Passionate Ink by Jan Springer Page A

to join him almost won out. But she wasn’t acting like herself. She’d never been this needy for a man. Right now she had to get dressed and she had to leave. Or she swore if she didn’t, she’d be here with him forever.
    “ Not such a bad idea ,” that naughty inner voice whispered.
    * * * * *
     
    Calder breathed a huge sigh of relief when he came out of the shower to find Catalina gone. But that relief was short-lived by an ache that carved so deeply into his hearts he wished he had explained to her why he’d needed her gone.
    Gazing down at his engorged cock, the colors shimmered bright and vibrant. The warning signs for change. Normally without a tattoo he would have experienced that familiar sense of urgency to head for the ocean before he shifted. But now that he had the tattoo, it was an earlier signal for the upcoming change. It had everything to do with the skin pigmentation readying itself. He wondered if other shifters knew about this. He would have to mention tattoos as signals of the change at their annual convention next year.
    Pushing that thought aside, he prepared to get his houseboat out of here and onto the ocean and into a secluded spot as quickly as possible. Then he could safely slip into the water to await his change.
    Glancing at the clock in his bedroom, he realized he had just enough time to clear the marina, anchor his boat at some private bay and jump into the water. He didn’t want cut it as close as last night.
    As he slipped on his swim pants and headed to the pilothouse, the familiar pounding of blood rushed through his veins. The tattoo had given him a good five-minute leeway. That wasn’t too much time, but for Octoposeidons who needed to get away from humans in a hurry, a shimmering tattoo might make all the difference in alerting them to the approaching change.
    Moments later, he maneuvered his houseboat out of the marina, and ten minutes after that, he’d settled into a secluded inlet up the coast. Just in time too, because his body was beginning to go cold and his limbs were softening to the point where his legs were shaky and he could barely stand.
    It was almost dark outside and the change was beginning. No sooner had he hit the water, did the urge to swim hit. He resisted that urge and waited until it became hard to breathe the air. Then he slid his head under, inhaling, allowing the oxygenated water to sluice deep into his newly formed gills.
    Strength quickly fused through his body and his flesh flowed and ebbed as he began to reshape. His bones disintegrated as his new form took hold. The transformation barely hurt. More so in the beginning, but his brain and nerve endings had gotten used to it and readjusted easily now. Females were luckier and didn’t experience the pain as males. Something to do with their hormones.
    Soon, his tentacles slid back and forth in front of his eyes. His hearing got worse. But that was normal. He didn’t really need his hearing down here. His eyes were his guide for seeking food and potential enemies. Propelling himself through the murky darkness, a solemn loneliness crashed through him.
    He missed Catalina. He missed her like crazy.
    * * * * *
     
    “Oh my God! Where have you been?” Misty cried as Catalina rounded the corner of her RV and found Misty sitting on the picnic table just outside Cat’s door. Her friend jumped off the table and gave her a huge hug before pulling away and staring at her.
    “What’s up? Why have you not been answering my calls?” She didn’t wait for Cat to explain before she headed over to the door and snapped two separate sheets of paper out of the door jamb. She waved the papers at Cat.
    “Two customers left notes saying they were here for their tats, but you weren’t. This isn’t like you, Cat. You never miss work. At least never when you’ve been here. Did you have another episode like the ones you had yesterday?”
    Her friend’s worried expression truly made Cat feel guilty.
    “Everything is