Beneath The Waves (bxb)

19. I Will Teach You

The door clicking shut behind Parker felt like my funeral bells ringing. Immediately Mellac pressed me against him and began licking my cheek. And don't think I didn't notice something poking me after only a few seconds.

No way, man.

I jerked out of his arms and rushed into the bedroom area, jumping onto the bed closest to the door. When he didn't come after me, my brows knit together.

"Come here, human. You belong to me and should mate me as such," Mellac said nonchalantly from where he still stood in the bathroom.

Yeah? He can drown himself in a... oh, right, fish guy.

"Uh, sorry, man, not interested."

Mellac growled and started toward me after stepping out of the bathroom, but I kept backing up, trying to stay just out of reach.

"You do not get a choice. I claimed you as my mate, and you shall do as I say."

He lunged at me, but I jumped just in time, landing on the other bed while he pushed himself off the first and snarled.

"Dude, I may be able to deal with the whole sexing up a mermaid—uh, merman thing eventually, but that doesn't mean I'm going to just roll over and spread my legs."

His face skewed in annoyance, obviously unhappy that I wasn't some dog willing to bend over for him whenever he wanted to do it.

"We don't just bow down to our 'mates' in the human version of this..." I gestured between us, then shut up and waited for him to get pissed again. I figured he would try to attack a second time, but when he took a deep breath and relaxed his shoulders a slight amount, I did the same, letting a quiet sigh slip from my parted lips.

"Well then, human. What is it that your species does?"

Oh. Uh. I never thought I'd have to explain this to another guy.

"Um... we, uh. Date, and kiss and stuff."

His gills flared slightly, silently warning me to elaborate.

"I-I mean, if you want me to mate with you, you're supposed to take me out to get food, have fun, kiss... that kind of thing."

He tilted his head slowly, tongue darting out to lick at his dry lips.

"I... take you outside? That is ridiculous. What is a kiss?"

I hesitated to move closer, knowing that he was still much more interested in getting to my behind than learning what that word was.

"I-It's pressing your lips against someone else's."

Okay, every expression on Mellac's face now looked like he wanted to puke from annoyance and aggravation.

"What are you humans? Mating is mating. Male mers breed, then usually leave. There is no going outside or lip touching, that is strange."

He reached out again, catching me by surprised with a clawed hand around my ankle. I was suddenly yanked off my feet and straight toward him as my back slid against the bed sheets.

"Mellac."

His body loomed over me as he climbed onto the bed, hands trying to pin mine above my head.

"You will be silent and obey me." He hissed, but I was too afraid of other things to really heed the warning. Instead, I actually hissed back, then let a deep growl escape my throat. Immediately he leaned back, eyes wide and extremely confused as he stared down at me. He remained that way for a long moment before leaning back down, hands on either side of my head, teeth bared. I mirrored the action identically, baring my own teeth.