Shark Bait (17 page)

* * * *

Nereus watched from his tank as David left the quarantine area, head bowed and steps quick and hard.
“I need to talk to you.”
The sharks all floated, passed out. An eerie quiet lingered in the room, louder than the hum of the filters. Nereus sang through the water. “I told you already. I’m not interested.”
David leaned up against Nereus’s tank. His head bent forward between his arms. Then David looked up, met his eyes and slammed his hand into the tank so hard that Nereus drifted back several feet. “Goddammit. I need your fucking help!”
Nereus crossed his arms over his chest. “What for?”
David’s hand closed into a fist. “That girl, the dragon. She’s in heat.”
Nereus whistled. The thin sound rose in bubbles. He swam up to the top of the tank, lifting his head above the surface. “Get this shit off.” He gestured to the wire covering on his tank and David pushed it to the side.
David scooped up the back of his head and pulled him into a desperate kiss. Nereus’s mouth opened on instinct, the weird pulsing warmth that had built in his body for the last half hour urging him on.
He pulled away from David. “What the fuck was that about?” He felt angry, but his words sounded sultry, hot, even to his own ears.
David still gripped Nereus’s hair, staring down at him with undisguised lust. “I think it’s the airborne pheromones.” He breathed, lowering his lips closer to Nereus’s mouth. “But I’ve wanted to do that from the first moment I saw you.”
David moaned into his mouth as he plunged his tongue in again.
Against his will, Nereus answered with a groan of his own. His hands tangled in David’s thick red hair and his lover’s hand swept down, over his neck, his shoulder.
Gasping, David pulled away. “I really do need your help, though. I need to contact the Dragon Council.”
Nereus felt his jaw clench. “You think they give a shit about what goes on here?”
David stroked his finger along his jaw, eyes still riveted to Nereus’s mouth. “They will if they find out Friedson’s holding a dragon. One in heat, nonetheless.”
The merman groaned. With all the pheromones floating around, it was all he could do not to crawl out of his tank and fuck the scientist senseless.
David nodded again, and then lowered his head for another kiss.
Nereus pulled back. “I can help you, but…” A kiss cut him off, passionate and hungry.
“Anything, baby…” David whispered against his lips.
“You need to stop these experiments.”
David’s fingers clenched. His fingernails cut into Nereus’s shoulder. When he spoke, it was through clenched teeth. “You know I can’t do that.”
Nereus tried to hold his gaze even as David pulled back and looked away. “Can’t or won’t?”
When David’s eyes met his again, they were full of remorse. “Won’t. I’ll change things around here. Do everything I can to make participation voluntary.” Nereus scoffed, and David added, “Dendric can afford to pay its subjects. It just takes the right accounting…and the right motivation. And there’s always someone willing to donate their time and their body, for the right price.”
Nereus wanted to believe him. “How are you going to recruit these voluntary test subjects?” Humans couldn’t even see mere habitats.
“I have a few ideas.” The corner of David’s mouth twitched up and Nereus’s realization dawned slowly.
“Oh, crap no! You think I’d recruit for you? After everything that’s been done to me here?”
David’s lip straightened to a hard thin line. “Well if not you, then I’m sure I can find someone else who’d be interested.”
It was stupid to feel jealous over something so idiotic, but Nereus felt envy, cold and clammy creep into his belly. “And where do you think you’ll find this fictional mere?”
David leveled him a hard stare. “What did you do for work before you came here?”
Nereus tensed at the question. Like most mere habitats, his had been dirt poor. He’d worked at a convenience store in a nearby human area. No way he’d tell his fancy-pants scientist that.
“Yeah, I know most mere don’t have access to decent jobs, or even much education.”
Nereus shrugged and rolled his eyes, pretending that the scientist’s words didn’t strike a chord.
“I could provide recruiters with a decent salary, training…”
“In exchange for selling their powers.” Nereus knew he sounded sulky, but David just didn’t get it. Maybe humans weren’t meant to heal super-fast or hold their breath longer underwater. Maybe humans should just live with their limitations, just like the rest of the world’s species.
David petted his neck. Even with residual anger thrumming through his veins, Nereus leaned into the touch. “Everyone sells something.” David said it wistfully, as if he wished it weren’t true.
Nereus lifted out of the water so that he rested on straight arms at the tank’s lip. “Okay. I’ll help you contact the Dragon Council.” When David’s face lit up, he added, “but after that, you’re on your own.”

* * * *

David felt Nereus’s words in the pit of his stomach. He knew that mere lived 300 years, so a future between him and the merman was impossible, but it still stung. He’d happily give up a future for a little more now.

Nereus’s shoulder’s flexed, and the merman drew his long body out of the water. He used his arms to swing his tail over the edge and waited until his lower body shifted. The sight of his ripped torso made David’s mouth dry, but then the scientist noticed the strain in his lover’s arms and moved in to hold him up.

The merman jerked away from David’s touch, but David held his pale body until legs grew to touch the floor. And when Nereus stood, a few inches shorter than David, the scientist took his mouth again.

Nereus’s cock stood completely erect, mirroring the bulge in David’s dress slacks. But David knew they didn’t have time.
David pulled back from their embrace. He couldn’t give his heart to a man who despised him and his work. Funny, he always felt like his work was an elaborate ruse to cover up his attraction to men. For the first time in his life he felt no compulsions about whom he loved, but he was deeply conflicted about his job.
He grabbed Nereus a towel. “So how do we do this?”
The merman peered around the room, and then his eyes darted to an exam room door. “There’s a phone in there, right?”
When David nodded, Nereus started walking. “I just need to make a few phone calls.”
“Um, okay.” Embarrassed as he was to admit it, David had almost forgotten that Nereus would know how to use a phone, or that he’d have anyone to call. When they’d reached the room and Nereus raised the receiver, David’s shame billowed thick and fast.
“Press that button, and when they ask for a code, dial 38243.”
Nereus did as David said. Then he paused and waited for someone on the other end to pick up. David heard a female voice answer, then Nereus’s voice cracked as he said, “Mom?”
A flurry of sound came from the mouthpiece, too fast for David to understand, but he heard fear, pain, and joy. Nereus’s shoulders bent forward, his head hung down. Tears started falling from his eyes. “I’m okay, Mom. Yeah, I’m fine. Don’t worry.”
David reached up to offer comfort, and to his surprise, Nereus didn’t pull away. Still talking to his mother, the merman curled into David’s arms. The doctor listened as he told her about his capture and being held. He told her he’d be home soon and to tell his brothers and sisters not to worry.
David felt like the world’s biggest douche for even considering not letting him go.
After a long while, Nereus drew back, wiping his eyes on the back of his hand. “Listen, Mom, before I go—I need your help with something.” A pause. “Would you give me Uncle Laird’s number?”

David entered the observation room and closed the door behind him. Friedson stood, clipboard in hand, eagerly jotting notes. Through the one-way mirror, David saw that the female huddled at the side of her cell, the shark-shifter hybrid pressed into the other side of the clear barrier. She cried slow tears, and he stroked the glass by her hair.

“I’ve called the Dragon Council.”

Friedson turned on him, panic in his eyes. “Are you out of your mind?” His mouth hung open in disbelief and the color drained from his cheeks.

“I told them that we’d found her along with a routine catch and that we took blood samples to make sure she wasn’t ill or injured. She’s agreed to corroborate the story.”

Friedson’s color returned, but he held up an angry finger. “I expect my team to work as a team, David. If you insist on undermining me…”

David cut him off. “…But she’s more than willing to inform them of what actually happened if you attempt to remove me from my position.” He adjusted his glasses, not entirely sure whether or not to go where he was thinking. “Or if I suddenly disappear.”

The wary look in Friedson’s eye told David he’d struck on the truth. David checked his watch. “Oh, and I’ll be making some recommendations to the Board regarding subject recruitment and informed consent in the next few months.” He didn’t even spare Friedson a glance as he opened the door. “I assume I’ll have our full support. Yes? Thanks.”
* * * *

David strode into the quarantine area. Neither of the cells’ inhabitants looked up at his approach. They just kept staring into each others’ eyes, pawing at the plastic.

“Um, excuse me.” He cut through their intimate moment, a lewd presence amidst their desire and pain. “Um, Miss, I spoke with the Council today, and they’re coming to get you.”

She nodded absentmindedly. Then her face scrunched up and she bent at the waist, breathing through her nose.
“Is that what you want?”
She looked at him, panic and confusion in her features. Then her gaze darted to the shark next to her.
He looked away, his jaw tight.
“What would happen to him?” Her dark eyes trained on the shark’s shoulder.
“Well…” David steeled himself to take a chance. “That depends on what he wants. We would like to continue taking blood and tissue samples at his convenience, if he is willing.”
The shark’s mismatched eyes flew up to meet David’s. “I’m a prisoner here!”
The aggression hit David in the chest like a punch, and he fought the urge to take a step back. “Yes, now. But you don’t have to be. I could offer you a…deal of sorts.”
The shark’s gaze darkened, and his shoulders hunched forward. When the delicate-looking, wide-eyed dragoness reached a hand to him for comfort, the shark turned to look at her and their eyes met. Not looking at David, he asked, “What kind of deal?”

* * * *

Raider listened while the scientist outlined his dumb-ass plan to try to get mere, sharks, and maybe even dragons to volunteer for his company’s scientific studies. He hid his disbelief for as long as possible, but when the guy started talking money, Raider saw his angle. “So you’re going to bribe them?”

The scientist fiddled with the bend of his glasses. “It’s referred to as compensating people for their time and effort.”
Raider watched him through narrowed eyes. “And what type of salary would I be looking at?”
Years of practiced cool in his father’s hold didn’t stop Raider’s eyes from popping wide when the scientist gave him a number.
It was way too good to be true. “And how many would I have to bring in for that kind of money?”
“None,” the scientist answered right away. He waved his arms about as he spoke, starting to pace in front of the cells. “The first step would be for you to act as an ambassador, like public relations. Later I’d train you to draw blood and collect other samples.”
Raider tamped down the pounding of his heart. There had to be a fucking catch.
“Of course, we’d provide you with a boat. I can’t promise a crew. This would be top-secret in the early stages. But I assume you can handle a craft.”
His heart skipped a beat. Suddenly the land sickness that he’d held at bay returned. Raider wanted back on a boat more than anything, well almost anything.
“Only if you let us go right now. Both of us.”
The scientist’s convivial air disappeared. “I’d have to microchip you.”
Raider raised his head to meet the other man’s level gaze. The doctor was no idiot.
“Do it.”
The doctor swung out of the room with a swish of white coat, and returned a moment later holding a gun-type injector. “This chip will release a poison into your system if you try to remove it yourself.”
Raider’s respect for the scientist grew by the minute.
“If you want it removed, you talk to me. You’re free to quit whenever you want, but I’m not going to send your pay without regular updates and some way to track your movements.”
“Yeah, I get it.”
The scientist’s hand reached for the door to Raider’s cell. “You won’t kill me when I open this, will you?”
Raider’s gaze swung to Sophia. Her whiskey eyes looked at him with longing. If he was going to have any chance of keeping her he needed a job. And he was going to keep her, even if he had to keep her hostage for real.
“No. I won’t kill you.”
The scientist opened the door, took three steps, and fired the injector into his deltoid. It stung for a moment. Sophia gasped, and Raider noticed David turning toward her.
“She doesn’t get one.” Raider snarled, and the doctor had the good sense to avert his gaze.
“Of course not.” He started out the door, leaving it open for Raider to follow. “Um…You should probably let me lead you out. The sharks are all unconscious, but…well it’s a bit of a…”
Raider caught a whiff of Sophia’s scent. Lightening struck in his brain, shooting straight down his spine to wrap under his cock. He lunged at the door to her cell, finding that this time the plastic cracked on impact.
“Hey! That’s expensive!” The scientist grabbed his arm with surprising strength. “Breathe. I can’t let her out if you’re going to attack her.”
Raider used every ounce of his energy to rein in his muscles. Every tendon strained toward Sophia. He gritted his teeth as the scientist slid a card through a reader on the door. The lock clicked and Raider ripped the door open. In the next breath, he lifted Sophia off the ground and pinned her up against the wall of her cell.

* * * *

Sophia’s body wrapped around Raider’s. Her muscles moved desperately, trying to get him where she needed him.
The scientist stuttered, “Um…I’ll just be waiting outside…but they’re coming pretty soon, so…um, yeah.” He slipped out.
The door clicked closed just as Sophia started to impale herself on Raider’s still-covered erection.
“Fuck, hold on a sec.” Raider dropped her unceremoniously to her feet, shoved his shorts to his ankles and then he lifted her again, wrapping her legs around his hips. “I can’t stop…You don’t want me to right…?” he rasped in her ear.
She almost cried to have him close again. He smelled like salt and male, and she wanted to lick every part of his body. “I need you inside me so much.” A tiny bell of wonder sounded inside her. Sophia had thought when her heat hit she’d be eager for any male she could get, but right now she could only imagine being with him.
Raider gripped her behind in both his hands and plunged into her core.
She screamed at the pain-tipped joy of it. Nothing in the world could feel so right.
Bracing her thighs with his hands, he worked his hips liked a piston. Unable to meet his thrusts, she melted into his hands, collapsing as an orgasm wracked her body.
His pace sped impossibly faster, and his cock became hard as granite. She cried out anew as another round of spasms tackled her, taking him down as well. He bucked, frenzied. She knew she should be scared, as he seemed to have lost all control, but all she could do was ride the waves of ache and release.
His movements slowed, became languorous.
Sophia knew she’d keep coming as long as he made love to her. “Again.” His pace picked up, working her back toward the edge.
“We have to go…” She whispered it, even as her eyes pinched close at the onslaught of another climax.
He worked her through it, grinding a punishing beat into her sheath. She almost couldn’t take anymore when he pushed in all the way, holding her tight as he jetted more of his seed.
Raider shuddered, his mouth open, his eyes pressed tight in ecstasy. Her soul ached at the beauty of him. When he opened his eyes and asked, “Again?” her body, and maybe a little of her heart, screamed to say “yes”.
“We have to go.” She pressed lightly on his shoulders, leading him back from her body, and her feet fell to the floor.
His lopsided gaze still displayed that crazed fervor, but he drew away from her, breathing hard through his nose. “Yeah.” He pulled up his shorts, grabbed her by the arm and started dragging her out of the cell.
“Hey, hold on!” She batted at his arm with her free hand. Her slaps weren’t hard, but the sound appeared to stun him back to awareness. “I need to clean up!”
Sophia searched the various countertops for tissues. She grabbed three and cleaned herself between her legs, blushing. Raider’s stare heated her back, and she tried not to bend over, knowing it would only encourage him.
“Come on…” His low rumble caused a fresh rush of moisture to pool, requiring yet another tissue.
“Get a hold of yourself!” Her teasing tone surprised her, and his answering groan surprised her even more. A smile played at her lips. Nothing she said or did could discourage him.
Much as she wanted to answer his vocalizations with a few of her own, she took the hand he offered and let him haul her out into the hallway.
“Feeling better?” The scientist smirked, but then looked away from Raider’s fierce glare. “Well, follow me.”
He led them back to the room with all the tanks. Sharks floated suspended, looking dead. “What happened to them?”
She watched him climbed a stepladder to reach the covering on the tank in the center of the room. “We have to keep them sedated until you leave.” When Sophia didn’t answer right away, he added, “It’s for their protection as much as yours.”
Sophia thought she heard a touch of defensiveness in his tone. “I understand.”
Weber’s gaze swung to her. He looked grateful. Then he reached into the tank and tapped the shoulder of the mere curled up at the bottom. Sophia had thought he was sleeping like the sharks, but he twitched at the scientist’s touch.
“Go away.” The mere swam to the opposite corner of the tank. He sounded really pouty.
“I’m getting you out of here today. I have to drive these two to the docks anyway…”
The mere turned toward the scientist, pain in his expression. “And what about the sharks?”
The scientist took a deep breath. “I’m going to phase out this part of the study. We’ll work with the samples we have until our friend here can recruit some voluntary subjects.”
Sophia watched as silent communication passed between the scientist and the male mere. If Weber hadn’t just stood outside a door while she had intercourse, she might have felt embarrassed to witness their exchange.
She’d heard about males who loved other males, though the Council claimed that such a thing didn’t occur in the dragon population. As Weber reached out to the mere, grabbing his hand to pull him from the tank, she knew there was love between these two. And when the mere shifted to human, the erection that blossomed from between his legs confirmed it.
All went dark as Raider’s hand clamped over her eyes. “Put some clothes on, and let’s get out of here.”