Page 10 of Hunting for Acceptance

“I’m worried that if I tell you, I’ll lose everything,” Dorian says softly, just barely loud enough for my ears to pick it up.

Cooper reaches over, taking Dorian’s free hand. Dorian’s pretty blue eyes are glued to Cooper’s face. “We can’t help you unless we know what’s going on. Dorian, I really, really want to help you.”

Those blue eyes are suddenly on me, pining me in place. I swallow thickly. “It’s true,” I say, “I want to help you too.”

Without letting go of Cooper’s hand, Dorian turns towards Jeff, letting out a long sigh. “If this blows up in my face, I’m going to be so pissed at you guys.”

Jeff chuckles, nodding his head. “If it blows up in our face, I’ll be pissed too. But we’ll be pissed together, okay?”

“You guys are like some sorta fucked up found family, aren’t you?” Dorian asks, wrinkling his nose, but somehow I already know this is him being playful. He doesn’t think our found family is weird, if anything he looks a little jealous.

“We are,” Cooper says with a smile, squeezing Dorian’s hand.

“Fine. You’ve pulled my gills,” Dorian finally says, letting out a dramatic sigh. He takes his hand from Cooper, wrapping his arms around himself. Leaning back in his seat, he begins to speak. “You mentioned earlier that you like to research things,” Dorian says, looking at Cooper. “If you research sirens, there’s a few things you’ll learn very quickly. One of them is our rituals with our dead.”

My stomach sinks, wondering why that’s relevant to this case. I have a bad feeling I’m about to learn a few things that are going to make me very angry.

“When one of our own passes, we need to put their remains into the ocean. In order to pass from this plane to the next, we must leave our ashes where we came from.”

I clear my throat. “What does that have to do with what’s been going on?”

“It has everything to do with it,” Dorian says, his voice rising slightly. He sits forward, his eyes suddenly blazing. For a split second, I swear I see scales around his eyes before they’re gone again. I blink rapidly, wondering if it was just my eyes playing a trick on me with the flickering fire.

“You’re being blackmailed,” Cooper whispers, his hand tightening around his beer bottle.

“Yes,” Dorian admits. “He has my sister’s remains. I have to get them back. I have to set her free.” All of the fight goes out of Dorian all at once. Where once a flirtatious man sat, now sits someone who looks more defeated than I care to ever understand. He looks at Cooper. Then at me. Then finally to Jeff. “You have to understand, I didn’t want to do this. I would never hurt someone on purpose.”

“Are the people you’re kidnapping being hurt?”

“No,” Dorian says right away. There’s a long pause before Dorian asks, “will you help me?”

Without an ounce of hesitation, Jeff, Cooper, and I answer in unison. “Yes.”

CHAPTER FIVE

COOPER

Listeningto Dorian’s story has lit a fire inside me. I’ve known this stranger for a few hours and already I feel fiercely protective of him. I want to wrap him in a blanket and shield him from the shit hand he’s been dealt. I want to kiss his brow until it’s smoothed out. I want to-- wait, what?

“So where do we go from here?”

Jeff leans over, grabbing Dorian’s shoulder and giving it a squeeze. “Honestly? You look exhausted. Why don’t you head to bed for the night and we’ll start making a game plan in the morning.”

“I don’t have anywhere to sleep.”

“Come sleep with us,” Martin blurts out. I watch as his face takes on one of horror, his eyes widening and his cheeks flaming. “Not like that,” he says right away, pointing at Dorian. “Don’t even start. I mean you can come sleep in our RV.”

I point over my shoulder. “That one is ours. And there’s more than enough room for you in there.” Ever since Ronny found his mate, a cat shifter named Zander, I’ve been bunking in Martin’s camper. At first it was awkward and stilted, but now I’ve moved my chests of books in there. Wherever those chests are is where my home is.

I always sleep on the pull out couch but all of my things are in there. That’s my home on wheels whether Martin wants to admit it or not. Maybe someday he’ll let me move some stuff into the bedroom with him, but that would mean letting his walls down and letting me in. I’m not sure he’s ready for that anytime soon.

Which is fine! I’m not trying to pressure Martin into being with me. If he ever wants that, I’ll be waiting with open arms. Just being around him is enough for me.

“That would be nice,” Dorian says softly, giving us a soft smile. He lets out a wide yawn and Jeff is right, he looks exhausted after everything that’s happened tonight.

“Come on,” I say gently, picking up our beer bottles and tossing them into our bin.

Dorian stands up, stretching his arms over his head. His shirt pulls up slightly, showing me a delightful sight of his toned stomach with a line of hair leading down into his jeans. His treasure trail is the same shade ofblueas the hair on his head.

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