Chapter 48 Murmurs of waves
“Ocio would cut your cock off if she heard you use the s-word.” I whispered playfully. “And I haven’t gotten to play with it yet, so behave.”
“Siren.” He mouthed clearly, but didn’t speak the word.
I walked slowly to the apartment where Kam would be waiting, giving myself time to get my desire and breathing under control. When I unlocked my door, I was mostly calm. Even if I couldn’t get Phio’s cock out of my mind. Ugh, what I wouldn't give for a chance to ride that thing.
I flipped the light switch, but nothing happened. Candles flickered about.
Damn it.
“Kam, did you already report the outage to Balthazar?” I huffed at being forced to speak to him directly. But then I realized that my scent warmer was still on in the corner. “You dick, you’re telling me you weren’t capable of changing a light bulb?”
I came around the corner to find dinner was set on the table and Kam was grinning at me. I couldn’t tell if he was a threat I needed to stab or if he was sexy. A trail of leaves was spread across my carpet, and I suspected he got the land people’s tradition a little mixed up.
“What are you doing?” “I made you dinner.”
“Your idea of cooking is throwing a seal at me.” I recalled many specific incidents where he did just that.
“I used man’s flame and all that.” “Is my kitchen on fire?”
He stared at me for a moment. “Not anymore.”
At least there was that. He pulled my chair out for me to sit down. “What are you doing?”
“Trying to be romantic,” he answered slowly.
“You aren’t a romantic guy.” I grabbed my fork anyway. Whatever he made, I undoubtedly ate worse. I took a bite, and it landed on my tongue. The squid meat was rancid and not cooked properly. He’d kill a woman with a softer stomach. I grabbed my napkin and spat into it. “Or a cook.”
“Do I get some kind of effort award?” He shrugged, unaffected by my rejection of his food. He took a bite and spat it right out. His sensitive palette couldn’t handle it. I’d seen him spit out a human for lacking vitamin C before. Scurvy was his equivalent of drinking curdled milk. “Never mind. You should make me sleep on the couch for that.”
I chuckled at his assessment before I could stop myself.
“Will you go swimming with me?”
“There is nowhere for you to swim here,” I reminded him. That lake wasn’t big enough for him to ‘swim’.
“Not here. Will you let me take you to the ocean?” “I need to be here for Kaylen.”
“You started dating when you did because you know it’s time to cut the boy’s apron strings. He doesn’t need you to be available to him twenty- four-seven anymore.”
“That’s easy for you to say. You didn’t watch him grow from a teeny little pup into—”
“A fine young man. A beast who knows what fights to pick and which ones to walk away from. He’s competent and strong because you made him that way. Now show him the respect of letting him sink or swim on his own.” I hated that he was right. Twenty-one was still so young, but I needed to recenter myself, so he was no longer my sole priority.
“Will I have to eat any more of your food?”
“Absolutely not. I ordered a pizza with extra anchovies from Rori downstairs. It should be here in five.” He hopped up and kissed my cheek. “Don’t worry about the kitchen. I hired someone to fix it while we’re gone. Don’t walk in there.”
“Ocio, help me.”
“She couldn’t help here,” he murmured to himself.
I
loaded the bags in Mal’s SUV, and Phio walked up to me. “I don’t feel inclined to let you leave with her.”
I bared my teeth and growled. “I know you were with her yesterday.”
“It didn’t hurt her for me to touch her. Do you know why?” He scrunched his brow. “I’ve asked around and no one’s heard of such a thing.”
So it was as I suspected.
“Broken bonds are serious injuries. The fractured claim will hide bonds from other mates.” I took a deep breath, not prepared to explain it to myself, much less out loud.
He snarled. “You could have killed my mate and I never would have known.”
More importantly, I could have killed mine and I absolutely would have known.
“You won’t fully recognize her until my bond is healed.” I slammed the trunk shut. All this time, I never had to share her. I always knew it was a possibility, megalodons mated in large groups to up our chances of procreation, but I didn’t want to share her attention.
“That explains a lot. I’ve been drawn to her ever since I met her.” “Mermaid lures—”
He cut me off. “It was different. I thought she was just my type. Maybe even a bit of white knight syndrome. I’ve fucked a lot of mermaids. I never considered protecting one.”
“Protecting a mermaid is a thing only a mate would worry about. That bitch is more deadly than I am.” I just had more teeth.
“When are you coming back?” “I don’t report to you.”
He chuckled humorlessly. “You’re going to have to learn to share. Sooner rather than later. Once I fully recognize her, there won’t be any more of this shit.” He came in too close to be anything but a threat and shot me that smile that always looks like a harpoon aimed at me. “But for now, I’ll settle myself knowing she’ll come back for Kaylen no matter how much you tempt her. So if this is to keep her away from me, think again.”
I snarled, and he returned it with the roar I hated. I knew we were on par with each other, but how loud he was never failed to make me want to one- up him. Except I wasn’t built to be louder than him. In my beast form, he couldn’t even hear the frequency of the sounds I produced.
“How about I give you the coordinates and you meet us there?”
He grinned again, and I wanted to punch it off him. “We didn’t get this old by letting our pride convince us to give our adversaries the advantage. I’ll wait here.”
It was true. For countless lifetimes, we’d deferred to the other depending on what terrain we were on. He stood down in the water. I stood down on land. He was a decent swimmer for a dinosaur, but all I had to do was get him in the deep to claim victory. We’d already fought too many rounds against each other.
When we were younger, I could have tricked him. Not anymore. He was patient. He smiled at something, more likely someone, behind me. “Good Morning, Mal.”
“Good Morning.” She giggled. Fucking giggled. Then came around the corner and saw me. Her smile wiped off her face. “There you are, you dick.” She eyed the back window of the SUV. “Why are there so many bags?”
I grabbed her arm and dragged her around to the passenger side.
“It’s supposed to be a day trip,” she yelled as I stuffed her in the car. “Okay! Okay!”
I slammed the door and went around to the other side. He waved at me tauntingly in the rearview mirror. I threw the car in reverse to hit him, but he was already gone.
Once we were on the highway, Mal relaxed