Holly slowly started to wake from her deep sleep. But something just didn't feel right. As her eyes began to flutter, she could feel strong muscular arms wrapped around her. A naked masculine body held her close, as she could feel herself being pressed against a rock hard chest. As her eyes fully opened, she saw that her head was nestled in the crook of a strange man's neck.

Terrified, and not knowing what was going on, she screamed as she started to panic. Her bunk mate's eyes shot open, as his body jumped. She had apparently jolted him from his slumber. He soon placed his hand over her mouth, and brought his index finger to his lips. Yet he made no sound.

Holly kept whimpering, as his hand kept her from screaming. He had her pinned to the strange nest like bed. Tears started pouring out of her eyes, as her breathing increased. What was he going to do to her? That thought alone terrified her. As she looked down, what she saw scared her even more.

They were both completely naked, but from the waste down he wasn't even human. It was the merman who either abducted her, or saved her. But she didn't know which, but probably both. As he continued to keep her in place, his hand was still covering her mouth. But he kept looking at her, as if was studying her.

A smile soon appeared upon his lips. As he gently ran the back of his fingers down her tear stained face. He leaned in, and as far as she could tell, he began smelling her hair.

Oh my god! She thought. He's going to rape me!

Not knowing what else to do, her teeth clamped down on his hand. He immediately removed it, and had a pained look of anger upon his face. But he didn't scream, in fact he didn't make any sound. She was hoping that she had distracted him long enough, so that she could get away. But it didn't work.

As she tried to get up, he immediately pushed her back down. He had a look of anger upon his face, and she feared he might try and hurt her. With strong determination in his eyes he poked her hard, a few times in fact, in her right shoulder. He then pounded on his chest, with his fist, a couple of times.

"NO!" She cried. "I don't belong to you!" Determined to make her point, she kept shaking her head in defiance.

He still didn't make a sound, but had the same angry look of determination. He clinched his jaw, and his nostrils began to flare as he was breathing heavy. Again he just kept pounding his fist against his chest. He obviously wasn't deaf since her screaming had woken him up before, but apparently he was mute.

"NO!" She cried again. Out of nowhere he aggressively grabbed her wrists, and pinned her down.

"STOP!" She cried. But either he didn't want to listen, or maybe he just didn't even understand her. Whatever it was, he didn't stop, and smashed his lips into hers. She continued to cry, and pleaded as she struggled to break free of his assault on her mouth. Horrified at the thought of what he might do next, she cried out in terror.

All of a sudden he stopped. Her body trembled, as she looked into his eyes. She expected to see the look of a lustful predator, about to devour it's helpless prey. But as she looked into his eyes, she noticed that they began to soften. Instead of lust, anger, or determination, she saw what looked like regret and sadness. She wasn't sure, but she thought she saw a tear escape from his eye.

All of a sudden, he got off of her, and made his way out of the bed. He didn't even look at her, and dove into the ocean. Holly was stunned, where did he even go? Had he known that he hurt her? Perhaps he never meant that. Why was he mute, could he even understand her?

As she continued to ponder, she wondered what happened to her clothes. Fortunately the air was warm, so she wasn't uncomfortably cold. As she sat up, she was in awe of the beautiful cave that surrounded her. Was this his home?

Holly stood up, and covered her breasts in her own embrace. She could hear seagulls, and see the sunlight as it was coming from an opening in the cave. As she made her way towards it she was completely taken aback b the breathtaking view in from of her. He had brought her to his own tiny island paradise.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The merman kept swimming through the ocean at a rapid pace. He was angry, but not with her. He was angry at himself. His own feelings of loneliness, and his desire love her caused him to act aggressively towards her. He wasn't a rapist.

Yet he had taken advantage of her as she slept, but she had come from another time—another world. He had been around for a long time, even before Ancient Greece itself. It was different back then. When a merman took his mate, she was his. And she willingly became his property. But this one wasn't a mermaid, and apparently in her world it was not acceptable.

He never took a mate before, but he did have encounters with other mermaids. But unlike a mate, it was not automatically assumed that a merman could just take advantage of available mermaids. Although it was nice to be able to experience the pleasures of multiple females, only one taken as a mate guaranteed one's right to just take such pleasures.

If only those Cacaelian demons hadn't stolen his voice so long ago, he could at least try and communicate with her. But would it have made any difference? He couldn't understand her strange language anyway, and he doubted she would understand his. But if he had his voice, maybe it would be easier to learn to communicate with her.

The more he swam, he soon realized that he was getting dangerously close to the Cacaelian border. Two thirds of the world was covered in water. Half was his territory, and the other half was theirs. Since they all hated each other, it probably would have been logical to stay as far away as possible.

After all there was more than enough room. But they didn't trust one another. So they all stayed near the border, to make sure that their territories where secure. But he knew that they wanted to kill him, he knew they wanted to have both kingdoms. Or what was left of them.

All of a sudden he heard a voice inside his head.

Well Danor, I must say it's been a while.

He recognized that voice, it was Algar. What the hell did he want? Even though they had taken his voice, he could still communicate with them telepathically.

Just stay on your side squid boy. He growled. Or I will happily dispatch you!

Octopus! Algar replied. Besides, my brother is none to pleased with you. It seemed you took something that belonged to him. And I've come to get it back.

GO TO HELL! Replied Damor.

But I want to make you an offer. Algar replied in a smug tone. Give me the fair haired beauty, and I will return your voice.

With that he pulled out necklace that had a special shell hanging form it. Damor could feel his eyes widen, as it was something he had long for ever since it was taken from him. But was the tentacled demon serious? Did he really think that he would give them his beloved Holly Hobby?

What do you think? Damor asked.

I suppose I would rather have the golden haired goddess as well. He replied. Oh well, my brother and I will just have to bide our time. The dark haired one is more than sufficient—for now.

Dark haired one? Damor asked. What are you talking about?

That's right, I forgot. Replied Algar. You can't speak, nor do you know her language. The fair haired one wasn't the only enchantress that we had chosen to be our mates. It seemed that when the fair haired one's father got tired of his first mate, he replaced her with another. A beautiful human, hair as black as night. That one was who I chose as my mate. But you took the one Kree had chosen before he even got the chance.

All is fair in love and war. Replied Damor.

Quite. Said Algar. Tell you what, Atlantean. I'm feeling generous today. I'm going to return your voice to you.

With that he crushed the shell with his hand. The voice was immediately released, and returned to it's original owner. Damor couldn't believe it, it had been tens of thousands of years since he could actually speak. But he knew not to trust them, they had have some sort of an agenda.

"Stay away from my kingdom!" Exclaimed Damor. "And don't even think about taking my angel form me!"

And with that, headed back to his home. Maybe now he could finally learn to communicate with his Holly Hobby.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

"Are you insane brother?" Asked an angry Kree. He had been watching the whole time from a unseen distance.

"You know, you're lucky you have me to keep you in line." Said Algar. "Because your hotheadedness will someday be your downfall."

"Don't give me that bullshit!" Exclaimed Kree. "Why would you give him his voice back? Now they will learn to communicate. If that happens, it will be easier to breed her. If she bares his children, we will never be able to destroy hum. that means we will never able to have the entire sea."

"She will be in our grasp long before that happens." Algar explained. "Then we will each breed both consorts."

"How?" Asked Kree. "If we even try to take her from his territory, he will destroy us."

"Because, she is going to come to us." Algar replied. "Letting him have his voice back is the first step in building the perfect trap, to snare our other little kitten."

"And what makes you think it will work?" Asked Kree.

"Because Brother dear." Algar explained. "When one wants to build the perfect trap, one must first start with the perfect bait. And I am sure you will agree, from personal hands-on experience, that our dark haired kitten is definitely perfect."