“Swim,” she said, her voice very firm.
“Of course, little girl, let’s swim.” Mercury waded a little bit deeper and held her up so that she was horizontal, mostly floating on her own on top of the water, she started kicking her little arms and legs, splashing up a great deal of wake.
Talon’s little chuckle made him glance over as his mate slid into the pool. “She has you trained already.”
“It is good practice,” Mercury said archly.
“Very true. Hopefully, you will need that practice over and over again.”
He flushed, the heat suffusing his face keeping him from being cold anymore, and he focused on letting little Leilani swim because he didn’t know what else to do. That kind of teasing, at least among their friends, still made him feel a little shivery, hot and embarrassed.
Talon just struck off for the other end of the pool, cutting through the water cleanly and doing laps. Triton had Serena inhis arms now and was spinning her in slow circles, letting her paddle for all she was worth.
Before too long, another braaken joined them, and he thought it was Cerran. He was surprised, because Elowyn had seemed to think that Cerran wasn’t going to be coming.
“Papa, I swim.” Leilani waved at her other alpha father, but didn’t seem inclined to go to him.
“I see that little one,” Cerran called. But then he moved close to Elowyn and took him to a deeper corner of the pool.
“Do you think everything’s going to be okay?” He asked Talon, who was still swimming back and forth.
“They’ll be fine. The three of them love very intensely, and sometimes that means that they argue the same way.”
He glanced down at Leilani, who didn’t seem to be bothered, and let it go.
They swam for what seemed like a very long time before somebody took Leilani from him, and he was able to simply lay on his back and float in the water. This was one of his favorite parts. The seas had always been too rough to do too much of it. There had been a few inlets near their keep, but the water had always been so cold. While he was a dragon, he could handle the cold, but he much preferred warm water like this.
“Mmm, you’re very good at floating, my love.”
Mercury cracked open one eye and glanced sideways, noting that Talon had come to join him and was now attempting to float as well. It kind of looked like Talon was a little too heavy in certain areas to hold himself up well, so he was more treading water.
“You’re not good at floating,” he teased. “Do we need to move this side of the pool so you can hang on to the edge?”
“No, if I get tired, I’ll just sink to the bottom and sit there for a while.”
“Oh, very nice. I didn’t think you were a water dragon. Not the kind with gills, anyway.”
“No, but we all come from watery areas. I’m used to being able to hold my breath for a very long time.” Talon reached out to tickle his own feet and he kicked before almost going under, spluttering a little bit.
He splashed water at Talon, who closed his eyes so he didn’t get a face full of it and then laughed, ducking under him and pulling him down.
Oh, he loved to play. He could remember doing it with his friends when he was much younger and with his lover for the time that he’d had there. Like casual touching, it had been so long since someone had played with him that he didn’t know what to think. But he gave into it and allowed Talon to hold him. He finally reached out to tickle Talon’s ribs, though, and Talon let go of him. Bubbles popping out of his nose so that Mercury could bob up to the surface.
“I’m not sure tickling is allowed,” Talon said when he came up for air.
“All is fair in love and swimming.” Mercury started out for the other side of the pool, cutting through the water like the sleek dragon he knew he was. He heard Talon’s admiring laughter as he turned, pressing his feet to the side of the pool and pushing off so he could go really fast toward the other side.
“Daddy, he’s so pretty. Like a big silver fish.”
He heard the murmur of voices and knew that had been Leilani. And that Elowyn and Cerran were still talking, so they didn’t answer her. Triton had her though, and he didn’t have to worry about it.
A big silver fish. He liked that. He imagined he was a fish swimming from side to side, just being one with the ocean, the water sliding over his scales.
Suddenly he was shifted in dragon form, moving through the water. Fortunately, his dragon form was not considerably bigger than his human form, so there wasn’t any worry of bumping into anything.
The girls want to ride their Uncle Mercury. Can we do that?Talon’s voice was another caress against his mind.
Of course.He slowed, little Tianna daring to go first, riding through the water on his back.
