Page 9 of Seduced By the Mermen
I’m torn about what to do. While the girls are talking, I wander closer to the window. “The male who was injured, is he okay?” I glance over my shoulder at the kitchen.
Nico’s coming back with four mugs in his giant hands. He places two on the sofa and hands me mine. “Does it matter?”
“Of course it matters.” I’m stunned. This male who shows so much compassion for his mate has none for a person who was attacked by a shark.
“Like I said earlier, he knew the consequences.”
“Why was he even here?” I ask.
Nico’s lips curl into a smirk. “You, Blair.”
The airlock hisses, and Annabelle shoots off the sofa, running down the corridor. We all follow.
Chapter 5
Zion
You don’t need to help me.
Shut up,Holter the Hero of Hestertåtten says.
He didn’t . . .
The water swooshes out of the airlock. I shift out of fluke. “The shark only caught a piece of my . . .” I have no idea what it caught. It fucking hurts. It’s not that big of an injury, more of an embarrassment. The lights and movement in front of what I know is the apartment Blair Portsmouth is staying in were too big of a draw. Even without the lights and movement, it’s a temptation every time I swim by.
“Why the hell were you even here?” Holter grips my arm—part holding me up, part yanking me.
“I went out for my daily swim.” A daily swim that seems to lately be coming this way more often.
“Daily swim?” Holter asks.
“I don’t get a chance to shift much in my line of work. It’s part of my workout routine.”
Holter’s eyes flick to the tattoo on my arm, and I know what he’s thinking. “You’re Stele; that’s a really long swim.”
“I’m dedicated.”
The second airlock opens, and we step inside, letting the door close behind us. I’m happy to see that even though they are living on the seabed like crustaceans, the airlock has the safety precautions of an extra chamber. Having a human living in an apartment without one would be foolish and irresponsible.
We move into the last one as Eros and Castor swim into the first chamber. It’s too hard to talk while the fresh water pelts my skin and the driers suck the water away. I’ve wanted to see Blair again, but not like this. Not bleeding and naked. Well, fuck, I want to see her naked, but not now, not yet.
Alexei keeps sending us all articles to read about how humans are different than us. How we will need to be versed in human culture if we are going to be successful in wooing Blair to mate into our pod. We’re going to have enough trouble overcoming the fact that there are seven of us and several of us are more than a little difficult to get along with. But that happens in large pods. That’s why mermaids always add slowly and carefully.
The airlock opens, and there is Nico and his mate, Annabelle. Nico’s glaring, his arms crossed over his white robe. “You’re bleeding on my floor.” He thrusts a towel at me.
“Yes. I’m sorry about that.” I wrap the towel around my calf and grit my teeth. I’m not weak, not a little guppy. But it’s been a long time since my military days. Standing in front of a recent ex-commander, I’m not going to cry like a podlet over an injury that will be healed by the end of the week.
“Get cleaned up and get the hell out of here.” I’m sure Nico’s glare has caused more than one new squib to wet themselves. I, however, am not a squib, nor have I been one for over twenty-seven years. Even the last ten years in a desk job haven’t made me lose my edge.
“Not a problem.” It most definitely is a problem. Now that I’m in the apartment with Blair Portsmouth, I’m notgoing to leave with her thinking I’m some sort of stalker. It’s bad enough that Alexei has his weird uncles staking out the lobbies. Although they have provided us with some interesting information.
Our biggest competition is a pod of eight from Seolfor and a pod of five from Koralli. Both of them tried to get into the apartment and were turned away. The Koralli pod was talking openly in the lobby about how they were going to give up. That it wasn’t worth their time. Fools. Mason pod males don’t give up. That is something that bonds the seven of us together. We don’t give up. We’re stubborn, the whole lot of us. I don’t know if we all started out that way or if time has molded us closer together. But we’re not quitters.
I step out of the airlock, and the doors whoosh shut behind me. My second step sends a quick jab of pain shooting up though my pelvis into my spine, and the towel wrapped around my leg has turned a bright crimson.
“What are you thinking? You can’t let this man just leave. He might lose his leg. That’s a lot of blood.” Blair’s voice doesn’t shake as she pushes between Nico and his mate.
“He’s fine,” Nico growls.
