Chapter 10

TEN

Merrick

I was trying to figure out how to tie the knot Mike wanted, musing over how I should really incorporate more rope into my art, when Jesse screamed. It wasn’t a normal cry—that would have been alarming enough. But the sound she made—it burned through my blood and reverberated in my soul. Every nerve in my body lit up like an eel had shocked me. My feet and arms moved before I’d even made the conscious decision to go to her. I jumped over a wall and hauled myself over the railing to the upper deck without thinking. My ‘feet’ hit the deck hard and I bent inwards, throbbing pain shooting up my human legs on landing. As guppies they warned us to never “jump” while on land, because it was very dangerous.

I got it, now.

When I landed and looked up, it was to see the mer hunting party staring back at me.

A moment of frozen shock went through. This was the boat Barrett had brought them to? What were the odds?

My eyes dragged over to Jesse, wounded. The scent of her blood was fresh in the air, its presence no doubt shocking and astounding the hunting mers. Her hair was stuck to the front of her face, confusion and fear etched in her face.

Aris snapped first, feral madness overtaking him as he lunged for her. I caught him in midair and slammed him to the floor.

“She is mine. ” I twisted his arms behind his back. Soon enough, other mers were on top of me, fighting and hitting. Biting and scratching. Trying to show their dominance in their effort to win the female.

Jesse screamed again, and I threw them all off me. Adrenaline coursed through my veins, my muscles quivering with tension. I’d kill them all and have no regrets. Jesse was the only thing that mattered. Though she was doing a fair job of fighting them off herself, and I hardened with arousal. My Jesse was strong! A true siren born!

I’d rip them all apart for daring to touch her.

Barrett advanced toward her, and my anger doubled, tinged with betrayal.

He didn’t know. How could he know ?

Blinding pain exploded in my back, and I stumbled.

“You’ve been keeping secrets,” Aris sneered, driving a piece of glass deeper into muscle and sinew. It felt worse than a shark bite as it delved deeper into my flesh.

“And you haven’t claimed her yet, have you? We’d smell it. I always knew you were an idiot.”

I dropped suddenly to the ground and rolled, ignoring the glass still stuck somewhere in my back. The moment Aris’s stupid face appeared, I punched him twice as hard as I had that other human who had threatened Jesse. His nose split, and I followed with an uppercut to his head. Aris dropped hard, unconscious. The urge to shake out my hand was strong. Everything hurt on land; jumping, punching …

I jerked up at a war-cry from Jesse, but I needn’t have worried. Jesse kicked Orion’s human crotch, which we were warned as guppies was a terribly sensitive place to take a blow.

She missed.

Orion pinned her arms behind her back, bending her over the railing of the boat and grinding up against her backside. Her foot bent in toward her chest and she kicked.

I turned and swept my leg to take down another mer who charged me, eyes full of fury. I didn’t have time for this! I had to get to Jesse!

Orion grabbed her neck and turned her head, slapping her hard. I gave a battle cry and roared, but the other mers kept rushing me. I couldn’t help her and it was driving me insane. Dazed, she didn’t stop fighting. Somewhere next to us, the human Mike joined the fray along with the smaller male.

Jesse cocked her foot back and tried a third time. This time her blow hit home, and Orion screeched like a dying dolphin, clutching his crotch area with one hand, and shoving her in reflex with the other.

I could only watch in horror as the force of the blow carried her upper body over the railing. Feral strength raced through me as I screamed, knocking the other mers away in my haste to reach her.

Jesse crashed into the ocean, slipping quietly down into its depths without even a scream. I bellowed with rage and grabbed Orion with my bare hands, and threw him down to the deck so hard something snapped. I didn’t care. He’d heal.

The only thing that mattered was Jesse.

Bleeding heavily.

Alone in the ocean .

“Get her!” the male called Javi yelled at me. I glanced over my shoulder to see between him and Mike. The rest of the hunters were unconscious on the ground. Not bad for two humans and a mer against a dozen feral hunters.

“I will take her somewhere safe.”

“WAIT, YOU’RE BLEEDING—”

I didn’t heed the smaller male as I ripped off my shirt, hissing in pain as it pulled on the glass in my back. I ignored, stripping off my shorts, and the stupid orange underwear and the foot garments. Javi choked and gasped behind me, but I didn’t have time to pay him any heed. I dove into the ocean naked, relishing the return of my gills and tail, and the webbing between my fingers. Ah, to have my true vision back!

The cold water whipped over my scales, a cool kiss welcoming me back. My wound burned, but the burn meant it was being cleaned as well, so I ignored it.

I spun desperately in a circle, looking and scenting for Jesse.

Blood. There .

I dove under the ship and to the north, her unconscious body was sinking fast. I scooped her up in my arms and pumped my tail as hard as I could due south, toward a secluded place where I normally hunted for shells and sea glass. It didn’t matter how remote it was; it was the only place I could think of where no one would find us and that was my primary concern. I had to move quickly, so the ocean had time to disperse her blood and make it difficult for them to follow us.

Because they would follow us. They’d tear heaven and earth apart to get to her.

Swim. Swim .

We broke the surface and I coughed, my poor gills confused at the constant flipping between water and air. Panic kept me going, and desperation gave me strength. We were far away from our destination, but I refused to stop and rest, refused to slow down or acknowledge the throbbing wound in my back. My tail and abdomen burned as I struggled to keep her head above water. Her body rose and fell against me, so at least I knew she was still breathing.

I just had to keep it that way.

As I swam, different scenarios flew through my head, each one worse than the next. The mers could return to the clan and report I had a siren born. They could fight me for her or respect my claim. If it was the latter, my father would expect me to impregnate her as soon as possible. Then my life as I knew it would be over and so would hers.

No more art. Jesse would be stuck inside our home, unable to go anywhere as her every move was carefully scrutinized by the clan.

I could already see her sad face and miserable eyes.

Fury burned through my veins.

Jesse wasn’t a piece of meat to pump a baby into. And no one would touch her while I still breathed—whether above the sea or below it.

I’d murder Aris for trying.

Darkness fell over the ocean and the wind kicked up, making hard work for me as I battled waves and rough currents to ensure Jesse kept breathing. Underneath the water would be much warmer and calmer, but she wasn’t like me.

The small bit of land I was looking for finally came into view as exhaustion threatened to overcome me. I took one last breath of air and pressed my lips to hers like a sucker fish. I dove with her under the water, the noise of the surface disappearing as though sucked into a whale’s blowhole. Pain exploded down my neck as my gills slit open, greedily gulping water and converting it into oxygen, which I pressed into Jesse’s mouth.

Under the water was calm and quiet, as things should be. I found the opening to the underground cavern easily without needing to see it and swam hard. The underground tunnel wasn’t that long, but with Jesse, it felt like ages.

Please don’t let me drown her. Please let this work .

Darkness pressed in all around me. I knew the way, but with such precious cargo, doubt crept in. What if you go the wrong way? You can’t run into a dead end with her!

My muscles ached and my gills burned, but I could make it. I was almost there. I nearly cried in relief when I saw the surface, bursting through the water violently as I heaved Jesse onto a rock. I gasped and twitched, my body confused on whether to gulp in air through lungs or gills.

I sank back into the water fully, writhing as my gills worked furiously, trying to figure out which organs were needed.

I took a minute to catch my breath. When the spots disappeared from my eyes, I crawled up on the rock next to her, wincing as my gills faded away and air expanded in my lungs. I sent a silent apology to my body.

One never really got used to it.

This cavern was mine. Or at least, I thought of it as such. It was where I kept most of my artwork and works in progress. This cave was only accessible by the tunnel, which kept humans away, and I highly doubted any other mers knew of it.

The rocks were cool under my scales, but I knew humans were used to different climates. I reached out a hand and placed it on Jesse’s shoulder, frowning at how cold it was. Human flesh was supposed to be warm, not cold like mine!

I heaved my lower body out of the water and as soon as I had legs, I stumbled over to my supply chest. I needed all the jellyfish serum I could find to treat her wounds. Maybe that would help her warm up.

My eyes dilated quickly, allowing me to easily navigate in the darkness. Piles of small bioluminescent algae covered the walls here and there, giving enough of a glow to bounce off the reflective glass and shells I had decorated the cave with for practice. It had been a pain getting the moss to grow, but with enough persistence some had taken and now it was illuminated quite nicely. Water dripped steadily from overhead, louder than I remembered.

A horrible thought came to mind; what if the cave collapsed? It wasn’t something I had to worry about, but Jesse couldn’t breathe under water! She could die!

Poseidon’s nutsack.

Don’t think about that now. Treat the wounds first. Panic later.

Luckily, I had a decent supply since I frequently cut myself on the sharp shells and glass I worked with. I pulled all of it out and quickly smeared it all over Jesse’s legs and arms. Next I dabbed some on the slice on her cheek, and the few cuts that dotted her chest around the swell of her breasts. I picked up her feet, seeing the glass embedded in her flesh.

It was tempting to throw such impractical garments back into the ocean, but the memory of Orion howling as the sharp point of the foot garment met his pelvis would be one I would always cherish. Perhaps we would keep these, then. I put them to the side, since they held such fond memories.

I fetched a sharpened piece of fishbone I used to help manipulate the smaller shells. And I patiently worked to remove the glass out of her foot. My vision swam as I tried to focus, but I forced myself to pay attention. I could sleep later from the exhaustion from battle, or the wound that still bled sluggishly from my back. Or both.

Thankfully, I only had one piece of glass left to retrieve when Jesse woke up.