Page 154 of Storm and Sea

“It’s not him!” he shouted to the empty beach.

This was a human. A creature of earth and rock, poisoning the sea and taking without remorse. They had to be eradicated. All of them. These humans needed to remember who the sea belonged to. Nephi raised a fist, intent on smashing the outline of Leo’s hand. But as his hand descended, a memory flashed.

Delicate fair skin.

Tight platinum curls and silver eyes.

Ludo was never scared of him. Never feared him the way Nephi tried to make everyone fear him. Ludo saw through his facade.

“I see what you are not willing to see within yourself,” Ludo said, the ghost of his memory so sharp he could have been right there on the beach.

But that was a memory. And they had been on a different beach. A long time ago.

“You see what you want to see,” Nephi had replied.

“I don’t think so,” Ludomir said, his blond eyelashes fluttering. “You protect me every time we venture on shore.”

“Monsters make good bodyguards.”

“So you keep insisting.”

Then Ludo’s voice changed. It became a tapestry of sound, echoing as if many voices spoke at once, yet remaining one. It wove into the hairline cracks of the mind, planting hooks before pulling the strings taught—a puppeteer taking control over those who listened, turning them into his marionettes. A true siren of the sea.

It vibrated in Nephi’s ear canal, echoing long after the words were spoken. It was the voice that lured humans to a watery grave. That broke through willpower and bent the mind to Ludo’s every whim—an unchallenged weapon.

Ludo leaned in as he spoke, his presence as compelling as his words. His body, every movement and gesture, was as much a tool as his voice—a silent, magnetic call that demanded attention. This was Ludo’s greatest weapon. He was a seductionist of the highest order, a master of weaving desire and vulnerability into an inescapable net. With nothing more than a look or the hum of a melody, he could unravel secrets and coax truths to the surface, no matter how deeply they lay buried.

But this wasn’t for himself. It was for the Pod. Everything he did, every calculated act of allure, was for their survival, their goals. It wasn’t what Ludo wanted. And Nephi knew that. He saw it in the flicker of hesitation behind Ludo’s polished performance, in the subtle cracks that only someone who truly knew him would notice.

Nephi’s neck stiffened, his head throbbing with the ache of staying away. He wouldn’t succumb to Ludo’s song.

“I told you not to use that on me.”

Ludo’s voice regained its normalcy. “Yet you see my point? Most other Mer would have pounced on me. Used me to fulfill their heart’s desire. Why do you hold back?”

“Because that’s not you.”

The edge of Ludo’s eye crinkled in that all-knowing look he always carried. “I’ve met many monsters. And monsters don’t take my desires into account.”

Yet Nephi had. He’d watched Ludo for years. He could tell when Ludo genuinely wanted something versus when he was playing the role of seductionist. But Nephi would never take from this male, as others had. If Nephi were going to have him, it would only be because Ludo truly wanted it.

Wanted him.

That day never came. Ludo had seen too many violent nights. Felt too many brutal hands to ever want the touch of another. Not in that way. Nephi understood that and still remained by his side. A lover in a way that transcended the need for physical expression. Ludo was the sun. He was daylight and warmth. He was every missing piece in Nephi’s fractured soul. He was the day and Nephi the night. With Ludo by his side, he wasn’t just the dark—he was whole.

Now, Nephi was fragmented. Warped and damn right unrecognizable. Even Ludo had never seen him with the scars. Never seen his deformities rise to the surface.

Leo had.

And he wasn’t scared of me.

But that wasn’t enough to make up for the sins of mankind, and Nephi knew it. This human was dangerous. Maybe Leo was dangerous because he lacked fear. Because he didn’t shrink away from the danger Nephi posed.

I’ll show him what kind of a monster I am.

He crushed the sand beneath his palm, erasing all signs that Leo was ever there. Nephi was a diabolical fiend, born of the ocean and ready to kill anything that walked upon the land. Humans and Mer were enemies, plain and simple. And Nephi never let his enemies live once they were at his mercy.

He stood resolute in his conviction.