“Do you have a death wish?” I say, slapping a fake, cold smile on my face before Bay kicks my ass. She hates when we fight more than anything.
I shove his hand off me. “You’re here because wemightneed you. Do I need to worry about your damn mouth once we get there, too?”
“Chill, cugì. I’m just joking,” he huffs, pulling off his shirt.
Bay grabs it from him before he can even toss it and starts folding it into the bag along with mine.
“Just get in the water already,” I say through my teeth as I exhale. “Quick.”
He doesn’t argue now. I watch him and Bay finish undressing and stash the bag deep behind the rock.
Alessio runs into the waves first, always the first to dive into things. Bay stays back, her gaze fixed on me like she’s about to say something I won’t want to hear.
Great.
“Malec,” she says, stepping closer. “Can’t you just get along with your cousin for five fucking minutes? It’s not that hard to be nice.”
I blink once. Twice.
She’s serious?
“You thinkI’mthe problem? Your son has the biggest, most irresponsible mouth I’ve ever met in my short life.”
I turn toward the ocean, ignoring the sigh I know is forming behind me.
“You better shut up—”
“No, I’m not—”
“Stop it!” Bay snaps.
I smirk to myself at her sudden argument with Myko. At least he’s on my side. He always says Alessio’s just a younger version of Pedro, mouth and all.
If that was my uncle back in the day… my aunt really did society a favor taming him.
I run into the waves, Bay’s argument fading behind me as the ocean swallows me whole. My legs shift as I dive, transforminginto the silver tail that will never let me forget who I am—what I carry.
The marks etched along my scales burn faintly, humming with the Coral’s weight. I don’t know why it chose me, why it rebirthed through a baby. Nothing in my life makes actual sense—not above the surface, and definitely not down here.
On land, it’s ego, money, power.
In the ocean, it’s strategy, balance, survival.
But lately, I’m drowning in both.
“Took you long enough,” Alessio says, surfacing beside me with his royal blue tail flashing through the water. When it dips down, his red hair fans behind him like a flare with the current.
I roll my eyes and glance toward the shore, waiting for Bay.
“Your mom’s fighting with Myko. Let’s wait a second.”
Alessio’s gills flare with impatience. “And you say I’m the problematic one?”
For the first time today, I laugh. Deep. Genuine.
“Takes one to know one.”
He flicks his tail toward me without warning, and I dart back just in time to avoid it slamming into my ribs. A good hit from a male’s tail feels like getting crushed by a boulder—power wrapped in muscle and bone.
