it might have come off as sarcastic.

  “Well,” her voice was small now, grabbing at his heart as well as his cock and dragging both across a bed of hot coals. “I kinda like it. It makes me feel like I’m yours.” The last part was only a whisper, but he felt it reverberate to his bones.

  “You are mine, Isa, you always have been.” Rising from the tub in a mighty splash, he lifted her into a thick towel. “And you always will be.”

  * * * *

  Gracie stroked her fingers through the bristly curls of Karon’s chest. His body in her bed was so warm, and he made her sheets smell of Old Spice and man. It had been a while since she’d thought about her choice to become a succubus, since she regretted the human life she could have lived instead. But of course, then she wouldn’t have ever met Karon. She would have died a hundred years ago, in the same Chicago slum where she was born.

  “Good morning,” she said when he finally opened his eyes.

  His heavy-lidded gaze panned over her.

  “Morning.” He rolled onto her, breathing the word into her neck.

  “John,” she started, not sure how to approach what she’d been thinking about for hours, “Do you ever think about leaving Dendric?”

  “Yeah, sometimes. Like any job, right?”

  “Yes, but still. Do you ever feel like maybe what they’re doing isn’t right? Like maybe you don’t want to be a part of it?”

  “Sometimes, Gracie. But they do good work.”

  “I don’t see how you could think that.”

  He’d allowed his body to slide to her side now, and he drew little circles with his index finger on her belly.

  “Do you know what my first job ever was, Gracie?”

  “No, John, I don’t.” The strange timbre in his voice made her think maybe she didn’t want to know.

  “Well, I grew up in a coven. Did you know that?”

  “No. Why would you?”

  “My parents were vampires. My twin sister was too. The doctors explained it to me later, something about recessive genes.”

  “Oh.” Gracie tried to snuggle closer to him then, to wrap her arm around him. But he was unyielding as marble as he continued to stroke her belly.

  “Yeah, they didn’t have much use for me, since I couldn’t hunt, and being that I was basically human, I was considered just a food source.”

  “That’s disgusting, John. Your parents didn’t feed from you, did they?”

  “No. They protected me as best they could. But my sister fed on me every chance she got. I think she thought of me as her own private blood bank. But once I was grown, I had to serve a purpose in the coven, and since they didn’t want me out in the world where I might tell people about vampires, they locked me away.”

  Gracie looked closer at him, at the strapping man she’d only ever known at sea. An explorer. She couldn’t imagine him in one place for very long.

  “There was a holding area where they kept humans, people they were going to eat. That same room served as a dining room.” He laughed then, his face grim. “Caring for the prisoners was considered too high a role for me. After all, I might set them free. So my job was to clean up after their meals.

  “The floors would be covered in blood and the urine and feces of the terrified humans. Sometimes I’d find small body parts that got left behind when the corpses had been removed.

  “The coven ate as a group several times a week, and every time they were done, I’d grab my mop and get to work cleaning their plate.”

  His eyes were ice cold, and Gracie could see the vampire lurking behind them. “Eventually I ran. They chased me at first, but I hopped the first boat I could, a trawler heading north to Alaska for the fishing season. As a general rule, vampires hate water.”

  “I’m so sorry, John.”

  “You didn’t have anything to do with it!” The words flew from his mouth like a slap.

  Gracie sat up. She pulled her emotions back into herself. This was the real John Karon. Now that she knew, she wished she didn’t.

  All at once, she couldn’t do it anymore. The half-lies and half-truths, the sneaking, even the draining of his life force.

  “John, I can’t—”

  He placed him finger over her lips to still them. “I know.”

  “Are you sure you won’t…”

  “No, Gracie, I won’t, I’m sorry.”

  A warm rush of tears welled up in her eyes. She stood, not looking in his direction, and donned her clothes. Seconds later she slid his door closed behind her, without saying goodbye.

  Chapter 9

  Scaled

  As soon as the sun cracked the horizon, Isa and Sidon devoured the Dendric files. They read for hours, and every once in a while one or the other of them would gasp, or curse, and then pass whatever they were reading to the other. One thing was for certain, this one boat was only the beginning. More attacks, and likely more boats, would descend soon, and it was only a matter of time before the harvest escalated. At least an early morning phone call had told them that the little girls had regained their tails. Isa only hoped the next catch would be so lucky.

  “Si.” She saw the rage thundering in his eyes. “Si, maybe we should think about evacuating.”

  “Hell, no.” His every muscle clenched, and Isa resisted touching him lest he explode. “The kids can’t swim that far and there’s no way we could get everyone out on boats, even if we did have that kind of organization.”

  “Why leave on water, why not on land?”

  “Don’t you think the people of Key West would get suspicious if twenty-five hundred mere showed up like fricking refugees? Besides, hardly anyone on the Key owns a car.”

  Sidon’s frustration seeped out his pores as his body started to expand to fill the tiny office. “When I get my hands on my father—”

  “Listen, Si, first things first.” Isa tried to diffuse his temper. “Let’s get something to eat and take a closer look at the ship’s plans. Maybe if we can damage it somehow it would warn them off for a while.”

  He took a deep breath, and she could tell he reined in his anger because he shrank back to normal size.

  Isa passed a hand over his hair and planted a kiss on his cheek. “I’ll make some sandwiches.”

  “Sure, sweetie. I’ll keep looking. Fine-tooth comb, that’s my specialty.” Sidon leaned into her touch before returning his attention to the papers before him.

  Isa left his office door ajar and walked to the kitchen. She’d started mixing the eggs when Sidon’s voice echoed from the office.

  “Hey, Is, there’s a file about you in here.”

  “Yeah, not surprising, since they must have followed me for a while,” she shouted back, wondering what all they might have learned from watching her. “What’s it say?”

  Silence met her as she walked back toward the sliding door.

  “What’s it say, Si?”

  When his reply came, it was soft and shaky. “Isa, you’d better sit down.”

  Sidon led Isa over to the couch where they both sank into the crisp white embrace.

  He held her hand and looked carefully into her eyes. “Have you noticed anything different lately? Any changes?”

  “Hm.” Isa wondered if he was getting at the pain she felt at shifting lately. Her nerves shot taut. “Why, Si? What does it say?” She pointed at the file in his hand, her panic rising.

  “It says they believe your body is beginning to shift automatically, that your staying unchanged for so long might have led to your
body making a choice for you.”

  Her hands shook as she lifted the file, but Isa found she couldn’t concentrate enough to read the words. “But what’s going to happen? Will I turn human? It’s been hurting lately when I shift, and taking longer, too. Oh, hell, Si! I don’t want this!”

  “They don’t know what’s going to happen.” He tugged her into him. “It says you’re the first case they’ve seen.”

  Isa bent her head into her hands. After a lifetime of keeping her options open, her damn mere body was taking her down anyway, cutting off her choices.

  “Is,” Sidon’s firm voice reached her through a haze of pain, “Is, the file also said there’s a chance you might… Well, they said there’s a chance you might not survive a self-induced change.” His eyes met hers and Isa’s stomach fell from her body.

  “As in, I might die?”

  Sidon didn’t answer her question. “They put the risk at under five percent but you have to finish the change, one way or the other. It’s too risky not to.”

  Isa’s voice rose, becoming hysterical. “What if I become human anyway? Or… or…”

  Sidon folded her into his arms, kissing her head, her face, her shoulders. “Becoming human wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world either. Losing you would be.”

  Thunderclouds seemed to cover Sidon’s countenance. He appeared to be steeling himself for something. “If you’d rather become human, well, I understand. But I still think it’s best for you to choose rather than just waiting to see what happens.” She heard the sound of his teeth grinding. “I’m sure you could find someone in Key West.”

  “I’m not having sex with some random human!” She was shouting now, her temper flaring that Sidon would suggest something so crass.

  “And why not?”

  “Because I only want to have sex with you!” The words popped out before Isa could stop them, and she crumpled inside at Sidon’s look of tenderness.

  “And I only want you, too, Isa. Please let me mark you. I won’t risk you dying.”

  His gaze bore into her, hard but loving. “You’re taking a chance either way. Please, please take it with me.”

  “But, Si, I don’t know.” Things were happening too fast. Only a few days ago she was working nights at the Bar in Montauk.

  Sidon seemed to read her mind. “You could live with me. Heck, we could get married if you want, in a church and everything.”

  Isa gave a watery chuckle and hid her face in his shoulder. She’d thought about making love with Sidon a million times, but never like this. But if she didn’t take a leap of faith now, it might be too late.

  * * * *

  Isa wanted to be brave, to strip for him and tease him, to do something that would compare to all the exciting and experienced women who’d graced his sheets. But she settled for simply standing up from his lap and taking his hand. The hard lines of his cheekbones and the sensual curve of his mouth looked dipped in morning sunlight as she led him back to the bedroom they’d only left a few hours earlier.

  Sidon shut the door behind them, and then peered down at her as they stood at the foot of his bed. His head lowered to kiss her. Their mouths met in a soft caress.

  “Are you sure about this?” he murmured against her lips. Isa responded by pulling her shirt over her head and dropping her shorts to the floor. She blushed at her boldness, but then Sidon tore his clothes off and tossed them to the ground. He stalked behind her and kissed his way up her spine once, then twice. Her back arched and her head fell back. With a growl, he grasped her around the waist and crawled onto the bed with her tucked underneath his body.

  Sidon rolled her onto her back and drew her into a long sucking kiss that had her gasping for air. He balanced his strong arms on either side of her stroking his entire taut body against her soft one.

  The hot throb of his cock licked her belly, and when Sidon lowered his head to devour the skin of her neck, his heavy length settled in the triangle of her closed thighs. She opened to him immediately, reflexively, and as his hips sank between her legs, she felt his turgid length slide into the slick furrow of her secret lips.

  Sidon tried to pull back, to reach his hand down and ready her, but she held him tight. His tip nudged at her entrance, and he raised his face to look at her. A last thread of control was stretched thin in the depths of his eyes. The man who had so patiently held back for her was gone. In his place was the sea monster, wild and unstoppable, and he would claim his prize. As his cap stretched her opening, her nipples rasped the rough hair of his chest, and Isa gasped, “Yes!”

  He wrapped his arm around her waist, holding her captive, and plunged in deeper, deeper. Her eyes closed and her breathing hitched at the intensity of it. Sidon stroked her lips to shush her before drawing back an inch and pressing on, hard and sure until he was fully sheathed. Isa wiggled and squirmed on the hot invader, trying to rub it against every ache and itch. He stretched her so fully, and now that his warm sack sat on the soft patch of skin behind her entrance she realized how very much he’d held back when he’d penetrated her the night before.

  Isa chanced to open her eyes to find Sidon looking down at her. His expression screamed of possession as he spread her with his first hard thrust. A little squeak left her lips as the girth rasped her painfully-stretched tissues. He continued then with short, gentle strokes, and the discomfort faded in a haze of need. Isa marveled at how their bodies fit perfectly together. She wrapped her legs around his back, her arms around his broad shoulders, and melted against him, even as her tender muscles clenched and shook.

  He lanced into her harder, and though Isa felt the twisting ache begin in her womb, she winced at the bite of it. Hearing her gasps, Sidon reared back a fraction, and she almost cried at the loss of his heart beating against hers.

  Sidon lifted one of her knees onto his shoulder so she rotated onto her side. He straddled her other leg and drove, slow and unimpeded, into her slippery hole. Other than his firm chest against her thigh, only his driving hips touched her. She felt incredibly naked. His eyes glued to where their bodies met, studying her sex as he penetrated it, and the look on his face practically pushed her over the edge.

  His tongue swiped his thumb with a slow, deliberate lash, and he stilled his hips and held her open. The slick digit circled her swollen clitoris, coaxing out her orgasm.

  The bolt of it hit her so hard and deep her whole lower body clenched and her inner muscles clamped down on his marble-hard length. At her first cry, Sidon rolled her face into the pillows, and lifted her hips to plunder her quivering opening. The angle of his thrusts pinned her just right. Her wringing spasms came one on the back of another, and halfway through she felt his heavy body bend over hers and his teeth dig into her shoulder.

  She arched back, taking him deeper, and screamed out again and again. Sidon’s muscles coiled tight and he rocked into her like a piston. His every strike hit her womb like lightning. One crest of spasms bled into another and Isa wouldn’t have noticed when Sidon came except that he flipped her over, hooked her knees over his shoulders and plunged into her again.

  As he plowed her toward another climax, Isa figured that one of these rounds was bound to mark her, and they’d just keep trying till it worked.

  * * * *

  Long hours later, warm water lapped against Isa’s sticky skin as the first rays of sun penetrated the house. Their home. The stream washed over her sore muscles, and her skin tingled with joy. The foggy mirror reflected her soapy shoulders, and Isa squinted to see the markings that should be showing up. She hoped hers would be distinct, like her mother’s, and preferably either blue or orange.

  Nothing was there. Her back was still pale and blemish-free. She looked behind her legs, which were still pink and skin-colored in the warm water. Soaking wet and covered in soap, Isa threw open the shower door and dashed through the house. She plummeted down the stairs to the cave below. Sidon called to her but the sound barely registered. She dove in, and almost shouted at the pain when s
he tried and failed to shift.

  With human legs, she kicked out the mouth of the cave into the dark waters. Tears stung her eyes when she tried to open them underwater. Her mouth filled with salt when she opened it to sing. Isa came up for air. Coughs and sputters left her lips, and treading water cramped her legs. Without a tail, the waves and currents seemed more powerful. She was human, through and through. It was too late; she’d waited too long. She closed her eyes so she wouldn’t have to see the Key dissolve and disappear from her sight.

  * * * *

  The dragon kicked out from the cave in long, heavy strokes. A human-form Isa was drifting slowly to the bottom, and he swept up from under her to bring her back to the surface. Shifting into half-human, Sidon watched for the rise and fall of her chest, and when he found none, he breathed into her, begging whatever god would listen to save the woman he loved. “Please, Isa, start breathing again, sweetheart. I love you. I can’t live without you.”

  A cough welled up from her body, and salt water poured out of her mouth in great heaves. He held her close, rubbing her back, telling her to cough it out, to breath gently. The human girl cried.

  “Oh, Si, I’m so sorry. It didn’t work.”

  “Shhhh.” He petted her wet blond locks as they floated, her weight easily supported by his batting tail. “That’s okay.”

  “No, Si, it’s not. I’ll never be able to come back!”

  “Sweetie, I’m sure you’ll miss Sirena, but that’s okay. There are other places in the Keys. We can live anywhere.”

  “You’d come live with me in Landworld?”

  “Of course, Isa, you’re my life. I’ll go with you anywhere.”

  She cried into his chest, her tears running rivers across his skin. “I love you so much.”

  She convulsed in his arms and shouted in pain. Sidon checked her body, looking for injuries, but her shape stretched beneath his fingers. Pale golden scales erupted over her skin and her hands turned to claws.

  Her body morphed and grew until, as a dragon, Isa took off through the water. Sidon shifted to his full dragon form to keep up with his racing mate, who was headed right for the Dendric vessel. She was magnificent—gold from her snout to her tail, with an almost silver underbelly, and that long hair trailing like fire behind her. However, the sweet woman he knew wasn’t used to reptile emotions. Caught in a haze of confusion and fury, he knew she would attack the ship on her own.