Page 26 of Entranced By the Nakken
“Let’s start with one and see how the adoption process goes.” Casimir punctuated this confusing statement with a kiss to Tsunis’ crown, and they didn’t push the matter.
Hours of sweet serenity later, back on land, Tsunis dissipated the bubble allowing Casimir to breathe and wicked away the water from his undergarment and skin with a blink. Casimir teased Tsunis for making him remove his clothes when they could’ve dried everything, but Tsunis only scowled. Fair was fair. They wouldn’t apologize. In this, they were unanimous with the self-destructive part of them that’d longed to give in to the allure of their mate’s flesh. Goddess help them if that meant they were a conniving little brat after all.
“Don’t forget,” Casimir murmured against Tsunis’ lips, one hand firm on their nape, the other hanging loosely by their pinkies.
“How could I?” Tsunis nuzzled into Casimir’s touch.
“By the way, Sophie and I will pick you up from the usual spot tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow?”
“For the show,” Casimir stated.
The show. Tsunis vaguely recalled a conversation during the post-orgasm haze about getting ready with Casimir’s band mates, and the silly underwater theme he’d come up with to make Tsunis’ appearance less jarring. It wasn’t a perfect plan, but Tsunis was willing to risk it.
“I wouldn’t miss it.”
Later that night, far below the falls, Tsunis dragged clawed nails over the stone where they’d made love to Casimir’s hot, wet mouth. They laid over the boulder like the depiction they’d once watched a human paint of a syren, shameless and free like none they’d met in war-torn Hydra.
Many of the creatures Tsunis knew back home had leaked into this realm, scattered about the globe, with many names and cultures. Perhaps everyone they’d ever met back home escaped through portals before they clogged. Perhaps there was nothing to go home to. Tsunis entertained this delusion for a while, picturing the underwater channels bare, their occupants happily occupying new homes in the human realm, fitting into old legends or creating brand new lore for the humans to get wrong in history books. Happy. Safe. Reproducing.
Power crackled below their scales. It’d been quite some time since they last shifted to preserve energy. They’d spent long enough feigning ignorance about Casimir’s ability to regenerate their health, for there was only one explanation, implausible as it were. A myth, they’d thought, for there was no way to prove if a mated pair were fated or merely madly in love. That myth lay flayed out before them, hopelessly debunked.
Had Rainis and their mate been fated? Was that how their interspecies coupling could produce offspring?
The unnatural mass writhing deeper in the cavern chose that moment to flare, shooting out a nearly imperceptible spark of magic that Tsunis wouldn’t have noticed if not for the influx of power provided by the recent encounter with their mate.
Rolling over on the stone structure, Tsunis heaved a sigh. Though their actions while in survival mode earlier this decade may scream otherwise, Tsunis did possess a compassionate soul, which their time with Casimir was—rather unfortunately—feeding into. The dream that all of Glacis made it to other realms safely was a delusion Tsunis could not force their mind to accept.
Tsunis held a palm in front of their face and watched power crackle between webbed fingers. Tsunis had one last idea, a possibility they’d been too weak to attempt before. Besides, they reasoned, the only way to determine if it was safe to fuck their clutch deep into Casimir’s womb was to ask someone who’d done it before. Possibly.
Chapter Twelve
Casey
“I’m past the point of thinking you’re fucking with me, Casey, which means that if you are,” Sophie wagged a very serious index finger in Casey’s face, “I’m going to be extra pissed.”
“Lower your weapon.” Casey batted her hand away.
His cheeks already hurt from grinning, and there were many daylight hours before the competition. Glancing at his friend, he could see Sophie wasn’t doing much better. Over the past few weeks, her eyes had gotten a wicked gleam every time they met Casey’s. To her credit, she’d refrained from calling him a liar or a nutcase and got everyone on board with the underwater theme Casey suggested for their appearance. They’d told Anna and Noah what Tsunis was, but for understandablereasons, it got laughed off. Whatever. The truth would be obvious soon.
“Brr. Did you feel that?” Sophie tripped, and Casey steadied her.
“Huh? No.”
“Weird.” Sophie wrapped her arms around herself and rubbed her arms. It was a nice spring day, the weeks closer to summer than winter. She shot Casey an odd look. “It felt like—I don’t know. Weird. Cold. How the fuck have I never seen this place before?”
“Right? I found it when I was a kid. There’s never anyone here.”
Casey’s heart pooped itself when the grand tree came into view, the quilt blanket where they’d shared their first kiss covered in leaves and dirt, the edge muddy.
“Tsunis!” Casey called.
Casey stood at the water’s edge and watched for them to surface while Sophie took a seat on the blanket.
“I get it now,” Sophie mused. She’d tucked her legs up to her chest and was peering around Casey’s secret hideaway. Not so secret anymore. “This is a very inspirational spot.”
“Yes, and it’s mine.” Casey rounded on her. “If I ever catch your ass here, I’m quitting the band.”
