Page 26 of Emerge

Chapter Eight

Blake

Ihated to admit to myself that I was scared, but I was.

We were trained to protect the Pacific City, the castle, and our people, but it hadn't prepared us to deal with a threat that could control others, including ocean creatures that were usually on our side.

When I had gotten to the scene of the attack, tritons were helpless against the state-of-the-art submarine and sea life that had suddenly turned against us. It was as if he had called every shark in the area to be part of his frontline.

By the time there was enough manpower to make a move, the submarine took off, sending a spray of bullets in its wake that made us all swim for cover and left sharks hungry for blood. The sharks had snapped out of their trance pretty quickly, but it left us all uncertain about the safety of our sea.

Cecilia was recovering in the city from her shark bite. I was proud of her, but also wanted to strangle her for putting herself at risk like that.

I had returned to the house feeling defeated and distraught over the loss of Jax's sister, only to find out the next morning that Olivia had been kidnapped. Dylan had gotten to one of the humans that worked in our facility, which was why he knew exactly when Riley would be there.

The breakfast table was quiet as Riley put plates with eggs, sausage, and toast in front of us. She had been up earlier than usual and offered to cook. It was the first time eating something made by her, and even if she had burned it, I would have pretended it was good.

"This looks great, vixen." Morgan grabbed the bottle of ketchup and made a zigzag of red over the top of his scrambled eggs, ruining them. "Must have been some great sex last night to have you up and cooking breakfast for us."

Jax ripped off a corner of his toast and threw it at Morgan, who nearly choked on a bite of food, laughing. I smiled around my fork as Riley turned an appropriate shade of pink.

"Ugh, sorry if we woke you." She took a bite of her sausage and moaned, causing all of us to stop and stare. "Am I not allowed to enjoy my breakfast?"

"Not when you make sounds like that." Jax pushed his eggs around on his plate. "I'm sorry if I pushed you too hard last night."

The sounds coming from her room certainly didn't sound like she was pushed too hard. It had made me horny as hell and I'd been half-tempted to join them.

The three of us had always talked openly about sex when it was just us, but having Riley at the table and conversing over breakfast about it, was a whole new level of weird.

"You didn't. I liked it." She smiled and brought her glass of orange juice to her lips without taking a drink. "A lot."

Morgan's eyes ping-ponged between the two, no doubt wondering what they had been up to. "Care to elaborate?"

Jax piled eggs on a piece of toast. "Now, why would we do that?"

"If we’re really going to do this whole... three guys, one gal thing, we need to be open and honest with each other." Morgan finished his eggs and put his elbows on the table, leaning his cheeks into his fists. "I need to know what I'm up against."

Riley snorted and coughed, hitting her chest with her fist. "I'm not comparing or ranking you guys," she choked out in between coughs.

Jax patted her back. "What I do with her is none of your concern."

The table fell silent as we continued eating, the talk of Jax's and Riley's bedroom adventures only distracting us for a short time from what was on all of our minds. What we needed was to spend some time in the water.

"My dad said Dylan's submarine is similar to his yacht. It's untraceable and high-speed. He must be using some kind of special ability or technology to shield it." He put his napkin on his plate, his food half-eaten. "I don't understand why he needs the knife. Does he think it's going to be able to cut through layers of rock, or that he will even get close enough to use it?"

"How do we know his story is even true?" I didn't exactly believe Dylan after everything he'd done. He could just want Riley because she was a siren. "What if he just wants to use Riley to get in Poseidon's good graces?"

Riley was tapping her fingernails on the table and staring out the window. "How did Poseidon get them trapped in the first place, if that's where they even are?"

Morgan stood and began collecting our plates. It was his week to be on dishes, and I'd offered since he was recovering, but he declined. He was moving a lot better than he had been the day before, but he was still sore and not at full mobility.

"Maybe he just stomped his foot and raised his arms in the air." Morgan chuckled. "Admiral West would probably know."

"He's going to try to take me or my mom." Riley looked around the table and met all of our eyes.

"We won't let him," I reassured her.

I hoped I was right because losing her wasn't an option.

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