She half-closed her eyes, leaning into his touch with evident pleasure. He ran his palm over her neck, exploring the thickness of her ruff, her hard, muscled shoulders. Her plumed tail thumped on the ground.
She was made for open skies and wide desert. For running all night, slender legs and strong feet devouring the miles. Oh, they were well matched indeed. Though their forms could not have been
more different, they were both made for speed, and stamina, and the hunt.
And that made their situation even worse than he had thought.
He had feared that they were too different from each other. Instead, they were too alike. What would she do in the enclosed, underwater walls of Atlantis? She would be a shark in a tank, unable to express her true nature. Endlessly circling, endlessly yearning. Trapped.
One pointed ear cocked in his direction. She nipped at his wrist, not breaking the skin, but a clear press of teeth into his flesh. Growling deep in her throat, she shook his arm, as if to drag him out of his spiraling thoughts.
“My mate.” He pressed his face into her warm fur, breathing in her clean, dry scent. “You are beautiful.”
Her eyes gleamed sidelong at him. Without warning, she sprang, knocking him backward with her front paws pinning his chest. Her broad wet tongue licked his face from chin to forehead.
He spluttered, laughing out loud in surprise. She froze, head cocked down at him, and he froze too.
He’d forgotten himself. He’d exposed his teeth.
She shimmered, and the warm fur turned into warm skin, pressed against his. Still straddling him, Martha gently touched his mouth.
“Show me again,” she said.
His jaw tightened. “No.”
She leaned down, pressing her mouth against his. He closed his eyes, unable to withstand her gentle insistence. Parting his lips, he allowed her soft, sweet tongue to explore the serrated points of his teeth.
He had a triple row of them, like all his kind. Shark teeth in a human mouth.
She pulled away again, with a last, lingering kiss. “I like your smile. You should do it more often.”
“I do.” He could not help the ironic curl of his mouth, though habit kept his teeth safely hidden this time. “When I wish to alarm people.”
She brushed her thumb across his lower lip. “You don’t alarm me. Finn, this isn’t going to work if you keep trying to hide who you really are.”
He dropped his head back with a sigh, staring up at the cloudless blue sky. “You have always seen me as I truly am. I do not want you to start seeing me as others do.”
She folded her arms on his chest, leaning her chin on them. “Like people do in Atlantis?”
Silently, he nodded.
“If I join you there, then I’m going to find out, you know.”
He lifted his head, staring at her. She met his eyes steadily, her own very serious.
Is she truly still considering it?
“I showed you my animal.” Martha sat up, the movement swift and decisive. “I think it’s time you showed me yours.”
Chapter 13
Magnolia nudged Martha in the ribs with her elbow. “The water must be deep enough now,” she whispered, casting a surreptitious glance at the back of the boat. “When’s he going to shift?”
Martha folded her arms, scowling. “Probably never, since you folk have made such a production out of it.”
Yesterday, she’d thought it would be simple. That they’d just walk on down to the sea, and he would show her. But apparently he couldn’t shift close to the shore. Whatever sort of shark he was—and she still didn’t know—required a lot of space.
Hence why they had joined today’s whale-watching expedition. Or, since gossip seemed to spread like wildfire on this island, what was now unofficially a shark-watching expedition. Martha was pretty sure the boat wasn’t usually this packed. Especially not with off-duty resort staff.