The Merman's Quest: Mates for Monsters, #2

By Tamsin Ley

A merman's mate-bond is for life... or is it?

Rubac's mate is dead, and he's soon to follow. His only hope to escape the curse is to find a human female, seduce her, and sacrifice her. Finding and seducing one is the easy part. Sacrificing her may not be so simple.

Another kind of monster…

Madison is determined to document an elusive dolphin hybrid and restore her professional reputation. Instead, she meets a sexy, sleek-tailed beast of another variety who makes her pulse thrum in places it shouldn't. When he pulls himself on board her boat in all his emerald-tailed glory, she jumps at the chance to film him; discovering a mythical creature will secure her the fame she's always dreamed of.

So why is she feeling the need to keep him all to herself?

Content warning: Explicit love scenes and steamy merman secrets. Intended for mature audiences.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Twin Leaf Press
• Release date: Feb 15, 2019
• ISBN: 9781950027101

Tamsin Ley

Once upon a time I thought I wanted to be a biomedical engineer, but experimenting on lab rats doesn't always lead to a happily-ever-after. Now I blend my nerdy infatuation of science with character-driven romance to explore the ways in which love can be eternal and even monsters can find their mates.   When I'm not writing, I'll be in the garden or the kitchen, exploring Alaska with my husband, or preparing for the zombie apocalypse. I also love wine and hard apple cider, am mediocre at crochet, and have the cutest 12 pound bunny named Abigail. Interested in more about me? Join my VIP Club and get free books, notices, and other cool stuff! http://www.mates4monsters.com/

Book preview

The Merman’s Quest

THE MERMAN’S QUEST

A STEAMY MYTHOLOGY ROMANCE

TAMSIN LEY

Twin Leaf Press

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

Cover by Tamsin Ley

Digital Version

ISBN: 978-1-950027-10-1

Copyright © 2017 by Twin Leaf Press

All Rights Reserved.

Twin Leaf Press

PO Box 672255

Chugiak, AK 99567

CONTENTS

Book Description

Introduction

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Epilogue

Reader Letter

A Mermaid’s Heart

Also by Tamsin Ley

About the Author

A merman's mate-bond is for life... or is it?

Rubac’s mate is dead, and he’s soon to follow. His only hope to escape the curse dragging him toward extermination is to find a human female, seduce her, and sacrifice her. Finding and seducing one is the easy part. Sacrificing her may not be so simple.

Another kind of monster…

Madison is determined to document an elusive dolphin hybrid and restore her professional reputation. Instead, she meets a sexy, sleek-tailed beast of another variety who makes her pulse thrum in places it shouldn’t. When he pulls himself on board her boat in all his emerald-tailed glory, she jumps at the chance to film him; discovering a mythical creature will secure her the fame she’s always dreamed of.

So why is she feeling the need to keep him all to herself?

INTRODUCTION

The Merman’s Quest can be read as a standalone, but you may enjoy it more if you read The Merman’s Kiss first.

1

Madison adjusted the focus of the binoculars again, concentrating on the white-capped waves breaking against the reef while maintaining her balance on the boat’s rocking deck. She’d been following a pod of dolphins for almost three days, only to lose them yesterday before she could get close enough to verify her find—a wild hybrid cross between Pseudorca crassidens and Tursiops truncates . Only a single hybrid of this species had been born in captivity, and no one had ever provided solid proof of one in the wild before. She needed evidence. Photos for one thing. But even more important, she needed tissue samples. DNA proof would be irrefutable, and such a discovery would help erase the blemish on her career.

The small cruiser caught a wave sideways, and she adjusted her heading to face the rolling water. Working the vessel alone while also performing research was tricky, but after last year, she wasn’t about to rely on anyone else’s assistance again. Steller sea cow my ass. Extinct for over two hundred and fifty years, the beast might as well have been a mermaid. And she’d bought into it, hook, line, and sinker, putting her full reputation behind the data her grad students provided. Now she was on her own, funding this trip out of her savings in hope of salvaging something of her reputation. I’ll show them all.

She checked the depth finder—ninety-eight feet—then slipped on her polarized sunglasses to again scan the horizon. How was she supposed to manage over a dozen research assistants, verify every scrap of data, and meet the university’s publishing schedule for tenure? Those damned assistants claimed it was a prank taken too far, but she was the one who’d had to shoulder the repercussions. The embarrassment of the peer-reviewed journal’s scathing feedback, the media hype debunking her find, all of it had ruined her career. She’d lost her position at the university and her grant funding. Even her off-and-on boyfriend—a vet at the marine research center—didn’t want to be associated with her.

Noting her GPS coordinates, she angled toward a darker area where the kelp canopy nearly touched the surface. The green water slapped against the hull, sending fine salt spray into the air. She loved the sea. Loved the smell, the rolling of the deck beneath her feet, the bite of the cold water against her skin. Although the sun beat down on her head, the winter breeze made swimming unpleasant, or she’d have stripped down and rinsed three days of salt-grime off her skin.

Where was the dolphin pod? She searched for the familiar dark bullet shapes below the waves. They had to surface soon. Her two precious biopsy darts were ready, if only she could get close enough. The equipment had cost her a significant portion of her savings, as had the boat rental, and her rental agreement was nearly over.

She cut the engine, hoping the pod would show itself. This particular pod seemed more skittish than usual, without the usual dolphin curiosity about boats. They stayed just out of range of her darts, as if they knew exactly how close she