STORY EXCERPT

Oron thrashed against his tiny prison even as his movements became more and more sluggish with his waning strength. How long had he been in here? How many hours had passed since he’d stupidly gotten too close to a human vessel and been netted like a damn fish?

He hissed as one of his captors walked too close to his see-through cage. What was this stuff? It didn’t feel like anything natural. It wasn’t glass either. Whatever it was, it wasn’t easily breakable. The uniformed human jumped at his sudden movement. Good. It was good they were afraid.

He had to get out of here. There was hardly enough water in here to cover his body, and it was rapidly diminished by his thrashing. Breathing wasn’t the problem. He didn’t want to dry out. It felt like a sunburn, only a million times worse. He would know. He’d made the mistake of falling asleep on a rock off the coast of an island once. He shuddered at the memory. That had been a painful learning experience.

“Do you think it understands us?” a uniformed human asked the one Oron had frightened. Oron tilted his head to listen closer. Normally, he would be marveling over the fact that he was this close to the humans and could hear them so clearly. Right now, however, he had more pressing thoughts on his mind. Like how to get out of this cage.

“I don’t know if he understands, but he’s listening to us. Look at that!” The other one pointed at him, and Oron realized his mistake. These were definitely bright creatures, much smarter than he’d originally imagined.

“Is there something wrong, gentlemen?” The female human was back. He hissed in her direction. She seemed the most callous of the bunch, unaffected by him or his suffering. He hated her.

His eyes flicked from her to the other human she’d brought with her. Another male. He wasn’t dressed like the others, so he most likely wasn’t part of her school.

He had on a pale-purple shirt over some black cloth that covered his lower half. Maybe that meant he was the peace offerer. That was the appropriate color of negotiation among his people. Maybe he wasn’t as rude as the others. His hair was short, and the color of sunshine. The length denoted a lesser status among his kind, and the color was just odd. He probably shouldn’t be trying to draw cultural parallels, but Oron was grasping at straws.

“He looked like he was listening to us,” one of the uniformed humans said.

“He’s probably quite intelligent if he’s anything like the mermaids in the stories.” The new male looked at him with an odd fascination in his gaze. Oron looked down at himself. What was it staring at so intensely?

“We need to get him into some fresh water. It’ll probably put him in a better mood.”

The new male instructed the others to move his prison into a long hallway and into a larger room at the end. It was a vast space and lit much more gently than the glaring unnatural lights in the other place. A soft blue-and-black world greeted him beyond his cage.

Running water made a dull roar in the space, and a thrill shot through Oron at the thought that perhaps they were going to take him back to the ocean. But that hope was quickly squashed as he realized that the noise was coming from all the circular pools that the humans had set up in the room. Some were empty, others were filled. A quiet horror set in. This was some sort of prison.

He was pushed past a pool which had several young sharks in it. Perhaps they were farming instead. Even his people bred animals and kept them as livestock. He didn’t know why he thought it was so odd that humans did the same. So why would they take him to a stockyard?

The answer came in the form of the new male pointing to a large pool that was toward the back of the others. It was also see-through like his prison but looked to be much better maintained. Was that where they were going to keep him? The uniformed males stopped propelling him forward with whatever machine they were using, and Oron’s stomach flipped as his cage began to lift into the air.

“Hold on. If he is intelligent, it might be easier to talk to him first.” The new male interrupted their lifting and walked up to the side of the cage. Oron tensed, unsure of what to expect.

The human bared his teeth and smiled at Oron through the glass. “Hi, I’m Adam. Do you understand me?”

Oron considered him. Well, it wouldn’t suit his purposes for them to think he was just another dumb animal. He nodded. It seemed to thrill the human because his smile widened.

“Great. Do you see that tank there? The thing with the fresh water in it?” He pointed to the new pool.

Again Oron nodded.

“Can you move over to there? Maybe we can talk about what’s going on. Okay?”

It was the first reasonable thing anyone had said to him in hours, so he nodded again. The cage lifted higher to where it was even with the lip of the pool. He moved cautiously to the edge, stealing glances back at the uniformed men and the female, just to make sure they didn’t move in his direction. The last time he’d gotten this close to the top of the cage the humans had shocked him with very painful prods of some sort. He’d killed two of his tormentors before having to yield. To say that he didn’t trust them at this point was a vast understatement.

He curled his hands over the end of the pool, retracting his claws slightly so that he could get a good grip, and then he hefted his weight into the air. He angled his body downward and slipped smoothly into the water with hardly a splash. Oh! It felt good to be clean again!

He circled the larger area, stretching his cramped muscles and breathing fresh water in through his gills on the sides of his chest. It felt good to stretch out a bit after hours spent in the tiny cell. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the new human move toward the pool.

Oron surfaced and cruised toward the male.

ADULT EXCERPT

“Yes, Namaru. We will join together.” A pause as the sheet Adam had put on his hips slid to the floor, revealing the same gorgeous specimen of manhood that Adam couldn’t help but caress before he’d hurt himself on Oron’s spine. The merman’s cock stood proud and straight against the smooth skin of Oron’s torso. “But first, you will touch me.”

The order went right to Adam’s cock. The traitorous thing was already as hard as stone. He was sick. A freak. He couldn’t possibly be this aroused by a nonhuman creature. A very male nonhuman creature at that. He started to shake.

“This is wrong.”

“Why?” Oron asked, guiding Adam’s uninjured hand down to the already-pre-cum-slicked prick. His hand felt cooler than most humans. It wasn’t unpleasant either. Adam’s hand tightened involuntarily, and the merman groaned. The sound sent goose bumps skittering down Adam’s flesh. The top of his head could pop off at any moment. He was already aroused enough to come and had been since Oron had opened his eyes a few minutes beforehand.

“I don’t know.” He really didn’t know. Yes, Oron was nonhuman. But there was an intelligence there that didn’t make Oron an animal either.

A dark, very masculine chuckle sounded. “Pleasure me, Namaru. Use your hands to bring me release.”

It was hard not to respond to those very arousing words. Adam’s dick jumped in the confines of his slacks. Why was it so hard to let go of the cool flesh in his hand and take a step back?

“Something is wrong with me,” Adam said, his breaths coming out in pants.

If he were honest with himself he would admit that he’d had a fascination for the male since he’d been brought in, and when he’d found out that Oron could grow legs, thoughts of sex had definitely crossed his mind. He just hadn’t planned on acting on them without some serious soul-searching first. He didn’t have a mermaid fetish that he was aware of, and he didn’t want to take advantage of Oron by coming onto him. So why was he so ready to turn to Oron as a sexual object now? He didn’t just want to get off either. He wanted to fuck, needed to get fucked in a way he hadn’t since he was a teenager with his first boyfriend.

“You’re mine, Namaru. Let me have you.”

His resistance melted as yet another wave of intense sexual need wrapped its hand around his balls and squeezed. He found himself grinding against the merman’s side, dampening the front of his slacks on the water that was on Oron’s skin. The specialized table had been designed to allow water flow over its surface to keep marine creatures moist as well as to allow water flow over the gills of species that required it to breathe. It should have startled him to be grinding against one of the creatures it was used for. It didn’t.

His world spun as his sexual need propelled his mind out into outer space. The next thing he knew his mouth was wrapped around Oron’s cock, and he was sucking it like he was angry at it. The hiss of breath that the merman released confirmed the pleasure his action caused. He couldn’t think of that now though.

He was fascinated by the salty flesh in his mouth. He worked the organ, not unlike his own, loving the way the skin was slightly rougher than his. The pre-cum that leaked out of the flared head tasted very similar to humans’ cum. A little more bitter, but otherwise very much the same. That knowledge provided a little bit of a balm to Adam’s protesting conscious as he licked it off like it was his favorite treat.

“Hmm, Namaru, feels good.” Clawed hands wound themselves into Adam’s hair and took control. The merman fucked his mouth with abandon, unconcerned if Adam was all right or not. It was the sort of out-of-control arousal that Adam would expect of someone who had never had a blow job before.

He relaxed his mouth as the thick cock hit his gag reflex. He didn’t want to choke around the burgeoning organ. His eyes slid shut, marveling in the sensation of Oron between his lips. Yes. This is what I need. God, I need this so much. Adam didn’t know where the thoughts had come from or even why they felt true. He just knew that if Oron didn’t come down his throat, the top of his head was going to blow off.

Oron rumbled gruff, guttural words in a language Adam had never heard before. It encouraged him and spurred him on, making him renew his enthusiasm even when he might’ve grown tired. His own hand rubbed the ridge of his erection through the material of his slacks, needing some kind of relief. As tightly wound as he was, it shouldn’t have taken him any time at all to rub off. But something held him back from release.

Then his frustration bled away as Oron shoved his prick down the back of Adam’s throat and let out an animal growl of satisfaction as he jerked and emptied himself into Adam’s wet mouth.

Adam’s eyes rolled into the back of his head as a warm tingling pleasure overwhelmed him. His hand moved on his pant-clad cock faster, but nothing was happening. He couldn’t come. He made a noise of frustration and whimpered around the still-hard organ in his mouth. As pleased as he felt to have Oron’s spunk on his tongue, he was nearly mindless. It hurt to be this hard.

“Let it go, Namaru,” Oron commanded, sounding a little breathless. “I’ll take care of you.”