She had water in her ears. Neridia shook her head, trying to clear them. “I’m sorry, could you say that again?”

“We could mate,” he repeated, even more reluctantly.

She had heard him right the first time. In her shock, she forgot to tread water, and promptly swallowed a wave. All her subconscious swimming skill deserted her. She slipped under the surface, flailing.

“Neridia!” John’s strong hands closed around her waist, bearing her up. “I mean-that is-Your Majesty.”

Neridia clung to his broad shoulders, gasping. She instinctively wrapped her legs around his waist…and her breath caught for a different reason than her brief dunking.

Only her underwear separated their bare torsos. She could feel every ridge of his muscles, hard against her own softness. Even in the bizarrely tropical waters of Loch Ness, his naked skin burned, igniting fire through her blood.

Her hands slid over the water-slick swells of his shoulders. “When you say mate…”

“Join. Unite our souls.” He was as solid as a rock in the water, supporting her without any apparent effort, but she could feel the pounding of his heart. “If we were mated, we would be able to touch mind-to-mind, sharing everything. You would know what it is to be a sea dragon, as surely as I do.”

Her stomach sank, and her hands stilled. “So this mating would just be a meeting of minds?”

He met her gaze. “No,” he said softly.

Her heart leapt again, but she forced herself to stay still. “What about your vows? I thought you were sworn to chastity.”

“Before all else, I am sworn to the Pearl Throne. My highest duty is to serve the Empress. To serve you.”

“Even if it means sacrificing your honor?”

“It would not be a sacrifice,” he whispered. “To be your mate would be the greatest honor of my life.”

Their faces were very close now. His eyes were very dark with desire, his breath coming short and fast. Her own heart was beating so hard, her blood sang in her ears.

“Neridia.” He brought up a hand, preventing their mouths from closing that last fateful distance. His calloused fingertips traced the curves of her lips. “If, if we do this…it is forever. Do you understand?”

“Yes. Yes.” Her body yearned for him so fiercely she was physically shaking, her thighs trembling against his hard flanks. “But—are you really sure you want this?”

He made a low, inarticulate noise in answer, half-moan, half-growl. His hand clenched around the back of her head, pulling her against his mouth.

Neridia melted into the fierce kiss, lost in the glorious feel of his lips against hers. His demanding tongue pressed into her, deep and hot, sparking an answering throb of need between her legs.

One hand still tangled in her hair, his other slid down over her hips, underwater. Neridia sucked in her breath as he slipped under her panties, exploring the soft curve of her butt. He tightened his grasp, fingers deliciously rough against her skin, pulling her more firmly against his hips. His unmistakable erection pressed into her stomach even through the thick, sodden fabric of his dress pants.

“Um.” Neridia broke the kiss, gasping for air. “Shouldn’t we get out of the lake?”

He pulled back a little, his brow furrowing. “Why?”

“Well, we can’t, you know…” Neridia caught her breath as his hips flexed, rubbing his hard length against her body. “Not in the water!”

“We are sea dragons.” He ducked his head to kiss the junction of her neck and shoulder, sending delicious shivers through her. “This is how sea dragons mate.”

“I’ve only just learned to swim!” She squirmed against him, tormented by the exquisite, nipping kisses he was trailing across her skin. “This is a bit advanced, you know!”

“Trust me, my lady.” Despite his words, he unwound her arms from his neck. “And trust yourself.”

Lithe as an eel, he twisted out of her grip. Before she knew what was happening, he dove, disappearing under the black water.

“John?” Every nerve aflame with thwarted desire, Neridia flailed gracelessly, trying to see where he’d gone. “John!”

She gasped as his arms encircled her from behind, pulling her against his hard body. His naked hard body. The feel of his thick length pressed against her inflamed every inch of her skin. She couldn’t help rubbing back against him, the slick, swollen head of his cock sliding along the crack of her ass. He let out a deep groan, arms tightening, his muscles as hard as his shaft.

Neridia threw back her head as his hands came up to cup her breasts through the wet lace of her bra. Nearly blind with pleasure, she writhed against him, her ass thrusting against his cock as he rolled and teased her nipples.

“John!” she cried out, as the pulsing pleasure between her legs grew to an unbearable wave. “John!”

He held her through her climax, supporting her with his muscled body as she came. He made a deep, satisfied hum of pleasure as she collapsed back against him. She had no idea how he was keeping them both afloat; she certainly wasn’t capable of swimming at the moment.

His hand drifted down the curves of her stomach, slipping under her panties again. She jerked as his fingers gently parted her folds, his calloused fingertip brushing her swollen clit.

“Too soon?” he rumbled in her ear, his circling finger pausing.

“No. God, no.” Even though she was still trembling with the aftershocks of orgasm, she wanted more. She needed him, all of him, inside her-

She bit back a curse, grabbing his wrist. “Wait. I’m pretty certain neither of us has a condom to hand right now.”

He went still, though she felt his chest heave as if it took a great effort to force himself to stop. “I do not know what that is.”

“Birth control?” She twisted her head round, looking up at his uncomprehending expression. “You know, to prevent pregnancy?”

He blinked at her. “Humans need to do something to prevent pregnancy?”

“Uh…don’t sea dragons?”

He shook his head. “We must do the opposite. If we wish to have young, we must mate at specific times of the year, after certain rituals.”

“Um, well. I’m half-human. I don’t know whether that’s true for me.”

“Perhaps, but it is certainly true for me.” His finger started to circle again. “I am not currently fertile.”

If she was sensible, she knew, she shouldn’t take his word for it. On the other hand, if she was sensible, she wouldn’t be having sex in a lake with a sea dragon.

Tipping her head back, Neridia abandoned all thought of being sensible.

His touch rocked her with swelling waves of pleasure, echoing the way the lake’s waves rocked their bodies. Cradled in his arms, in the lake, she felt wonderfully small and weightless. For once, she didn’t have to worry about being too big, taking up too much space.

“Neridia.” His voice was rather rougher than usual. Though his fingers kept their slow, teasing rhythm, his cock pressed hungrily against her back. “I, I cannot-forgive me, I wanted to do you justice. But I do not have the fortitude to endure much longer.”

In response, Neridia reached round, sliding her hand between their bodies. He groaned as she closed her fingers around his thick shaft, hips jerking involuntarily.

“I don’t want to wait longer.” She stroked him, her breath coming as fast as his at the feel of his hard, slick length against her palm. “I want you, now.”

He growled, deep in his throat. His hands grasped her hips, pulling her higher up his body so that his cock pressed against her entrance.

Neridia shut her eyes, all the world narrowing down to the sensation of him pushing into her. He went slowly, though his whole body shook with the effort, giving her time to stretch around his huge girth.

As he slid into her, inch by inch, her awareness expanded. She could not only feel the exquisite slide of him entering her, but also his astonished delight at the feel of her warmth embracing him, her slick depths welcoming him in. His pleasure and hers mingled in her mind, echoing and doubling, until she couldn’t tell where she stopped and he began.

They both cried out as he buried himself fully in her. Neridia clenched around him, and felt him lose all control at last. He plunged into her, powerful and rhythmic as the sea, sweeping her away on a tidal wave of sensation.

“Neridia!” He sang her name as they both came, in a thundering chord of triumph and wonder.

She knew that the music was words, and what those words were. She could hear them in her head, as clearly as if he’d spoken in English.

*My mate!*

* * *

They drifted for a time, entwined in each other’s embrace on the surface of the lake. Neridia leaned her head on his chest, listening to the slow, quiet sound of his heartbeat, and the deeper, equally quiet sound of his mind.

She couldn’t exactly read his thoughts, but she could sense something of their nature, like the way rippling water revealed the currents below. She knew that he was tired, and relaxed, and profoundly, deeply awestruck.

This last thought was so unexpected that she lifted her head to look at him. “You’re awed by me?” she said in disbelief.

His fingertips traced light, spiraling patterns down her spine. “How could I not be, Your Majesty?”

Annoyed, she splashed him. “Don’t start that again. Anyway, if you’re the Empress’s mate, doesn’t that make you the Emperor?”

His hand stilled. She could sense that this honestly hadn’t occurred to him. “It would make me…the Royal Consort, if I am remembering the protocol correctly.”

“Well then,” she said in triumph. “You’re royalty yourself now, so there’s no need for formality, your Royal Consort…ness.”

His shoulders shook with his deep chuckle. “I bow to your impeccable logic, Your—my mate.”

“That’s better.”

Still feeling that all this had to just be a dream, she ran her hand over the smooth planes of his chest—only for her skin to snag against his. Rubbing her fingertips together, she realized that they were waterlogged by the long immersion in the lake.

She let out a deep sigh, holding up her hand to show him her wrinkled skin. “I guess we have to get out. If we stay in here much longer, I’m going to turn into a raisin.”

He kissed her fingers, tongue flicking lightly over the tips in a way that made her toes curl. “No. You will turn into a sea dragon.”

Apprehension cut through her glowing contentment like a bucket of ice water dumped on her head. “John, I don’t think anything’s changed. Well, I mean, it has, but…I still just feel like myself.”

“You feel like yourself because you are still yourself,” he said serenely. “You are what you have always been. A sea dragon.”

He flicked himself vertical with an effortless twist, balancing upright in the water. She was forced to slide off his chest, rather less gracefully doggy-paddling at his side.

He smiled at her, his usually solemn face alight with joyful anticipation. “Watch me, my mate. Learn how to take your true form.”

He disappeared under the surface with barely a ripple, smooth as a seal. She couldn’t see him through the dark water, but she still knew exactly where he was. She could sense him swimming down with strong, swift strokes, moving with the unconscious grace of a fish.

Then he did…something.

She caught her breath. He’s shifting.

It was as quick and easy as pouring water from one container into another. One moment he was as human as her. The next-

She tumbled head over heels, thrown backward by the shock wave of displaced water. All the breath was knocked out of her lungs, bubbling away. Unable to tell which way was up, she panicked, hands clawing as she sank.

*Neridia!*

A vast, scaled back rose up beneath her, pushing her to the surface once more. Neridia scrabbled for purchase on the slick, hard scales as she spluttered.

*I am sorry.* Something huge curved above her, blotting out the moon. *I was too eager, and did not give myself enough space to shift. Forgive me.*

Pushing her hair out of her eyes, heart hammering, Neridia looked up.

It’s John. It’s just John.

There was no just about it.

He was vast. His long, fluid body filled the water around her, encircling her in graceful coils. His head was bigger than her car. His eyes were the same deep blue as in his human form, but now each one was at least three feet across. They glowed faintly in the darkness, like some phosphorescent deep-sea creature that lived beyond the reach of the sun.

Two long, elegant horns swept back from his temples, each dividing into six short, jutting points like a deer’s antlers. The overall shape of his head reminded her more of a Chinese dragon than a Western one; intelligent and noble rather than brutally reptilian.

A sort of ruff or mane fringed his head, running a little way down the back of his serpentine neck. Gold glittered amidst the flowing blue tendrils. She wondered if they were the same charms woven into his hair when he was in human form, somehow transformed to match his new size.

*Yes. My honor-tokens are made to have two forms, the same as myself. It is the art of our Smiths to create twinned items that shift as we do.*

If his human voice was reminiscent of a bassoon and a cello playing in harmony, in this form he sounded like a whole orchestra. As before, she could somehow tell what he was saying, the words taking shape in her head as his melodious dragon-speech shook the water.

Tentatively, she put her hand up. He curved his neck in response, lowering his head until the huge, blunt tip of his wedge-shaped muzzle touched her palm. She spread her fingers out. Her entire hand didn’t even cover a single scale.

He was so big, so unapologetically big. He occupied space with a casual, unconscious assurance, as if it was his right to take up as much room as he needed. She couldn’t even imagine doing the same herself.

*Try,* he urged her.

In her mind, she could clearly picture what he’d done, how easily he’d shrugged off human form and exploded into his true glory. She could see in his mind what she would look like as a dragon, as huge and powerful as he was.

She took a deep breath, filling her lungs to their fullest extent, and let go of his side. Relaxing her limbs, she allowed the water to close over her head.

And tried.