Chapter 2
My mate was kidnapped by merfolk.
I can’t seem to wrap my mind around it. My heart feels like it’s been ripped in two. It’s difficult to think, to concentrate, but there’s too much to do for me to rest.
“Would you get off the fucking phone?” I glare at my best friend. “We need to do something.”
We’re standing on the rocks that jut out along one side of Seaman’s Cove, just above the secret entrance to the lost city of Ocearus. After everyone said it didn’t exist, my mate, Madison, found it.
My mate. Gods that feels so unreal to say, yet causes my gut to clench since she was just stolen from me. By a fucking mermaid queen. No matter how many times I think about it, I still can’t fully believe this is real life.
Phoenix glares at me. “I am doing something.”
He takes a few steps away, returning to his conversation with whoever’s on the other line. My knees give out, and I sink down onto the rock. Madi’s backpack is still here, right next to mine. She has her dry bag with her, but I doubt the few things in it will do her much good under the sea.
Thank the gods, I bonded her and can still feel her presence.
She’s alive, though I can’t understand how.
Caspian must be breathing for her. How long can he sustain that?
Is he okay? The weaker bond I have with him is overshadowed by Madi’s fear, even though she’s trying to hide it by sending me comfort and reassurance.
The sun sinks low, kissing the horizon, and all I can think is that Madi should be in my arms. We should be watching this sunset together, curled up in my apartment, celebrating her discovery—one of the greatest archeological finds of the century.
We should be tangled together in my bed, celebrating our new bond, even if we have to keep it secret from the rest of the world.
But she’s gone.
It’s been less than an hour since we bit each other, but the effects of bonding sickness are already setting in. It’s probably worse because she was taken from me against her will, and I don’t know when or if I’ll ever see her again. I drop my head into my hands and try to take slow breaths.
“He’s on his way,” Phoenix says, making me look up. He’s finally off the phone.
“Who?” I ask, rubbing my stinging eyes.
“My beta, Sebastian.”
“Phoenix, seriously? Now is not the time for your fucking games.” I can’t believe he would joke at a time like this.
There’s a deep crinkle between Phoenix’s eyebrows as he studies me like a doctor worried about his patient. The way he’s looking at me is too serious. Wait, has he been telling the truth about Sebastian all along?
“He’s gonna organize everything,” Phoenix says. “A ship. A crew. We’ll be out to sea by morning.”
“Wait, what?” I shake my head, trying to catch up. “Sebastian’s real?”
Phoenix started dating Sebastian right after the one and only time we hooked up, and I’ve never met the man, despite them supposedly being together for years. Every time Phoenix talks about him, he sounds too good to be true. Handsome, wealthy, intelligent. I honestly didn’t think he truly existed.
“Uh, yeah.” Phoenix seems a little put out, but he covers it quickly, offering me his hand to help me up. “Look, we need to—”
He cuts himself off when three men lift out of the narrow, water-filled hole in the rock beside us.
Branson, Rodrick, and Carter Prescott. They were with us when we discovered Ocearus, and when Madi and her merman mate, Caspian, were taken by Caspian’s mother, queen of the underwater city of Tythas.
They look pale, like they're still trying to shake off the encounter.
“Where the hell’d they go?” Branson asks. He’s the leader of their little pack, one of my students, and Madison’s horrible ex-alpha. “We’ve got to get her back.”
I’ve never liked Branson. He’s a spoiled brat.
But for once, we’re in agreement. Not that there’s much he can do.
There’s not much any of us can do since we can’t breathe underwater, and we don’t know where the queen took Madi and Capsian.
If they were closer, I might be able to follow the pull of the bond, but they’re already too far.
“We’ve got it under control, Prescott.” Phoenix picks up both my backpack and Madi’s.
“You’re going after her?” Carter looks stunned. “How?”
“Let me worry about that.” Phoenix takes my hand, gently tugging me toward the beach.
“Okay, good,” Branson says. “You go after her, and we’ll make sure Ocearus gets properly recorded as a historical site and secure funding for the—”
“Like hell you will!” I round on Branson, slamming my palms into his chest hard enough that Rodrick has to catch him to keep him from slipping on the wet rocks.
Phoenix grabs my arm to pull me back, but I shake him off.
I feel volatile, raw, and I trust Branson about as far as I can throw him.
He’ll try to claim this discovery for himself and weasel Madison out of it.
“I’m going to the University President now to report the find.” I cross my arms over my chest and stare down the other alpha. “If I hear even a whiff of you trying to claim this for yourselves, I’ll destroy you.”
Branson holds up his hands. “Hey, I know. I didn’t say I would—”
I cut him off with a sharp growl. It doesn’t matter what he said or didn’t say.
I know him. Madison has worked too hard for too long to trust a conniving pack like his.
She pushed back against her parents, me, the university—hell, even society as a whole—to get where she is today professionally.
I won’t let some pricks take this from her, especially while there’s nothing she can do.
I want nothing more than to leave with Phoenix and start the search for our mates, but I know my Madison would gut me like a fish if I let anything happen to her research. I growl again just thinking about it.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” Branson narrows his eyes.
Shit. I can’t act like a deranged mate going through bonding sickness. I need to hold it together. For Madi. Once I get her back, she won’t want everyone knowing her professor bonded her. She told me we needed to keep this a secret. That’s the least I can do for her.
“Sorry,” I force the word past my teeth.
Phoenix steps between Branson and me. “I think we’re all just a little on edge after everything today.
” He adjusts the strap of Madi’s backpack higher on his shoulder, and my heart pinches at the subtle reminder that she’s gone.
“Hunter will talk with the University President and file the paperwork. But I’m sure Madison would appreciate it if you started raising funds for the dig, Branson. ”
Carter prickles, scowling. Rodrick straightens to his full height. Branson crosses his arms. “We’ll get the funding if I can have a leadership role.”
I grind my teeth. We’re wasting time. The sun is almost gone, and Madi is out there somewhere. Alone.
“Fine,” I snap, turning away from them.
“And we’re not waiting for you. If you’re not back in three weeks, we start excavating without you.”
Phoenix clutches my shoulder to keep me from spinning back around and losing it on Branson again. I don’t answer. I just keep going, picking my way over the rocks until my feet hit the sand.
As we walk up the steep path to the University, Phoenix takes my hand. I squeeze his fingers tight. “What if we can’t—”
“No,” Phoenix cuts me off. “We’re getting her back. There’s no question about it. She’s ours.”