Page 27 of Seduced By the Mermen
“There’s four of you. I guess I thought you would all be here.” Blair holds Alexei’s eyes. And Clark taps Alexei’s back. He was so convinced that all of us would overwhelm her. Then again, with Sterling in the corner of the room, he’s not wrong.
“Blair, would you join us?” I motion to the table. A table that now seems too small with the entire Portsmouth pod, Blair, her daughter, and us clustered around it.
“The tables are a little small,” Holter says, glaring at the table. It’s the largest there is in the cafe. The L-shaped benchcovers two sides. On the other side, there are four chairs, another at the end.
“I’m sure we could squeeze in.” Blair zigs around Nico and is sliding down the bench when Kade pushes through the crowd, the same Tinom that Clark’s working for. The same Tinom whose pod, we all know, wants Blair as well.
I incline my head to the side where the four Tinoms are pushing their way toward us. The crowds are parting, but not as smoothly as they did for the Portsmouths. Kade’s all smiles, his damn hair in a wave on the side of his head. There are ugly rumors out there about what happened to their last mermaid. I don’t believe them. Half of the things said about Nico weren’t true. Lies started by Tinom. And the same thing could be said about Kade. Lies started by Glyden. But right now, I’m ready to reverse course and say they’re all true.
He’s got his green eyes set on Blair, and he weaves around Holter and past Castor.
“For your own fucking safety, take a step back,” Castor says.
“Ms. Portsmouth.” Kade puts his hand on Blair’s shoulder and pulls her in, kissing each cheek. It’s fast, and then he drops his hands from her shoulder.
“Oh, uh . . . Hello.” Blair laughs.
“I’m Kade Driftwood. My pod mates and I have been trying to get in touch with you.”
“Oh, I... I didn’t know?”Blair doesn’t step away from him. And it makes me want to rush in between the two of them. At least I’m not growling under my breath like Clark.
Chapter 12
Sterling
and Castor step up to her shoulders. I crane my neck, moving to the side to see what’s going on better. After all, this is my assignment. My fucking assignment from my ass of a king. But then, he’s one of the few in my tenure who’s actually trying to change things for the better. And it’s not up to me to tell him he’s doing it the wrong way.
Kade Driftwood leans forward. He’s not my target, or at least not from the intel we have. Kade laughs. “Yes, well. We would like to spend some time with you and get to know you as well. And for you to get to see what a good life you could live in Tinom compared to Glyden or Stele. We’re much more advanced... at everything.”
I want to rip the male’s neck out. His innuendoes make me want to gag.
“I see. Well... I will think about it.” Blair turns back to the table, letting me see her face. She smiles, but her eyes don’t twinkle like they did a minute ago, and it gives me great pleasure to see the momentary breakdown of the Tinom’s smugness. She’s lovely, but I don’t understand the others’ obsession with her. We have too much baggage to try again.
Kade takes his block out and holds it up for her to scan his contact.
Blair’s head cocks to Annabelle.
Kade clears his throat. “Do you have your own block? It would be so much easier to get a message directly to you.”
“Uh, no...” Her voice trails off. She’s fragile, and the Tinom has made her uncertain.
He’s playing games with her. Of course the female doesn’t have her own block. It would be an inkwell of trouble. Anyone with half a brain would be able to track her.
“Really? I suppose the Glydens like to control their mermaids.” His arms flap out to his silent pod mates behind him. “That’s something that doesn’t happen in Tinom. Just something to think about.” Kade smiles through the untrue words.
Blair turns to Annabelle. I’m not sure if it’s for help or confirmation. It’s taking everything I have to not pound the concrete floor to the other side of the teahouse and take out the Tinom scum.
“My aunt will be in touch if she wants to be. I’ll see to it. Now excuse us—we have plans.” Annabelle’s shoulders straighten; she appears as tall as Nico. I don’t see any of that spirit in Blair that a lot of them keep going on and on about. Her head’s downward, her shoulders rounded. No matter how lovely they say her eyes are, how can you see them? I scoff internally. Seriously, why would we want to trouble ourselves with her? Or with any female? I’m not sure we were ever a true pod anyway. No, it’s enough. Wishing for what we don’t have isn’t worth it. The way everything went down with Anya... No. It’s not something we need to even think about.
I said it a long time ago: we don’t deserve another mermaid. But then, they don’t worry about me or what I think. I take two small steps to the side.
A teahouse server looks up at me. “Would you like to order?”
“No,” I growl. It’s enough to have Forrest looking my way.
I grimace. The server scurries away, and fucking Forrest rolls his Poseidon eyes at me.
It’s loud in here. But now I’ve got a clean line to the target. Atlas picked me for this mission, but maybe that wasn’t because of my pod’s interest. The others on the team didn’t see a need. Not with the second coming of Poseidon and the Hero of Hestertåtten in the teahouse, they said. But males with titles become lax. They think they’re invincible when they’re not. They’re made of flesh, blood, and scales, just as we all are. No, it’s better that I’m here. We don’t need another attack throwing our city into turmoil again. Having females fear for their lives isn’t something that will happen in my tenure.
