Chapter 16 #2
Sawyer ate one of the sandwiches, and while it was delicious, what he loved even more was the people.
Ciaran nudged him again. “You’re smiling to yourself again.”
He laughed as he swallowed his last mouthful. He didn’t care if the others heard. In fact, he hoped they would. “I told you I was happy,” he said. “Just reminded how great it is here. The town, sure. But it’s the people—”
“Ciaran!” Fray yelled from the jetty. It was his serious tone too. “Ciaran!”
They all raced outside just as Otis climbed out of the water holding a cephamorph in freeform by the throat. It had its tentacles wrapped around Otis’s arm. He roared and shook it free. It hit the ground, clambering on all eight legs, trying to scurry away as Pania went after it in a rage.
“You stung my mate!” she hollered, fists closed, shaking with fury as Otis held her back.
Beau gasped beside Ciaran. “It’s Dirk. Dirk’s here,” Beau said, and Hudson took a step back.
Fray stood there with his hands on his hips, grin wide, Tobin was now beside him. “Hey, Ciaran?” Fray yelled. “Can she kill him? Or are there laws and shit over ripping the leader of another consortium to pieces?”
“I’m not going back,” Hudson whispered. “Please.”
“You don’t have to,” Ciaran assured him before turning a menacing smile toward Dirk that curled around Sawyer’s insides, warm and lovely. Oh hell yes.
“No killing him yet,” Ciaran said as he began to walk over. “Let’s see what he has to say first.”
“If you don’t want him to see you, go inside,” Sawyer said, mostly to Hudson but also to Beau. “We won’t let him take you.” Then he hurried to catch up with Ciaran.
Hendrix went, too, but Kellan and Dylan stayed with Hudson.
Beau hesitated, but eventually, he came over as well. He still had a hammer in his hand though, so...
Dirk was an ugly mottled blueish-grey colour in freeform that Sawyer didn’t like at all. And when Dirk morphed into human form, Sawyer wasn’t sure which he preferred. Yikes.
Dirk was... Well, for a start, he was naked, which didn’t help. Sawyer had to wonder how it was possible for a cephamorph to resemble a potbelly pig in human form.
“He came into the Cove,” Fray said. “Surprised to see me, Tobin, and Otis. Then he saw Pania, and... well. Should have kept his mouth shut.”
“I didn’t know you had a female here,” Dirk said to Ciaran. The way he said the word “female” pissed Sawyer off.
Otis, too, apparently. Pania had simmered down a little, but now Otis looked about ready to murder someone. “Ciaran,” Otis said, voice low, as if he was barely hanging on to his self-control.
“It’s okay, Otis,” Ciaran said, sneering at Dirk.
“I’ve got this.” Then he leaned over him and spoke down at him.
“You insult one of my consortium, and then you stung her mate.” Ciaran flicked out his arm and his hand morphed into a dark red tentacle.
Not his vibrant, sexy red. This tentacle was dark and angry, and it curled at the tip and twisted with an irate mind of its own. “You want me to return the favour?”
Dirk scampered back, eyes wide with fear and pleading. “No, no, please no.”
Sawyer knew that Ciaran had the ability to burn with his toxin, but he’d never seen it in action. He’d seen the marks it had left on Lusca, however, and Sawyer wasn’t opposed to seeing it on Dirk.
Dirk put his hand to his throat, which was a ruddy purple. “He was choking me,” he said. “I only stung him to make him release his hold on me. That’s all.”
“That’s all?” Ciaran yelled. “You dare to come into our cove and—”
“I came to see my men,” he said, foolishly defiant. Like he had any right to be mad. “And your cove, it’s all fucked up. The water, it ain’t right. I could barely see. I didn’t see your men until they were in front of me.”
Beau made a low growling sound, the hammer still in his hand. “We aren’t your men, Dirk.”
Dirk’s eyes met his, and they hardened for a split second
“Bullshit,” Tobin said. “He was trying to be stealthy, and he had no idea we were on to him because I was there.”
Because Tobin had shielded them.
“He thought he was there alone,” Fray added. “And he thought he was going to get here undetected so he could snoop.”
Tobin smiled. “Tell us, Dirk, what were you snooping for? And don’t forget, I know when you’re lying.”
Dirk looked around at everyone, confused.
Ciaran crouched down beside him. “Snoop for what?”
Dirk paled. “I wasn’t snooping.”
“Were you spying?” Ciaran said, his tentacle hand swaying at the ready.
“I just wanted to see my men,” he said.
“Bom-bom,” Tobin hummed, like a buzzer for an incorrect answer.
Dirk shook his head, scowling at Tobin before looking back at Ciaran. “How does he know? He doesn’t know shit.”
Then Ciaran’s tentacle smacked down on Dirk’s thigh, and Dirk let out an almighty scream. He gripped his thigh, roaring through the pain of it. Then he was sweating and panting, still gripping his thigh, which was now red and blistered.
He looked up at Sawyer. “Ain’t you a cop?” he said through gritted teeth. “Do something!”
Sawyer looked at Ciaran, because damn, he knew his man had power, but that was...
“That was so fucking hot.”
Everyone laughed, but Fray laughed the loudest.
Ciaran stood up to his full height, his arm now ending in a human hand, which Sawyer was very quick to take. Ciaran pressed a kiss to Sawyer’s head, and then he gave Otis and Pania a nod. “Take him inside, make him... comfortable. We’ll see if he’s ready to talk.”