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I padded down the smooth marble hall, the warm, dappled sunlight caressing my mostly bare shoulders as I passed under the arches and columns that made up Heimdall’s palatial home. To my right, a stunning vista of rolling hills and beautiful white stone houses stretched off to the horizon. A flock of strange birds swooped by, the sun glinting off their long, flowing silver feathers. The air was always just the perfect temperature, and I knew from my past memories that the seasons only changed in certain areas, so a person could live forever in the conditions they desired, or travel to experience all the different settings the realm had to offer. Innate magical energy powered everything, and the beings who lived here had control over it, so the harsher changes that existed on Earth weren’t present here. Fruit trees placed at regular intervals about the grounds were always bursting with ripe delicacies. The air always felt perfect against your skin.
There was a lingering sweetness and perfection to everything that made me...uneasy. It was like looking at a picture-perfect apple, but knowing the insides were completely rotten. Everything here was crafted to be just as the people living here liked it. Nothing that they disapproved of was allowed to flourish, and it felt unnatural, wrong.
In the few days since Chike and Rhys arrived here, I had managed to behave well enough to bargain. My father wouldn’t let them out of their god-forged chains, and they were being forced to exist in a plane that they weren’t used to. Because of that, their magic and their life forces were constantly being drained. Rhys would feed from Chike and I maybe once or twice a week back on Earth. But here, the health he gained from feeding faded every day, leaving him wan and half-crazed. And Chike got weaker and more lack-luster with every moment he was away from the waters of Earth.
My meeting this morning with Heimdall had given me an ulcer that would probably never heal. He had wanted me to prove that I was trying to learn how to use my powers and that I really wanted to be of assistance before he would even think about helping my “pets.”
“Humans will believe in the old gods again,” he told me, his ageless face wearing a smile that sent chills down my spine. “They will worship us and bow to our will as they did before you left us. And with each new follower, the gods will grow in strength and greatness.” And with my newly restored memories, I could hear what he wasn’t saying—that with every new follower, their connection to the Earth plane would grow, letting them influence things there—craft natural disasters, great floods, or perfect harvests...all to manipulate and control the beings of Earth as they had thousands of years ago. They would feed off the humans’ faith, siphoning power from them, making the gods ever stronger.
My hands had started to shake, and nausea rose in the pit of my stomach the moment I tried to put my power to work to gain Heimdall some new human followers. Apparently, something inside me knew the difference between my own will and my attempts to carry out the will of others. Nearly a quarter of an hour later, I’d felt something shift inside me as I forced the power to obey. Then I’d bent over and puked up my breakfast at Heimidall’s feet.
The god had just laughed, his entire being flaring with light briefly as he sighed in pleasure, as he gained something from the heart of a new follower—from a human I’d just manipulated into believing in an asshole.
“Your methods could be improved,” he had said loftily as he waved for a servant to magic away my vomit. “But I can see you are making an effort. I will reward you by ensuring your pets live out the week.”
I had glared up at him, my mouth still tasting of vomit and my entire body feeling shaky and weak. “Live out the week?” I demanded.
He just gave me a patronizing look, like a tolerant parent might give a difficult child. “If you keep trying to improve. One new follower really isn’t much of an accomplishment. And I can’t have you soiling my hall every time we call on your abilities.”
It was humiliating and rage-inducing. But in the end, I had obtained daily “feeders” for Rhys from among the palace servants and permission to take Chike out of my rooms twice a week to see to his needs. Of course, the stipulation was that Rhys remain chained up and separate from us during these outings, just in case we decided to try to escape.
Honestly, even if Rhys was with us, trying to just run away from the palace would have been a pointless endeavor. We were surrounded by gods, in a realm where we knew no one and had very little idea how anything worked. I knew from my distant memories that even if we were to head far away from the homes of the greater gods and seek assistance elsewhere, all we would find would be quiet, shrinking beings of little power and little concern with the affairs of others. If we were going to get out of here, we had to wait until we had some hope of finding a way back to Earth. And the one in control of the Bifrost—the passage between the god realm and Earth—was my dear old demented dad.
The hallway widened and the columns ended, opening up into a small courtyard of flowering trees that danced in a sea-scented breeze. A sparkling pool glittered in the afternoon sun, beckoning like a scene from a tropical paradise. The guards behind me fussed over Chike’s restraints, freeing his hands and feet but leaving the metal collar around his slender throat. A longer chain was attached to his collar, then hooked to a ring set into a heavy boulder that I suspected was impossible to lift, given the stupid way magic infused everything here. I watched as the lead guard straightened and backed away. He gave me a narrow-eyed look from his perfect, godly face. “He stays chained. Any attempt to get free, and you won’t like the outcome.” He didn’t elaborate, but a flare of lightning sparked from his fingertips. “And Heimdall says to remind you that privileges can be revoked for children who misbehave.”
I crossed my arms over my chest and glared right back at him. “Fuck off. We get an hour, and I don’t want you looking at my siren, you creepy-assed perv.”
He wasn’t impressed. “Remember, human. We have ways of knowing what you’re up to, even when no one is watching.”
I flipped my hand in a careless gesture, as if dismissing a peasant. “Begone, tool.”
When we were finally alone, Chike stepped closer, rubbing his wrists where the damned magic god-metal had left faint burn marks on his perfect skin. The tiny scales on his cheekbones and scattered here and there across his skin were dull, their usual opal sheen faded to a sickly greenish gray. “Thank you, Troy,” he whispered, his smooth voice nearly back to full strength, but still lacking...something. Magic, probably.
I slid my hand through his limp lavender hair to cup the back of his head as I pressed my forehead to his. “Do not thank me for managing to finagle a little crumb of what you need to live. This is all so stupid.”
He tilted his head to press his lips to mine briefly before stepping back. “At the moment, I’d beg and grovel on my knees if that’s what it took to get in the water.”
His face tried for humor, but it didn’t work when I could hear the anguish in his voice. I’d never really paid much attention to his needs back on Earth. We lived in a place surrounded by water. And his parents owned a massive salt-water pool. He probably found time to take a dip more often than I realized, but I just never thought about it.
You never know the things you take for granted until they’re gone.
“Get in. Time’s wasting,” I said, shooing him toward the glistening pool behind us. It looked like a small natural lake, but I knew this place well enough to know nothing was ever entirely natural. The gods manipulated even nature itself. But hopefully the water would be close enough to what was on Earth to help restore Chike’s energy. I had been feeding him and Rhys bits of my godspark whenever I could, but I should be conserving energy. I had a feeling I was going to need every bit of power I could muster if we wanted to get out of here.
Chike gave me a wry look. “You think the guards are still watching? I wouldn’t want to give the perverts an eyeful.”
I rolled my eyes at him. I found it hard to believe that the mer-siren cross was suddenly modest.
He lifted his hand and undid the knot that kept his stupid toga-like dress thingy together, letting the lightweight fabric slither to the ground. The situation might not be ideal, but I still couldn’t help but admire my beautiful sea creature. He was slender and graceful, but perfectly proportioned, strong in the way a dancer might be—without the need for showy bulk. His long lavender hair fell to his lower back, and I couldn’t help reaching out to run a hand through the silky strands. “Such a pretty unicorn,” I teased.
It was a desperate attempt. I felt like humor was our last defense against the ridiculous situation we were in.
He snapped his slightly pointed teeth at me and turned to stride toward the water, giving me a view of his cute ass. “I’m not a unicorn!” He huffed. “I don’t even know where you got that idea.”
I followed him, perching on a flat rock and rucking up my own stupid toga dress thing so I could dangle my legs in the water. “Well...I mean...you have purple pubes.”
He snorted at my stupidity and waded out into the water. “That is a boringly average mer trait, moron.” The water was, of course, the perfect temperature as it lapped around my calves. Chike let out a happy sigh and his body shimmered as he sank down into the water, shifting to his other form.
I smiled as he dove beneath the water, his long, iridescent tail breaking the surface in undulating coils that reminded me more of a Chinese dragon or a sea serpent than a merman. Long, see-through fans of fin floated and billowed along the length of his tail, like some sort of fancy white goldfish. His head broke the surface, his lavender hair gone dark and sleek. His hands splayed out as he stroked through the water, back toward me, and I could see the iridescent sheen of the webbing connecting his fingers.
Grinning, he grasped my knees and levered himself up out of the water far enough to steal a kiss, which I returned wholeheartedly. He looked so...other...in this form. And I was a definitely a fan. I made a silent promise to myself to get him in the water more often once we were back on Earth. Because...wow.
He slid back down into the water, looking up at me with sparkling lavender eyes, his color already improving. “Come swim with me?”
I looked back over my shoulder, studying the courtyard for any sign of peeping guards. But finally, I shrugged and stood to take off my clothes. My memories had seemed wrong at first, but we’d been here long enough now for me to have seen all the proof I ever needed—the gods were freaky. It was nothing strange to stumble across an orgy in the middle of the day on your way to the garden, or on the way to breakfast. Or...anywhere, really. I doubted a little nudity was going to shock anyone. And honestly, I was pretty sure I’d been just as freaky as the rest of them back in the day. I distinctly remember having a harem. Everyone had probably already seen the goods. Multiple times.
I kicked my clothes away and stepped into the water, enjoying the kiss of the gently rippling waves as I stroked my way out to where Chike waited. I’d seen him in his true form a few times, but I’d never gotten up close and personal like this. I imagined all the fun things he might be able to do in this form before guilt rose up to nip at my heels. We weren’t here on vacation, for fuck’s sake. I shouldn’t be enjoying this. But a part of me—a very small and distant part of me—missed this. I missed thinking I was free. Not having to worry about anything except comfort, and pleasure, and endless perfect days spent in the sunshine with my harem.
That thought, and the memories of days spent with eager lovers whose names and faces I no longer recalled, came just as Chike wrapped his long tail around my waist and pulled me close. His skin was softer than I expected. Even his scales were smooth and supple. I clutched at his shoulders as he stroked his arms outward, drawing us backward through the water. “We’re going to drown,” I managed.
But he just smirked at me, and I felt the soft bump of contact as he came to rest against a submerged rock that formed a natural seat in the water. His long, muscular tail stroked over my naked skin, a sensual glide that was impossible to ignore. “Have some faith in my abilities,” he said as he wrapped his arms around me under my breasts and situated me so my back rested against his chest. “I might know a bit about how not to drown, you know, having been born in the ocean and all.”
I reached down to touch the tail that was still coiled around my waist, my hands gliding over his smooth scales and the silk-suede feeling of his fins. “Well, I suppose you might know what you’re doing. But you might forget I’m not a fish.”
He leaned in to nip at my shoulder, his inhumanly sharp teething denting the skin before he let up. “Oh, believe me, I could never forget that.” His hands moved higher, cupping my heavy breasts and pushing them upward as he kissed a path along the side of my neck.
I groaned and tilted my head back to rest against his shoulder. “We shouldn’t be doing this right now. You need to recharge. Rhys is still locked away. And we’re prisoners. It’s not the right time to act like a couple of idiots who can’t think of anything but their genitals.”
He huffed a laugh against my skin, making me shiver. “I am recharging, just by being in the water. No reason we shouldn’t take the opportunity while it’s here. It might be the only chance we get.” The stark fear in that statement made my heart ache. Then he lifted his head to whisper in my ear, his voice a purposefully degenerate leer. “Besides, I’ve been dying to fuck you while I’m shifted.”
And, well...how could I say no to that?
“How does that even work?” I asked, tilting my head sideways to look at him.
He smirked at me, one of his webbed hands stroking downward across my belly, blunt claws dragging across my skin before he moved to cup my increasingly eager pussy. “Well,” he purred, his voice becoming richer, carrying echoes of his siren power. “The dick generally goes here.”
I elbowed him in the gut and squirmed around so I was facing him. “That’s not what I meant, and you know it!” I could feel my face flaming. Cause this wasn’t awkward at all. “I mean...do you even have a dick in this form? Cause all I see is a whole lot of big-assed tail. Which is gorgeous and all...but not a dick.”
He laughed, and it felt like a huge weight had lifted from my shoulders at the sound. Even with how fucked up things were right now, Chike could still laugh. That had to mean it would be okay.
He grasped my wrist and planted my hand on his flat belly, slowly dragging it downward, across the spray of small scales over his abs and hips that became the larger scales of his tail. And there, right in the front of his tail section, where his crotch would be if he was human-shaped, was a...bulge. “There’s a pocket,” he murmured, pressing my hand against his bulge.
He curled his fingers over mine, showing me the faint seam among his scales. He pulled gently and I felt something velvety and hot brush my fingertips. Face still flaming, I glanced at him to make sure I wasn’t doing anything weird or painful. At his nod and a nudge from his hand, I reached inside the pouch and found his cock, pulling it free so I could stroke his length.
“Holy shit, there are scales there too!” I breathed in shock.
He huffed a laugh and leaned forward to nibble at my lip, his webbed hands grasping my ass to haul me in closer. “Mmm...maybe.”
I pulled back to give him an incredulous look. “You think I’m going to put something with scales in my vagina? Are you crazy?”
He rolled his eyes. “So dramatic. It’s not like it has teeth.”
I narrowed my eyes at him in return. “No. Just razor-sharp scales.”
He put his hand over mine and guided my motions as I stroked him. “Does that feel scary?”
I heaved a sigh. Okay, so he had a point. While he did have scales down there, they weren’t hard or sharp-edged. More like...bumps. “Oh gods, my life is so weird,” I muttered.
He chuckled and put his hands on my ass again, pulling me closer and lifting me up, squashing my breasts against his chest as he nipped at my lips again. “I’ve heard humans really enjoy the feeling,” he said with a wicked smirk. “But I’ve never been with a human in this form, so you’ll have to tell me what you think.”
I gaped at him. “You’ve never had sex in this form?”
He shrugged and I saw a faint blush creeping over his high, angled cheekbones. “I was just a kid when I left the ocean to live with Gesa and the others,” he muttered. “And growing up in Ontonagon...well, no. The opportunity never really presented itself. Especially since I was in love with my best friend.” He met my eyes and my heart stuttered. “I wasn’t really interested in sharing this part of myself with random hook-ups.”
I pressed my forehead to his as I lifted my hips. “I swear to the gods, if your dick scales ruin my vag, I’m going to kill you.”
He laughed and surged up to meet me, the tip of his long, hard cock nudging at my entrance. “Noted.”
Throwing caution to the wind, I let myself sink down onto him. He was right, of course, it was fine. More than fine. It was like one of those toys with the studs on it. When he moved, I groaned and dropped my head back, overwhelmed by the foreign sensations inside me, the glide of Chike’s silken skin against mine, and the delicious caress of the water around us. He clutched my hips, his short claws digging in but not breaking the skin as he surged up beneath me, his tail undulating around us, giving him the balance and power he needed to meet my thrusts.
The glowing energy in me reached for him, feeling along the silver strand of the connection between us, and Chike gasped, surging upward harder, plunging inside me so deep I saw stars. “What did you just do?” he ground out. “You did something to my magic.”
I gripped his shoulders and squeezed him tight as I held him in deep. “Your song,” I panted.
He didn’t say anything more, just leaned in and bit my shoulder, his short teeth claiming me as he surged inside me with powerful thrusts. A vibration started inside him, and I felt the twang of it along the thread connecting us, his song rising up from inside him and strengthening our connection, tying him to the light inside of me as he started to hum.
Orgasm crashed over me, more powerful than usual, as if the siren beneath me had just taken control of part of my being and commanded it to obey his pleasure.
When I finally managed to catch my breath enough to speak, I huffed a laugh against his chest. “That was incubus levels of amazing,” I muttered.
He let out a breathless laugh. “Normally, I’d be insulted and insist that of course sirens do it better. But now that you’ve exposed me to an actual incubus...I’ll take that as a compliment.”
We both laughed until we were having trouble breathing again, forgetting for a moment just how messed up everything was around us.
It wasn’t until much later, when we were getting dressed as the guards approached, that Chike gave me a curious look. “Your link with the incubus...can you still feel it? Even here?”
I blinked at him in surprise, wondering if this was some sort of delayed jealousy thing. “Uh...I don’t know.”
He pressed his lips together. “We need to talk about that when we get back to your room.”
I sighed. “Look, I’m sorry I made the comparison. Siren-mer crosses are amazing at bringing the dick. So there. All better?”
He snorted a laugh. “I’m glad to see you still only think with your lady parts.” He gave me a haughty look. “Of course, I’m more mature than that. I was actually talking about a way to get home.”
I rolled my eyes at him. “Sure you were.”
Then we both fell silent as the guards put the shackles back on Chike’s wrists. I could see the mutiny wanting to burst out of him. He wanted to fight them, to bitch and complain, maybe stab someone in the eye. But his eyes met mine and he gave a little shrug. Not yet.