Chapter 37
Alexei
Ileave Forrest in the living room, shaking my head.
He’s sitting with Hunter, one of the guard detail that King Altas has put on Blair.
Hunter’s young, but Sterling has said a few good things about him in the past. Which is crazy because he never says anything good about anyone.
I hover near the guest room door, listening, but it’s quiet.
I knock and enter at the same time. Delmar and her lie on the bed like two sea otters clinging to kelp.
I’m fucking glad this is how the outing—or date, as the humans say—went.
If it wasn’t so close to the end of the semester, I would have canceled my class and been here.
But really, this is better. Her having some time with Delmar is good.
It could have been even better if Forrest had gotten out of his own way and joined them.
“Hey there, Boss,” I say. “You look good enough to eat.”
The sheet is pulled up around her breasts. Her bright, pink skin shines in the low light.
Her eyes flick to mine. “I’m not sure about that, but Clark says he’s making me some hedge-tots and that I’m not to move. My stomach was growling.” She laughs and looks at Delmar.
“It was impressive,” Delmar says and kisses her neck.
I’m about to school him that it’s not polite to talk to a human woman that way. But Blair’s beaming at him, so maybe I’m wrong. “Perfect.” I pull off my tunic and slippers and jump into the bed. “I love eating in bed.”
Blair laughs again—no, it’s more of a giggle. It’s enough to make me go hard faster than a shark scenting blood.
“Hi,” she says, turning away from Delmar to face me.
Delmar has his arm around her waist. And I’m still on top of the covers.
It’s for the best. Even though I’d love to take her right now, she’s not a mermaid.
And she’s used to shit males who don’t know how to take care of a woman.
So I’m not going to let her get nervous or scare her off.
I reach under the cover and take her hand, bring it to my lips, and kiss it. “Have you had a good day, Boss?”
She laughs again. “Yes, definitely more than good.”
“I’m glad to hear it. But you know how you could have had a better day?”
She hesitates. “No . . .”
“So help me, Alexei, if you say if you were here—” Delmar growls.
“Well, we’ll just keep that between the two of us.” I kiss her cheek and lay my head down on one of the below-standard pillows. Why the heck are they even in the guest room still? “But I’m glad that Delmar knows the secret.”
“I thought there are no secrets in a pod?” Blair’s eyebrows raise.
I’m laughing now. Because that’s what everyone says.
But it couldn’t be further from the truth, especially in the Mason pod.
Fuck. We don’t deserve her, but I want her so badly.
Then again, a mating between a mermaid and a merman can’t be only sexual.
I need to put more time in out of bed. We need to get to know each other.
Learn about each other. Not that I’m dragging her out of here to take her to study in the doctro centusia.
I’m not crazy. “Lying in bed while you wait for hedge-tots is one of my favorite ways to relax.”
“When is someone making hedge-tots for you while you lie in bed?” Delmar leans up on his elbow, peering over Blair’s shoulder at me.
“A male can dream. How—or how else—do you like to relax, Boss?”
“I like to read . . . Sometimes I watch a movie.”
“We don’t have movies.” I run my hand down her arm. “But I could get some from the university. Students who are planning on doing business with humans take a class in understanding cinema. They’re quite fond of Jaws: The Revenge.”
“Really? That’s the movie they like? Out of all the movies that have ever been made, Jaws II is their favorite?” Her wide eyes say she’s surprised.
“Indeed. Do you not like it? It really is a favorite of my students.”
“I prefer comedies, and movies with plot,” Blair says. “Or at least some well-written dialogue.”
“We don’t spend much time on literature. There are a few units on it in the lower grades.” Delmar nuzzles up against her. And if he so much as hints at giving her the lowdown of the podlet curriculum in Doria, I’ll pull him out of the room by his ear.
“Right! You’re both teachers. I have so much admiration for teachers.” She cocks a smile at me. I’ve intentionally not told her what I teach. I don’t want her thinking I’m interested in her because I teach human studies and she’s a human.
“Alexei teaches at the university,” Delmar adds. My stomach tightens. I don’t want to explain to her what I teach, not yet.
“Both are so important. It’s hard to teach a young child who doesn’t always want to learn, and teenagers think they already know everything. Both are impressive. People don’t give teachers enough credit.”
Clark appears in the doorway with a heaping dish of hedge-tots and a cup of tea for Blair. “You’re right. If it wasn’t for teachers like Delmar, I would never have learned how much I love mathematics.”
There’s some shuffling, and soon Blair has the platter balanced on her lap and we’re all digging in.
Blair takes one from the platter, and we all chew in silence for a while. “These are so good. Thank you, Clark. Before I had Marlee, I thought I might like to be a teacher.” She licks her finger, and I want to do the same.
My heart thuds. Because our former mate was a teacher with Delmar. That’s how he came into the pod. But I’m not comparing them. Not ever.
“But I don’t think I have the patience. I do love literature. I read nonstop to Marlee. She’s her own person, so I never take credit for anything she’s become. But she is a fantastic writer. She’s written a lot of books. And if I could get her to let me read one, I just know they’re amazing.”
“I’m sure you can take some credit,” Delmar says.
“Nope. That’s all her,” Blair says, licking her fingers.
“You are clearly a good parent.” I rest my hand on her leg.
“That’s all I ever wanted.”
A silence zips around the room. That’s all our pod ever dreamed of too.
“But it’s time to move on. She’s all grown up, and I have to figure out what it is I want to do with myself now.” Blair picks up another hedge-tot.
“Once her protector, always her protector,” Clark says.
“I guess you’re right.” Blair finishes the rest of her tea. “That is really good, thank you.”
“You’re very welcome.”
“What’s going on in here?” Zion leans against the open doorway.
“Where the hell have you been?” Delmar sits up, pointing at Zion.
He crosses the room and leans over me to kiss Blair’s cheek. It’s everything I can do to not elbow him in his abs.
“That’s a long story.” Zion sits on the edge of the bed, his leg pressed into my chest.
“Do you mind?” I give him a wee push.
“I don’t mind at all.” He leans back on me, squaring himself to Blair before reaching over her and taking the last hedge-tot from the tray.
“What happened?” Delmar plays into Zion’s story web.
“Right, yes. I hope you can forgive me for missing the lesson, Cookie. Did they teach you how to make anything?”
“Not exactly.” She laughs.
“I’ll make it up to you. How would you like to take a trip to London?”
Blair bolts upright, Delmar and I bouncing as she does. “How? I . . . I thought once I was here, I couldn’t leave? I’ve never been to Europe. Heck, I’d never been out of the Midwest until a few years ago. And Doria is the only other country I’ve ever been to.”
“Everything else is rather boring after you’ve been here,” I say.
“True, true. But London is nice.” Zion puts his hand on her knee. “I have to go to the office in London for work, and I thought you might like to come.”
“I would, but . . . would you be taking a military sub?”
“Zion’s a big deal, but not big enough to use a military sub as his own personal solo,” Delmar says.
I arch my eyebrow because, while Zion does run one of the largest companies for the Stele Dome, he’s no more important than any of us.
“No, I’ve bought a Pelagic voyager.”
“Oh,” Blair says. “Actually, I have no idea what that is.”
“It’s like a camper. No, an RV.” I smile when her eyes brighten at me.
“A sub RV. That’s, wow, remarkable. There are so many remarkable things here.” She nods.
“Close your mouth, Delmar—you’re going to attract krill.” Zion takes Blair’s hand.
“A Pelagic voyager?” Delmar snaps his mouth shut. I know what he means. They’re expensive. But we can afford it. Not that a pod mate usually spends that kind of gold without talking to the others first. Does it matter? What else do we have to spend the money on?
“It’s not super-fast, but what it lacks in speed, it makes up for in comfort. There’s room for six, but it’s better suited for five. So my question to you is: you, me, and who?” Zion wiggles his eyebrows at her.
“Hold up.” I wave my hand. Zion has gotten way ahead of himself. “There’s—
“I know what you’re going to say. There’s no way security will let Blair go,” Zion says.
Security. Another way of saying Sterling.
“Yes,” I agree.
“That’s why I missed our cooking lesson. I went to the palace to talk to Atlas. It took a lot longer than I thought it would.”
“You took this to the king?” Forrest barks from the doorframe. Blair smiles up at him and holds out her hand. The mattress dips as Forrest inches his way over to Blair.
“And he said yes?” Blair bounces with excitement.
“He did.” Zion beams.
“I’d like to come,” Delmar says.
“You?” Zion says. “What about your students? Though I’d love to have you come.”
“I haven’t used a vacation day in eight years, and I’ve only used a handful of personal days in the last five years. I have enough personal time to take off a whole quarter.”
“I’d like it if you’d come.” Blair squeezes Delmar’s hand.
“Then I’m going. When do we leave?”
“Tomorrow,” Zion says.
“Tomorrow?” Blair’s eyes go wide.
“Unless you have plans?”
“No, no plans. I’ll want to talk to Marlee and make sure she’s okay with me going. But I don’t see why she wouldn’t be.”
“I’m going to go arrange it with the headmaster now.” Delmar kisses Blair, then scoots out of bed and heads for the door, but he stops when Blair jumps.
“Who will be the fourth?” Blair blurts. And a look of horror hits her like a blue whale. “Wait, is Sterling going to let me go?
Forrest’s voice is low. “The king said yes, Blair. It doesn’t matter what Sterling says.”
“I don’t want to cause a problem with your pod.”
“You’ll never cause any problems with our pod,” I say and glare at Zion. Atlas and Sterling have a lot in common. As in, they’re both assholes. Atlas might be king, but we have to live with Sterling and there’s no flying fish way he’s going to let Blair leave the Veiled City.
Zion smiles in his overly easy way at me. “Relax, that’s why I went to Atlas. Sterling’s got to go along with it now.”
While Delmar and Clark discuss London on the other side of the room, Blair watches Zion in his deluded denial and me. “Are you sure this is going to be okay?”
I’m about to say we’ll see when Zion cuts me off. “Of course.”
She nods, her blue eyes searching my face. I nod and try to reassure her. But then, I’ve never been a good liar.