Lords of Atlantis Boxed Set 2

by Starla Night

  “It is not too late to change,” Balim told the decorated warrior. “Save this mother and young fry.”

  He frowned.

  “General Giru?” Jonah asked.

  “He’s made mistakes too.” Bella pulled Jonah to Balim’s side and took his hand. “We all have. And we’re getting out of here. If that’s okay with General Giru.”

  Without a word, the general sheathed his dagger.

  Balim let out a long breath and sagged against Bella. He was healing, but still terribly weak. She held him up, her own knees trembling, the single pillar of strength in their new family.

  Jonah looked up at Balim. “Are you a general too?”

  “No. An ordinary merman.”

  “Balim’s a merman doctor.” Bella squeezed Jonah. She would continue until the happy reality sank in. “He consulted with me on your treatment after Faier.”

  “Faier was cool.” Jonah studied Balim. “He had more scars on his face.”

  “Scars are the marks of great heroes,” Balim told Jonah.

  “Like your chest?”

  Balim looked down at the healthy red scab. “Hmm.”

  “Yes,” Bella said. “Like his chest.”

  Jonah pulled up his shirt to display scars from his treatments. “I’ve got hero marks.”

  “You do.” She hugged him. “I’m so proud of you.”

  His skinny arms went around her back. “Um, Mom? Why is everyone naked?”

  “Ah.” She released him and covered her bare chest and lower. “Yes. About that—”

  Starr’s voice crackled through one of the overhead speakers. “Bella, can you hear me? Bella, they’re bombing the boat. If you’re still on there, get off now.”

  The voice of Bella’s Starr galvanized the group, and Balim hobbled with Bella and her child out of the room.

  Jonah’s eyes bugged. “Bombing?”

  She ushered him across the deck following the general and Nora into the sunlight. Her words were for Balim. “Jonah’s still human. He can’t survive underwater like we can.”

  “Then he must not submerge.”

  General Giru’s voice rang out. “He will not suffer an injury while I am here. I will operate the platform for you. Back, beast!”

  The general raised his trident against the flailing arms of a curious, semisubmerged Octopus Kong. He had crawled up the side of the boat like a massive, squishy, friendly Kraken.

  “Whoa.” Nora forced the trident down. “That’s Octopus Kong. He’s our friend.”

  “Mer are not ‘friends’ with deadly cave guardians.”

  She lifted her chin. “Funny how you can be a merman your whole life and not know how friendly giant octopuses are.”

  “You will not endanger young fry Jonah with this giant cave guardian.”

  “Watch me.”

  Bella passed the arguing couple. “Jonah, how well do you remember your swim lessons from last summer?”

  “That was two summers ago, Mom.” He got onto the platform and settled, squinting in the sunlight and shivering as the sea sprayed him.

  Bella noticed his physical reactions at the same time as Balim. “We have no life vests. Just keep your head above water. Oh, I need to grab a blanket.”

  Balim stopped her. “No, Bella.”

  “But he needs food and water. And I didn’t check the cabin. I might find a first aid kit. At least a flare.”

  “We must go now, Bella.”

  She made a worried noise.

  He calmed her with reason. “I will enter the water first and catch Jonah. Come next. We will travel faster together.”

  The platform reached the plunging waves, and Bella helped Balim jump.

  Rough waves crashed over his head, shoving him into the safety of the deep.

  He fought the shift from human to mer. His belly wound and chest laceration complained. He needed his healer tools.

  Balim’s head broke the surface, and he sucked in a deep breath of air, keeping his lungs while his sight shifted to human. “Jonah—”

  Octopus Kong’s tentacle wrapped around him and dragged him under once more.

  He pushed on the giant cave guardian, releasing his air and shifting to vibrate. “No! I must catch Bella’s young fry. He is human and must breathe air!”

  The giant cave guardian rotated his dark plus-shaped eye to focus on Balim as though to ask him, skeptically, if he was serious.

  “Release me,” Balim insisted. “We must escape from the boat. It will soon explode.”

  Octopus Kong thrust him above the waves. He gasped and coughed as he shifted forms once more.

  On the platform, Bella clutched Jonah to her chest. Her desperation eased as she saw him.

  Above on the ship, Nora had to hold back the general from leaping in and attacking the giant cave guardian.

  Jonah looked on with equal parts wonder and terror. “Wow. Did it try to eat you?”

  “No,” Balim gasped, the tentacle still wrapped around his middle. “A misunderstanding. Take my hand.”

  “Will it try to eat me?”

  “No.”

  Far above in the sky, tiny whining wasps flew toward the boat. Were these the fighter jets?

  “Hurry.”

  Bella moved smoothly despite her agitation. “Jonah, take Balim’s hand. Got it? Good.”

  His hands were small and slick in Balim’s grip.

  Jonah fumbled his bear. “Mom?”

  “I’m right behind you.” She followed, sandwiching Jonah to the tentacle, trusting Octopus Kong as Balim did. She patted the giant cave guardian’s exposed rubbery skin. “Let’s go.”

  The giant cave guardian flew them across the ocean’s surface, creating a monstrous ripple, while keeping chests and, most critically, heads above water.

  Jonah shouted in surprise when they plunged through waves, and then he shivered.

  Nora and the general disappeared from the platform into the water.

  Octopus Kong slowed and then stopped.

  “Is this far enough away?” Bella asked in concern.

  Balim replied. “You know human weapons better than I.”

  “Maybe we should flee a little—”

  Ker-ka-BOOM! Ka-BOOM! BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!

  The ship erupted in a flash of light.

  Balim’s ears rang.

  Jonah clapped his hands over his ears. Bella winced and clapped her hands over Jonah’s so two pairs of hands were covering his young ears.

  Balim covered hers.

  The ocean cratered and surged. They dipped into a deadly wave. Octopus Kong shuddered.

  The distant, whiny wasps sped away.

  Jonah wiggled and Bella dropped her hands from his ears so Balim released hers. Jonah hugged his mother. She squeezed him back and threaded her fingers through Balim’s.

  The boat smoked a long, black tail into the sky. “There’s our distress flare.”

  They watched for some time.

  Jonah cried suddenly. “Aw, no!”

  Bella startled. “What is it?”

  “I left behind my Switch.” He squinted at the fiery conflagration. “Can we go get it?”

  “No,” Balim said.

  “We’ll get another one,” Bella promised.

  Jonah’s chin wrinkled, and he looked like he was trying very hard not to cry.

  “It is disappointing to lose important tools.” Balim drew his attention with sympathy. “I lost my first trident when I was about your age. A fish dragged it away and nearly hooked me as well. My father healed my injuries, and we set about making a new one. I missed my first trident for a long time.”

  Jonah’s brows drew together with sadness but he mastered himself and did not cry. “I was level seventeen in Street Warrior Twenty-Eleven.”

  “I’m sorry.” Bella nudged his bear. “You still have this.”

  “Because it has your rock inside.” He opened the bear to show her Balim’s offering. “I was always cold at that other hospital, and the rock felt warm. And it stinks
like you.”

  “Stinks?” Her lips quirked and water shimmered in her eyes. “Is Mom stinky to you?”

  “Maybe a little,” he admitted. “It’s Mom stink, so it’s okay.”

  She snuggled him so hard. “I’m getting my mom sink on you.”

  He pushed away, wiggling but also laughing, and his chest glowed bright.

  Jonah might never be a merman because there was now only one mermaid of the sea, Queen Lucy’s young fry Tory. But the elixir in his body had reacted with Bella’s jewel. Balim resonated with Bella just as Bella loved Jonah and Jonah loved her. She was the nexus between them. The Life Tree had healed Jonah after all.

  Nora popped up suddenly, startling them. “That explosion socked me right in the chest.”

  “The general survived?” Bella asked.

  “For now. He wouldn’t let me cure him.” Nora pouted. “I think, and I could be wrong about this, that he’s on the side of the All-Council because he’s bitter about an ex and he never wants her to rejoin the mer.”

  “You are right,” Balim said.

  “No. I refuse to believe it. That would be too childish. He’s second-in-command of the armies!” She shook her head. “Anyway, he said land is close, and if we drift this direction, we’ll hit the shore. I’m going to nap in Octopus Kong’s shadow for now. It feels like I’ve been awake for six months. I’m just exhausted.”

  “We will let you know when we arrive.”

  “Great. After you get rescued, Octopus Kong and I will hunt down that general and clarify that he needs to be cured, and that he’s an adult and my soul mate.”

  Bella’s lips curved. “He’s your one, huh?”

  “Yes, definitely.”

  “How ironic that you have to convince him.”

  “Ironic? Or interesting?” She smiled and steepled her fingers. “Yes. I can’t wait.”

  Balim was also exhausted but content, a feeling he never expected to feel while clutched in the tentacle of a giant cave guardian. Queen Elyssa was right to gift Octopus Kong with a special treat of rare food. He should join her next offering.

  Oh. His contented glow faded. He could never return to Atlantis.

  Bella squeezed his fingers, somehow divining his thoughts. “We’ll go back someday.”

  “You may.”

  “We both will.” She kissed their entwined fingers. “The mer and human worlds are only beginning to change. You’ve cured an incurable disease. Mitch and every other innocent person who’s been hurt by this disease will be healed. You said you would atone, and I believe you. I’ll be right there with you. Someday, you’ll win a medal for that.”

  “For curing a disease my own twisted genius unleashed?” He shook his head. “I need no honors for stopping what my revenge started. Especially since the queens of Atlantis will star in the cure.”

  “Good.” She smiled. “It will put a curveball into the Sons of Hercules destroy-all-mer pitch if the mer queens are curing everything. Of course, we have to stop the Sons of Hercules from recruiting another person. ‘Hate is the great unifier’ indeed.”

  “You will stop them,” Balim assured her.

  She grinned. “My marketing campaign of hope versus their smear campaign of fear.”

  “But you will not spread lies. Only truth.”

  “You have the utmost confidence in my marketing skills.”

  “Yes, Bella. You are exceptional in all you do.”

  She kissed his nose, closed her eyes, and rested against Octopus Kong. “Except for the acrid smell of burning metal, it’s a beautiful afternoon for a nap.”

  He also closed his eyes, filled with her same warmth and confidence.

  They had found her young fry son, stopped a health crisis, undermined the loyalties of an important All-Council commander, and thwarted a Sons of Hercules double agent. Soon they would be rescued. Bella’s young fry would flourish. Balim would remain with Bella all his life.

  On the surface, he would be okay. They were together. All that remained was to pledge the vows, sign the contracts, and make them a family.

  He would live for Bella, for the father he had loved and lost, and for himself.

  “You’ll do great,” she murmured, again divining his mind without him speaking. “And the answer is yes. Whenever you ask.”

  “Yes?” He fixed on the question. “Will you marry me in a human wedding ceremony with a white cloth, festive cake, and glittering tiaras?”

  She smiled.

  His heart soared. They were already soul mates. And he knew her answer.

  Together, they would spread healing, hope, and love throughout the mer and human worlds. As husband and wife. Male and female. Warrior and queen.

  “Yes.”

  Epilogue ~ Balim’s New Fatherhood

  “Young fry Jonah.”

  Balim stood in the doorway of the dark, blinds-drawn family room and squinted at the preteen huddled under the blankets playing on his replacement Switch.

  “It is the daylight hour when human fathers play a sport with their young fry human sons. Come out, and we will throw a soccer ball.”

  Bella suppressed her smile as she listened for her son’s response. She already knew from the short three months they’d lived in their house—nestled in Upstate in a good school district—what Jonah’s response would be.

  “You’re not human,” he replied, muffled and disinterested. “And I’m not your son.”

  “I would like to be your father.”

  “Why? Chaz is a jerk.”

  “I do not wish to be Chaz. I wish to be like my father was to me, but as a human. That is what I wish to be to you.”

  Bella melted a little and pushed the freshly washed towels into the cupboard. Balim had grown increasingly open with his emotions to the point of being able to express himself like this to Jonah. She knew what it cost him and how hard he still had to try.

  “So stop.” Jonah tossed the effort back in Balim’s face. “You made me lose my level. Just go away. I don’t want a dad, and I don’t want you.”

  Balim looked down and trudged away.

  Bella’s heart squeezed.

  She couldn’t see the soul lights of the mer, but she could see how he was wounded by her child’s simple, thoughtless words.

  “Hey.” She sidled up to Balim. “Jonah doesn’t need you right now, but I do.”

  The shadows haunting him fell away. “You do?”

  “I absolutely do.” She took his hand and threaded his powerful fingers through hers, sealing their connection. “This way.”

  “Is it your marketing? The Sons of Hercules? Has Starr found their leader?”

  “No, no. Something else, if you’re up for it.”

  Intrigued, he followed her up the stairs.

  Bella still ran marketing campaigns, but her passion project was undermining the Sons of Hercules. She worked remotely under Starr’s digital protection and in a secure community.

  Releasing her masterwork had caused an explosion in the media like a bomb.

  The Sons of Hercules had paused their mainland attacks. Their military funding had come under scrutiny, the CDC had spoken out on the side of the mermen, and even the postal system had gotten involved. Postal Police Officers were aggressive, thorough, and relentless in prosecuting criminals who abused the mail. Bella had her fingers crossed.

  The Sons of Hercules had stopped actively recruiting disgruntled college students to be their terrorists, but the airy confidence of the mysterious Herc couldn’t be stopped by one campaign. He had too much power and influence. This was the calm before a storm.

  But today was a Saturday, and she was finally living the dream, working on the week and enjoying a fun, loving family on the weekends. How funny that a dream she had never wanted with Chaz was now the biggest, brightest happiness in her life.

  At the top of the stairs, she raised her voice. “Jonah, in five minutes, I want you upstairs cleaning your bedroom and sorting your socks!”

  Silence followed.


  “Jonah?”

  “Okay, Mom!” he shouted with irritation.

  “Don’t play video games all day. We’re going for a picnic at the lighthouse, and I need to shout at you if I think of more chores.”

  “Okay, Mom!”

  She grinned at Balim and led him through the door of the master bedroom and clicked the lock. “He’ll hide under the blankets with the earbuds on full blast. We’ll have a little privacy.”

  “You do not wish for him to sort his socks?”

  “Oh, sure, but he’ll be playing frantically to beat the level before I bother him. He won’t dare walk away from his game now.”

  “No?”

  She rested her arms on Balim’s shoulders and pressed her full breasts against his hard, masculine chest. “I need you, Balim. I need you to inspect me.”

  He played along, walking her between piles of laundry toward the nice big bed. “Are you feeling well?”

  “All hot, actually.”

  “Have you been feeling hot for long?”

  “Ever since you followed me into the bedroom.”

  He grasped her hips and slid his skilled hands up, lifting her velvet shirt. “I will check every part of your body for injuries.”

  “I was hoping you’d say that.”

  “With my tongue.”

  She curled her calf around his iron-hard thigh. “I’m ready.”

  He dipped her onto the bed, straightened, and unbuckled his belt. “Take off your clothes, my queen.”

  Bella shimmied out of her shirt and jeans to reveal plain white panties. Balim’s gaze gleamed, and the heartblood-red threads shimmered in his brown irises. He seemed to like her plain cotton more than her lace and so she’d worn more of them; something about the white color reminded him of their first time when she’d unwrapped a condom.

  He kneed onto the bed and made good on his promise, searing her lips with his hungry kiss and then continuing downward, consuming her body in wet heat and flames.

  She splayed her hands over the broad scar crossing his chest and the smaller dagger line on his rigid abdomen. He had regained his strength and health, and now he used both to lift her from the fluffy comforter, kissing over her panties to tease her trembling thighs.

  He made her his queen. Over and over and over again.