Sea Bride- Children of the Waves Read online

  Sea Bride

  Children of the Waves

  (Book 1)

  By

  LaVerne Thompson

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  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, or other status is entirely coincidental.

  Copyright 2012 and again in 2014 by LaVerne Thompson

  All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever known, not known or hereafter invented, or stored in any storage or retrieval system, is forbidden and punishable by the fullest extent of the law without written permission of the author. LaVerne Thompson. [email protected]

  Second e-book edition 2014 Isisindc Publishing, LLC

  This book was first published 2012 by another publisher

  Lavernethompson.com

  [email protected]

  Editor- Lara Parker

  Line editor- Wicked Muse Productions

  Cover illustration by Fiona Jayde

  http://fionajaydemedia.com

  Cover Model Jimmy Thomas

  http://romancenovelcovers.com

  DEDICATION

  Because I love the sea this is for all those who love it too and who have lost loved ones to its power.

  Author’s Note

  Sea Bride was originally published by another publisher, that was kind enough to return my rights, so I might publish the Children of the Waves series as an independent. Thank you for your support.

  Prologue

  “Come back here, Coco!”

  The little girl yelled chasing her dog over the rocky beach, her sneaker-clad feet giving her traction. When she climbed over the dune, she paused.

  The little brown and white dog sat in front of something on the wet sand, near the water’s edge. Coco’s head turned back and forth from the lump beside her to her mistress.

  The child drew closer and she saw the mass was an older boy, lying on his back. Blood trickled down the side of his face from a gash above his eye. He lay shirtless, with tight-fitting black swimming trunks clinging to his bare legs.

  Coco yipped, leapt up and raced by the boy’s head, then licked his sandy face, but he didn’t respond.

  The girl knelt by his side and shook his slender tanned shoulder. “Boy, boy you okay? Wake up. What should we do, Coco?” The little girl asked her dog, looking around with uncertainty. She grabbed her pet, hugging him to her chest. This early in the morning, she was the only one on the sandy beach. “I don’t want to leave him here, but I’ve got to go get Daddy.” Her slender body trembled in fear.

  Just as she stood up to run back to the beach house to fetch her parents, the boy coughed and groaned. Relieved, she put Coco down, dropped back to her knees at his side and touched his shoulder again. “Wake up.”

  His eyes popped open. A blue green gaze, the color of the ocean stared up at her.

  “You okay?” she asked.

  He coughed again and sat up. “Yes—yes I think so.”

  “What’s your name?”

  His hand went to his head, and he winced a little as his fingertips grazed the open wound. They came away with blood on their tips. “Xav,” he said, wiping the blood onto his dark shorts.

  “Hi Xav, that’s a funny name.” She tilted her head and stared at him. “What happened to you? Did you almost drown or something?”

  He smiled up at her.

  She blinked, then blushed. He was pretty and made her stomach feel funny.

  “Something like that.” He glanced around. “Do you know where I am?”

  “Don’t you?” she asked, confused by his question.

  “I’m not exactly sure.”

  “Well, you’re in South Nags Head, North Carolina.” She pointed over her shoulder. “We have a beach house here this summer. Are you staying in a beach house, too?”

  “No.” He stood up and gazed out at the ocean.

  The little girl stood, too. He towered over her, but everybody did. She glanced at the water to see what held his attention. “Look! Dolphins.” She pointed in the direction they were both already watching.

  “Yes. I see them.”

  The dolphins jumped out of the water, clicking and wheezing, like they were trying to talk to them.

  Coco ran back and forth just out of reach of the tide, barking as if answering them back.

  The boy smiled. “What’s your dog’s name?”

  “Coco.”

  “What kind?”

  “A Chihubeagle.”

  “She’s funny.” He turned his gaze to her.

  With his back to the sun, she needed to squint to look into his face. She put her hand over her eyes to see him better.

  “Thank you for helping me,” he said, “but I have to go now.”

  She frowned. “You do?”

  “Yes.”

  “Well, okay, can you come back tomorrow, so we can play? Me and my family will be here for two whole weeks.” She liked this strange boy.

  “I’ll try, but I can’t promise.”

  “Well, try.” The little girl felt lonely. The other family with children her age wouldn’t get there for a few days, so she had no one around to play with except her dog. She stood on her toes and hugged him. “Friends.” She barely reached his chest.

  He hugged her back. “Friends,” he agreed. He turned and ran into the water until it reached his waist. Diving in, he kicked hard and swam out to the dolphins. When he reached them, he turned to wave to the girl left standing on the sand. Then, as one, he and the dolphins leapt up just above the water and dove beneath the surface.

  The child stood there for some time, but didn’t see either the boy or the dolphins surface again. She returned with Coco every morning and afternoon for the two weeks they were in the Outer Banks…While she saw dolphins from time to time, the boy never came back.

  Chapter One

  “Kill me now, please. I’m begging you!”

  “Cut it out, Cori.”

  “These damn patches don’t even work, what a rip-off.” Cori Daniels turned over, rolled out of the narrow cabin bed, and hugging the walls, barely made it to the bathroom, but nothing remained in her stomach to heave out. Not even air.

  Was it just five months ago, they celebrated her winning that stupid radio contest? She’d never survive the ten day cruise. The first forty-eight hours weren’t even over and she hadn’t been able to leave the cabin. Hell, she couldn’t even go far from their bathroom. Now, she knew why some called it the head: because your head was always leaning over the bowl.

  “Cori, honey,” Desiree called, hovering somewhere behind her. “Here’s some ginger ale and crackers. The nurse said it’ll help settle your stomach and you’ll be just fine in a day or so.”

  Desiree Holden, her best friend, just didn’t seem to understand.

  “I hate you, you know that,” she groaned. A cool towel suddenly pressed against her forehead and it went a long way to help relieve her bad mood, as well as her pounding head. She didn’t hate her best friend and partner in crime, not really. But damn, why couldn’t Des be sick and she be the one meeting the handsome hunks they’d seen when they’d boa
rded? Damn, damn, damn! But to be fair, Des hadn’t met anyone either, taking care of her most of the time. “Okay, no I don’t.”

  “Xavior, are you sure about this?”

  “No, Aaron. I am not, but what choice do we have? The sea witch foretold my bride would be on this boat.”

  “But Xavior, a landwalker?” Aaron shook his head, making his blond mane shift across his shoulders. “No. It’s a lie I tell you, a trick. Besides, how could you have previously met her, and how could she live in our world?”

  “The witch cannot lie to me. Not when faced with my trident. She spoke truth, and if the woman is my bride and the chair accepts her, she would be able to live in both worlds as we do. You know this.”

  “That’s a lot of ifs.”

  “But worth it.” Xavior grinned.

  “Yes. It is worth all to find our mates.”

  “As far as having met her before, I have no idea.” He shrugged. “I’ve been on land many times in the last twenty years, so who knows when I met her.”

  Their people were long-lived and very youthful looking, his line more than most. The males and females grew until puberty, then stopped aging until the men met their brides or the women their mates. Most of his race were fully mated or almost, thank Poseidon. Otherwise, they’d be a race of irrational teenagers with raging hormones and irrational thoughts, not that they didn’t have a fair share of that population.

  On the bright side, they were impotent with no sexual drive until they began to age again, which didn’t happen until they were in the proximity of a potential mate. Then, they were like randy teens, but their bride was the only one who could bring the male of their kind to orgasm, and only a mate could impregnate his female. So, the men searched very enthusiastically for that bride.

  For three hundred years, he’d appeared as the equivalent of a human fourteen-year-old, a long time even for one of the sea people. That is until ten or twelve years ago, when he’d begun to age again, which meant at some point, he’d met his bride. Now at his prime, the aging process had stopped; his internal senses told him so. Which meant, as prince and heir to the sea throne he was unlike others of his kind—he was now under a time limit.

  He needed to claim his inheritance before the next full moon rose above the waters. In order to do that, he needed to find his queen. If he didn’t, he’d be forever banned from doing so, and the next in line could take the throne. Making him the first of Poseidon’s first born line to lose it. Even the children of the waves had limits, and since Poseidon already abandoned his throne, they’d waited long enough for Xavier, the heir apparent, to come of age. His people needed a king to unite and lead them. There was too much fighting among the tribes, too many of them abandoning the depths. Only a king could put a stop to it.

  Aaron, his friend and right guard, his personal protector, turned away from him to look out toward the ocean. Their home lay miles beneath its dark depths.

  The call of the waves calmed them both, lending them strength to stay out of the water for a longer period of time. They both knew he must find the woman meant to be his bride otherwise. he wouldn’t sit on the King’s Chair. Poseidon knew he’d searched. His people needed him.

  “Well, I hope you find her soon, my friend,” Aaron stated.

  “I have no choice.” Xav shook his head. “There are too many factions with too many petty tyrants, and no sense of leadership. We fight too much amongst ourselves. Our world has been in chaos for ages, waiting for me to find a bride. If I don’t find her soon, there will be no kingdom left to lead. We can’t wait for another heir to be named. That could take hundreds of years. We need a leader now to stop the civil unrest gaining ground in our world.”

  “Especially with the white witch now awake and stirring up even more trouble.” Aaron glanced away and added, “Too bad, she’s not as agreeable as her sister, the sea witch.”

  He shrugged. “One helps her people while the other…she swears vengeance for the death of her lover before my father exiled her, putting her under a spell to sleep forever in her realm. She should have remained that way. Asleep for an eternity.”

  Aaron snorted. “True, but since Poseidon disappeared, the spell weakened and no longer holds her. She’s awake, stirring up trouble, while she’s grown stronger and bolder, leaving the nether depths of the ocean. It would take the powers of a king to control her again.”

  His friend said what he needed to hear but already knew. Xavior could put this off no longer. He needed to find his bride, so he’d have the authority to protect his people. His responsibilities placed him on the boat, because he’d always known he would not find his bride in the sea. Only as king, could he unite the tribes and stop the fighting for control of the territories. At least they didn’t die easily, but it took its toll…living for constant combat.

  The result—too many of them left the sea and chose to live among the landborn, or went so far into the wave depths, like Poseidon, never to be heard from again. It had to stop. His people needed to unite. Only one bride existed for every king, only one, the throne would accept. The sea witch swore a woman on this boat was his bride.

  They must find her. Those who were mated all said the same thing—he would be immediately drawn to her, and she to him. Like that hadn’t happened to him before. He loved women and they loved him, it also provided confirmation he’d already found his bride, but he could be in love with only one. He wasn’t sure how her being a landwalker might complicate that.

  “Okay. Where should we start looking?” Aaron asked, breaking him away from his thoughts.

  “There is a mixer tonight for all the singles.” Xavior held up a flyer from the cruise’s welcome packet. He’d ventured on land infrequently this last year, but he maintained contact and business relationships with his people who resided above the waves. One of his younger brothers had forsaken the sea and now lived on land. Like him, he’d also begun to age and, believing his mate was of the land, he left the sea in search of her.

  Aaron sighed. “At least having connections on the surface has made this easier.”

  Xavior’s brother had arranged passage for him and Aaron on the ship, which he owned. His brother still honored him as heir, and the importance of his quest.

  “Yes. Thank Poseidon. If I can just find her, it would put an end to the warring, and many who abandoned the waves would return. At least traffic between the world above and below would be more robust, good for all. Right now, it’s mostly one way, all headed toward land. Our world is on the brink of extinction, Aaron.”

  He and Aaron stood on the balcony off their cabin, the presidential suite, and spoke quietly, not that anyone was near enough to overhear their conversation. But still, they were cautious and spoke in their native tongue, a language no one on board would understand. “I agree and support you always. Ah—what is a ‘mixer’?” Aaron asked.

  “A party.”

  “Ah-ha.” He nodded. “I like the land dwellers’ parties. They are a lot of fun. There will be many beautiful women there.”

  “Try to remember, that is not why we are here.”

  “I know.” Aaron sighed. “But it is also time for me to find my bride, too. No harm in looking.”

  Xavior smiled at his friend, as they closed the door to the extended balcony, then left the cabin. “No harm indeed.” Aaron had also begun to age, which meant he too, already met his intended bride. But just like him, his friend had no idea who she might be, so he tested almost every woman who appealed to him. Aaron, also loved women and they loved him back. So far, some more than others, yet none could make him orgasm.

  The walls in the crowded bar and lounge pushed in on them, making it seem as if their confinement in the room had been for days, instead of a couple of hours. Xavior felt certain she wasn’t here. Surely, he would have felt something, some sense of recognition.

  “How about the redhead in the little bit of skirt at the edge of the dance floor? She’s been eyeing you like a piece of broiled lobster smothered
in butter sauce.”

  Xavior already spotted her the moment she entered the room, but other than a healthy appreciation for her beauty, he felt nothing he hadn’t encountered countless other times. “I don’t think so.”

  “Are you sure? ’Cause she’s heading this way. I think you should take her for a test drive, purely to be sure of course.”

  The redhead slid up to him while he sat at the bar. She shifted her body, so her bare leg rubbed against his pants covered thigh. “Would you like to dance?” she asked. Her voice sounded low and sultry, guaranteed to make a man’s blood run in one direction.

  He grinned. Any other time, he would have taken her up on her offer, but not this time. This time, he was on a bride hunt, and nothing sparked between them. At least for him. “Sorry, sweetness. I’m taken, but my friend here…” He glanced over at Aaron, who didn’t have to be told twice.

  Aaron stood up and took the woman’s hand.

  She only turned to look back once, before following his friend onto the dance floor.

  Xavior left the party and went for a walk around the boat, hoping to clear his head and maybe get a sense of this bride he needed to find. He’d ventured on land often in the last twenty years and met many human women he hadn’t slept with, so he had no idea which one of these his bride could be. If the tales were true, he would just know her, because he would be so drawn to her, the pull would be irresistible. After walking around for an hour, he returned to their cabin, but feeling too restless to sleep, he made his way out to their private balcony.

  The evening sky remained clear, the glittering points of light soothing, and the sea appeared calm, but he smelled a storm coming. It would arrive soon from the east. Until it did, he would take advantage of the calm. Sitting back in one of the lounge chairs, he put his feet up on the railing, closed his eyes, and turned his face toward the half moon. A familiar clicking noise made him open them again. The shadows of dark fins in the water caught his attention. He stood up and placed his hands on the railing, watching the dolphins play as they swam alongside the boat.