Making Waves (Mythological Lovers) Page 3

  Wide grey eyes peered at me from the tank. Eyes I knew.

  I hadn’t been prepared for the effect she would have on me, blown away by my failure to recognize Alessa at a glance. My heart rate spiked and began to climb, the rapid pulse a methodic bass pounding in my ears.

  She’s gorgeous.

  Alessa favored modest swimwear while on the beach and I’d never seen her in less than rash guard shirts and board shorts. As she floated on the current and twisted a somersault beneath the surface, I received a spectacular view of her body. An odd contrast of toned athleticism and generous curves made watching her a delight. She was soft in all of the right places, her breasts more than a handful, but tastefully concealed.

  Desire hit me hard and fast, a sudden freight train sweeping away my common sense and ability to reason.

  Alessa is my friend, I repeated while approaching the glass to stare at her. As I watched her perform for the crowd I couldn’t take my eyes off her. She twisted and turned through the water, a beautiful sea nymph who enchanted the younger viewers and enraptured the adult males.

  I didn’t want them watching her. Hot jealousy washed through me followed by the urge to charge all the leering men in the room. My wild, animalistic instinct called for me to drive off the other male contenders. Only then, could I dive into the tank to claim my mate.

  Whoa. The reckless path my thoughts took made me step back. It’s Alessa. This can’t be right. She’s a human.

  It happened rarely among my kind, known occurrences of fated mates happening so infrequently even we chalked it up as a fairy tale. Mating among the hippocampi was never about love; it was about violence and the stallion with the biggest hooves.

  Alessa saw me through the glass and smiled. Her shoulders moved and tiny bubbles of air slipped from her. She’d giggled underwater, pleasing the small children in the audience and capturing my heart in one breath. Numb, I waved back to her.

  “Mommy, it’s Ariel!”

  I’d never noticed it before, but the resemblance was uncanny.

  “Hi,” I mouthed to her.

  She blew me a kiss and kicked to the surface for air.

  I had to get out of here. I turned and weaved through the building crowd, desperate to reach the water. A swim was exactly what I needed.

  They could cancel the rest of my lessons for the day.

  ***

  I dove into the crystal-blue water and dolphin kicked to the sandy bottom. The natural embrace of the cool ocean became a comforting balm, easing my worries in an instant. Once my board shorts were weighed beneath a rock a few yards from the shore, I shifted to my natural state. There was no greater freedom than shedding my human form, no matter the joy I felt in exploring their world above.

  The world my mother once loved.

  Over two decades had passed since her death, and over the course of that time, my memory of my mother had diminished. I could recall the color of her hair and little else, remembering only because we shared the same blue-black shade.

  From my father’s ramblings, I knew I’d also inherited her love of the human world.

  My tail whipped behind me, powerful muscle covered in glittering blue and purple scales. Dark horses like me were held in disdain, a bad omen among our kind who favored fair pelts and shining scales in pearlescent hues.

  I cut through the water with efficient strokes, using my forelegs as flippers to maneuver through the reef. I swam for a half hour before the first hippocampi came into view, a small family of four: a mare, stallion, their young colt, and a newborn foal. The children grazed on ocean kelp while their mother nibbled a captured jellyfish.

  Whipping my tail behind me, I glided forward and through a massive split in the rock formation, into the underground cavern we called home. When I broke surface, I climbed up and pulled my heavy bulk onto the rocks. The tropical paradise was crowded but safe, lit by thin shafts of sunlight spilling through fissures in the stone above. Here, we slept in rotations and fed from the greenery sprouting from the cavern walls.

  An enormous stallion lay upon the bank beside his smaller mare. His pelt shone like liquid gold, his immense tail like mother of pearl. The fan at the tip of it resembled a starburst, vibrant as the morning sun. Adon, the massive stallion upon the rocks, did not move to acknowledge me. He barely raised his head, my presence too insignificant to be worthy of attention. It hurt and as usual I tried to ignore it.

  “Father,” I spoke up, channeling my thoughts through our link. I’d seen my father in his human shape twice in all of my life. Once, when he came on land to find me as a child. Again, a few years later when a troublesome group of sirens moved in on our territory back in Greece. The memory was murky at best.

  “Be gone if you’ve come with meaningless news of your mortal world.” His voice radiated through my mind, filled with the power and influence of an elder hippocampus. I shrank back instinctively.

  I’m an adult now. He can’t scare or hurt me anymore. Once I regained my conviction, I raised my head and leveled my eyes at him. “I do come with news,” I said. “And a humble request for your advice.”

  The stallion raised his head and finally faced me, curiosity revealed in his formerly impassive features. I never asked for advice. “Speak.”

  “What do you know of fated mates, Father? Are they fable or truth?”

  “They are a rare gift, but far from story. It is said the creature who finds his fated mate will enjoy a life twice blessed. But why do you ask? This is not advice, but a question.”

  “I ask because I believe to have met mine, Father. And she is beautiful. I know there is a great chance she will feel for me as I do for her.” Unless humans lacked the same instant attraction. The niggling thought snaked through my mind. I’d have to ask Teo’s wife to be certain.

  “Oh?” Adon watched me, intrigued. A hint of emotion almost showed in his equine face, but I knew better.

  He hated me.

  “What is this filly’s name? I had believed all of breeding age to be mated and properly claimed.”

  “It’s... She is not a filly, Fa—”

  True happiness seeped into the strong mental voice. A chuckle of amusement followed. My dad hadn’t laughed at anything I’d said to him since I was a colt. “Ahh, then a widowed mare. Not what I would have chosen for you, but respectable. Kind. Who is she, son?”

  I ripped the figurative Band-Aid clean off, speaking in a rush. “Her name is Alessa, and she’s human.”

  The pleasure faded, vanished like a popped bubble. He stared at me at first, a silent horse waiting for the punchline to a bad joke. “Absurd. There is no such thing as courtship and mating between a hippocampus and human,” he snapped.

  “I felt it, Father. I have never experienced anything of the like in all of my life. It was real.”

  “You desperately seek fulfillment in a world outside of our own. Had you shown as much interest in our kind as you do of the stinking apes above, perhaps you would have a mate, Dante.”

  I flinched. “I did everything possible, Father. Everything. I danced, I sang, I brought gifts and fought ocean predators for Calista to no avail. You and I both know it has nothing to do with my courtship efforts, and everything to do with my looks!”

  Adon peered down his long muzzle at me and snorted.

  “Is this why you hate me so much? Because I resemble Mother?”

  He didn’t answer me directly. The pearl-furred mare at his side had moved, relocating to the water and swimming away to a more peaceful location. We lacked a word for stepmother in our language, but I had only one mother and would not call Delia mine.

  “Your mother’s fascination with the humans caused her death. It will do the same to you. Your courtships fail because you give the topside more focus than your own kind.”

  “I don’t—”

  “Had you devoted this time to meeting and playing with our fillies this season, you may have met a match willing to accept a dark horse, and I would not be forced to relegate yo
u to the guard. I have never felt more shame.”

  “But—”

  “Remove yourself from my sight,” he commanded.

  My head drooped. “As you wish.” Ending my audience with my father, I dove into the water and hurried away.

  Maybe he was right. Maybe I had no one to blame but myself for my irrational attraction to the topside world. I swam as if Hades himself chased me from the ocean depths, tail churning the water behind me, forelegs aching and sore by the time I returned to the island.

  Maybe, if I hadn’t chased after a life on the surface, I’d have a true life down below.

  Balmy, tropical air and an ocean breeze blew across my wet skin once I was on land again. I maintained full control of my emotions as I crossed the beach and retired to Abuelo’s home.

  The soft hum of the oxygen machine welcomed me, as did the man in his recliner. He waved from a seat in front of the television, enjoying a thick slice of flan brought to him by one of the neighbors.

  “Want some?”

  “No thanks.”

  A hot shower washed the salt and sand from my skin then I filled my belly with the fish tacos Gramps had left over from the daily menu. I settled beside him, and together we watched some silly action flick he’d picked up at one of the resort shops.

  “Abuelo, I have to tell you something.”

  “Oh?”

  “Yes, but it’s difficult to express.”

  Grandfather’s expression softened. “You are going to sea and not coming back.”

  “Yes.” The ache in my heart didn’t ease, making my words quiet and tight. How did he know?

  “I had a feeling such a day would come. You’ve always been drawn to the ocean. And of course, it is where you belong.”

  Yeah... drawn to it, I thought. Better to let him think I’m happy to go, than to worry for me every day. “But what about you?”

  “I got along just fine before you returned,” he said. He laughed warmly and squeezed my arm. “I’ll miss you, Dante, but you have to live your own life.”

  “But who will take care of you?”

  “I told you not to worry about me. There are good folk on this island. Ever since my Catalina passed away, Teo and his people have been a family to me. Alessa too. We’ll make do.”

  His words failed to loosen the knot in my chest. Abuelo had never given me anything but unconditional love and respect since finding me on the beach as a child. Leaving him felt as if I were abandoning my only true family.

  But what choice do I have?

  “Have you told Alessa yet?” he asked, pulling me from my inner thoughts.

  “No. I wanted to talk to you first.”

  “Make sure you do. She’s been a good friend to you, and to me. Don’t wait ‘til the day you leave.”

  “I... You’re right. Dropping it on her and going would be wrong. Cruel.”

  “Smart boy.”

  Chapter 4

  ~Alessa~

  “This almost feels like a date,” I teased. Humid air surrounded me as I breathed in the scent of green leaves and sweet orchids. Native island plant life grew wild, tamed only as needed for hikers and visitors on the trail. I held my sandals in one hand, delighting in cool soil beneath my feet.

  “It’s not.”

  “Are you sure? I expected you to bust out the sexy Italian at any moment.”

  Dante’s warm laughter created butterflies in my belly. “I don’t know that much of it,” he said.

  “So, how is it that you speak English so well but you don’t know Italian? Even I can speak fluent Greek and I’ve only been there part of my life.”

  He laughed. “I’ve been coming here since I was a teen, remember? Abuelo is always complaining about me speaking English better than Spanish, too, but I can’t help it when English is the primary language on the island. Most of the tourists come from America.”

  Dante and I walked side by side. He led me off the public trails into the private zone marked for cabana rentals. Small signs on wooden stakes led visitors where they belonged and told me we headed toward cabana #9.

  He’d lured me out with promises of a swim race, so I’d dressed for it beneath my t-shirt and shorts by donning a green and purple bikini. It was the most revealing thing I’d ever purchased, but I wanted him to see my body without the giant silicone tail ruining the view.

  “I lied to you,” Dante finally admitted before the silence became awkward. “I’m not really from Italy.”

  “Huh?”

  “I brought you out here to talk about something important. Something you should know. How much do you know about shapeshifters?”

  “Silly, I know all about shapeshifters. I work for Teo, remember? I’ve known about him and Kekoa for a while now.”

  “I know, but there’s... I never told you that I’m also one.” His gaze held intensity I never saw before, studying my face and watching for my reaction. When I didn’t move away or recoil in fear, he continued. “It’s part of the reason why I’m only present until fall. My herd migrates.”

  “Herd? Then... you’re not a wereshark like Kekoa or a dragon like Teo... what are you?”

  My best friend wasn’t human? He’d fooled me, but in hindsight a thousand warning signs swam to the surface.

  He didn’t have a driver’s license. He could barely do more than basic math and had absolutely no knowledge of world events.

  Dante offered me the opportunity to sit on one of the stone benches bordering the walking path, but I waved it off and continued walking alongside him.

  “I’m a hippocampus.”

  “Like an enormous seahorse? Or... a... water horse? Neeeeigh,” I said, waving a hand for emphasis.

  “Like a water horse,” Dante confirmed.

  “I... I like horses,” I said dumbly.

  He grinned. “This was easier than I thought it would be.”

  “You brought me all the way out here to tell me that you’re a supernatural creature? Dante, you could have told me while I was making us dinner.” I leaned against him and bumped his hip with mine, his body heat familiar and inviting.

  “I know, I know. It’s...” He dragged in a breath. “I have more to say than that.”

  “More?”

  We reached our designated cabana, a small hut with wooden support beams and heavy walls of straw and grass. A wicker basket awaited us with a bucket of chilled ice and a bottle of wine beside two coolers. I recognized Teo’s handiwork, having helped him once to prepare something similar for his anniversary. He’d implemented my suggestions and improvements by providing futons for couples with kinky plans of open-door sex.

  “What the hell? It’s not my birthday, is it?” One of the small cooler boxes held an intricate edible bouquet. I plucked one of the flower shaped pieces of apple and a few grapes from the top.

  “No,” Dante said. “It’s not.”

  “What’s with the surprise and the wine?” I picked up another wooden skewer from the bouquet then peeked into the second cooler. Rows of my favorite sushi rolls greeted me. I breathed in the wasabi, pleased with Dante’s considerate gift. “You’re the best friend.”

  “No I’m not.”

  “You are, too. You did all of this for me?”

  He nodded. “Yeah, I did. But there’s something I need to tell you.”

  “Okay?”

  He inhaled a deep breath, consternation wrinkling his brow. I noticed the circles beneath his eyes for the first time. That he was stressed. “I brought you here to break some bad news to you as gently as I could. It’s my last summer visit. I won’t be coming back to the island again.”

  At first, I waited for the rest of the joke. He’s joking. He has to be joking. Why would he go away forever like that? Then I saw the pain in his eyes and knew that he was serious. “What? Why? What about your grandfather? You can’t leave him. He’s sick! Did he tell you about how hard this winter was on him?”

  “I told him a few days ago and he understands.”

  “But
you can’t... why?” I demanded, voice rising shrilly.

  “I’m going to tell you more than I told Abuelo, so please. I trust you not to share this with him.”

  My body tensed. I barely moved my chin while nodding.

  “My people have traditions we abide by, and my failure to find a mate means I’m losing certain privileges. Like coming on land—”

  “Then find one!” Tears blurred my vision and stung my eyes. I blinked rapidly to stave them off. I’d rather see him taken by another woman than lose his friendship forever. “Why can’t you just sweep some girl off of her hooves or something? What if you just decide to come back anyway? What’re they gonna do about it? Jail you?”

  “Female hippocampi are particularly choosy,” he said in a dry voice. “And we have strict laws enforced by my father. He’s the alpha, so to speak.”

  “Laws like what? Laws saying you’re not allowed to come back anymore?” I lost my appetite for the star-shaped cuts of pineapple speared to decorative slices of melon. I tossed them and the toothpick aside into a small wastebasket then stared at Dante.

  “Because I haven’t contributed to the herd, I’ve been assigned to join the rear guard.”

  “What the hell is that?”

  He held up a hand, begging for me to chill, but I couldn’t calm when I was receiving the worst news of the year. My best friend was walking — or swimming, rather — out of my life. I’d never see him again.

  “When we follow our migration route, we pass through some dangerous areas that aren’t hippocampus friendly. Imagine that you had a group of nomads in the United States, and everywhere the nomads went, marines from the military had to follow because terrorists were hot on their heels.”

  Terrorists? He must have seen the question in my eyes.

  “Sharks. Orcas. Predators of the sea who are larger than us. The rear guard is our military, and we stay behind to fight while the rest of the herd gets away safely.”

  “Do you guys win most of the time?”

  He shook his head. “It depends on the predator. A leopard seal might try to eat a foal, but even the mother can fend them off. I’ve done it before easily.”