Page 32 of The Tides of March

He would have gone in after the kraken if he thought he had a chance of actually defeating it. He would have done it if he thought he hadhalfa chance, if it meant more time with Tony. Ronan knew it couldn’t last forever, he just hadn’t realized thiswas their last day.

“At least it was about as perfect as a day can get and I have a few hours left.”

He’d make the most of it and shower Tony with all the love he had to give. Ronan had until sunrise and then he’d have to get Tony the hell off of Pooles Island and make sure he never came back. To do that, Ronan would have to crush Tony’s beautiful heart and shatter their magickal bond.

The farther Tony went away, the faster Ronan would probably die. But as far as Ronan was concerned, the safer Tony was, the better. He’d hold the kraken for as long as he could, then let Lennox MacIlwraith worry about it.

Thirteen

The week after the wedding had been touch and go for Tony. He bounced back the day after the wedding but the terrible premonitions persisted and while Tony was loath to admit it, Ronan was never far from his thoughts. Ronan hadn’t been sighted at the marina since he dropped off Tony and Howard’s deliveries hadn’t been picked up. To make matters worse, he wasn’t answering Howard’s or Nox’s calls.

“He might be hiding because of me,” Tony warned a very concerned Nox, Nelson, and Merlin a few days later. “I don’t know what I said or did but Ronan made it very clear he didn’t want anything to do with me. Not that he was a big fan of either of you before, especially Nox.

“That guy!” Nox laughed and shook his head. “He doesn’t mean it.”

“I think he might, in your case,” Tony said.

Merlin hummed thoughtfully as he circled Tony. “You say you’ve been having strange dreams about Ronan and you have unexplainable aches and pains?”

“Severe aches and pains,” Tony confirmed.

“And this began after you and the merrow mated?”

Tony thought back, then shook his head. “I started having really intense dreams after the attack but they were hard to make out before I got to Poole’s Island. Like, shadows and vibes, you know?”

A mystified look furrowed Nelson’s brow as he looked up from his notepad. He had been scribbling furiously and flipping between pages. “Shadows and vibes?”

“Just…” Tony’s hand rolled as he tried to describe it. “Sort of like an acid trip, but not a good one. Like I was someplace dark and a really bad dream was happening. But notto me. I could just hear and sense that something serious was going on.”

“Okay…”

“Sounds aural and makes sense to me,” Nox said. “I can feel when someone’s energy is bad or their will is set against me. It’s ugly and feels gross, but it’s not a thing you can really put into words. I have similar sensations when I have a vision and it’s of something scary.”

Merlin nodded, tapping his chin. “Those with the second sight often experience dread and even have physical symptoms before a catastrophe or making a dire prophecy,” he said and Tony waved him off.

“I don’t have the second sight. It’s probably just my overactive imagination and this fixation with solving the case.” He winced at the board and the pictures of the victims. “I might have stared too long at that and I’ve been reading everything I can on krakens.”

“But your dreams startedbeforeyou returned and found out about the other victims,” Nox argued.

“Right… It was a little traumatic, getting attacked by a dead orphan and left on a stormy beach. Even if I knew the last part was for my own good.”

“That would give me nightmares,” Nelson murmured as he wrote but Nox held up a finger.

“When did they get more specific?” he asked and Tony gave him a sheepish look.

“Possibly after we…you know.”

“How marvelous!” Merlin said, clapping and hopping excitedly. “I think we have an oracle in our midst and I think he’s bonded with that merrow. Their souls are connected—tethered—and the merrow is suffering without his mate.”

“It could be worse than that,” Nox said with a wide-eyed look at Merlin. “Ronan could be injured, judging from how sick Tony’s been. That might be why he’s not responding or making his regular trips to the marina.

There was a knock at the door and Nelson went to get it. He returned a moment later with a breathless Fletcher Bixby.

“We might have a problem. Abigproblem,” he said as he joined them in the study. “I had a friend look into the victims from my neck of the woods and our boys weren’t what you’d call socially…adept.”

Nox cringed hard. “Probably virgins?” he asked and Fletcher nodded.

“Not a single one of them had anything resembling a romantic relationship in their histories. One of the victims, Devin Shelly, was described as the ‘ultra virgin’ and someone wrote ‘Least likely to get laid’ in his high school yearbook.”

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