Dagger (Brothers of Element Series Book I)

"And it continues to hold fire and water, even now?"

<><><> CHAPTER NINE  

TWO HOURS LATER, legs folded on the metal pier, soaked from head to toe, wiggling wrinkled toes, Drew sat dumbfounded. The safety of Dagger's people weighed on his face. Reluctant to divulge where they lived with Jim and Jack anywhere around, the two men left her and went to Jim's home, ten houses from Drew's.  

Dagger, still in the ocean, stared into her face from the edge of the pier. Fighting her attraction to him became draining; she gave up and enjoyed the attention.  

Desmond, skin the color of periwinkle, told her of their people. His skin held a smooth finish with a hint of green beneath the top layer.  

"You're saying a coral, Clear Coral, as you call it, holds your ability to shift form." They agreed. "I've studied a number of coral over the years, and that's just not possible. It's alive, don't misunderstand, I'm not disputing that-start from the beginning, tell me again." 

"It is legend from thousands of years ago. The earth's core became enraptured with the ocean and sent heated minerals from deep within the earth's belly to the seabed. These molten minerals along with sand from the ocean floor and seawater became trapped, thus Clear Coral formed around them. Now, she absorbs the excess heat from the earth's core, transforms this heat into a gas and we, the larger animals, absorb it into our bodies, after she releases it back into the ocean, thus allowing us to shift form." 

"And it continues to hold the fire and water, even now?" Drew asked, questions slipping past her mind's eyes faster than she could ask them. "So this fire is what, burning sulfur, manganese..." 

"Drew." He massaged her calf, his fingers brushing along her folded thigh, his eyes on her face. "We need your DNA to add with my own for Clear Coral. If we are true life mates, our love will sustain her-she will grow again." 

She knew he was speaking to her, but she was distracted. The ocean lapped at his shoulders. She tasted iron or pennies on her tongue and realized she'd chewed a piece of skin off her lip while watching his body move in the water. Her lip was bleeding.  

Dagger pulled his body over the edge leaned over her folded legs. 

"You asked about mind speak-" 

She went back on her elbows, the platform rocking side to side. "What are you doing-" Before she could unfold her legs, Dagger was face-to-face with her, half the platform under water from their combined weight. 

"Do you wish to mind speak now? As life mates it is vital we do, and you have given me an opportunity to share it with you," he said, indicating her lip. 

"My lip, ewww, not blood, Dagger." 

"There are other body fluids that would allow us to share DNA.  

Her mind spun with him prone over her, the sarong a joke at providing a barrier between them. He was muscle from top to bottom, in the front and around the back. She felt-all-of him, pressed against her folded thigh. 

"I can open my mind, allow you access to all the questions you have spinning around in your curious mind-yes-or-no?" 

"You'll tell me everything?" 

"That is pertinent to your decision making, yes." His smile all shark, serrated teeth gleaming. "Read what you like." 

"How long will it take?" Lying under the moon in the dark, a Maglite jammed in her back, and she asked how long will it take. As long as he wants it to take, he was seven feet tall and built for, according to him-built for her.  

"It will be our first kiss... we only need a drop... what you do with my mouth after is your choice." 

Every part of her body was screaming, let me chose-oh please-let me chose.