Rock Hard And Wet (BBW Paranormal Romance) (Nymphs Of New York) (10 page)

Petra
inhaled, but before she could speak, Callie shook her head. “I don’t want to
hear it. Why are you here anyway? Last time I saw you, you were with Logan
wearing your ‘I just had an amazing orgasm’ face.”

Silence
stretched out until she pivoted to see if her sister-nymph still sat on the
tub’s ledge. Tears coursed over Petra’s cheeks and dripped off her jaw. Her
slim shoulders rose and fell with each hitching breath. Shock electrified Callie
and she grasped her friend’s hand. Her mind raced as she parceled through their
conversation.

“Oh, by
Aphrodite’s sweet ass, Petra. What happened? You fell in love with Logan didn’t
you?”

Curls
bounced around Petra’s face and strands stuck to her wet cheeks. “He sent me
away. He…he said….” Petra swiped under her eyes with her fingers and blinked
until the tears cleared. “He said he would never accept me as his mate. That I
was ‘unsuitable’ to be mated to a grotesque. I didn’t realize I loved him. And
then I thought it must be a temporary madness of sorts. An infatuation. A
hormonal surge, if you will.”

“Oh
Petra. I’m so sorry. I’m starting to think these males must have rocks for
brains as well as bodies.” She stood up in the tub and hoisted herself up to
sit beside Petra. “What a pair we make, huh? The two hottest Nymphs in the
harem rejected by a couple hunks of rock.”

“I
don’t think your lot is as bad as mine. Theo loves you. He saved your life.”
Petra gave her a shaky smile. “He brought you home, threw himself into the
water to save you.”

“What?”
Shock and surprise followed by hope rippled over her. “But grotesques can’t
swim. If he stays in the water too long he’ll freeze into his hunting form and
die.”

“I
know. Poseidon was going to move him back onshore, but when he realized Theo
mated you, he decided to leave Theo where he came to rest on the ocean floor.
We thought it might help you heal faster if your mate was near.”

“I’m
not mated.” A curious numbness froze her brain. Nothing Petra said made sense.

“You
are, love. Look inside. You’ll find a thread of his magic.” Petra stood and
helped her up. “I bet you’ve felt it before. An awareness of him, of Theo,
inside you.”

Oh
gods, should she? He’d rejected her already in the worst way she could have
imagined. But Petra was right. Being in the harem only served to make her
miserable. No, now was not the time to be a coward. She had to try.

The
soft light of the room faded, along with the ocean panorama arching overhead. She
squeezed her eyes shut and concentrated on Theo, on the place inside she
thought she’d felt him before. The spot she’d grasped and found him, even when
she’d known she’d die alone in the alley.

A spark
of recognition, a thread so tiny and thin it almost slipped away, clung to the
edges of her consciousness. Callie tottered to the door of the chamber on stiff
legs, and hovered there, indecision warring within her. Finally, she gave into
the urge to return to an ornate wardrobe constructed from coral and drift wood on
the far side of the room. She retrieved a huge, fluffy towel. Theo wouldn’t
want her running around the palace naked. It would bother him. Petra met her at
the wardrobe and offered the bracelet Theo had gifted to her. A tremor overtook
her fingers, but she managed to pick up the silver and gold band. The cool
metal slid around her bicep with ease.

 “Go
get him honey.” Petra kissed her on the cheek, and Callie gave into the urge to
leave the room. She strode through the open door and took a right. The farther
she walked, the stronger the compulsion to continue on her course became until
she broke into a jog despite her weakened state. Her feet slapped on the cool
stone floors. The curved walls of the hallway soared to meet the domed ceiling
high above her head.

When
she arrived at the atrium, she skidded to a halt. The connection to Theo grew
stronger with each step toward this point. The walls of the room were comprised
entirely of water held in place through virtue of Poseidon’s magic. Endless
blue pressed in from all sides. She dipped her fingertips into the water as she
moved, tiny ripples moving over the smooth surface in concentric circles.

Schools
of fish swam by with lazy flicks of their fins or in fast darts of motion. The
frayed thread she’d followed to this place trembled and vibrated. She turned in
a slow circle, confused and disoriented, tripping and stumbling over her feet.

The
pull was so strong; their connection so tight here. But where was Theo? Maybe
she’d imagined it all.

She
glided over the floor to the far wall and sank her palm in to the wrist, unable
to focus. Wet strands of hair clumped together and stuck to her cheek. Mere feet
away, an enormous winged stone lion lay on the ocean floor, it’s front legs
curled up as though it had cradled something, one wing bent at an unnatural
angle beneath its body. Red and gold striations ran through the grey stone, but
the colors were muted, a sign that Theo was succumbing to his hunting form and
becoming more statuary than living being by the minute.

The
thread of awareness blazed into a river, a flood that coursed into her, images
crowded and overwhelmed her consciousness. Despair, loss, and grief gouged a
hole in her chest and sent her to her knees in a heap.

“Theo!”

The
walls of water all around her bulged out, then in, and Callie allowed herself to
be taken into the bliss of the ocean’s cocoon. Her mate needed her.

Now.

Cool
currents embraced her, ripping the towel away. Callie gathered all the magic
she possessed in her solar plexus and cast it out in a surge at her mate. The
schools of fish nearby fled as the statue vibrated and began to ascend to the
surface. The strain of moving such a huge object weakened her, sucked out the
energy she’d managed to regain in her healing sleep.

Theo plummeted
back to the bottom. A cloud of sand plumed up around him and turned the water
into a murky mess.

Damn
it, she couldn’t give up now. Not after everything they’d already survived.

Callie
swam to where the lifeless stone lay and caressed the ridge of his nose and
brow and over the thin lines of his scars. Her fingers told her it was nothing
more than stone, but in her heart she knew better. When her strength came back,
she’d try again. At least she didn’t have to worry about him drowning.

Cool
flesh skated over her shoulder and she jerked away. When her hair cleared from
her face, she spotted Ephyra, one of her sister Nymphs.

The
brunette smiled and clasped hands with Callie, then gestured toward Poseidon’s
underwater palace. A steady stream of nymphs entered the ocean through the wall
she’d breached to get to Theo and headed toward them.

Each
female clasped hands until they formed a circle around the grotesque. Froth and
bubbles sizzled in a rising column twenty feet in diameter. The stone lion
levitated, and the circle of nymphs around it followed.

Callie
concentrated on holding onto the hands of the sisters on either side of her,
exhausted with the effort of trying to move Theo alone.

Her
sisters kept her connected to the circle by lacing their arms around her back. The
other nymphs supported her until they breached the surface. She’d lost the
ability to keep her eyes open. A breeze kissed her cheeks. Strong, rough hands
caught her up under the arms and lifted her from the ocean. She didn’t have the
energy to care who now bore her weight into the air. Theo’s presence filled her
with peace, and that was all that mattered to her. The male who’d retrieved her
juggled her body around until he cradled her to his chest. Callie craned her
neck trying to catch a glimpse of her mate and only managed to view a crowd of
winged, multi-colored  beings gathered in a circle over the water.

“Hey,
whoever you are. Drop him, and I’ll kill you!” Poseidon was unlikely to allow
harm to come to her or her mate; the god of the sea might have a sexual
appetite that rivaled the satyrs, but he was loyal and protected his people.
Even mated, Callie could still count on a measure of the sea god’s protection.
But she needed to make her position clear on the matter at hand anyway. The
aerie would learn she wasn’t someone to fuck with when it came to her mate.

The
shout she’d intended fizzled out after the first syllable into something only a
tick louder than a whisper. A masculine laugh rumbled in her ear. Well, someone
had heard her. “Go ahead and try it, sweet heart. See how far you get.”

“Fine,
I’ll draw rude caricatures of you all in public places.” She yawned and managed
to open her eyes. A red T-shirt stretched over a well muscled chest filled her
vision. “Seriously though, if you guys hurt Theo, I’ll spend the rest of my
life stalking you and doing my damndest to make you miserable. I’ll freeze ice
over you. I’ll find a crack in your hunting form, and then I’ll—”

“Chill
out, darlin’.” He turned in mid-air so she could see the flock of grotesques
taking control of Theo’s frozen form from the nymphs. “The aerie finally got
their heads out of their asses and are doin’ right by him. Took them long
enough.”

“Ah,
good. I’d hate to have to force everyone to shower in cold water for the rest
of their lives. I’m a busy woman.”

“I
know.” The male holding her in his arms jiggled her around, the muscles in his
chest flexing under her cheek. “Don’t worry. You can trust me.”

“You
know that’s what the bad guys say right before they kill you in the movies,
right?” A great gust of wind tore at her hair, and she realized they were
flying. Callie felt her way along the threads of the bond she shared with Theo,
and reassured of his presence; let her eye lids drop down.

“If I
told you Logan sent me, would it help?” The wind ripped his words away from
them, but Callie heard.

“Not
really. You do know what he did to my nymph-sister Petra, right?” Wind tore at
her hair and ripped tears from her eyes.

“I see
your point. Well, you’ll just have to trust me.”

“I
guess so, since I can’t fly. But don’t fuck up. I mean it.” She peeked at the
ocean’s waves below.

“I got
it. Don’t worry. Theo’s gonna be fine.”

A snarky
comment attempted escape but she bit it back. Being bitchy to a young, cocky,
flying, male wouldn’t do anything. Especially when he seemed to enjoy it so
much. The group transporting Theo moved ahead and to the left of them. She kept
her gaze trained on them and hoped the force of her glare sent a message strong
enough to let them know how fucked they were if they hurt her mate. She’d never
be caught off guard by a grotesque again.

The
closer they drew to the shore, the higher they climbed. The cold wisps of
clouds skated over Callie’s skin, and she shivered. The male veered in a sharp
curve to the left and her heart leapt in her chest. The aerial acrobatics
flipped her stomach around, and she laughed in delight despite her reservations
and distrust of the grotesques.

“You
like that? Well let’s do some more. I think you could use some fun, eh?” The
male banked to the right, then back to the left, tucked his wings tight and
took them toward the ground in a steep decline.

“Woohoo!
This is so fun!” Her exhaustion abated on the heels of the excitement of
flight.

A loud
snap echoed, and their descent slowed almost to a stop. “Better than a roller
coaster?” The male flapped his wings in long, slow strokes until he touched
down on a rooftop.

He set
her on her feet.

“Never
been on one.” Her legs wobbled, then steadied, and he released her biceps. She
spun on her heel and startled when she saw his face. Until that moment, she
hadn’t seen anything but the underside of his jaw. “Thanks for the ride. And
for distracting me a little.”

“You’re
welcome.” He grinned, showing off a perfect set of dimples. Long sandy brown
hair hung to his shoulders, framing a face of incredible masculine beauty.

Callie
tried to look away, knew her open stare was rude, but couldn’t keep her eyes
turned away. She’d never seen anyone as attractive as the male in her life. Streaks
and veins of blue coloration marched over every inch of exposed skin. The
curved middle joints of two massive leathery wings peaked above his head.

“They
aren’t tattoos. Yes, I was born this way. No, I don’t get laid constantly.” His
smile stayed fixed, but the mirth in his expression died. He gave her the
blatant once over she’d been waiting for since he’d picked her up out of the
water. “But I think you could coax me out of my dry spell, darlin’.”

The
grotesques transporting Theo landed a few feet away. They set him so carefully
on the rooftop that Callie didn’t even hear a
clink.

“Ah,
you know what? A week ago, I would have jumped on you. But now… I gotta go.
Thanks for not dropping me or doing anything that would make me have to stalk
you and cause misery.” She kissed him on the cheek, the lonely sadness in his
eyes no more ignorable than a siren’s song. This male needed someone to love
him. But her heart was already taken. Owned totally. She twirled and walked
backward. “Oh, shit, what’s your name? You never told me.”

He
bowed at the waist and flared his wings out with a snap. Show off. “You can
call me X.”

“Thank
you, X.” Callie blew a second kiss to him and trotted toward Theo and the
members of the aerie.

Humanoid
and mythical creatures in every size, shape, and color mixed in a loose circle
around Theo’s prone form. X hurried past on her left.

A few
of the other grotesques hissed and chattered, giving him a wide berth.

“Fuck
you. You need me and you know it. Theo’s in deep.”

Tails
slashed through the air, wings rustled, and more angry chitters sounded. The
wind kicked up, and dust motes danced in the air. A huge stone lion with red
and gold coloring that matched Theo’s landed a few feet away from Callie.

 “Logan?”

The
lion paused and turned its head to regard her. The grotesque nodded once, his
stone mane swishing around his face.

“You’re
an idiot, you know? You’ll never find another female like Petra. And I really
don’t think you deserve her.”

Logan’s
tail slashed the air and he growled at her.

“Oh,
fuck off. You and I both know who the jerk is here.”

X
wedged his way into the ring around Theo and held his place even though the
grotesques on either side of him appeared to be trying to keep him out. Logan
took a place on X’s left, shoving a tall, beaked creature aside hard enough to
cause it to stumble.

Theo
lay on his back, all four paws in the air, and one of his wings crumpled. She
grasped their connection with a firm but gentle touch, reassured to find it
strong. The whisper of outside voices brushed the edges of her consciousness.
Callie shoved them away and stomped toward Theo, punched her way through the
ring of grotesques around him, and laid her hand on his paw.

“If you
hurt him, you’ll regret it. X says you won’t, but one of you didn’t rip his
guts out.” Callie glared at the creatures until they ceased their shoving and
squawking. “Theo doesn’t want me around, but we do have a connection of some kind.
I’ll know if you’re doing something shady.”

X
nodded at her. “You’ll need to back up.”

She
left their circle with shuffling steps, reluctant to move away from her love.
Exhausted muscles in her legs and back trembled with the effort of keeping her
upright. Only a few hours ago she’d woken from a coma, and the strain of her
activities since leaving bed were taking their toll.

The aerie
swayed, then joined their movements with a song she wouldn’t have believed them
capable of performing. The clarity and joy embedded in the notes touched her
heart and changed the landscape of her soul. As the song continued, it gained
momentum, each utterance circling back on itself and harmonizing. She joined
her voice to theirs, caught in the web of magic. Red-gold light kindled around
Theo’s prone form until it encapsulated him. The bubble pulsed with the tempo
of the rhythm; the colors blazed ever brighter, until they mixed together and
became white.

The
bubble flared and disappeared, leaving a sparkling shower like tiny shooting
stars behind. Her heart thundered in her chest. Callie took a step toward Theo,
then another. He lay still and prone, the only clue she had that he had
awakened was the light rise and fall of his chest. The aerie parted to allow
her to enter the circle, but she remained out of reach, suddenly aware of her
nudity.

Theo’d
thrown her away, told her to leave. She shouldn’t let him see her naked ever
again. Callie scowled and tucked her hair behind her ears. Now that he was
awake and alive, she wanted to kick his ass for hurting her.

If he’d
let her stay in the apartment, Booker wouldn’t have clawed her belly to shreds.
A worse thought followed on the heels of the first and doused most of the anger:
what if he woke up and threw her away again? In front of the Aerie? Despite
their bond?

Anguish,
confusion, and despair all muddled together in her head, choking her throat and
sucking the air from her lungs. She had to get away from him before he hurt her
again.

Theo
fought the song of the aerie. They’d removed him from the ocean, where he’d
gone into Dormancy. Ire boiled and surged, shoving rational thoughts aside. On
the bottom of the sea, he’d been close to Callie. The bastards couldn’t resist
an opportunity to punish him.

He’d
known, even while in his hibernating state, when she awoke. Their bond, though
new and weak, had flared with awareness. However, even now, the aerie refused
him peace. A mate outside the species was frowned upon, and with his history of
offences, they must have used it in an excuse to punish him once more. To
separate a grotesque from their mate, especially when the bond hadn’t
solidified and matured, created a living hell for the male.

Once,
he’d have accepted their punishment as his due. No longer. Their strictures and
laws drove Booker, a once proud member of the aerie to madness, and the male almost
killed the female he loved.

For
fuck’s sake, he was made of stone! She lived underwater. What the hell would
they do on a date? He couldn’t swim, couldn’t hold his breath under water. If
he shut down and went into Dormancy, he made a good diving weight. Unless she
wanted to surface. Lots of fun that would be. Callie could claim to have a
fifteen foot long pet rock in the shape of a winged lion.

Callie
didn’t need him in her life. Probably wouldn’t want him after what he’d done.

His
bond to her grew stronger as the irresistible call of the aerie towed him to
full awareness. He listened to the mental chatter of the attending grotesques,
careful to breathe slow and steady. Let them believe he hadn’t fully awoken
yet. Satisfied by the mundane aspects of the aerie’s telepathic conversations,
he allowed himself a peek at the mate bond he shared with Callie and almost
drowned in a tidal wave of emotions.

Gods,
she was pissed. So angry and upset he rolled to his feet in one swift movement
and released a infuriated roar meant to serve as warning and threat to the ass
who’d displeased her so. His mangled wing dragged on the roof top, but he
managed to tuck the other one to his back. The pain cascading into his muscles from
the injury hurt enough that his vision blurred, but he fought through it and
focused on Callie. Whoever had done this to her, given her cause for such
mental anguish, would die the moment he found them.

He
roared once more, flame jetting from his mouth this time and licking at the
belly of the nearest grotesque. The other male backed away, hands out in front
of himself in the universal gesture for no harm intended. The aerie shouted at
him along their common telepathic path, but he ignored it, zeroed in on Callie.

The
bond led him to where she stood, her arms looped over her middle, the glorious
strands of her exotic hair a wild mass of curls—one copper iris, her large,
full breasts, and nipples were hidden by the locks. She transferred her weight
from one foot to the other and glared at him.

Tears
welled on the rims of her eyes; she blinked them away, and pivoted to present
her back to him. “Well, good to see you’re awake. Your friend can take me somewhere
else now.”

A low
growl spilled from his muzzle. He let his claws click on the roof as he crossed
to where she stood. The plump globes of her ass tempted him. When he got close
enough, he swiped the left one with his tongue from the bottom where it met her
thigh to the top.

Callie
gasped, jerked, and ran a few steps. She whirled on him and poked him right in
the nose with her finger. “Who do you think you are anyway? You can’t do stuff like
that. You told me to leave. To go away. That you didn’t want me. Now, because
of you, I’m going to be stuck with a mate bond you don’t want. Poseidon recognized
the magic, so I belong with you now. Except you made it clear you don’t want
me. So where do I go? I hope you have a half-way house for homeless nymphs.”

Satisfaction
and pure possessiveness stole through him. He grinned and purred, then sat
down. Standing, their heads were almost level. Sitting like this, his head
towered over hers. He curled his tail around his feet and tried again to fold
his injured wing in, but it didn’t want to cooperate.

A
metallic glint caught his eye and he focused on it. Callie’s hair still
obscured most of her front, including her biceps. The buzz of her voice as she
chewed him out passed him. He wanted to know what was shining on her arm.

Theo
used his left paw to move her hair out of the way.

“You
jerk, you told me to get out… What are you doing?” She clapped her hand over
the exposed skin.

But
he’d seen what he wanted. Relief, joy, and triumph burbled over him. Callie
wore the bracelet he’d bought her.

“You know
what? You need to change forms. I’m tired of yelling at a giant flying stone
lion. Which is a totally ridiculous notion anyway. How the hell can something
made out of stone fly? It makes no sense.”

Theo
shook the ruff of fur around his neck out, stretched his back until his
vertebrae popped and slid into his human form. Unlike the experience of most
shape-shifting species, it didn’t hurt.

“I was
wrong. I’m sorry.”

Callie
opened and closed her mouth in rapid succession.

He
reached out and pushed her lower jaw up with the tip of his forefinger. “What?
I do know how to apologize.”

“That
was amazing. You just pop from one form to the other.” She retreated a step.
“And you obviously weren’t listening to me. You can’t apologize like nothing
happened. It doesn’t work that way.”

Theo
closed the gap between them, got close enough for his toes to touch hers,
grasped her hips with both hands, and towed her in until they touched from
chest to shins. “Yes, it does. You can stay mad for awhile if you want. But I
said I’m sorry, and I meant it.” Temptation to use their mate bond to help
plead his case teased him, but he shoved it away. It wouldn’t be fair.

He
studied her face, noted the purple hued skin under her eyes and the fine lines
bracketing her mouth. “You’re exhausted. Let’s go to bed.”

“I’m
not having sex with you.” Callie kept her arms crossed over her chest and
leaned back enough so that she could look him in the eye. The mounds of her
generous breasts plumped up, bracketed by her forearms and biceps. Gods he wanted
to bury his cock in her cleavage. “And I’m not going home with you either.”

Her
statement chilled him, but stubborn refusal to yield was something he
understood. He excelled at digging his heels in.