Page 35 of Sworn to Revenge
Pedro grabs my arm now, trying to pull me close, but I push him away forcefully. “I’m not made of glass, and this whole suicide mission was to helpme,” I continue, my voice hoarse and trembling. If we weren’t underwater, I’m sure my face would be red and swollen with tears. “You dared to hide information from me that could have been dangerous if things had gone differently. How am I supposed to trust you with my life like this?”
“Everything we’re doing is to keep you alive!” Pedro snaps back at me, matching my angry tone. “I came into your world, not knowing what I was getting into. I felt completely powerless, but the only thing that kept me going was keepingyoualive.”
A sharp sting hits my chest. He’s right—he put his life on the line for me and drank that potion without knowing what would happen to him.
I let out a strong sigh as my gills open, allowing the feeling of the water around me to wrap me up and try to calm the storm inside me.
“I’ll ask you just one thing, Bay,” Alin turns to me, her voice measured. Damn it. That’s the tone that’s going to prove she’s right, and I’m wrong, and it’s the last thing I need right now to vent the steam bubbling inside me.
“If I had told you what Pedro was going to do, would you have let him do it?” she asks, raising an eyebrow, trying to make a point.
I shake my head and swallow hard, knowing what’s coming. “I would never have let him sacrifice himself for me.”
“Exactly my point. We did it to keep you alive, and look—it worked,” she gestures along my body, proving her argument that I’m here, whole and healthy. Well, almost. Mentally, I think I’m on the verge of insanity. “He carried you for hours back to the city and all the way here. Otherwise, you would have been left to bleed out with that spear in your body and ended up as dessert for Psycho.”
And there’s her point, the one that always makes me feel guilty for being mad at her because she’s freaking right.
“But why keep hiding things from me? He was already with us,” I press, my voice shaking as I search for something—anything—to keep the argument going, to vent the boiling water swirling in my head.
Pedro reaches out to Alin, stopping her from saying more. “Because there was no need to give you another reason to worry when you were already about to tear your hair out from stress,” he responds in a calmer tone, giving me that melting look as if he knows exactly what my body needs to agree to anything in this damn world.
He reaches for my arm again, and this time, I don’t pull away. I let him draw me closer, his warmth radiating through me as he leans in, his lips close to my ear.
“You want to trust something? Trust the fact that I’d put my entire damn life on the line to keep you alive,” he whispers in a low voice that sends shivers through my whole body, and I already forget why I was angry. My heartbeat quickens, this time from the brush of his lips against my earlobe.
“For God’s sake, why right in front of me?” Alin sighs in frustration. “Come on, we don’t have much time left before the potion wears off, unless your plan is to kill Pedro today,” she shoots at us before swimming ahead quickly, not waiting for us.
He pulls back slightly, chuckling, and I flash him a mischievous smile. “It’s like she read my mind,” I tease, and he raises an eyebrow at me with a smirk.
“You can try, but I’d bet everything that you wouldn’t survive without me,” he replies in a voice so low and rusty that every cell in my brain is now too fried to think logically. He leaves me swimming in my own steamy fantasies as he heads in the direction Alin is swimming.
How right he is. Damn him.
Pedro
“The words don’t even do justice to how happy I am to have my legs back,” I mutter into the open air as my legs slowly return in place of that cursed tail. It took Alin over ten minutes of whatever magic she had to pull off, and the unsettled look on her face didn’t exactly boost my confidence that I’d ever walk again. So, I’m not complaining when my legs finally reappear—though I’m not exactly thrilled about being buried in sand, the grains creeping into places I’d rather not think about. I’m getting some unpleasant flashbacks to field training with Luca when I was fifteen.“Hurry up and get dressed. Watching you sprawled out naked on the sand is burning my eyes, and not in a good way.” Alin tosses my clothes at my legs, avoiding eye contact. I flip her off in response.
“Bay, wipe the drool off your face and get dressed too. We need to move,” she snaps at Bay, who lets out a frustrated sigh. I glance back at Bay, and she quickly averts her gaze, embarrassed.
God help me.I swallow hard as she slips on that thin dress over her bare skin. The fabric clings to her like it’s a second layer, soft and barelythere, and I have to force myself to look away. I scramble to tug my pants up, fingers shaking slightly, trying to make sure I don’t get caught staring. Because, God, she’s doing something to me—something that’s scraping at every nerve in my body. Every urge I’ve got is screaming to pin her against one of those rocks and explore every inch of her smooth, pale skin. I can feel it—the way my body reacts to her, relentless and unforgiving. Her small pink nipples harden slightly, probably from the cold sea breeze, and I curse under my breath, trying to tear my eyes off her. I focus instead on the damn shirt in my hand, my breath unsteady, my hands tight with frustration. I am so fucking jealous of that dress right now.
I zip up my pants, but before I can even throw my shirt on, I feel it—the soft, lingering weight of her arm, the one with the affiliation mark of the Mal-El royal lineage—now the very thing that haunts my thoughts—wrap around mine.
“You okay?” She asks softly, her voice low and tentative. I take a deep, shaking breath, struggling to pull every ounce of self-control I have before I even think about facing her. Her eyes—those amethyst, piercing eyes—are scanning my bare, now human chest, tracing the lines of my tattoos, the dark ink etched into my skin, darkened with something she can’t hide. Hunger, maybe. Or something more. Hell, what am I supposed to do with her?
I bite my lip sharply, my teeth sinking into the flesh, desperately trying to suppress the thoughts spiraling through my mind—but it’s useless. My pulse thrums erratically, and I nod—just barely—forcing myself to hold it together. “As okay as I can be after the fantasy nightmare you’ve all dragged me into.” At this point, it might as well be my mantra.
She giggles nervously, breaking the tense eye contact as her toe lazily traces circles in the sand. Bay, awkward? That’s a sight I could get used to. Ismirk, silently praying for a moment of peace, wishing some higher power would give me the strength to calm the storm building inside me.
My gaze flickers back to her moon mark, pulling me in like a magnet. It feels... familiar. Warm. Inviting.
I swallow hard, the weight of everything pressing down on me—the new bond forming between us, the pull that’s too strong to ignore, tangled in something far deeper than anything I’ve ever felt. It’s overwhelming. I glance down at my right hand, needing to confirm—
Damn!It’s still here.
“I’m still marked, what the fuck?!” I blurt, glaring at Alin, who’s busy on a phone call. Probably letting my brother know we’re alive, or that we have news for him—or both. Anxiety now floods through me, and I can’t help but wonder what the consequences of this mark will be.
“My mom already told you; your fate is now tied to the royal lineage. I’m not surprised it hasn’t disappeared,” she retorts, moving her phone away from her ear. She’s drifted far enough ahead to avoid us overhearing her conversation with her husband, which I’m grateful for. I’ve had enough of their lovey-dovey obsessed crap for a lifetime.
