Page 33 of Riding the Tide

“We’ll fix this. At least I now know you’re not the asshole I thought you were.”

Blair raised an eyebrow. “I’m glad to hear that. Now quit treating me like one.”

Brett suddenly laughed. He held his hand out to Blair. “Deal.”

Blair shook Brett’s hand. “Deal. Tell me, what the hell am I going to do?”

“About that, I have no idea. Nisha checked Marcus’ cave, and there’s been no sign of him. He’s also thoroughly searched his territory too. Marcus hasn’t been here at the resort either, but that’s no surprise. He’s not overly fond of land.”

Blair’s stomach dropped. “How can I apologize if no one knows where he is? It’s not as if I can go look for him. I’m not like the rest of you. I can’t breathe underwater.”

“Well, I have an idea, but it’s not something I can do.” Brett wandered over to the window. He stood staring out at the ocean. “We’ll need Brooke and Nisha.”

“I’m all for it, but just out of curiosity, why do we need them?”

“Because when they’re in their mer form, they have the ability to… sing. I guess that would be the best description. They can talk to other animals like whales and dolphins. The sounds that Nisha and Brooke make are nearly identical. They can sing to Marcus and let him know you’re here and want to speak to him.”

“Oh.” Blair joined Brett at the window. He had a couple of CDs with whale songs on them. The sounds were beautiful. “That’s a… wow. Do you think they’ll help me?”

“You’re going to have to talk to Nisha. There is no getting around that. Marcus is his warrior, and this is his territory. I’ll be honest with you. Nisha’s unhappy with you, and that’s putting it nicely. But…” Brett turned away from the window. “But I’ll talk to him first and explain.”

“Thank you. I’m going to need all the help I can get.”

“At least we understand what drove you away. Hopefully that’ll make a difference to Nisha. There’s only one problem with that.”

“Of course there is.” Why should he be surprised? Nothing else had gone right. “What’s the problem?”

“Kannon and Nisha are not on land right now. Kannon promised Nisha they’d spend the next two weeks in the ocean. They plan to go farther out into the Indian Ocean and do some exploring.”

“Two weeks?”

“I’m afraid so.”

“Okay. Two weeks. I can handle that. It’s not as if I didn’t bring all of this on myself, after all. I certainly don’t expect them to upend their plans just for me.” Blair met Brett’s concerned gaze. “But tell me honestly. Do you think Kannon will have a hard time understanding why I reacted the way I did?”

“Kannon was human, and their mating got off to a rocky start—which was due to Nisha’s actions. If anybody can understand why you acted the way you did, it’s going to be Kannon. And trust me when I tell you, Nisha wants his mate happy. You get Kannon on your side and you’re halfway there because he’ll be able to talk Nisha around. And ultimately, Nisha is the one you need to be concerned with.”

There were a lot of “what if’s” in that scenario. “And if I can’t get Nisha on my side?”

“Then you have a problem.”

THE TRIP from New York to the Seychelle Islands was over seventeen hours long. By the time Brett left, Blair was exhausted. Even though he knew he’d regret it, he napped. Two seventeen-hour-plus trips practically back-to-back was more than any one person should have to do. He woke several hours later still fuzzyheaded and tired.

A quick glance out of the window told him he’d slept most of the day away. He swung his legs over the side of the bed and sat there, elbows on his knees and head resting in his hands, as he replayed the conversation with Brett.

From the sounds of it, he was going to be apologizing from now until the end of time. Kannon didn’t worry him so much as the one called Nisha did.Hewas the one with the power, and the one he was going to have to win over. Which might be a problem since he wasn’t good at sucking up.

Disheartened, and not particularly hungry, he dressed and headed down to the beach. If this was the only way to be close to his merman, then so be it. Holding his sandals, he walked in the shallows as the sun set.

Shading his eyes, he glanced out across the ocean. Something on the horizon jumped and splashed. A pod of dolphins frolicked in the water. He was tempted to throw his shoes onto the beach and swim out toward them. Then he remembered the last time he saw the dolphins, and his shoulders slumped.

Turning away, he ignored their playful calls and continued his walk down the beach, torches from various beach parties and lights from the resorts lighting his way. Hours passed as he aimlessly wandered up and down the beach, laughter drifting across the sands. Finally, his stomach growled. Taking one last look across the water, he turned from the ocean and walked back up the beach.

For the next several days he woke up, ate, and then spent the rest of the day messing around the beach. As more time passed, he wandered father and father away from the resort. Eventually he rented a car and started going to the other side of the island where he also wandered aimlessly.

Eventually the wandering became too much, and he talked to Brett about renting a very small, privately owned yacht for a week or so. While it wasn’t top-of-the-line, it was more than sufficient for him.

After reassuring Brett that yes, he could indeed handle one of those, he signed a short-term lease, stocked the ship, and made his way out to the ocean. He had the boat for two weeks.

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