MERMADMEN (The Mermen Trilogy #2) by Mimi Jean Pamfiloff Page B

pulling her toward the pier.
    “I saw one of those things coming right at you,” Dana panted. “I pushed you and jumped in, but I hit my arm on the way down. I think I broke it.”
    She’d probably hit a damned mermaid. Hope Dana broke its head.
    The boom of loud male voices echoed through the air and men started appearing on the dock. However, instead of jumping into the water to help Liv and Dana, they stood there, mouths hanging open, staring at the massacre on the ship.
    “Liv!” Roen pushed his way through the men, almost knocking one into the water. The man scrambled back, doing everything in his power not to go in.
    “Roen!” She struggled to keep her head above water while towing Dana with one arm hooked underneath her shoulder.
    “Liv!” Roen yelled again, a look of pure panic on his face. With the shrill cries of the mermaids and the screams of the women, who were being torn to shreds and tossed into the water, he hadn’t heard her.
    “Roen!” Liv yelled again.
    This time, she caught his attention, and when he spotted her in the water, he took a small breath. For the second time in her life, Roen looked at her like she was his most precious possession, and it made her insides flutter and roll.
    A cry from an injured woman with a deep gash in her neck rang out in the water behind her.
    Roen ordered three reluctant men into the water and then dove in head first. Faster than her brain could register, Roen’s men were to the woman and Dana, pulling them to safety. No doubt about it, these guys were powerful swimmers. Roen followed and grabbed her arm, wrapping it around his neck. He swam to the pier, towing her on his back.
    The rest of the men, who’d remained on the dock, reached down and lifted her out followed by Roen.
    She rushed over to Dana, who sat panting, cradling her arm. The injured woman had been laid out on her back, and one of the men removed the cloth around his waist to apply pressure to the bleeding wound.
    “Bring her water,” Roen commanded.
    Dana glanced at the woman. “Ohmygod. That’s Cindy.” Dana rushed over and kneeled beside the petite woman, brushing her long blonde wet hair from her forehead. “You’re going to be all right,” Dana said. Meanwhile, the bloodcurdling screams continued a hundred meters away.
    “Do something,” Liv yelled at the men.
    Roen squeezed her shoulder and shook his head remorsefully. “We cannot.”
    “What? Yes, you can. Stop them,” Liv argued.
    “We are no match for the maids. Even if we were, no one would want to risk killing another man’s mate.”
    Liv suddenly understood the sad, horrifying truth of the situation. She closed her eyes and held back her tears.
    “Don’t listen,” Dana said to the injured woman. “Just listen to my voice. Nothing else matters.”
    The woman passed out.
    “Roen,” Liv said, “she’s going to die.”
    He nodded. “Let’s get her to the great hall.” He snapped his fingers at one of the men, who scooped the woman into his arms. Like a giant blur, the man was gone.
    “Wait!” Dana yelled and went running after them, hugging her injured arm.
    Liv was about to follow when Roen gripped her shoulder, looking nervous. “We’ll catch up; you stay with me.” He took Liv’s hand and pulled her along.
    Liv instantly felt safer and calmer just from his touch.
    “Roen,” she panted, noticing that her clothes dripped with blood-tinged seawater, “what the hell is happening? Why did they attack?”
    Not stopping his brisk pace, he said, “Because they can, since they’re able to tolerate sunlight all of a sudden.”
    “Why do you think it’s sudden? One of the maids I saw the morning I left here was out in sunlight.”
    Roen abruptly halted, and though Liv thought she’d run right into him, he had her by the shoulders before she could blink. “What do you mean, Liv?”
    “The mermaid who made me promise never to tell about the island stood in the sun—the others ran away.”
    “Why didn’t