-Parker-

Trying to get through to Mellac that we couldn't just run off and kill everyone in Cal-Waves was really grating on my nerves. Did he think they would just stand in a line and let him tear them apart like fish or something? Shaking my head, I glanced at him in the rearview mirror, glaring at Kipper around his brother while Jay sat beside me. I still didn't trust Mellac with the kid, heck, any kid, but at least he hadn't hurt him at all.

"We need to go to the police station and get someone to believe us."

A lot more than just someone. We need an army since they have a Hice.

Pulling into the station, I ran around to the back of my truck, nearly getting smacked with the door when Mellac swung it open without a care. Forcing myself not to get visibly mad, since I was sure Mellac would love a bit of human-bashing this fine evening, I ignored it, knowing that I needed to be as fit as possible when we finally went and got Ocar and Oliver.

Kipper had already opened his door and taken his seat belt off, but I tugged him into my arms before he could get down, even though I knew he was frustrated about it. Callem climbed out right after and tried to take his son, but Kipper just tightened his arms around my neck and growled, giving Callem a pretty impressive 'leave me alone' stare. That put a pout on my mer's face, but I just leaned up on my toes and pecked his cheek before turning and heading into the station.

Jayson held the door open for us, even Mellac, though the two weren't getting along still.

"Excuse me?" I called toward the line of desks in front of us as I approached. Kipper was grumbling as he glared at the officers but thankfully didn't do anything besides that. One of the men stood and stepped around his desk, offering me a hand, which I took after shifting Kipper into one arm.

"Hello, can I help you?"

I was surprised he didn't recognize me, considering the trouble I'd gotten into a few months ago, but I wasn't exactly interested in reminding him.

"We have a problem. Cal-Waves, the research facility north of here, has kidnapped my friend and his mer and we need help getting them back."

How crazy does that sound? Very.

He looked at me funny and began reaching forward to take my arm, no doubt thinking I was as strange as I felt, but then Kipper hissed and flared his gills, making the man jump back from shock. I thought he'd pull his gun but thankfully that remained in its holster, though I bet he thought about it.

See how far you get when daddy Callem sees you even flinch toward a weapon around his son.

"Like I said," I replied with a smirk, patting Kipper's back gently to calm him. "We need several officers to help us get into one of Cal-Waves facilities and get our friends back."

The man's eyes narrowed, but I let mine match his, making him look at the two other officers walking over to him, one blond woman and a blond man.

"You guys want to go?" he asked them with a raised brow, making me sigh.

"Thank you for considering what I'm saying, but I think more officers are needed. The two officers that have gone missing recently while searching Oliver's place, I'm ninety-nine percent sure were because of Hice, their shark mer. He's been after us a few times but couldn't do much with Callem, Mellac, and Ocar here."

The officers crossed their arms over their chests, except for the woman, who pulled out a radio. "Hello, this is Officer Markey. I need four officers down to the Quarter Street precinct immediately for a possible confrontation."

When she got a "Ten-four" from the other end, I relaxed slightly and turned, handing Kipper to a suddenly ecstatic Callem. I then took the laptop from Jay and opened it, having not shut off the program. Turning enough so that the officers could see, I quickly explained what the flashing light was and the possible dangers there. Hice was an obvious one, but I wasn't sure if the other mers were aggressive, but at least I was pretty sure they were contained one way or the other. When the group finally seemed to understand, I handed the laptop back to Jayson and turned to take Kipper, but of course Callem was already grooming the poor kid with licks to his hair and face, very visibly pissing off the little mer.

Dork. Oh well. We have to wait for the other cops anyway, might as well let him give Kipper some attention... whether the kid wants it or not. And he doesn't.

-Oliver-

Trying to stay awake for hours was difficult when you were wrapped up in warm arms. It didn't help that Ocar was fast asleep, leaning against a wall as he pressed his forehead into my neck. He'd tried to groom me to make me less upset, but when I flicked his nose for the fourth time, he finally figured out that it wasn't going to be that easy. I let him hold me, though, because honestly, I had one leg, I'm not exactly going to fight him off and it was better to let him rest than keep going after him for something he at least felt sorry for.

While he slept, I watched his features fluctuate from relaxed, to stressed, and everything in between. He was obviously dreaming, which was kinda cute. Guess that at least partially answers the question of fish dreaming, though he is an orca, not a fish. Rolling my eyes, I took my time looking around the barren cell, noting the shift door that the female had run through, then the wall. It looked like a type of bulletproof glass with a mix of plastic inside around the outlines of small compartments, likely used to feed or take samples safely.

They can take a sample of my fist if I get close enough.

Rolling my eyes at the pathetic threat, I shifted in Ocar's lap, his arms instantly tightening around my waist in response, making me grin. If only he could relax some, he would be such a sweet mer. Right now he was like a mix of Callem and Mellac, letting his emotions get the better of him but knowing he shouldn't. Looking to the side, I felt his soft hair brush against my cheek and smiled as I reached up to gently run my fingertips along his smooth jaw.

I wasn't paying much attention as I let my body finally begin to be lulled into a relaxed state, so I didn't realize it when he slowly started nuzzling against my fingers... or when he leaned back into my neck and began to lick with his soft yet dry tongue. My attention only snapped back to our present situation when he blew out a deep huff of breath against my skin.

"Ocar? I thought you were asleep..."

His swirling dark eyes rose to meet mine briefly before he growled quietly and gave my neck another lick.

"What are you doing?" I asked, trying to keep my voice steady when he picked up his pace on that one spot, beginning to make it ache. He ignored me, not surprisingly, but when I heard him take a deep breath in and open his mouth, my heart suddenly shot into my throat. Oh shit! He's about to— "Good evening, Oliver." My gaze and Ocar's jumped up to Marilyn as she sauntered over toward our cell. I felt Ocar's arms tighten even further, making me fight back a wince as the scientist stopped just behind the glass wall.

"What do you want?" I asked, my tone none too friendly. She smiled at me and walked over to a side panel. "Visiting hours are up, doctor. Please come over here so that I may let you out." The thought of leaving Ocar alone in his cage was unsettling but not quite as much as the idea of being marked as a mate by him, which was definitely about to happen.

Giving myself a firm shake on the inside, I began scooting out of Ocar's lap, but of course the mer wasn't interested in letting me go. "Ocar, please. Let me go."

He shook his head right away, hair brushing against mine as he leaned over to lick at the back of my neck. The gesture sent a shiver through me automatically, but I bit back any sound that might have resulted and tried to push myself free. Of course, I didn't get anywhere, but at least Marilyn saw that I was trying. Too bad it didn't seem to make her happy in the least. She watched for another minute before finally turning to a cabinet I hadn't noticed against the wall and got out a small dart. My blood chilled when she loaded it into a dart gun that had also been hanging on the wall, though I had noticed it there, just not the cabinet that's color blended into the wall.

"I hope you know how to swim with one leg."

Huh?

She stuck the gun through a small hole in the glass wall and fired, hitting Ocar with ease since he had nowhere to really dodge. The dart sank into his shoulder, and he ripped it out right away, but the drug had already been injected. I figured she was going to put him to sleep, but when he just seemed to get angrier I began to wonder what she'd actually shot him with. I was just about to ask that question when she hit a large red button on the other wall and the floor dropped out from beneath us.

"Whoa!"

We suddenly splashed into a pool several yards below. The impact hurt, as I fell halfway on my back, but as soon as I managed to get to the surface and look around, I noticed something missing that shouldn't be.

"Ocar?" I shouted, spinning in a circle, trying to find his head bobbing above the water.

Where?

Taking a deep breath, I let my body sink below the crystal-clear surface and nearly choked when I saw him struggling as he drifted down to the bottom of the pool, still in his human form.

He... where's his tail?

Panic rushed through my system as I took another huge gulp of air, then dove. It was tiring to move through water with just my arms, but since there was no current, I managed to get to him. It also helped that the pool couldn't have been more than fifteen feet deep, but making my way back up was a serious problem. Ocar had thankfully realized I was trying to help and wrapped his arms around my waist, but I was struggling to get back to the surface without the use of my legs. After another minute passed, I was beginning to feel light-headed and sluggish. Something began vibrating in the water as I started seeing black around the edges of my eyes. I thought I was going to pass out. I honestly thought I was going to die in a darn pool I used to be able to easily swim out of, but then the ground suddenly rose and pushed us toward the surface.

I was gasping by the time my face finally broke through it. When I had enough oxygen in my lungs to get my eyes working again, I looked down at the dark orange floor beneath me and realized it had tons of little holes that drained the water, allowing it to rise up and down in the water. Of course. They just want to scare us. Heaving out an exhausted breath, I flopped down onto the floor and groaned. They definitely succeeded. Consider me scared.

Lying there, my lungs quickly worked on replenishing their stores, but a sound nearby was seriously beginning to nudge at my conscience. After a few minutes, I forced myself up onto my hands and knees and looked over at Ocar. My heart broke just then. Not because he was in captivity and being forced to do things he didn't understand, but because they had just broken him. I now knew how they had gotten that female to listen, and also, perhaps even Hice.

They can force their legs to not change.

"Ocar?"

My voice was a bit scratchy as I spoke, scooting closer to him but stopping when his head snapped up. Wide eyes met mine, and all I could see in them was terror. Swallowing hard, I reached over and gently pressed my fingertips against his cheek.

"Ocar, it's okay. It will wear off soon, then you'll have your tail back. I promise, I won't let them do that again."

His eyes kept darting to the floor we were sitting on, staring at the water just beneath it.

No mer should have to fear the water. This is sick cruelty.

A sudden jar snapped me out of my thoughts just in time to get tackled by Ocar. He gave a loud whine that sounded like his namesake animal's as he wrapped his arms around my waist in a vise grip. The water began to rise, telling me that the floor was beginning to lower back down.

Heartless bastards!

My gaze roved the large pool area until they came across a large glass wall against the far side where, I had no doubt, Marilyn was watching. Grinding my teeth, I stood up, pulling Ocar with me with some effort. He moved his arms from my waist to my neck to keep me balanced enough to stay on my foot, then hid his face in the crook as I shouted toward the glass wall.

"Knock it off! You already did what you wanted. Do it again and he could swallow water in his panic and die!" The floor halted abruptly, making me sigh with relief. I knew what she wanted from me so I didn't bother waiting. Instead, I began hopping toward the glass wall, nearly tripping on Ocar as he trailed right up against me, refusing to let go. Well, you're going to have to.

We got to the window, and of course, I noticed the outline of an opening just big enough to be a door. Turning, I slowly managed to get Ocar's arms unwrapped from around me and hopped back once. He still looked terrified, which I could completely understand since his species of mer didn't have gills and he'd actually nearly been drowned, but I knew it was going to get worse if I didn't go now.

"I'm sorry, Ocar. I'll still be here, but I have to go for now. You'll be okay. Just do as you're told, please."

I didn't want him to end up breeding with another female or being tortured, but doing as they asked was the safest bet. He gave a quiet whine that pulled at my heart, but I quelled the feelings and put on a fake smile.

"I'll be back soon. Don't worry."

I hopped forward and wrapped him in a hug, which he returned with urgency. "You're strong. I know you can handle this. And don't worry, our friends are coming. Just don't tell anyone."

I whispered my last words to be sure Marilyn wasn't able to hear. They seemed to spark a small amount of hope in Ocar's eyes as I hopped backward once. After a moment of staring, he slowly nodded and took a step away so I could turn and hop up to the door. I figured they'd just open it and let me go through, but of course, they weren't that nice. It jerked up about halfway and a hand, definitely not Marilyn's since it was rather hairy and definitely male, reached beneath it and grabbed my ankle. Yanking me off balance and consequently onto my back, I gasped from the sudden sting of pain but couldn't do much about it as I was dragged beneath the door not a second before it slammed shut.