Chapter 2
Chapter Two
Sally-Ann
When I watched him walk out of the Ionian Sea, I knew he was mine. I can’t explain it, other than I was drawn to him. My body, my heart mostly, responded to the stranger in a way that it never has before. I knew he was like Hortencia too, can’t explain that one either, but I knew.
Hortencia already explained to me what it means to be a Protector, but I never anticipated I would be the Protector of the prince of her tribe.
There is a voice in my head, not my own, telling me that this is my mate.
Usually, I’d think that I was crazy, but I know that I am not.
Fuck, I didn’t even know what a mate was seven years ago.
When Hortencia and I met at a , we were inseparable; then I introduced her to my brother, and she became a sister to me.
After the beach, we make our way back to the house Gareth rented for the summer.
We live in London the rest of the year, but I usually am training.
I have competed in the last two Summer Olympics, winning silver medals both years.
My one goal is to get that gold medal in the medley relay.
In the water, I feel free. I swim for exercise, for fun, when I need to be alone.
And right now, I need to be alone. Every nerve in my body is on fire.
I yearn to reach out and touch him as we walk the few blocks to the house from the beach.
Tyler is bombarding him with questions, but Tridenton takes them in stride.
Without hesitation, he takes Tyler’s hand when we go to cross the street.
He’s only nine and still needs a little help crossing the street.
Tridenton will be an excellent father, I think to myself, and I swear to all things Holy, I feel my womb quicken causing me to gasp.
“Are you unwell, Sally?” he asks, coming up beside me in an instant. I love that he’s shortened my name. No one else ever just calls me Sally.
“Perfectly fine, thank you for asking,” I manage to say. I don’t know how I am talking, but all I want to do is lay down and take whatever this merman wants to give me. Get a grip; I chastise myself.
“Are you sure? Your breathing has increased, your skin is flushed, and I can scent your arousal,” he growls, very near my ear now.
“Please stop,” I whisper back. He nods and goes back to chatting with Tyler.
“Why is that man coming with us?” Rosie asks after tugging on my hand.
She’s seven and doesn’t quite understand that she’s a mermaid.
She thinks it’s all pretend, like dressing up for Halloween, but she’ll learn soon enough.
According to Hortencia, her fins will come around the time she turns ten since she doesn’t live in the water all the time. Otherwise, they’d already be here.
“He’s mommy’s… friend,” I say for lack of a better word.
“Oh, okay. He’s very handsome,” she says, giggling.
“I noticed.”
“He’s nice to brother,” she says, taking my hand.
“Of course, he is,” I reply.
“He’ll be really nice to you.”
“What do you mean?” I ask, quirking my eyebrow at that. She’s a child; she can’t possibly know that. When I look at her face, I know she means it, though.
“I saw it. Well, I mean, I will see it. I don’t know what I mean, but he’ll be nice to you like daddy is to mommy. He doesn’t have legs all the time, like mommy too. You won’t have legs either.”
“I see,” I reply. “Do you see things a lot?”
“Yeah. I think it’s my gift.”
“Makes sense. That’s a pretty neat gift.”
“What’s your gift?”
“I don’t know. I haven’t found it yet.”
“I know what it is,” she says, her voice dancing.
“What is it?”
“The gift of war. The gift of peace.”
“What?”
“You will stop a war. That’s your gift. I don’t know what war is, but it looks awful. You’ll have to be careful. That mark on your shoulder burns.”
“Burns what?”
“The bad man who’s not a man. He is an ancient destroyer of worlds. Lost for centuries, he grows stronger. He grows restless. He grows.”
“She has the gift of sight,” Hortencia says. I hadn’t realized we stopped walking or that we were home, standing in a circle in the driveway. I felt like I was there. In the war. Killing. Saving. Avenging. Avenging what?
“I’ve never seen it do that before,” Tridenton says.
“Me either,” Hortencia says.
“The elders will need to be notified.”
“They can’t have my baby.”
“No one is going to take your baby.” The back and forth between the two is driving me crazy.
“What the hell is going on?” I ask my skin still covered in goosebumps.
“Rosie will need chocolate. We must get her inside,” Hortencia says, and Gareth picks Rosie up and carries her inside. Chocolate?
Without another word, I follow them inside. I need answers, and I need them now. I already believed in magic, but this goes beyond that. I am not afraid of what the future holds, but the voice in my head is screaming at me.
“Can we talk privately?” Tridenton asks, and all I can do is nod my head.
The only place to get a bit of privacy is my bedroom, so I drag him by the arm down the hallway to my room.
Damn, those electric currents are running through my body again.
I get it, God. I get it—no need to electrocute me in order for me to get the picture.
We belong to one another.
Once we are closed in my room, I turn to him.
“We should talk,” I say, though that’s the very last thing I want to do with him.
“Fuck words,” he growls as he closes the distance between us.
His hands tangle into my hair as he moves my face for his kiss.
When his lips touch mine, I swear angels, though mermaid’s make more sense, sing.
A whole friggin’ choir of them, and I don’t think it’s in my head.
A verifiable siren’s song that brings me closer to him in a way I didn’t know was possible.
In all my twenty years, I’ve avoided men like the plague, now I know why. I was waiting for him—my mate. I open my mouth to moan, but the sweep of his tongue cuts it off.
I am lost, and I never want to be found.