I tilted my head and was going in for a kiss when I saw the shadow coming up behind her. Without thinking, I spun her behind me and pushed her toward the beach. “Swim, Meena!”
Chapter Nineteen
- Meena -
Something slammed into Blake, pushing him under the water. My response was immediate and loud. I screamed. A dorsal fin rose out of the water, but it was like nothing I had seen before. It was brown and attached to a back that was too narrow to belong to a shark.
I dove under the water and tried to make sense of what was happening. Blake was fighting off something that looked like a person with the head of a bull shark. Blood filled the water and fear choked me as I swam toward them. I had nothing on me that could help—no weapons or tools—but I had to try. I had to do something. There was a conch shell on the sea floor, so I swooped down and grabbed it on my way. I slammed the shell against the monster trying to kill Blake and heard a loud crack as piece of the shell fell off.
I could feel Blake trying to urge me to swim away, but there was no way I could leave him. Switching tactics, I slammed the sharp end of the shell into the monster’s nose, remembering that was a sensitive location on sharks. I don’t know how many times I rammed that broken shell into the beast, but there was a terrible sound and he let go of Blake. Grabbing his good arm, I raced for the beach, but the animal was right behind me. The shallows were just in sight and I wouldn’t be able to swim much farther. I hoped that it would stop the creature, but when I looked back he was crawling along the bottom. Instead of fins, he had the long brown arms and legs of a human.
I couldn’t understand what I was seeing; it was the scariest thing I had ever faced. All this time I had thought I was a sea monster, but had never imagined something like this existed. My head broke the surface and I tried to lift Blake out of the water. His eyes were closed and I tried to shake him as I crawled along the sand.
“Blake, wake up! Wake up!” There was a long cut on his left arm and the water was turning red. I continued on, all too aware that the creature was right on us. The brown back broke through the water and I tried to move faster. Without legs, trying to crawl through the water was almost impossible and I didn’t have the time to change. “Blake. Please, Blake.”
There was a thin noise as something shot through the water. I looked back over Blake and gasped when the beast raised its head out of the water and roared. I froze, partly in shock and partly in horror. The shaft from a spear stuck out of his side and he whipped his head back and forth. I scrambled back, trying to pull Blake into my lap. He was groaning, the only sign he was still alive.
The monster looked at me and roared, his face shifting just enough that I could see the human underneath. Devin’s hate-filled eyes spit malice at me. He moved in my direction and another shaft impaled his side, closer to the gills, with a sickening thunk. My breathing stopped and I watched, shocked, as he fell to the sand, shaking. His body was grotesque—part man, part shark. His face contorted into something completely inhuman with razor-sharp teeth jutting out of his jaws.
I looked from the monster to where Jacen stood in the shallows. His eyes were trained on Devin with a fierce look. Mireille was coming out of the water behind him, a worried look on her face as she rushed to my side. They were both nak*d except for the bag that was hanging over Mireille’s shoulders, but I didn’t care. They could have been wearing nun habits and it wouldn’t have mattered. All that mattered was that Blake was dying in my arms.
“Are you hurt?” Jacen knelt down, his sea-green eyes running over my face.
“No. It’s Blake.” My fingers were pressed against the gash along his arm, trying to stop the bleeding. “We need an ambulance.”
“I’ve got a phone.” Mireille dug through her bag and came out with a waterproof box. She popped it open and turned on the cell phone that was inside.
Jacen pulled the bag off his cousin’s shoulder while she dialed. He dug through it and pulled out a T-shirt that he helped me wrap around Blake’s wound. I pushed my fingers against the bloody material once we had it in place, trying to help slow the bleeding. Jacen pulled out a pair of swim trunks and quickly put them on before ducking back down to check Blake.
“I need your address, Meena.” Mireille’s blue hair hung lankly about her shoulders. I told her where to send the paramedics and then asked her to call my parents.
“Let me take him so you can change.” Jacen looked into my eyes and I could see the concern etched there. Again, I had that feeling like he was familiar, someone that I should know. I shifted Blake out of my lap and wiggled toward the deeper water. As I shifted, Jacen lifted Blake in his arms and carried him up to the beach. I left the water and pulled on my bathing suit bottom as I ran to where Blake lay.
I could hear my parents running down the path and Mireille was quickly pulling on a shirt when I looked in that direction. Mom rounded the corner of the trail first. She was carrying a first-aid kit and had a towel over her shoulder. Dad was on his cell phone and I wondered who he was talking to.
“Blake, please. Please hang on.” I brushed the hair out of his eyes. He was so pale he looked dead.
He coughed up a little water and blinked his eyes. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. I’m fine.” I scooted around and leaned over so I could see his face better. “You’re hurt, but the ambulance is on its way.” Tears ran down my cheeks. I couldn’t stop them and was fighting to not lose complete control. Blake’s eyes drifted shut again.
“You’re going to be okay, man.” Jacen leaned over and moved the shirt a little to check the wound. “You’re healing already.”
“What are you talking about?” I looked at Jacen like he was crazy.
“You sealed the mating bond, so he’s already healing.” Mireille knelt down next to me. “He’d probably be dead if you hadn’t.”
“I don’t know what you mean!” I yelled the words. “I don’t know anything about a bond or what’s going on!” My nerves were shot and I felt lost. “What were you doing here anyway?” My voice tapered off. I was drained from the burst of adrenaline and the worry.
“We know.” Mireille reached out and placed a hand on my shoulder. “That’s why we’ve been looking for you. We caught whiff of a siren swimming nearby the other day, which is why we came prepared. They hate mermaids and Jacen thought that it might have been tailing you.”
“Siren?” I ran a hand through my hair. “I’m so lost.”
“We’ll help.” Mireille grabbed my hand.
“Meena! Blake!” Mom fell to the ground next to me and ran her hands over Blake’s face. “What happened?”
“We were attacked. Devin…” I turned to look at the remains of the monster that had tried to kill us. “Blake pushed me out of the way. He saved me.” My breath hiccupped out of me and I realized I was close to losing it for real.
“Holy shit.” Dad knelt next to us and helped Mom slide the towel under Blake’s head and shoulder. His eyes slid over Blake to Devin’s dead form. “We have to get rid of that before the paramedics arrive.”
“I’ll help you.” Jacen held his hand out to Dad. “Jacen Montgomery.”
“Ben.” Dad shook his hand and they got up and waded out into the water. They dragged the carcass farther out, making sure that no one would see it from the beach.
“I called his father,” Dad said. He knelt back down to next to Blake.
“Oh, God. Just give me back to the mutant shark,” Blake groaned.
“Blake?” I ran my hand over his chest, relieved to see it moving.
“Really bad dream.” He peeked through one eye and grimaced. “Mutant shark, nak*d blond dude, and you called my dad. Bad stuff.”
“Are you okay?” I hiccup-laughed.
“Fine. Tough.”
“You scared the shit out of me,” I said. I leaned my forehead down to his. “I thought you were dead.”
“Nah.” He smiled weakly.
The sound of the ambulance nearing the sanctuary drew my attention up the beach. I was so relieved to know that help was here, I almost couldn’t sit still.
“I’ll get them.” Mom ran down the path. She came back quickly, a couple of paramedics following and carrying a backboard.
“They’re here, Blake.” I brushed the hair out of his eyes. “I’m going with you, okay?”
The paramedics were thorough, asking about the wounds, what type of shark it was. Once they had Blake loaded up on the stretcher, I followed behind, not even caring about finding my shoes. Mireille ran after me and handed me my clothes and flip-flops from the beach before they closed the ambulance doors.
The paramedic in the back fussed over Blake while I slid my clothes on over my bathing suit. They explained everything that they were doing and didn’t mind when I squeezed in so I could hold Blake’s hand. He was looking much better and even seemed amused by my worry. I wasn’t sure if that was from the drugs or because he was healing like Mireille said.
“Please tell me that they didn’t really call my dad.” He looked at me over the breathing mask they had strapped around his head.
“Of course they called your father.” I shook my head.
When we arrived at the hospital, they stopped me at the desk and told me that I wasn’t allowed to go back. Blake tried to insist that I go with him, but it didn’t do any good. I was sent to the uncomfortable chairs in the waiting room. My parents showed up not long after the ambulance arrived and sat down with me. Jacen and Mireille were with them, wearing borrowed clothes. I wanted to ask them questions, but there were too many people around.
Mireille scooted near me. “If you are near him, he will heal faster. The more time you spend together, the stronger your mating bond will be.”
“I tried. They won’t let me back there.” I shook my head. Mom was watching us worriedly and I wondered how much she understood.
A black town car parked outside the ambulance doors and a boy that looked like a younger version of Blake hopped out. He ran straight to the desk and was waved through the back doors. There was no mistaking that it was Vince. I watched as he ran through the ER and was glad that he had shown up so quickly.
It wasn’t long before Vince came back out the doors and talked to the lady at the desk. After a minute he walked over to me and smiled.
“You must be Meena.” He held his hand out and I shook it.
“How is he?”
“Asking for you.” He was obviously amused. “C’mon. If I don’t get you back there soon, he’s likely to come out here looking for you.” He tucked my hand into the crook of his arm and led me through the doors.
The smell of antiseptics and medicines burned my nose, but I could only think of seeing Blake. When Vince opened the curtains to a small cubicle, I almost tripped on my feet to get to Blake.
“Are you okay?” His upper left arm was bandaged and there was an IV in his right arm. I brushed the hair away from his forehead and placed a small, soft kiss above his eyes.