HOOK: THE LURE OF THE MER Book One
~ Would you sacrifice immortality for love? ~
On the beautiful Australian coast, Trent Okeanòs leads an elite group of muscular lifeguards who hide a secret; they are the last of the Mer. The immortal descendants of the god, Poseidon, they’ve remodeled themselves 
from the fables of old. Now, instead of saving sailors, the ecological warriors protect the oceans. But their biggest fight is beyond their control; hunted by humans for centuries, their numbers are dwindling. Yet, because their physiology causes a genetic modification in humans, the Mer are forbidden to breed with the fragile species. However, there is a loophole: the Mer are permitted to have sex with humans—but only in a ménage a trois, as the double dose of pheromones from two Mer prevents any DNA alteration in the human.
Marine biologist, Jayde Collins, has a love-affair with the ocean. Lucky for her, because lately, diving seems to be about the only way she can get wet—without investing heavily in rechargeable batteries, that is. While scuba diving on the Great Barrier Reef, she’s hooked on a commercial fishing line, beaten by the fishermen, and dumped as shark bait, to hide their illegal activities.
When Trent rescues the injured woman from the depths and heals her, he’s unprepared for the far-too-human emotions that war within him. Not only does he long to find a way to explain his version of Atlantis to her, but jealousy seizes him: faced with his growing attraction, how can he bear to share Jayde with his brother, Erik, as Mer law demands?
Rescued and magically healed by the hot lifeguard, Jayde’s not sure if she’s dreaming. But when Trent offers her an erotic fantasy—sex with two men—she’s almost certain she doesn’t want to wake.
Yet, if Trent dares allow his lust to turn to love and possesses Jayde himself, she will be bonded to him for life—and he will be stripped of immortality.
A Sample of Hook: Lure of the Mur
“Jayde, you do remember what I told you earlier?”
“Which bit in particular?”
He ducked his head beneath the water, then shoved both hands back through his hair to force it from his face. “About me being Mer.”
Doubt raced through her. Why had she believed him so easily? He’d shown her nothing to evidence the absurd claim. A bed filled with sand and a house that looked like it was made of rock tunnels but could surely be fiberglass was hardly proof of anything but a weird design flair. Even the opulent shower, completely at odds with the minimalism of the bedchamber, with floor and walls glistening with mother-of-pearl inlay, proved nothing except extravagance and maybe a certain degree of wealth.
Trent nodded solemnly, as though he read her thoughts. Held up one hand. One huge hand. Despite his size, both his hands and feet were large, elegantly shaped. Big hands, big feet. In her experience—oh, okay, according to what she’d read, because she had stuff-all experience —large hands and feet supposedly indicated the size of certain other appendages.
Trent chuckled. “Yes. They do.”
Before she could respond, he spread his fingers. Then he shook his wrist. Fine mesh appeared between each finger, thin and transparent, like the most delicate Irukandji jellyfish.
The breath huffed from her in sudden realization. “Oh my God, that stuff makes your hands work like flippers, right? That’s how you were swimming so fast?” He wasn’t lying, and she wasn’t crazy. He was a god, a beautiful, sea-dwelling god.
He nodded.
She extended her finger, jerked back, then reached out again. “May I?”
He looked surprised. “Sure.”
Her fingertip brushed the sheer membrane. “Oh!” She snatched her hand away. “Did you feel that?” An electrical current had arced between them, the gossamer film between his fingers shimmering with the colors of a rainbow, radiating out in a pulsing fan from where she’d made contact.
Trent moved his hand closer to his face, frowning as he scrutinized it, turning it back and forth under the flow of warm water. “I did. Odd.”
His scowl made him appear excessively perturbed. It wasn’t like the sensation was unpleasant, nor like he was the one who’d woken up to find he was ten thousand leagues under the sea.
Okay, the depth might be a bit of an exaggeration, but the fact remained she was the only one with grounds for being disconcerted. “Do you have, like, ungrounded electricity in here or something? Because I get a jolt like that every time I touch you.” More of a thrill than a jolt, really.
“We’re powered by kinetic energy from the waves, and nothing is unsecured. I don’t know what it is, but for some reason, the sensation is stronger in here. Maybe the water conducts…” His hand hovered above her shoulder as though he waited for permission to touch her again.
She nodded. Because, yeah, that was a no-brainer. As he made contact, a warming buzz spread through her flesh.
Trent raised one eyebrow. “Inexplicable. And yes, definitely a thrill.”
What the hell? Had he read her mind?
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Meet Laney Kaye
A professional counselor, Laney messes with heads by day and imaginations by night, writing steamy contemporary and slightly-supernatural romance under this pseudonym.
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