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CHAPTER 1

"I'm going to lick you all over." Dax's soft voice whispered through Kyle's head, causing him to shiver in anticipation of the night ahead.

"Kyle, are you listening to me?" Kyle jumped at the sound of his father's irate tone, drowning out his lover's teasing.

Kyle bowed his head before making a visible attempt to give his father his full attention. Dax gave him a mischievous smile before adopting an innocent expression.

Dax's father, who out of all the mermen present probably had the best idea of what had been exchanged, shot his son a sharp look. "Continue, Lamar," he said for everyone to hear.

Lamar glared, firstly at Kyle, before leveling his steely gaze on Dax. "Maybe we should take the meeting up to land?" he suggested.

Kyle knew exactly why he wanted to take this above the water. Under the waves, the mer people communicated through telepathy while above, they spoke aloud. Underwater, any one of the mermen present could project what they wished to say to the whole group or to any individual present, something Dax and Kyle had been taking advantage of for the last two hours. While the older mermen discussed the pros and cons of relocating the clan to other waters, Dax and Kyle — instead of learning the ways of leadership for the time when they would be in charge — had been privately discussing just what they would be doing to each other when they swam to shore later that night.

Lamar's proposition to take the meeting to land wasn't exactly met with approval, particularly by the oldest of their clan, who hadn't set foot on land in more than a decade.

"Or we could just let the children go play?" Dax's father said.

Dax glared at his father. "I'm not a child. I'm twenty-five years old."

"Then start acting as though you're an adult, instead of spending the council meeting sending private thoughts to Kyle. We're all well aware of the desire you have for each other. However, this meeting is not the place for such discussions."

Dax ducked his head, suitably chastised.

Lamar raised an eyebrow at Kyle.

Kyle sent his next words privately to his father. "I'm sorry. I just find it difficult to focus this close to the height of the mating season. I'll try to concentrate on the issues at hand."

His father smiled and patted Kyle's hand. "It's been a long day and I doubt we're going to make any progress on the decisions any time soon."

"Do you honestly think we'd be better off living in one of the larger colonies?" Kyle was genuinely curious about his father's opinion on the matter.

"Yes, I do."

"Then why don't we just leave for one of them?"

"Because living in a colony such as the sunken city means sacrifices."

"At least we'd be safe from the shark attacks. Our mermaids and children wouldn't have to keep looking over their shoulders in fear."

"No, though you, Dax, and others like you may find yourselves doing so."

"What do you mean?"

Lamar glanced away momentarily, but not before Kyle saw the guilt in his eyes.

"What's the matter, Father?"

"As you know, the scout we sent to the sunken city reported back to us yesterday. There are many laws which everyone in the colony must obey."

"That's not a problem," Kyle assured him. "We're honest and hardworking mer people."

"One of the laws each and every merman and mermaid must obey is to do their duty to ensure the survival of our kind."

"What do you mean? Aren't we helping to ensure survival by moving to the colony?"

Lamar shook his head. "The law states mermen must not have intimate relations with other mermen, likewise for the mermaids. You and Dax would not be able to continue as you are without fear of punishment. You will be expected to father children on mermaids to help increase the population. Furthermore, some might consider the mermaids in the colony to be nothing more than vessels for breeding."

"But I don't feel anything for mermaids, and I can't see Lynna agreeing to be used in such a manner." Kyle's younger sister was a romantic, and certain the perfect merman for her waited just around the next coral reef.

"I know. And these are just a couple of the reasons why the decision of whether to go to the sunken city is so hard."

"What are the other reasons?"

Lamar rolled his eyes. "Have you been listening at all?"

Kyle couldn't meet his father's gaze. "I guess not."

"Well, the main reason is once you pledge allegiance to the colony, you would be giving up your freedom. Once the decision has been made, there's no changing your mind if you find you don't like it there. The king of the sunken city holds dominion over all the oceans and seas of the world and has the authority to banish anyone to land who he feels has broken the law."

"But that's not fair! What if we hate living there? Can't we just leave and find a new place like the one we have now?"

"Not once you've sworn allegiance."

"Do we have any other options besides joining the sunken city? What about other colonies?"

"There are few left and most clans are like ours, forever traveling to safer waters. The sunken city is the only colony left that remains in one place."

Kyle began to realize just what a tough choice his father had to make. He had to decide what the best decision was for everyone and if they did move to the colony, there would be no turning back.

"Try not to let it worry you," his father said. "You and Dax go up to the island. We'll no doubt still be debating when you come back."

Kyle turned to Dax, who had moved to his side. From the nodding and shaking of heads, the other mermen continued to talk privately about the issues at hand. Kyle gave his father a quick hug before he grabbed Dax's hand and steered him out of the cave.

"You and your father looked pretty intense back there," Dax said as they swam up toward the shore of the deserted isle where they could take human form. "Is everything okay?"

Kyle glanced over his shoulder. "Did you know the sunken city forbids mermen to have sex with each other?"

"Yes, my father mentioned the law. It's why he's so set against relocating there. He knows I would hate it."

"What will you do if they decide to move us there?"

"I'll take my chances somewhere else. I won't live a lie."

Kyle understood Dax's feelings and couldn't fault him for the choice he would make if the time came when he had to decide whether to remain with the clan he had grown up in or leave them all behind. Kyle wished he had the same determined conviction. Truthfully, he had no idea what would be best.

Kyle broke the surface of the ocean with Dax close beside him. Dax pushed his seaweed green hair back from his face and grinned at Kyle. Under the water, his pale blue fins teased Kyle's silvery blue ones. Dax had clearly pushed their more serious discussions aside and had returned to the mischievous merman Kyle had grown up idolizing.

"Race you to the beach," Dax called, as he shot through the waves.

"Cheat!" Kyle yelled after him, laughing as he struggled to catch up.

They hit the sand together and used their upper body strength to drag themselves out of the surf. Once they had pulled themselves clear of the water, their bodies began to change. Their caudal fins split in two, although neither of them felt any pain. The scales covering their bodies from the waist down smoothed and melded together, their colors changing to match their upper body skin tones. In under a minute, their fish tails had disappeared and they appeared completely human.

Dax grasped Kyle's cock in his wet hand. "This is what I miss most when we're below the waves."

Kyle groaned. Dax knew exactly where to touch him to bring him the most pleasure.

Keeping his promise from a short while before, Dax licked at Kyle's neck. "I love the way you taste."

Kyle shivered and spread his legs wide, digging his heels into the sand as Dax continued to tease him. "I thought I'd go crazy if I didn't come up here," he said. "I'm so hot today I thought the ocean might start boiling around me."

Dax chuckled. "Me too. I love the mating season, but when I'm stuck underwater and feel the burning desire to bury myself in my lover, I wonder if I hate it a little too."

Mating season came twice a year and lasted around a week, peaking on the summer and winter solstices. It apparently became slightly easier later in life, but for young mermen and mermaids in their prime, the need to take human form and achieve sexual release sometimes became overwhelming.

The method of obtaining relief from the sexual frustration of the mating season differed for each merman and mermaid. Kyle had long since discovered his trigger to relieve the feverish desire was being taken by another merman.

Kyle dragged Dax away from where he was tonguing his navel. "Kiss me," he ordered.

Dax didn't argue. Their lips met with bruising intensity. Mermen could kiss under water, it was one of the few things of this nature they could do in mer form. Still, Kyle always felt the kisses tasted sweeter when they were shared on land.

Kyle felt the hardness of Dax's penis rubbing between his legs. Not for the first time, he wished he had the ability to project his thoughts to Dax while human. Instead he was forced to pull out of their kiss to voice his desire.

"Need you in me," he rasped, as Dax deliberately teased him.

"Patience," Dax whispered in his ear. "I won't keep you waiting. It's been too long."

"Not that long."

"An hour's too long this close to the solstice." Dax sat back and nudged Kyle onto his hands and knees. "Are you ready for me, lover?" he asked.

Dax didn't give Kyle a chance to respond before he lowered his head and licked Kyle intimately.

Kyle keened as Dax used his tongue and fingers to prepare and stretch him. It would burn when he took Dax's thick length inside, but he had to have him. He craved the feeling of fullness.

Finally, Dax seemed to decide he was ready, and he slid his way inside.

Kyle whimpered and pushed back to meet him. He could already feel the mating fever receding.

"Kyle! Dax!"

Dax froze mid thrust as Kyle strained to see over his shoulder and out toward the ocean.

"Lynna?" His younger sister knew better than to travel to the island alone, yet Kyle couldn't see anyone with her.

Dax pulled out of Kyle and stood up. He helped Kyle to his feet and they stumbled back toward the surf.

"What is it?" Kyle called to Lynna as they entered the water and swam toward the mermaid. As soon as they were fully immersed in the ocean, the lower halves of their bodies became fish tails once more.

"S-s-sharks," Lynna stammered. She floated on the surface and Kyle saw a nasty gash along the length of her tail.

"What were you doing so close to one of the beasts?" Kyle asked. "Where were the mermen?"

Lynna gave him a peeved look. "I don't need a merman to p-protect me."

"Sure you don't," Kyle muttered. "Go to the shore and transform."

The transformation to human form and back again would immediately heal the injury Lynna had sustained.

"And stay on land until we come for you," Dax called as she obeyed.

Leaving his sister safe on the beach, Kyle dove beneath the surface and pushed himself downwards as fast as he could. Dax was right beside him.

When they reached the caves where the clan were currently staying, they discovered the mer people were in turmoil.

"Where's Lynna?" Kyle's mother, Maurissa, cried out for anyone in the vicinity to hear.

Kyle replied immediately, "She's safe on the island."

Maurissa calmed and scanned the area around her. Kyle followed her gaze as he searched for his father amongst the chaos.

He couldn't see the older merman anywhere.

"Where's Father?" Kyle asked his mother before calling out for everyone to hear. "Father!"

Kyle's mother took him by the arm. Her haunted eyes told him all he needed to know. "Mother?"

"He was protecting the nursery."

Kyle glanced over at the entrance to the cave where the youngest of their clan played under the watchful eye of their minder. "Are they safe?"

"Yes," Maurissa assured him. "They're in the lower cave."

At least they were out of danger for the moment. The lower cave was accessible through a narrow, twisting tunnel — one the sharks would be too large to navigate.

"Where are the sharks now? How many were there?"

"There were three of them. Morgan and Cam have swum east to draw them away from us."

"What of Paris and Llyr?"

"Morgan and Cam are the last guards left."

"No."

Maurissa covered her mouth with her hand. Kyle could see she could barely contain her emotions. Shark attacks were a way of life for the mer people, but to lose so many of a clan at once was rare. Kyle couldn't understand how this had happened. How could they have lost almost all of the men in such a short space of time?

Dax hovered nearby. "Kyle?" he whispered. Dax's father had been the leader of the guards, training the younger mermen in the best ways to protect the weaker members of the clan.

Kyle held Dax close. His lover only had his father. His mother had been killed when he had been just a child and he had no siblings or even a cousin. For years Dax and his father had supported each other.

Kyle still had his mother and sister. He couldn't break down when they needed him to be strong.

Slowly, the clan gathered together. Morgan and Cam returned to confirm the sharks had gone and everyone headed to the island to take stock.

Lynna paced the edge of the shoreline when they arrived. She threw herself into her mother's arms as they cried for their loss.

Dax stayed close to Kyle. He hadn't said a word since discovering the fate of his father.

Morgan addressed Kyle and cleared his throat. "What's the plan?"

Kyle shifted from one foot to the other as he realized he was the focus of the whole clan.

"You're the leader now," Maurissa said quietly. "You have to take your place and decide what's best for our people."

"But we always decide things equally," Kyle pointed out. "All mermen have an equal say and we vote on important decisions."

Morgan snorted. "Or we debate the issue for so long that it becomes irrelevant."

"But I'm not a leader," Kyle argued. "Both Cam and yourself are far older than me."

"I'm not that old," Morgan said. "And I'm content to go along with whatever you decide."

Kyle didn't know what to say. He couldn't make the decision for the rest of the clan. He had barely been listening in the meetings and he knew nothing about the wishes and feelings of the other mermen who had been present. What right did he have to determine the course of their lives?

"I need some time to think," he said.

Stepping away from the clan, he even distanced himself from Dax as he tried to come to terms with the position in which he found himself.

Kyle's father had inherited the leadership of the clan from his father. He had rebelled against the way Kyle's grandfather had ruled the clan and had taken it upon himself to introduce a new way of ruling, one where everyone had an equal say in what happened to their community.

Kyle knew not everyone in the clan had been pleased with the changes his father had brought in, but surely they weren't suggesting they go back to the way things had been before.

Except that was exactly what Morgan had suggested. By asking Kyle to decide what to do, they were effectively turning back the clock.

* * *

Kyle sat on the deserted stretch of sand for the rest of the day and long into the night. Sounds of mermen and mermaids making love drifted to him on the night wind. Even the tragedy of losing so many of their number couldn't stop the desire to mate on the night of the solstice. Had Kyle not let Dax bury himself inside him earlier in the day, he knew he would be similarly distracted.

Dax joined Kyle shortly before dawn, though he said nothing until Kyle spoke first.

"I don't think I can do this," Kyle said. "I'm not a leader."

"Yes you are. You were born to lead and the whole clan knows it."

"I don't even listen during the meetings. How am I supposed to know what's best for our people?"

Dax leaned his head on Kyle's shoulder. "By following your heart."

"What do you think we should do?"

"I don't know. I don't like the idea of the sunken city, but what hope have the children got if we carry on like this? Another shark attack could wipe us all out."

"If we go to the sunken city, we can never be together again." Kyle turned to see Dax's reaction to his words. "It's forbidden."

"And all mermen will be expected to have sex with mermaids," Dax added. "I don't know about you, but I won't be able to do my so called duty. That's why I won't be coming with you, if you choose to go there."

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Excerpted from "Forbidden Waters"
by .
Copyright © 2014 L.M. Brown.
Excerpted by permission of Totally Entwined Group Limited.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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