Chapter 6
Grayson
Fuck me. They’re holding her captive in a seabed apartment like a common criminal.
The hallway down the podlet corridor, the one away from the main podbedroom, lacks light.
Though it’s clean and there’s no smell of saltwater.
I brush the back of my hand against the wall and test it—it’s dry. “Your aunt is with Zion now?”
“Yes, they’re back here,” Annabelle says. There’s a trail of her mates behind us. She stops outside of a door and crosses her arms over her chest. “You don’t all need to come in.” She’s talking to the four brutes behind me. Though I remember being overprotective like her mates when I was younger.
Eros brushes past me. “I should check the dressing on his wound.”
But his mate juts her arm out. “Aunt Blair asked me to keep the lot of you out of the room. You’re sucking the life out of it.” Eros scoffs and gestures to his mate. “Aunt Blair’s words. Not mine. But I get what she’s referring to. Grayson here will take Zion home.”
I round my lips and suck them into my mouth. I don’t think any of them notice, though. Because the message I got from Zion said he most certainly didn’t want to come home. In fact, he wants me to lie for him and say he can’t be moved yet.
I glance back at the three other mates blocking the way back to the living room.
Yeah, there’s not much I’m going to say that they’ll believe.
Unless his leg is about to fall off, I should be able to take him home.
Although, Poseidon, I’d like to keep the pest out of the apartment for a few days.
And it would give us all more time to be able to see how we mesh with Blair.
I don’t like rushing her, but there’s plenty of other pods who will soon announce their intentions to her.
“I’ll do a thorough exam and assess whether he’s ready to go home. ”
“He’s ready,” Nico grunts.
Annabelle drops her hands and opens the door. “Grayson’s a doctor and Zion’s pod mate; why don’t we let him decide what’s best for Zion?”
“He’s a Bureaucratic Barnacle,” Nico says. It’s something people usually whisper, not shout, at me. But I’ve heard Nico doesn’t hold back his opinions.
“I’m a physician. A physician who’s been trying to outlaw the use of Arg-leth for years.
” Arg-leth is a poison that slowly kills those about to be exiled.
One that Nico had a hard time with. “And I’m sorry I haven’t been able to do it.
” I straighten my spine. It’s a shortcoming, something I’ll fix.
“You’re right. I’ve been in the administration, but I’m still a physician. ”
“He’s a doctor. He’s even got the bag.” Annabelle steps out of my way. Her mates don’t say anything, but their disdain settles onto my shoulders.
I hold my bag up.
“Bag?” someone grunts behind me.
I ignore it and step into the small room, and an olfactory wave of warm peaches sends a shudder through me. Blair stands at the side of the bed. Zion’s dark hair points in all directions. As he’s prone to be, he’s tunic-less.
In the corner, Blair’s daughter sits in a small chair. She stands as I move to the foot of the bed. “If you need me, Mom, I’ll be in my room.” She nods to me on her way out.
“Grayson?” Blair smiles at me. And I can’t stop my heart from giving a big thump. She knows my name. “Zion said you’d come and check out my handiwork.” She inclines her head at the bandage on Zion’s leg.
I nod. Of course Zion told her I was coming.
I extend my hand as Alexei taught us the other day.
He keeps throwing human things at us. Handshakes, food they like, how to talk—or rather not talk.
It really doesn’t help that he’s acting like we’re his pupils.
But it’s interesting. I’ve never really taken to cultural studies.
“Oh, a handshake.” Blair takes my hand in hers.
Her fingers clasp around mine, and electricity zips through me from my toes up to my head.
I smile and stare in her eyes so blue. So different from the gray-blue that’s prevalent in our dome.
Hers are like the shallow waters where little reef fish like to dart in and out of coral.
My lungs fill and take in a complete breath of her tantalizing scent.
The room smells of peaches because of her.
Zion clears his throat, and Annabelle laughs.
I need to pull my hand back. Alexei was clear about not too short, not too long.
Not too soft, not hard but firm. So many rules.
I thought humans were supposed to be lacking in culture, yet here they have as many rules as we have for a docking ceremony or the formal greeting during a ball.
Blair’s eyes are cast down. She’s holding the hand I shook with her other hand.
“Did I do that wrong? Did I hurt you?” I reach for her. “Let me see?”
She laughs, and a lovely shade of pink rises to her cheeks. “Oh, no. No. I’m not hurt. Embarrassed maybe.” Her nervous laugh flutters around the room.
“You have nothing to be nervous about, Aunt Blair,” Annabelle says. “How are you feeling, Zion?”
“Better. But I suppose we should ask the physician.” He cocks his head to me and narrows his eyes.
He doesn’t want to seem weak yet wants me to lie for him.
Well, in reality, I suppose it’s for our whole pod.
Then my eyes flick to Blair at my side. Nothing about her says fool. Certainly, she’ll see through our ruse.
“Yes, well, that’s why I’m here.”
“You’re here to take your mate home,” Castor growls from the doorway.
“Yes, well, we all want that, but only if it’s safe for him to be moved.”
“It’s a flesh wound. He could swim out of here right now,” Nico says, his head just barely visible above the other males in the corridor.
Annabelle places her hand on the door. “Let’s let him do his work.” She shuts the door, closing her mates out of the room, and smiles at me. “I’m sure you’ll do your best assessment. I wanted to call Pertusio, but Zion said he’d be more comfortable with you.”
“Ah, Pertusio. He was an intern in the department I worked in before I went to work with the court. But then, that was a long time ago. I haven’t seen that Glyden—”
“Grayson,” Zion cuts me off before I can call Pertusio anything he thinks I might regret later. Not that I ever regret much. And the things I do regret, I don’t hold in. We can’t all be Sterling.
“Yes, well, I’m sure Pertusio has changed over the years. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen him. If I remember correctly, I think he still owes me some gold from a marlimax game he lost a long time ago.”
“Grayson loves a good game.” Zion pushes at my bag, which I’ve put next to his shoulder.
“Here, let me take that.” Blair flits around the room.
She moves a stack of books and things from next to the bed—several medicine vials and a pair of glasses.
“My eyes aren’t what they used to be. It was like ‘hello forty’ and I couldn’t see anything anymore.
” She laughs, waving her hands in front of her face.
I didn’t realize I was staring. But why haven’t they done anything about her vision yet? It’s so odd. The second she came into the city, mermaid or not, they could have cured her of anything those medications are for. “We can fix your vision.”
“What, like Lasik? I’m not sure I want a laser pointed at my eye.”
“A laser? Damn, what are humans doing to each other? No, no lasers involved.”
“Oh, I . . . That would be nice. I would . . . This isn’t about me.” She nervously flexes her hands. “You need to examine Zion. I’m worried about infection. Who knows what’s in a shark’s mouth? I did my best cleaning out the wound.”
Zion’s smirking now. It wouldn’t appear like a smirk to those who don’t know him.
But I bet he enjoyed having Blair’s hands on him as she thoroughly cleaned out the wound.
I glance from him to Blair and put my hand on Zion’s blanket-covered knee.
My body is between Annabelle and Blair. I give a little squeeze.
If my pod mate was in any trouble at all, he would have screamed.
But he’s almost humming at his good fortune of being tucked into the female’s bed.
I’ll have to ask him how he ever got placed in her room. But not now.
Maybe he was attacked by a shark, but there’s nothing wrong with him now. Hell, my papa would have sent me to school with a more serious injury. “Yes, well, let’s have a look, shall we?”
“If you don’t mind, Aunt Blair, I’m going to leave the room,” Annabelle says, slipping out.
There are loud voices in the corridor, but Blair doesn’t pay them any attention. And I wonder about the female’s ears. What neglect have the human males been inflicting on the females of their race?
She delicately lifts the blanket from Zion’s legs, and a bandage covers his calf. It’s neatly done. “I didn’t know how to use the spray cover, but Eros showed me.” She stands back. “Is it okay? You should take it off and check it.” Her voice shakes.
“You did a good job. Normally we wouldn’t take it off this soon.”
“It’s deep. I’m worried it might get infected.”
“We have advanced healing abilities, and the active ingredients in the spray-on bandage speed things along even faster.”
“The edges around the bandage aren’t as pink as they were a few hours ago.” She yawns. “Excuse me. Sorry, I haven’t gotten used to the change in time zones. Or the difference in light.”
I nod. “I have only met a few other humans before, but my Koralli friend said the difference in light was the thing that took him the longest to get used to. You’ll regulate your system soon. I could give you a shot to help you with it if you—”
“Oh, I had a B12 shot once. It—” She freezes. “Forgive me, I didn’t mean to talk over you.” She places her hand on top of Zion’s knee, and if she doesn’t move it soon, it won’t be the only thing sticking up from under the blanket. She turns to me. “How is Zion?”
I want to say he’s fine, was fine a few minutes after the shark let go of his leg.
But that’s not going to get him an invitation to stay the night.
“He’s lucky—where the bite was, it didn’t hit any major arteries.
This will heal right up.” I haven’t lifted the bandage—it’s applied expertly.
“I think we can just leave this in place.”
“Oh, no, please. I’d feel so much better knowing that someone with training did it.”
“I’m confident in what you did, Blair,” Zion says.
“I . . . well, thank you, but if you’re okay with it, it would make me feel a lot better to have Grayson check it.”
“I can. If Zion’s okay with it?” I glance at him because the most painful part of the whole process is removing the bandage.
“If that’s what Blair wants, I’m fine with it.”
“Okay,” Zion says.
I open my old bag and hope there’s everything I need in it.
It’s been a long time since I’ve used it.
I put on a pair of gloves while Blair peers into my bag.
And I have to hold back a smile. I like that she’s curious, and empathetic too.
When I peel back the edge of the bandage, I use more care than I normally would for one of my pod mates.
We’re a tough lot, and most of us are more interested in speed.
Not today, though. Every minute Zion and I are with Blair is a gift that other pods haven’t gotten yet.
I remove the adhesive. The tendon in his thigh gives a jerk.
Blair’s head snaps to his thigh. “Are you okay?”
“Right as the tide,” Zion says.
Blair’s brow furrows.
“He means he’s good.”
“Oh, right.”
“You did a really good job with the application.”
“Well, Eros did most of it.”
“No, Blair, you did it. He just told you how.”
She shrugs and glances down.
“Well, if I’m ever stupid enough to ignore a warning sign about protective sharks, I would have you bandage me.” I catch her blue eyes.
“Thank you.”
“There it is. Did you never receive compliments back in your Dakota?” Alexei’s been quizzing us on American geography. And her home state is about as far away from the ocean as you could get.
“North Dakota. And no. My ex wasn’t . . . well, he wasn’t much of anything.” She turns away, and I want to grab her and tell her he wasn’t worth the air he breathed, but it’s not my place. Not yet.