Chapter 3 - Imprinted

• I was considering it. I’d waited so long for her that I could hardly think. Much more, control my impulses to touch her now
• She’d drown. I knew it. And that thought alone was helping me rein in the most impatient parts of my consciousness
• Still, my palms itched, making my fingers rake against them to keep from pulling her under with me.
• I could have her.
• Now.
• I blew a quiet breath. But without meaning to, I’d floated nearer the surface. And she must’ve glimpsed me. I heard a quickly indrawn breath as she glimpsed my gray skin.
• Thinking I’m a shark.
• She was going to flee. Rush from the waters.
• But I didn’t want her to go yet.
• Stay. With me.
• ***
• ERIN
• It was a day off for me.
• Normally I didn’t get to play on Castaway Beach until the weekend. But since Kari, one of the other Lifeguards, had traded me workdays. I was granted this middle-of-the-week reprieve. So, Ashley was the first one I’d called.
• She and I had been friends since middle school.
• And she was my go-to for surfing days.
• We were shouldering each other as we scampered back to the water.
• Her with her purple board.
• Me with my trusty blue flowered one.
• I knew men stared at us.
• We were young, vibrant, athletic, and I always laughed without caring what anyone else thought about it.
• Especially when I’m having a good time.
• I wasn’t about to stop now.
• I hit another wave. Leaping onto my board and striding out over the water.
• But minutes before the waves were rolling in, the water cleared, and I got a nice view of below me. Realizing that there was a shape moving with me. Paralleling my movements. The dark gray and white of it immediately made me think of a shark. But I had to look again, realizing it was something I didn’t recognize.
• Definitely not a shark.
• What the hell is that?
• I leaned up from the water, scooting to my knees on my board, to keep my limbs from overhanging it, as I gauged the distance back to the shore.
• I need to get out of this water.
• Stat.
• But as I twisted to veer my board that direction, a hand shot from the water to grip the edge of my board, unbalancing it enough I dropped my hand to the board, to steady myself.
• My wrist was immediately snatched in an iron hard grip.
• I looked down, stunned to realize it was the pink skin of a large, masculine hand. I tried to yank away but the head came from the water. First cerulean eyes. Both blue and green at the same time with a swirl of gold around the pupil. Unlike anything I’d ever seen.
• When he lifted his head from the water, every bit of him turned to tanned skin.
• Though when I peered over the board, I could see gray beneath the surface.
• Beginning to panic I tried to jerk from him, but he surged up. Lifting his torso from the water, to be nearly nose-to-nose with me.
• “You’re mine…” He whispered in a voice that was husky and seductive. Making my ears ring and my breaths catch.
• Bringing to stark clarity how nothing else seemed to be moving.
• I was staring back at him, unable to tear my gaze away. Not in the way people say, when they’ve seen something beautiful.
• I couldn’t look away, in a scary, not-in-control of myself way. I felt light. Far away. Almost dizzy in a way I couldn’t explain.
• He was still holding my wrist.
• “Who are you?” I managed to ask. My voice sounded choked, even to my own ears.
• His lips turned in a way that was both alluring and almost malicious. “You will know. Soon enough…”
• I opened my mouth to ask more.
• But Ashley was swimming up behind me.
• “Erin. Erin!” She was calling.
• I glanced over my shoulder at her.
• In that half-a-second, the pressure on my wrist lifted and I was freed from that punishing grip and penetrating gaze.
• I looked back at where the man was and there was nothing. Not even a stirring in the water from him leaving. I brushed my hand over the surface, like trying to wipe a foggy window clean. Attempting to see further down.
• But there was only darkness.