Page 12 of Chasing Tail
Chapter 7
Iwasn’t exactly sure what a love nest was or why Beck had to keep it a secret from his father, but it was quite lovely, even by mermaid standards. Taron and I were both gaping at the beauty, but Forrest and Callum just seemed offended by it. They still hadn’t put clothes on and just wanted to complain.
“This is too much, Beck,” Callum said. “This isn’t just a place to hide your lovers from Father. You could rent a room for that. Instead, you bought an entire house to bring women to. It’s gross, and he’s going to find out.”
Taron and I were just standing there awkwardly. I thought this place was pretty, but it wasn’t even remotely furnished like anything under the sea. I was pretty confident they meant some of those puffy looking things for sitting, but the three brothers were still standing. I didn’t want to make assumptions. I planned on using them to get close to their father long enough to kill him, but I didn’t have to be rude about it.
Beck put his hands on his slim hips and glared at his brothers. I still didn’t think legs were appealing at all, and he would lookmuchbetter with a tail, but Taron and all three brothers had this deep V on their hips where I was used to seeing scales. It was oddly appealing, and I wanted to lick it. Maybe Taron would let me later.
“If the two of you were smart, you’d buy something away from him too. I don’t just bring women here. This is where I retreat to when he’s being especially awful. I have a fully stocked kitchen, so I don’t have to eat it when he’s spouting that nonsense that eating the parts of prisoners he’s killed makes him more powerful. We all know that’s horse shit, and he’s insane. So instead of sneaking food out the kitchen and hoping the servants don’t rat me out, I fill my belly here.”
I barely contained my growl, and so did Taron. If we lost family and friends like that because the druid king wanted toeatthem, I would kill him slowly. The brothers finally noticed us standing around in the clothes we stole.
“Forget our father,” Forrest said. “We need to focus on helping these two. He’s gone even crazier since our stepmother fell ill. He doesn’t care who he hurts as long as he cures her. She’s just as bad as he is and keeps encouraging him. The both of them would make sure these two disappear so they could try to make a remedy from them.”
“It sounds like we need to kill this stepmother too,”Taron said.
I just adored Taron. If either of us had been remotely sane and less pissed off, we would have gone back to the sea and helped sink ships. It would be dangerous enough to kill the druid king, but he wasn’t acting alone when he came to my home. His wife needed to spend time with that enchanted dagger too.
“Preferably before they kill someone else trying to prevent nature. It sounds like they’ve been hunting in more places than just our home.”
“Here, come sit,” Beck said, guiding us over to one of the puffy things.
I was trying not to laugh and blow our cover. It was pretty comfortable, but sharks never needed to sit on anything in the ocean. He managed just fine in the sand but wasn’t having a good go of things now. The things they had to sit on here were soft and not carved from stone like in the ocean. I was comfortable, but Taron acted like he forgot he had bones for a minute and nearly slid onto the floor.
I tried to keep it in and failed. Taron shot me daggers when the laugh escaped my mouth. Forrest and Callum both had odd looks on their faces, but Beck broke into a big smile.
“Seems like the strangers have a sense of humor. I wish they could tell us their names.”
“Maybe they can eventually,” Forrest said. “They’ve obviously been through something. Maybe they just need time before they can speak again. If not, we can always teach them. We’ll have to do it in shifts, so we don’t draw attention to this place.”
Callum got out and set something in front of us on the table.
“You seem to understand us just fine, even if you can’t speak. Did anyone ever teach you to write?”
I needed them to think I couldn’t speak so they could be big, strapping men and teach me. There were limits to how far I was willing to take this, and I needed to give them something. I could admit they had been nothing but friendly so far, and maybe not all land dwellers were evil. I had a feeling if one of them took the throne, there wouldn’t be ships in my home anymore.
I nodded my head in agreement. Of course, writing underwater differed from how they did it on land, but I wrote my name and Taron’s down for them. Beck grabbed my hand, and his lips grazed my knuckles.
“It’s an honor to meet you, Kishi.”
Taron flat out growled at Beck, and Callum hit him for whatever that strange introduction was. I wasn’t offended, but they were. Although, honestly, it felt a little nice.
“Why are you growling, Taron? He wasn’t trying to hurt me. I think that was one of their customs.”
“I’m not sure, Kishi. I just really didn’t like it when he touched you.”
“They might do that a lot here. But, trust me, if I ever don’t like it, I can handle it myself.”
Taron started sulking, and Beck was glaring at Callum.
“We’re fucking princes, Callum. I was being polite. If we got hit in the head every time we greeted someone properly, we’d all be slobbering fools because someone knocked something loose.”
“Yes, well, her mate doesn’t seem to know that custom, and he doesn’t like it. He might rip your head off with his bare hands.”
“I probably will,”Taron said.
“You aren’t my mate, Taron. What’s gotten into you? We aren’t here to kill them. They’ve been nice so far. We’ll only kill them if that changes.”
