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CHAPTER FIFTEEN

“CORA WOULD so kick your ass for saying that,” Marcus joked, sidestepping several kids whose parents were trying to catch up with them.

“Hey, what she doesn’t know won’t hurt me,” Brett said.

“Blair, Cora also lives in Nisha’s territory.” Marcus tugged gently on Blair’s hair to get Blair to look at him. “She and Brooke have been friends for quite a while.”

“She was Brooke’s bridesmaid when we married.” Brett glanced at his wedding band, a smile softening his face.

“You got married?” Blair asked. “Like… well, you know… married.”

Brett grinned. “Yep. Right there on the beach with Nisha and Kannon attending. Then they took a turn. They didn’t have the legal paperwork like Brooke and I did, so I guess you’d call it a dress rehearsal for the real thing.”

Marcus slipped his arm around Blair’s waist. “Kannon says they’re going to do it legally, too.”

Brett nodded. “Once Kannon gets something in his head he’s pretty hard to dissuade. Are you guys ready?”

“Yes,” Blair said. The three of them walked out to Brett’s vehicle. Marcus was friends with Brett, so Blair got in the back seat. Once they were settled, he brought up something that caught his attention. “You said you and Brooke legally married?”

Brett glanced in the rearview mirror as he drove out of the resort. “Yes, why?”

“Oh, I hope I didn’t insult you by asking. I just wondered if that was something mers do,” Blair said.

“I wasn’t offended. We actually may be the exception to the rule. I own property, and there’s a lot of money involved. If something happened to me, I wanted Brooke legally taken care of. Even if she never touched any of the money, it’d be there if she needed it.”

“That makes sense,” Blair said.

Brett kept the conversation going as they drove to Kannon and Nisha’s house. Marcus turned partly in the passenger seat so he could see Blair as the three of them talked. He hoped Blair would calm down, but he wasn’t seeing signs of that, not yet.

Tension radiated off of Blair. He wished there was something he could say or do to relieve it. While he understood, he was unconcerned. He meant what he said earlier—as long as he had Blair, where they lived didn’t matter. Talk about an extreme change of heart.

They arrived at Kannon and Nisha’s bungalow, and immediately Kannon went out of his way to make Blair feel welcome. Marcus was glad to see it, although he really wasn’t surprised. If anybody understood the pressure of being a mate, it was Kannon. Marcus was much more easy going and laid back than Nisha, but unlike his friend, Marcus spent time around humans and had an inkling of their thought process—something Nisha didn’t.

Dinner went well, and, although they brought their swimming trunks, nobody seemed to be in a rush to get into the pool, even though they were sitting out by it. In Marcus’ opinion they were still too close.

Nisha sipped his bottled water then put it on the table. “So, Blair, do you think you’re going to stay this time, or are you planning to run again and break Marcus’ heart?”

Kannon choked on his drink and quickly set it on the table. “Dammit, Nisha—”

“Must you always be an ass?” Marcus demanded.

Brett rolled his eyes. “Does the word ‘tact’ mean anything to you?”

“No more so than the word ‘consent,’ apparently.” Kannon snapped, glaring at Nisha.

Marcus slammed his hand down on the table. “I’ll not have my mate talked to like—”

Kannon perked up. “Mate?”

Brett ran his hand through his hair. “Way to go. You just insulted Marcus’ mate.”

“It’s only the first bite. I know better than most you can do that and still walk away,” Nisha pointed out.

“Sure you do, seeing as that’s exactly what you did, Nisha,” Kannon added. “And let me tell you what fun for me that was.”

Marcus growled, the sound low and mean.

Blair held up a hand. “Can I say something please?” Nisha, Kannon, and Brett stopped arguing, their heads snapping around to look at Blair. “Marcus? Calm down, please. I had a feeling this was coming.” Blair took a deep breath and let it out. “I did run, yes. I panicked and overreacted, but at the time it made sense. I’ve talked this out with Marcus, so I’m not going to go into my reasons. Quite frankly they’re none of your business.”

“Damn straight,” Marcus muttered. “If you want to leave, we’ll walk out of here right now.”

“No, I don’t want to leave,” Blair said. “I panicked and ran from you once. I’m not about to panic and run from yet another situation that scares me. Besides, these are your friends.”

“But you’re my mate. That’s the main thing,” Marcus said.

“While I do appreciate that, you have a long-standing history with them.” Blair reached out to Marcus. “Let’s see if we can work this out, okay?”

“If you’re sure.”

“I am.” Blair glanced at each person at the table until he finally came to Nisha. “As I said, it’s none of your business, but I don’t want to be a wedge that drives you and Marcus apart, so… When I got to New York, I realized what a horrible mistake I made, but I needed time to think. I returned with basically nothing more than the clothes on my back.”

“That’s true,” Brett added. “Fortunately for you I hadn’t tossed your clothes.”

“The first thing I did was ask Brett for help. He told me no one had seen Marcus and that the two of you were on vacation and unreachable. I scoured the beaches, even though I knew it wouldn’t do any good, but I hoped that maybe he’d sense I was here. When that didn’t work, I rented a boat and went out to the open water.”

“He ran, but he came back. He tried to find me,” Marcus reminded everyone.

“I did, even though I knew it’d be like searching for a needle in a haystack. But I had to do something. I spent a lot of time hoping and praying.”

“How did you finally find each other?” Kannon asked.

“I was out in the open water. I planned to leave the area, but couldn’t. I was checking out this underwater cave when suddenly a boat showed up. Then there was a splash, and a body hit the water,” Marcus said.

Blair snorted. “I rented a small yacht and basically drifted aimlessly. Every day I went swimming. Instead of finding Marcus, a tiger shark found me.”

“Damn.” Nisha fingered his shark tooth necklace. “Fuckers are aggressive.”

“I attacked but also called for help. A couple of dolphins showed up, but they were nothing compared to the massive stingray that decided to help,” Marcus continued.

“Stingray?” Shock covered Nisha’s face. “That’s a rarity. They usually can’t bestir themselves to help much of anyone.”

“Yeah, so you can imagine my surprise. Between me, the stingray, and the dolphins, the shark decided he’d had enough and left,” Marcus said.

Kannon rested his chin on his hand. “Almost like it was meant to be.”

“We talked—actually, I begged for forgiveness,” Blair said.

“Good,” Nisha said. Everyone at the table rolled their eyes, and Nisha huffed. “Everybody can roll their eyes as much as they want, but rejecting a mate is a serious deal.”

“But I didn’t know that I rejected him. I didn’t even know I was his mate until Brett let it slip,” Blair said.

“Oh shit, really?” Kannon asked.

“Yes. That’s part of the reason why I freaked out.” Blair toyed with his drink. “There was so much I didn’t know. Then my mind latched onto this wild idea, and I completely blew it out of proportion.”

“What wild idea?”

“That maybe he wasn’t as sincere as he seemed. That maybe this was a setup to get to my money. That he could possibly… possibly change me without my permission,” Blair said.

Kannon coughed, and Nisha glared at him.

“I left in order to think,” Blair said. “I didn’t stop to think of the consequences. Actually, I wasn’t thinking at all, which became pretty obvious once I landed in New York.”

Nisha stared silently at Blair then he finally sighed. “Who am I to judge? I ran across Kannon while he was on vacation with his dad. They were snorkeling in my territory when I first saw him and instinct took over.”

Kannon snorted. “In other words, he lost control.”

“I gave him the first mating bite, but he was still so young. Just barely an adult and I… His dad was frantically searching for him… I could hear the pain and terror in his voice. I let Kannon go.”

“You did?” Blair asked.

“It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done, plus what I did really messed Kannon up. He saw me, but he didn’t know exactly what I was, even though the tail was a pretty good indicator. I bit him. He didn’t know what that would do to him, and he certainly couldn’t ask me.”

“I refused to go anywhere near the ocean for the next fifteen years, until my best friend over there”—Kannon pointed at Brett—“got married, and I returned here. Next thing I know this sexy guy with beautiful blue hair was constantly hanging around me.”

“You?” Blair asked Nisha.

“Yes, me. Kannon was only here a week to attend Brett’s marriage, and this time I wasn’t letting him go. Because of my actions over that week, and before, Kannon and I got off to a rocky start.”

Blair slowly nodded. “Thank you. It means a lot to me that you’d share that with me.”

Nisha stared at Blair. “It’s hard to admit when you royally screw up, but you did. I admire you for that.”

Apparently, Nisha wasn’t going to be that big of an ass. “Just to make sure I understand you, I can still stay in your territory? Me and my mate?”

“Yes.” Nisha held his hand out to Blair. “As mate to one of my fiercest warriors and good friend, I welcome you, Blair, to my territory.”

Blair gulped. “Oh well, thank you. I was so scared you’d hold what I did against me.”

“You made a mistake.” Nisha shrugged. “My mistake was forgetting the mistakes I too made. And for that, I apologize.”

Marcus jumped up, his chair flying back. He hurried around the table, dragged Blair into a bear hug, and kissed him soundly.

Kannon sighed, happily watching the other couple. “Don’t you just love it when things work out?”