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Lily’s swimming lessons were moving along nicely even though it had only been a week. She was superb at moving underwater and faster than he’d ever seen. Her entire body moved up and down as she held her arms still next to her body, slithering like an eel riding the waves. It seemed to be a natural way she swam, and he didn’t bother to encourage her to use her arms.
She wasn’t at ease swimming above the water. He watched, taking notes and emailing her progress to Robyn.
He kept a safe distance now that she was capable in the water.
“One more lap, cupcake.”
“I’m tired,” she grumbled. She’d been in her teenage persona for most of the day. He wondered why.
“Why are you so tired?”
“You’ve been making me swim all day, and you’re just sitting there,” she accused, a baleful gaze on him. “And I hardly slept last night.”
She did seem to toss and turn, calling out in her sleep to him. Usually, it was easier for him to relax on her bed to be available, but since the kiss, he didn’t dare.
Was he affecting her sleep with his lack of attention? The teenage Lily had no idea of his sexual interest.
“One more lap, lazy girl. We’ll tire you enough to crash hard and sleep the whole night through.”
“Well, shit,” she said deliberately. She paused for the briefest second as if waiting to see what he’d do, then dunked her head before he could reprimand her language. Unfortunately, she forgot to take a breath.
Jason snapped, getting rid of the keyboard of light he’d been typing on as he jumped to his feet.
She didn’t come up.
“Lily?” he called.
What the fuck?
“Lily!”
He was about to dive in the pool when she burst from the water, her head flinging back wet hair as she inhaled.
She never coughed.
Instead, her body stiffened. She tossed her shoulders back, her breasts thrusting upward as she arched her back. As he stared, her skin hardened, thickening with lines of muscle, beginning at the top and almost rolling through her body. Body fat and curves disappeared as she became leaner.
The material of her one-piece swimsuit broke away, floating away from her toward Jason. In disbelief, he grabbed it and moved back toward the edge of the pool.
She howled—a throaty, primal shriek that had no words, just a deep pit of emotion as if all she understood was pain. Her head disappeared under water and Jason leaped into the pool. Below the surface of the water, her legs opened and then snapped shut, fusing together instantly, her feet changing, elongating into fins. Her fingers grew, morphing into sharp, dagger-shaped claws. Her breasts had mutated into hard breastplates of armor and her eyes glowed an eerie green light that normally came from her skin.
As he watched, they focused on him, no recognition in her gaze. Instead, he saw an instinct as old as time.
Hunt.
She opened her mouth and he saw rows of teeth emerge, triangular shaped. Then, with a speed he could only imagine, she focused on him again and moved.
She was on him in an instant. He jerked himself out of the water seconds before her claws almost had him. In a smooth move, he grasped her by the arm and, using all his strength, heaved her onto the deck next to him. Her claws lashed out, grasping at air as he quickly rolled away. She flopped, out of sorts without water to propel her giant fish tail. She gasped as if part of her remembered she could use her mouth for air, but not remembering how. Her tail thumped against the concrete so hard he wondered if one of them, either her tail or the concrete, would burst from the force.
The new creature struggled for air.
“Breathe, Lily. You have human lungs. Use them.” His heart raced as he spoke. As a creature, she was magnificent. Adrenaline raced through his limbs, making his breath harsh as he focused on her, the flimsy swimsuit still in his outstretched fingers.
She took a deep, shuddering breath. She angrily glared at him and reached for the pool with one outstretched claw. He tensed, prepared to charge to keep her from reaching it. But as he watched, her skin began to soften. The transformation was slower now as if she fought the change back to human. The metamorphosis was beyond her control. Her fingers shortened, the claws retracting back to fingernails.
A ding sounded, signaling an elevator on the way up. People were coming. Jason cursed. How much time had elapsed? His reserved block of uninterrupted pool time couldn’t be over. He glanced down at his watch, which should have warned him with an alarm half an hour ago.
The watch plate was smashed against his wrist.
He scooped Lily up, her huge fish-tail flopping in his arms and ran toward their elevator, slamming against the button with his shoulder.
He glanced behind him. The other elevator doors were opening, revealing a group of people, all dressed in their swimwear, bursting out of the elevator to take in the glorious beauty of the pool rooftop.
Shit, it was too late. They would see what he held in his arms.
His door slid open, and he slipped inside. Lily opened her mouth to snarl, and he sunk onto the elevator floor with her, swiping his palm across the control panel. He used the same hand to cover her mouth, clamping it shut. She wriggled in his grasp, furious at being trapped, her tail flopping angrily on the floor, but the elevator doors shut anyway. His left arm clamped around her waist and her huge tail banged against the doors, furious at being contained.
On the ride down, her legs split through the tail, the flesh healing around them, and disappearing into normal, human skin. She ceased struggling, and he removed his hand from her mouth.
The elevator doors opened into his apartment. He hoisted her out, holding her naked form in his arms, sinking onto the sofa with her. He was dimly aware of dropping the torn, wet swimsuit.
“Lily. Lily. Lily.” He couldn’t stop saying her name, over and over, like a mantra.
“Jason? What happened?” She was shaking.
“You changed,” he said. “Became something else. The other part of your DNA.”
“I couldn’t think. Not coherent thoughts. I could only feel. What the hell was I?”
“A type of fish.”
“What?”
“You were primitive. Not a mermaid. A sea creature.”
“Jason, you have to promise never to be in the water with me again. I don’t know what I could do...”
“It’s okay, Lily. We’ll work through this.”
“I can feel Steele trying to communicate inside me. Not like the telepathic link but some other kind of awareness on his end.”
“Let him in,” Jason said. “Let him feel what you went through.”
“Promise me first. Promise me you won’t get into the water with me.”
It seemed important to her.
“I promise.”
Lily went still in his arms.
Overhead, Robyn’s voice came on the speaker of the vidcam. “Jason?”
“Yeah.”
“I scrambled the waves so we’re untraceable, but I can’t get imagery this way. Is she okay? Steele felt an urgency with her, but he couldn’t force his way into her mind.”
“Yes. She’s in a trance right now.”
“He is, too. He’s stronger than she is. He can break away to repeat things and give me small snippets of conversation. Can you do me a favor? I’ve re-programmed your hologram computer with a brain scanner. Use a hand to pull down your keyboard.”
Jason used his fingers to tap his personal code in the air and then swiped. The keyboard appeared in the air. This time it was shaped differently, more like an ergonomic keyboard with a huge section in the middle.
“Place it over her head, right where the dip of the keyboard is.”
Jason placed it over Lily and watched as patterns scrolled across. Robyn was quiet as she studied.
“Okay, I have enough information.”
With a swipe, the hologram disintegrated. He waited for Robyn’s response. Finally, she spoke again.
“From what I deduced, her teenage state is what triggered the prehistoric change. It would be interesting to note that in her mature state, she triggers more siren qualities. Those qualities have a different look to the brainwave patterns, more like the recordings of the waves you sent me after the email. I think the difference is equated to humans. If we were able to change, as children we’d be immature cave people. As adults, we’d become the humans we are today. Does that make sense?”
“Lily becomes a siren when she morphs in the water...if her brain is mature. But if she’s in her teenage state, she becomes a prehistoric creature that her people were before they became sirens?”
“Exactly. Not that we’re able to put that theory to a test.”
“Basically the issue is working on keeping her the hell away from water. Because she has razor sharp teeth, Robyn. And claws.”
“Keeping her away from water would be an excellent idea. Until we can test her in a controlled environment with people on standby in case she changes. Steele and Pax came up with some wetsuits that act as armor. It would be an excellent opportunity to put those to use.”
“Got it. Our swim lessons are done and over while here. Her sodium levels are up anyway.”
His heart rate was ramping down now that he was safe from the prehistoric beast. Lily was still, her communication with Steele all focused inside her head. Jason held her close, rocking her slightly.
“I’m going to disconnect. Steele’s coming back, so I imagine Lily will, too. Tell her everything is fine, this is a normal thing with her species. It’s important to keep her from worrying.”
As his adrenaline came down, he realized his arms stung. There were bright red gashes across his biceps where she’d clawed him in the elevator.
“Jason? I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to”—Lily gulped—“want to eat you.”
“It’s okay, Lily-bun. You can’t help changing. We’ll figure it out. Together.”
She gasped, staring at his arms. “I hurt you.”
“They’re just scratches.”
“They’re oozing blood.”
Lily jumped off his lap, standing in front of him. She looked down the front of her. “Oh. I’m butt-naked.”
His voice was dry. “Ya think?”
She backed away, into her bedroom. When she emerged, she had on a shirt and shorts and a first aid kit. “Please, let me fix you up. There are these cool butterfly bandages that will keep the wound closed. It’ll be fun.” Her bright green eyes gleamed in that Lily way. Only she would find playing with a first aid kit fun. He was wary, trying to get a feel for which Lily she was...the woman or the kid. Being a kid had proven to be dangerous, in more ways than one.
He fought against flinching when she disinfected his wounds. He never winced when she rubbed at them enthusiastically with a cotton ball. He didn’t roll his eyes when she had taped a row of Band-Aids across his wound like sticker stitches.
“You’re good as new. We put a shirt on you, and no one would even know.”
She had his arms wrapped round and round with gauze, like mummy arms. He didn’t have the heart to tell her he couldn’t go out in public like this. Instead, he smiled and thanked her, his pathetic heart overflowing with emotion when she lowered her forehead to touch his.
The way he had done for her the very first time he’d carried her from the island to Xenia.
