Page 59 of Where the Current Takes Him
Jaime rested a hand on his shoulder. “I’m sure everything’s fine. Let’s get you back on the boat. Looks like you’re already feeling the symptoms of the distance.”
Right. The pheromones. Mating.
Beau allowed himself to be guided onto the boat. He sat on the bench in the prow, staring into space. The absence of Loriun’s pheromones was obvious now. He was finding it harder to draw breath, and his stomach roiled with each movement of the boat.
With a worried look, Jaime kicked the engine into action and they shot off across the Florida Sea. Vuos remained submerged for most of the trip, no longer leaping from the water and flashing his fins at his mate.
As they traveled, Beau’s symptoms lessened slightly, though it was clear that Loriun was moving fast.
By the time they finally arrived at the South Miami dock, Beau simultaneously felt as though seconds and decades had passed him by. There had been a small, quiet hope that Loriun would be waiting on the beach, but of course, there was no one standing in the shallows.
“How will I get home?” Beau asked as Vuos helped him off the boat. “If Loriun’s not here? He drove us to the dock.”
The older couple exchanged worried looks.
“We’ll drop you off,” Jaime said. “It’s no trouble.”
Beau sighed. “Thanks.”
In a somber silence, the three of them set off across the sand.
Chapter 25
Loriun
Loriun’s blood was boiling. Ashford’s unpleasant voice carried down the oversized hallways of his mansion. “Do you really think she could handle the sight of her only son, pregnant with an alien parasite?”
Loriun’s fists clenched, his claws digging into his palms. How dare that two-faced, scheming mollusk try to blackmail his mate. Trying to prevent his son from experiencing fatherhood, pretending it was out of concern for Ileana. Revolting.
Or am I angry that he would denymechildren?
He jerked a door open, expecting to be met with paintings or sculptures, but instead, the familiar scent of papaya filled his nostrils. He’d opened the wrong door. A mussed bed stood off to one side of the room, with piles of formal attire atop the charcoal duvet. Without thinking, he picked up a pillow, held it to his face and inhaled deeply
Blood rushed south, interrupted only when he noticed the opposite side of the bedroom. A full bar had been built into the space, complete with several shelves of alcohol bottles. Some were amber liquid in cut crystal with wax seals, while others looked more familiar, like bottles he’d seen at bars.
The countertop itself was gold-flecked black granite, and all the tools were gilded in gold leaf. There were utensils Loriun couldn’t even guess the use of, and ingredients he didn’t know could be used in alcohol.
An entire apothecary of herbs dwelled in overhead cabinets, and a neatly arranged shelf held innumerable syrups.
There was a blowtorch, glasses in every imaginable shape, and a small freezer containing thick barrels of ice. Loriun grazed the countertop with his fingers and inspected the oddly beautiful liquor bottles. How did he not know Beau had this passion?
All at once, a decision slammed into place. Loriun spun on his heel and ran for the front door. His footsteps echoed in the space around him, ceasing when he hit the expansive entrance rug. He wrenched the enormous front door open and strode toward their startled driver.
The human man hastily crushed his cigarette under his foot. “Uh. Mr. Kolhn? Is everything—”
“Get me to the docks,” Loriun snapped. “Please,” he added, slinging himself into the back seat. The car bounced under his weight.
“Oh! Uh—Yes, sir.” The driver scrambled around the front of the car and pulled out of the drive. Loriun suspected he was violating the speed limit as the car flew toward the sea. They had barely slowed to a stop when Loriun leapt from the vehicle and pounded through the sand.
Vuos was lying on his back in the shallows, talking to the Omega perched on the dock above him. They both jumped when Loriun splashed into the water.
“Loriun, Jesus,” Jaime complained, massaging his chest. “Where’s Beau?”
“Coming soon,” Loriun said through gritted teeth. “I’m going on ahead. I have something I need to do.”
Without waiting for a reply, Loriun shucked his clothes and shifted, extending his vertebrae and fanning out the fins along his body. He tossed the clothing into the boat, then dove into the sea.
Without the noise of the speedboat, Loriun entered a sort of trance. His tail slashed through the currents behind him, and his muscles bunched beneath his scales. His mind emptied until the only thought that remained was,Swim.
