"Visualize your feet touching the ground?" A question, not a statement. His attention snagged on her. "You don't know?"
Without offering an answer, she tentatively closed the distance between them, wrapped her fingers around his ankles and tugged. He floated down until gently hitting a solid foundation.
"I thought I could handle the changes as they came," he said rawly. "You're alive. Nothing else matters."
"I'm becoming one of them."
"No, you're still Gray. My Gray."
Unbidden, his gaze traveled to her neck, to the erratic pulse there. "You wouldn't say that if you could get inside my head right now."
Her hand reached out and moved up his chest, sliding along the ridges of stomach muscles, making him suck in a breath. Making his skin tingle. Just as he'd done to her, she found his nipples and rolled them between her fingers. "You're Gray," she said again. "You're hard and hot and wonderful. You're not a monster."
His blood heated with desire and simmered with need. More desire, more need than ever before because all of his senses were suddenly heightened. Her mystical scent drenched him; her heat pulsed at him. Her own desire and need blasted him, swimming and blending with his own.
His mouth watered. Maybe, if he allowed himself one taste, just one taste of her blood... He jerked away from her. Hell, no. If he took her in his arms, his tentative control would snap.
Hurt and embarrassment crossed her delicate cameo features.
He almost drew her back, but managed to resist. "Don't touch me again."
Her eyes widened with hurt surprise, and she stumbled backward. "But... why?"
The dome began to emit a slight ray of light, sweeping over trees and rocks. He ignored her as determinedly as she'd ignored his questions of love last night. "Let's pack up. We need to get moving if we want to reach the Temple of Cronus on schedule."
As he spoke, the hairs on the back of his neck rose. The corner of his eye caught a flicker of movement, and every instinct he possessed screamed to duck. He grabbed Jewel by the forearms and propelled them both to the ground. A spear sailed through the air, slicking the spot he'd stood and slamming into a thick tree trunk.
"We want Dunamis, human. If you give it to us, your death will not be so painful for you." The deep male voice boomed as loud as thunder - and came from the water.
Gray forgot everything but protecting his woman. All at once he catalogued his escape route and sized up his enemy. There were at least fifty mermen in the water, spears raised. If there'd been more light, Gray knew those spears would be embedded in his back. The urge to fight them was there, but he wouldn't risk Jewel getting hurt.
"Let's go," he told her, jumping to his feet and jerking her up with him. He kept her body shielded with his.
He pushed her into the shadows of the forest, grabbed her wrist and started running. Rocks dug into his bare feet, but he kept moving. "This is my fault. I knew better than to go to the river."
"I should have known they would come back," she babbled. "I should have at least known what they were planning."
"At least they have to stay in the water." A naked limb reached out and slapped his cheek. He ground to a halt just in front of their tent.
Jewel shook her head almost violently. "After a storm, they can walk on land."
Of course they could.
"I can't believe this is happening," she said, upset deep in the undertones of her voice.
"Keep your voice down. You're like a beacon right now, signaling our every move." Motions quick and precise, he disassembled their tent and hooked it to his backpack. "How long do we have?"
Jewel remained eerily silent.
Gray jerked on his boots and raced around the camp, grabbing all of their stuff and cramming it into his bag. "Which way should we go?" He clasped Jewel's wrist and bolted toward the trees, using the escape route he'd mapped out yesterday. He did his best to make their tracks as invisible as possible.
She didn't answer. Her body was stiff, and she was barely moving, slowing him down, practically making him drag her. He flicked a glance over his shoulder. The blue of her eyes swirled, a fathomless pool.
"They are even now leaving the water."
Her voice was as otherworldly as her eyes. Surreal. Like a thousand voices layered into