Succubus Unchained - Heather Long Page 0,36

me down. The rush of the water surging up to meet me sent it flowing over my toes and ankles. The wet sand squeezed between my toes as I ventured out into the dark sea.

I’d just reached wading depth when a splash alerted me to his following me. Hooking his arms around me, Rogue dragged me back to him as a wave crashed into us both, and a laugh tore out of me. The water wasn’t warm. Far from it, but I didn’t shiver so much as sigh. While the waves couldn’t extinguish the heat burning away inside of me, it did cool it some.

Another wave struck. As we bobbed with it, I laughed again. “I love the ocean,” I admitted, offering that little piece of myself freely. I couldn’t explain it if he decided to ask. But I’d dreamed of the ocean for years. Even if most of the homes I’d known were landlocked. I’d had to make do with lakes and ponds, but they had nothing on this.

This was perfect.

“So I see,” Rogue murmured, his body steadying mine as the waves rolled back. We were half-floating in the salt water, and it seemed to foam ahead of the wave rushing at us. With a powerful push, Rogue shoved us toward it, and then we had water crashing over our heads. The force of the water pushed him away from me. I was flat out laughing my ass off when I surfaced and shoved the damp hair from my eyes. I searched around the moonlit water, but Rogue wasn’t there.

What the hell?

Then another wave hit me, and I rode with it, half surfing on the force of it back toward the shallower waters where I could put my feet down. A splash pulled me half-around, and I gaped. A bear lumbered in the water toward me.

A bear.

A freaking bear.

“Rogue?”

The sleek white beast flowed through the water until it reached me and then stared up at me with a twinkle in those blue eyes. He was massive. Delight curved through me.

“You’re a bear.”

No wonder he knotted. The thought sent a shiver through my traitorous system, and my earlier hunger redoubled. He pushed his head against me, knocking me back a step, and I landed on my ass in the water. At this depth, it was almost to my neck. The wave rising up would have crashed right over my head, but he stood up abruptly and the water broke over him instead and flowed around me. Then he dropped back down and butted his head against me again.

With care, I put my hands against his fur. “Are you flirting?”

The flat stare the bear gave me had me snickering. Still, it was cute. The force of his head and the sheer size of it kept me off balance each time he rubbed against me. He stared at me, then out to where the waves rolled in, then back to me again.

Oh.

“You want to go farther?”

One sharp nod.

“Long swim?”

Just a steady stare.

I bit my lower lip.

I didn’t know why I pretended to hesitate. The only thing waiting for me on the shore were our bloodied clothes, and Rogue was a freaking bear.

The frost elf turned into a solid white, gorgeous polar bear.

It was…adorable.

Yeah, maybe I’d keep that last part to myself.

Maddox was a dragon. My heart squeezed.

Rogue a bear.

Did Fin turn into a tree? The random thought had me snickering all over again like I was drunk, and I was pretty sure that Rogue had grown tired of waiting for me to decide. He pushed against me again, and I wrapped my arms around his neck as he maneuvered to get under me. Then I was on his back.

I was riding the bear.

No, not like that. Don’t be a dirty bird.

I’d save that riding for later when Rogue was Rogue again.

Even I had some limits.

Ahem.

Anyway… I clung to his back as he turned out to deeper water and began to swim. It was like he undulated against the water, slicing through it neatly and evenly. The farther from shore we traveled, the quieter the waves and the more the silence of the night wrapped around us. I divided my attention between searching the darkness of the water for the stars overhead.

This was a far cry from Bon Vivant. From daevas and vampires and wolves. It was even further from the stone walls of the keep with its broody master, hotheaded dragon, teasing druid, and aloof elf. Maybe not so aloof now?

Still, the