Page 78 of Waves
Someone yelled my name in the distance.
Glancing down through the waves, I thought I spotted Mateo swimming upward, the silver of his tail glinting. It looked like he was reaching for me.
Guilt and fear blossomed, threatened to distract me from this fight, and I couldn’t afford distraction.
My palm pressed down, urging the ocean current to shove the disguised merman backward. Down far far away, where Raj couldn’t hurt him. There was no time to glance down to check on him because Raj transformed into the water dragon just long enough to spiral through the waves and make the ocean’s attacks against him ineffective. But as his body burst through the wall of water right in front of me, navy smoke encased him for a split second before the flying nightmare was back, hovering before me.
“Who is your damned master?” Each word was punctuated with a step as waves rose like pillars for me and I stomped toward Raj, rising with each stride until my face hovered near his, my expression as black as the anvil-shaped clouds above.
If it wasn’t the pirate, who’s masterminding this attack?
He gave a feral screech that was grabbed by the wind and throttled.
How long had the sultan been under someone else's control?
Who'd found his ring?
The questions crowded up my throat, each one slamming into the one before until my tongue felt thick. But none of them were voiced because another jet of flame arched my way.
My hands swept up and a ring of water spun up and encircled me, revolving around me so quickly that it batted back the fire. Raj tried again, flapping his wings and spitting flame from another angle. I added another spinning ring around myself, smiling mockingly at him when the flames couldn’t find their way to me, the tiniest sliver of wicked pride rising within.
The dragon huffed, smoke rings puffing from his nostrils, and I swore I saw a ferocity akin to lust in his eyes.
Raj had killed so many—it would make sense if battle had warped his senses to make fighting about pleasure and not survival.
A slight tingling began in my own lower belly, the perverted and inhuman side of myself gaining steam as I continued to use my power. The side of myself that saw Raj merely as a collection of skin and bones. An impediment.
Was this how he thought?
Was this a showcase of what I’d become?
The sizzling heat between my thighs denied the loss of all my human senses…but was lust even part of humanity? Or was it an animalistic?
Fire ended my philosophizing as a jet of orange heat grazed my shoulder and sent pain careening up and down my arm.
“Ahhh!” With a cry born of outrage and agony, I swiped my good arm in an arc, creating an arch of ice spears that rose ona wave and positioned themselves like a crown of ice rays above the dragon’s head.
“Tell. Me. Who.” I growled. “Stavros?”
The dragon simply purred in response, a low, wanton sound vibrating deep in his chest that made my nipples harden.
Was that a yes or is he toying with me?
Furious at my body’s responsiveness, I sent three spears stabbing. Two bounced right off his scales but one hit the tender joint of his shoulder and sank in several satisfying inches. My own shoulder throbbed twice as hard as before, but my tongue traced over my lips in brutal satisfaction at our matching wounds.
The dragon’s lips parted, and he showed his teeth in what anyone else would consider a snarl but I knew it was a smile. I knew because the air between us rippled with carnal heat right before his mouth opened and he swirled his forked tongue, a ring of flame sailing out.
With a slap of my hand through the air the ocean made to bat down the flame, but the ring split into five sparkling lines that soared off in different directions, evading my waves, teasing them. Teasing me.
Raj was enjoying this fight.
But I was too.
With a snarl, I send all the remaining ice spears hurtling down at him. His scales protected him, and the spears cracked on impact, slivering to bits.
But I waved my fingertips and let the slivers melt, slide over him as tiny cold droplets, coating his skin, and my own, with goose bumps.
Anticipation sent my heart pounding in his chest.
