Chapter 37
I’m never nervous, but that’s the only thing the tightness in my chest can be.
Holding Madi as Caspian took her while my oldest friend directed us all?
That was one of the hottest moments of my life.
That high, though, is now tempered with the serious look Hunt is giving me when we stop a ways down the corridor.
“So.” That’s all he says, but the single word is heavy with meaning.
“So,” I reply.
I lean against the wall and he does the same across from me.
Neither of us look away. The hall is darker than the room we just came from, but lit enough by the blue lines that we don’t need flashlights.
Somewhere in the distance one of those beasts from outside howls, but I barely hear it.
Right here, it’s just Hunt and me, the rise and fall of our chests—his still bare—and the little micro-movements of his expression.
What does he think of what just happened? Does he regret touching me?
I sigh, breaking the silence. “I know she’s yours, Hunt. If you don’t want me to—”
“She’s yours too.” He raises a brow at me, daring me to deny it.
“Yeah. She is,” I concede before letting out a deep sigh. “But I don’t have to pursue her just because she’s my scent match. If you don’t want me—”
The look in Hunt’s eyes is enough to cut me off. He pushes off the wall and takes one step toward me. “Who said I don’t want you?”
My eyes are as wide as saucers as I stare at my old friend. There’s so much weight in that ‘you.’ But it can’t mean what I desperately hope it does, can it? He probably just means he wouldn’t mind having me in his pack with Madi, not that he wants me.
I force a strangled laugh, thinking of the one time we were together. “When you fuck someone raw, then never speak to them about it again, it sort of communicates something.” I try to add a teasing lilt to my tone, because that’s what I always do. I’m always the comic relief, never the serious one.
But my throat is tight. There was something truly special about our one night together—or I thought there was, until he left without a word.
It was the last night of our vacation. We’d been sipping on tropical drinks by the pool all day, and we were both tipsy.
Not drunk, but we’d had enough that our inhibitions were lowered.
When we got back to the room to clean up for dinner, Hunt kept eyeing me in a way that made me feel bold.
I suggested we share a shower to save time so we wouldn’t miss our dinner reservation.
I was shocked when he agreed. Even more shocked when he didn’t keep his hands to himself, and instead, started washing me.
When he lowered to his knees and licked my cock, I thought I’d died and gone to heaven.
It was like a dream. We never did make it to dinner.
We stayed in and fucked the whole night.
When I woke up the next morning, he was gone.
“I’m not the only one who didn’t talk about it,” Hunter says. Is that bitterness in his tone? He takes one more step across the hall, the tips of our toes almost touching. “Answer me this, Nix, what did I communicate a few minutes ago, back there?”
I’m not sure how to answer his question. We were all caught up in the moment, Madison’s heat spike pheromones drenching the air and pushing us to do things we normally wouldn’t.
Is that true, though? Because I’ve wanted them all since the first moment I saw them. If given half a chance, I would have done a lot more than what we just did.
I jerk as I remember those last heated moments and what followed them. “You… You touched my c-cock.”
Hunter stands up straight, worry leeching into his expression, the confidence of a moment ago gone after my stumbled words. “I did. Was that okay? I—Fuck. I should have asked for permission, Nix, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean—”
I cut him off by pressing my mouth to his. He’s frozen for barely a breath before his lips move under mine. I step into him, pressing him back against the wall. After a few more moments of leisurely tasting each other, I pull back and rest my forehead against his.
“It was more than okay. I—” My heart pounds in my chest. Should I tell him? If ever there was a window for me to admit my true feelings for my best friend, this is it. “I’ve always wanted you, Hunt.”
Silence settles heavily over us as he takes my words in. But it isn’t oppressive, it's comfortable. Like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. It’s out in the world now, and I can’t take it back. Can’t control how he reacts. I can only pray I didn’t just lose my best friend.
Hunt chuckles mirthlessly. “You’re an idiot.”
My heart clenches, and my stomach drops. I knew there was a chance of rejection but hearing it so bluntly stings more than I could have anticipated. I go to pull back, but Hunter’s hand flies to my nape, keeping me held to him.
“I’m also an idiot,” he admits. “We’ve been dancing around this for years, but I thought you didn’t want me that way. Not past that one night…”
Joy overtakes the disappointment I was feeling, taking my emotions on a rollercoaster. “That one night, and every night since, Hunt. Every. Single. One.”
I go in for another kiss, but this time it’s Hunter who puts distance between us. “Is that why you made up Sebastian? To cover your feelings for me?”
I suck in a breath. After all this, he still thinks I’m lying about Sebastian? That emotional rollercoaster swerves back down into hurt territory. “Hunt, Seb is—-”
A chorus of screeching growls interrupts me, and we both stumble to the narrow window near the stairs. A glance outside confirms that not only are the seal-cats that chased us still there, but three more have now joined them. They’re testing the door, prowling the perimeter, looking for entry.
“Fuck, we have to get out of here. If Madi goes into heat down here… well we can’t let that happen.” Hunter grabs my hand and pulls me along toward the weird waterfall room we just left. “There has to be another way out, right? If water is coming in, it has to exit somewhere.”
We descend the steps into the room again, Caspian is back in his shorts and Madison is just pulling her shirt over her head, her cheeks bright pink. She looks up at Hunter and me but quickly averts her gaze again. “I-I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you, uh, assist me. I don’t know what happened.”
Ah, she’s embarrassed. She has no reason to be. It’s time for me to do what I do best and break the tension once more. “Oh, sweet sunshine, the last thing you should be doing is apologizing. If we were smart males we’d be kneeling at your feet, begging to taste you again.”
Well, I don’t know if that broke the tension so much as changed its trajectory. Pineapple, coconut, and lime tinged with sandalwood flood the room. Oops.
Hunter clears his throat. Caspian licks his lips.
“Are the scary cats still out there?” Madi squeaks out, clearly trying to get us back on track. Though the blush on her pretty cheeks tells me she’d be more than amicable to her alpha’s begging under different circumstances.
“Yes. And they’ve gained some friends,” Hunter answers. “We’ll have to find an alternate way out.”
“There is likely an exit through the canal here, but I can’t be sure how long the swim will be,” Caspian says. “I’ve never seen a city like this, so I know nearly as little as you do.”
Hunter looks at the water and scowls. “So how do you suggest we explore the canal as an option? Is the water safe?”
“I can’t say if it’s completely safe, but remember I breathe underwater just fine. I could explore ahead while you all rest here,” Caspian hedges.
Hunter’s still glaring at the water like it told him his chicken cacciatore was overrated, when Madi pipes up. “You shouldn’t go alone. It might not be safe. And I don’t want to be separated from you, I’m coming, too.”
“The hell you are,” Hunter growls. “We aren’t putting you in danger.”
If he thinks Madi’s going to just concede to him, he’s not as smart as I thought he was. She instantly puts up a fight.
Personally, I can understand her hesitation to be separated from her mate. I’m finding the thought of having any of them away from me in this strange place surprisingly distressing.
But I’ll leave them to sort it out. It’s not my place to make decisions for any of them.
Besides, the water might not be the only way out of here. There could be another way, a secret passage or something. We haven’t scoped the place out much yet. We were all a little distracted.
Madi and Hunter’s arguing fades into the background as I search the strange waterfall room, looking for alternative options, but mostly letting my thoughts wander.
Madison is my scent match. My mate. I have a mate, and it isn’t my boyfriend.
Granted, I’d have bitten Sebby by now if he’d have let me.
But bites can only happen in the presence of an omega’s heat pheromones or they won’t take, and Seb was never comfortable with using one of the heat services that allow betas and alphas to bond in exchange for taking care of an unattached omega in heat.
There was one time, a few months ago, when he said he thought he might have found a way for us to bond—an omega he knew online asked him to join her for her heat—but he was hesitant, and in the end, he decided he wasn’t ready.
I’m not sure why bonding scares him so much, but it does.
We fought about it, and he’s been sort of withdrawn ever since.
It didn’t help that I left for a sea exhibition soon after and he’s been traveling so much since I’ve been back.
I love him desperately, but how will he react to me having an omega mate? To Hunter, or even Caspian? Maybe especially Caspian, who isn’t even human.
Call me a greedy bastard, but I want my cake and to eat it too. Or rather, I want my billionaire beta and my best friend, the merman, and our omega. Yeah, I’m definitely greedy.
Hands in my pockets, I scuff my shoes through the weird moss-grass hybrid as I head back toward the group. My toe connects with something hard, and I nearly trip, sending the mystery object scuttling across the room. The metal scraping on stone catches everyone’s attention.
“What was that?” Madi asks, already padding toward the sound. She picks it up to reveal a small semi-circular item made of black material that’s about half an inch thick. She brings it back for us to examine more closely. I reach for it, and Madi places it in my hand.
Upon closer inspection, one side of the semicircle is convex, while the other is flat. There is a protrusion on the flat side that’s wide but hollow. Almost like a mouthpiece to a harmonica. Or a flattened straw, but at 5 times the scale. Okay, yeah, harmonica is a better comparison.
“What is this?” Hunter asks Caspian.
The merman holds out his hand, silently asking me for it.
I hand it over readily. We all stand there for a moment, trying to puzzle out what this thing could be.
For all we know, it could be a piece of mer-junk, but something is telling me it isn’t that.
It looks too complex to be trash. Madison shrugs and plucks the item from her mate’s palm, then shoves it into her drybag.
“I’m done arguing about this, I’m going,” the omega declares before walking to the water’s edge. Hunter growls and grasps her shoulder, pulling her back.
“You can’t breathe underwater!” Hunter argues.
“Neither can you!” Madison shoots back. Man, she’s feisty. It makes my cock twitch.
“I can breathe for her, we’ve done that before,” Caspian adds.
“No. If you can breathe for her, you can breathe for me.” Hunter looks to me like he wants me to back him on this, then to the merman. “I’ll go with you.”
“If you wanted to kiss me again, professor, all you had to do was ask.”
I snort at Caspian’s joke. For someone who is still getting a handle on the English language, the merman is fucking funny.
Hunter scowls at me. “As soon as we find a way out, Caspian will come back for the two of you.”
Madi frowns. “That’ll leave you alone somewhere.”
“Better me than you.” Hunter’s expression softens to something almost bordering on tender fear. “Please, baby. I don’t want you to be left alone in this city. Let me go first.”
Madi bites her bottom lip, but nods.
Caspian slips out of his shorts again with a chuckle. “I should stop putting them back on.”
“I wouldn’t mind.” I throw him a smirk and a wink.
“If that happened, we’d all be too distracted to ever find the library,” Hunter says, casually giving away his own lust for the merman.
“I knew I wasn’t the only one who found Madi’s mate irresistible." I hip check Hunter so hard he almost falls into the water.
Once he’s caught his balance, he glares at me.
I ignore him and pick up Caspian’s shorts.
It seems I’ve become the unofficial keeper of the merman’s clothing, and I’m not complaining about it.
The thin fabric carries a heavy dose of his scent.
It takes a good bit of willpower to shove them in my pocket rather than burying my nose in them.
When Hunter steps toward the canal, Madi flings her arms around him and kisses him. “Please, be safe.”
She then turns to Caspian and gives him a kiss that almost sends us all right back to the moss.
“Alright, it’s time,” Hunter growls. He slips into the water fully clothed, followed by Caspian.
“Watch out for her,” he says to me.
I wrap an arm around Madi’s shoulders. “Always.”