Page 2 of Riding the Tide

“I’d just found out there were such things as mermaids and mermen, along with my best friend being mated to one.” Kannon sat back down, along with Nisha. “Alongwith the fact that said best friend sported a cool set of gills and could breathe underwater.Alongwith being attacked by a merman.Alongwith finding out Brett knew Nisha bit me all those years ago and hadn’t told—”

“You had to get him going, didn’t you?” Brett joked.

“If I remember correctly, it wasyouhe tried to drown, not me.” Marcus grinned at Brett, flashing his teeth. He knew perfectly well even in this form his canines were a bit longer than normal human teeth.

Kannon snorted. “Kind of hard to do when I was the only one who couldn’t breathe underwater at the time.”

“Sure didn’t stop you from trying,” Brett huffed, as if he was the most put upon person in the world. “And I was injured, no less, by that stupid, poisonous net Cree threw over me.”

Kannon picked up a shrimp, dipped it in sauce, and waved it at Brett. “Just found out there was such a thing as mermen and you’d held out on me, so yeah, you’re lucky all I tried to do was drown you.”

“Speaking of Cree, has anybody seen him lately?” Brooke asked.

“These are much better raw, mate,” Nisha said to Kannon as he picked up a shrimp, wrinkled his nose, and bit into it. “In regards to Cree, no. I haven’t seen him in my territory, and I better not. I’m still not sure banishing him was the right decision.”

Marcus had helped repel the attack on Brett but missed out on Cree’s later attack on Kannon. He’d been helping Brooke get Brett home.

Marcus picked up another shrimp and stared at it, bemused. “Why did you cut the head off of it? That’s the best part.”

Kannon made gagging noises.

Marcus rolled his eyes at Kannon. “I swear, you’re such a human.”

“Not entirely. Not anymore. And stop picking on these excellent shrimp appetizers,” Kannon said.

“Right.” Marcus pushed the tray of shrimp closer to Nisha. “Here, Nisha, have some of this excellent shrimp.”

“Behave,” Nisha warned.

“I have been. It’s not my fault your mate has no idea how to properly prepare seafood.” Marcus shook his head sadly. “Anyway, back to Cree. I’m surprised you let him live.”

Nisha looked at Kannon, a small smile on his face. “There were other things on my mind.”

Marcus thought about sighing dramatically at the sappy look on Nisha’s face to see if he could get a few laughs or maybe a glare from Nisha but decided not to. He and Nisha were friends, and he was thankful he was allowed in the territory Nisha claimed.

He was all for poking fun at Nisha, but the truth was a little tentacle of jealousy wound through him. The two of them had gotten off to a rocky start but were making it work. They truly loved each other. He could see it in the way Nisha looked at his mate, listened to him, and touched him.

Then Marcus reminded himself the last thing he wanted was a mate, and if there was a little fluttery feeling around his heart, he ignored it. It was probably nothing more than the cooked shrimp Kannon insisted on serving them. Seriously, what kind of monster cooked shrimp?

“Oh good, that’s the buzzer for the oven.” Kannon stood. “Give me a few minutes and dinner will be ready.”

Nisha stood, too. “Do you need some help?”

“Always.” Kannon picked up his drink, and he and Nisha walked into their bungalow.

“What are we having again?” Whatever it was, Marcus was sure it’d be cooked to within an inch of its life.

“Pineapple teriyaki chicken, crab cakes, flounder, shrimp scampi, and a couple of side dishes. I think he also baked some potatoes and made a salad,” Brooke said.

“Chicken? With pineapples? Is that a normal combination?” Marcus asked. That seemed odd, but what did he know?

“It’s good, trust me. He was going to cook steaks but decided to mainly go with seafood for those of the merfolk persuasion.” Brett snagged another shrimp and dipped it into sauce before popping it into his mouth. “He wasn’t sure how you guys felt about eating cow.”

Marcus blinked. The seafood was for them? Even though he fixed it for human tastes, Kannon still went to the effort. Now he felt like an ass. “Good grief, does this mean I’m going to have to apologize?”

Brett finished off the shrimp, a slow grin crossing his face. “Oh yeah.”

Now that was an evil grin if he’d ever seen one. Marcus was jealous.

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