Page 57 of Seduced By the Mermen
“Hey there, Mr. Mason,” Haakon says, and now I can place an adult standing behind me. He’s Koralli, and his fathers lost their mate a few years before I had their son in my class.
“Haakon, it’s nice to see you.” I pivot, wedging myself between Blair and Haakon’s dad. But his dad doesn’t take being cut off well.
“Sherman Staal,” Haakon’s dad says, pushing his hand out in the human way past me.
“Oh, I’m Blair Portsmouth.” Blair puts her hand in his, and he yanks it up and down like he’s trying to hammer with their hands combined together.
There’s a growl behind me, Clark maybe. In my peripheral, Sterling is closing in. But then so is the rest of my pod, and the Portsmouths.
“Okay, good morning, everyone. Back up,” Annabelle’s voice rings through the auditorium.
“Move away from my aunt,” Nico announces.
Haakon grabs his father’s arm. “The second coming of Poseidon says?—”
“It’s fine, Hawk.” He puts his arm around the teenager. “We would like to be able to have a...”
“Date?” Alexei helps out, and I’m not the violent one of our pod, but even I want to stab Alexei with a trident.
Sherman straightens his shoulders. “Yes, date.”
“I... that is really flattering. I’m not sure how I could... I suppose.” Blair looks at the floor, then me, and back at Annabelle.
“I’ll take your information, and we’ll get back to you,” Annabelle says.
“Can you pass a security check, Staal?” Nico glares.
“Retired commander of the Vega,” Sherman says, “I can pass any clearance.”
“The Vega’s been decommissioned for a long time. There’s plenty of time for you to have gone astray.”
“Not me. Not my pod mates, either.” He hugs his son closer.
Sherman wasn’t one of Haakon’s fathers that I dealt with regularly, but the others are good males. That shouldn’t make venom fly through my veins. But it would be a hell of a lot easier if our competition were assholes.
“Nice to meet you, Blair and Portsmouths.” Sherman inclines his head to me and the rest of the Masons as he leaves.
“I’m sorry about?—”
“Nothing to be sorry for, Blair,” Clark says.
“Join us for the feast this afternoon?” I ask, holding Blair’s blue eyes.
“Oh, I didn’t know there was a... Of course there’s a feast. The holiday is literally called the Feast of Liberisca.” Blair turns to Annabelle.
“We were planning on going to Castor’s parents’,” Holter says.
“Oh, and Kai and the podlet will be there?” Blair asks.
Annabelle nods. “But you should do what you want to do. We can go visit Kai later in the week.”
“I’d like that,” Blair says.
A smile trickles onto my lips when I realize she might be talking about seeing Kai’s child and not coming to the feast with me.
“What time is the feast?” Blair asks.
I’m quick to answer. “The evening meal. But you can come over anytime you like.”
