Page 15

15

Claira

B y the time we made it to town, I was sure we’d been swimming for hours. We broke the surface to the sound of seagulls cawing, and when Laverne glided up to the nearest sandbank, her barks echoed down the shore as she chased them away, emptying a stretch of sand for our arrival.

I was confident no one usually ventured this far south of where the boats came in and hoped we were far enough away from the storefronts that we’d be able to dry off without the risk of being seen. It was horrifying to think what would happen if we arrived at the house in this state. Sure, Dad would have shrugged it off like he’d done on the boat, but if any of the neighbors saw the guys, Gram would have been scandalized.

Her reputation ruined .

Okay, maybe she didn’t care about all that, but Gram prided herself on raising me. She always complimented my good senses and strong moral fiber.

Now, here I was, disappearing for days at a time, stealing jewelry, and hanging around grown men in various states of undress out where people could see us.

Coming to the docks felt like the best decision—I just hoped it wouldn’t backfire.

As we fought the waves, straining to pull through the heavy sand, Laverne moved gracefully alongside us, taking easy strides up the slope. When we finally reached the safety of dry land, the guys collapsed in exhaustion, their bodies and tails still dripping with salt water.

“That was fucking insane,” Leander said through labored breaths. “Didn’t know anyone could swim that fast. Did you see we were passing fucking marlins?”

On the other side of me, Kai groaned in agreement, his free arm thrown over his face as he gasped for air.

Despite being on land, Barren still held me close. His hard chest rose and fell beneath me as he settled on his back, his muscles tight from the journey. Leander lay out on the other side of us. He swept his wet hair back with a swish of his hand to look up at the dull afternoon sky.

I wasn’t sure what was going on with Leander’s mood swings, but I was grateful his sudden burst of energy had allowed us to swim back so quickly. Discovering that we were being watched at the portal’s wreckage was terrifying. Not because of what the eel was—or who it might have been—but because of the warning it had projected into my mind moments after our eyes had met.

Even though its words hadn’t been particularly threatening, something about how the eel had spoken them to me had fear clawing up my throat. I huffed out a breath, remembering how its weakly rasped words had burned a trail through my mind like poison.

“Swim, little captive,” it had said, its long body coiling through the rocks, slithering closer. “Swim to a place beyond our reach if you value your freedom.”

It was a striking contrast to the sea wizard’s smoky voice. But the eel had addressed me as ‘little captive,’ and who else would call me that apart from the sea wizard? Unless he’d told the eel about his little pet name for me, which would have been an odd thing to do, right? Even for a self-proclaimed wizard.

My teeth ground as I thought over how the eel had told me to swim away. The sea wizard had known about my useless tail. He’d worked that much out about me quickly enough, and still, he’d told me to swim? “Freaking jerk,” I grumbled aloud, not even thinking that there were others around me.

Underneath me, Barren tensed. “Should I… release you?”

I rocked my head against Barren’s chest. “Oh—not you.” Honestly, even if he was only doing so because of the curse, I still liked the way he held me. Maybe it was a thrall thing, but then again, I wasn’t even sure if my voice had ever called to him like his has done to me. “I was thinking about the eel. It sent me a warning. Told me to swim and, well…” I let out a harsh laugh. “If only it were that easy for me.”

“Don’t worry, Claira,” Kai said, a sharp tooth peeking out of his gentle smile. “We’ve got you.” The words were so full of love that it was impossible to doubt them.

I feigned a sniffle. “Aww, thanks, guys.”

After being abandoned all those years ago, I’d told myself I would never be dependent on anyone like I’d had to be with Papa. But maybe depending on these three wouldn’t be such a terrible fate.

Even now, each of them had a hand on me, Kai’s laced with mine, pulled at an awkward angle thanks to Barren propping me up, and Leander’s grip was firm on my other wrist. Barren’s arm was like an iron band around me. His massive hand and fingers splayed across my stomach, making me feel like no danger could ever reach me. It was… a lot, though, always having all three of them there, their grips constantly shifting as we moved.

“I appreciate it, guys. Really, I do. But there has to be a better way to do this,” I said, wishing that there were more of me or maybe less of them. I held up my arms to show how we were all connected. Then I looked around at all their tight, glistening skin and sleek tails, and something deep in my belly warmed.

Maybe this wasn’t all bad.

A moan escaped Kai as I eased their arms back down. “My arms,” he said, and a mist of water droplets flew everywhere as he shook them out, the movement carrying up our joined hands like a wave. “They hurt! Gosh, Laverne, why are you so?—”

Laverne interrupted him with an overly dramatic gasp. “Excuse me?” Her voice in my head was drawn out, seething. Her whiskers shot forward, splaying like she might lunge at his face.

“Slippery!” Kai blurted, scuttling backward in the sand to get away from her. He was dangerously close to joining me on top of Barren. “I was going to say slippery!”

Laverne pitched her nose high in the air. “Uh-huh. Of course, you were.” Her nostrils flared as she exhaled, seawater bubbling around them in a sound like a wet sneeze. “I cannot believe you would say such a thing, Big Brother.”

Leander scoffed, and I wasn’t sure if he was referring to Laverne or Kai when he mumbled, “Get used to it.”

Laverne gave another dismissive snort as Leander propped himself up on the sand, his eyebrows furrowing while he looked out at where the waves broke across the sandbank. He paused for a moment, watching the seawater drip down his tail, then asked, “Do you think there’s enough magic in me now to undo the curse?”

Oh, great. We were back to this again. Was Leander determined to keep using the trident’s magic, despite his promise to me? Before I could even shoot him a glare, Barren’s arm lifted off me. His hand went straight up with a karate chop motion that popped Leander’s hand off my wrist, severing our connection.

Pop.

Leander’s body vanished in an implosion of magic, and my heart staggered a beat. “Barren!” I cried out, shooting upright. I almost rolled off him until I realized that landing wrong might mean squashing Leander. Beside us, gold glinted off his small fish form as he flopped over the gritty sand.

Barren’s voice was low, unaffected. “He wondered.” I felt my body sway with his shrug. “Now he knows.”

“Dude!” Kai laughed, leaning forward to watch the spectacle. “I can’t believe you did that, big guy.” He gave Barren’s shoulder a nudge, but his laughter was cut short when I extended a finger to Leander. One touch and sand pelted us, sandblasting the shore from his transformation back to a merman.

The moment Leander was back to himself, he let out a fierce growl. He threw his head back, shouting Barren’s name.

“Whoa, whoa, hold it.” I pressed a hand against his chest to try to hold him back. “Can all of us be mature for a second?”

Maturity looked like the last thing on Leander’s mind. His eyes were like two frozen shards, catching the light with a dangerous glint. “The fuck is wrong with you, Barren?” he spat. “I thought we were friends.”

Barren’s hum was so deep that it reverberated in my bones. “And now you don’t know if you can trust me.”

Leander made a noise, a mix between a whine and a growl, then lunged forward, going for Barren’s neck.

“That’s it,” I said firmly, caught between the two of them. “Fish time out!” I jerked to the side with enough force to send me falling off him and onto Kai, useless tail and all.

Pop.

Two bettas, red and gold, were next to us. Their colors intensified as they carried on with their childishness, flaring and stretching their gills out on the sand.

I lifted my torso from Kai, awestruck at the colorful display. “They really are like bettas,” I mumbled, remembering what I’d heard about betta fish—how you couldn’t keep two males together without them fighting for dominance.

“Claira…” Barren’s deep voice penetrated my head in a plea, but I tried to shake his voice right back out.

“No, Barren. This fighting thing? Yeah, it’s not going to work. Not if you expect us to make it to your kingdom. At this rate, we aren’t going anywhere together.” Their little bodies stilled, and I took it to mean they were finally listening. “You’re friends, remember? Leander—you told me I could trust Barren, and I do. And Barren, well, I know Leander can be a pain, but he cares a lot, and you can trust him when he says he has your back. So, let’s take a breather and calm down, okay?”

Both of them were on their sides, their gills gaping, when I realized their lethargy might have been more because they were struggling to breathe in the open air than because they were taking my advice. “Shoot, okay—my bad. Not what I meant by a breather.” But before I reached out to touch them again, I kept my voice calm and asked, “I have to leave you guys here while I go get clothes, and I don’t want to come back to a bloodbath, okay?”

I was about to touch them when— pop —my legs split.

Pop. Pop, pop.

The magic hit us one by one, crashing over me in a wave that almost sent me tumbling back down the shore.

When I looked back up, my eyes couldn’t possibly settle on who or where to look at, so I averted my gaze to the docks further down the shore. Then the icy chill in the air hit, and I scrambled to my feet. Now that the cold was affecting me, it became more apparent than ever that it was still freaking wintertime. I pulled my wrap to the front, cursing every glob of sand stuck to the fabric that was making it difficult to smooth down.

When my wrap was as presentable as it was ever was going to get, I said, “You guys stay here.”

Venturing out with wet hair, a bikini top, and a swim wrap in the winter was absolutely ludicrous—not to mention mortifying—but at least the town already thought I was odd.

Leander got to his feet, his jaw working like he was barely holding back his rage. “I’m not letting you go alone,” he declared like he thought he had absolute authority over our group.

“Not letting me?” I let out a harsh laugh as I pushed past the three of them to head up the shore. “Fine. If you don’t want me going alone, then Laverne can come if she wants,” I said with a dismissive shrug.

I turned back in time to see her giving Kai the stink-eye. “Yes, let’s.” Well, that was a surprise. I hadn’t expected her to ever agree to go anywhere with me. She must have still been irritated with Kai for making such a show of his arms being sore after carrying her.

Together, we broke off from the group, heading toward the hill. “If you guys want to compare dick sizes, wait until after we leave,” I threw back over my shoulder and nearly lost my footing when all three of them froze to stare at me in disbelief.

“What the hell, Claira?” Leander said with a look of absolute revulsion.

Yikes. Okay, maybe they’d taken that literally. “Err—human phrase, sorry.” I felt my face heat as I continued up the shore.

I could barely hear Kai’s hushed mumble. “Compare our dicks? … Should we?”

Barren and Leander growled the word out together. “ No!”

That they could agree on.

Gosh, I never expected they’d take that phrase literally. I certainly wouldn’t mind judging that competition, though I didn’t need to look to know Barren would be the winner.

I glanced at Laverne as she shuffled up the sand alongside me, remembering how fish-Barren had read my thoughts back when he’d tried to teach me how to swim, and gave her a sidelong whisper. “You, uh, can’t hear my thoughts. Can you?”

Laverne huffed. “It’s so obvious what you’re thinking. Only an idiot would need to read your mind.” Then she added, “Harlot,” and I couldn’t help but crack a smile.

“Yeah. Like you really weren’t thinking it, too.” I snorted, remembering her shocked face when Leander had first stripped down in front of her on the boat. “I see the way you look at those three.”

Laverne stopped dead in her tracks. “THREE? Kai-Kai’s my brother,” she snapped, her tongue arching out of her mouth like she’d tasted something terrible. “I’d sooner let the barracuda pick out my eyes than look at him like that!”

“Right, my bad. I keep forgetting.” I was still laughing when we came to the top of the hill. A thicket of pale green beachgrass separated the sand from the pavement, and I parted the tall grass, letting Laverne go through first. The blades of beachgrass tickled my arms as we emerged. I took a deep breath as I scanned the rows of shopfronts lining the end of the strip.

The surf shop was the largest of all the stores, its tall windows lit up with neon signs and its walls decorated with bright wave designs. The sign in front had blown down a few hurricanes ago, so instead of being put back on its pole, it leaned against the building with a rock garden strategically built around it. The pole remained, but now it had a new job, acting as an anchor for tourists to lock up their bikes.

My eyes swept down the strip. I was thankful for the cold snap, because no one was out walking. If I hurried, maybe no one would even notice I’d brought a sea lion into town.

“I’ll only be a minute if you want to wait for me out here.” I tried to sound polite, but there was no way I could let Laverne follow me inside the surf shop.

Desperate, I looked for something to entertain her out here. There weren’t any bikes chained to the pole, but I noticed an old-fashioned bike horn discarded in a planter beside it. I adjusted my wrap over my backside as I crouched down, pulling it out of the planter. After I brushed the dust off, I offered it to her—horn side first. “Here,” I said and gave it a test honk.

Laverne’s eyes shot wide, and I smiled. My hunch was correct—Laverne was just as easily entertained as her ‘brother.’

I honked it again and passed it into her jaws. “Give it a try.”

Her jaws clamped around it. Honk. Honk.

“Stay close, okay?” I said, and the horn jerked between her teeth as she honked it again. At least if she ran off, I’d be able to follow the honking to find her.

After a deep breath, I faced down the front door, hoping Mr. Brownlow, the shop’s owner, would let me use Dad’s credit. Dad had been helping maintain their fish tanks since before I came along. He dropped by the surf shop every week to check and adjust the salt water for their fish. When I was younger, he’d taken me along with him, and I’d sat in the back room painting new shells for their hermit crab enclosure.

Whenever Mr. Brownlow tried to pay him for his work, Dad had always insisted that keeping saltwater fish was a hobby he couldn’t afford for himself. Store credit had been a compromise both men could live with.

When I pushed through the door, Mr. Brownlow was quick to pop out from the backroom, a box cutter in his wrinkled hand. “Welcome!” He pushed up his thin-framed glasses, then blinked toward the windows like he was checking on the weather. I froze in place, wondering if he would spot Laverne outside, but all he said was, “Did it get warmer between my lunch break and now?”

“Ice plunge challenge.” I gave Mr. Brownlow a sheepish smile. “They, uh, say it’s good for the immune system.”

He still had a peculiar look, but he gave a slight nod before turning back to the backroom. “Keith should be around here somewhere,” he said with a wave of the box cutter. “Let him know when you’re ready to check out.”

“Wait, I—I left my wallet. Do you think I could use some of Dad’s credit?”

Mr. Brownlow spun right back around. “You have no idea how long I’ve waited to hear that. I’ve been trying to push John into surfing, just so he’ll use up some of it. Get whatever you need. Just let Keith know to put it under your dad’s credit.”

“Thank you.” I couldn’t help but grin, picturing Dad with a surfboard while I headed to the men’s section. When I reached the colorful display of swim trunks, I was thankful that surf shops carried swimwear year-round.

They were on sale, too. Double win.

Ignoring the flashy patterns, I concentrated on the sizes, selecting the largest one I could find and wondering if it could fit Barren. “Hmm…” I worked through each row until I’d picked out a pair of swim trunks in every size—just in case.

“If it isn’t Claira,” a voice called from behind me, and I whirled around to Keith sporting his smug smile and company polo, his arms crossed high over his chest. But Keith, I didn’t care about. He was harmless enough, though he thought his job here at the surf shop was far beneath him. It was who was beside him that had my heart dropping like a stone.

“Hey, Red.” Shaun’s pale lips curled into a nauseating smirk.

They had a girl with them too, one who had been a classmate of ours, yet I couldn’t place her name—was it Darby? Or Darcy?

She leaned into Keith as she looked me up and down, like maybe she was trying to remember me, too. Then she perched a hand on his forearm, marking her territory.

Keith pushed away from her, his voice going as rough as sandpaper. “I told you, not while I’m working, Danny.”

Danny—right. My next guess. I cleared my throat and shifted behind my armful of swim trunks, using them to help conceal my bathing suit. I’d never liked the way Shaun looked at me. Like I was inferior to him.

But Shaun wasn’t done with me yet. No, by the cruel look in his eyes, he was only getting started. “Not so fast, Red,” he said, digging a hand into his pocket and pulling out something that made my heart freeze.

Upon seeing my reaction, his smirk stretched across his face. He laughed, cold and cruel, and waggled the little book he was holding in front of me. “Yeah, I thought you might want this back,” he whispered, leaning in.

My pocket diary.

Oh, god .

He’d taken my pocket diary out of my bag when he’d found it, and I hadn’t even noticed it was missing.

I’d written so much in there. So many secrets. Not about my origin, of course. I would never be stupid enough to leave evidence like that lying around. But there were other things in there. Humiliating things.

And judging by that smug, all-knowing look on Shaun’s face, he’d read every single one of my deeply embarrassing thoughts.

If there was one thing I was certain of now, it was that my plan of getting the guys clothes was backfiring, and now it was biting me in the most inconvenient way when I needed to be getting back to them. We had places to go, things to do. We didn’t have time for this.

Shaun fanned the pages of my diary with his thumb. Then he parted it, opening it to a dog-eared page, and cleared his throat.

But before Shaun could start reading, Danny cut him off by stepping forward, her gum smacking between her lips as she studied me.

“Figures you’d be back,” she said with no hint of professionalism, then snapped her gum again. She’d made some upgrades to her wardrobe since high school and was dressed to impress, her pencil skirt and fitted blazer a great match for her petite frame. With the way her lips pinched as she chewed, she was having a rough day, and running into me probably hadn’t helped.

She inspected her nails, pretending Keith’s earlier rejection hadn’t affected her, and tossed out, “My aunt heard you hooked up with one of the crusty old fishermen at the lodge. Says you ran off together.”

A crusty old fisherman? Ouch. It was an obvious taunt, but luckily, I was used to being talked about. Although my blood simmered, I kept my feelings on that outrageous tale to myself. This wasn’t the first time I’d been the subject of ridiculous rumors. It likely wouldn’t be the last.

I took in a shaky breath, desperate to make a break for the exit, but they had me trapped. One step back, and my spine connected with the rack of swim trunks behind me. Fantastic.

Cue a snicker of amusement from Danny. “Well?” she said. “Go on. We’re listening. Who’s the lucky old man?” When it became apparent that I wasn’t willing to play along, her expression frosted back over. “Just so you know, Keith had to cancel on me so he could cover shifts while everyone was out looking for you. Ruined my whole night.” She planted a heel. “And you show back up here pretending like it was nothing . The least you could do is apologize for wasting our time.”

My stomach dropped. The town really had formed a search party.

Although I had no control over leaving town, a soft “sorry” slipped from my lips. Being abducted by merfolk hadn’t been something I’d planned, but she was right. Searching for me had been a waste of the town’s time. Plus, I’d made Dad and Gram worry, and for that, I was sorry.

Danny smiled, though she didn’t bother to put any emotion behind it. “See. Was that so hard?”

Clutching to my armful of clothes, I considered pushing past the three of them to escape. I needed to get out of here; but while Danny and Keith looked like a steady breeze might be enough to blow them over, Shaun was a problem. After years of working manual labor at the docks, he stood taller and broader than most. He used his size to his advantage, but even he had nothing on a merman.

That thought gave me the courage to stand taller, and I stepped away from the rack of clothes I’d been wishing I could dissolve into. When it came down to it, Shaun was only human, and I was a mermaid. A monster hiding under a vulnerable human facade.

Okay—maybe I was still pretty vulnerable as a mermaid. But I’d encountered cecaelia and survived. I could survive a little immature teasing by my miserable peers.

“Well, I’m glad you left.” Shaun spun me away from Danny to flash my diary at me again. My attention immediately landed on the row of starfish drawn across the top of the page he held open, and my throat choked. “How else would I have found this? Though I would have thought you were a little old to be keeping a diary.”

The world shifted, tilting around me. I stared down at those starfish, the words New Year’s Resolutions spelled out in curly lettering underneath them. “Oh no,” I whispered, and Shaun’s cruel chuckle cut through the air like a knife as he pulled my notebook back to his face.

“Oh, yes . You’re quite goal-oriented, Red.” He snickered. “A real go-getter. With goals like these, it’s no wonder you never made it out of this shit town.”

Why, oh why , had I carried an incriminating list like this around with me?

Shaun brought a hand to his chest, making a show of clearing his throat again before beginning to read. “New Year’s resolutions—Learn to tie a double fisherman’s knot. How ambitious .”

Heavy dread settled over my stomach. I wasn’t sure what else I’d written, but if these resolutions were anything like previous years, things were about to take a sharp and fast downturn.

Nope—I wasn’t doing this. I couldn’t. If they weren’t above acting like children, why was I behaving like an adult?

“Yeah, screw this .” I made a grab for the diary, but Shaun’s arms lifted along with his cocky smirk, the asshole delighting in my misery like my humiliation was fuel for him.

His eyebrows waggled suggestively as he continued, “Resolution number two: Go on a date.”

My head buzzed as Danny cackled. “An entire year and all you were hoping for is one date? Yikes. I’m legitimately speechless.”

I held my tongue between my teeth, my hands quivering with barely contained rage. Sure, I could knee Shaun in his balls and make a run for it, leaving with the clothes in my arms and continuing my new streak of thievery, but this shop meant everything to Dad. If I was being honest, the thought of straining his relationship with Mr. Brownlow was the only thing holding my feet to the surfer shop’s floor. But only barely.

Shaun held up a hand to shush his friends. “Wait, it gets even better,” he said with confidence. “Number three: make some friends and— get this —Red wrote, ‘fish don’t count.’ Underlined. All caps.”

Their laughter filled the store like thunder, the sound knocking around so wildly I was sure the fish in the tanks all the way in the store’s front could hear it.

“What the hell does that even mean?” Keith said as Danny clutched his arm to keep from doubling over.

“ Fish don’t count?” Danny howled. Her bracelets clacked together as she leaned forward, waving a hand in my face. “Wait, wait—so you’re saying you have fish friends? How would you even know if a fish wants to be your friend?”

I stayed silent, too upset to even breathe. Their laughter bled away, sounding distant, like an echo under the sea, as my body trembled with seething fury.

Get ahold of yourself, Claira . I forced down a breath. It was pointless to expend energy trying to be liked by those who were never going to like me, anyway. I just had to endure the ridicule, somehow make it to the shirt racks, and then leave—preferably after paying with Dad’s credit.

Though a life of thievery was looking more appealing every second.

I squared back up with Shaun and could feel his smugness radiating off him like a blight. He tapped the journal and offered his most charming smile—the one he used on Gram and me whenever we passed him at the docks. It might have fooled Gram, but it made me want to heave.

“You guys thought that was embarrassing? Just wait. I saved the best for last.”

Yeah… I’d been afraid of that.

The glint in his eyes as he turned back to my diary was nothing less than predatory. “Turns out Red’s a genuine freak.” He pulled the page close to continue reading, carefully enunciating every word. “Here it is. Red’s final resolution…” He paused for dramatic effect. “ Maybe go all the way with a human . ”

A fresh wave of nausea hit.

In the words of Leander: Fuck. In fact, I could almost hear him say it.

Internally, I was screaming. What had possessed me to write that?

I’d thought being around mermen was the problem, but clearly, I’d been horny long before they came along.

Danny’s eyes went wide. “With a human? What, like you’ve been out there fucking aliens or something?”

Keith’s expression shifted abruptly as his gaze diverted, though before I could wonder what had distracted him, Shaun crept up behind me to drape his arm around my shoulder.

His voice softened as he leaned into my ear. “Well, I can help you with a couple of these, Red.” His brown eyes smoldered in a way that made me wish I had my steel-toes on so I could stomp them right back out.

His weight bore down on my shoulders, trapping me in place. “I tie a mean double fisherman’s knot,” he said in a soft, low rumble like a purr.

Shaun paused, no doubt waiting for his friends to laugh at his clever joke, but there was only silence. Or maybe they all were laughing, but my brain refused to acknowledge it.

Then a velvety smooth voice filled the air, and it was like a balm to my ears. “Go all the way with a human?” Leander said, passing between two racks.

“ Leander? ” I squeaked out, and he grinned. It took my eyes several seconds to adjust to his presence. His golden skin seemed to dim every color in his vicinity, making even the flashy patterned swim trunks pale in comparison.

One hand brushed back his damp hair as he came up to us, the flex of his arm showing off his bare chest in a way that reminded me he was anything but human. “Why settle for a mortal when you can have me?” he threw out with a smug smirk.

Only Leander could look so damned cocky while saying something so corny. Still, even though he’d ignored my instructions to stay at the beach, my heart seemed to sing with his arrival.

When Leander approached me, Danny gasped. He held a tattered, sand-encrusted shirt up at his waist with one hand, barely concealing him. My eyes narrowed on the long slit. Something had sliced right through it.

“Is that Kai’s shirt?” I blurted, remembering what his back fins did to shirts. Had he wrestled it off him just so he could follow me? Poor Kai .

Leander flashed another smirk. “He gave it to me willingly,” he said huskily, and my mouth tightened.

Yeah, I doubted that.

Danny started nudging me with an arm. The heck?

“Oh, hey, Claira. Introduce me to your friend,” she said with a nervous laugh. Between her and Shaun’s looming presence, I was feeling suffocated. Danny cast a look up at Leander, her eyelashes fanning out longer than a deer’s.

Keith scowled. “We have a dress code,” he snapped, his voice grating.

Danny sidestepped Keith to extend a dainty hand to Leander. “I don’t think we’ve met.” She laughed despite the fact that nothing remotely funny had happened and—nope—Keith was not happy with how she was acting. “Hi. I’m Daniella.” She blinked up at him. “And you are?”

Leander glanced down at her, then drew himself up, puffing out his chest with pride. “Claira’s mate.”

Heat flushed over my face. Even though it made me inwardly groan to hear him profess such a thing in front of humans, a part of me was thrilled to hear him say it. He hadn’t even hesitated.

Then I realized—Leander wasn’t ashamed of me.

I could almost hear the whir of Danny’s gears turning as she tried to work that one out. Then her lips parted, softening as she whispered, “You’re European?”

“Hey, Red,” Shaun said, turning me away from the others. Now that he was no longer the biggest and most intimidating, he seemed nervous. Smaller. And it made me wonder why I’d ever let him intimidate me at all.

I narrowed my eyes at him, wanting to slap him across the face for touching me without my permission.

Laverne would have done it. Hell, she would have done it the second he dared to approach her.

My hand flexed open, my fingers straightening as my eyes worked out the exact freckles on his cheek to aim for when his gaze swept down to my mouth, and he licked his lips.

“Maybe we could be friends.” It was a soft suggestion. My spine straightened with absolute revulsion as he started massaging one of my shoulders. “If you ever want to meet up at the docks…” His tongue slid a line over his top lip. “I know you’ve always wanted a taste of this.”

I was speechless. After what he’d done, all the tormenting and teasing, was he really coming on to me right now?

I couldn’t help it—I laughed. Right in his face.

“A taste of what? Of you? ” I suppressed a gag. “Yeah, sorry—I’m allergic to shrimp,” I said, dismissing him with a hand. I tried to shrug out from under Shaun’s arm, but he wasn’t letting up.

“Wait,” he said, and irritation lined his forehead in a way that made me wonder if he wasn’t used to rejection. “But you’ve always?—”

“Uh-lergic?” Leander pushed in front of us, ignoring Danny, who was quick to follow behind him. The ice in his eyes was sharp as he watched all the places Shaun’s arm was touching me. Like maybe he wanted to rip that arm off.

“Yeah, it’s when your face and mouth swell up, and it gets really hard to breathe,” I said, and Leander’s eyebrows snapped together, his shoulders stiffening.

“Why wasn’t I informed about this? You should have told me.” Panic raced across every one of Leander’s features. “You’re allergic to shrimp?”

The more intense concern that flared in his eyes, the harder it became for me to keep the misunderstanding going.

I held up a hand. “It was a joke, Lee. Calm down. I’m not allergic to shrimp.” He didn’t look any less worried, so I threw a thumb over at Shaun. “I’m only allergic to his shrimp.”

He must have understood my meaning because the tight concern in Leander’s mouth split into a deadly grin. “Oh,” he said, glaring at Shaun like he was already a corpse. “I see.”

Leander cracked a fist, then pointed a stiff finger at where Shaun’s arm rested on me. “Because this—him touching you. I don’t fucking like it.”

He paused to flex his jaw, perhaps giving Shaun a moment to remove his arm. Naturally, Shaun was too dense to realize the threat standing right in front of him—the possessive prince hiding under Leander’s pretty boy face. “But now that I know you’re allergic to his shrimp”—He grabbed hold of Shaun’s shoulder, and the puff of air that rattled out of that boy’s mouth as he hunched forward, his arm popping right off me, was pure bliss to my ears—“I’m going to fucking crush it.”

Initially, I thought the scream had come from Danny, but no. A pathetic noise slithered from Shaun’s gross throat as he crumpled to the floor, Leander’s crushing hand on his shoulder helping him down.

Although I would have loved to see Shaun’s manhood crushed, I said, “Please don’t crush his shrimp, Lee.”

Leander bent down, hovering over him with a scorpionfish’s cold fury. “Don’t ever touch my mate again.”

“Whoa!” Danny said, her knees buckling. With her eyes on Leander’s backside as he bent forward, it was easy to guess what she saw. And I did not like that one bit.

“Come on, Lee.” Now that I was free from Shaun, I grabbed Leander’s arm, but he wasn’t ready to release his unfortunate prey. He crushed Shaun’s shoulder again, making him cry out.

Nervous that Mr. Brownlow would come out to investigate the commotion, I yanked on Leander again. “I’d like to actually buy the clothes before we get kicked out.”

I glanced around for Keith, but he was long gone. Ugh—great. What were the chances he would call the police on us?

“Wait, don’t leave,” Danny said when I finally pried Leander off Shaun. “How long are you in town?”

Ignoring Danny, Leander turned his attention to me, drawing an arm around my waist. “This is why I didn’t want you going alone,” he said, then he planted a possessive kiss on my forehead.

My molars ground. “It’s fine. I handled it.” Yeah, not really—but at least I got to experience the satisfaction of rejecting Shaun.

My gaze fell on Danny, her fists held straight at her sides. The jealousy in her eyes was unmistakable.

“You wanted to know who the crusty old fisherman was.” I gestured to Leander. “Here he is. Well—he’s one of the three, anyway,” I added with a shrug, and Danny’s mouth fell open.

Leander’s eyebrows furrowed. “I’m a what? ” He shook his head. “Not a fan of that pet name, beautiful. You’ve done better.” He tilted his head and gave a flirtatious wink. “Pretty boy… My prince…”

Poseidon help me, this was embarrassing. Was he trying to make me melt right to the floor? “Come on, my prince . I’ll explain later,” I mumbled, and his mouth curved at the endearment I’d chosen. “Help me find some shirts so we can get out of here.”

Leander chuckled as I dragged him through the racks. “I still don’t see a problem with us going back naked.” His words trailed off, and Danny’s shocked gasp echoed from behind us.

Yeah, we needed to get out of here. At this rate, she was going to follow us all the way to Dad and Gram’s house. As I rounded a corner, I spotted the shirts. I scrambled to grab all the sizes I could find for the first style I came to and then hurried to the front of the store.

“Mr. Brownlow said I could put these on my dad’s credit,” I said as I set my haul on the counter. Keith stood behind the desk, his face ashen as he looked everywhere but Leander. He seemed too scared to look into his eyes.

I turned to Leander. “Barren and Kai are still at the beach, right?”

Leander drummed his fingers on the desk while Keith started scanning tags. “Yeah, maybe. Not really sure. We made it to the top of the hill, but you were taking so long, I had to make sure you were okay.”

To my surprise, I was thankful that he had. “Thanks,” I whispered, leaning into him as Keith bagged my purchase.

Leander adjusted Kai’s shirt around his hips and drew an arm around me. “No need to thank me, beautiful. I’m here to keep you safe.”

I huffed, grabbing the bag of clothes from Keith. Hoping to hide my blush, I turned to the exit, only to see Laverne’s big black eye pushed up on the other side of the glass.

“I tried to stop him,” she projected in my head, panicked. The bicycle horn was limply dangling from her mouth. “He slipped past me.”

“It’s fine,” I mouthed back, biting back a laugh. For a brief moment, I could understand why Kai and my dad both adored her so much. Underneath her sass, Laverne had a good heart.

When we joined her outside, I gave Laverne’s head a pat. “Not your fault. Leander does what he wants, apparently.” I threw him a pointed look, then noticed the top of two heads poking up from the beach grass on top of the hill we’d resurfaced from. Spiked lavender and curly brown. That had to be uncomfortable—they must have crouched on their bellies to pull that off.

“Got the clothes,” I called, holding up the bag as we headed down the strip.

When we made it to the grass, Kai’s face was pink with a mix of embarrassment and concern. “Everything go okay?” he asked.

“Yeah. But are you okay?” I asked, looking him over. Even with the tall grass surrounding him, his arms were folded over his chest to conceal it. I gave him a smile that I hoped was enough to reassure him. “Lee says you gave up your shirt willingly.” I glanced over at Leander, who was still holding tight to the shredded shirt. “Is that true?”

“Yep.” Kai let out a shaky laugh. “Totally true.”

Uh-huh . “Convincing,” I threw back, then sighed, tossing them the bag of clothes. “All right, time to get changed. After we get home, we can figure out our new plan.”

“Sounds good,” Barren rumbled and dug into the bag.

For how hastily they’d shed their clothes earlier, it sure took them a while to put the new ones on. I waited with my back to the ocean as they figured out who would wear what.

“Eyes to the front, Laverne! I see you peeking,” Kai shrilled, and Laverne huffed, honking her horn at him to express her annoyance. As she walked up beside me, she lifted her nose up to the sky. We stared at the clouds together as Kai spoke up.

“It’s okay if you look, Claira,” he said, a hint of shyness in his voice. “I-if you want…”

Laverne’s whiskers twitched, her teeth slowly peeking from behind her gnarled lip, and I gulped. “Thanks, but I’ll leave you guys to it.”

To my surprise, Barren was the first to finish getting dressed. He came up beside us, placing his hand on Laverne’s head while I studied him out of the corner of my eye. His swim trunks fit snugly around his waist, digging into the muscles on his legs. Even the shirt was tight around his shoulders and neck.

But instead of complaining about the ill-fitting clothes, he gave me a short, encouraging nod. “Your dad will be happy to see you again so soon,” he said evenly, his dark eyes moving to scan the town while Laverne nuzzled his hand.

“Oh—yeah.” I smiled, looking out at the boardwalk. We were about a twenty-minute walk from my home and would hopefully make it there before dinner. “Though, it’ll be hard saying goodbye all over again. How long do you think it’ll take to come up with a new plan?”

“Mmh.” His hand lifted off Laverne to scrub under the impossibly hard angle of his jaw. “Tomorrow.”

Well, at least we would get things moving. The air of mystery around Barren made me surprisingly eager to learn more about where he came from.

“Ready?” I asked as Leander came up to join us. Kai was right behind him, holding the bag filled with the clothes they didn’t use.

“Yep!” Kai said, thrusting a fist forward. He looked relieved now that his chest was fully covered.

Laverne took the lead, setting our pace as she started down the boardwalk. The walk was slow, but it gave me a chance to show them the different stores and sights along the strip. Kai was especially interested in the seasonal bookshop, which also sold the most delicious fudge I’d ever tasted.

“Fudge sounds awesome ,” Kai practically moaned as he lingered in front of the sign in the bookshop’s window. “I wish it was open,” he said, almost dreamily.

“Yeah, it’s too bad. We’ll have to come back during the summer so you can taste it,” I said, then paused. Would they even want to come back? Would they be able to?

Kai bounced back to us, looking ecstatic at the idea. “I’m in!” he said, and my heart felt lighter. Perhaps my suggestion hadn’t been as silly as I’d thought.

When we got to the bait shop, Leander stumbled a step, falling behind the rest of us. “Lee?” I called, hanging back as well to wait for him. “Everything okay?”

Anxiety bubbled up in me when Leander didn’t answer straight away. Something was off in his expression. He leaned forward, bracing a hand on his leg like he was barely able to keep himself upright. “I-I’m fine,” he said, but he didn’t look fine. Not at all. He teetered on his feet with each heavy breath.

With a pained gasp, his knee buckled, and if it weren’t for Barren catching him and pulling him back upright, he would have faceplanted right on the boardwalk. “It’s just… it’s hard to… to bre—” Leander tried to speak, but he stumbled over his words. He rubbed his chest for a second before his eyes rolled up, his face paling as Barren slung him up and onto his shoulder.

As soon as he had Leander secure in his grip, he took off down the boardwalk at an alarming pace. I followed after them, grabbing Kai’s hand and dragging him along with me. My voice shook as I called out to Barren. “What’s happening to him?”

Barren waited for us to catch up to him to answer. “His body is paying a heavy price for holding the trident’s power.” His deep voice was laced with apprehension. “For now, we need to get him somewhere he can rest.”

“Lee,” I whispered, following after them. Leander had been fine only moments ago. How had his condition changed so fast?

I only realized Kai was still next to me when he squeezed my hand, causing me to glance at him.

“He’ll be okay, Claira,” Kai said gently.

As I nodded, I attempted to match his reassuring smile.

I desperately hoped he was right.