Page 14 of Chasing Tail
Chapter 8
This place had plenty of bedrooms, but Beck assumed Taron and I were together in ways we weren’t and put us in the same bedroom. I didn’t dispute it because I needed Taron close to me, but Taron had gone a little crazy. Sharks were territorial creatures, but it was usually limited to their hunting grounds and protecting those they were sworn to protect.
Taron and I had been friends since we were children. He had always looked out for Seira but knew I could handle myself in the water. He was different on land. Neither of us had any experience fighting out of the water, but we’d both killed way more dangerous creatures than three sexy druid brothers. Where did that thought even come from? They didn’t even have tails, and they were sired by the man who killed my sister.
I was glad I was a fast learner because I was picking up all these new terms and having to file them away for later. They all made such a big deal about being naked on the street, but when we got back to Beck’s love nest, the brothers never got dressed. They left their underpants on to walk home and didn’t put more clothes on while they talked and showed us around. I couldn’t say I was angry about that. The view was pretty nice, even if they had legs.
Taron had a lot of clothes to choose from, even if I didn’t. It probably wasn’t considered appropriate here, but neither of us really cared. We closed the door and stripped naked, the way they meant us to be. I just wanted to get some sleep, but Taron had this look on his face.
I’d never had legs before, but my feet were killing me. I wasn’t fond of that feeling at all. I fell into the bed and cried out in surprise when I bounced back up. We padded carved stone with seaweed to sleep under the ocean. It was pretty comfortable. This was totally different, but not in a bad way.
Taron snapped to attention.
“Did the bed hurt you?”
“You don’t need to kill the bed, Taron. It’s just different. Lay down and get some sleep.”
Sharks didn’t really lay in bed to sleep. Taron was taking all this in like a champ. He didn’t question anything. He just did it. Taron flung himself into the bed, but he didn’t stop there. He yanked me to his chest and flung his leg over mine.
“What are you doing, Taron?”
“I laid down and just wanted to. Shut up, Kishi. This feels nice. I can’t do this as a shark. You’re lying if you say you don’t like it.”
“I never said I didn’t. It’s just weird you have a land dweller body now, I have legs, and we are even doing this. Why do you keep growling at the brothers when they touch me?”
“Because my instincts have changed, Kishi. I know exactly what they think when they do that. Land dwellers don’t have to be fertile to mate. You want to all the time, and it feels good. Unless you are fertile right now, and that explains everything.”
I bit him on the arm, and he growled at me. This so wasn’t the kind of conversations Taron and I usually had. It wasn’t needed because we weren’t even remotely compatible. I didn’t think about it when he went off to chase a female shark, and he wouldn’t have tried to fight someone if I decided to settle down with a merman and I wanted to play with him.
“I’m not fertile, Taron, and it’s weird you’re even asking.”
“Don’t bite me again. It makes me want to mate.”
“You’re worse than a teenaged merman, Taron.”
“Talora didn’t prepare me for this. It’s unbearable.”
“How do you make it stop?”
“I went behind a bush and used my hand, but then I think about you, and it just starts up again. It’s worse when you aren’t wearing those clothes.”
“Did it happen with Chloe too? We need to be focusing on what we came here to do.”
“She was appealing to the eye, but it wasn’t the same. I didn’t like her because she struck you. I would have rather killed her than mated with her, but her anger was justified.”
“Are you going to be able to focus on what we came here to do?”
“I didn’t kill your pet druids, did I? I don’t like them touching you or how you look at them sometimes, but I know they are the only way we can do this and live through it. We’re going to need a plan for them to escape. It doesn’t sound like they are fond of their father, but he’s still their blood. Their plan for him might not involve death. They might not react well to his death. Especially if they figure out we used them to do it.”
I was honestly feeling a little bad about that part. I came here intending to destroy anyone who got in my way. Before I set foot on land, I wouldn’t have had any issues using the druid king’s sons to get to him. I should have known better than to judge all land-dwellers because of what they did back in my home.
That treaty had been in place for longer than I had been alive. I would have known if it had been violated before now. Land had plenty of things we didn’t in the ocean, but the people that lived there were the same. There were going to be good and bad whether you were on land or under the sea. There were plenty of mermaid villains, and some of the sirens and sea witches seemed to revel in it.
The three brothers were sweet, and I didn’t really want to use them. I’d ideally like to work with them to get rid of a tyrant and put one of them on the throne. I didn’t trust them just yet, but I had this feeling if they eventually knew the truth about what Taron and I were, we wouldn’t be in danger from them.
Maybe if they met Taron, they would keep their nets in shallow water where even sea creatures could agree the food lived. I needed to see this through. Our people might not welcome us home for this, but we could make life better for them.
I was here to kill the druid king, but I wasn’t an evil mermaid. I could do that without destroying his sons.
