Chapter 23

TWENTY-THREE

Jesse

Caspian was nothing but pure muscle and sinew as he slammed into me, taking the air out of my lungs as launched out of the air like a heat-seeking missile and pinned me to the dock. I tried to wriggle out and push him away, but it was useless. The same feeling of alarm and panic overcame me, the experience too similar to when Archie had cornered me in the locker room only a year ago.

No, it wasn’t the same.

This time, there wasn’t anything I could physically do. I couldn’t scream. I couldn’t call for help. I couldn’t—

I stopped, realizing nothing bad was happening. Caspian was simply lying on top of me, those dark eyes just watching and waiting, scanning for my reaction, his tail hanging into the water. His scales were cold against my skin. This close, I took the time to examine his face further. Past the pitch black eyes, his eyelids and the entire area around his eye was a dark purple, with black, inky veins stretching out from his eye back toward his hairline. With a pang, I wondered if Merrick looked the same now.

I’d thought Caspian’s scales were black, but this close they were the same dark amethyst color that ringed his eyes. Black rot clung to each scale, with patches of raw, pink skin showing through in many places where his scales were simply gone, as if rotted away or plucked out.

What had happened to him?

I snapped out of my musings as cold fingers dipped under the elastic of my leggings and pulled. Panicked, I writhed and twisted and punched him in the nose.

Caspian hissed and reared back, but kept me pinned with his scaly hips. He flashed bright white fangs at me, but ceased to tug at my pants. He stared at me, long and hard, not moving. Again, he was just … waiting.

I took a deep breath, realizing he was trying to tell me something, not rape me.

I held my hands up helplessly in what I hoped was the universal sign for ‘what’?

Caspian grunted deep in his throat, placing his hand around his own throat. Then he pointed at mine, stroking one finger down the column of my neck.

I failed to repress the delightful shiver that went through me.

Then his hips thrust against mine again, his meaning clear.

Uh … what?

Was he trying to say he needed to … sex me in order for us to have our voices back? That made little sense. If he was trying to pull a fast one, he must think I’m the stupidest woman in the world. Nice try, fish boy.

I narrowed my eyes and shook my head.

His tail slapped in frustration against the dock, still submerged into the water. He grabbed his own throat with one hand and mine in his other, bringing his forehead down until it touched mine. The meaning was clear.

We are the same .

His hips wiggled against mine, insistent.

I was running out of reasons to say no.

Then again, just because we’d both been fucked over by the sea witch didn’t mean we should … fuck. Not that we could, with the fishtail and all. And there was Merrick. I didn’t think he’d be too thrilled to hear I’d gotten it on with the zombie mer while he was stuck down with the sea witch.

That left one choice. I cocked my hand back and slapped him across the face as hard as I could.

Caspian let out a wounded, surprised sound and rolled off me, splashing back into the water heavily. I panted on top of the deck, waiting. Two hands reached out and grasped the edge, then his dark hair appeared, followed by big, sad black eyes.

My heart constricted.

Caspian slowly climbed back over the edge of the dock, and my amusement quickly turned to fascination and shock. As he hauled himself up, my eyes shot to a very human waist, and the human ass. Muscled legs followed, long and lean.

My mouth snapped shut as I realized my jaw had dropped. He crouched awkwardly on the deck, his new dangling bits swinging in the breeze as if saying hi.

I swallowed.

That’s not going to suddenly change my mind, I thought. And yet I couldn’t look away. Like Merrick, his dick had a ridge at the tip and was dotted with black scales here and there. It looked larger than what should be allowable, with raised nubs along his shaft.

And he was staring at me like I was the most beautiful, captivating thing he’d ever seen.

Oh, man.

I would not let the zombie mer sex me up just because my life was in utter ruin and I needed a good fuck. I had to think of Merrick.

Merrick is under the sea witch’s control now. You lost your chance.

Caspian crawled one step toward me, then stopped. He waited.

I didn’t move.

He took another step. Only inches separated us.

Again, he put one hand around his throat, then put it on mine. My eyes closed as his cool skin wrapped around my neck, the tension releasing from my body. I wanted so badly to let him have control: to let anyone have control. I was done being in charge. I wasn’t doing such a good job of running my life. Maybe it was time I let someone else give it a go.

And I wanted to be touched and appreciated. God knows, no human guy was currently waiting in the wings to do so.

Caspian kept pressure on my throat, pushing me back down gently on my back. I let him, and he covered me with his new human-ish body. I was thankful for the darkness that swathed us as his length poked between us. Instinctively, my thighs parted.

I wrapped my arms around his neck and forced his head down to mine, our lips colliding. He tensed in surprise, and I was taken aback when he coughed into my mouth. I sputtered and pulled away, laughing silently.

Hardly romantic, but I understood what he was trying to do.

I don’t need air, buddy. This is something different.

I shook my head and took his face in my hands. Merrick had taken to kissing like a fish in water (no pun intended), so my hopes for Caspian were high. I just had to show him what to do.

He didn’t blink as I lowered my lips to his again, this time slowly moving against him to show him what to do. His mouth parted in surprise and I slipped my tongue inside, moving it against his and pressing myself into him.

A low growl was his response, his hand around my throat tightening with a deliciousness I didn’t know I wanted or needed.

Enthusiastically, he took over, pushing and thrusting with his tongue in a way that made my toes curl. His hand on neck grew tighter and tighter until it was hard to breathe. I tried to pull away from the kiss, but he was insistent, tasting and biting and nipping like he was a world champion.

But I was quickly losing the ability to breathe, after all. I took my hand and gave a small slap to his face. He stopped immediately, his hand loosening. As I coughed and wheezed, his hooded eyes quickly shifted into horror as he realized what he’d done. His own hands flew to his neck, desperately feeling for his gills and realizing they were gone.

He blinked at me a bit sheepishly. I wanted to tell him it was fine, but of course I couldn’t. He scooted on his bottom toward me, arms outstretched. Cautiously, I climbed into his lap, my back against his chest. It was nice how he made me feel normal sized. It almost made me forget about the mer dick poking into one of my butt cheeks.

Caspian let out a puff of air on my neck, his arms coming around to squeeze me in a hug. It was … nice. I relaxed into him just as his fangs bit down and scraped along my shoulder.

Oh … that was even nicer.

I wanted to groan or moan or give some kind of verbal encouragement, but of course, neither of us could do that. I waited with bated breath as one arm snaked around my waist to hold me, and the other went under my shirt and skimmed my chest, teasing small circles in between my breasts before palming one in his hand. His tongue reached out and licked a long trail down my collarbone and back up to my neck.

Shit, he could have me.

The arm around my waist moved to fondle my free breast, and then he was playing with my nipples, fingers pinching and rolling like an expert.

He ripped my shirt in half and threw it into the water.

My jaw dropped in shock, but he was already onto my pants, holding me in place by my throat with one hand while the other pushed them down my ass and ripped them from my legs.

Into the inter-coastal waterway they went.

It was ridiculous; I couldn’t even protest or tell him to get them back. I was naked on my dock with a zombie merman, and he was determined to have his wicked way with me.

And I was going to let him.

I wanted this, but I was sad it wasn’t with Merrick. Thinking of him brought hot tears to my eyes, which I quickly tried to blink away.

Caspian froze over me, his hardness prodding into my inner thigh. His black eyes bored into me, one cold finger wiping away a fat tear from my eye. He stroked my hair softly, letting out a puff of frustrated air through his nose.

He laid his head on my chest, resting.

Oh, so he was an empathetic merman. That already put him leagues ahead of those other mers.

This not-talking thing sucked. I wished I could express it wasn’t him; I was just so worried about Merrick I didn’t know what to do with myself.

Having sex with Caspian wasn’t the answer.

I pushed him back, and he huffed in irritation. As if coming to a decision, he picked up my arm and sliced it open with his claw-like nails before I could protest or yank it away. He slit a wound on his own arm, and smashed them together so our blood mixed.

I couldn’t scream and Caspian held me firmly, my mouth slamming shut as an odd image of myself filling my head as Caspian moved in and out, in and out, fucking me in his imagination.

So much heat. So much satisfaction . So beautiful. So fulfilling.

Something delicious was building inside of me, but I didn’t get to explore it any further. In this vision I looked … beautiful. Was that how Caspian and Merrick saw me? Caspian rolled back into the water.

I sat up, confused and a little pissed, clutching my wound to stop the bleeding. What I wouldn’t give for some of Merrick’s goop right now.…

A wave of intense sorrow filled me, so intense it stopped me in my tracks. I whipped around and looked at Caspian, who stared at me like a kicked puppy.

Was that … was I feeling his emotions?

I sent back a question mark toward him, along with my feelings of confusion in case he didn’t know what a question mark was.

I wasn’t ready for what he sent back.

Like a video playing in my head, I saw him with her … the sea witch. He was tied down as she lay on top of him, laughing with glee while she rocked back and forth over him. Hot shame and embarrassment flooded the vision, along with pain and heartache.

I gasped as the scene dissolved in my mind, leaving me with the same sense of sorrow. So many questions invaded my mind. Had Caspian been with the sea witch against his will this whole time? Had that … been his only experience with a woman?

Sharing blood with me had clearly opened a connection that allowed us to communicate. I understood that, now. He’d only been trying to have sex with me so he didn’t have to hurt me. Though I suspected he wanted to have sex with me.

Perhaps another time, after Merrick was safe. And maybe able to join in.

Shit, that thought was hot.

Going with my thought of Caspian being abused, I sent my own scene to him: that of him on top of me, thrusting over and over again while pulling my hair, mouth gaping as he came inside of me.

Caspian’s lips parted in shock, his eyes darkening with arousal. I felt it the next moment: hot, thick, and overwhelming. He blinked and it cleared. A vision of Merrick being corrupted by the sea witch came next.

Caspian was being noble. How quaint.

I sighed, running my hands through my hair. We needed to tweak this method of communication. My eyes closed as I thought through exactly what to send, and I shot it over to him. First, I showed him rescuing me from the sea witch’s cave, and guiding me to Javi’s family and their boat. Next, us on the dock again, this time kissing me. Finally, I followed it up with the two of us swimming together, going down to rescue Merrick.

Hopefully that would make it clear.

Caspian eyed me, hope so painfully stretched across his face that I wanted to hug him. The wind whipped around me, and I shivered. I sent Caspian a mental image of me returning to the house, sleeping, and getting up in the morning and putting on my wetsuit and other gear. The sea witch had taken my abilities, so I’d need to prepare to go back to the ocean like a human. I also sent him an image of Javi and his family’s boat. Caspian didn’t need to exhaust himself carrying me all the way out where we needed to be.

A stab of fear hit me when he saw the image of the boat in my mind, but I reinforced it with images of Javi battling the other mers to save me, and of him hugging me. Friend, I tried to say mentally.

Caspian sent back a wave of reluctant acceptance. I beamed at him.

Come inside with me, I thought to him.

His head tilted in confusion. I sighed, and sent him an image of him walking inside the house with me in his human form.

Caspian was out of the water and on the dock before I was finished thinking, his long tail fading away to legs as the water dried and sluiced off him. I held out a hand to help him stand, but he didn’t take it.

I stood to show him what to do. A flash of determination bled from him, and he crawled forward on his arms and legs.

My head shook and I held my arms out, stopping him. I pulled up on his arms, encouraging him to stand. Caspian sat up on his knees, then laboriously put one foot flat on the dock.

I smiled and nodded, showing him how pleased I was.

His weight shifted to the leg on the ground, and he wobbled dangerously. I held tight to him, and the other leg came down. He shook and wavered, but I was strong. I held him up until he adjusted, then slowly let go.

He stood unassisted, blinking at me and looking oddly proud. I clapped my hands, then took one step forward, glancing back at him in encouragement.

Caspian took one step forward, and didn’t fall on his face.

Convinced he could handle it, I walked slowly to the house, not wanting to look back in case it made him embarrassed or self-conscious. I opened the back patio, and helped him navigate the rotting wooden steps.

He stood on my back porch, staring into the house with curiosity.

Wait until you see a bed, I thought.

That was probably a bit presumptuous. I should probably start with the couch.

Grabbing his arm, I guided him over to the couch, pushing down lightly. He stumbled, alarmed and fear wafting from him. I shook my head and sent reassurance back, as well as an image of him sitting on the couch with me.

He took a steadying breath, and allowed me to sit him down. Happy we’d made it, I grabbed a blanket from the stack and sat next to him, snuggling into his side and stretching my legs out on the rest of the couch.

Exhaustion hit me like a freight train. Dully, I registered one of his long arms coming around me, holding me securely against him. No one would be able to sneak up on me while he was here. I was safe to sleep.

With a jolt I realized I hadn’t felt safe since the mer attack on the boat. But with Caspian here, I knew I could rest.

As if he could read my thoughts (and perhaps he could), his hand squeezed my shoulders, fingers digging into my skin reassuringly.

I yawned and tucked my head into his shoulder. Sleep claimed me shortly after.