Making Waves (Mythological Lovers) Read Online Free PDF Page A

impassive features. I never asked for advice. “Speak.”
    “What do you know of fated mates, Father? Are they fable or truth?”
    “They are a rare gift, but far from story. It is said the creature who finds his fated mate will enjoy a life twice blessed. But why do you ask? This is not advice, but a question.”
    “I ask because I believe to have met mine, Father. And she is beautiful. I know there is a great chance she will feel for me as I do for her.” Unless humans lacked the same instant attraction. The niggling thought snaked through my mind. I’d have to ask Teo’s wife to be certain.
    “Oh?” Adon watched me, intrigued. A hint of emotion almost showed in his equine face, but I knew better.
    He hated me.
    “What is this filly’s name? I had believed all of breeding age to be mated and properly claimed.”
    “It’s... She is not a filly, Fa—”
    True happiness seeped into the strong mental voice. A chuckle of amusement followed. My dad hadn’t laughed at anything I’d said to him since I was a colt. “Ahh, then a widowed mare. Not what I would have chosen for you, but respectable. Kind. Who is she, son?”
    I ripped the figurative Band-Aid clean off, speaking in a rush. “Her name is Alessa, and she’s human.”
    The pleasure faded, vanished like a popped bubble. He stared at me at first, a silent horse waiting for the punchline to a bad joke. “Absurd. There is no such thing as courtship and mating between a hippocampus and human,” he snapped.
    “I felt it, Father. I have never experienced anything of the like in all of my life. It was real.”
    “You desperately seek fulfillment in a world outside of our own. Had you shown as much interest in our kind as you do of the stinking apes above, perhaps you would have a mate, Dante.”
    I flinched. “I did everything possible, Father. Everything. I danced, I sang, I brought gifts and fought ocean predators for Calista to no avail. You and I both know it has nothing to do with my courtship efforts, and everything to do with my looks!”
    Adon peered down his long muzzle at me and snorted.
    “Is this why you hate me so much? Because I resemble Mother?”
    He didn’t answer me directly. The pearl-furred mare at his side had moved, relocating to the water and swimming away to a more peaceful location. We lacked a word for stepmother in our language, but I had only one mother and would not call Delia mine.
    “Your mother’s fascination with the humans caused her death. It will do the same to you. Your courtships fail because you give the topside more focus than your own kind.”
    “I don’t—”
    “Had you devoted this time to meeting and playing with our fillies this season, you may have met a match willing to accept a dark horse, and I would not be forced to relegate you to the guard. I have never felt more shame.”
    “But—”
    “Remove yourself from my sight,” he commanded.
    My head drooped. “As you wish.” Ending my audience with my father, I dove into the water and hurried away.
    Maybe he was right. Maybe I had no one to blame but myself for my irrational attraction to the topside world. I swam as if Hades himself chased me from the ocean depths, tail churning the water behind me, forelegs aching and sore by the time I returned to the island.
    Maybe, if I hadn’t chased after a life on the surface, I’d have a true life down below.
    Balmy, tropical air and an ocean breeze blew across my wet skin once I was on land again. I maintained full control of my emotions as I crossed the beach and retired to Abuelo’s home.
    The soft hum of the oxygen machine welcomed me, as did the man in his recliner. He waved from a seat in front of the television, enjoying a thick slice of flan brought to him by one of the neighbors.
    “Want some?”
    “No thanks.”
    A hot shower washed the salt and sand from my skin then I filled my belly with the fish tacos Gramps had left over from the daily menu. I settled beside him, and together we watched