Chapter Thirty-One
The moon was high when Austin glimpsed the white of his razorfish shoreline and the shadowy line of his forest. He dove, searching until he found the matriarch.
She crawled out from under a large outcrop of rocks, tentacles rising and curling in a friendly greeting.
Tristan passed by overhead, tugging a disgruntled Liam by the hand.
Moments later, Tristan swooped down, offering her a fish he’d caught mere seconds before.
The matriarch took it and scuttled back beneath her rock.
Austin let out a pleased hum and swam towards the shore.
He focused on compressing his spine, on calmness, on what it felt like to take steps, and—there. His silver tail became legs.
Liam stood on the shore, feet safely tucked into boots, shivering. He had the vague outline of a drowned rat. Austin stopped knee-deep and turned around.
Tristan’s head was above water, far out from shore.
“Are you not coming in?” Austin asked.
A frustrated sound carried across the water.
“I don’t think he can,” Liam said. “I don’t think he can talk, either.”
“What do you mean?”
“I have no idea how any of this works,” Liam said. He shrugged off his wet sweater and offered it to Austin. “Here.”
Austin remained where he was. “You really can’t come in?
” A distinctly unhappy note came through in his voice.
Tristan released an agitated growl. He shook his head.
Austin stood there, stumped. That put his plans to show Tristan around thoroughly out of reach.
A frustrated growl of his own broke through.
“Fine.” He glanced over his shoulder at Liam.
“Go in ahead. I’m going to show Tristan around my territory before sending him off. ”
Liam folded the sweater he’d been offering over his arm. “Alright.”
Austin ventured back into the water, legs becoming a tail more easily than his tail had become legs.
He swam right up to Tristan and butted his forehead against the merman’s temple, irritated.
“You should have mentioned that earlier. I’ve seen Goldilocks and Adonis walking around on legs over here just fine,” he added.
A small growl rose from Tristan. He bumped Austin’s temple with his forehead in return, though far gentler.
“Is this related to you not being able to half-shift? I suppose it’s probably harder to turn that into legs,” Austin groused. “You’re basically a whale.”
Tristan seized Austin’s hand and dove. Trying, Austin guessed, to stop the complaints before they worsened.
Austin allowed it and swam hand in hand with him, then took the lead to guide him.
His territory had far more diversity than the white beach sands outside Tristan’s estate—though perhaps that would change in the coming months, now that the sand was gone—and the rocky bottom was easy for both of them to navigate.
Austin showed him where he liked to sit and meditate, then picked a few razorfish from the stony shore and showed them to Tristan.
He caught Tristan’s hand again and led him out, swimming parallel to the shoreline until he found the beach that still had signs warning of razorfish, though they’d all left it long ago.
“I took them from here,” Austin said.
He brought him to the dock where Sam always parked his fishing boat.
“I like to sit there.” Austin pointed to the very edge of the dock, where, months ago, he’d sat for hours at a time, glaring at the ocean.
“That’s Sam’s boat. You’ll never mistake it for anyone else’s.
He keeps the paint fresh.” Austin drew close to the hull.
They were too far from any lights for him to make the painting out, but he knew what was there.
An octopus wrapping its tentacles around a boat.
“If the matriarch was bigger, that’s what she’d do,” he told Tristan matter-of-factly. “Sink ships.”
Tristan nodded his understanding.
Voices carried over the water, and Austin peered at the seaside pub in the distance. It glowed like a beacon in the night. “That’s Connor’s territory,” he said. It didn’t upset him to turn and swim back the way they’d come. Tristan kept pace, watchful beside him.
In his territory, Austin dove once more to his meditation spot and sat. He looked expectantly at Tristan, who swam around him several times, carefully surveying their surroundings before he came down, leaned against a rock, and curved his tail around Austin.
Austin waited a few seconds before letting out a questioning warble that sent air bubbles rising to the surface. Tristan returned a similar sound that vibrated through the water, but kept his gaze on their surroundings, vigilant still.
Austin huffed in annoyance and stretched out. His head ended up on Tristan’s tail, and he batted at Tristan with his fins. Tristan glanced down at him, taking in his stretched-out position, before flicking his eyes once more to their surroundings.
The tip of Austin’s tail fin brushed against the gills crossing Tristan’s ribs. He tickled them lightly. Tristan tensed, caught Austin’s tail, and fixed him with a warning look. Austin waited until Tristan let go of him and looked away. Then he did it again.
Tristan unfurled like a great beast, his tail sweeping slowly out from beneath Austin, leaving him alone for only a second before he swooped in on top.
Austin lay on his back and Tristan crowded him, arms set against the stones on either side of Austin’s head.
Austin batted his tail once more, but his fin harmlessly brushed against the bulk of Tristan’s tail, clearly not hitting anywhere sensitive, judging by the look Tristan gave him.
Austin could have flashed his teeth at Tristan, warning him off. Instead, he blinked, meeting Tristan’s eyes as he tried to mimic Kas’s perfect look of innocence.
Tristan stiffened.
Austin let out soft apologetic hums—fake ones—and wrapped his arms around Tristan’s chest, peppering him with dozens of kisses. A responding, pleased purr stirred in Tristan, one that said, apology accepted.
Austin bit him.
Tristan jolted, hand flying to the side of his neck.
Austin peered at the ring of indents his teeth had made.
Warmth prodded through Austin’s tail as Tristan fixed him with a heated look.
The scales in Tristan’s tail parted, and his cock slid from its great bulk, dauntingly large.
Austin tensed but considered himself. He was bigger in this form. Perhaps it wouldn’t hurt?
Austin was still studying Tristan when the merman began to move away from him. With a protesting cry, Austin caught his arm. If they weren’t underwater, Austin’s face would have blazed as he gestured to his own tail, letting out a confused how?
Tristan studied Austin’s expression, peering into his eyes.
Austin let out an irritated huff and felt around for himself in the same spot on his own tail.
His scales parted easily, his fingers dipping into near scalding heat.
His fingertips pushed against a wall of muscle, and he felt, with an electric jolt, the tip of his cock pushing up inside.
Austin shivered. A slick coat of lubrication covered everything, helpful for getting his fingers inside, less helpful for gripping his cock.
It kept slipping, and something inside resisted him each time he tried to get hold of it.
With a growl, he jutted his hips up and finally, finally, caught his shaft beneath the flare of his head and managed to hold on tight.
Flares of heat licked up his spine as he pulled his cock free, having to reach in with the other hand to guide his balls out.
Austin didn’t dare release his firm grip, feeling the way a muscle inside tried to contract his cock right back into his tail.
He raised his head, looking proudly at Tristan.
Tristan’s eyes were very, very dark.
Austin jutted his chin toward his freed cock for Tristan to see his success, the absurdity of what he was doing striking him only after Tristan’s gaze moved down, and a muscle in his jaw fluttered.
The merman’s large cock, hard and flush against his stomach, twitched.
He moved down, lining his face up with Austin’s cock.
Austin tried to tell Tristan he didn’t mean for him to touch him, but it came out as a garbled mess of bubbles.
Tristan took a firm hold of Austin’s hand and cock, swallowing him without hesitation.
Warmth rushed through Austin’s blood, nerves dancing as his heart kicked up its rhythm into an excited drumbeat.
Austin sank his fingers into Tristan’s wet hair, pulling it free from its leather band. The water pressed down on Austin from above, muffling sight and sound, heightening the heat of Tristan’s mouth. Tristan wrapped his free arm around Austin’s waist, holding him steady as his head bobbed.
More bubbles raced toward the surface as Austin groaned. His gills fluttered wildly, straining with each gasp. Before long, Austin was on the cusp, and the water vibrated around them. He tugged on Tristan’s hair, pulling harshly when Tristan ignored him.
Tristan tilted up his face, meeting Austin’s eyes without taking his cock out of his mouth, without stopping his bobbing. There was a predatory glint in Tristan’s eyes.
Austin pulled even harder, yanking the merman off his cock and dragging him in for a kiss.
Tristan kissed him back eagerly, pinning Austin to the ocean floor as he rubbed his cock against Austin’s front.
Austin’s erection slid back into his tail, and the tip of Tristan’s cock caught on the slit where it had disappeared.
Austin’s lids fluttered shut. He reached between them and grasped Tristan’s too-big cock. He growled into Tristan’s mouth, aggrieved that it hadn’t magically shrunk when he wasn’t looking, and guided the tip to the slit his cock had disappeared into.
Tristan’s chest vibrated.