A Mermaid's Ransom (31 page)

Now faced with the reality, Reba was gripped by a blink of absolute terror. She was going to mess this up, be a dork, oh-my-God he was really going to kiss her, and then he was. Lips firm and the right kind of hot and moist over hers, gentle pressure. No tongue, but definitely not some weak-assed kiss he'd give a kid. It shot heat to parts of her she'd been sure didn't have feeling.

It might have been over in three or four seconds, but when he straightened, her world was doing a slow spin. "Wow," she said, her throat thick.

"Yeah, I've had that reaction, too," Alexis smiled, but there was pain to it. God, Reba didn't want to make her jealous. Everybody should have a boyfriend like this. But Reba had a feeling it wasn't jealousy, particularly since Alexis said right after, "How would you feel about staying after hours and swimming with us and the manatees?"

Twenty-five

AFTER the Conservancy closed, Alexis apprised Bran of what they'd be doing with the girl in the wheelchair. It only took a little push to get him past worries about liability, and a call to Reba's mother reassured him that she was on board, thrilled her daughter had been offered the rare and usually prohibitively expensive chance to swim with manatees. That settled, Alexis locked up after Branson and then took Reba to a locker area to help her change into an extra swimsuit she had.

While Dante waited on them, he thought about his merangel. When he'd kissed the girl, he'd felt a wave of sadness from Alexis. He could read her thoughts. He just couldn't understand the emotions that went with them, damn it all.

When Reba returned in the swimsuit, a towel lying modestly over her thin legs, she rolled to the viewing tank and flattened her hand against the glass, watching the manatees swim past it. Dante slipped into the locker room, where Alexis was preparing the oxygen tank that Reba would wear so she could breathe underwater. He propped in the door silently, watching her. The brown tail of her hair curved over her shoulder, and her fingers moved competently, but those feelings had grown like the balloons he'd seen people purchase for their children, expanding in her mind, pushing out any other thought.

"Do you need a tank? You don't have to breathe, right? Not like us."

"No." He put his hands on her shoulders. "Alexis, what is it?"

"I feel her emotions, Dante. I always feel them. She wants to live so much. And she deserves to live. Look at her. What an amazing kid." She shook her head. "I have the filters, but for someone like that, I don't want to use them. I want to give them anything they want, because they're going to get so little, you know?"

Dante wrapped one of her curls around his hand, let it slide away and tumble down her back. "Her lips tasted like that fruit you were eating this morning."

"Orange. She probably has on an orange citrus lip gloss over that black lipstick she was wearing." With a rueful smile, Alexis straightened and stripped off her shirt. "Can you help me cross the straps?"

He wasn't sure what she meant until she'd unfastened the swimsuit straps and rethreaded them over her shoulders, crossing them and explaining where the hooks were. "I can't wear them straight for this. My wings will snag them."

"Aren't there rules about showing humans your true form?" He pulled his attention away from the pleasant display of her bosom she'd given him, suspecting now was not an appropriate time to let lust take the uppermost hand.

"Yeah. Pretty strict ones. But angels will appear to kids and pets, and despairing people, to give them comfort, though it's not really laid out in the rules. It's just known, like upping a dying person's morphine until they drift away in their sleep, rather than keeping them suffering."

As always, the images in her head helped fill in the gaps that his lack of experience with her world created. It captured him for several heartbeats, though. A place where, when the end came, there was an effort to make it as merciful and pain free as possible.
Astounding.
Threading the straps down her back, he let his knuckles slide over her soft skin, the delicate protrusion of shoulder blades, the tender nape.

"It's surreal, isn't it? Here you are in a locker room, hooking my swimsuit, when three days ago you were in such a different place, a different frame of mind." Her gaze drifted out to Reba, visible through a crack in the locker room door. "Like her. It's odd to do normal things, like getting up each day and brushing your teeth, combing your hair, watching a dumb commercial on television, when you know that your hourglass is tumbling faster than everyone else's . . . at least as far as they know. I guess I almost died a few days ago, so we never do know, do we?"

He stared down at her nape. "Why do you not hold that against me, Alexis, the way your father does?"

"Because I was in your world." She looked at him at last. "You're scary, Dante. I won't deny that. But two days were unbearable. I can't wrap my mind around being there for decades. What's remarkable to me is not the dark, scary side of you, but the fact you managed to keep that spark of light. That means something, something really important."

He wasn't sure how he felt about that, but if she knew what it meant, he wasn't ready to hear it. Realizing that, he changed the direction of their conversation onto surer ground. "On the other hand, I think my darkness explains many of the things I feel when I look at you."

Alexis couldn't help pressing her lips together, moistening when his gaze fell upon them. He'd hooked the sunglasses in his pocket while alone here with her, and her stomach contracted at the things she saw in his eyes. "There are dark, wicked things that I want to do with that mouth, with your body," he said. "I want to pull your soul inside of me, chain and hold you to me forever. A tether, like those birds I saw upstairs in this place."

"The raptors?"

He nodded. "I heard the woman caring for them say that, when certain ones are used as hunters, a tether is placed upon their leg. The master wraps it around his hand to hold the bird there. I have that desire with you, but . . ."

"Yes?" she breathed it, not sure how she got the word out.

"When I was watching you, before Reba came, I only wanted to sit and let that light of yours warm me. It makes me wonder which one of us is truly a tethered hawk."

Silence stretched between them. His hand remained in her hair, his fingers tangling, fondling. Alexis broke the contact reluctantly, picking up the swimming trunks she'd found for him. "Have you ever swum before?"

"No." He stepped back. "Lady Lyssa told me that vampires do not swim. That we sink and must use the strength of our arms to pull ourselves up. But that seems like it will help, since your manatees like the lower levels of the tank."

"That's mostly when visitors are here. They get more active when it's just us." She lifted the suit. "Anyhow, you might want to put this on so our young companion doesn't get any more outrageous ideas that could get you arrested."

While he stripped off his clothes and slid on the swim trunks, exposing the muscular body, she realized she felt the same as he did. She wanted to just sit, gaze at the marble perfection that looked so cold but she knew was so warm, so vibrant and strong, compared with the pale, thin and weak limbs of the girl she'd helped change. The blessing and cruelty of time displayed so obviously together made the sadness swell in her again.

"Alexis," he murmured. Now dressed, he nodded toward the cracked door. "Look."

Reba's hand was pressed to the tank and the two manatees were butting their noses against the glass, as if answering her. She looked over her shoulder with a wide smile as they left the locker room and came to join her. "It's like they're saying get your asses in here so we can play." She arched a brow. "I was beginning to think you two were going to fuck like rabbits before we went swimming. I'm not saying I blame you, but you wouldn't want my time to run out while waiting on you, right?"

"More language like that, and I'll jam your wheelchair brake," Alexis informed her archly, even as she felt a pang at the girl's joke, too close to her own thoughts. Pushing that away, she proceeded to tell the girl how to use the tank, giving her some basic instruction on it.

"How about you two?" Reba said when she was done. "Where are your tanks? And does he wax or what? He has no body hair."

Alexis glanced at Dante, then back at their guest. "We won't need tanks. Reba, we'd like to be ourselves while we're with you, all right? Can we trust you with that?"

The teenager studied them both, her cynical mask slipping and showing uncertain curiosity. "I don't exactly know what that means, but as long as you aren't serial killers who like to lure visitors to stay after hours with a promise to swim with the manatees, I'm cool with just about anything."

"On a normal day, that's exactly what we are, but for today we figure we'll indulge our alter egos." Lex pushed the wheelchair up the ramp to the door that led to the tank entry point. Dante took over for her as she swiped her card and took them inside.

Before she could ask Dante to help her get Reba out of the chair and into the water, he anticipated her thought. Bending, he slid his arms beneath the girl's body, and she calmly hooked an arm around his neck as he took her to the water's edge. Lex guided her to hold on to the ladder while she got in the water with her. Dante kept his hand on the girl's arm, even as she held on to the ladder tightly.

Reba let out a nervous laugh. "It's kind of ironic, but I'd rather not drown, okay?"

"We will not let any harm come to you," Dante said. His voice was firm, that commanding tone capable of sending shivers down Lex's spine. It was absolute reassurance he meant what he said. She thought of the hawk comparison again and warmth coiled in her belly.

Reba's gaze went to his sunglasses. "Why do you wear those?"

"Because of these," he said, and removed them.

Reba drew in a breath. "Those aren't contacts, are they?"

"No. No more than those are paste and glue." He nodded and Reba followed his glance. It was a good thing he still held her arm on the ladder, because she would have dropped like a stone at the sight of Lex treading water behind her, her wings now exposed. They were gliding across the water slowly like a butterfly's, keeping her aloft. Reba's gaze skittered down at the flash of color beneath the water's surface. "That's . . ."

"A tail. I'm a merangel. Don't be startled," Alexis said, then thought to add, "I don't mean about me. Leroy is coming up beneath you and is going to nose your legs."

"No freaking way." Reba looked between them, laughing unexpectedly and wiggling in the water as the manatee rose higher, brushed her lower back. "That tickles. He won't bite, will he?"

"Only once or twice." Alexis grinned. "I'm kidding. No, he won't bite."

Reba shifted her gaze back to Dante. "So what does that make you?"

"He's part vampire, part something else."

"I was kissed by a vampire. Wow. Okay, I am awake, right? Tell me I'm not hallucinating on my meds. Because if I am, I'm going to be so pissed."

THEY only half convinced her she wasn't, but she came to the conclusion that even if she was hallucinating, it was best to make the most of it before she detoxed. Alexis got the small tank strapped onto her, and then, when she was ready, she had her put on the mask, loosen her grip on the ladder and slowly descend into the large tank. Despite her bravado, initially Reba clung to her fingers. Alexis expected Dante to take some time to enter, but in short order, he passed them, headed to the bottom of the tank. He controlled the descent so he didn't move too fast, but it was obvious there was no buoyancy to his body. He simply sank, the strength of his arms alone capable of moving him. Reba pointed to him, her lips stretching into a grin around her mouthpiece, and then they were floating down to join him. The other manatee was there, sleeping, but Leroy rammed him, as if reminding Buick they had guests.

Alexis smiled and guided Reba's hand to the area behind Leroy's ear where they liked being scratched, and then behind the front flippers. Since she was down here, Lex did another quick examination of Buick's propeller wounds and confirmed they were healing well.

As she did, Reba's questing fingers slid over her wing, another hand finding her tail. When she shifted her attention, Reba froze, but Alexis smiled and nodded. The girl, relieved, continued to explore, touching the tail fins, their flowing texture. She bent to study the overlap of her scales, then gazed upward at the froth of feathers flowing through the water as Alexis used both tail and wings to balance herself. Reba's eyes shone when she looked back at Alexis. While Alexis had always loved being a merangel, seeing the pleasure such a thing brought to Reba made her even more fiercely glad of it. Speaking in the manatee language, she asked and the creatures accommodated, bringing their bodies close to the girl, delighting her with their proximity and letting her put a hand on each of them as they slowly swam to the other end of the tank, carrying her along.

When they returned, coming to rest on the bottom of the tank again, Dante moved closer, reaching out to touch as well. Buick floated, examining this new variable. While it appeared he had his doubts, Lex reassured him that Dante was a friend, even if he was somewhat scary. Buick made an accepting noise and returned his attention to Reba. After a brief investigation of the creatures, Dante moved off another few feet. He passed his hands back and forth through the water, turned, lifted his feet. Using his arms to move upward and then back down, he did a somersault, testing the properties of the water. Looking toward her, she saw some of the same shine of discovery in his eyes she had in Reba's. It made her want to never leave this moment.

But after no more than fifteen minutes, Alexis felt Reba fighting her exhaustion. Dante recognized it, too. When the girl shook her head, a stubborn set to her chin, he simply caught her around the waist and propelled her upward, even though she called him something around the mouthpiece Alexis knew wasn't complimentary.