Seeking the Deep Read online

  “Do what?” she managed to ask through the intoxication of his scent. This male smelled like the woods in winter. Sharp and fresh with hints of burning fire. It was a manly scent and she felt drunk on it.

  He brushed his lips over her cheek until his mouth was right next to her ear. “This,” he said, jerking her hips against his hardness once more as he nuzzled the skin of her neck.

  Her nails curled into the short hair at his nape. If he did that one more time, she was going to combust.

  “I don’t either,” she admitted. And yes, her voice shook before she could cover it up. Because this was something bigger than she’d ever felt before.

  Mate?

  Was Jase her mate? The one who could keep her from life underwater. The breaker of her curse?

  No. He couldn’t be.

  She’d been searching too long and never finding what she needed. This was just… a connection. She encountered something like this once before and that horrible man had definitely not turned out to be her mate.

  Thank the Old Gods.

  But this magic with Jase could be explained away as sexual attraction. Hot as hell, attraction. Nothing more.

  He pulled back to stare at her, those intense labradorite-like eyes swirling with desire that matched hers. “I lied,” he said.

  “About what?” Shit. She wasn’t ready for this all to come crashing down.

  “I am taking you home.” His thumb brushed her lower lip, back and forth, back and forth, as he stared hungrily at her mouth. “And look at that, woman, you didn’t even have to ask.”

  Vada smiled, hoping the relief she felt inside didn’t show on her face.

  “I told you, rekkr. I don’t ask.”

  “We’ll see.”

  And then he turned, pulling her along as he parted the crowd, headed for the exit.

  Chapter Three

  Jase unlocked the door of his cabin with one hand while the other held Vada close. She felt like a treasure he didn’t dare let go of. And the way she clung to him, her lips grazing his neck, he thought maybe she felt the same.

  Guilt slammed him hard as he managed to disengage the lock.

  He shouldn’t be doing this. This wasn’t how he worked. This was the behavior of his father, a womanizer who got drunk and slept around on his mother with women he didn’t know.

  Vada pushed the door open and Jase backed her inside.

  No. No, goddamn it.

  He wasn’t that. He wasn’t his father. No matter what happened between him and Vada tonight, he wasn’t that horrible man. For starters, he wasn’t drunk. And neither was she. He’d watched her order one drink. So whatever this amazing attraction between them was… he knew what it wasn’t. It wasn’t two people who wouldn’t remember things in the morning.

  And damn, he planned on keeping her busy until then. The things he wanted to do to Vada were going to take all fucking night.

  Shutting the door behind him, he kept his eyes on her as she walked backwards, her sexy hips swaying until he felt dizzy from them. They were like a siren’s call, pulling him in.

  Good god, this woman.

  With the sexiest smile he’d ever seen, she reached for the bottom of her tank and started lifting it. But he knew she was bare under that scrap of fabric. And he wasn’t ready to have that sight burned into his eyes yet.

  “Wait.”

  Vada froze, her smile fading.

  “Not yet,” Jase grated. “Not until I say.”

  A tiny line formed between her eyes as she frowned.

  He strolled forward, casually unbuttoning his jeans to give his cock some much needed room. He’d never been this hard. Not ever. Damn.

  “I want to savor you,” he explained as he brushed her soft hair from her face and let his gaze fall to her lips. He hadn’t kissed her yet. Her lips looked like the softest candy. He was dying to taste them.

  “You do?” Her tone was confused and he found her questioning eyes.

  “Who wouldn’t want to savor you, woman? You’re…” He blew out a hard breath as he looked down her body again. “I don’t want to miss a thing. I’m going to peel these clothes off inch by inch until there’s nothing left, and then I’m going to have my way with every gorgeous piece of you.”

  He watched her swallow hard and knew his words had affected her by the way her eyelids drooped.

  That’s right. Melt, baby. Melt for me.

  He was going to make this night good. Because at the end of it all, he didn’t want either of them regretting a moment.

  Hand on her cheek, he dove for her lips at the same time that she went to her tiptoes for the same reason. They came together in a hot clash, her wanton tongue finding his before he could even explore the feel of her lips.

  Didn’t matter. She tasted like hot, hot summer nights beside the water. Salty and sweet at the very same time, making him go weak inside. If he ever wanted to get drunk on something, it would be her kisses. Because they were sweeter than fucking sin.

  Her quick hands slid beneath his t-shirt, short nails scraping against the ridge of his muscles and stealing his breath.

  Good fuck.

  Didn’t the woman understand what it meant to go slow?

  Jase pulled back, lifting her into his arms as he stalked to his bedroom. He relied on the light from the full moon filtering through the window blinds to find the bed, and dumped Vada right in the middle of it before turning on the lamp so he could see her.

  She stared up at him with her icy eyes hungry as he peeled his own shirt over his head and tossed it away. Stripping off his jeans he kicked them aside and gripped his cock to show her the effect she had on him.

  “Is that for me,” she purred like a vixen, giggling as he stalked forward.

  “Only if you beg.”

  “I don’t beg.”

  “You will.”

  He straddled her waist trying to decide the best way to unwrap his tasty little morsel. Dragging his fingertips along her jaw and down her throat, feeling her moan vibrate against him, he hooked his hand around the collar of her tank and pulled it down so that it stretched beneath her breasts. With her trussed up like this, he had easy access to her nipples.

  And he took full fucking advantage of it. Sucking and licking and teasing her to exhaustion.

  “Jase! Oh, gods…” She was perfectly losing it under his attention. And it gave him such satisfaction he wanted to burst. “Please, I need you inside me.”

  He nipped her lower lip. “Are you begging?”

  “I... I…”

  He pressed his knee between her legs to remind her that she needed to be filled. And then pulled back to peel off her jeans. Underneath, her tiny black panties were soaked with her wetness, and he removed those too.

  He brushed his nose across the crease of her thigh, dragging her scent into his lungs and narrowly resisting the urge to lick through her folds.

  “Yes!” she cried. “Gods, yes, I’m begging. Please, please, please.”

  “Please what, Vada?”

  “Please fuck me.” Her voice held an edge of desperation.

  “Not until I get all these clothes off of you.” There was just her shirt to remove, but he wanted to see all of her.

  He turned her onto her belly, pulling her up to her knees, finally lifting the tank over her head.

  “Mmm, your tattoo is beautiful…” He wanted to trace it with his tongue before venturing down the crack of her ass.

  “My tattoo?”

  He kissed her hip, nibbling the flesh there. “Scales, like a mermaid, right? Because of the stories about the lake?” A growl rose from his chest as he imagined pounding her from behind as the shimmering tattoo hypnotized him with every thrust.

  That’s what he would do. Take her from behind.

  “J-Jase?” Her voice shook. Her whole body trembled as he gripped the back of her neck and pushed her shoulders to the bed. “You can… you can see it? My mark?”

  Mark. Is that what she called it?

 
“Yes. And I’ll be sure to pay it special attention, trust that.” He lined his cock at her entrance.

  “Wait, Jase you can’t touch—” He pushed between her lips drawing a sharp gasp from her, and then a long delicious moan.

  And it was a good thing too, because she felt too good on him to stop. Sinking into her felt strangely like freedom and he couldn’t explain why it choked him up. For a moment, he wondered if this could be a beginning for them instead of just a single night. Maybe he’d finally fixed his life enough to deserve a relationship. What if he could have more with Vada. Something that lasted into the future, which had always seemed a little bleak before. What if he didn’t have to work here, sleep here, exist here, alone anymore?

  He had never let himself imagine a life like that.

  Whoa, Jase.

  Fuck. He needed to get ahold of himself. This wasn’t a commitment. This was sex. Really fucking good sex, and he was going to enjoy it.

  “Jase. Please.”

  “What?” he asked, reaching around to palm one of her tits, squeezing the nipple until she moaned. “What are you asking for, baby?” Hearing her beg for him was almost too much.

  “I… we should talk… this is…” Whatever she was saying ended in a cry of pleasure as his fingers found her clit and started working it. Her body tightened on his swelling cock and he knew they were both close.

  He was going to see fucking stars with this one.

  “Oh, gods!” Vada screamed, throwing her head back as her orgasm took her over the edge. The feel of her body clenching on him was too much as he continued thrusting.

  “Yes,” he grated through the sensations. “Come, baby. Come on me. Don’t stop.”

  He was going to lose it. Two more breaths, two more of her moans…

  He dragged a hand down her back, relishing the feel of her silken skin, and stared at her mark. It undulated with each push of his hips.

  Mine.

  He wasn’t normally territorial like this. But the word slammed into his mind, and he knew he would want more with her. No, tonight wouldn’t be his only night with her. Not if he had anything to say about it.

  Lower and lower, his touch went as Vada’s sounds filled his ears. And when his fingers brushed over the mark she’d inked into her body, something strange happened.

  “No!” she screamed, jerking beneath him.

  But it was too late.

  With a roar that stole his breath, he came hard.

  And he did see stars. So many of them, high in the sky above him as he swayed on a ship. A ship? Yes.

  The aurora blazed in the sky overhead, but it was different than he was used to. This time it glowed with something otherworldly. Something powerful. He could feel the magic in the air around him…

  And then the screams.

  Looking around, he finally noticed the other people on the ship. They were dressed in costumes, like warriors. Leather and fur and swords. And they were dropping like flies as the waves of the lake splashed violently over the side of the boat.

  Jase squinted, trying to understand what was happening. And that’s when he saw her.

  Vada.

  Her scared eyes cut him deep as she looked around, sword drawn as if she intended to find the danger and hurt it.

  Sword? Shit. What the hell?

  But just like Jase, she couldn’t see it. Whatever attacked the crew was invisible. Until it got her too.

  Jase watched in horror as she dropped to the floor of the ship, writhing in pain.

  “Vada!” He ran forward, falling to his knees to scoop her up…

  Except it was impossible.

  His arms moved through her as if she was nothing more than a wisp. Like she was a ghost. No more substantial than and idea. An imagining. Something he’d conjured.

  But it didn’t keep her from screaming in agony as her body jerked and contorted, twisting into something he couldn’t unsee. Scales started forming at her waist and spread downward as her legs fused together. Silvery and iridescent and colorful as the rainbow.

  Like her tattoo.

  It only took seconds for her to transform from a sword wielding maiden to something unbelievable. Jase stared at the mermaid Vada as she slapped her tail against the deck of the ship. The horrified look on her face was something he would never forget as long as he lived.

  He watched as she clawed her way to the edge of the sinking ship. Water. She needed the water.

  And when she went over the edge, his world went dark.

  Chapter Four

  Vada paced Jase’s bedroom as she waited for him to wake, a million different explanations at the ready for when he did.

  He could see her scales.

  Only one person in the world could see her damn scales, and she’d never met him until now.

  Her mate.

  Only her mate could see her mating mark, the sign the gods and Tamsin had given the cursed ones as hope.

  Long ago, her people came to this place to plunder the lake and the land of its goods before returning to the Old Land. The place she called home. Where she was born and learned to fight. It was a perilous time, all those many years ago, and plundering was how they survived. How they got rich.

  How they conquered and ruled.

  Coming to this then untapped land was no different.

  Except the beings who inhabited this place so long ago weren’t human. They were spirits or gods or something else Vada’s warrior people couldn’t understand. She knew now that the being they crossed, Tamsin, wasn’t a witch as they’d called her in the beginning. She was of the land, of the earth, and the sky. Watching the people pillage and steal the jewels from the lake, was surely difficult enough. But when her heart was broken by one of the warriors in a savage betrayal…

  Well, Tamsin decided to teach the lot of them a lesson.

  She cursed them all to live out eternity at the bottom of the lake with the jewels they cared so much for. Three nights a month, when the moon was full in the sky, the Mer could shed their fin and walk on land. Walk as they once had. As a human. If they could find their true mate, there was a chance at breaking the curse that bound them to the water.

  And Jase… Jase was the mate Vada had been searching for.

  She didn’t even know his last name.

  But right now, he was certainly learning a shit-ton about her. Touching the scales allowed him to see her history. She wasn’t sure how much he would learn at once, but it was surely enough to have him reeling by the time he woke.

  And damn it, she’d tried to stop him from touching the mark. But she was caught up in the moment, and couldn’t properly explain herself when he was drilling her from behind like he was.

  She moaned at the memory of what he felt like inside her. Gods have mercy, but her mate was a fantastic lover.

  “Thank you,” whispered to the ceiling. The Old Gods would hear her. Probably. She wasn’t sure if they were even awake all these years later, but just in case, she’d give them her thanks.

  She stared at Jase where he lay naked on the bed. It was unclear how long he would be unconscious. She’d never done this before. Didn’t know a lot about it. Only the whisperings underwater. The Mer who had mated before her passed on what knowledge they could about the mating process, but each experience was so different that it was hard to know for sure.

  Vada pulled the sheet over Jase’s body, tucking it around him neatly. No need for her human to be cold when he woke. And while she waited, she decided to look around his place and see what she could learn about him.

  It was only fair. When he woke he’d know a lot about her. She didn’t want to be caught on uneven ground right from the start.

  Leaving the bedroom, she headed for the living area. A cushy leather couch sat in front of the fireplace. A stack of mail had been haphazardly tossed on the coffee table.

  There. Might as well start with his name.

  She picked up the mail, shuffling through until she found something that wasn’t labeled Curre
nt Resident.

  “Jase Alexander McCarthy,” she read aloud.

  McCarthy.

  Inside, her blood ran cold.

  McCarthy.

  She knew the name McCarthy. Knew it well. Her mate couldn’t… couldn’t be a McCarthy.

  Vada dropped the mail, stumbling backwards until she hit a wall. Painful memories ricocheted through her chest, threatening all the hope that had been building there over the past few minutes.

  If Jase was a McCarthy, then he was related to…

  “No,” she breathed, her chest already aching from what this meant for him. For her.

  But she had to make sure first. How many McCarthys could there be in a small place like Aurora Falls? Surely not many. And surely they were all from the same line.

  Drawing in a deep breath and pushing back her panic, she looked around his home. Where might he keep his photos? His history. Records of the past.

  In the corner was a small cabinet. It looked to be locked, but the key was hanging out of the mechanism. Rushing over, she pulled open the door and breathed a sigh of relief to find several thick-spined books.

  Albums. Just what she needed for proof.

  Please. Please don’t let it be true, she chanted in her mind as she pulled one heavy album from the shelf and began flipping through the photos. It contained pictures of Jase as a boy with sweet blond curls and chubby cheeks, and for a moment, it made Vada pause. If they mated, their child would look like him. She imagined his labradorite eyes and her stubborn attitude. They would make beautiful children together.

  And she’d always wanted to be a mother. Even when she was young. But as a warrior under the old laws, she wouldn’t have been afforded that kind of future. That was left to the more gentler females. Like her sister.

  Brushing off the past, she continued flipping through the first album, watching her mate grow up through photos. First day of school. Soccer games. Holidays celebrated. She watched him get taller and broader. Watched his innocent grin turn into something more muted by the time she found a picture of him in a strange cap and gown. If she remembered correctly, humans wore the clothing to signify the completion of their education.