Chapter 25
Storm
Sinta
“What took you guys so long?” Rapid demands, then gets distracted by me in a towel.
“Damn.” He drawls, biting his luscious bottom lip. “Any chance I could convince you to give me a peak?”
Elijah growls and whacks the back of his head.
“Kidding, kidding!” Rapid pleads.
I laugh when Elijah threatens to wack him again.
“What is Elijah supposed to be telling me?” I ask, feeling strangely comfortable standing there in only my underwear and a towel.
It wasn’t really any different from going to the beach and wearing a bikini with a beach towel.
If I owned a bikini. I was living on an island with beaches and had no swimwear.
Frowning with the thought, I realised I’d have to rectify that.
“We’re going Storm Swimming!” Rapid exclaims.
“Well, correction, we go Storm Swimming all the time – we get a lot of them out here. But we thought you might want to come with us?” Elijah explains.
“Seriously? How do you do that?”
“We catch a ride out into the ocean, where the storm will sit before it comes over the island, we wait until the rain hits, and we jump in. The weather turns the sea so violent the waves can be like ten feet high!” Rapid exclaims, beyond excited. “It’s amazing. Gives you a huge high to ride one or get dragged under.”
“That sounds extremely dangerous.” I point out after a moment.
“Normally, yes.” Elijah agrees. “But Rapid is –”
“I’m a Kraken.” Rapid blurts, grinning.
I couldn’t be more surprised if you’d shocked me with a cattle prod.
“As in, ‘release the Kraken!’ and ‘Davey Jones’s pet’?” I demand – referencing ‘Clash of the Titans’ and ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’.
Elijah snorts a laugh, clamping a hand over his mouth.
Worried I might have offended him, I study Rapid’s expression and am relieved to find only a huge grin and laughing eyes.
“Gods, I love me a girl with great taste in movies.” He sighs. “Almost, but not quite. I’m about as big as the one in Clash of the Titans, but I look nothing like it. I have tentacles on my lower body, my form is more stream-lined like a Chinese dragon, and I have two front legs. I also have a beak, with rows of serrated teeth further down my throat. I’m prettier too – I can glow in the dark.” He brags with an absurd eyebrow wiggle.
I couldn’t have held in my giggle if I tried.
“Well that certainly sounds impressive.” I tell him, more than interested and dying to sketch out the image he’d painted in my head. “I can’t say I’ve ever met a Kraken Shifter before. What an honour.” I tease.
He dips into a dramatic bow with a wink.
“Point is,” Elijah continues, rolling his eyes. “If we get into any trouble out there, Rapid has water magic and he can shift if we really need to bail. So, it’s as safe as it can be.”
“What about sharks? And Orcas?”
“I’m bigger than them. They sense me and automatically stay away.” Rapid brags.
I nod, soaking that all up. “It sounds like an awesome experience, but I have a big problem.”
Both guys give me an intense, inquiring look. Like they’re willing to do anything to fix the situation.
I wanted to laugh at their weird intensity but managed to hold it in.
“I don’t own swimwear.” I admit.
Rapid reacts like I’ve shot him, stumbling back with a dramatic gasp.
Elijah just looks a little confused.
“What do you swim in?” Rapid demands.
I shrug. “I don’t really swim. I’ve never had a lot of time for it – in school they provided a one-piece suit with the uniform, but you had to give that back when you graduated.”
Why I’d had to return a swim suit I’ll never understand – second-hand swimmers were gross.
“And isn’t it a bit too cold, anyway?”
“You’ll get over that once you’re in the water.” He dismisses. “We need to take you shopping. This cannot stand, we have a pool in the backyard and everything! You need swimmers.”
“That’ll have to wait until tomorrow. The campus shops would be closed by now.” Elijah mutters.
“I have some old clothes – a thread-bare shirt and some old exercise pants. I can just swim in them.” I muse.
“Or you can go naked.” Rapid flirts, sidling up to my side. “We promise to behave.”
I didn’t believe him for a second. That wicked grin on his face was the epitome of everything naughty.
“Rapid.” Elijah warns.
I reach up and flick him on the nose, tsking. “Put it away, horn dog. And get out so I can change.”
“Don’t bother showering – the ocean will wash away the blood.” Elijah suggests and hooks a hand around Rapid’s neck, towing him towards the door.
“But I want to stay.” Rapid whines.
“No.” Elijah growls.
“Be good, and I might let you nap with me tomorrow.” I tell him.
I’d liked sketching while he napped yesterday – loved it. I wouldn’t mind doing it again.
“Naked nap?” He purrs.
I glare at him, and he laughs like a hyena, but the smile he gives me is softer.
“We’ll be downstairs!” Elijah calls and shuts my bedroom door behind them.
Shaking my head, I backtrack into the bathroom when my phone goes off and dig it out of my jeans.
It was a text notification. From my foster parents.
Staring at it, I feel like I’m a video stuck trying to load. Why the hell would they contact me? They made it clear they had absolutely no interest in associating with me any longer.
And….. I hadn’t given them my new number. Only Aletha.
My mood suddenly dark and cloudy, I swipe away the notification without reading it and go about finding some old clothes.
I couldn’t find the exercise shorts, I must have thrown them out, so an old pair of black boy shorts would have to do.
Paired with a thin black cotton bra and a t-shirt littered with holes, it was the best I could find.
Jogging down the stairs I find the guys still gathered around the centre island, still chattering away but not as…. Bouncy.
Taking in the subtle tense feeling to the room, I direct my gaze straight to Tomashi.
He's already looking at me – his sharp eyes condemning my outfit. “Where is your swimsuit?”
“Missing in action.” I smart off, glaring right back at him.
His brow furrows. “What kind of weirdo doesn’t own a bikini?”
“Are you mad I don’t own a bikini, or mad you don’t get to see me in one?” I counter smoothly, wedging myself between Elijah and Fade – Tomashi across from me.
I can’t tell if he’s shocked I said that or angry I’m even talking to him.
“Why the fuck would I want to see some weak ass Snake Shifter in a bikini?” He snaps. “Maybe if I wanted to be sick to my stomach.”
That hurt way more than it should’ve, and I hate it.
“Then don’t.” I growl, turning to go back upstairs. “You guys have fun.”
“Woah, Sinta, hold it.” Rapid calls. “Mashi, come on, man. You promised you’d reign it in.”
“I did. I asked her a simple fucking question.” He growls. “She’s the one that turned it into a bitch fight.”
“Calling her weak didn’t help.” Fade snaps. “And neither did insinuating she was ugly.”
“I didn’t fucking say she was ugly.”
“As good as.” Fade sighs, shaking his head. “Play nice, or don’t play at all. Both of you.” He says with one hell of a side-eye in my direction.
“He’d be lucky to see me in a bikini.” I huff.
“Trust me, I’ll be the first to beg for that sight.” Rapid declares. “But you two are like fire and gasoline. One wrong move and you both blow – just cool it, okay? We’re gonna go have fun and relax and you two are going to learn to get along better for all our sakes. Please?” He adds when neither I nor Tomashi look convinced.
I mean, I knew he and I were a bit explosive. Similar tempers in a confined space can do that. But he was also an asshole that hadn’t liked me from the start.
He'd thrown the first grenade.
“I’d really like to not be in a warzone because two of my roommates don’t get along.” Elijah agrees.
That softens me more.
In their shoes, imagining the discomfort I’d feel if two of them weren’t getting along, it gave me some much-needed perspective.
Not enough to suddenly like the arrogant son of an Empress.
But enough to call a ceasefire.
For now.
“I can be nice.” I murmur.
Tomashi snorts.
I bristle, teeth clenching.
“Mashi.” Rapid tuts.
Looking like he was on his way to the dentist with a bad case of diarrhoea, the male gives a stiff incline of his head.
“Words.” Rapid coughs.
“I will treat the little female nicely.” He grits out.
The temptation to demand he uses my name, not ‘little female’, is almost overwhelming.
But I promised I’d be nice.
So I settle for engaging in a fiery stare off instead.
“Excellent.” Fade drawls.
“Can we go now?” Rapid demands, but he’s already halfway to the door with a towel slung over his shoulder.
“Isn’t it raining?” I call out to him.
“Yes.” Elijah chuckles and holds out a raincoat for me to shrug into.
I do so and then take the towel he extends and shove it into the coat, zipping it closed.
They all put on their own coats and proceed to lead the way out of the House.
“Are we going to the dock?” I ask as we step out into the rain, pulling the hood up.
“No.” Fade answers. “We’re going to the cliffs.”