Page 90 of Seduced By the Mermen
I glare at his fingers pushing into my clavicle. “Why not?” I swipe his hand from my body.
“Because she has to work things out with each of us. If she doesn’t, then there’s no pod—it’s just a bunch of males she’s been thrown together with. She’ll have her favorites, and the rest of us will be jealous. We’ll fail. She needs time with Forrest too. Plus, Forrest has some shit to deal with. You don’t want jealousy to strangle us.”
Jealousy is death in a pod. “Mermaids don’t have favorites.” That’s what my mother always said.
“Blair’s not a mermaid yet, is she?” Clark’s brown eyes light up under his raised eyebrows.
“No, but I don’t think Blair would?—”
“We don’t know what she will do. But favorites? Maybe it won’t be a problem.”
That’s easy for him to say. It’s already crossed my mind that Blair likes Clark, Zion, and Grayson a lot. She’s spent more time with the three of them. More than Forrest, Alexei, or Sterling. Though Sterling certainly isn’t in the running for favorites. If anything, we’re going to drag him by the fluke into mating.
Fuck. I miss when everything felt easy. When everything was calm water and it felt like we would be a normal pod. Well, a normal pod that had a governor, an assassin, and the head of a hospital in it.
Who am I kidding? We were never a normal pod.
I glance back to the hallway. There’s a thud against the bedroom wall from out in the hall. “What is he doing with her out there?”
“Doesn’t matter. Give them space.” The sheets are already rumpled from where we had gotten things started before Blair realized Forrest hadn’t followed. I smooth the covers down and fluff the pillow, more to keep myself from running out into the hall than anything.
Clark moves across the room and settles on the ledge below the windows. It’s dark outside, the exterior dome lights turned off for the night. Shadows of something large flicker against the glass. I have to wonder whether it’s one of Blair’s niece’s sharks coming back around for another bite of Zion.
“I need to—” I reach for the door handle when I hear a soft moan in the hall. “They’re outside the door.”
“Patience,” Clark says, stopping me from pulling the door open.
“Fuck it.” I push my ear to the door, desperate to know what’s going on outside the room. The handle shakes, and I jump back.
Clark laughs.
The door inches open, and Blair steps into the room, though she’s not looking at Clark or me. Instead, she’s focused back outin the hallway. “I’ll be back.” Her hand disappears from the grip she had on the door, and it tips closed again.
I turn to Clark and he comes over to me.
“She’ll be back.” He rests his hand on my arm. It’s a big change—putting ourselves out there, competing with the likes of the Driftwood pod and others. Even young Haakon’s fathers. They’re salt of the sea males. Ones who work with their hands. Ones who could be a good fit for Blair. Maybe even a better fit than us. It makes my stomach churn. Everything’s riding on this, and desperation isn’t a good look. I cross my arms over my chest and wait.
When the door opens again, there’s a confused look on her face and a blush up the sides of her cheeks.
My heart lodges in my throat. “Blair.” I reach for her, and she takes my hand. I need to blast that look away. I pull her onto my lap. “Everything okay?”
She nods, and her fingers intertwine with mine. “Everything okay in here?” She’s crimson from her ears to her chest. Her tunic’s half tucked into her trousers.
“Delmar’s a little impatient,” Clark says. He rises from the ledge along the wall. “But how are you doing, Brave One?”
“I’m feeling brave.”
“I like that.” Clark steps up to her, their toes touching. It takes me a second to shake off my paralysis just watching them.
“Blair,” I say, swiping her loose hair away from her shoulder.
I trail my fingertips around the edge of her neck.
She glances back at the door.
My eyes follow. Forrest doesn’t barrel in. There’s no thudding of the door as it bounces open and hits the wall. Not that I expected him to. He’s been on edge lately, ever since the large government change. I know he really wants things to work out with Blair, but I could feel his hesitation back when we were in the kitchen.
The thought of living the rest of my days in a pod like this? In a pod that’s more roommates than family? I don’t want it. But I’m also not selfish enough to force Blair into our pod if it’s not what she wants. Even if this might be our last chance at having a mate again.
