My Merman Boyfriend

By Elizabeth Monvey

Rian dreams of the sea. When he wakes up in a hospital after an accident, he is unable to remember anything. Not even his boyfriend, Jarred.

He is whisked away to their castle, where secrets make him hesitant to trust what Jarred says. As he tries to uncover the secret of his injury, he stumbles across a hidden tunnel...and a vast treasure in lost shipwreck gold.

It isn’t until he follows Jarred down into the tunnel that he discovers his boyfriend is not completely human.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Evernight Publishing
• Release date: Jul 23, 2020
• ISBN: 9780369502025

Book preview

Published by EVERNIGHT PUBLISHING ® at Smashwords

www.evernightpublishing.com

Copyright© 2020 Elizabeth Monvey

ISBN: 978-0-3695-0202-5

Cover Artist: Sour Cherry Designs

Editor: Devin Govaere

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. No part of this book may be used or reproduced electronically or in print without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.

This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, and places are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

DEDICATION

My thanks to Jacey Holbrand for being an awesome friend!

MY MERMAN BOYFRIEND

My Boyfriend Is… 7

Elizabeth Monvey

Copyright © 2020

Prologue

He remembered the thunderous crash of the waves as they pounded against the shore. Wild. Untamed. It beckoned his soul with a siren song.

Memory?

Dream?

He also remembered the fear, although he didn’t know its origin or why it coursed through his veins. Heart pounding. Logic fleeing. It pushed him onward. Up a long path to the edge of the world, where he looked down upon the furious ocean.

A voice screamed at him to stop. Don’t jump. But a menacing presence breathed down his neck, and he knew he was out of time.

He couldn’t turn back. He had to escape. He had to jump.

Even if that meant death.

Chapter One

Rian. Please come back to me.

The insistent plea brought him out of the black depths. Awareness trickled through the darkness with quick flashes of light, broken by the sound of gentle urging from someone for him to open his eyes.

Rian?

A name he didn’t know. From a voice he didn’t recognize.

Slowly, he lifted his eyelids and saw a man sitting beside him, elbows on knees as he rubbed a hand over the back of his neck. Long silver hair swung over his forehead and over his shoulders. Rian shifted in his bed, and the man looked up. Pale blue eyes widened before they glossed with tentative hope.

Rian? the man asked in a near whisper. Are you truly awake?

He opened his mouth to respond, but his throat burned. Too dry. Too raw.

Thirsty? Let me get you something.

The man rose from his seat and hurried to a sink in the corner, where he grabbed a cup and poured some water into it. He picked up a straw and came back to the bedside, holding the straw to Rian’s lips. The cool water helped soothe his throat.

W-what happened? he managed to ask in a scratchy whisper.

The man’s shoulders relaxed. "I’ve been waiting for you to open your eyes. I’ve missed them. I’ve missed you."

Rian blinked, realizing the name belonged to him. He mentally said it in his head, trying to feel some kind of connection to it, but … nothing. A great void spun through his head.

W-where am I?

In the hospital, the man replied. In Rockport. You were brought here after your accident.

Accident?

The boating accident. The man tilted his head. Don’t you remember?

Rian stared at him for a long moment. The vague images in his head weren’t of a boat. They were dark, filled with terror and pain. Panic bubbled in his belly, rising up, engulfing him to his core. "No, I don’t… I don’t remember that. I don’t remember anything. I don’t even know you."

The man flinched, his pale blue eyes widening. What?

But once the floodgate had been forced open, Rian couldn’t seem to close it. The panic built until it overwhelmed him and he couldn’t catch his breath. His heart stuttered, making it all the more difficult to control the anxiety flooding through him. He gasped for air, but it wasn’t there. Vaguely he heard the unknown man’s cry for help, and then hands reached for him. Moments later, sedation hit him heavily, and the panic slid away as the darkness enveloped him once more.

****

The next thing he heard was the beep, beep, beep of a machine next to him. Rian cracked his eyes open and saw a