Chapter 21
Six Months Later
Delmar
My beast was so excited about heading out to sea that I was having a hard time keeping my tentacles in check. Even though I was in full view of people wandering around the marina, they kept slipping out of my back to grab things as if they were helping.
Not only were they not helpful, but they were going to get me in trouble.
I pulled the bag of fruit I'd been trying to put away out of the grip of a tentacle.
“If Nina sees you guys out, she'll be upset," I warned them.
That did the trick, and they retreated into my body so quickly it almost hurt. I chuckled and returned to putting the groceries away.
After a long discussion, we'd decided to get an apartment near the water where we lived during the week.
On weekends, we headed out to sea in my boat.
We often simply sailed until we couldn't see land and dropped anchor.
We'd spend the weekend playing in our shifted forms, napping in the sun, and relaxing.
Nina was turning out to be a natural sailor. No one would ever guess that she'd never even been on a boat before Zak's party. Not only did she learn fast, but she had a feel for the wind and water. It wouldn't be long before she was as good as, or better than, me.
She was also getting used to her seal form.
The relationship between her and her seal was seamless.
She could shift back and forth without hesitation, although it was still exhausting if her shifts happened too close together.
She also accepted her new taste for fish, both in her human and seal forms. My seafood stew was one of her current favorites, and albacore and halibut were her seal’s favorites.
It was adorable to watch her seal find something she wanted to show me.
She would rush to me, take one of my tentacles in her mouth, and gently lead me to whatever she'd found.
Sometimes after she'd eaten her fill, she'd catch an extra one to feed it to me.
Her seal was always concerned that I wasn't getting enough to eat.
Her seal also tended to overeat, so we stocked a large container of antacids on the boat for when Nina’s human tummy protested her seal’s feast.
My phone chimed with a text from my mom. It was a picture of her and Dad on a gorgeous white sand beach. After visiting for a few weeks, my parents decided to sail further south. They were having a great time in Mexico and Central America. They promised to stop by on their way back north.
They'd gotten along great with Nina and declared her seal the most accomplished harbor seal they'd ever met.
They were absolutely correct!
I told her we looked forward to having them visit again, then finished packing the boat for the weekend. By the time I was done, I heard Nina on the dock.
I rushed out to greet her. Jumping from the boat to the dock, I grabbed her in a hug and lifted her off her feet.
“I haven't seen you in forever!” I cried dramatically.
Laughing, she hugged me back. “We had lunch together a few hours ago.”
“Like I said, forever!”
She laughed again, then patted my shoulder, wanting to be set down. I put her on her feet but stole a kiss before stepping back.
“I thought you wouldn't be done until six,” I said, following her onto the boat.
“Yeah, but my seal wasn't letting me concentrate,” she said, tossing the bag of clothes she'd brought with her onto a bench. “I can finish on Sunday. As long as I get everything in before Monday morning, it's fine.”
I wasn't going to argue for her to go back to work today.
It had taken some adjusting, but the two of us had figured out how to blend our lifestyles.
Living on land was one of the things I'd done to accommodate Nina's need for a full bathroom and kitchen.
She'd agreed to move closer to the water so both our animals felt comforted by being near the sea.
I was still hunting for treasure, and Nina loved getting to pick through the things I brought to the surface. She always got first dibs on anything I found.
Thankfully, I hadn’t run across any more cursed or even spelled objects. If I did, I left them where I found them!
“I can’t wait to be in the open ocean,” she said.
“Aye aye, Captain Nina,” I said and jumped into action.
She grinned and lounged as I got the boat untied and motored us out of the marina. Soon we were heading east, leaving the coast far behind.
A kraken and a seal out for a weekend sail. Life didn’t get any better than this.