Floating Alone Read online

  The mage stared at Marina and started to laugh. “I knew it was possible, but I never imagined I would meet one.”

  Marina stood still as the mage rushed forward and hugged her.

  “Oh, you are a fantastic thing. Magic and nature triumph every time.” The woman let her go. “I am Melwiss, binding mage.”

  “Pleased to meet you.”

  The mage stroked her cheek. “You look so beautiful. It is amazing.”

  Marina blushed.

  Irdan cleared his throat. “I would like the binding to commence.”

  The man who had been next to the white-haired woman brought a contract over. “If you are up for it, sign this.”

  The ink of their names was still wet, and Marina didn’t know how they got her name to begin with, but she had gotten here by magic, so knowing whom she was wasn’t too much of a stretch.

  The titles in front of Irdan’s name took up a few lines, but the words Marina Wake, beast-born were clear as day.

  She signed her name and watched as he read her descriptor. Irdan didn’t flinch. He signed with a flourish and smiled.

  Melwiss pushed back the sleeves of her robe and held out her hands. “Come on... gimmee your hands.”

  Marina inhaled sharply and extended her hand to the mage. Irdan held his out without hesitation.

  A magical charge began at the point of contact.

  “Now, you two hold hands. This won’t work if you don’t.”

  Irdan took her hand, and the circuit was completed.

  Marina clenched her fingers around his as power rippled through them.

  A roaring in her ears nearly deafened her. Melwiss asked her something, and she answered, “Yes.”

  Irdan answered with more words, but the affirmation was the same. Marina swayed as the magic pushed and pulled at her, yanking on her soul and twisting her around. The hands holding hers were the only anchor points she had.

  Screaming wasn’t an option. She really wanted to, but nothing came out of her throat. Fire, ice, water and wind mixed with the earth and animal that was her base. It wasn’t pain; it was the sensation of having your body and soul trying to fly apart in all directions at once.

  She was sure she heard a strangled sound out of Irdan, but when the burn of power receded, her body was humming and her mind was done. She fainted.

  She flexed her hands and gripped the sheets. This was definitely not her thread count.

  Marina sat up and looked around. The air smelled familiar, but this was not her house.

  Irdan came in with a tray and a smile. He was wearing pajama bottoms and nothing else, which explained why Marina was wearing the top.

  “Good morning. The rescue facility is fine. Maweel stepped in and got some experts to assess the expansions needed while taking care of the animals you had. Your assistant was most helpful.”

  “Toby is good that way.” She took the cup of coffee that he held out. “How far away are we?”

  “About twenty miles. I have proprietary access to a good portion of swampland and coastline.”

  “Why am I wearing your pajamas?”

  “Because it was a little early for you to wake up naked with me wrapped around you.”

  She had to support her cup because it wobbled radically. “Oh.”

  Her body was in favour of having him wrapped around her, and that little tidbit shocked her. Like most manatee, her sex drive only kicked in twice a decade. This was not on schedule.

  “What happened?”

  “We were balanced, and you fainted in my arms. I felt a bit of the shock in your system. So, what exactly is a beast-born?”

  He sat next to her with his own coffee in his hand and his hair loose down his back.

  She cocked her head and decided to state it baldly. “My dad is a manatee shifter, and he fucked a wild manatee. She was killed by a boat, and I was found floating on her corpse in the marina.”

  He blinked. “Your mother was a wild manatee?

  “Yes. I met my father when I was eighteen. Until then, I travelled from foster home to foster home, keeping my other nature hidden.”

  Shock was on his face. “You mean he isn’t your legal guardian?”

  “No, he isn’t my legal anything. Apparently, his parents are dead, and he inherited quite a bit of money but nothing has been offered to the rescue centre. His showing up from time to time is just annoying.”

  Irdan nodded. “His differing last name was a bit confusing. I thought you simply had your mother’s last name.”

  “I was named after my location and the No Wake sign that was over the wall where I was found.”

  “Marina Wake. The humans are twisted.” He shook his head.

  She wrinkled her nose and sipped at her coffee. “I figured that out by the time I was three.”

  Chapter Three

  “So, you never knew your mother?” Irdan placed the tray on her lap, and the bowl filled with fruit was next to another filled with whipped cream.

  “No. I learned a bit about her from researchers when I was doing my practical studies at a research centre up the coast. They had images of her, identified her as pregnant, and two of the older researchers were delighted to find out that I was the child found with her body. No one had ever figured out where I had come from.” She ate and spoke slowly, trying to fight the emotion that the story always brought.

  “You studied biology?”

  “Marine biology. I wanted to understand how things worked. It took me a while, but I got it, and the moment I was free to choose my field of study, I went into manatee rehabilitation.”

  “And that is how you became Dr. Wake.”

  She paused with a piece of melon touching her lips. His eyes were watching her intently. Marina felt a curl of magic in her blood.

  She lowered the fruit, and his eyes followed it for a moment before the gaze snapped back to her lips.

  She cleared her throat. “How did you come to be located this near the inland marshes but on the coast as well?”

  “My family became the territorial protectors of the local indigenous population. They slowly integrated with the colonists over a few centuries, but we have remained the guardians of this territory. We like it here, and it is a registered fey protectorate.”

  She blinked. “Wow. That is news. Let me guess, your territory ends just a few yards from my door?”

  “Three miles.” He finished his coffee, set her cup down on the tray and lifted it to the side.

  His hand pressed her thigh through the covers. “After you fainted with delight at being bonded to me, Mage Melwiss mentioned that our binding is creating an attraction that will become stronger until it is all-consuming.”

  “By attraction, you mean urgency.”

  Irdan quirked his lips. “Yes. It has been very difficult to sit with you and not touch you.”

  She cocked her head. “Why did you hold back?”

  “I want your cooperation at all times. If you aren’t interested, I will simply wait until you are.”

  “Perhaps I could take a shower first?” Marina smiled slightly.

  “Of course.”

  She waited until he got to his feet before she slid her legs out from under the sheets, feeling the silk of the pajamas cover her butt as she stood. Every instinct in her body was pulling her toward him, but unlike the rest of her kind, she was able to fight the reaction in her gut.

  He held out his hand, and she accepted the help to steady herself. She felt different.

  “Am I taller?”

  “A few inches. The rest of the changes will occur when we consummate our union.”

  It was such a nice way to say sex that she swayed toward him. Her mind slapped her instincts again, and she followed Irdan to the ridiculously large bathroom attached to the master suite.

  He left her alone, and when he was gone, she locked the door as quietly as she could.

  The wall of window was too easy. It o
verlooked the calm waves of the everglades where they reached into the ocean.

  She touched the glass and sought the seams. It wasn’t the first time in her life that she had popped out a window, but this one was designed to withstand hurricanes. She could do better than gale forces.

  She pressed against the seam with all her strength, and the glass popped free. As it fell, she took a few steps back before jumping into the trees below.

  Marina landed heavily, but her destination was certain. She wanted to get to water, any water. Her body wanted to seek its safe place, the form that she wanted to stay in.

  There were no sounds behind her, and she made it to the water without any interference. The silk hit the ground a moment before her feet entered the water. A few feet of wading and she was deep enough to shift.

  She undulated into deeper water, using her flippers to propel her and keep her from impacting the floor of the waterway.

  She headed for home with a slow and steady determination. Once she got home, she could think up what she needed to do to take in and adapt to her situation.

  * * * *

  Irdan slipped his robe over his shoulders and addressed his guest. “You were right. She ran.”

  Herman Execar cleared his throat. “She will go home.”

  “And she will find the new specialists.”

  Herman blinked. “Not the rescue. She will go to her home. She lives inland near the small shack that I called home for all those years. She doesn’t know it was mine, but she feels at home there. She built a house on the property.”

  Irdan smiled. “Good. I will follow her.”

  “Do you need a map?”

  “No, I can follow her anywhere. We are linked now.”

  He nodded to his guest. “You can leave her to my care. She is mine by her own hand.”

  Herman looked nervous. “Oh, right.”

  “You did not mention that she was beast-born.”

  “It was not a proud moment, but her mother was so lovely, so graceful, and I had spent close to a year as my beast. That action sparked my return to human, and I had no idea that it had been a fertile mating until years later. I came back to the area and heard the rumours, but the child was gone.”

  “Do you know what happened to her in the intervening years?”

  “No. I made contact with her when I was finally able to find her. It was too late to act as a parent, but I tried to support her in any way that she would accept.”

  “And you came to me because...” Irdan looked at him with a piercing glare.

  “I saw the way you looked at her at the fundraisers. Women surrounded you, but it was Marina that held your attention. She would stare at you when you weren’t watching, but I don’t know if it registered to her that you were not a work of art.” Herman smiled slightly.

  Irdan smiled. “I felt the same. Excuse me. I have to chase my mate down.”

  He walked past his guest and out onto the wide deck that surrounded his home. His blood was pounding, and he wanted to transport directly into her path, but he needed to cool down a bit.

  The idea of having his mate run from him when they both needed each other was shocking, but her father was right. He might not have raised her, but he knew her impulses.

  Irdan shifted into his reptile form and slid off the deck and into the water, using his tail as propulsion and rudder. The scent of Marina was thick in the water. He could follow her anywhere, and he would.

  * * * *

  Marina swam up the familiar path and shifted to human to climb up on the dock that she had built by hand two years earlier.

  There were no neighbours. Her home abutted a sanctuary on two sides. For some reason, the slice of land she had claimed as hers had never been included in the protected territories.

  A gator swam through her lagoon, and she ignored it. Predators didn’t cause a threat to an adult manatee of her size. It could stay and play as much as it wanted.

  She glanced back and blinked. It was huge. Based on what she could see, it was over seventeen feet long. That was unusual, but as long as it didn’t cause trouble, she didn’t care what it did.

  The boards were rough under her feet as she pattered up to her house. The key was under the fourth deck board, where she always kept it.

  She shoved the door open and closed it, leaning against the wood and breathing deep at the feeling of being home again. During the long swim home, she had had plenty of time to think about what she was doing, but it was far too late to turn around and go back. She needed to come up with a new plan.

  She was naked, horny and unsure of how to go through with contacting Irdan again when there was a knock on her door.

  “Marina, I believe we need to have a conversation.”

  She stared at the familiar furnishings in front of her and wondered if she could open the door before she hid behind her couch. It was doubtful.

  “I can feel you behind the door, Marina. I am going to open it.”

  She felt her feet skidding across the floor as the door pushed open. Irdan stepped into her small sanctuary and faced her with his body gleaming with water.

  He closed the door behind him and flipped the latch.

  She stepped back, and he caught her around the waist, pulling her against him before he kissed her. She tasted water and magic. It was all that she cared about.

  She wrapped her arms around him and held tight, answering the call of the piece of her own soul that he was carrying inside him. It was insidious, but she pulled him as close as she could to get back that piece of her soul.

  He pulled his head away from hers for a moment. “Bed or floor?”

  She threaded her fingers through his hair. “Kitchen table.”

  His grin caused a surge of heat as he lifted her in his arms and walked the dozen paces to the kitchen. Her heavy butcher-block table wasn’t designed for sex, but she had butchered animals on it that outweighed her, and she knew it could hold their weight.

  The weathered wood pressed against her buttocks as he settled her on the edge. She parted her thighs in invitation.

  Irdan stepped between her thighs, and she wrapped her fingers around his erection. Energy crackled under her hand, and he shook as she stroked him slowly.

  He was built just like a human, only taller and better looking. Well, there were the ears as well, but she was willing to overlook those. Right now, they were completely out of her mind.

  Irdan slid his hand between her thighs, and he parted her folds. Marina wanted to stare into his eyes, but she settled for looking at the straight line of his lips as he slid a finger into her. Her view let her see his mouth curl and his throat flex. The sparks under her hand were now inside her, and as he added another finger and slowly started to stroke, the harsh crackle of energy became visible.

  She whimpered and leaned up, pressing her lips to his. He continued to stroke his fingers in her wet heat, and she ran her digits up and down the hot, pulsing length of him, teasing the wet tip.

  Her tongue teased his, taking his heat and asking for more. They duelled together, their kiss bordering on violent as he bent her back onto the table. She let go of his cock and caught herself as she was leaned back.

  With her thighs wide and her elbows on the wood, she was open for whatever he wanted. There was no doubt that she was going to have a good time; the power crackling between them assured it.

  Irdan was looking at her with narrowed eyes. “I so wanted to take my time.”

  She smiled. “That can be for another day. Today, let’s join and get this link cemented so that our bodies will stop pining for each other.”

  He grinned. “I can get behind that.”

  He positioned his cock at her entrance and gripped her hips, pulling her onto him as he slid into her. They were uncomfortably but completely joined in a matter of moments. When her breath was no longer coming in little pants, he started to thrust, leaning down to take her nipples in his teeth one at
a time. The fire that the small bites tripped in her just drove her arousal higher.

  When her muscles gripped him snuggly in a slow pulse, he shoved deep, rocking her against the wood as they slammed together. Marina dug her fingers into his biceps and arched up to meet him as he slid in and out of her. The magic that was sparking between them became a wild whirl of energy that crackled and snapped around them.

  The air was filled with a variety of grunts and low growls. The smacking noise of skin on skin was a counterpoint that picked up tempo as they struggled to reach orgasm.

  A high-pitched sigh emerged from her throat, and Marina bucked upward as the power that had been crawling under her skin came out with a rush. Her body jerked, and she held onto Irdan with all her strength.

  His eyes flickered from fey to gator over and over before he shuddered and his rush of power met hers, mingled and wrapped around them.

  Marina held onto him while the storm swirled around them. Irdan jerked into her with short, hard thrusts.

  She threaded her fingers through his hair and pulled him to her for a kiss. “So, what happens now?”

  The energy was absorbing back into their skins. She could feel something else moving in her system, making itself at home.

  Irdan rubbed his cheek along hers. “Now, we work on fooling the humans into believing that we are courting.”

  “What a delightfully old-fashioned word.”

  He lifted his head and smiled. “It was all the rage a few hundred years ago.”

  She was beginning to believe that she might have agreed a little too quickly.

  Chapter Four

  The moment that they uncoupled was peculiar. Marina wanted to feel him inside her until she fell asleep, but on the table, she would soon have a rude awakening.

  “Now, do you wish to have this conversation here or at my place?” He bent and lifted her in his arms.

  “Um, here is where my clothes are. I don’t think I have anything that will fit you.”

  He quirked his lips and carried her to the bedroom. Her thighs were sticky, but it was just one sensation left while the rest of her felt a little bit bruised and achy.