Taken By The Shark

“You mean in Italy?” she asked, sitting up as well. “That’s where a Papadopoulos would have come from.”

“Either there, or maybe Atlantis,” he said with a casual shrug.

She peered at him for a few moments, deciding against scoffing because it would just make her look stupid when he told her whatever was coming next. “What do you mean, Atlantis? What, are you trying to say you actually are a sea god?”

“In a manner of speaking, I guess,” he nodded.

“Don’t be stupid, Mark,” she complained, getting to her feet and stepping over to lean against the lime tree, arms folded over her chest.

“I’m not being stupid,” he said, following her there. “My preferred form in the sea is a shark, but I could take others if I wanted to.”

“Did you just say shark?” Chelsea clarified, shaking her head to clear it. “As in a tiger shark, maybe? Because I could have sworn I saw—no, never mind.”

“Saw what, sweetheart?”

“Saw you shift into a shark in the water last night,” she said, blushing furiously at the admission. She slid back down the tree to the ground.

“You did see that,” he said. “Becoming a shark helped me save you, but you’re only alive now because of one other reason. My father, a titan known as King Paribdus, gave you the gift because I pleaded with him not to let you die.”“What exactly happened out there, Mark? It sounds like there’s a whole lot more to this story than I know.”

“It’s a good thing you’re sitting down, my love,” he said. “That means it’s less likely you’re going to start running. I am—well, I guess you could call me a shape shifter. My parents prefer to present themselves as merfolk. And I chose to be a shark nearly one thousand years ago.”

“And you never took a mate in all that time?”

“Human mates here and there, but I was always careful not to transform any of them,” he explained.

“Transform,” she repeated. “You mean, as in turn them into a mermaid or a titan or a shark? And allow them to live for—well, for at least a thousand years apparently.”

“We could live indefinitely, using any form we please to fit in,” he explained. “But I’m a shark so that I can come up here and educate humans on how to stop polluting our oceans and streams, as well as guide them towards a better understanding of the creatures they’re killing off. Even though most of my people don’t agree with it. Some of the disgruntled creatures apparently decided to attack us last night, though I have yet to understand the reason why.”

“They didn’t attack you, though,” Chelsea pointed out. “It was obvious that they were targeting me.”

“Yes, and had I not called to my father for his help, they would have succeeded,” he said then. “But the only way he could help you at that point was to give you the gift as well.”

“Gift?” she repeated, her jaw going slack as she realized what he was saying. But, rather than being angry, Chelsea appeared to be elated. “I have the gift? I can shift, and I’ll live at least a thousand years—and be with you? That’s the best news I have ever gotten in my entire life!”

“It is,” he agreed. “I couldn’t stand the thought of losing you someday, you know. But as to that, I’m still very concerned about that attack last night. We need to know who was trying to harm you and why. Because I am basically what you’d call a prince among my people, I’ve probably got a few enemies in the deep, but I don’t understand why they would have targeted you unless someone had overheard me telling my father I wanted to show him my potential bride. We must have been overheard. They knew we were going to be there.”

“You brought me on that dive to show me to your father?” Chelsea asked incredulously. “What were you going to do if he told you no?”

“Probably would have involved even more begging, I’d imagine,” Mark smirked. “But listen, sweetheart, I’m really worried about this. I don’t want to endanger the rest of the team by leading those bad boys their way as well. I need to find out more about what is going on, and you’re not able to dive down where I need to be in order to do that. Do you think you can sit tight while I do a bit of poking about? And don’t trust anyone you don’t know if anybody shows up here. They are just as capable of becoming human as I am.”

“And where am I supposed to hide if they do show up?” Chelsea wanted to know.

Mark sighed and bit his lip. Then, using his fingertips to draw a golden arch tall enough for Chelsea to enter, he gestured for her to pass through it. “If you stay inside here, you’ll be protected while I’m away. I think you’ll like some of the goodies I’ve left for you inside.”

“Well, if I was in any doubt about this crazy story before, this is certainly one way to prove it,” she chuckled as she poked her head in and realized he must have carved a door into another dimension. More specifically, a door into what looked like his actual home.

“By the way, don’t try the front door unless you’re hoping to step out into about six thousand feet of water. It doesn’t enter the doorway but if you touch it, you’ll get sucked into common space again, so best not to get anywhere near it, okay?”

“Um—yeah, I think you’re probably right about that,” she said with an uncomfortable frown marring her face.

“Hey, I’d come that way and show it to you, but it exits into Deep City, and I want to see if I can lure these guys into following me,” he said as he leaned in to kiss her, grabbing her still-naked bre*st with a smirk and giving it a squeeze. “Maybe when I get back we could make better use of my place.”