Chapter 21

The Dome was quiet as I walked back from the training room after sparring practice with Ashlyn. She'd been gracious enough to agree to help me catch up, seeing as she was stuck here today, too. And after everything that happened last night, I had more than a little aggression to get out of my system.

I needed to get Tobias out of my system.

It was Saturday. All the other students were likely kicking back in their rooms and enjoying a lazy day. Or maybe some of them went home to their families for the weekend. The thought made my heart ache with longing, but I rejected the emotion before it could take hold.

I didn't like this empty day. I hated knowing that the only thing waiting for me was an empty room where I'd have no distraction from my sorrow over Mom or my conflicting feelings for a particular asshole dragon.

Deciding against dark and lonely, I veered off and took a sidewalk that led away from the main building. I hadn't done any kind of exploring since I got here, only going to the places I was expected to be, but today seemed like the perfect chance to do just that. I followed the path, aimlessly looking up at the glass dome overhead and the gorgeous deep blue that surrounded everything.

Looking back down, I saw that there was a garden up ahead. Large pink and sherbet-orange roses blushed at me as they peeked over their bushes. Though I never would've imagined there to be anything growing at the bottom of this lake, somehow, it didn't surprise me to spot this little treasure.

As I came closer, the heady, sweet aroma filled the air. Without the movement of a breeze, the smell hung around the garden as if glued to that patch of oxygen.

I entered the circle of flowers and inhaled the rich perfume, enjoying the tinkling sound of water spilling down the large fountain at the garden's center. I sat on one of the stone benches that surrounded the fountain and admired it. As with all the other décor at this school, the fountain was made up of different shifters, all climbing on top of each other as if to escape the marble they were carved from.

"Pretty, huh?"

I turned to my right to see Kendall stepping into the inner circle of the garden.

After the way the party ended last night, I felt more than a little awkward around him. All the other mermaids had made it clear that I wasn't welcome in their presence. I hadn't stuck around to find out if Kendall felt the same.

"Yep," I said, turning my gaze back to the fountain, unsure of what else to say.

Kendall sat beside me. "I was looking for you in the common room. What have you been up to all day?"

I shrugged, honestly a little surprised.

"I was getting a little extra sparring in with Ashlyn. I have a lot of catching up to do." I looked down at my hand, which rested on the stone surface. "I know mermaids don't approve of befriending other shifters, but it's been pretty well established that I'm not your typical mermaid."

I let my bitterness over the party fiasco slip into my voice, testing what his response would be.

"Maybe that's what I like about you." Kendall put his hand over mine, and I was surprised by how pleasantly warm the contact was. "Our people have it pretty much ingrained not to trust outsiders. Mermaids have been hunted since the dawn of time, first by large aquatic predators, then by men and vampires, and even by other shifters. We're a proud and guarded people, and that pride tends to sour our hearts and turn into prejudice."

His gaze fell to the hand he put over mine.

"But you… Your heart is open to everyone and everything. I haven't seen one inkling of judgment in you. You give everyone a chance, no matter their background or race. I admire that, even if I personally disagree with those you choose to open your heart to."

I was taken aback. Put in that kind of light, I could maybe understand the mentality of my kind. It didn't make me any more okay with it, but at least I knew where it was coming from. And to know that Kendall wasn't with the other mermaids, in his opinion of me, made me like him so much more than I already did. I desperately wanted to trust someone.

"Thank you for that," I said, noticing that his hand was still on mine.

He nodded. "I was wondering if you'd like to take a swim with me."

I smiled wide, unable to hide my joy at his invitation. "I'd love to. But isn't the training room closed on weekends? Is there another pool in the rec room?" I only got in early with Ashlyn because she'd gotten the key from her dad, who was also the Phoenix Mastery Professor. Poor girl.

"Actually, I had something else in mind," he said, the corner of his mouth lifting in a secretive smile. "Come with me."

His hand closed around mine and tugged me after him. We left the garden and headed for the corner of the main building, where it met the bottom of The Dome.

I wondered where he could possibly be taking me. Not that I had the map memorized, but I didn't remember seeing any other pools on campus.

As Kendall led me further into the corner, I saw that there was a door, somewhat camouflaged, right next to where the wall touched the thick glass. Kendall lifted a hidden metal flap on the wall to reveal the same kind of retina scan that was on the entrance of the school. He leaned forward for the device to scan his eye, and the door unlocked and popped open an inch.

Kendall glanced at me as he pulled it open the rest of the way. "Only mermaids can get in here." He held the door open for me, but I was hesitant to go in.

"What is it?" I asked, peeking in and seeing nothing but darkness. Some cynical part of me was wary that this might be some kind of trick.

"It's a secret exit that leads directly into the lake," he said, unphased by my suspicion. "Only a few of the Mer students know about it. And now you do, too."

My suspicion dissipated instantly, replaced by a humbling sense of honor. On the map, the only way in or out of the school was the front entrance from the subway. But as The Dome was built and funded by mermaids, it made sense that there would be an escape hatch only they could access. If something happened to The Dome, of course, the mermaids would be concerned with saving only themselves.

I fought the eye roll at the thought and stepped into the small space. Kendall followed and closed the door behind us.

As my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I could see that we were in a small room, about two meters wide and two meters deep. There was a flight of stairs directly in front of us that led to a room about the same size. A faint bluish glow came from the floor of the room at the top of the stairs, giving this moment an even greater sense of magic.

Kendall encouraged me up the stairs, where I saw that the glow was coming from a round portal in the floor that was completely open to the water of the lake.

He pulled his shirt up over his head, revealing that deliciously chiseled chest. When he proceeded to take off his pants, like stripping down in front of a girl was no big deal, I failed to resist admiring his admittedly impressive package, my shock making my only reaction to stare. He flashed me a cocky, seductive grin as he sat at the edge of the portal.

He stuck his legs in the water, and I noticed that they didn't transform. His legs were still human legs—muscular, thick, nicely-tanned legs. And his dick was still nestled firmly between them.

I realized two things. One, that the lake was fresh water, not salt water. And two, I didn't have my swim top, so if I went in, I'd be just as naked as he was.

I gasped. "I can't go in there," I objected with a fervent shake of my head. "I don't know how to transform without salt water. And I don't have the first clue of how to swim without my tail!" Not to mention the whole naked thing.

"It's alright, I came prepared." He reached into the pocket of his discarded pants, pulled something out, and tossed it to me.

I caught it instinctively, fully expecting it to be a condom and preparing myself to scold him for thinking I was that easy—although, really, who was I kidding?

I looked down at my hands to see that it was a small vial full of clear liquid.

"It's salt water," he said with a chuckle that said he knew exactly where my mind had been. But there was still a challenge in his beach-wave eyes.

Understanding dawned on me, and I let out a self-indulgent laugh, still unsure about this experiment. The pool in the training room was nothing but salt water, so I had no trouble staying in my mermaid form there. But this tiny amount of salt water?

"How long will it last?" I asked, pulse racing at the thought of returning to human form too far from the portal.

"You'll be fine," Kendall reassured me with a chuckle. "Once transformed and in the water, your body will have no reason to change back into a human form until your skin begins to dry. Many mermaids actually struggle to change back to human form in water, salt or not."

"Really?" I asked, a bit more confident. "Why would they want to?"

"Out in public, with humans, could you imagine accidentally letting your tail out because some water happened to splash on you? That would expose you—and our entire species. That's the whole purpose of our Transformation class, in fact. Every other species at this school takes that time to learn how to shift. We use it to learn how not to."

I nodded. That made sense.

"So you thought ahead enough to bring me a tube of salt water, but you didn't bring me a swim top?" I asked, putting my hands on my hips in a playfully accusatory pose.

Kendall smiled in faux innocence and shrugged. "I guess I forgot." His tone was sultry, and that challenge still burned in his gaze.

A thrill flooded my insides. I was rarely one to back down from a challenge. So, I figured it was time to up the ante.

I pulled my shirt off and tossed it on the floor near his discarded clothing. Then I shimmied out of my slacks and panties, keeping eye contact with him the whole time. I couldn't help but smirk when his eyes broke contact to flash down at me, appreciation dilating his pupils.

The only thing I didn't remove was my black lace bra. No sense giving away all my secrets just yet. I had to make him work for something.

With a wry brow arched, he patted the spot on the floor beside him at the edge of the portal, and I sashayed over to sit. I popped open the vial and rubbed the salt water over my bare thighs like lotion.

The reaction was instantaneous, my legs merging and pink scales covering my flesh.

"You really do have a beautiful tail," he commented, and I could feel his intense gaze burning into my scales from hip to tip as I lowered it over the edge.

The cool lake water felt amazingly good on my tail, and I reveled in the feeling of my fins wafting in the mild current.

Responding to the partial-body submersion, the upper half of my body continued the transformation, and the searing pain in my neck meant that my gills had come out. I tried to take a breath, but my throat and lungs stung like they were on fire.

"Hurry. Get all the way in so you can breathe," Kendall cautioned.

I let go of the edges of the portal and let myself fall in. When next I inhaled, water filled my open mouth, washing away the aching burn. I could breathe. Relief flooded through me.

Kendall was beside me soon after. The water was so clean that I could see his entire form with crystal clarity. His tail was now out, and I was both relieved and sad about that.

"How do you feel?" His words came out both muffled and amplified as we floated in the water, and I could clearly understand each syllable.

I swished myself around to let the sensations sink in. "I feel great!"

Shock reverberated through me at the sound and feeling of my own voice in the water. It was the strangest thing I'd experienced yet, and that was really saying something after all I'd been through at this school.

"Good, let's go for a swim." Kendall nodded toward the open, seemingly endless water.

Without another word between us, we swam side-by-side through the lake. This was completely different from swimming in the pool. Here, there were no boundaries, no limits. I could move around as I wished without the worry of bumping into the wall or a pissed-off mermaid. And Kendall didn't seem to mind at all when I occasionally brushed by him.

We swam everywhere, and I was awestruck by the freedom of it. Schools of fish swarmed around us now and then, and it was amazing to see them come so close. I felt like I wasn't a foreign intruder, like I belonged in these waters they called their home.

One fish swam right up to my face, and I cupped my hands under it, inviting it to come as close as it wished. The little fish accepted my invitation and gently nuzzled across my cheek before rejoining its school and disappearing into the depths.

"I want to show you something," Kendall said.

I nodded, eager to follow.

I swam behind him, letting the currents from his fins guide me. It was strange how easy it was to be in sync with him.

We dove deeper. The water temperature began to drop, though not enough to bother me. I wondered how far down I could dive and what limitations my mermaid body had. At what depth would the pressure become too great? Or were our bodies just made to traverse the entirety of the ocean floor?

A large form loomed ahead, and my eyes widened. "Where are we?"

"It's a shipwreck. There are tons of these things down here."

The body of the boat was still intact, a large water wheel resting next to it as if it had been leaned up against the side. There was something quaint about the wood construction, the railed deck, the tall stacks protruding from the top, though all of it was covered in a thick layer of grime and algae.

"Tons of shipwrecks?"

"You'd be surprised just how much stuff is on the floor of the lake. Come on." Kendall slid through a window on the side of the ship.

I followed him, peering around the dark interior. It was as breathtaking as it was eerie. An old piano sat in one corner, and what must have been crystal chandeliers hung from the ceiling, cocked at an awkward angle as it gave into gravity and the pull of the water. Chairs lay haphazardly across the floor, all of it covered by a blanket of green.

"This is one of the better wrecks. Not too many lives lost. Others, you're practically digging through bones."

I suppressed a shudder. "There aren't any dead bodies here, are there?"

"No. I think they all washed away. But they left behind some pretty cool stuff. It's actually part of how we funded the school. The mer make great deep-sea treasure hunters."

I wiped away the slime from one of the drops attached to the chandelier, releasing a cloud of goo. I coughed, the water rushing out of my gills. But a bit of the crystal shone through.

"Oh, watch yourself. We don't want to murk up the waters with algae too much."

I nodded in agreement.

"Here." Kendall wrapped his hand around the crystal drop, carefully maneuvering it off the chandelier. "A memento of our little adventure."

"What, no flowers?" I teased, closing my hand around the small trinket.

He shrugged playfully, wafting backward a few inches. "We're Mer. I guess our courtship customs are a little different."

"Is that what this is?" I asked, keeping my tone coy and light. "Are you courting me?"

"I hope so." The sincere look on his face made all my walls disintegrate.

Kendall leaned closer. I could feel his body heat radiating through the small amount of water between us, and it kept getting smaller.

My pulse quickened in anticipation as his face drew nearer, his nose brushing the tip of mine. It was so unlike the way things had gone down with Tobias last night, so gentle and patient, but the same burning desire that incident had ignited hadn't left me, and it burned again now.

I closed the distance, gently meeting his soft lips with my own. His lips parted and closed again over my bottom lip with a seductive grace that made my body melt against his firm chest.

Forget about Tobias. Forget about Tobias.

Slowly, we tangled into each other, his hands sliding down my hips and making my scales prickle with desire. The kiss deepened, his tongue sliding out and gently caressing my lips at first, then entering my mouth as a moan escaped me.

He gripped my hips and pulled me against him as we feasted on each other's mouths. The burning need grew with a demand that I had no idea how to satisfy in this form, and all I could do was grind my pelvis against his in futility.

He chuckled low and dark against my neck as his lips moved to nibble at my ear. "I know what you want," he purred. "Do you want me to teach you?"

In a fog of need and want, I panted, "What?"

His hand slid over the mound of my ass, gripping it briefly to make a gasp escape my lips, then sliding his fingers down even farther to circle around an incredibly sensitive opening I didn't even know was there.

Before I could register the change in my bodily structure, he slid his finger into me. I gasped and gripped his shoulders, shuddering at the unexpected pleasure. His finger moved in and out with a slow, rhythmic pace that made my head swim as I lost myself to the overwhelming sensation.

With his free hand, he tipped my chin up so that he could kiss me while he fingered me, his tongue playing my mouth as his fingertip played my pussy. As if sensing my heightened tension and desire, he increased the pace of his strokes, penetrating me deeper and deeper, pushing me over the edge.

Suddenly, I was coming, pleasure crashing over me like a turbulent storm. My body shook with each wave, and he continued to kiss me until the waves subsided, and I hung limp against him.

When it was over, I looked up into his eyes for a long moment.

"That was…incredible," I breathed, realizing with near desperation that I wanted more.

It had never occurred to me to even wonder how sex was possible in our shifted form, and now that I'd had a taste of it, I was inflamed with the idea of experiencing it. Here, in this magical place, with him—you know, for science.

"I can teach you all kinds of things," he purred, stealing one more peck from my swollen lips.

Then, with a pained expression, he pulled back. "But for now, we should get back to the school. It's getting late, and we don't want to be out when the light leaves."

Slightly disappointed and a bit shaken from our escapade, I reluctantly agreed.

We swam out of the ship, and I followed him again, not realizing we'd angled up until the pressure around me began to ease, and The Dome loomed big and round beneath us. I could see the entire school from this birds-eye view—or fish-eye view, rather. It looked so small from up here. The people walking along the sidewalks looked like ants crawling through a super hi-tech ant farm.

Kendall reached out to take my hand, and I let him. There were no words to describe the feeling surging through me. I was beyond grateful that he chose me to share this incredible secret with, and more than a little thrilled by what we'd just done. I had never felt more at home anywhere in my life than I did floating in this lake, and I was sad to be leaving it.

We swam back to the portal under the edge of the dome and he surfaced first to help me climb up out of the water.

Despite our passionate moment in the wrecked ship, and the intimate sweetness in Kendall's eyes as he looked at me now, I didn't feel terribly close to him. I liked him, and I absolutely wanted to explore more of mer sexuality with him, but there was something in the way of me wanting anything beyond the physical with him.

I should want to be with him. Of all the guys I'd ever met, he was the most perfect fit for me. He was a mer and could teach me about our kind, could immerse me in the culture and traditions, make me a true part of them. And he was nice, smart, hot as hell, and seemed to have status and a bright future in the shifter world.

"Can I walk you back to your dorm?" he asked when we both had our clothes on. Was that a boyish blush coloring his cheeks?

"Well, we're both going to the same place, so sure," I said with a giggle.

He took my hand again, and I tried to open my heart to him as I clasped his hand back. We left the hidden room and strolled back through the garden to get back to the main building.

And just as we made it through the massive front doors, I saw the reason I didn't feel anything for Kendall. The person I wanted more despite all the bullshit he'd put me through.

Tobias. And he. Was. Fuming.