Page 72 of Loched in Love

I test the muscles of my new fishy lower half and flex my powerful tail. It moves with effortless grace, pushing against the water and stabilizing me in the deep pool as if I were born to it. The heavy and suffocating fear of drowning vanishes as I take a tentative breath. Instead of choking, my chest expands, easily drawing life from the water. A subtle flutter opens along the sides of my neck.

Gills.

I can feel the cool oxygen rich water filtering through them, making my lungs expand easily.

I look up at him, a breathless laugh bubbling in my thoughts. Lachlan, look at me! Oh my god, I’m a fucking mermaid!

His massive dragon head tilts his glowing green gaze, wide in absolute wonder. Through our shared bond, a tidal wave of his pure adoration, pride and love pour through it and slam into my chest. He moves his big body closer and his snout nudges against my shoulder.

You are the magnificent one, he whispers in my head, his serpentine tail coiling beneath my large fin. My mate, a true queen of the loch.

He lowers his shoulder in the water inviting me closer. Hold on to me, Elena. Let me show you our kingdom.

I swim forward, my new tail flexing with instinctive power, and draw myself over the ridge of his neck. I hug him to me, marveling at how very strong and powerful he feels in this form. I take my hands and reach out to touch his long spiraled horns and laugh, elated at how cool his monster form is. He’s much better than the romance novels, I think to myself, as my fingers lock tightly around his scales to hold on to wait for whatever he does next.

With a strong curve of his huge body, Lachlan dives down, and we plunge into the inky blackness. It isn’t dark anymore.

I can see.

My new vision cuts through the water, painting everything in shades of vivid and glowing colors. With a sharp flick of his tail, he breaches a hidden barrier, opening a sliver of underwater current. The pressure changes instantly. The current grabs us, and we enter a roaring highway of water that pulls us far, far away from the familiar stone cave walls of his lair. The speed is exhilarating, a blur of bubbles and deep dark trenches rush past as we make our way down.

Gradually, the compressing weight of the water slows and transforms around us.

The murky loch water gives way to a deep crystalline ocean blue, and looming out of the shadows of the seabed ahead is a massive ancient shipwreck, its wooden hull split open and covered in colorful coral and glowing sea anemones. They seem soft and squishy and so full of life in the dark and gloom of the deep.

It’s hauntingly beautiful.

Movement along the beams catches my eye, and I watch three massive shapes glide out from the captain’s quarters as the ocean’s great white sharks seem to notice our presence. Their gigantic bodies cut through the water toward us and panic pricks my mind, but before I can tighten my grip, the mate bond pulses with Lachlan’s amusement.

They’ll be friendly, my flower. They know who rules these waters.

The sharks slow down to a leisurely glide as they reach us, completely devoid of aggression. Instead of baring their teeth, they gently coast alongside Lachlan’s massive frame like weird royal sea hounds welcoming their master home.

And as the largest of the three cruises right alongside me, turning its dark, intelligent gaze toward my new form, he gives a slow, respectful sweep of its tail. Fascination erases my fear, and I let go of Lachlan’s big, scaled shoulder with one hand to reach out, finding skin that feels like coarse sandpaper.

It leans into the touch for a brief second before swimming a slow loop around us. I look out at the ruins of the ship, completely spellbound by this beautiful hidden world that is just now as much mine as it is his.

Charmed by the big sharks, who now seem to be more like dogs than creatures that eat people, I decide to push my limits, feeling a thrill of pure freedom as my iridescent mermaid tail slices through the water. But as I push deeper into the abyss, a sudden heavy ache blossoms in my lower back. My middle muscles burn. As it turns out, having a gorgeous sparkling tail takes more strength than boulder climbing could prepare me for, and my fins begin to wobble slightly in the current.

Slow down, little fish, Lachlan’s deep rumbly voice says.

I grin to myself.

I’m not a fish, I’m a majestic mermaid, I shoot back telepathically, sending him a mental image of myself wearing a tiny and triumphant cape through our mate bond.

The remains of the long forgotten ship lie like a haunted cage on the sea floor while schools of fish dart through the rotted wooden ribs of the hull. I swim faster to reach it and practically collapse into the ruins of the captain’s quarter, grateful for the excuse to stop swimming.

I lean against something box-like, and butterflies erupt in my middle as I look down at the broken bits of leftover ship. Half buried in the sand is an iron-banded chest that’s been sitting as long as the wreck has.

Lachlan, look!

I clear away a cloud of silt and pry open the rotting wood and inside, resting in the black muck, is a circular object caked in centuries of gray and slimy ocean grime.

I yank it out using both my hands after trying to lift the lid. The opposing weight catches me off guard and my thumb aggressively scrapes against the sludge. A blinding, lustrous yellow gleams beneath the fields.

Oh wow. I gasp. It’s a crown, Lachlan. It’s solid gold and it’s incredibly thick. I hold it up to show him and push against the water. Sheesh. Whoever wore this must have had the neck muscles of a bodybuilder.

Lachlan’s massive horned head drifts into the wreckage, easily filling half the room with one giant green eye focused intently on the heavy gold ring in my hands. It looks old.