Chapter Fourteen.
Poseidon/Jase
“A re you okay?” Poseidon asked as he stroked her body everywhere. He needed to reassure himself that his mate was whole and okay.
“Yes. I think so. But this is not the sexy shifter I imagined. I wanted something like Emmaline’s.” Willow pouted.
“I think that’s happening too,” Poseidon said as he kept his hands running up and down Willow’s arms.
“Huh,” Willow asked.
“You’re shifting back to human, but not your form. I guess the Sins have given you a shifter human side too. Although you have three forms like I do,” Poseidon clarified as he watched Willow shift into a different woman.
His eyebrows lifted. Now red to Willow’s dark brown, and blue eyed to Willow’s hazel, a cute woman stared up at him. She was several inches taller than Willow, standing about five foot eight, with a slender, willowy body, no pun intended. Willow was curvier, something Poseidon loved.
“Hey, wow, new shape. Nice. Definitely cute,” Merman said as he approached. “They’re all dead over there. I’m calling Midas for the bodies. There’s a ton of gold to be had here.”
“Midas?” Willow gasped as her brain struggled to make the connection. “Oh, gross!”
“We don’t sell them as bodies, they get melted down,” Scylla explained as she paddled in the ocean.
Loch Ness approached too. “Mine are dead too, although a couple of sharks helped when the idiots jumped into the water. I did find this,” Jess said as she briefly shifted from Loch Ness. She held up a waterproof bag, which Poseidon reached down and grabbed, and Jess shifted back into Loch Ness.
“There’s some cleanup to do, want some help sinking the yachts?” Merman asked.
“Yeah, you can play when Midas has done his thing,” Poseidon agreed, and Merman rubbed his hands together.
“Great, I’ve not had a chance to sink anything for a while. The damn drug users have changed their paths,” Merman crowed happily.
Willow raised an eyebrow but didn’t say a word. Poseidon noticed how content she was in his arms. Almost as if she knew she was one hundred percent safe there. Nobody could harm her while he held her.
“Love you,” Poseidon muttered, and Willow stiffened in his arms.
“If only you meant that,” Willow replied sadly.
Poseidon tipped her chin up. “I do love you, Willow, I hate the rest of the human race, but you are my exception.”
“Not the only one, you love Emmaline too,” Willow said.
Poseidon sighed. “Willow, I just declared my love for you. Do you have anything to say?”
“I love you too,” she admitted, and on her words, they both staggered as the mate bond snapped fully into place.
Poseidon nearly shifted back to Jase to drag her home to bed but just restrained himself.
“Wow,” Willow said in wonderment.
“That’s beautiful,” Poseidon said as he studied the bond between them. His Sins poked at it but backed away when they understood how strong it was. Poseidon noted how afraid they seemed of it and made a note. Unlike Vladimir’s Sins with Emmaline, his didn’t seem interested in taking over Willow.
“Shall we go home now?” Willow asked hopefully. Even her voice sounded different, he noted.
“I can’t leave them to clean up, it’s rude,” Poseidon said.
“Brother, go. If you think we don’t realise what just happened, you’re a fool,” Loch Ness said.
“I’m not arguing with that,” Poseidon said, grabbed Willow’s hand, and called for Mary. Ten minutes later he and Willow were in their human forms and Jase was buried deep inside her. Heaven!
Willow
“Your goons failed twice, Mr Sandstream,” Willow called out as a man passed her by.
“Pardon?” he asked, looking confused at her.
“The goons you send to kill me, so I didn’t expose Stream Inc to the public for their toxins waste dumping,” Willow continued.
“Young lady, that amounts to slander,” Mr Sandstream snapped. His eyes darted around as people began to stop and listen.
Willow wasn’t exactly being quiet.
“So you didn’t send men on yachts to kill me? Then why was there evidence of you being on board, and then the money trail from their accounts leads to you? Plus, I have footage of your ships dumping cans over the side of cargo ships. Would you like to see?” Willow demanded.
“Shut up!” Mr Sandstream said. “You’re nothing but some hyped up fraud.”
“Yeah, that doesn’t work,” Willow said and clicked a remote in her pocket.
All around her tv screens jumped as Sphinx hacked into them. Raw footage of Sandstream ships, their names and logos clear to see filled the screens. Men were seen throwing large gallon toxic barrels, all clearly labelled into the sea. Not just on one ship but on a great many. Then there was the footage of the three ships chasing Willow and shooting at her in The Swallow’s Nest as a great storm headed in behind them.
“The money trail, burner phone calls, and emails are everything the police need to arrest you. I won Mr Sandstream,” Willow said, and police appeared and arrested him.
Willow had asked to be allowed to confront him, and the police had agreed. After all, Jase had donated a large amount of money for her to do so.
“Due to your murderous attack on me, I’ll make sure they have all the evidence they need,” Willow promised as he was carted away.
“Okay?” Jase asked in her ear.
“Yes, that was great!” Willow exclaimed, jumping in her car to head back to her yacht.
“See you soon, babe,” Jase promised.
Her car door opened, and Jase got in the passenger side. He wore a baseball cap and dark glasses and had a beard.
“I knew you wouldn’t let me come alone!” Willow crowed and pointed a finger at him.
“You’re pregnant. Of course I wouldn’t!” Jase confirmed.
It was hardly a surprise to Willow that five weeks after they’d completed their mate bond; she had missed a period. She’d never bothered with birth control because she hadn’t wanted to have a relationship.
Jase had teased Vladimir that Emmaline only carried one while Willow, according to the sea life, had three.
“We need to head straight home,” Jase said after giving her a kiss.
“Why?”
“Emmaline’s in labour.”
“Damn, Jase, she’s only seven months!” Willow exclaimed.
“Yeah, but Maeve, Lily, and Andie are all convinced she’s full term. And plus she is huge, my love,” Jase said, inadvertently putting his foot in it.
“So what will I be at seven months?” Willow demanded as they drove away.
“Delightful!” Jase stated firmly, and Willow laughed. He had an answer for everything.
“Let’s go meet your Godchild!” Willow said.
Jase sighed. Vladimir’s and Emmaline’s child was the gift that kept giving. They’d equipped a room with all the equipment that Emmaline or the baby might need—and ensured it was a calming, restful place. But despite countless scans, they couldn’t pierce the placenta and get a scan of the baby. It seemed the placenta formed a protective barrier. So they honestly had no idea if there were one or two babies.
They only knew Willow had three because of the sea creatures. Emmaline had demanded to be taken to the ocean for her dolphin scan, as she called it, but Vladimir had point blank refused.
“Come on,” Jase said and allowed his excitement to grow.
Jase/Poseidon
Jase wrinkled his nose as he studied the little girl he held. Emmaline had threatened him with no more sex if he hadn’t let Jase hold her. She was as cute as a button and looked a good mix of Mir’ald and Emmaline. Jase was loath to mention how much Amari looked like Vladimir’s former shape, but it was obvious.
“I see it too,” Vladimir finally murmured.
“It raises a whole other set of questions,” Jase replied.
“It certainly does, but I don’t care. Amari is perfect,” Vladimir said, touching his daughter. She nuzzled against his finger and then, before either man could react, sank two tiny fangs into it. Vladimir squealed like a girl, and Jase jumped backwards as Amari let go of her father.
“Holy shit! My nipples!” Emmaline screeched, having witnessed it.
“That answers that!” Jase exclaimed and handed Amari back to her father.
Willow looked horrified. “Will ours look human with tentacles?” she demanded.
Jase shrugged helplessly as Vladimir stared wide-eyed at Amari.
“Who cares? We’d still love them,” Jase replied.
“Good answer!” Emmaline said, glaring at Vladimir.
Jase hid a smile. He’d no doubt that if Amari bit Emmaline’s nipples, then Emmaline would make Vladimir suffer too. That was life!
Willow
She watched bemused as humans woke to a new world. When Jase had told her his plans, she’d been excited but worried. Jase had intended to shove the rubbish in the ocean back onto every coastline around the world. Instead, Willow had adjusted the plans, and now she was watching the TV with amusement. Every single station was focused on what had happened over night. There were even videos of it happening.
Sea life tugged nets of rubbish to the most famous and best beaches in the world. The ones that prided themselves on being pristine. Then they’d dumped the rubbish on them. It was piled over a mile high and deep in some places, but the task was done. And somewhere on the beach was a perfectly clear message.
‘No more, do better. Reuse, recycle, do not bury in dumps’.
It had been easy enough for them to visit each sea and ocean and gather the human rubbish. Even the Great Pacific Garbage Patch was now clear.
Humans had lost their wonderful, pristine beaches. Willow had to remind Jase not to throw the shipwrecks up, as he’d tempted to. The seas and oceans had now claimed these, and coral reefs or other creatures lived in them. But anything else human made had been gathered into nets, dragged to a target, and expelled and in one single night.
The seas and oceans would no longer stand for human messes. Willow wondered what the multiple government’s reaction would be.
Jase Monroe, to her pride, had already given a statement on the shocking display this morning. He stated how scientists had always considered the sea life to have some highly intelligent species. And now those species who they share a world with had spoken. Jase had advocated for a new machine that recycled all material, which a colleague had developed. He also spoke of a machine that turned waste into clean energy, which his own company had just released. (Willow knew it was from Atlantis, and it tickled her.)
Jase had gone on to state that he wondered how long it would take for the land animals to react the same way. His message was simple. Humans had the means of recycling properly; they were too lazy to use them. Jase stated that he’d help fund clean-up teams to work through the huge trash piles dumped on his local beach and ensure the rubbish was recycled properly.
Many stations were playing Jase’s statement and the statements of several other large environmentalists.
Willow wriggled happily as some of the worst offenders were being named on TV. Maybe this was the start of something new—and humankind would adapt and prove themselves worthy. Or maybe Jase was correct. They were doomed.
But now they’d been given a chance. Only humankind could decide what to do with it.