The Mermaid's Kiss

  By: Darlene Kuncytes

  The Mermaid’s Kiss

  by: Darlene Kuncytes

  Copyright © at Darlene Kuncytes, 2019

  All rights reserved. Printed in the United States.

  Front Cover art from: Linda Boulanger, Tell Tale Book Covers.

  First Edition: September, 2019

  BISAC: Fiction / Paranormal / Romance / General

  10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval systems, without prior written permission of the author except where permitted by law.

  This is a work of fiction. The places, characters, and events portrayed in this book are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or real persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Works by Darlene Kuncytes

  The Supernatural Desire Series

  A Vampire’s Saving Embrace: Book One

  A Wolf’s Savage Embrace: Book Two

  Marcus’ Mortal Embrace: Book Three

  The Anthology Novella Series

  A Witch’s Hearts Desire: Book One

  Summer Sin: Book Two

  Wolf Bane: Book Three

  Magical Holiday Love: Book Four

  Stand Alone Titles:

  I’ll Be Seeing You

  Promised to a Dragon

  Originally published in the Stoking the Flames Anthology

  Wynter’s Kiss

  Originally published in the Sinfully Delicious Anthology

  The Mermaid’s Kiss

  Originally published in the Between the Tides Anthology

  Anthology Projects:

  The Fountain: Seven Extraordinary Stories by Seven of Your Favorite Authors

  Coming Soon

  Harper’s Heavenly Embrace

  Book Four of the Supernatural Desire Series

  Dedication

  This book is dedicated to my Between the Tides sisters!

  This amazing group of authors are some of the most talented, giving and caring women I have ever had the pleasure to work with. Their love and support, not to mention their enormous hearts inspire and astound me each and every day. I cannot even begin to express how so very blessed I am to have you incredible souls in my heart squad!

  Table of Contents

  Works by Darlene Kuncytes

  Dedication

  Acknowledgments

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  About the Author

  Acknowledgments

  First and foremost, I want to thank you, my faithful and supportive readers. Thank you for letting me tell you my stories, and for always coming back for more! It's because of you, that I do what I do. You all are my life's blood, and you encourage and inspire me daily to keep living my dream.

  I would also like to say a special thank you to some absolutely fabulous ladies who are truly my family. They may not be by blood, but they sure as hell are by love.

  Andi, Marj and Linda. You wonderful spirits are always there when I need you most. NO matter what, you are a shoulder to cry on. An ear to listen to as I rant...but most importantly a friend and a sister. So, thank you girls. You know I love you to the moon and back!

  Chapter One

  Marissa held her breath as she cautiously glided closer to the shoreline, being careful to keep just her head above water as she took great pains to stay hidden from the goings-on at the beach. She moved in slowly, slipping behind a large boulder near where the group of men gathered. Undetected, she allowed herself a small breath of relief as their shouts and curses reached her ears over the sound of the waves as they lapped to shore. Luckily the moon was at its fullest, and she could see the men clearly from her hiding place as they dragged an enormous hulk of a male along the beach, laughing drunkenly as they did.

  The man was eerily still as he was callously tossed to the sand with no more regard than a sack of grain, and Marissa moved in a bit closer, trying her best to get a better look.

  She knew she shouldn’t be here. She knew that this was beyond foolish. She told herself that she should go back and leave these jackasses to their sickening games. But, for some reason, she just couldn’t bring herself to do it. She stayed rooted to the spot, so to speak, holding on to the rock in a death grip as she peered from behind.

  “Arrogant, nosey bastard,” she heard one of the men growl, right before lifting a heavily booted foot and kicking the body lying in the sand with such force that she swore she heard ribs crack. She winced at the impact, certain that she had detected the sound of a grunt coming from the target of the bastard’s abuse. Even over the sound of the waves, she was sure she had heard it.

  He must still be alive.

  The men laughed and encouraged each other to take turns viciously beating the man as they shouted out curses like the disgusting bilge rats they were. Marissa’s anger began to bubble up inside of her. No one deserved to be treated so appallingly!

  She cringed as she watched one of them stomp on their victim’s leg, and this time she was positive she heard his bone snap.

  Marissa was all too familiar with this particular group of men. Although, referring to said cluster of degenerates as men was being more than generous. Filthy beasts would be more fitting.

  They were from a rogue group of merpeople who were known to be no better than pirates. They stayed in their group and stole whatever they wanted in order to gain power. Not to mention, killed merely for the sheer pleasure of it. They got off on the rush they felt torturing and killing others. From what she had gathered, their main objective in life was to destroy other supernatural beings, thinking they would then be considered the superior species simply because of their murderous ways.

  What a damn joke!

  All her life she had heard the stories of these devils. Cautionary tales told to her by other merpeople of their dark, evil ways. She had been advised to take the greatest of care to stay as far from where they made their homes as she could. Never to venture too close to them.

  This particular group stayed in the murky waters near the shore, and she would constantly be reminded that they were dangerous beyond anything she could ever imagine. And, even though she rarely ever ventured onto land, she knew that this group did.

  Often.

  It was common knowledge among her kind that these rogues enjoyed their nightly visits among the landwalkers. It was their opportunity to drink to excess and engage in all kinds of debauchery. Not to mention to capture and kill paranormal beings as well as humans at will, before slinking back to the sea like the scum that they were.

  She couldn’t tell from her vantage point exactly what type of paranormal being they were currently torturing, but by the size of the body lying there so motionless, she would have to guess either bear shifter or dragon. They tended to be the largest of the shifters, and this one was particularly huge. In fact, he was enormous. It had taken all six men to drag his prone body along the beach, and mermen were not weak by any means.

  Once again, she told herself she should leave. Forget what she was seeing and get as far away from these beasts as was possible, but she still didn’t move from her hiding place. Maybe it was the fact that she had never seen them at work before…or that it infuriated her to see another being suffer. She didn’t know, but she found herself drifting closer to shore before her better judgement could take over. It was almost as if she was being drawn there by some unseen force. A pu
ll that was impossible to ignore.

  “What do you think we should do with him?” One of them asked.

  “We kill the bastard!” Another snarled in response, who, Marissa was fairly certain, was the ring leader of this little band of dumbasses. “Dump him in the water and let the sea do her job. The sharks will eat well tonight!” He leaned down and nudged the man with his foot. “I don’t think he’s breathing,” he informed the others matter-of-factly.

  “But, wouldn’t it be wise to keep him around as a bargaining chip? I’m sure his people would pay dearly for his return.” One of the men standing off to the side commented.

  “Are you really that fucking stupid?” The jack-off that had to be leader, snapped angrily. “We were lucky to have caught him off guard as it was. We sure as shit can’t take the risk of keeping him alive! That would be suicidal. Although, I highly doubt that’s even an option at this point, and I don’t relish the thought of keeping a body around,” he said, once again nudging the man with the toe of his boot. “Besides, there’ll be nothing left of him by morning. His people don’t need to know that he’s dead.”

  Marissa watched as he leaned down and wrapped his finger around some type of medallion on a cord hanging from around the man’s neck and yanked it off, grunting in what could only be complete satisfied arrogance, and her anger went rushing through her once again, causing her body to vibrate slightly.

  “This is all we’ll need,” he laughed, holding his treasure up for the others to see, and the soft murmur of approval drifted on the air. “If his people doubt us, we need only to show them this. Come on, throw him to the sharks and let them take care of the trash. We have celebrating to do!”

  He flicked his hand at the figure in what looked to be dismissal and headed back up the beach, leaving his cronies to lift the body and haul it to the surf.

  Marissa quickly swam back a bit, careful to remain securely hidden from view as she watched the men toss the body into the waves as if dumping trash, and her anger grew. Her mood growing as dark as the waves that crashed so violently to shore. No creature deserved to be treated that abominably!

  She dropped beneath the surface and swam towards where they had dumped him, knowing full well that the rip-tides in this area were particularly vicious and she was pretty damned sure that was most-likely one of the main reasons the group of mermen had chosen it. The body would be swept out to sea in a matter of seconds if she didn’t hurry.

  She spotted him sinking toward the bottom, his body moving jerkily as the tides pulled and tossed their treat. She moved in to take a closer look, stunned at just how large he actually was. He was a solid wall of muscle, with strong, powerful features, and she couldn’t help but think what a waste of a fine specimen it was. The man was incredibly handsome.

  Marissa jerked back in shock when she saw, what she was fairly sure was, the man opening his eyes for just the briefest of moments, but she couldn’t be certain if it was simply a trick of the moonlight bouncing off of the water or not.

  She moved in closer, this time within inches of his flawless, perfect face and narrowed her eyes. Nothing. His lids were tightly shut, framed by thick, black lashes.

  It must have been her imagination. Lord knew the light filtering through the waters could be deceiving.

  She hovered near as she studied him intently, trying to decide what to do. It felt so wrong to just leave him to the mercy of the ocean depths. Not to mention what the sharks would do, she thought with a shudder.

  Should she do something with the body?

  Or, should she be smart and stay out of it?

  The thought of him being torn apart and blindly devoured in a feeding frenzy made her stomach tighten into knots. No one deserved that.

  But, what could she really do? She had no idea of his identity or even where he was from. Or who and what, for that matter, he and his people were.

  Just where was she supposed to take his body?

  She realized there was nothing she could do for him, and was just about to turn and swim away, when she saw bubbles slipping from between his full, perfect lips and she swore on Neptune’s triton that she saw his mouth move.

  A single movement. A word. A plea.

  Help.

  Not giving herself a moment to think about what a possibly, monumentally, dumb-assed risk she was taking, she grabbed hold of his forearm and took off. Swimming for all she was worth towards the only place she could think of taking him where they would be safe. A secret cave she frequented. It wasn’t much, but there was air to be had, and more importantly…it was well hidden.

  As far as Marissa knew, she was the only one who had ever been to this particular cavern. In all the years that she had been taking refuge there since she had stumbled upon it, she had never seen any indication at all of anyone else ever having been inside; so, she knew that it was the best place to take him. She would be able to check to make sure that what she believed she was seeing was real, and hopefully help him if it was. Give him a safe place to heal.

  Unlike most merpeople, Marissa didn’t inherently despise all other paranormal beings. In fact, she had always been fascinated by them and their ways. Although, not curious enough to venture onto land that often as others of her kind did, but she wasn’t going to miss the opportunity to help one in distress. Especially not one as fascinating as this particular creature. She just couldn’t seem to stop herself from getting involved.

  But, hadn’t that always been her biggest fault?

  The figure watched as the mermaid deftly pulled the body through the water, completely oblivious to the eyes that followed her. She was much too enraptured with her catch. Deciding that his leader would be very interested to know where she was taking him, he followed at a distance, his excitement growing with the thought of how valuable this information would be to his fellow mermen, and what riches he might possibly collect with this little tidbit.

  If nothing else, it would score him some brownie points.

  Marissa broke the surface of the water in the middle of the cave, swimming to the edge in the darkness from memory, waiting for her eyes to adjust. Using all of her strength, she pushed the massive figure in front of her and slid him up onto the cavern floor, her arms shaking from the effort. Even with the buoyancy of the water to help ease the load, the dead weight of solid muscle was heavy.

  She moved away from where he lay and dipped below the surface once again before slipping up next to him. She closed her eyes and waited for her legs to appear, loving the freedom the appendages always seemed to give her.

  She adored her ocean home. She truly did. But, if she were to be completely honest with herself, there were advantages to having legs. Besides, she thought as a small smile flitted across her lips, they weren’t half bad to look at, really. Long and shapely, they were quite fetching. Not to mention, that aside from being pretty, she really did like the feel of them and the freedom they seemed to give. It was one of the reasons she frequented her hiding place. She could enjoy her legs here undisturbed, and not have to go anywhere near the landwalkers.

  If the land above, and the creatures who inhabited it, didn’t scare her so much, she might have spent more time up there among them. Instead, she made this her sanctuary.

  Her smiled faded as the memory of the last time she had dared to venture onto the land flashed before her, and she quickly shoved it away, concentrating instead on the still form sprawled out beside her, as she fought the temptation to run her fingers over his strong, chiseled face.

  She stood and moved around behind him, slipping her hands beneath his arms and pulling him further into the cavern and away from the water. Not an easy task whatsoever.

  She leaned him against a nearby boulder, worn smooth from years of erosion, and knelt down. He was deathly still, and from what she could see, his skin held an almost ashen color to it.

  Not a good sign.

  She pressed her ear against his chest and she listened intently, trying to detect the faint sound of a hea
rtbeat above the noise of the lapping of the water.

  But there was nothing.

  She hesitated a moment, fighting an inner battle with herself that was making her heart do a little flip against her ribs.

  Should she?

  Marissa only hesitated only a second more before pressing her lips against his and blowing a life-saving breath into his lungs. She didn’t want to give herself a moment to chicken out.

  One of the powers that the merpeople possessed, was the ability to breathe life back into a drowning or lost soul, but it was a gift that was to be used in very rare instances, and was fundamentally frowned upon by her people.

  Believing that death came when it was supposed to, it was stressed that they should never interfere in the lives or deaths of others. Especially that of the landwalkers. They believed their power should only be used on their own kind, and only then when it was absolutely necessary. To the merpeople, the destinies of humans and other paranormal beings were not of their concern.

  She knew she was going against all of their beliefs, and if found out, it could cause immense trouble for her, but Marissa had always had a soft spot for creatures in need. And she wasn’t going to change now. She couldn’t care less if her people believed that this ability would be wasted on saving the life of another paranormal being. He needed help.

  He needed her.

  Marissa jerked back when he spasmed violently and started to choke, coughing up the water in his lungs. He rolled to his side and expelled what seemed to be half the ocean, and she quickly stood and ran toward the back of the cave where she kept some clothing stashed away for the times she dared to come to her quiet place. Or if she planned on venturing on land. It had been forever it seemed, since she had done that, but she still liked to use her legs and dress up every now and again, loving the feel of the different fabrics against her skin.