Page 30 of Tempting Triton
I groan as he darts at me again, barely dodging a nose to the gut once more, but not the slap of his tail to the back of my head.
“Hey now!” I growl, rubbing the back of my skull. “Do not be like that. We were not gone that long.”
I grab at him as he flips in the water with a flash of his tail and returns for another round of beat-on-Triton, catching him around the dorsal fin as he attempts to scold me once more.
“Stop that!” I growl as we wrestle while my Elena watches on, shaking her head and rolling her eyes at us as she treads water.
“You could have sent word!” Ichó grumbles at me.
Elena snorts. “I told you he’d be worried.” She looks at me pointedly.
I let go of Ichó and grin sheepishly, scuffing up the back of my hair. “I am sorry if I made you worry, Ichó.”
“I almost sent a party to search after you,” Ichó snips at me.
It is my turn to snort. “I do not think the fish can put two thoughts together long enough to come looking for me, my friend.”
Ichó clicks at me in annoyance. “Your kin have returned, you fool. It is them that I would have sent after you.”
Ichó’s words echo between us, but the rest of what he says fades into muffled noises, as if my ears are full of spongy coral and I am floating above a deep ocean trench, the endless darkness open beneath me. My kin are here? How?
My Elena rushes to me, waving a hand in front of my face. “Triton?” Her voice sounds like it is coming from a far distance instead of right in front of me. I can see her brows drawn with worry. Is my mother here? My Elena looks to Ichó as he says something I cannot hear, my ears stuffed full of a strange ringing. She looks back at me with something akin to sadness in her eyes and shakes her head. Did I ask it aloud? I blink a few times, fighting back the darkness encroaching on the edges of my vision. Is my beast taking over? Is there a threat? I feel like a foreign being trapped inside my own body as everything around me is snuffed out, darkness encompassing me on all sides. Cutting me off from my friend and my mate, until there is nothing. Nothing but me and the void.
“Take me to them,” I growl. The soft, kind Triton is tucked away in the back of our mind. The mention of our mother broke him, makingit necessary for me to take over to protect him from any further heartache. My mate registers that I am in control now, a pink flush blooming across her cheeks and chest. So pretty. A rumble begins deep in my chest as I remember the last time we were face to face and I buried my tongue in her cunt, the scent of her blood driving me to frenzy.
I follow Ichó back to the castle, this pink and orange-hued coral abomination that stands sentinel beyond the reef. Both Ichó and my mate swim beside me in silence, not knowing how to behave, not wanting to set me off, and I grin wickedly. These kin of ours better have some interesting stories to tell of the outside world, and news of our mother. If she is still alive. It has never occurred to Triton that she may not be. She is human after all, and we do not know the intricacies of a bond between a human and a Mer. A thousand years have passed since we were abandoned, and I appeared for the first time, triggered from a young age to protect us. To protect him.
A flash of shadow passes overhead as we enter the castle. Voices echo from within, and then male laughter. The sound rankles me. What do they have to be so pleased about? Do they not know they are now trapped here alongside us, and I do not want to play nice? This is our territory, and our mate, and I will not give up either.
Ichó leads us to the meeting hall, a room we have not ventured to since we were a pup. No reason to, nobody around to hold court for. A group of three male Mer sit around the stone table, chatting animatedly amongst themselves. Chatter that fades as they notice us lingering in the doorway. They get up from their seats in a rush and bow low, and I am pleased that they already know who we are. And their place. I take a moment to look them over before I speak. They look like me, and yet so different. They each have different colored scales, different tones of skin, hair, and eyes, but they are me, and I am they. My kin.
I pass them slowly, taking my time, taking stock of the three of them, before finding my place on my father’s throne. My mate has to follow with a squeak, and I do not miss the three sets of Mer eyes that track her around the room. Growling, I tug her into my lap, and a small huff of bubbles leaves her as she falls to sit right on my pocket, wriggling to find a perch.
“Be still, my mate, or I will have to claim you in front of our guests.” I hum into the notch beneath her ear so only she can hear me. Heat blooms on her face, and I smirk with sweet satisfaction. My mate looks so pretty painted in red.
“You are mated?” one of the males asks, curious, his eyes flicking between my mate and me, hunger so obviously etched on his face.
“We are.” My arm wraps around my mate’s waist, pulling her back further into my chest.
“Your mother will be happy.”
My head snaps up. “She lives?”
“She does.”
“Tell me of her.” My Elena startles, looking up at me at the change of tone. I force my beast back at the mention of my mother. She is alive. My Elena’s body relaxes into me, and I am pleased to find her upon my lap. My beast is a possessive Mer, but how can I blame it when our Elena is as beautiful as she is, and we are surrounded by three strangers with hunger in their eyes? I cannot tell if they want to fuck or devour my Elena, and while I cannot blame them, I will not hesitate to let my beast free again.
“It is she who sent us.”
My heart twists. “Why?”
“For you, of course.”
For me. For me. For me. My mother is waiting for me.
I bury the elation that threatens to burst from my chest. I will rejoice later, in the privacy of my room and my Elena’s arms. My mother lives.
“How did you get here? When?” I fire questions at the three Mer, who reluctantly pull their gaze away from my Elena, perched on my lap.
