A RIBBON OF MOONLIGHT RIPPLED ACROSS THE PLANK FLOOR as if it were the calm night sea. Angel slid from beneath the sheets, too much going on in her mind to be able to sleep. The clock’s soft red glow said two twenty-seven. She needed to think and should have enough time to go for a swim, then get her legs back. She’d have to use the hair dryer in the guesthouse, but hopefully, she’d be able to crawl back beside Logan’s warm body before he woke. She smiled. Maybe crawling back in would wake him. Her body tingled yet again, and goose bumps appeared—and they had nothing to do with the gentle breeze of the ceiling fan. They’d made beautiful music together, she and Logan. A symphony of sound and touch and taste, soft whispers, gentle sighs, the crashing crescendo of the final act… There had to be some way to make this work. Her brothers had both done it, but Reel had wanted to live on land with his wife, and Rod’s wife was willing to make the sea her home. She had to figure out some wa
Again, she skimmed the bottom, flicking her tail to head topside again. This time, she arched backward and greeted the horizon upside-down, a perfect moonlit rain-bow of color in her tail. Again and again, Angel danced among the waves, wanting to sing her happiness, but that’d only invite trouble. Besides, the moon’s trail had lengthened, and it was time to head back. She flicked her tail and dove toward Logan’s home, ready for the sea—and air—to be cleared between them. Ready to begin her life with him. She couldn’t wait to hear what he’d say. Returning to the inlet, she swam toward the bank of the small beach there. She broke through the surface and brushed her hair off her face, shaking the water from her eyes just in time to hear what Logan did say. “Son of a bitch. You’re a mermaid?” He raked his hands through the hair she’d caressed less than an hour ago. “How is this even possible? How—why are you here? I have to believe it because I saw you—I saw you. Swimming and diving
“ANGEL?” MICHAEL KNOCKED ON THE FRONT DOOR OF Angel’s house, then put Rocky on his shoulder so they could both look in the window. It was morning. She should be awake by now. He was. “Angel!” He knocked again and lifted the front of his hat out of his eyes. He didn’t see her. “Do you see anything, Rocky?” He lifted Rocky over his head, then stopped, snorting at himself. Stooopid. Stuffed animals weren’t real. ’Course, Logan said mermaids weren’t real, so you never knew what was real and what wasn’t. Like that lizard peeking over the edge of the roof. Even though he looked like a statue, he was real. And Michael really wanted him for a pet, even if Angel said it wasn’t fair. Was it fair that he never got anything he wanted? Even when Rainbow brought him cool stuff like ice cream and soda that he wanted, she’d had to go to jail. Oh, yeah. That. Michael sighed. Rainbow told him after that stealing wasn’t right, no matter what, so he wouldn’t try to catch the lizard ’cause that’d b
HARRY SWAM BACK AND FORTH ALONG THE WALKWAY outside Ceto’s Bahamian Palace, waiting for her guards to announce him. They’d probably shove a mouth guard in his jaw, too. The mother of all sea monsters was ob-sessive about her security. Like he’d try to take a bite out of her. The gods might have stipulated what she could and couldn’t do with her goddess powers, but some magic was stronger than none, and since he was a mere mortal, he wasn’t about to test her. He didn’t have a death wish. What he did have was a hyper sense of justice. Sharks had been getting a bad rap ever since that ridiculous Human propaganda thirty-some selinos ago, giving all sharks a bad name, not just the Great Whites. He’d lost a lot of family members over the selinos to the hysteria Humans had created. The annoyingly ironic thing was that Great Whites were rather bite-happy. Stupid idiots. Couldn’t tell a sea lion from a Human… Now all sharks were paying the price. Fine, then. Let the Greats make their own a
ANGEL DRAGGED HERSELF ONTO THE BEACH OF THE LAST deserted cay before Bermuda and plopped her tail in the sand. Forget heading home. She wasn’t up for it. Physi-cally, mentally, emotionally. All she’d wanted was to prove to her brother that she had what it took to do the job. And look what her life had turned into… Yeah, she’d proved something all right. She’d proved that she was so unqualified to do the job it was laugh-able, and worse than that, that she didn’t know as much about Humans as she thought she did. Great. Her degree, her thesis, her life’s work… all of it wasted. If Logan was too hardheaded to give her a chance to explain, well, then, no wonder the planet was in the shape it was in. Stubborn, prejudiced… Oh who was she kidding? She missed him like Hades. Last night had been per-fect… Until she’d gotten out of that bed. He’d wanted her; he cared about her. He’d said he was falling for her. They could have had something to-gether. But she’d blown it. A tear fell on
COME TO PAPA! A.C.’S PRIZED TEETH GROUND AGAINST EACH other in anticipation—and this time he didn’t give a fly-ing fuck that a few broke off. Breakfast was about to be served. “AAAnngggeeelll!” Of course the pup had to be yelling underwater. A.C. wanted to clean out his ears. Too bad they were on the dorsal side of his head and he couldn’t reach them. Hades. Didn’t the pup have anything else to say? Another tone he could use? If only he could surge in and grab him, but A.C. was still a few yards too far out, and the water was becoming too shallow for him to be able to function properly. And if there was one thing a Hammerhead liked to do, it was function properly. He was a veritable killing machine created by the gods. He hadn’t missed any prey yet. Except that Mer… Yeah. Much as he hated to admit it, the fact that Angel had gotten away did count as a miss. Couldn’t have that. He had a 100 percent EVA. Earned Victim Average. He’d put a lot of effort into it. A.C. strummed his
LOGAN WOKE UP WITH A HELL OF A HANGOVER. AND he hadn’t even been drinking—how was that for fucking sucks? No, it wasn’t a hangover. He was drained. Physically from one of the best nights of his life—before her reve-lation—and emotionally… from, well… The damn revelation itself. She was a mermaid. A mermaid. He wouldn’t have believed it if he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes. He almost wished he’d touched her tail— No he didn’t. She was a mermaid, for chrissake. Mermaids were myths. Legends. Sirens. They lured ships onto rocks and sailors to their deaths by promis-ing nights of deadly delight. Which she’d proved in that damn kitchen. He knew something weird had been going on. He didn’t attack women. No matter how gorgeous they were. And yet, he’d slept with her. Was he out of his mind? He had to be. She had to have cast some spell over him to make him fall—oh, shit. Logan threw the covers off, one half of his brain call-ing him all sorts of idiot for even thinking what he w
“NICE.” GINGER TSK-TSKED AS SHE WATCHED LOGAN FALL onto the sand, then she turned to stare at the brown liz-ard sunning himself on the guesthouse’s eave. “You re-ally performed a public service this time.” The lizard didn’t say a word. Ginger sighed. “You do know I can see you, right?” He still didn’t respond, but one of his eyes rolled her way. “Don’t you go rolling your eyes independently of each other at me.” She undulated her neck. “I call it like I see it. And you blew it, buddy. Big time.” The lizard turned even darker brown. That was such a neat ability, being able to change color. Too bad the only way she could do it was by giving up her favorite food in the world, shrimp. And even then, it took a while and she only turned white. White. Big flappin’ deal. Thank goodness Roger adored her in pink, but still… It’d be nice to change for a change. She took a step closer to the house. “Stewie, I really think—” “It’s Stewart.” The lizard turned green with indignation. Wonder