Page 1 of Making Out With Mermaids (Haven Ever After #6)
CHAPTER ONE
BETMAL
S miling, I straighten my fitted navy vest and step through the glittering green portal surface, into the translucent hallway that’ll take me straight to Ever. It’s the last of many trips, I hope, as I leave the hidden monster haven that’s been my home for centuries.
The reality is that I won’t miss much about Hearth Headquarters. I lived here only because my mates lived and worked here.
If I can even call them mates. I certainly don’t think of them that way, not after everything that’s happened over the last thousand or so years.
Focusing to relax the automatic tension in my jaw when I think of Evenia and Aberen, I release the agitation and stride confidently through the portal hall, emerging on the other side in Ever haven’s portal station, in the American state of Massachusetts.
The first two monsters I see are my son, Abemet, and his mate, Morgan.
“Betmal!” she shouts, lurching forward to fling herself into my arms. She squeezes my neck until I can barely breathe, laughing and making happy noises as my son watches silently. A tiny smile tips his lips upward.
I return Morgan’s hug, but eventually I set the pretty, red-haired witch down.
She steps back and grins at me. “Please tell me Evenia caused some sort of scene on the way out, and you got to verbally bitch slap her in front of all of HQ? Please tell me it happened because I’ve been having dreams about it.”
A laugh bubbles from my throat, but I shake my head. “Sorry to disappoint, darling girl, but she did not show up for my departure.” I glance at Abemet, trying to decide if I should speak ill of his mother and other father. Ultimately, I decide it’s fine. We all know whose son Abe truly is.
I return Morgan’s feral grin. “Aberen did see fit to send me a gorgeous bouquet of poisoned blood roses on the eve of my departure.”
Morgan gasps, and Abe snorts out an amused laugh.
His mate crosses her arms, gray eyes narrowing as one foot taps on the tiled floor of Ever’s beautiful portal station. “He tried to poison you?”
“Purely symbolic,” I assure her. “A last ‘fuck you,’ if you will. He would never expect me to fall for the trick.”
“I swear to gods,” she huffs, “if either of them shows their face in Ever, I’m gonna get Lou to run them through with her blue magic. She could do it, too. She could spin them up and like, I don’t know, rip their skins off or something.”
“But a blue witch never would,” I remind my daughter-in-law. “Spiteful as your aunt might feel on my behalf, she’s born to protect.”
The noise that erupts from Morgan is half irritated and half conniving. I’ve gotten the chance to know my son’s witchy mate well, and if I’ve learned one thing, it’s that she will hold a grudge until the day she dies, especially in regards to protecting someone she loves.
Abe clears his throat. “I’ve already made it clear to Mother that she and Aberen are not welcome in Ever, not for any reason.” He shrugs and reaches for my bag. “It won’t stop her from coming if she sees something to meddle in, but barring that, they’re not likely to show up anytime soon.” He tosses my bag over his muscular shoulder and jerks his head toward the exit. “Shall we? A lovely cottage popped up on the edge of town with your name on it.”
Morgan’s fierce look morphs into a smile as she tosses auburn hair over her shoulder. “It’s adorable, too. We hope you love it! We’re just so glad you’re finally here for good.” She glances up at me, batting her lashes coyly. “Maybe now that you’re here and…unencumbered, you might find a lovely monstress to date who likes you for you.”
I chuckle as she slips her arm through mine, holding on to my biceps as I guide her to follow Abe. “I’m not worried about that in the slightest, darling. Entanglements happen when and where they want to, but it’s not my focus. Not to mention divorce paperwork and visiting a warlock to undo the magic of dual mating bites were…physically painful.”
Resting my hand over the one she has wrapped around my arm, I grin more broadly. “I want to spend time with you two and reconnect with friends who live here. I couldn’t be more excited for that.”
She squeezes me tighter as we exit the cavernous portal station and emerge deep inside the forest in what’s known as Shifter Hollow, the part of Ever reserved for shifters, centaurs and pegasi. For the next half hour, Morgan regales me with tales of the shifter queen and her mate who rule from the Hollow. Apparently, the queen is now on a musical tour—a literal as well as figurative rock star.
“She’s the coolest monster I’ve ever met,” Morgan gushes, glancing at Abe with a quick nip of her lower lip. “Besides Abe, of course.”
I look at my son as he strides confidently up the street a pace ahead of us. My intuitive gift pings. Abe’s happy. More than happy. He’s at peace. He’s got Morgan after hundreds of years of wanting her. He waited for so long. I love that the read I get on him now is peaceful comfort.
We approach Downtown Ever’s Main Street crossroads, the Galloping Green Bean diner to our left and the vampire-owned Higher Grounds coffee shop to our right. Main Street stretches long with nearly a dozen adorable businesses, red-and-white-striped awnings fluttering on a cool breeze. I’m excited to visit Ever’s shops and restaurants, to explore, once I get my things settled.
Crossing over Main, we continue up Sycamore past the Community Garden and the beautiful pink and white Annabelle Inn, Ever’s singular B she’s beautiful.”
Pride fills me, and I smile at him. “Ah, yes. My darling boy had a hand in her design, he says.”
Arkan’s grin grows big. “Abe’s a design whiz. I’ve got him working on some plans for an upcoming expansion I think we’ll need, now that the Grand Portal Station is open.”
I nod. “I came through it, and it’s truly remarkable. No traveling through fifteen or twenty or thirty portals to get to your desired haven. It’ll be so much more efficient to get around now.”
Arkan nods. “And that travel means tourism. I’m trying to get ahead of the infrastructure needs for that as we speak.” He waves a hand around. “Anyhow, I don’t need to get into my inner thoughts, but welcome .” With another bright smile, he rises gracefully from the bench and turns to go.
Just then, a new scent fills my sensitive nose. Flaring my nostrils, I glance up from my work. The coffee shop is full, but there are just a few monsters in line. No, it’s none of them. A giant minotaur stands at the line to order. Not him. Much as I enjoy minotaur blood, this is different in a way I can’t quite place.
But as he steps aside, I notice there’s a woman in front of him. She must have just ordered, because she turns and ducks her head respectfully, averting her eyes from the big monster. He steps aside as she rounds him. I can’t stop staring. She’s merfolk, but in her human form. Long, frilled aqua and rust-colored ears frame an angular face with a dimpled chin and plump, turquoise lips. Even in human form, her hair falls in cylindrical waves around her shoulders, trailing all the way to her waist.
I suck in a ragged breath, masking it under a clearing of my throat.
Pure sea, wild and furious and depthless, fills my senses, clearing my brain of rational thought. The scent is tantalizing, intoxicating, and without really meaning to, I listen for the rapid thud of her heart. Blood sings through her veins, the purest of symphonies tinged by the crash of waves on a black sand shore.
“My gods,” I murmur to myself, staring longer than I ought to.
She walks toward the closest chair and sits gracefully. It’s then I notice, in human form, one of her legs stops just below the knee. Attached to it is a crudely shaped peg like a pirate from a human fantasy might wear. She winces as she stretches her leg long, staring at the wooden bit with what looks like hatred in her eyes.
I can’t pull my gaze from her as she reaches into a small bag around her waist and retrieves a tiny notebook and pencil. She lays the notebook open and begins to draw.
An artist.
A kindred soul.
And just like that, I resolve to introduce myself because, if I know anything, it’s that I need to know her.
I need to know her—immediately.