Sea Bride- Children of the Waves Read online

  They spoke to him, wanting to know how his quest went.

  Did everyone know he was on a bride hunt? Of course they did. Not so good, he told them.

  We’re rooting for you, Prince Xavior, young lord of the sea. She is right under your nose. Beware, though. There is a storm coming not of nature’s making. Good luck! As one group, all six dolphins leapt into the air in a salute to him, then swam away to most likely spread the news that after over two hundred years their prince remained unsuccessful in finding his mate.

  He would be the first heir to lose the throne. Pathetic. What did they mean she was right under his nose? Was the sea witch right? Is his bride truly onboard? He still didn’t fully believe, but perhaps, he just needed to have patience and he’d find her. But their words about the storm made him frown. Someone playing with the elements was never a good thing, and only one would dare. For the moment, he could do nothing about the white witch and her plots to keep him off the throne and continue the wars among the tribes. He had enough to concentrate on…He’d deal with her later.

  Chapter Two

  “Look! A school of dolphins.”

  “Yes, yes, I saw them, can you please stop yelling? Better yet, get me off this tub.”

  “Come on Cori, the night air will do you good. You’ve been cooped up in that cabin since we came on board. Get a grip already. This is going on the fourth day now. And you stopped throwing up yesterday.”

  Cori breathed the salty air into her lungs and exhaled. Being on deck did feel good. “You’re right. I’m sorry. I’m being a pain in the ass. Those pills and the patch do seem to help. At least, I don’t feel like tossing up my guts to the ocean, since that’s all that’s left in my stomach.”

  “Progress already.” Des, ever the optimist.

  Cori watched the dolphins. One seemed to stand on its tail in the water and look toward them. No, it wasn’t looking at them exactly, but above them.

  Even over the noise, the boat made moving through the waves, she heard the chirping sounds carried across the wind toward her. Then, wonder of wonders, she heard the sound returned from overhead, and all six dolphins in the water simultaneously leapt into the air and swam away.

  “Did you see that?” Des asked.

  She didn’t answer her friend. Cori no longer focused on the water, but stared behind her. To be exact, her attention veered to the man, standing on the balcony of one of the cabins, facing the sea. She couldn’t take her eyes off him.

  Like a sentinel, he stood framed against the backdrop of night…tall, broad-shouldered and dark-haired.

  From this distance, she couldn’t make out his features, but she knew he would be handsome. Unfortunately, he seemed too far away, and then he moved—he actually took a few steps away from the balcony.

  Then suddenly, he paused and returned to the rail. He peered down.

  Even from two stories above her, the intensity of his gaze made her lower muscles clench.

  Des tugged on her elbow. “Come on, let’s get back to the cabin. It’s getting late, and the wind’s picking up. I think it might rain.”

  She barely heard her friend, but docilely followed her lead. Her stare, however, remained over her shoulder, locked on the man at the balcony until they were out of sight.

  “What is wrong with you?” Des asked.

  “I—I don’t know. Did you see him?”

  Her friend paused in the hallway, waiting for an elevator to take them back to their room. “See who?”

  “The guy dressed in white, standing out on the balcony.”

  “Nope, sorry missed it. Must have been one of the stewards.”

  She shook her head. “No. I don’t think so.” The elevator took forever. She didn’t know what to say anyway. If she told Des, she’d just seen the most beautiful man standing in the moonlight, her well-meaning friend would drag her back out there and wave to him. Thankfully, the elevator bell sounded. She kept her mouth shut as the door opened.

  They stepped aside for anyone wanting to get off.

  Her gaze drifted to the carpet, and when the door opened, the first thing she saw were shoes. White leather loafers. She followed the legs covered with white slacks, up past tight taut thighs to a flowing white shirt, sitting against a wide chest. Then on up to the Naru collar and a dimpled chin to a pink bow of a mouth. “Oh, Lord.”

  His mouth curved into a grin.

  She raised her eyes up, staring into the ocean depths of his gaze and almost drowned. Recognition in the form of déjà vu slammed into her.

  “There you are,” the gorgeous man said. “Sorry, ladies. Good evening. Are you going up?”

  “Well, hello,” Desiree greeted him. “Yes, we were.”

  “Could I perhaps, change your mind?” He stepped out of the elevator, effectively blocking them from getting on, and allowed the door to close behind him.

  Neither woman rushed to stop it from leaving.

  Cori couldn’t move. She knew this man—and yet she’d never met him before.

  “Oh, yeah,” Des purred. “What did you have in mind?”

  Her gut tightened at the sound of her friend’s interest. She didn’t like the fact that Des seemed attracted to him. Not at all. She frowned, but why should she care?

  “How about I buy you lovely ladies a drink?” While he addressed them both, his gaze remained on Cori. His blatant interest made her feel a little better.

  “Ah, not for me, thanks,” Cori answered, finally finding her voice. On the one hand, she wanted to spend time basking in this guy’s aura. He possessed some seriously fine mojo. Too handsome really, as in, he could not be real. She shook her head to clear it of the spell he weaved around her. “I’ll take a rain check.” The words came out of her mouth but her heart shouted, Are you insane? He’s yours. Too much sea sickness medication giving her delusions.

  “What? Cori, no.” Desiree seemed quick to protest. “Come on, just one quick drink. With, ah—what is your name?”

  “I’m sorry, that was rude of me. My name is Xavior Oceanus.”

  “Oceanus? You’re not American are you?” Cori asked, curious. His dark hair looked almost black, pulled back away from his face, emphasizing already perfect features. Perfect, except for the scar above his right eyebrow, which gave him a wicked appearance and enhanced instead of detracted from his looks. His shirt remained open down to his chest, and she could see his lightly tanned skin. Just a brushing, so you knew he got a little sun. And even though the shirt hung loosely over his frame, she could see the outline of his muscles through the material. He would feel hard to the touch.

  “I was actually born in the Atlantic Ocean in U.S. territorial waters, so technically, I am an American, but my father was Greek.”

  Oh yeah, Cori thought, a Greek God. It wafted off every delicious inch of him.

  “Fascinating,” Des drawled, grinning at Cori. “Ah, I’m Desiree Holden, but call me Des.” She turned to her and, still grinning, said, “And this is my good friend Cori Daniels. Come on, Cori, just one drink.”

  “What could it hurt?” he urged.

  Cori wanted to answer—her soul and her sanity! The longer she stayed in his company, the more she wanted him. Some part of her kept screaming he already belonged to her, she just needed to claim him. This all seemed ridiculous; she didn’t even know the man. Then again, she also couldn’t leave her friend alone with a stranger, no matter how hot he might be. That didn’t make him safe. To be honest, she and Des came onboard, prepared to have fun and enjoy the cruise, and possibly to meet someone and have wild sex.

  Technically, she wasn’t a virgin, but it had been two years and only a handful of times ever, with two different men. She knew her experience wasn’t normal, but she hadn’t enjoyed any of it. On an intellectual level, she understood the fault lay with the men and not her. Des had been preaching to her for years, she needed to own her sexuality. She looked Xavior up and down. Perhaps, he could help with that. If she let him. What made her want to jump his bones—okay s
o other than his unbelievable looks? Something about him seemed familiar. Like she knew him, like they’d met before. The feeling would not go away.

  Des nudged her arm, bringing her attention back to them. “Okay, just one drink,” she heard herself say.

  He held out his arms for each woman to take, and they walked back outside and down to one of the lounges.

  With each step, Cori felt pure steel lay under his cotton shirt. She kept telling herself not to rub up against him and every one of his hard muscles. Was he hard all over?

  The sea witch had been right. From the moment he saw Cori, Xavior knew she was his. A sense of familiarity ricocheted between them, connecting them. Like they’d already met. He’d begun to age, so at some point in her lifetime they must have crossed paths, but he had no memory of it, even after seeing her. Otherwise, he would have claimed her years ago. With zero doubt in his mind, he knew his bride. Cori’s touch on his arm confirmed it. Heat hummed in her touch, not only the heat of attraction, although it existed between them at furnace level, but also something more.

  He just needed to separate her from her friend and get her into the sea. What could he be thinking? She was human! Although, once she became his bride, she would be capable of living under the water, but would she ever forgive him if he simply stole her away from her world of landwalkers? A child of the sea would, he wasn’t sure about a human female. He knew how his people would react to finding a mate, the immediate recognition and acceptance, but had no clue about a human. Now, what the hell should he do?

  They didn’t have a lot of time. Perhaps, if he first gained her confidence, she might trust him enough to come with him. Yeah right, like any human would believe in a being who wasn’t human. And she would need to trust him. And not just trust. Could she come to love him? The throne would only accept her if she truly was his bride, which meant she must or would love him. The promise of love ran across her fingertips every time she caressed his arm. He just needed to believe.

  Staring at the beautiful woman walking beside him, something assured him, loving her would not pose a hardship at all. He already seemed drawn to her on many levels. Although, he’d been told his bride would be on board, still, part of him didn’t truly believe. His wait had been so long. When he looked down from his balcony and spotted her standing on the deck, he thought he’d finally succumbed to water depravation. It happened sometimes to a few of their kind who stayed away from the life-giving liquid for too long a time. Usually, to those who moved too far inland. They fell into madness, and then they never could seem to deal with reality again. But that wasn’t the case here. He hadn’t been gone from the depths for very long, and they were still close enough to the water to where he could feel its rejuvenating powers in the air.

  Where and when did we meet before? He would have most definitely remembered her. She stood tall and proud with a dark honey-colored complexion. She wasn’t as curvy as her friend, but make no mistake, she was still all woman. When she flipped her shoulder-length brown hair with those auburn highlights over her shoulder, he wanted to arrange the locks for her. He wanted to know what they felt like tangled in his fingers. He wanted her locks whipping in his face while he made love to her as the ocean danced around their naked bodies.

  They entered the lounge and a live band played at one end of the room. They made their way over to a few empty stools at the end of the bar.

  “Excuse me, would you like to dance?”

  He was so taken with Cori he hadn’t even registered the stranger approaching them until he stood right in front of Desiree.

  Desiree didn’t hesitate, she took the man’s hand and walked off with him to the dance floor.

  “Would you like to dance?” he asked Cori, wanting to feel her in his arms.

  “No, I better not. I’m just starting to get my sea legs and don’t want to tempt fate.”

  “Sea legs?”

  “Yes. I’m afraid I’ve been ill for the last few days. Today is the first day I’ve actually been able to leave our cabin. Either the patch or medicine finally kicked in. Probably both.”

  “Ah, I see.” Damn, seasickness. He never thought of that. He could see the little beige square against the gold tone of her arm now. This would be impossible, how could he have a bride who got sick from the motion of the sea? In the water, at the depths they dwelt, the motion around them grew very intense. Maybe the power of the necklace he wore around his neck would help, and if the King’s Chair accepted her, it should cure that. Still, when Aaron found out, he would laugh his ass off. Xavior wanted to groan but it wouldn’t have done any good. And it didn’t really matter, she was his. Already, the ties binding them were being woven.

  Chapter Three

  “When Des comes back, would you tell her I wasn’t feeling well and went back to the cabin?” As much as Cori wanted to spend some time investigating the attraction between herself and this sea god with a sense of familiarity that kept tugging at her, she really wasn’t feeling well. All of a sudden, the movement of the boat didn’t seem as smooth as before. Definitely, some new rocking from side to side was happening. Enough so her stomach rolled when the boat did.

  “I believe there’s a storm outside now,” Xavior explained. “Let me see you back to the cabin.”

  “That’s okay. I’ll be fine. It’s just a little rain. Besides, I don’t have to walk outside to get to our cabin.”

  “What kind of a gentleman would I be to let you leave by yourself, when you’re not feeling well?”

  Cori smiled. He seemed to be very thoughtful. “All right, fine, but if you leave with me, Des won’t know what happened.” She didn’t have her phone with her to text her friend; she left it in their cabin.

  “Hmm, good point. You stay here and I’ll go tell her.”

  “I think she’s in the middle of that mass of gyrating bodies.”

  He stood up, towering over her. “Be right back.”

  As soon as he turned his back and got swallowed into the crowd, her stomach heaved, she knew she couldn’t wait. She really felt awful and needed to leave. She hopped off the bar stool and made her way to the exit. She didn’t want him to see her like this. If she was going to be sick, she absolutely didn’t want Xavior anywhere near her. Barfing off the side of the boat might make a lasting impression, just not the one she wanted. She would try to find him again tomorrow, when she felt better. She knew the location of his cabin, so it shouldn’t be hard to bump into him again and apologize for running out on him.

  At first, she stayed in the interior corridors, but the feeling of being closed in kept getting worse. Deep breaths were not helping. When she saw an exit to the outer deck, she took it, hoping the night air might help clear her head. Stepping onto the deck, she saw a flash of lightning in the distance over the water, while light rain fell from the sky. The waves were no longer calm. The ship rolled beneath her sandaled feet, propelling her forward. Instead of turning to go back inside, Cori continued onward. In spite of everything, it still felt better being out in the crisp night air than in the enclosed space.

  About halfway to her cabin, the ship’s sirens went off. She inhaled sharply. One man in a white uniform tried to rush past her and she grabbed his arm to stop him. “What’s going on?” she asked.

  “Sorry, lady, but you better get inside. That siren is a warning.”

  “Warning? For what?”

  “Rough seas ahead, so please take the next exit and get off the deck. Rains are picking up and it may not be safe to be out and about. Where’s your cabin?”

  She told him.

  He nodded his head at her. “It’s not far. There’s an entrance to that level, just past the salon, right around the second bend. There’s a green door that says to Level 4 Cabins C-E.”

  Already, the wind blew stronger, whipping her hair around her face, and the rain fell harder against her skin, raising goose bumps along her arms. Soon, she’d be soaked. “Okay, thank you.”

  The siren sounded again and the man
ran off. A few other people were out, as well, but rushing to find shelter and headed in the opposite direction.

  She put her head down and walked in the direction the man had sent her. Raising her head, she saw a door, but when she tried to open it, it wouldn’t budge. She needed her key card, which she realized Des carried for them. Groaning she turned around to find another entrance, or someone who could open the door for her. If she didn’t get help, she would have to go back to the lounge and find Des. And maybe talk some more with Xavior…not a hardship at all.

  Lightning struck directly over her head. Gazing up, she watched it momentarily turn the darken sky to day. The rain slapped her face, coming down harder, and the air cooled with each step. Her sleeveless blouse was now drenched and ruined. “Shit!” she cried, hurrying forward to retrace her steps. The boat rocked and she lost her footing, slipping on the wet deck. The railing stopped her momentum, but not before her head connected with a pole. Dazed, she clung to the railing, trying to remember not to look down into the churning water below, and—failing.

  Xavior returned to their seats to discover her gone. Des had given him the room key to give to Cori, but she already left. He went to her cabin, thinking he might catch up to her, but she hadn’t been there. He knocked on the door, not expecting anyone to answer, and no one did. Maybe, she realized Des still had the key and headed back toward the lounge.

  Some instinct made him walk outside. The rage of the sea stirred up by the storm called to him. The rocking of the boat became more pronounced. Something about the storm raised the fine hairs at the base of his neck. He remembered the dolphin’s warning. All of his kind were sensitive to the elements, and some could control them to a degree. Someone or something manipulated this storm. Only one would dare put a storm in his path.