Page 25 of Where the Current Takes Him (Mermate #1)

Loriun

T he sun was needlessly bright at this time of day.

Loriun’s heavy tail dragged behind him in the silvery sand as he and Beau made their way to the dock.

Beau was shouldering a tote bag containing clothes for Loriun to don upon arrival in Gainesville.

He’d determined that showing up to meet his mate’s mother soaking wet was a poor decision, though the idea of dripping all over Ashford Montgomery’s perfect floors had been appealing.

Waiting in the shallows was an older Mer with deep emerald scales that gave way to satin black. Loriun had seen him before, but had never been properly introduced. His Omega, a grinning, sun-darkened man in a captain’s hat, intercepted Beau with a hug.

“It’s so good to see you, Beau,” the older man said. His dark eyes scanned Loriun from head to toe. “Mighty fine-looking Mer you’ve got there.”

“Why yes, I suppose he is,” Beau replied, casting a mischievous look his way. “Loriun, this is Jaime, Jaime, Loriun.”

Loriun shook Jaime’s hand, who then shooed him off to the water.

“Loriun Kolhn?” the dark Mer said, flaring his ear fins politely. “I’m Vuos Seyser, Jaime’s mate.”

“Pleasure to meet you.” The business-like response was automatic. Loriun hastily opened his own ear fins in return. He’d been spending too much time around humans.

“Jaime and I have been a little worried about Beau,” Vuos commented. His black tail fins swayed in the water behind him. “He was having some trouble adjusting, I hear. He was quite nervous on his first day.”

“Well, that makes two of us.” Loriun glanced back at Beau. “Truthfully, I showed up to the restaurant two hours in advance.”

Vuos rumbled a laugh. “Seems like it all worked out in the end.” His bottle green eyes settled on Loriun’s left shoulder, where broken scales marked him as Beau’s mate. Loriun slapped a hand over it reflexively.

“Shark attack,” he blurted out. “One of the little ones.”

Vuos’s mouth widened into a grin. “If you say so.”

From the wooden dock, Jaime called out, “You boys ready? Sure you don’t want to ride with the eye candy in the boat?” He winked at his mate.

Vuos snorted. “Over my beached carcass.”

Loriun leaned over to the other Alpha. “What’s eye candy?”

Vuos just laughed and gestured toward the waves. Together, they launched into the open sea, skirting Jaime’s cobalt blue speedboat as it maneuvered from the dock.

“Did you do your stretches, Loriun?” Jaime asked, grinning over the side of the boat.

Loriun blinked back, perplexed.

“He means, ‘Can you keep up,’ ” Vuos translated.

His confusion transmuted into indignation. “Of course I can keep—”

The engine roared to life, drowning out his voice.

“Good!” Jaime yelled. Without another word, the Omega launched the boat into a full tilt.

Beside him, the other Mer plunged beneath the resulting waves. Loriun hastened to follow, whipping his tail through the cooling water and propelling himself through the sea.

He and Vuos swam in silence, all their energy focused on keeping pace with the boat above, leaving no time to fret over what Ashford may or may not say at this meeting.

The last time he’d been face to face with the man, it had ended in a threat.

Though Beau was mated to him now, and couldn’t simply run away, he could still certainly be upset with his Mer mate.

After an hour, as much as Loriun didn’t want to admit it, he was tiring. He was built to slice through water, but he was not a machine. Vuos, on the other hand, didn’t even appear winded.

Maybe I should spend less time sitting on my tail in the office.

The muscles in his back and tail burned with exertion. He watched Vuos breach the surface and sail into the air before gliding back into the water.

“How do you have the energy to do that?” Loriun wheezed. His underwater voice did not require air, but did need significantly more force from his vocal chords.

Vuos glanced back. “I’ve been making this trip nearly every day for the last five years. Better than any strength training program.”

“In that case, I think I might need to purchase Beau a speedboat.” Loriun sucked in another lungful of water. “I feel like a nymph, fresh out of the egg.”

“You’re always welcome to join me and my mate.” Vuos flipped over onto his back in what Loriun felt was an unnecessary show of athleticism. “I bet I can have you in prime condition in a month flat.”

Loriun hauled another pull of seawater into his burning gills. “I may just take you up on that.”

It would be helpful in fleeing after knocking his mate’s father on his ass.

∞∞∞

Loriun had never seen a human near death. He assumed they would resemble aged Mer—scarred, missing scales, tattered fins, but proud and strong nonetheless.

Ileana Montgomery was neither of those things.

She lay in a hospital bed, poorly concealed by the comforts of home.

A small team of hospice nurses attended to her, and her husband was never more than a call away.

Yet her once-bronze skin had taken on a grayish tinge, and her thin, human bones protruded through even thinner skin.

A magnificent silk scarf was wrapped tightly around her head, likely shielding a bald head from prying eyes.

“ Mamá ,” Beau choked. He rushed toward her, gathering her frail frame into his arms. Ileana’s eyes squeezed shut over her son’s shoulder.

“Oh, I’ve missed you so much, mijo .”

Despite the decline of her body, her gaze was sharp as it landed on Loriun. He instinctively contracted his fins even closer, trying to appear as human as possible.

“And this must be Loriun.”

Beau took a step back and tugged Loriun forward. “Yes, Mamá , this is my Alpha, Loriun.”

At the sound of the words “my Alpha,” a flood of warmth eased its way through his tense muscles. Beau sounded… proud. Proud to be mated to Loriun, not that his parents knew that little detail just yet.

“Loriun.” Ileana’s accent carried a trill. “It’s wonderful to finally meet you.” She stretched her skeletal hands toward him.

He bent down, allowing the woman to embrace him. “It is wonderful to meet you as well.” Loriun returned the squeeze as gently as he could. It felt as though one wrong move might shatter her.

Ileana planted her hands on his shoulders and pushed him back, looking over his features with a mother’s keen eye.

“You’ve made a good choice, Beau. Such a handsome Mer.”

Loriun’s mouth curved into a soft smile.

“I think so too,” Beau said, turning bright eyes on his Alpha.

The sound of the door handle caught everyone’s attention, and Ashford Montgomery stepped through. A minute coal of anger began to burn in Loriun’s stomach. Ashford beamed at his wife, as if she were the same beautiful, vivacious woman he’d known before the cancer claimed her.

“Mi amor,” he said, sweeping in and dropping a kiss on her cheek. “?Cómo te sientes?”

“Todo está bien,” she replied, holding a hand to his face. “Say hello to our guest.”

Ashford turned, as if just noticing Loriun and Beau at his wife’s bedside. “Ah, Loriun, isn’t it?”

“Um—”

“It’s good to finally meet my son’s partner in person,” Ashford said, sticking out a hand.

His voice was jovial, but his cold eyes told another story.

So he was playing it this way. Some basal part of Loriun wanted to drag the man to the depths of the sea, like a siren from the old human legends.

Fortunately, his species had evolved beyond that. Barely.

“Nice to meet you, too,” Loriun replied, shaking Ashford’s hand. There was a slight possibility that his grip was just a bit too tight.

Beau raised a brow at the low-pitched tone of his mate’s voice.

Be nice, Loriun.

“Oh, Ashford, don’t they look wonderful together?” Ileana said. Her worn face was brightened in a smile.

“They certainly do, mi vida .” Ashford settled on a chair near his wife’s bed and took her hand in his. Loriun was surprised to see a tiny spark light up the politician’s dead eyes. At least there seemed to be one person he cared for.

“Tell me, Loriun, what do you do for work?” Ileana asked, gesturing to another set of chairs nearby.

“I am the co-founder of a desalination plant,” he answered, settling back into the chair. It gave a threatening creak, clearly not built for his 6’8” stature. “These days, we mostly assist in the construction and maintenance of human desalination plants on the mainland.”

“You seem quite young to be the founder of such a big operation.” Ileana squinted at him. “Then again, I never did get the hang of guessing Mer age.”

Loriun laughed. “I am thirty-three. I was very fortunate to come along at the right time. My riue —my mother was trained as an engineer. She was very invested in improving relations with the humans, so she proposed a project that might put us in their good graces.”

“Is your mother, by chance, Zicoi Koame?” Ashford asked, leaning in.

“Yes.” Loriun met the man’s eyes begrudgingly. He disliked the sound of his riue’s name on this bipedal lizard’s lips. “You know of her?”

Ashford gave an exaggerated chuckle. “Of course! The inventor of the desalination technology we use today. I had no idea she was your mother.”

If Loriun had to guess, he’d put money on Ashford knowing exactly who his mother was. Why else would he have targeted Loriun to sell off his son? There were plenty of Alphas in Paeil, many with useful contacts and influence.

Loriun cleared his throat. “Well, her efforts weren’t initially well-received.

Mer have no use for fresh water, so the technology did not exist prior to my mother’s pet project.

She never had much of an interest in the business side of things, so when I completed my education, I took over her small startup and began making the connections necessary to share her technology with the humans. ”

Beau was watching Loriun with round eyes. “You never told me about this.”

Loriun reached over to stroke his arm. “Business makes for dull conversation.”

“I must strongly disagree,” Ashford said genially. “Quite a family you come from, son. What about your father, then?”

“He was a stay-at-home father. He was only twenty-three years old when he became pregnant with me. Though Mer are only pregnant for roughly two months, tending to a Mer egg is a full-time job for quite a while afterwards.” Loriun felt stiff.

Awkward. Nothing like the warm, loving atmosphere of his parents’ dinner table.

Ileana’s lips parted. “You said when he became pregnant…?”

Loriun’s scales tightened—a defensive instinct. “Yes. My father is an Omega, and my mother an Alpha.”

Ileana glanced over at her husband. “I see. Is that a common family arrangement?”

Beau answered before Loriun could open his mouth. “It’s less common, kind of like gay families for humans. Nothing wrong with it.”

Loriun eyed his mate to see those sweet, soft brown eyes blazing in defiance.

“Of course there’s nothing wrong with it,” Ileana said in a soothing voice. “You’ll have to forgive our ignorance, Loriun. We—well. I haven’t had the fortune of spending much time with Mer.”

Loriun forced a smile. “No apologies needed, Mrs. Montgomery.”

“Oh, don’t be silly. Call me Ileana. We’re family now, after all.” Her thin face was gentle, and her eyes held the warmth her husband’s lacked. “Hearing about your people is a lovely distraction from all this.” She gestured at the wires and machinery surrounding her hospital bed.

Ashford’s mask slipped, just a bit. A flash of pain washed over his features as he gazed down at his wife. “ Amor, you know I will do whatever it takes to make you happy here. Just say the word.”

Ileana reached up to place a hand on her husband’s face. “I know, Ashford. I didn’t mean it that way. I’m as happy as a woman in my position could be.” Her gaze turned toward her son. “Especially now that our boy is here.”

Loriun thought there was a shimmer in his Omega’s eyes as he leaned in to embrace his mother.

“I promise, I’ll come visit all the time. Right, Dad?” he asked, narrowing his eyes up at his father.

“Of course, Beaumont,” Ashford proclaimed. Loriun noticed he used the politician voice when he was lying. “Speaking of family, have you thought about children?”