Page 174 of Bewitched By the Sea Monster
My name tumbles out of her mouth.
Alistair.
Me!
I am a man again.
Somehow my life has returned to me.
Those first momentsafter Alistair turned human were a whirlwind of activity.
Alistair pleaded for help as his long-limbed body struggled against the sea. Confusion rippled around the ship, and there was a flurry of movement as people scrambled to throw him the life preserver and hauled him aboard.
He collapsed onto the deck, naked and shuddering, and his eyes found mine again.
And I didn’t eventhink.Didn’t care that Jackson was on board, or that the people around me were belching up bubbles of horror and shock. I let it all slide off me as I ran,plopping into a sitting position and smashing into Alistair’s side.
He gave a hollow “Oomph.” But then his jittering arms closed around me, smooshing me against the solid wall of his chest in the biggest bear hug—the sort that was pure comfort. Like being wrapped in a fuzzy blanket after a long day out in the snow.
And we did, actually, get bundled into blankets. From Elisabeth, who stammered apologies in my ear. And Kian, who was too shocked to say anything. And others—a nameless carousel of faces.
Alistair pressed his face into my hair.
I flinched when his cheek brushed against the section of scalp Jackson had mangled.
Alistair stiffened and made a sound of distress when he carefully parted my hair and found the wound. “I’m sorry.” He touched his lips to the gash. “I’m sorry.” The words quavered off his lips as he gathered me more firmly against him. “I’m sorry.” He cried. Tears of joy and relief and heartache.
And I cried too. Because this was a dream, being held by him, but better.Because it wasreal.
I could have stayed there for the rest of my life. Wrapped in his warmth, with the secure weight of his arms around me. Smelling his scent—the briny tang I was so accustomed to—combined with a crisp musk of his human skin.
But the mottles of terror dragged my head away. Had me turning.
People ran from the other side of the ship, trying to avoid the massive eel wriggling around the deck.
Massive, as in that grey-skinned creature had to beat leasteight feet long.
It flopped, smashing its body against the wood, and writhed, swinging its beady eyes around the deck.
“Help! I…Don’trun.For fuck!Help me.”
Rune.
That was Rune’s voice.
Coming from theeel?
Alistair caressed my back. “He d-d-didn’t read the fine print.”
Stars, it was an incredible feeling to have his words ghosting over my skin with his breaths.
“What?” I asked.
“Rune.” Alistair nuzzled me. “It’s a figure of speech. Although there are warnings in old textbooks—which I assumed he read, since he likes dabbling in old magic, but he probably skipped over the warning sections. Curses are…well, there’s a reasonthey’re outlawed. One being that they’re h-h-horrific. The other being that if they’re broken, the magic rebounds onto the caster. Rune made me and my employees beasts. The curse is broken. So nowhegets to live as a beast.”
Alistair had not been lying about being a fast talker. Words zipped out of him—almost too quickly for me to grasp. Which made me laugh. Because I realized this was how he’d felt when I’d talked before: like his mind was in rear-wheel drive, spinning itself stuck in muck.
And my mindreallychurned fruitlessly through that mud. Because it took me several seconds to register what he’d said.
