Indigo Shores

Chapter 1

Thawing

"Welcome home!" Strong slender arms embrace me, pulling me into my mother's warmth. "How was the expedition?" Releasing me, Nary brushed her long dark hair out of her face, her violet eyes bright, and sun kissed skin luminescent. She'd spent time in the ocean before returning home.

"Cold, but we pulled great data for our paper." Stepping back, I indicated the ten years of research findings piled on my desk. "I've nearly finished the write up, then I'll send it to Janie for finalising."

"Have you spent your entire first two weeks back home working?"

"No, I've been thawing, and chasing off the male suitors you keep sending around to drop off something for you."

Rolling her eyes, Nary moved past me and sat on my bed. The beach house I lived in was hers, but she regularly travelled for work. Since I'd spent eighty percent of the last ten years in the South Pole, I'd not seen the point of getting my own place, plus, tradition dictates a maid lives with her pod until she takes a mate. Something it seems I was not likely to do anytime soon. "I see your heart still hasn't thawed."

"I'm my father's daughter, I guess."

Watching my face fall, Nary cupped my cheek. "You are like the Ice Mer in that your sex drive wont ignite until you meet the Mer who can flame your desire. That's not a bad thing, Shadow. As a sun Mer, it was unusual that I too waited, and didn't court my suitors. My mistake was confusing my friendship with Rai, for a mutual love. It took meeting your father to realise what I'd truly been waiting to feel."

"I'm only young according to the Mer standards. It could be decades before I meet a Mer who ignites my desire. Can we give the parcel drop offs a break for a few weeks?"

"If you were out socialising with the other Mer, I wouldn't need to go to the extra lengths to have you meet potential mates, but you hide away in the ice with humans, and research, and when you come home, you divide your time between the lagoon and the house. You don't even swim in the ocean."

"The water in the lagoon is from the ocean."

"Yes, a safe place to swim to avoid available Mer looking for a maid."

Huffing, I dropped onto the bed beside my mother. "Most of those Mer are no different to human men looking for fun with no commitment."

"How would you know?" Nary scoffed playfully.

"I'm not a child, mother. Since I came of age Mer have tried to couple with me. I've entertained a few far enough to realise that their touch did nothing for me. It would be unfair to take things beyond that point and leave him disappointed."

"So, you've never rubbed yourself on a Mer's barnacle?"

The barnacle was a hard patch of skin an inch or two above their bull horn, which helped stimulate a maid's pearl to help her reach rapture. When a Mer was turned on, not only did his horn harden, but the barnacle swelled and became itchy with need. The bigger it swelled, the more stimulation it provided the maid, the better the rapture. Of course, a Mer could only reach rapture if the maid did, so having sex without the desire, left both parties frustrated and disappointed.

My mother's phone ringing saved me from answering. Taking the mobile from her pocket, Nary stepped out through the open French doors and the sheer curtains, to take the call out on the patio. "Yes?"

Taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes and remembered my dream from last night. The touch of a lover flaming my desire, rubbing his body against mine in the water, waking to find myself sweaty and needy before my body cooled and all desire for such things sucked back into the ice of my soul. The dreams had become more intense since leaving the research base where they started. My mother told me she dreamed of my father for months before they finally met. Could it mean the Mer I would love would find me soon? I didn't dare hope. More than likely, it was just my craving for the heat and sun of the tropics.