by Linda Kage
“Don’t even think about looking to her for help,” Melaina commanded, sidestepping to block Quilla from my view. “I don’t know what you did to influence my niece and sway her to your stupid side, but this is bullshit. I’m in charge of this expedition, you got that? Not you.”
“Whatever,” I mumbled, squinting up at her, because the sunlight was blaring down all around her, practically blinding me. “I still have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“I told her about your suggestion to visit your informant today before we headed into Tyler,” Quilla finally spoke up from the fire. I glanced at her again, but her attention remained fixed on the flames.
“Oh.” Clearing my throat, I returned my focus to Melaina. “Well, yeah,” I said. “I just thought it might help. And the loch’s practically on the way. Probably wouldn’t even take half an hour of our time to pop by first and see what they know.”
Melaina scowled at me a moment, then rolled her eyes, mumbling, “Okay, fine,” as she turned away and began to pack her bedding.
I blinked at her. Then cried, “Really? I had to be kicked awake for that? When you were just going to agree to my idea without a single argument anyway?”
“Yes,” she called regally over her shoulder. “And thank you for providing some body parts for me to kick. I feel extremely refreshed now. Though it would’ve been even more satisfying if I’d had something more sensitive, like genitals, to pummel. So keep that in mind for next time, will you, darling?”
Like hell.
I made a mental note to sleep with chain mail covering my junk from here on out.
Of course, that wouldn’t benefit my mate much if she had need of my cock again in the middle of the night. Like she had last night.
Speaking of which…
I sat up and turned my attention her way to watch her. She looked almost hostile as she stabbed ruthlessly at angry red coals and then plunked a log on top of them, bullying a flame to life. I would’ve guessed she was mad about something. Except there was no anger coming through my mark. I sensed plenty of uncertainty, awkwardness, and embarrassment, but no actual rage.
She had no idea how to act toward me today, and it was irritating her.
When she finally glanced my way, her eyes narrowed. I grinned and waved a few fingers in greeting. Then I blew her a kiss. A flush stained her cheek and she quickly returned her attention to the fire to set up a pot full of porridge to warm.
“We leave within the hour,” she announced.
Guess that meant our amazing night together was officially over.
With a groan, I flopped back on top of the bedding, mourning the dream I’d had of waking up and spending more time in her arms. But that would apparently have to wait.
“Aye aye,” I called back, lifting my thumb in the air.
Cat-form Holly jumped onto my chest, meowing. So I spent a minute petting her as she arched her back into my hand and turned in a circle before jumping off again, done with me, and dashed off to chase a leaf fluttering by.
Then I got my ass out of bed and helped the others prepare for the day.
Two hours later, I steered our group left, off the main roadway, and down an overgrown path. “Whoever we’re going to see sure doesn’t get out much, do they?” Melaina noted.
“Nope,” I answered.
She huffed, not appreciating my one-word answer.
“How much longer?” she asked.
“Maybe fifteen minutes,” I said. “It’s straight ahead on this trail.”
“Well then, why are we lollygagging? Let’s get there already.” She rode ahead as if disgusted with how slow we were going, when we weren’t going that slow at all.
Not that I minded. Glad for a moment alone with Quilla, I stalled Holly’s progress until my mate rode up beside me.
“Hey,” I murmured, studying her side profile. “You doing okay?”
She sent me an odd look, her brow wrinkling with confusion as she said, “Yes. Of course.”
“Good.” Finding it hard to read her contemplative mood, I added, “You’ve just been quiet this morning, that’s all.”
“Not much to say,” she answered, adding nothing to that.
“So…” Giving up polite discretion, I finally went blunt and asked, “No regrets, then?”
She blasted me with another confused frown as if the question completely baffled her. And I swear if she asked what I thought she might have regrets about, I might actually strangle her.
Metaphorically, of course. I’d never physically hurt her.
Then she answered, “No. Never.”
I hadn’t thought I’d been worried about her answer, but when I released a long breath, I realized I’d been scared shitless that she might be ashamed of what we’d done together.
“Good,” I repeated on a stiff nod, hoping to mask my self-conscious doubt. Then, because I had no idea what else to say, I added the obvious with a careless shrug. “Me neither.”
Except this wave of immense relief rolled off her, telling me—fuck—I hadn’t been the only one worrying about my mate’s stance on the night before. Jesus. She’d been worrying this whole time about me having regrets? Inconceivable.
“I woke up, wishing we could go back to last night and do it all over again,” I admitted.
An achingly hopeful expression lit up her brown eyes as she bobbed her head, silently agreeing. Shifting Holly closer to her horse, I reached for her face, and she leaned in to receive the touch.
But before I could make contact, Melaina startled me by saying, “Well, I’ll be damned. Would you look at that?”
“What?” Quilla asked, jerking away and turning toward her aunt.
Melaina stopped in her tracks and gazed up into the trees where she pointed. I followed the direction of her finger and heard chattering from a high branch before a brown furry blur darted past.
“You mean that squirrel?” I asked, confused.
She shook her head. “Not a squirrel.” With a wave of her fingers, she motioned again, and the tree branches rattled and cracked before a white unicorn came crashing to the ground in front of us.
As it pushed up onto wobbly legs and gave its head a dazed shake, Holly whinnied excitedly under me and turned into her white unicorn form as well. The other unicorn turned back into a squirrel, and Holly followed suit, shocking the shit out of me since I’d been sitting on her back when she did this.
It was suddenly my turn to tumble to the dirt, not at all catching myself before I landed hard on my ass. Holly chirped excitedly with her new friend and then chased him up a tree, their bushy brown tails weaving and bobbing as they darted around the bark and then up it.
Melaina blurted out a laugh as she took in my dumbfounded expression as I sat there and gaped at the tree my ride had just disappeared into. Quilla, however, dismounted so she could hold a hand down to help me up.
“You okay?”
I got distracted, gazing into her big brown eyes a moment before clearing my throat and answering, “Yeah, yeah. I’m fine. Thanks.”
I could get up on my own, no problem, but I took her hand anyway because I wanted to feel her. It was still new and amazing to me that she was no longer so averse to my touch. And when I gained my feet, I kept hold of her fingers and grinned at her, loving that curious, hopeful, innocently sweet and almost-shy way she looked at me.
“I think I just lost my unicorn though,” I added, finally tearing my gaze away from her so I could look up and try to spot Holly in the branches above.
From atop her horse, Melaina snorted. “It wasn’t your unicorn, dumbass. Unicorns don’t have masters or owners. They’re their own person. It was amazing all on its own that she allowed you to even ride her. But she was never yours.”
Whatever. I was still going to miss the strange creature. Lifting my hand, I called, “Goodbye, Holly,” in a loud voice. “Thank you for the ride. Thank you for your friendship. And thanks for saving our lives back there with those men who attacked us. I w
ish you the best of luck with wherever your journey takes you next.”
As I dropped my hand, a squirrel appeared on the high branches. Then it came racing a winding path back down the trunk, where she turned back into a white unicorn. She trotted over, only to pause a few feet before me, where she extended her front right hoof forward and lowered her top half, bowing in a sign of great respect.
I swallowed thickly. “I should be bowing to you,” I told her, so that’s what I did, folding down my top half and nodding my head. But then I was done with the formal shit, I surged forward and threw my arms around her neck, petting her mane while I hugged her.
“I’m going to miss you, friend. I wish I could repay you for everything you did for us.”
“I think you did repay her,” Quilla answered softly. “Her becoming your companion and following you on your journey led her here. To find one of her own. You escorted her home.”
Holly turned into a panda bear then so she could hug me back and rest her nose on my shoulder. Her black and white fur was soft and fluffy, but Jesus, she was heavy as hell. I grappled to keep her in my arms before she finally dropped her feet and eased her grip on my shoulders, letting me know she was done hugging me.
I lowered her to the ground, and she turned back into a squirrel, who darted up the tree.
“And then there were only three,” Melaina murmured dramatically.
“Come on,” Quilla told me in a strangely soft voice. “You can ride double with me until we get you a new horse.”
I looked at her, then nodded and hauled her into my arms where I held on tight. I might be used to losing people in my life and familiar with saying goodbye, but I was growing tired of it. I was ready for someone I could hold on to and keep.
Closing my eyes, I buried my face in her hair and hoped she was that someone.
When she patted my back gently as if she understood, Melaina gasped.
“Son of a bitch,” the redhead cried. “You two fucked, didn’t you? When the hell did you two fuck?”
We pulled away to frown at her together.
“None of your business,” Quilla finally answered, stiff and irritated as she jerked her way back into the saddle of her horse. But I could feel her embarrassment in my mark. She was having trouble dealing with the change in our relationship.
That didn’t stop her from holding a hand down to me and inviting me to ride with her, though.
As I climbed up behind her, her aunt scowled. “I never gave you permission to defile my niece, boy.”
I snorted. “Yes, you did. Multiple times.”
Her eyes narrowed at me as we started riding again. “That was only because I thought she’d never accept you.”
“Well, she did,” I shot back. Wrapping my arms around Quilla’s waist, I scooted in close behind her and whispered into her ear, “And thank God for it, too.”
Her spine melted against my front.
Pulling my bottom lip between my teeth to hide my grin, I slipped my hand down between her legs and pressed in against the fabric of her skirt.
She gripped my wrist and jerked my fingers away, fear, lust, excitement, and distress roaring through my mark from her emotions.
“Behave,” she muttered.
Chuckling, I returned my hands to her waist in a more respectable manner and rested my chin on her shoulder, taunting, “But you like it best when I don’t behave.”
This time, I only felt the lust and excitement as she glanced over her shoulder to send me an icy glance. “When it’s an appropriate time, maybe.”
“You mean away from Melaina?” I guessed.
“Yes,” she hissed. “Exactly.”
I nodded. “Okay. I gotcha.” Glancing ahead, I realized how far we’d come on the path and straightened. “Here,” I called so both she and Melaina could hear. “This is the place.”
Melaina slowed her mount and gazed around at the overgrown trees and vegetation, vines covering crumbling stones that made up the ruins of a long-forgotten manor.
“Uh, I hate to break it to you, High Clifter,” Melaina announced, lifting a censorious eyebrow as she looked around. “But it looks like whoever your trusted source was is long gone now.” She turned away from the dilapidated foundation, where only one half of a wall remained standing, and sent me an expectant look. “Can we be on our way to Tyler now?”
I frowned at the question, only to realize her meaning. “Oh! You think my friend lived in the castle? No, no. That’s been gone for as long as I can remember. My great-grandfather Havern lived there, actually, when he ruled Teller. But the House of Bjorn tore it down when they invaded and took over.”
“So we didn’t come here to visit these run-down remains?” Melaina demanded suspiciously. When I shook my head, she threw her hands in the air, frustrated. “Then what the fuck are we doing here?”
I chuckled as I dismounted Quilla’s horse.
“For this,” I answered and strolled toward the loch that sat to the south of the castle ruins.
Once I reached the edge of the bank, I crouched down and dipped a couple fingers into the water. It was as warm as I always remembered it being, much warmer than a normal body of water should be. Telling me that meant they still must be around, I began to tap the surface of the pond with the palm of my hand, speaking in the code I’d been taught years ago.
“You’re calling to someone,” Quilla realized in awe, coming up behind me as she watched.
I grinned over my shoulder at her. “Yep.”
Her aunt appeared beside her, the contrast of her bright red hair in the sunlight next to Quilla’s pale blond locks made a lovely diversity of color.
Except Melaina’s expression was anything but lovely. Scowling, she slapped a hand to her hip and demanded, “Who?”
“You’ll see.” I kept repeating the code, in case it took a bit for anyone below to notice it.
And a minute later, I was rewarded. The water began to stir, bubbles popped up around my fingers and rings forming on the surface, signaling movement underneath.
Both Quilla and Melaina lurched a nervous step back.
But then a feminine head full of flowing, green hair emerged from the depths. Long lashes blinked water from them before brilliant green eyes lit up at the sight of me.
Chapter 29
Indigo
“Indy?” The mermaid greeted almost cautiously, as if she couldn’t quite believe it was me. Starfish wreathed her head like a crown, and the only thing covering her ample breasts were seashells.
Grinning, I waved. “Hey, Jemma. Long time no see, huh?”
“Oh my God,” she shouted joyously. “It is you! But has it been that long? You’re all grown up now.”
“So are you,” I returned, laughing when she shot forward and reached out.
I took her wet fingers and squeezed warmly, just as her scaled fin fluttered above the water behind her.
“My God,” Melaina breathed, appearing at my side as she drifted closer to the edge of the water. “It’s a mermaid. A real fucking, honest-to-God, live mermaid.”
The woman glanced toward Quilla’s aunt, then spotted Quilla at my other side, still lingering a step back.
Looking up at me, she said, “You brought friends.”
“I did,” I answered with a solemn nod. I wasn’t supposed to bring anyone else here. The merpeople warned me how dangerous it was to let others know where they lived. So Jemma had to realize it was a big deal for me to expose her to anyone else. This was an important visit.
“May I introduce my mate, Quilla?” I said, splaying out my hand in her direction. “And her aunt, Melaina.”
“Mate?” Jemma blinked at Quilla, then whirled back to me. “Not only has my Indy grown up, but he’s gotten himself a mate as well? My, my. Times have changed.” She turned back to inspect Quilla. “Let me take a look at you, my lady. You know, your true love was adamant to find you when he was just a boy. Oh…” She reached out her arm again but for Quilla this time. “And now I see why
. You’re a beautiful one, you are. Indy, my goodness. She’s just precious.”
“She is,” I agreed, amused as the mermaid floated closer to the edge of the water and waved her hand insistently, beckoning Quilla forward.
Quilla cast me an uncertain glance. I nodded, letting her know it was okay. And only then did she step cautiously toward the mermaid. As soon as she kneeled, Jemma snagged her fingers and kissed the backs of her palms repeatedly. Quilla’s brow furrowed, but she allowed the contact.
I moved to her side and explained, “She’s bestowing a blessing on you. It's a great honor for merpeople.”
“This will give you the strength to survive whatever adversity befalls you next,” the mermaid explained.
“O-oh,” Quilla answered, nodding awkwardly. “Thank you.”
“Thank you,” Jemma returned, nodding to Quilla. “You are cursed and yet you do not allow it to control you. That is an admirable trait that should be spread across the land and seas. May your purpose and perseverance follow you all the days of your life and trickle on to others.”
“Hey, I’ll take a blessing,” Melaina announced, crouching down on the other side of Quilla and reaching for the mermaid, catching a lock of her green hair in the process.
Jemma sent me a curious look, silently asking about Quilla’s aunt. I shrugged. So the mermaid turned to Melaina and took her hand next, only to hiss and immediately drop it. “Your curse is much more prevalent. You give in to it daily.”
Melaina merely shrugged. “What can I say? I don’t see the point of resisting temptation.”
The mermaid nodded. “Yes, you submit to your sexual temptations often, as well. That is actually helpful for you. Releasing your passions is the best way to manage the pain that comes from your curse.”
“Then I should be the most joy-filled person on the planet,” Melaina deadpanned, only to waggle her eyebrows suggestively. “Hey, how about you help me with some pain-management right now?”
