Page 35 of Riding the Tide

A low, rolling grunt heralded the appearance of a monstrous stingray. Marcus could’ve wept with joy. He knew the dolphins would answer his distress call, but he wasn’t sure the stingray would—they tended to be ornery creatures.

The stingray joined the fray. The shark and the stingray clashed, the water churning around them from powerful sweeps of the shark’s tail. Every fish in the surrounding area fled in a desperate bid to get away from the two predators.

After a near miss from the stingray’s tail, the shark gave up the battle and darted off into the gloomy darkness. Marcus softly trilled his thanks, and the stingray answered with a short grunt. It turned and drifted back off into the deep.

The dolphins raced to him, fluttering about as he willed the defensive spikes back into his skin again. He glanced up and shoved his hair out of his face so he could see better. Above him Blair treaded water, the dolphins still staying close by.

Now that fear released its icy grip, anger stormed through him. What the hell was the human thinking? More than a little annoyed, he powered through the water heading straight for Blair. As soon as Blair surfaced he should’ve gotten out of the water.

He popped up next to Blair and grabbed him by his shoulders. “Are you okay?”

“I… I… holy shit, there was a… a… sh-shark and…”

Why was Blair stuttering? The shark hadn’t come close to him, so what was his problem? Only then did he notice how Blair shook under his hands. Was something else wrong with him?

“M-M-Marcus…”

Now Blair was chattering, and his skin was cool, clammy. His breathing was also rapid and shallow. Shit. Was he injured? Had he somehow gotten hurt? Maybe he fell off the boat instead of jumping in. Wouldn’t be the first time.

Marcus pulled Blair closer and wrapped his arms around him. “Are you hurt? Did you fall off the boat again? Are you okay? Blair!” Marcus’ heart rate spiked. “Answer me!”

“You… You… You…”

“Okay, that’s it. We’ve got to get you in the boat. Is there a phone on there? A radio? I have no idea how to drive one and you’re not in any condition to… Wheredidyou get a boat?”

“Rented it.”

“Okay. Okay, here’s what we’re going… oomph!”

Marcus flailed inelegantly as he tried to keep Blair and himself from submerging. Suddenly his mate was doing a fine imitation of an octopus—Blair’s arms and legs banding around him as Blair plastered his mouth against Marcus’.

Marcus immediately dropped his hands to Blair’s ass and cupped it, pulling Blair as close as possible as the kiss they shared turned frantic. Using his tail to keep their heads above water, Marcus allowed Blair to plunder his mouth. And plunder Blair did.

Desperation tainted the kiss. The moans coming from Blair were closer to sobs than pleasure. The furious battle of tongues eased as Marcus gentled the kiss. As much as he hated letting go of Blair’s fine ass, he did and gently rubbed his hands up and down Blair’s back. He ended the kiss and licked his lips as Blair buried his face in Marcus’ neck.

“I need to know you’re okay,” Marcus whispered. “Can you at least tell me that?”

Blair, still refusing to look up, nodded miserably against Marcus’ shoulder.

“Nothing hurts?”

Blair shook his head.

“That means you’re probably either scared or in shock. You need to get back on your boat—”

“No!” Blair yelled, rearing back. “Don’t leave me, don’t leave me. Please!”

“Hey, hey.” Marcus patted Blair’s back. Well, he certainly hadn’t been expecting that reaction. “No one said anything about leaving. I thought that maybe we needed to get you on the boat and warm you up.”

“The w-water’s warm.”

“Exactly. The water is warm, and you’re still shaking. You might be going into shock. Don’t you usually need a sugary drink during times like this, too?”

“I’m fine. Really. I… I didn’t see the shark, and… and then the shark was there and suddenly you were there, and, and, and I had no idea you were around, and the dolphins came out of nowhere and, oh my God, I thought I was going to die.”

“You’re going to if you don’t take a breath.”

Blair giggled and dropped his head on Marcus’ shoulder. “Okay, yeah. Yeah. Breathe.”

---