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

Then he noticed the change in the color of his skin.The hairs on his left arm had burnished,singed darker than the pale coppery hair on his other arm,and the flesh had tanned to an almost golden shade.Derek followed the path the pain had taken,over his shoulder,down to the center of his chest—his entire arm had darkened,and his chest was marked in an uneven pattern,the left side darker than the right.As he watched,the glow spread a few inches in every direction,then a few more,farther,as if tanning in the rays of a small,invisible sun.Where his skin changed,the hairs growing from it darkened into a reddish gold.Warmth spread in the wake of that impromptu tan,raising beads of sweat on Derek’s brow and upper lip.With the back of a trembling hand,he brushed them away.


Still the gold continued to spread through him,discoloring his skin,covering him like an armor forged by the sun.


Chapter 13