Cresting Tide (8 page)

The dolphin pod returned several times over the days after his elf had left him. So often they called to each other that Peter's heart no longer jumped with excitement at the first chirp or whistle. He had become so accustomed to the pod that he did not even open his eyes to their sounds as the sun began to crest above the horizon.

Peter lay with one arm bent to cover his eyes, and willed the pod to move on. He knew that if he showed them no attention that they would eventually go on their way. Even though they usually returned, if they would just move on this morning he may be able to fall back asleep. Sleeping and dreaming of his sea elf was preferable to staring out to sea with the hope that he would see his lover. He had spent almost every waking hour staring at the blue-green beauty of the waves. Every splash of a fish or speck on the surface that was a gull, he could recognize now with a glance.

The dolphins were being persistent this morning and it seemed Peter had no choice but to rise and acknowledge them if he wanted them to move on. Peter groaned as he pushed himself up off the sand to sit and rub the sleep from his eyes to look out to sea. Several slow blinks and another eye rub later, Peter's mind registered what his eyes saw and he sat frozen upon the sand. For what had seemed like forever, he'd wished for the return of his sea elf. Now, he could see the elf standing in the chest high surf and he was not sure if his eyes were playing tricks on him.

Cuke felt as if he had been calling for hours to wake his human but he knew it had not been that long. For the first time, he wished his watery home was not his cage so he could go to his human instead of waiting for his man to come to him.
Why was his human just resting on the sands? Could he be afraid of him now?
The man did not seem to fear him when he was forced to return to his people after the fight with his sibling.
What had changed?
Cuke waited silently for the man since it was all he could do.

The image of his sea elf did not disappear the longer Peter stared. Excitement began to build and warred with an almost indescribable happiness as Peter realized what was before him was not just a sick trick of his lonely mind. With a fluid movement, Peter stood and as much as he wanted to run into the surf, he made himself walk until he was chest deep and standing before his elf lover. It seemed to him that the elf relaxed once he was close. Human and elf stood, within touching distance, as if frozen while they took in the sight of one another.

Cuke thought his human was thinner and knew he would have to hunt for him soon. The human's hair was also slightly longer. Cuke desperately wanted to embrace his human but was not sure if it would be welcomed.

Peter's gaze stared at the long kelp like hair that fell over the pale green scales of the elf's shoulders and moved to the stunning green eyes that were speckled with gold. His eyes roamed along the toned arms that floated upon the waves and ended in the deadly claw tipped fingers. As he brought his gaze back to the body of his elf, the sea surged and Peter had to blink again at what he thought he saw. There now seemed to be small breasts, with little pert dark green nipples, where before there were only smooth scales.

"I have missed you," Cuke told his man softly.

Peter's eyes snapped back up to the elf's face when he heard the first chirp since he sat up upon the beach. There was no doubt that this was his elf but, he had no idea why his elf now had breasts.

"Why? How?" Peter asked as his hand reached out to touch the elf's new chest. When he made contact, his elf leaned into the touch and placed his clawed hand atop Peter's.

"It is me," Cuke tried to reassure his human before he moved the hand under his own down to his belly. "There is a child." Cuke smiled and willed his human to understand. "It is ours."

Peter let his elf move his hand lower as he listened to the clicks he could not understand. As his hand slid lower and stopped to rest on the slight swell of his sea elf's belly, he gasped when the meaning sunk in.

"A baby?" Peter asked in amazement.

How could that be?
Peter did the calculations in his mind as he stared excitedly at his elf lover. Peter remembered his mother's pregnancies with his sisters and it was months before there was a swell in her belly. He only knew this because she was ill almost everyday until she began to show.
How is it possible that only a few weeks after being with his elf that there is such a
bulge?

"Are you well? Sick?" Peter asked as his hand rubbed the swell of the elf's stomach.

Cuke could see the concern in his human's pale blue eyes and was relieved that the man was not angry or upset about their child.

"It will not be long; only a few weeks," Cuke told his man and tried to hide the concern that the babe might not survive.

Peter could not understand the whistles and even though the smile never left the sea elf's face, something briefly flashed through the elf's eyes.

"What can I do?" Peter asked as he tried to remember everything he could about his mother's pregnancies and the births of his younger siblings.

Would it even be the same for the sea elf?
Already this pregnancy was vastly different.
Could their child, a child between a sea elf and a human, even survive?
Again, Peter racked his brain for every scrape of lore that he had ever read. He knew there were references of different races mating but he could not remember any reference of humans and sea elves even interacting let alone mating.
Oh Gods! What if their child did not survive? What if it was monstrous? Was this how sea monsters came to be?

Cuke watched his human and could almost see the thoughts as they rushed through his brain. Emotions splayed across the man's face and when they settled on fear, Cuke could only reassure his human in one way.

Peter let his elf pull him into an embrace and automatically wrapped his arms around his smaller lover. The sudden fear and the tension that came with the knowledge about their child dissipated with the embrace. Peter was reminded to loosen his hold when he felt the rounded swell of his lover's belly press against his own stomach. He would not think about what their child might be. Their child was in the hands of the Gods now and they would just have to wait and see what the Gods decided.

Cuke held his human, one arm around his waist while his other clawed hand pushed his man's head against his shoulder.

"It will be okay," Cuke repeated over and over as if saying it so many times would make it true.

Peter did not know how long they stood embracing in the surf but when his body started to respond to the closeness, he pulled away from his pregnant lover.

"I'm sorry," Peter said as he lifted his head, blushing, and moved his hips away but did not totally break the embrace.

Cuke felt his human harden against the swell of his belly and was disappointed when his lover pulled away. He did not need to understand the strange language of his man to understand his meaning. There was no reason they could not be intimate. His kind frequently continued to couple until the child came but his human would not know that. His own arousal was making itself known and he craved his man's touch.

Peter gasped then groaned when he felt the webbed hand of his elf lover wrap around his hardness and he thrust into that grip before he even realized he had moved. His sea elf took his hand and lowered it to his own hardness before Peter could protest.

"It is okay," Cuke smiled at his lover as he wrapped the man's fingers around his erection. "It will not hurt the child."

Peter watched his elf lover's face as he listened to the clicks and tightened his grip. When his lover thrust forward and began to stroke Peter, he could not help but moan. They mirrored their rhythm as their hands stroked one another and their arms held each other close. It did not take long before they were both crying out their satisfaction and holding one another tightly as waves of pleasure crashed over them.

Peter felt the stab of pain against his hand when his elf lover released and knew he would have another piercing wound. The pain was worth it for the pleasure his elf brought him. As his breath and heart returned to normal, guilt, fear, and concern all crashed down upon him and he pulled away to look at his lover. Peter saw nothing but the same post orgasmic relief, he was sure was on his own face, displayed but it did not lessen his guilt for taking advantage of his pregnant lover.

Cuke felt the alarm course through his human lover as he settled and pulled back. He gave his man a smile and caressed the smooth skin of his face.

"I needed that," Cuke continued to grin. "You did too!" He laughed as he stroked the crease that appeared on his lover's forehead. Cuke pulled back from his lover and allowed his hands to run over shoulders and along ribs. He did not like how thin his human had become in the short time he had been away and he frowned.

"Oh Gods! Are you hurt?" Peter's voice was full of panic as he moved his hands to his lover's belly. He thought his elf was fine but now the look on his lover's face had him worried.

Cuke heard the panic in the words he could not understand and felt him touch the swell of his belly. He realized his lover was reacting to his frown and thought something was wrong.

Peter sighed when his elf shook his head and for the briefest of moments thought his lover had understood him. It was not until his elf motioned to his mouth and made an eating gesture that Peter understood.

"Oh, you're hungry," Peter smiled and remembered how much his mother had eaten during her pregnancies. "Well, of course you are. You are eating for two now. Want some star fruits? You like them. Wait here and let me get you some."

Cuke watched and listened as his human became excited and indicated he should wait where he was.
How could he feed his lover if the man did not want him to leave?
Well, he could get his human food soon enough. Waiting a little while longer while his man went to shore would not hurt anything. Cuke let his lover pull out of their embrace and watched the too thin body make its way to shore. His human lover did not remain land bound for long and when he returned to stand before Cuke, it was with arms full of the strange food that they had shared before.

"Here, you need to eat," Peter thrust two star fruits at his lover while he tried not to drop the others he held in the crook of his arm.

"Thank you." Cuke accepted the food and began to eat. No sooner had he finished one then his human lover was handing him another. Four pieces later and he could eat no more of the delicious land food. Cuke noticed that his lover ate none of the food he had brought and he frowned again.

"You should eat too. You are too thin," Cuke told his lover gesturing to the remaining food in his arms then back at the man.

Peter understood that his lover wanted him to eat but the thought of more fruit almost turned his stomach. "I'll eat later," he promised his sea elf but his lover continued to frown at him.

Cuke did not like that his human would not eat but decided that he probably needed more than the land food anyway.

"I will be back," Cuke promised his human lover even though he did not want to leave again so soon. He pulled his man in tight for another embrace before letting go and pushing him toward the shore. "Go on," he nudged him in the direction of the beach again. "I will return," Cuke smiled.

Peter understood his elf even though he couldn't understand the clicks. The gentle prods he was receiving were not hard to comprehend. He did not want to leave the company of his lover again so soon, but it seemed his elf was insistent.

"Okay, I'll go," Peter tried to smile, "but I won't stay on land long." He tried to make his reply sound like a threat as he walked backwards toward the beach but he knew his smile ruined the effect. That and the fact that his lover couldn't understand him.

~~~~**~~~~

Chapter Nine

Peter and his sea elf fell into a daily routine that seemed to the blur the days. He no longer added soldiers to his palm frond tip army to mark the passing of time. Time did not seem to matter as long as his sea elf was there when his eyes closed at night and when they reopened in the morning. Every morning his elf would wake him with the same series of clicks and whistles. Peter did not ignore or mistake them for the dolphin pod that still came to visit. In fact, after listening to his sea elf and the dolphins at the same time, he was not sure how he ever confused the two.

Peter would take star fruits with him into the sea to greet his lover and they would share the fruit for breakfast. His elf would always make the same chirp like noises after they were finished eating and Peter liked to imagine he was saying thank you. Maybe he was. After their breakfast they would swim for awhile. Sometimes the pod of dolphins would join them and it always made Peter smile when his lover and the dolphins would click and whistle to one another. He did not know if they were actually speaking to each other but the sounds they made were so similar that Peter imagined they were. How wonderful it must be for his lover to be able to speak with creatures of the sea.

The first time Peter's elf had him grasp the dorsal of a dolphin and the creature lurched forward through the sea, amazement overrode fear. At least until Peter caught sight of his pregnant lover being pulled through the waves on his own dolphin. The euphoria of gliding through the waves, as if he were born of the sea like his love, was soon crushed when fear for their child's safety overwhelmed him. His sea elf lover laughed as he rode next to the dolphin and Peter relaxed again as he realized his lover would not do anything that would risk harming their child. Peter was still amazed at the thought of becoming a father and he pushed away any fears that their child would be less than healthy and perfect.

By midday they would rest. Peter cursed this time away from his lover but his human body could not stay in his lover's watery world for long without wrinkling up to the point of pain. It seemed his sea elf knew when Peter tried to push the limits of the water against what his body could handle because he always prodded Peter toward shore before the pain set in.