CHAPTER FOUR
Trevor enjoyed the challenge of following Beth as she swam gracefully underwater, cutting through the current easily with her colorful tail. He hadn’t really known what to expect, but her shimmering blue, green, and even hints of purple scales were beyond beautiful. She was breathtaking, here in her element.
He extended his arms, reaching to swim as fast as he could, but he knew she kept herself to a slow pace, just for him. There was absolutely no way he would ever be able to out-swim her, and until this point, he’d considered himself as good in the water as, if not better than, any Navy SEAL he’d ever met.
Trevor supposed it was good to understand one’s limitations. Every once in a while, getting knocked out of your own complacency was useful. He understood now that he would never be able to compete with a mer in the water, which was good to know, both for himself and for his report. Even other shifters knew little about the secretive mer, so any intel—even something as simple as observations about their swimming capabilities—was valuable.
Of course, Kinkaid probably already knew more about the mer than Trevor would learn today. He’d had Moira feeding him information for a while now, and she herself was a water shifter. She was probably in a position to better judge other beings’ abilities in a water environment than Trevor was, but he knew his CO would be pleased with the intel. There weren’t any mermaids in Wyoming, but the men he worked with were sent all over the world and might need to know this information one day.
They’d never understand the sheer beauty of Beth’s mer form, but that wasn’t essential for his report. No, that was something Trevor would hold dear to his heart, for now that he’d seen her, in all her scaled glory, he would never, ever forget it.
As he followed the sparkling colors of her tail fin through the chilly waters of the cove, he got a true appreciation for the way she moved in the water. He also found himself nearly bowled over by the beauty of her sleek body in motion. Her scales covered her feminine attributes like a swimsuit, but the outline of her svelte form was there, and he found it very attractive.
She was small, but fast, and he had to admit, he liked a woman who knew how to wear weapons. Strapped to her arms and torso were a number of sheathed blades in various sizes. He’d never thought much about fighting women before, but Beth had been part of what she’d called a hunting party. From what he’d been able to gather, hunting parties not only hunted for food to feed the pod, as their name implied, but also protected the pod from ocean threats.
She started heading upward, toward the surface, and he followed. He’d told her five minutes was his top limit for holding his breath, but the truth was, he could go a bit longer. He’d trained specifically to increase his lung capacity and had better control than most bears. Still, he was a bit rusty, so the break was welcome. He followed her to the surface, amazed as she shifted just her head and shoulders as they popped out of the water.
“You doing okay?” Beth asked as he surfaced next to her.
“Fine,” he replied easily. “I just have to say, the partial shift is really impressive. How long can you hold it?”
She seemed surprised by his words. He looked away, to gauge where they’d come up. They were a good distance into the cove now, though he could see the shore was closer on one side than the other. It looked like she was making for one corner of the mouth of the cove, which made sense if they were going to swim across on a patrol pattern.
“Oh, we practice partial shifts from childhood. It’s something we all do.” Beth’s eloquent shrug made it seem like no big deal, but among land shifters, partial shifts were difficult to hold and only for the strongest among them.
“I’m impressed,” he told her. “Most of us have a partial shift battle form that’s hard to keep hold of, but formidable if you can master it.”
She tilted her head to one side, as if considering his words. “I’m not sure if it’s the same for us. We practice shifting parts of our bodies, so that whatever might be visible out of the water looks human, while we retain the ability to breathe and swim like mer. It’s useful when encountering humans on the open water, though we try to avoid them, if at all possible.”
He found her explanation fascinating. Actually, he found everything about her fascinating…and very, very attractive.
“I have to dive to retrieve my trident before we get to the barrier. If you want to wait here a minute, I’ll get it. It’s just below us here. Then, we can go on.”
He nodded, and she disappeared from view with a flash of her bright scales just below the surface. Trevor sank down into the water to see if he could follow her progress, but she was already gone. She was fast.
Beth was glad to get away from Trevor for a minute. She’d found it a bit nerve-wracking to have him watching her so closely as they swam. She could actually feel his eyes studying her, and she wasn’t sure what to make of the emotions that brought up within her.
She felt a giddy sort of girlish excitement that she didn’t recall ever feeling before herself, but thought she recognized from observing some of the younger members of the pod. Then again, her youth had been anything but normal, so the fact that she hadn’t experienced something didn’t mean much. She was old enough to recognize the nervousness that young girls seemed to feel when they were around an attractive boy.
Beth was floored to realize she was feeling that now. Her rise to adulthood hadn’t included such normal things as dating and being around boys her own age. Until she’d come to the pod, she hadn’t been around any other mer—or even any other people—except those her stepfather allowed in his domain. And those were folks she’d rather not be around at all.
She retrieved her trident from where she’d hidden it, secured by a sturdy number of kelp vines. This was her special hiding spot that she’d scoped out and claimed when she’d first come to the cove. Each mer had their own unique space in the cove. Their own territory, if you will. This kelp bed was hers. At night, she would sleep here, among the caressing vines and dream of a life free from worry, and a home of her own where nothing and no one could ever hurt her again.
Dreams. That’s all they were. She was enough of a realist to understand that life was hard and fantasies of security and love never came true. If she’d been above the waterline, she would have sighed. As it was, she retrieved her trident and headed for the surface, girding herself mentally to deal with the inquisitive bear shifter waiting up there for her.
As she rose, she noted that he, too, was submerged, seeming to look for her in the dim waters of the cove. Was he that nosy? Probably. He was an intelligence expert, after all. Discovering things was his stock in trade. But she’d thought he would be enjoying his surface time, knowing he would be called upon to hold his breath again as they swam for the cove entrance.
He was a funny bear. He didn’t do anything she expected of him.
She held her trident as she’d been taught. Neither leading with it nor letting it trail behind. It stayed at her side, ready for use and away from anyone or anything that might try to take it from her. She met Trevor’s gaze as she pulled alongside him, just below the surface of the water. He seemed to be admiring her trident…and her body, as well.
If she could have blushed in full mer form, her cheeks would be flaming. As it was, the blue tint of her scales went a bit purple at the edges, but she had hope that the bear shifter wasn’t familiar enough with her kind to know that was a sign of mer embarrassment.
She pointed toward the surface, and he nodded. Once again, she did the partial shift of just her head and shoulders as she emerged above the waterline. She kept her trident below, to avoid any casual observation.
“That’s quite the weapon,” Trevor said, having broken the surface only feet away from her.
“Thanks. Most of the hunters have them,” she said, then wanted him to understand a bit more of what her trident meant to her. “It’s probably my favorite possession. We don’t need much in the sea, but I really like my knives and especially my trident. When I lived ashore as a girl, I wasn’t allowed to even touch anything that might resemble a weapon. Having the freedom to not only touch, but own and use these tools of my position means a lot to me.”
Maybe she’d said too much. He seemed to be assessing her for a moment before he replied.
“I understand. Although I have been known to carry firearms and even explosives, I’ve always enjoyed bladed weapons more than just about any of the other tools in my arsenal. There’s something so elegant about them. Like that little titanium number you’ve got strapped to your left arm. I usually carry a knife from that same company in my boot. I recognize the logo. They make a nice array of blades for just about every occasion.” He nodded toward her left shoulder, with the knife strapped to it below the waterline.
He had to be pretty observant to recognize the small logo on the handle, she realized. And he probably knew more about weapons than she did, but she had been learning quickly since she’d joined the pod and had very astute teachers.
“That one was a gift from Sirena, my old hunting party leader. It was one of hers. She taught me how to use it underwater, and when the lessons were over, she gave it to me to keep. I got the larger one on my right arm shortly after that, once I’d earned a bit of credit for helping one of the pod families. They gave it to me as payment.”
“I was wondering how you managed to buy things when you spend most of your time underwater,” Trevor said with a smile as they stroked lazily toward their ultimate destination. They would have to do more serious swimming shortly, but for now, she was enjoying talking with him here, in her element, where she felt safest.
“We barter a lot. Things get passed around from those who either don’t need them anymore or don’t want them, to those who do, but we don’t really need much when we’re in the ocean. The sea provides us with almost everything we need.” She thought about the trident in her hand. “Although we do have contacts on shore that procure or make special things for us, like my trident.”
“That’s not something you can buy out of a catalog, I’ll wager,” Trevor replied.
“You’re right,” she agreed. “They’re specially made for us, sized for each owner by the smith who makes them, and imbued with protective magic at the moment of their creation. Or so the story goes.”
“Magic?” Trevor asked. “Are they made by a mer or by a mage?”
“I think he’s a mage. Or maybe a series of mages all around the world who’ve gone into business with mer pods. All I know is our guy lives on a little island somewhere near Seattle. When I was finally made a member of the hunting party, Sirena and the girls took me ashore one night on his island, and we knocked on his door. He kept bathrobes in a beach cabana for us, so I think he was used to having mer guests. They measured my height and my arm reach, and then, he looked at me for a few minutes and asked a few questions about my personal tastes in style. He also asked about my fin coloration, I think. We spent about a half hour talking, and then, he told us to come back in a week with payment.”
“What did he want for payment?” Trevor asked quietly, his brows drawing together in a frown.
“Not what I expected,” Beth admitted. “No money changed hands. Instead, he asked for some rarities from the ocean floor. Nothing irreplaceable or endangered, but all things land dwellers would have a hard time procuring. The girls and I thought of it as a scavenger hunt. Over the next week, we had a lot of fun gathering the things on his list. He’d given us a plastic card on a chain that Sirena wore around her neck. On it were printed a number of different items he wanted us to look for. A certain kind of sea urchin spine. Particular shells with intricate patterns. Fish and plants that only live at very deep depths. Even a specific kind of rare crab. That sort of thing. He let us judge which items and how many. I thought we skimped a bit, but when we went back the following week, he seemed very pleased with the things we gave him, and he, in turn, gave me the trident.”
“It suits you. From what I saw, the curves are elegant and appear to be quite effective for their purpose,” Trevor commented as they stroked along on the surface. They weren’t getting anywhere fast, but she was enjoying the conversation too much for it to end too soon. “I assume you’ve trained with it in the water, but what about on land?”
“The trident is a water weapon,” Beth admitted. “All my training has been in the sea.”
Trevor frowned some more. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but I could teach you a bit of self-defense on land, if you want. It’s not good for a woman not to know at least some basics in the world we live in right now.”
He was offering to teach her how to protect herself? She was taken aback by the offer, but she knew she needed more skills if she was ever going to feel safe out of the water. Learning how to hunt and fight underwater had done a lot for her self-esteem, but on land, she was still as scared as a fish on the hook.
But to be trained by him? A scary bear shifter? Beth wasn’t sure she had the courage to even attempt something like that.
“It’s kind of you to offer…” she began, suddenly not wanting to talk anymore. “But I’ll have to think about it.” She rushed her words, eager to be done with this conversation—something she wouldn’t have imagined even a few moments ago. “Shall we swim some more? I really should be on patrol by now. The others are probably waiting for me.”
Trevor knew when to back down. He’d spooked her, and he had only himself to blame for ruining the easy camaraderie they’d shared up to that point. Oh, well. Maybe there would be other chances. He just had to be patient and work on gentling her again—getting her used to him and confident in the idea that he wasn’t going to try to hurt her.
“Sure. Let’s swim,” he answered her query with false cheer. “Five minute breaks for me to breathe?” he asked, just for something to say.
“Sounds good,” she answered in a clipped tone before she submerged without saying anything more.
Okay, then. Looked like it was time to swim. Trevor took a deep breath and struck out below the surface, following the flash of his mermaid’s tail.
They took the swim in stages, pausing only to let him breathe quickly between the long underwater stretches. They were employing a bit of stealth by swimming underwater and coming up rarely, but Trevor saw it more as a training mission because there weren’t any non-magical visitors in town just now, and he really needed the exercise.
Sitting around in town wasn’t the hard physical training he was used to. The carpentry helped, but he was used to doing more than just lifting lumber into place and using pneumatic tools. The swim was good for him. It tested one of the skills he hadn’t had much call to use lately.
When they got closer to the southern point of the cove’s mouth, Beth slowed and surfaced. She spoke briefly with another mermaid she introduced to Trevor as Janice before the other woman swam off into the cove. Trevor understood that Janice had been waiting for Beth to take over her position on patrol. Shift change, as it were.
Janice was friendly enough and even winked at Trevor as she swam off. She seemed amused to see him with Beth, as if their pairing was some sort of cosmic joke. Trevor wasn’t deterred by the orange-finned mermaid’s attitude. He liked Beth, despite her rough edges, and he’d find a way to make her understand that he wasn’t the enemy and that he would die before he hurt her—or give his life to protect her.
Whoa. His thoughts had turned more serious than he’d realized, but something about Beth compelled him and raised every protective instinct he possessed. He didn’t really understand it, but the prickly mermaid stirred feelings he hadn’t experienced in a very long time—if ever.
Speaking of strange feelings… As they took the patrol position closer to the ward than he’d ever been, Trevor started to feel a tingling of magic. He wasn’t as sensitive to magic in his human form. He’d have to go bear if he wanted to get the best possible sense of what he was seeing and feeling out here. He just hoped it didn’t freak Beth out too much.
Then again, it might help in getting her used to his other form. She’d need to be comfortable around him no matter which shape he wore if they were going to be friends…or more.
He stopped himself again. Where were these strange thoughts coming from? He couldn’t expect much of any relationship he might form with Beth. It was pretty clear she’d been hurt badly in her past, and she had a lot of baggage from whatever it was that had made her so skittish. Trevor honestly didn’t know if he would ever be able to help her overcome her fears, but he would try.
Trying to help her in that way was a far cry from having a romantic relationship with her, but somehow, that’s where his mind went lately, whenever he thought of her. Sex with her would be like nothing he’d ever had before. He was sure of it. But why he was so sure, only the Goddess knew.
“Do you mind if I shift?” Trevor asked her, trying to get his mind off sex and back onto his mission. Thinking about making love to Beth right now could only get him into trouble.
Her eyes went wide, and he suspected she was close to panic mode, but she nodded. He was impressed. She must realize she could easily swim away if he somehow went berserk and threatened her. Plus, she was heavily armed with all sorts of blades, including that wicked looking trident.
He had to admit, he was a bit envious. That trident looked like something he’d love to learn how to use efficiently. But he was a blade nut from way back. Swords, knives, even spears were things of beauty to him.
She put a bit of space between them. She tried to seem casual about it, but he noticed her backing off. He let her go, not wanting to scare her any more than he had to.
“Really?” she asked, surprising him. He’d expected either a yes or no, not a query. She didn’t look too thrilled by his desire to go furry, but he really had no choice. He thought he’d already explained why, but maybe she needed more rationalization. He tried to be patient with her fears.
“I think I mentioned that I sense things in my fur that I don’t always pick up on in my skin,” he told her. “And my bear form loves the water. And fish. I especially enjoy stalking salmon when they’re running. My bear side really likes fresh sushi,” he added with a smile.
His words made her smile faintly, and she backed off another foot, looking resigned. “Well, okay then. I’ll wait for you over here, but I hope you’ll understand if I don’t swim too close to you when you’re…uh…furry.”
“No worries. I won’t be able to speak, but feel free to talk to me if you think I need to know anything. I’ll come up for air occasionally, and you can fill me in if there’s anything to say.”
She agreed and backed away a little more. He tried not to take it personally. She was really afraid of his bear form, for some reason, but he couldn’t help what had to happen now. He had to shift to perform his job to the best of his abilities. Hopefully, she’d learn that he was the same person in his skin as he was in his fur. Maybe his senses were sharper and his instincts a bit more wild, but he wouldn’t do anything as a bear that he wouldn’t do as a human. Maybe she’d figure that out as they swam.
Trevor submerged, shucked his swim shorts and arranged them into a solid line of fabric that the bear form could grab in its teeth. No sense losing a good pair of shorts. He’d worn them to spare Beth’s sensibilities, and if he shifted back to human for the swim home, he’d probably want to put them on again.
He shifted fast, grabbing his shorts with his teeth before they had any chance to sink. He noticed that Beth had kept an eye on him throughout. She’d backed away even more, but he was okay with that. He’d give her as much space as she needed to get used to him. When he rose above the water with his shorts hanging out of his mouth, she smiled at him in surprise and might have even giggled a bit.