Tiburon finally found the source of the strange scent again. He knew it was a mer. One that was a stranger to these parts of the waters. As captain of the guards it was his job to keep the waters in his kingdoms safe and that meant he needed to get this mer and find out why he was in these parts of the water and gently force them to make their presence known to the king. Then the strange mer could be on their way, with careful surveillance to make sure they didn't cause any trouble.

It wasn't that they didn't trust the outsiders, but more they were careful. An outsider was the reason for the horrible attack on the kingdom seventeen years ago, so they were cautious.

Tiburon was slowly approaching the unknown mer. His target froze and quickly looked in the direction that Tiburon was coming from. Tiburon attempted to duck under the waves but it was too late. He cursed as the mer began swiftly swimming toward the shore. Weird tactic (what was he going to do beach himself) but Tiburon sped after them.

The other mer was fast, but Tiburon was certain he could catch up. He was gaining on the panicking outsider. Right when the other was about to enter the shallow water that was difficult to swim in Tiburon made a lunge for the other.

The other let out a cry for help as the they tumbled into the shallows, Tiburon landing on top of the other mer.

There was a whimper of pain and Tiburon glared down to tell the other mer to grow a pair and shut up, after all it was the guy's own fault ('cause the mer was definitely a guy) he was being treated so roughly since he didn't follow proper protocol. And then he realized just who he was sitting on.

"Ronan?" Tiburon couldn't believe it. The man beneath him stared up at him with those incredibly large blue eyes. Eyes that were swimming in confusion.

"Tiburon?" Ronan looked around frantically. "We have to get out of the water! There's a shark!" Ronan pulled himself from under Tiburon and started to drag the other man toward the shore.

"Ronan. Ronan stop!" The man commanded. He saw a definite problem with going to shore in his current state. There was no way around it. He'd have to tell Ronan the truth. "There is no shark."

"But I saw…"

"You saw me," Tiburon interrupted. And the confused look was back on Ronan's face. Tiburon sighed. He pulled the man back into deeper water so there was more room to swim comfortably. This wasn't how he had planned this to go. He wanted to get to know Ronan a little more before telling the man what he was. But there really was no avoiding it.

"Alright, Ronan, now don't freak out." Ronan felt unease pool in his gut at Tiburon's words. In his experience whenever someone started a conversation like that it was always because they knew the person they were talking to was going to "freak out."

"I just want to let you know before I tell you this that this is not how I planned for you to find out about this. But I feel like I can trust you," the man said earnestly. "And, as I'm sure you noticed from last time we met, I think you're an amazingly beautiful person," he added straightforward and unashamed.

Ronan's cheeks colored. If he was honest with himself, he found Tiburon incredibly attractive too. And it wasn't just the outside that Ronan found so appealing. He liked the man's carefree personality. All his thoughts were blown away by Tiburon's next sentence.

"I'm a mer."

"What?"

"I'm a mer," the man confessed again.

Now as much as Ronan would have loved to freak out about then, he found himself calm. A little too calm, but it just made sense. The pieces of the puzzle that was Tiburon were slowly coming together. Ronan had never seen him out of the water, or even from the waist down. And when it had stormed so bad the man hadn't gotten out of the water. Ronan blushed at his next thought, and he hadn't been wearing anything. He still probably wasn't wearing anything.

Ronan glanced down trying to get a glimpse of the mer's tail below the undulating water but couldn't see anything. So, he decided since he couldn't see it he'd have to feel it. He reached his hands out toward Tiburon putting them on his solid chest.

The mer sucked in a breath. What was this human doing to him? He let Ronan glide his hands slowly, sensually (although he had the feeling Ronan wasn't trying to be sensual) down his chest. The ghost of a touch trailed down, down ,down and soon those pale hands slipped below the surface of the water.

Ronan gasped as he felt Tiburon's tail. It was smooth like a shark, or the rays at the aquarium. And soft, but definitely powerful. He could feel the muscles in the appendage as he continued to explore. He wanted to memorize every inch of Tiburon even the parts he couldn't see.

Oh Gods, Tiburon was being tormented by those wonderful hands. Ronan seemed absolutely enthralled with his tail. His hands hadn't left any area unexplored, untouched and Tiburon found it increasingly difficult to keep his hands off of the human. At this rate he'd find himself in a fever with this beautiful man and then he really wouldn't be able to stop from touching Ronan because the only way to stop the fever was contact with the mer/person that put him there.

Tiburon groaned and took Ronan's hands in his own, pulling them up to the surface. He kissed those amazing hands gently, "As much as I enjoyed your attention, I'm afraid if you continued what you were doing I wouldn't be able to stop myself from ravishing you," Tiburon admitted voice thick with lust. And his reward for such straightforward words was a delicious pink tinge on the other's skin.

Just like that, Tiburon smelled it again. The other mer. And it smelled close. Tiburon pulled Ronan against him to shield him against the possible threat.

"What is it?" Ronan asked in alarm.

"I smelled a strange mer. That's actually why I jumped on you, I thought you might be the mer. But the smell went away. Now, it's back." Tiburon explained quickly. He gave a sniff. The smell was strong now even with the human right in front of him. It was strange.

He heard mers say that humans had a smell that almost completely masked everything else. He shouldn't smell a mer over a human that was so close to him.

Then a thought came to Tiburon. Could the smell be coming from Ronan? He leaned forward and leaned his head into the crook of the man's neck and just breathed in the scent of the other.

Ronan's heart thudded in his chest. What was Tiburon doing? He felt the deep breaths the other was taking tickling his skin. And just as quickly as the mer had started his strange sniffing he stopped and pulled his head away looking at Ronan in confused wonder.

"You're the mer," Tiburon all but whispered.

Ronan looked at him panicked. He wasn't a mer, he was… "No…I…I…" what if he was a mer? No! he was a human. His parents would have told him ages ago if he wasn't.

Tiburon yanked him back and pulled of Ronan's arms above the water. Ah yes, there they were. Scales. They seamlessly merged from the pale flesh to a vibrant lapis-lazuli on the man's upper arms.

"Why didn't you tell me?" the mer hissed feeling betrayed.

"Tell you what?"

"Oh, don't play dumb with me. You're a mer!" Tiburon growled. "But how are you able to do it?"

"Do what? What are you talking about?" Ronan yanked on his arm trying to get it out of Tiburon's tightening grasp.

"Oh come off it. The spell. You're spelled as a two-legged."

"I was born a two-legged," Ronan tried desperately to explain.

"No mer is born two-legged," Tiburon said darkly. The only way a mer was a human was if they were spelled. And if they were young when it was cast, which Ronan had to be if he didn't remember being a mer, the spell always wore off during puberty allowing the mer to return to their home in the ocean. Now Tiburon wasn't an expert on humans, but he was pretty sure Ronan had hit puberty years ago.

Tiburon knew he had to take Ronan to the kingdom. The king had to know about this mer in human's clothing. "Come on Ronan, I'm taking you to see the king," he began pulling the young man further into the ocean.

"No," Ronan tried to get out of Tiburon's grasp. "No, Tiburon. Let me go!"

Tiburon ignored him.

"I said no!" Ronan shouted releasing a shock that dazed Tiburon, causing the mer's grip to slacken. Ronan seized the opportunity to yank himself away and swim to shore.

Tiburon shook his head. "Shit," that had been some shock Ronan had given him. And then the human had run out of the water and up the beach out of sight.

"Can't believe he's a mer," Tiburon hissed before diving beneath the surface and swimming toward the palace. He needed to let the king know exactly what had happened. Maybe he would know what to do about Ronan.

                                                   ~ODW~

Ronan ran into the hotel room to find his mom watching TV from her bed. "Mom," he immediately rounded on her, desperation in his tone. "Mom," he repeated urgently, "please, I know you know what's going on!" He started pacing nervously waiting for her answer.

"Ronan, Ronan calm down," Rebecca watched as her son stopped his pacing and took a deep calming breath. The wild look still remained in his eyes, but it would do. "Now, what are you talking about?"

He held up his arm showing off the brilliantly colored scales that had yet to disappear. "This," he hissed.

His mom just looked at him, a guilty expression on her face. "Well, are you gonna tell me what you know, or what?" He watched as she bit her lip and adverted her gaze.

Ronan felt like he had been punched in the gut. She wasn't going to tell him. Ronan fumed. Of course, why would he expect her to tell him anything? It's not like she was forthcoming with information before. He still didn't know why he could produce electricity, but he was beginning to think the scales and the electricity, the talking to fish was all related. But he wanted to know what was going on, needed to know. As much as it pained him to admit it, he wasn't going to get those answers from his mom. She had far too many secrets about him and he was sick of it.

"Fuck you," he bit out throwing all his emotions into those two words. And with that he strode out of the hotel room.

                                                             ~ODW~

Ronan laughed nervously to himself. What he was doing was crazy, reckless, but he didn't know what else to do. There was no one else he could think to go to… and hey, the man had offered to talk to him. Had said he knew what Ronan was.

He didn't bring the card, having long since memorized the information on it but it probably didn't matter. The man would remember him. Ronan hoped.

He knocked on the door. "Who the hell comes to someone's house this late at night?" the fisherman growled as he opened the door. And there stood the boy. The one who was a mer.

The kid's eyes shone with determination as he demanded, "Tell me what you know."