Chapter 26
Ican’t be seeing this right. I stop so suddenly, Madison runs into my back. I rub my eyes, but nothing changes. A massive tail hangs out of the bathtub. A tail attached to Caspian.
“W-what?” I blink, but nothing changes. Caspian won’t meet my eyes, staring instead at his scales. Scales! The tail flicks, the edges of the fins fluttering a beat after the motion. What the fucking hell. “I need to sit down.”
“Too much for you, old man?” Phoenix teases. From his place on the floor, he taps his foot against mine.
I don’t bother responding. It is too much. I drop onto the closed toilet and stare. It’s got to be fake, right? Maybe he dresses up like a merman as a hobby. Or a kink? “Tell me that’s not real.”
Caspian bites his lip and looks away.
“No can do.” Phoenix is grinning with his entire face. It’s a smile that says, ‘I told you so.’ But at least he doesn’t rub it in out loud.
“Um… so, yeah…” Madison twists her fingers around on themselves, still standing in the doorway. She’s not surprised by this at all. She knew.
Caspian holds out his hand for his mate, and Madi goes to him immediately, sitting on the edge of the tub. She kisses his forehead in a move that’s so sweet it makes my heart ache. When she looks back at me, her gaze is more certain, less nervous. A united front.
“So it’s real?” I ask, shaking my head.
Phoenix shifts so he’s sitting closer to me, his shoulder pressing against my leg. I don’t pull away like I normally would. The weight of his presence is a comfort right now. Something familiar and grounding. But I still can’t wrap my mind around what I’m seeing.
“Does this mean… All the legends?” I tug my hair. “Merfolk. Ocearus. It’s all real.”
I reach out and brush my fingers along the feathered edge of Caspian’s fin sticking out of the water.
Just like the man himself, his tail is gorgeous.
Shimmering and soft. He shivers at my touch and tenses, causing his tail to snap upward, sloshing water out of the tub.
I jerk my hand away. “Sorry. I shouldn’t have done that. ”
“It was… nice.” Caspian’s pale cheeks turn a warm red. A small smile teases the corner of his lips. For a moment, our eyes meet, and everything else falls away.
“Thank you for taking care of my mate,” Caspian whispers.
“How did you—” My gaze shifts to Madison, who’s hiding her face in her hands, her head tilted toward her mate, revealing the fresh bond mark.
Everything we just did comes crashing in on me with new guilt.
Of course he could tell. He felt it. I just finger fucked the dripping pussy of a bonded omega.
Without her mate’s permission. While she was in a heat spike, and couldn’t rightfully consent.
“She was… I mean, it wasn’t… She’s my… Fuck!” I leap to my feet, jostling past Phoenix, who’s remained surprisingly quiet. “I shouldn’t be here. I’m sorry.”
“You don’t have to leave.” Madison stands up, but I’m already at the door to the crowded bathroom. “You didn’t do anything wrong, Dean Anderson. Wait.” She touches my arm.
I spin back around. “That right there—that’s why I need to leave. I’m Dean Anderson. Your professor. Your advisor. Hell, you’re probably, what? Half my age? I shouldn’t have—”
“What were you supposed to do?” Madison says, right in my face.
“Look, I’m embarrassed and sorry that I put you in that position.
But it’s not like I could help it. You couldn’t either.
It was a heat spike. They happen. I thought we said we weren’t going to do this.
” The last part is quieter, her voice shaking.
Phoenix whistles, clearly trying to cut in to lighten the mood. “He helped you through a heat spike? Lucky bastard.”
I was a lucky bastard, and a cursed one too.
“I’m grateful for your help,” Madi continues, her warm hand still on my arm. “It didn’t mean anything. Let’s just leave it at that.”
But it did mean something. It meant everything.
The taste of her still lingers on my tongue—the sweet, intoxicating flavor of pina colada with a unique tang that’s all Madi.
I didn’t get enough. I’ll never get enough.
And if I don’t leave now, I’m likely to fall to my knees and beg for more. Right in front of her mate.
Her merman mate.
This is really too much.
I carefully remove Madi’s hand from my arm, giving it a light squeeze before letting go. There are tears in her eyes that I don’t quite understand. I kiss her forehead before stepping back. “Thank you,” I whisper, then leave.
I’m vaguely aware of Phoenix saying a quick goodbye before rushing after me. He catches up with me just as I’m leaving the apartment.
“So, a heat spike, huh?”
I don’t answer. It hurts to think about the gift Madi gave me.
Her easy dismissal of it hurts even more.
But she doesn’t know we’re scent matches yet.
Once she does… that’ll change things, right?
Still, how am I going to wait until she graduates?
Will she even want me by then? She and Caspian are happy.
They don’t need an old man barging his way into their newly formed connection.
“Next time, invite all of us,” Phoenix says.
It takes me a minute to realize what he means, but the second I do I’ve got him pinned against the wall in the stairwell.
“What the fuck, man?” He gasps for air, but I keep my forearm against his neck.
“Show some fucking respect,” I spit out. “This isn’t some joke. Madison… Madi…” My voice quivers, and then my whole body is shaking.
“Hey, hey, Hunt. It’s okay. It’s all gonna be okay.”
I sit heavily on the stairs, a sob threatening my throat. “She’s my fucking scent match, Nix.”
Phoenix lowers himself next to me on the stairs, so close our shoulders touch.
His scent breaks through his scent blockers just enough for me to pick out notes of papaya and vanilla.
It’s so familiar, so calming, and even at its muted strength, it brings down all my walls and makes tears spring to my eyes.
It would blend so perfectly with Madi’s pina colada.
And I can’t have either of them.
“How long have you known?” he asks.
I let out a little huff of a laugh before answering. “Since Le Petit Palais. I scented her when I followed her into the restroom. But if I’m honest with myself, I’ve always felt drawn to her.”
Nix’s eyes are as wide as saucers as he stares at me. “Hoooo boy. No wonder you’ve been an uptight mess. Mr. Responsible Dean scent matched to his omega student? Scandalous.”
He’s teasing, but the words rub at all my raw edges.
I’m on my feet before Phoenix can say anything else, pounding back down the stairs.
“Where are you going?” Phoenix calls after me.
“Out.” I need time to think, space to clear my head. My scent match is bonded to a creature of legend—one I want almost as much as I want her, if I’m honest. Fuck. I need to pull myself together.
Phoenix chases after me. “Will you wait up? I’ll come with you. We can go—”
“No.” I pick up speed.
His footsteps stop. “Will you at least be back for dinner?”
I don’t answer. I run out the door and let it slam shut behind me.