J.M. Snyder

Derek Meredith lost his lover of ten years, Tad Archer, in a boating accident. Four months later, anonymous phone calls lead him to a weathered bar on the coast, where he runs into an old friend named Kellen who has, in his own words, found something Derek has lost. Kellen and Derek are both members of a mythical race of sea creatures known as merrows. Friends earlier in life, Kellen had loved Derek from childhood, but a wanderlust filled Derek's heart, leading him to seek life on the shore among humans. Tad was the reason he'd left the ocean behind, and Kellen has never managed to move beyond that rejection. Back in Derek's life again, Kellen offers him an "indecent proposal" -- a night of passion between the merrows for the return of his lover. But complications arise, among them the fact that without his talisman, an item linking his blood with the sea, Derek is unable to return to the ocean and rescue Tad. His talisman was given to his lover on their tenth anniversary as a symbol of his love; in exchange, Tad gave him a gold ring. The metal holds mystical properties for those with merrish blood, and Derek hopes that the power of love that resides in the band might be enough to help him rescue his lover ... without having to succumb to Kellen's sordid desires in the process.

Undertow

Kellen made his offer plain enough.“You give yourself to me,one last time,”he told Derek,his voice intimate and low.Around them the noise of the crowd crashed like waves on the shore,just so much senseless sound that threatened to wash Derek away.Kellen’s eyes had turned cold,calculating—he knew what he wanted,and he knew how to get it.“And I want every part of you,every touch,every kiss,every moan,I want it all.No lying there as I fuck you.No waiting it out.This time I want you making love to me,Dere,the way you do to him.Got that?Out there on the beach,just likeold times,right where you first met him and ripped my goddamned heart to shreds.”


Chapter 8