Lightning or thunder or Elizabeth's laughter-I'm not sure which-awakens me just before another dawn. I sit up, still in my natural state, the remnants of our kill-a young, attractive couple who maintained a small farm on the Cuban coast-lying nearby. Rain slashes across the deck, soaks me. The wind chills me as waves rush at us and the bow rises, then crashes down. The stern does the same, the props whining when they break free of the water, and I hear Elizabeth laugh again.

A lightning bolt streaks across the sky, its momentary brilliance freezing a snapshot of the frenzied sea leaping all around us and illuminating the wet, naked, human form of my bride at the wheel of the ship.

"Elizabeth?" I mindspeak.

"When the storm woke me, I turned off the autopilot and took the helm." She adjusts the wheel a quarter turn to the left, to keep the bow facing the waves. "I've never seen anything like this. Isn't it wonderful?"

The Grand Banks shudders, almost stops as a massive wave crashes over its bow. "You can go below. Use the lower wheel, in the cabin," I say.

" Why would I want to ? "

I shrug, throw the carcasses off the boat and revert to human form too. As soon as I do, I start to shiver. Elizabeth hardly notices when I approach and kiss her wet, cold cheek.

"I'm going below to get some foul-weather gear. Do you want me to bring you any?"

She shakes her head, laughs and whoops as we crash through another roller.

Below, inside the cabin, the pitching and rolling seem even more intense. I have to concentrate on maintaining my balance as I dry off and pull on a sweatshirt and jeans. I try to think how many days it's been since I was dressed, and give up the attempt after a few moments.

The lower wheel turns, the boat changes position and I picture Elizabeth, naked and laughing, at the wheel above. I grin and shake my head. I've never met anyone as free as my bride. I'm amazed how seductive her wildness has been. My memories of our voyage from Jamaica almost frighten me-that I could succumb to such a careless, untamed life.

I think of Elizabeth's question the night before. "When you met me, you thought you were going to teach me more about how to live as a human, didn't you?"

"Yes," I said.

"Well, I think you didn't expect one thing." She chuckled.

"Which was?"

"That maybe, I'd teach you more about how to be a dragon instead."

A massive jolt knocks me off my feet, throws me across the cabin. The boat wallows and turns. The lower wheel spins freely. "Peter!" Elizabeth mindspeaks. I sense at once she's no longer on the boat. "Peter!" she calls and I feel her drifting farther behind me each moment that passes.

I stand, rush for the wheel, reach it just as another breaker hits the Grand Banks on its beam, the boat half rolling on its side before it rights. "Elizabeth, are you hurt? " I ask as I tug on the wheel, steer the boat, bow first, into the waves.

"No… I don't think so," she says. "I'm not sure how any of it happened. The waves are huge. One swept me off the fly bridge… Peter, I can't see the boat!"

Thankful that Jeremy had opted for the extra expense of dual controls, I reset the autopilot from the comfort and safety of the lower bridge and then let go of the wheel. "Don't worry. We can always find the boat."

"We?"

"After all the trouble I went through to find you, do you think I'd risk losing you now?" I mindspeak, stripping off my warm clothes. "I'm coming for you. Change to your natural state. You'll be stronger that way."

"Yes, Peter," she says.

I arch an eyebrow when I realize she hasn't argued with me. Another wave rocks the Grand Banks and I wait for the boat to reach the bottom of the next trough before I rush out the door, slam it behind me and leap from the deck.

Wind tears at me, rain blinds me as I change shape in midair and attempt to fly toward my bride. But I can't overpower the storm. Rather than wear myself out in a futile attempt to conquer the wind, I choose to drop into the water.

"Peter!"

"I'm coming, Elizabeth. Can you sense where I am?"

"It's so far."

I know both of us are too strong to be in much danger, but I'm not sure Elizabeth realizes it. "Don't worry," I tell her. "The water's warm. You'll be fine."

"I'll feel better when you reach me."

A wave swells in front of me. Diving beneath it, I sense what direction I have to take to reach my bride and concentrate on moving through the water with the least effort, using my tail and wings to propel me forward, one strong coordinated stroke at a time.

"I'm swimming toward you now," I say "Swim toward me. You can do it. Go below the water. The waves are less difficult to fight that way.…"

"Yes, Peter."

The distance between us slowly diminishes as we force our way through the water. I swim until my lungs burn, surface long enough to take a few gasps of air, dive and repeat the pattern again and again until I lose any sense of how much time has passed, how many waves I've encountered. When I surface yet another time and yet another wave crashes over me, I sigh, tread water and look around. All I can see are gray skies and breaker after breaker. Diving again, I swim on, wondering how I'll ever reach my bride in such a turbulent sea.

Finally, it's Elizabeth who brings me to her. "Peter, I can feel how near you are. Can you sense me too?" she mind-speaks.

I stop, tread water, concentrate on detecting my bride's presence. "Yes, I can!" I mindspeak and race toward her as she speeds in my direction.

We meet on the surface, rising with a wave, the wind howling at us as we embrace. I wrap Elizabeth in my wings, both of us floating, nuzzling our cheeks against each other.

"Don't be mad at me, Peter," she says.

"Why would I?"

"I didn't pay enough attention. If this happened at home, Pa would be furious. He hates carelessness. He always punishes us, even Mum, when we make stupid mistakes."

"I'm not your father," I say, pulling her closer, glad to have her safe. "You've done nothing wrong. It was just a bad squall."

We float in the water for hours, neither of us speaking, keeping each other afloat until the storm wears itself out. When the winds finally die down, we take to the air and search for our craft. Toward dusk, Elizabeth spots it, fifty miles from where we had floated, making its way north as if nothing had hindered its passage.

Exhausted, we land on the flybridge. Laughing with relief to have something solid beneath our feet, we change into our human forms and rush below. Hunger and cold stop us from collapsing into sleep. Elizabeth gets towels while I check the GPS and read our location.

"Two more days and we'll be home," I tell her as I defrost some steaks in the microwave. We towel each other dry, gorge on the food and afterward, lie in bed, pressed close, warming each other under the covers.

"Peter?" Elizabeth says.

Eyes shut, I nod, wait to hear what she wants to say.

"Do you love me?"

The question makes me open my eyes. I look at Elizabeth, see the concern on her face and resist the impulse to dismiss her question with kisses. Silly, I think, that a relationship as intense as ours has never had any spoken declaration of affection. "Of course I do," I say. "It's just that what we have has been so much more than that…"

"Chloe talks about falling in love all the time," Elizabeth says. "She reads about it in all her books. She says it's a feeling that consumes every part of you. But Mum says that's nonsense, love is for humans. She says our people work differently."

I take Elizabeth's hands in mine, stare into her face. "But I do love you. I'll always want to be with you."

She sighs. "I always want to be with you too. You know that. Neither of us has a choice with that. But today, when you reached me in the water… I felt something more. It's like you touched a place inside me where no one's reached before… only…"