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I needed blood, but in my injured state, I had taken too much from Storm. These men needed a lot of rare steaks, and several days to rest and recover from nearly being drained dry less than forty-eight hours before.
I wasn’t sure what I was going to do. What I had taken from Storm had stopped the bleeding, but the damage to my body was still very much there. Lokene had made it clear he didn’t want to bond yet.
I thought about my merman. I wasn’t sure he was going to be keen on sharing his blood when it meant he would be weak. I may be a Siren instead of a mermaid, but I recognized the same animalistic traits in them I saw in myself. The sea was wild and untamed, and that was the nature we carried inside ourselves. I looked across the smooth surface of the water. Where was my merman?
“Lokene wanted to come. He was frustrated and said he could not risk it since he would want to intervene. Zeno came with us, but he disappeared the moment we were on the surface,” Eason spoke, having caught my swift glance around for my two missing mates.
Kye leaned over the edge of the boat nearest me. Reaching out, he brushed his knuckles across my bruised face, careful to not apply pressure or hurt me. “We thought he came to find you.”
I shook my head. “No, I haven’t seen him.” Closing my eyes, I searched for the pull. If he was near enough, I should be able to locate him. I found him on the edge of my mental reach. Why would he not stay with my other mates? “He is out there. I feel him.”
I pressed my head against Kye’s warm hand, enjoying the skin-to-skin contact.
“Now that your bleeding has stopped, we need to get you somewhere safe. I don’t like you out in the open like this.” Eason, ever watchful, looked around us worriedly.
The problem was we didn’t know where to go from here. I could swim to Atlantis, they could not. The men could go to shore and find a hotel, but dragging a beat-up mermaid with them was likely to raise some eyebrows.
“I say we head back to where Lokene teleported us and to where we last saw Zeno.” I smiled, enjoying the sexy way Storm’s chest rumbled against my cheek as he spoke.
We agreed, and Storm made his way back into the boat, turning to help me up. I shook my head. While I could be on land for periods of time, I just wasn’t the most comfortable there. At least, not while I was in this form.
“I will stay beside the boat, but I prefer to make my way there myself.” My hands slid beneath the surface of the water, reaching out for my calmly circling and ever-present friend.
“You’re in no condition to swim—” Fynn started. He stopped when Sheba’s dorsal fin breached the water’s surface.
I watched as their eyes widened, and they held their breath. Fear. Or was that awe? Either would be a very human response, not only to the fact that she was a shark but also that her massive size made her a queen among sharks.
I laughed at their identical expressions of horror and awe… All except for Fynn. He looked jealous. I knew he had enjoyed his time traveling with Sheba and me.
“I’m not planning to swim back. My mother didn’t raise an idiot.” There is no way I would make it to shore, but as long as Sheba helped me, I would eventually get there. The best part was that I could stay in the water where I was more comfortable.
The men didn’t argue, although their looks remained markedly uncomfortable. I couldn’t tell if it was from Sheba’s presence or being separated from me. They turned the boat in the direction of the rock outcropping, and with a sigh, I suctioned myself to Sheba, preparing for the long trip back.
* * *
The sky had turneda beautiful pastel pink from the rising sun when the vibrations from a boat engine in the distance caught my attention.
I let go of Sheba and surfaced near my mates’ small boat. Grabbing the wooden side, I clung to it, partially lifting myself out of the water so I could speak with them.
“There’s a boat coming. It’s a decently large boat, if the vibrations are anything to go by,” I started, getting straight to the point.
Eason looked at Storm. “What’s the plan? If they saw the explosion and are looking for the cause, then we are going to need a reason to be out here.”
The men spent the next several minutes creating a story in case the approaching boat was a patrol ship. Although, based on the information Lokene had given us regarding Atlantis, and its position on the seafloor beneath the waves, there shouldn’t be any patrol ships in this area. While the men created a plan, I watched as a tiny speck appeared on the horizon, slowly growing nearer.
The boat was coming from the direction of the rock outcropping, although the rocks were still too far away to see with the naked eye. A thread of worry weaved its way through me. There had only been the one vessel in the cove when I began my hunt the night before. What was this ship doing in the area? Was Kosta okay? Had the unknown ship found her?
Letting go of the side of the small dinghy, I let my body sink below the surface of the water until only the top of my head and eyes remained visible. As the ship neared, I could see it was a luxury vessel, what the humans call a yacht. Why would anyone bring a yacht into an area where they believed there were sea monsters?
It relieved me that it was not a patrol vessel and that no one seemed to be searching for the two men I had executed just hours before.
My heart warmed as the bond glowed in my mind.
Interesting.
Zeno was getting closer. Was he following the yacht?
I moved behind the tiny boat, wanting to watch the approaching ship without being seen in the early morning light. My plan to stay hidden didn’t last long when I saw who was standing on the deck, though.
