“It wasn’t.” Grayson smiled ruefully. “We’re lucky none of us ever shot each other. Dad used to aim at us but—” He broke off.TMI, Grayson.
Keld’s gaze didn’t leave his face. “Your father pointed guns at you?”
Grayson jerked a shoulder. “When he was mad, yeah. Ma did too, a few times. But mostly they just hit us.”
Keld’s hand came to rest on Grayson’s thigh. “I’m sorry you went through that.”
“It is what it is.” Grayson shook his head slightly. He didn’t want to be thinking about his horrific home life on his first vacation with his new boyfriend. “Anyway, it sounds like you had it hard growing up too.”
“You could say that.” Keld’s eyes shifted to the fire, where his teal meat was darkening to a shade of cobalt. Not even Zasia knew about the way he was raised. He didn’t like to broadcast that he was damaged. “She didn’t want me.”
“Then…” Grayson struggled to find the right words. “Do the Mer not have adoption or something?”
“We do. But it’s extremely uncommon, especially since Mer children are so rare. Every couple is trying their hardest to hatch an egg of their own… And very few parents want to surrender their kids.” Keld pulled his skewer from the fire and rotated it in the air absently, letting it cool. “I was taken away at first, before I hatched. Someone reported her for mistreatment of a fertile egg. But once I was out, the Paeil government patted themselves on the back and sent me right back to her.”
Grayson stared at Keld. The Alpha’s jaw clenched and unclenched, the muscles flickering under his scales and fins.
“Why would they do that?” Grayson whispered.
“I hatched,” Keld said flatly. “The population ticked up, and their job was over.”
Grayson placed his hand over Keld’s and squeezed.
The Mer shook himself slightly, as if returning to the present. “What about you? Why didn’t someone come and rescue you?”
Grayson pressed his lips together. Polite reciprocity would dictate that he share his own painful background as Keld had, but he really,reallydidn’t want to.
“It was a small town,” he said shortly. “Everyone knows everyone and family business is family business. No one thought it was their place to get involved.”
Keld let out a low sound, almost a growl. “Sounds like a bullshit excuse.”
“Yeah well.” Grayson sat back, his peppers steaming in the firelight. “Seems like we were both dealt bullshit at the start, but we made it out.” He turned halfway toward Keld and smiled.
“We made it out,” Keld agreed.
They sat together, holding hands and watching the fire dance. The food was even seasoned, Grayson noted as he took a bite of mushroom. Nothing like real camping. He went for a squid next. The creature had been sliced into aesthetic, bite-sized pieces and sprinkled with some kind of herb.
“These are really good,” Grayson said aloud. “How’s your… petri dish meat?”
A familiar smirk returned to Keld’s face. “Delicious. It’s a shame you’ll never experience it.”
“Maybe I will,” Grayson retorted. “When we’re closer to a hospital. Just to be safe.”
“You wouldn’tdie. Probably.”
“Very reassuring, thank you.”
The moon crept higher and higher as they talked, laughed, and avoided any further talk of their pasts. Grayson was impressed by just how much of the food they managed to get through by the time Keld called it a night.
“We can have the rest for breakfast,” the Mer said, rising to his feet with an almighty stretch. “Let’s get some sleep. Or not, up to you.”
“Are all Mer this horny, or is it just you?”
Keld slung an arm around Grayson’s shoulders and ducked into the tent. “Based on every Alpha I’ve met, I think it might be all Mer.”
“Now that I think about it, there are an awful lot of hybrids considering it’s only been like twenty years since the Mermate program started.” Grayson thought back to the previous week at Brighid’s Well, where he’d helped six hybrid children come into the world. It didn’t seem like much, but when he thought about the population of Omegas on Miami…
“Exactly,” Keld agreed. “Trust me, our species didn’t start dying out from lack of trying.”
