Taming the Merman - Chapter 3

Fun fact: a breeding phase was a biological response unique to mermen.

When it began, adult mermen of either sex experienced an uncontrollable urge to reproduce, along with an overwhelming parental instinct toward every juvenile they encountered.

Their bodies also changed accordingly. They became stronger to protect their young, involuntarily manifested their tails to soothe them, and certain parts of them softened and swelled, producing… well, food for their young when stimulated.

Such intimate details naturally appeared in no textbook and were not included in our classes on demon races.

Everything I knew had been taught through a personal demonstration by a certain Merman Lan.

His terminology was precise and his demonstration painfully clear. I learned a great deal—and wanted nothing more than to turn and run.

In fact, I did run.

I simply failed to get away.

The moment I moved, an ominous black tail nearly six feet long coiled around my waist.

“Good child.” A voice laced with unsettling delight brushed my ear. “Where are you going?”

Bewitching black scales emerged over Lan Shiyu’s skin. He cupped my face, every trace of his false gentleness gone.

His burning gaze locked upon me, and his smile brimmed with such thick, predatory intent that he looked ready to swallow me whole.

A sword cultivator’s sixth sense told me the situation was dire. If I did not escape immediately, something terrible would happen.

I drew my sword without hesitation and struck at a vital point, intending to ride my blade to safety the instant he dodged.

But Lan Shiyu had gone mad.

Rather than evade, he took the blow head-on. When I panicked and turned the point aside, he wrenched the sword from my hand.

It flew into a distant slope and embedded itself with a ringing hum. In excellent spirits, Lan Shiyu bowed his head and buried his face in my palm, breathing in my scent.

“A little child shouldn’t play with such dangerous things.” He closed his lips around the web of my thumb, sharp teeth scraping its calluses. “You’re far too young. You can’t even hold a sword properly. You’ll hurt yourself.”

I kicked at him in fury. “Lan Shiyu, are you insane? Who can’t hold a sword? That was an ambush. It doesn’t count—”

A hand abruptly slipped into my robes, nearly tying my tongue in a knot.

Lan Shiyu caught my ankle and pulled, toppling me onto his tail. His free hand slid outrageously inside my collar and went straight for—

My stomach.

“No wonder my baby has been fussing,” he murmured. His scorching hand stroked my abdomen until gooseflesh rose all over me. “You’re hungry. Look how lumpy your poor little belly has become.”

Those were my abdominal muscles.

I took a deep breath and reminded myself not to argue with a madman.

“I am not hungry. I stopped needing food eight hundred years ago. Quit raving and let me go.”

“You’re so hungry you’re speaking nonsense.” Lan Shiyu forced his fingers into my mouth and pressed down on my tongue, silencing me. “There, there. I’ll feed my baby right now, all right?”

He carefully examined my teeth. When he withdrew his fingers, a silver thread followed.

“My baby truly is little. Your teeth are still so flat. I suppose you can’t eat grown-up food yet.”

My perfectly healthy teeth and I had no response.

Just before I could curse him, Lan Shiyu tugged open his sash and bared his upper body.

The string of abuse in my throat turned into a mouthful of saliva that I swallowed with difficulty.

“You…”

The thick tail beneath me lifted me higher.

I slid down and landed astride Lan Shiyu’s hips, wedged tight between his human body and fish tail.

The scant distance between us vanished.

This was indecent. Obscene. My mind stopped working altogether.

Smiling at my expression, Lan Shiyu tipped my chin up, turning my gaze toward that touch of crimson against the snow.

“Be good, baby. Don’t think. Open your mouth.”