Chapter 18
Chapter Eighteen
LILY
Something was different.
I'd known it the moment they pressed the vials into my hands, one amber, one blue-green, both glowing faintly with the witch's magic. Enough scent blocker for a month. Enough swimming potion to last until I made my choice.
When I'd asked what they paid, Kaelan's dark eyes had gone distant. Empty in a way I'd never seen before.
"Nothing you need to worry about," he'd said, his voice gentle but final, a door closing on whatever truth lay behind it.
He was lying.
I floated in the water now, watching them watch me.
It had been three days since they'd returned from the witch, and I still couldn't shake the feeling that something fundamental had changed.
Not in how they treated me—if anything, they were more attentive, more desperate to touch me, more hungry for every moment we spent together.
There were gaps now. Silences that stretched too long. Moments when one of them would reach for something in their memory and come up empty, confusion flickering across their faces before they smoothed it away.
Riven was the worst. I'd catch him staring at me sometimes with this look of devastating loss, like he was mourning something he couldn't name. And when I'd ask what was wrong, he'd just shake his head and pull me closer, burying his face in my hair like he was trying to memorize my scent.
"You're thinking too loud," Vale's voice drifted through the water, teasing and light. He swam lazy circles around me, his silver tail catching the bioluminescent light. "I can practically hear your brain working from here."
"I'm worried," I admitted, my fingers twisting together in front of me. "About what you paid. About—"
"Don't," Kaelan interrupted, appearing beside me. His hand found my waist with practiced ease, steadying me in the current. "Whatever we paid, it was worth it. You're worth it."
"But—" I started, turning to look at him.
"Lily." His voice dropped into that register that made my omega want to bare her throat and submit. Not quite alpha voice, but close. His dark eyes held mine, unwavering. "We made a choice. All of us. And we would make it again a thousand times over."
I wanted to argue. Wanted to demand answers. But Thane chose that moment to surface beside us, his golden-brown eyes bright with excitement, water streaming from his honey-colored hair.
"Swimming lessons," he announced, practically vibrating with enthusiasm. "You promised, remember?"
I hadn't promised anything, but the distraction was welcome. Truthfully, I did need to learn. The potion let me breathe underwater, let me move through the depths without drowning—but I still swam like a human. Clumsy. Slow. Nothing like the fluid grace that came so naturally to them.
"Fine," I said, letting Kaelan's concerned expression fade into the background. "Teach me."
They were patient teachers. More patient than I deserved.
"No, no—you're fighting the current," Thane explained, positioning my arms with careful hands. His touch was gentle but sure, adjusting my posture with the ease of someone who'd been swimming for centuries. "You don't have to push through it. Let it carry you."
"The current is going the wrong direction," I pointed out, already feeling the water tugging me sideways.
"There's no wrong direction," Vale chimed in, appearing on my other side with a graceful flick of his silver tail.
His eyes danced with amusement. "Only opportunities.
Watch." He demonstrated, letting himself drift sideways with the current before flicking his tail at just the right moment, using the water's own momentum to propel himself forward and up. It looked effortless. Beautiful.
I tried to copy him. Failed spectacularly. Riven caught me before I could spiral into a cluster of phosphorescent jellyfish, his scarred arms wrapping around my waist and pulling me back against his chest.
"You're overthinking it," he rumbled against my ear, his breath warm on my skin. "Stop thinking. Just feel."
"Easy for you to say," I twisted in his grip to look at him, at the lattice of scars that mapped his face. "You've been doing this for centuries."
"You've been breathing air your whole life," he countered, his golden eyes intent on my face, cataloging every expression. "But you adapted to the water in days. You're not as fragile as you think."
Something warm bloomed in my chest at his words. Riven didn't offer praise lightly—every compliment felt like it had been dragged out of him by force. The fact that he was saying this, looking at me like I was something remarkable instead of something broken...
"Again," Kaelan said, his voice cutting through the moment. He was hovering nearby, arms crossed over his broad chest, watching my progress with the intensity of someone evaluating a tactical situation. "This time, don't anticipate. React."
I took a breath I didn't need and tried again. By the time the lesson ended, I'd managed to use the current exactly twice without embarrassing myself. Not exactly a triumph, but Thane was beaming at me like I'd conquered the entire ocean.
"You're a natural," he said, pride glowing in his golden-brown eyes like sunrise through honey.
"You say that about everything I do," I pointed out, unable to suppress my smile at his enthusiasm.
"Because it's true about everything you do," he insisted, swimming closer until his hand found mine underwater. His fingers laced through mine, warm and sure. "You're perfect, Lily. Every single thing about you is perfect."
My face heated. Even after everything—the kisses, the scenting, the braiding—their devotion still caught me off guard sometimes. I'd spent so long being told I was valuable only for what I could provide. A womb. A bond. A price tag.
They looked at me like I was valuable just for existing.
"Come," Kaelan said, his hand settling on my lower back and guiding me deeper into the garden. "You need to rest. And eat."
"I'm not hungry," I protested, though my stomach chose that moment to betray me with a small growl.
"You're always hungry," Riven said, appearing on my other side, bracketing me between them. His scarred lips quirked in something that was almost a smile. "You just don't like admitting it."
He wasn't wrong. My body was still adjusting to life underwater, and my appetite had become unpredictable—ravenous one moment, nonexistent the next. Admitting weakness, admitting need... that was still hard. Even with them.
"There's a thermal vent nearby," Vale said, swimming ahead with an elegant twist of his silver tail. His voice had that particular quality it got when he was planning something. "The fish there are excellent. I caught some earlier."
"You caught them," Riven repeated flatly, his golden eyes narrowing with suspicion. "Or you sang them into your hands?"
"Is there a difference?" Vale asked, glancing back over his shoulder with an innocent expression that fooled no one.
"One requires effort," Riven pointed out.
"Effort is overrated," Vale dismissed with an airy wave of his hand. "Besides, Lily likes my singing."
"Lily likes everything about us," Thane said happily, swimming alongside us with a dreamy expression. "She told me so."
"I said I liked your eyes," I corrected, though I was smiling despite myself. "That's not the same as everything."
"It's close enough," Riven said, his tail brushing against my legs as we swam—casual, possessive, constant. "You're ours. That means you like us." The logic was absurd. It was also somehow impossible to argue with.
Night in the deep ocean was different from night on the surface. There was no true darkness here, but there was a shift, a settling. The creatures around us changed their patterns, some waking while others drifted into sleep. The temperature dropped slightly. The currents slowed.
My sirens pressed closer.
We'd settled in a hollow near the garden, surrounded by softly glowing coral and kelp that swayed like curtains in the gentle current.
They'd arranged themselves around me in what I was starting to recognize as their default configuration—Kaelan at my back, Riven pressed against my side, Vale and Thane taking turns being close enough to touch.
It should have felt suffocating. Instead, it felt like safety.
"Tell me about your scars," I said into the quiet, my voice soft in the stillness. Riven went still beside me. I felt the tension ripple through his body, felt the others shift in response.
"You don't have to," I added quickly, reaching out to touch his arm. "I just—I want to know you. All of you. The good parts and the bad parts."
Silence stretched between us. Long enough that I thought he wouldn't answer.
Then he spoke. "I got them protecting the pack." His voice was rough, scraped raw with memory. His golden eyes stared at something I couldn't see. I turned slightly in Kaelan's arms so I could see Riven's face—the lattice of white lines that mapped his skin, the way they caught the faint light.
"There was another pack," he continued, his jaw tight. "Centuries ago. They wanted our territory. Our hunting grounds." A muscle ticked in his jaw. "They came for us in the night. Thought they could take us by surprise."
"What happened?" I whispered, my hand tightening on his arm.
"I killed them," he said, simple and brutal and honest. His claws extended slightly, then retracted. "All of them. But not before they—" He gestured at his face, his chest, the scars that covered so much of him. "This is what they left behind."
"You saved us," Thane said, his voice thick with old emotion, tears already gathering in his golden-brown eyes. "You fought them alone while we escaped. We found you afterward, barely alive, floating in a cloud of your own blood."
"I healed," Riven said, his golden eyes finding mine. Something vulnerable flickered in their depths. "Eventually."