Chapter 13

THIRTEEN

Jesse

That motherfucker. Not only had he casually dropped that he was a fucking mermaid—er, mer man —and oh, by the way, those men on the boat apparently were also all mermen who wanted to breed me, but then he abandoned me in this cave!

“Yeah, right,” I mumbled to know one. “He’s just trying to keep me here.”

The man had gills on the side of his neck, and a massive tail! He’d lied. About everything.

Tears welled hotly in my eyes. I’d thought Merrick was different. I wanted to do nothing more than have a good cry, but my eyes shifted to the small feast of raw ocean delicacies. He’d given me food. He’d made up my bed.

No matter how I tried, I couldn’t simply view him as another asshole guy who was just trying to score because she was an easy target.

Merrick cared about me even if I was pissed beyond hell at him.

The thought allowed me to stop crying and take a few deep breaths. First things first, I’d break up some of this driftwood and see if there was anything I could use to start a fire. If I could manage that, it was seafood buffet time. The raw mussels wouldn’t be great, but people ate them like that all the time, didn’t they? And I was still fucking cold.

Happy to have something to occupy my hands with, I moved around the dim cave. A large drop of water landed on the back of my neck.

“Shit!”

Fuck, tit, that was cold!

Wait ... was that running water?

The sound was growing louder and was from a steady trickle to a small stream. Water poured down the side of the back of the cave.

Had it been doing that this whole time?

I put a hand to the slimy wall then tentatively licked.

“Urgh, that’s a hard no.”

Tangy salt and rotten seaweed met my tastebuds. This definitely wasn’t freshwater.

Wait.

Merrick had mentioned that the only way out was an underwater tunnel. What if it was more than that … What if this cave was in the ocean?

Claustrophobia and panic kicked in, tightening my chest.

Don’t panic. Breathe.

The anxiety edged back, slightly. I focused on the sound of running water, finding it soothing.

Except it sounded a bit more than a gentle stream. Turning around, I put my hand back on the water and water ran all over it, a steady stream that was pooling onto the stone floor and running into the larger pool.

If I was under the sea, and the water leaking in was salty, then that meant—

Don’t. Panic.

“Ha, yeah, because the cave I’m in underwater could be fucking collapsing!”

What was more terrifying: being here if the cave collapsed or the inky abyss of the pool in front of me? Merrick had swam in it unmolested, so there was likely nothing too monstrous hanging out beneath the black depths.

OK. I was brave. I could do this.

Burning agony assaulted me as the salt water hit my wounds, and I sucked in a pained breath. I was pissed at hell, but could understand he was trying to protect me. Even if he was being an absolute twat about it. If we could just face this together, then I knew we’d figure it out.

How I wish I could follow him.

For a moment I let my mind be crazy and imagined the impossible: both of us with large tails and webbed fingers, darting through the ocean together like a pair of fish. It’d be much more fun to see the world this way with him than unconscious, after all.

I grinned despite myself. What a ridiculous notion! And yet … I yearned for the freedom to just exist with him and only the ocean around me. No bullies. No jobs. No family to disappoint.

Just Merrick, and only Merrick. Oh, how I longed to join him.

A sudden pain burst across my abdomen, tearing a gasp from my throat. I sucked in air, suddenly unable to catch my breath. The pain spread down my legs and I grasped the edge of the rock pool just to keep myself above the water.

Black flooded the edges of my vision as my throat closed and I couldn’t breathe. Why couldn’t I breathe? White-hot agony raced up and down my lower half, and my fingers lost their purchase on the edge.

Don’t pass out. You’re gonna drown .

I reached out but couldn’t find the edge of the pool. Where had it gone? I tried to kick my legs, but they wouldn’t work right.… It felt like one large throbbing appendage that didn’t work the way I wanted it to.

I sank beneath the water, confused and afraid.