Page 10 of Riding the Tide

He had seen the animal several times, then the animal would disappear and a native would be standing not far from the last place Blair saw the jaguar. Which he admitted he could’ve discounted if he hadn’t run across the same native a week later in the process of shifting back into a human.

He got away from the tribe and returned to civilization as quickly as he could after seeing that. Admittedly, he was afraid the tribe would force him to stay. The shifter he saw was someone who wanted him, but Blair hadn’t been interested. Blair added there’d also been things he saw in the ocean that were unusual.

After listening to that, Marcus knew he shouldn’t have scoffed at Blair’s remark about his instincts. Indeed, it sounded as if Blair had some well-developed ones.

Blair stopped. “Of course, I didn’t see anything in the ocean as interesting as you.”

Marcus chuckled. “I imagine not. But I do find what you’re saying fascinating. I’ve often wondered if we were the only nonhumans around. From what you’re saying, we aren’t.”

“Oh, you’re not. I know there are men who can shift into jaguars. Based on that, it stands to reason there are others around who can do the same.”

“Absolutely fascinating.”

Blair snickered. “I agree, you totally are.”

“Oddly enough, I felt the same way about you,” Marcus said.

CHAPTER FOUR

“IDON’Tknowwhy.You’re the merman.” Blair knew he was blushing. Hopefully Marcus couldn’t see it, but he had a feeling he could. He was sitting here talking to merman. Amerman.He still couldn’t wrap his head around it.

Maybe he should’ve been terrified—okay, he was a little afraid—but not of Marcus. He hadn’t been anything but nice and quite helpful. There was something about him, something that spoke to him, reassured him.

Blair felt not only comfortable, but safe. Which was hysterical. But then again, maybe not. That jaguar shifter certainly never inspired such feelings. There was a sense of primitiveness about the man which had unsettled Blair and sent the hair on the back of his neck bristling.

He didn’t get that from Marcus. Oh, there was little doubt Marcus was a predator. There was a wildness to him, a sense of otherworldliness, but he didn’t feel threatened by Marcus, whereas he had by the jaguar shifter. No, what Marcus made him feel was something totally different. Stiff, hard, or aching would be good descriptions, but not afraid.

“And you’re the human. I still think you’re fascinating.”

Him—fascinating. Ha. That was hysterical, considering Marcus had a tail a few moments ago.Thatwas fascinating. And oh dear God, was Marcus flirting with him? Blair thought he was, but did mermen flirt differently than humans? He couldn’t believe he thought that either.

Speaking of mermen, Marcus’ long hair was fabulous. It was azure blue with dark blue highlights. Apparently, no matter what form he was in, it stayed the same color. His eyes were a pale, pale blue, and he had a scar running through his right eyebrow, which was blue, too.Wonder where he got the scar?

Was all the hair on his body blue? A closer look revealed no hair on Marcus’ arms or legs. Interesting. Marcus had a swimmer’s build—not surprising, considering—and was ripped. Blair licked his lips. He could spend hours tracing Marcus’ abs with his tongue.

“Do you spend a lot of time around humans?” Blair asked, trying to get his mind off of the sexy, tight body next to him and the possibility of blue hair… everywhere.

“It depends on what you mean by that. There are a few I’m acquainted with who are mated to other mers. I spend time with them. They split their lives between the ocean and the land, but I tend to stay more in the water. It’s where I’m the most comfortable.”

“Oh wow, that’s…” Blair shook his head trying to imagine a life underwater. “You refer to yourself as mers?”

“Merfolk. Or mer for short.” Marcus shrugged. “As you can plainly see, I’m male. The females of our species are mermaids. More often than not, we mate each other, but sometimes we do mate with humans.”

“You guys can do that? You can be with humans?” Excitement shot through Blair. He wanted to know everything. He had so many questions, especially concerning humans.

“Yes, but I’m not going to go into exactly how. That’s not information you need.”

Blair sighed. Ah well, he should’ve seen that coming. Marcus didn’t know him, and he was human, to boot. Of course he’d be leery of giving away too much information on their species. He held onto the fact Marcus said they could be with humans.

Blair still had a hard time believing Marcus sat there so calmly talking to him. “I guess I can understand that.”

Now that he thought about it, he was surprised Marcus was willing to talk with himat all. He mentioned they weren’t supposed to tell humans about their existence. Which begged the question ofwhyMarcus was talking to him.

“I will say we can mate humans. And by mating I mean something similar to a human marriage. Kind of.”

“But, how does that work? I mean, I’m assuming you guys can breathe underwater, right? And you can obviously breathe air.” Blair waved his hand at Nisha. “You said a minute ago that some of you split your time between the land and water, so…?”

“Yes. We can breathe underwater. As far as our human mates, I’m not really comfortable going into that.”

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