Page 47 of Riding the Tide

“More than.” Marcus whistled, and the dolphins answered with a short squeal then disappeared under the water.

“Almost hate to see them go.”

“There’s always tomorrow,” Marcus reminded Blair.

Blair watched the dolphins dart off. Together he and Marcus swam to the boat. “Yup. And I can’t wait.”

Blair climbed the ladder and grabbed a towel as he waited for Marcus to transform. He grabbed a few more towels and then stood by the ladder, waiting. A couple minutes later Marcus climbed up, and Blair held out a towel. “You okay?”

“Yes. It takes a minute to adjust.”

“Come on, then. Let’s get you settled, and I’ll whip us up something to eat. Oh, by the way, I’ve been thinking…”

Marcus snorted. “Yeah?”

“How would you feel about owning a boat?”

Marcus stumbled as he and Blair went below deck.

THE REST of the time left on the boat rental passed entirely too fast. Soon it was time to drive the boat back.

He dreaded what was to come. In the next day or two he would meet Nisha and Kannon, and he wasn’t sure how he felt about that. Well, actually, yes he did. He was terrified. What if they held a grudge for what he did? Brett made it very clear Nisha was considered an Alpha, and Marcus lived in his territory.

What if Nisha kicked Marcus out because he started the mating process with Blair? He clutched the wheel, his knuckles white. Then there was Kannon, Nisha’s mate. Kannon, who used to be human. What if he took a dislike to Blair?

Eventually he got the boat back to where he rented it, filled it up, and signed off on the paperwork to get his deposit back. He’d checked out of Brett’s resort since he’d spent the last two weeks on the water.

He flagged down a taxi, and checked back into the resort, Marcus with him. During one of their conversations Marcus told Blair what he intended to do about converting his money and the paperwork that would make him legal.

They settled in their new room, and Blair went to take a shower. After he was done, he walked out, the towel wrapped around his waist to find Marcus and Brett in the seating area of their small suite. Well Jesus, why hadn’t Marcus told him they had company?

“Well, hello.” Blair glanced at Marcus, unsure exactly what was going on. “Um, is everything okay?”

“Oh yes,” Brett said. “I got word the two of you checked back in. I wanted to stop by and say welcome back.”

“Oh. Okay.” Yeah, this wasn’t uncomfortable at all. “Ah, give me a second to get dressed and I’ll join you.”

“That would be great.”

Blair ducked into the bedroom, pretty sure now this was not a courtesy call. He dressed and quickly rejoined them.

“I was telling Marcus that Nisha and Kannon got back yesterday,” Brett said.

“I see.” Blair sat next to Marcus on the couch. He clasped Marcus’ hand, suddenly needing the reassurance.

“We’re having a gathering at Kannon and Nisha’s tonight at eight o’clock. Nothing fancy, mind you,” Brett said.

“Do we need to bring anything?” Marcus asked.

“No. As I said, this is very informal. Might want to bring your swim trunks, Blair. They have a pool.”

Marcus wrinkled his nose.

“Yes, yes, we all know how you feel about pools, but Blair may want to swim. The rest of us probably will, too,” Brett said.

“I’ll never understand how you can stand the stink of chlorine.” Marcus shrugged. “But nevertheless, we’ll be there. Just not exactly surehowwe’ll get there.”

“I can pick you up,” Brett volunteered.

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