Page 47 of Tide Touched

I feel his exhale on my cheeks, my neck, his warm breath. He smiles at me and takes my hand. ‘What do you say?’ He nods at the others. ‘Should we continue spying on them or announce ourselves?’

I look up from under my lashes. ‘Oh, I don’t know,’ I say teasingly, ‘spying can have its perks.’

Killian blushes at my reference to his watching me in the waterfall. He stutters for a moment, which I find both ridiculously cute and sexy, then winds an arm around my waist and leads us onto the beach with a whooping howl to announce ourselves.

Moira and Elijah simultaneously jump apart, managing to get their feet tangled, kicking each other in awkward places.

I nearly collapse into a fit of laugher as Moira curses me out. She juts her chin at Killian. ‘I blame him for your behaviour.’

Elijah is shyly rubbing his thigh where he was kicked, giving a sheepish smile.

I grin. ‘If it makes you feel better, if Killian hadn’t done that, I would have.’ I link my arm with Moira’s. ‘Come on, we need some girl talk. Boys, behave!’

Killian smirks at me, then goes to sit with Elijah. ‘Wait,’ I hiss to Moira, ‘guys don’t tell each other things, do they?’

Moira rolls her eyes. ‘You mean those two, who just met? No. Or guys in general? Also, no.’ Her annoyance has quickly faded, replaced by familiar amusement. ‘So, what’s up?’

We walk just far enough into the edge of the woods not to be overheard. ‘How’s things with Earth Boy?’

Moira pouts. ‘Good. And it’s Elijah.’

I lean back enough to glare at her. ‘How dare you just give me ‘good’. You should be ashamed of yourself.’

Moira barks a laugh. ‘I thought you had to tell me something.’

‘I do, but I’m chickening out because it’s embarrassing, so we’re starting with you. Besides, I’ve met him for like two minutes. What’s he like? Have you kissed yet?’

Moira smiles.

I halt us and spin her to face me. ‘What is that? I can see all of your teeth. You look so happy.’ I shake her shoulders dramatically. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her face do that.

Moira laughs and hangs her head. ‘I know. He just… it’s strange, he makes me feel so good, Katie.’

For a moment, our gazes lock, held in the suspension of disbelief. Our lives back home were ordinary with a side of sucking—we never expected or hoped for much else. Mine has taken a weird detour with kidnapping and a Water wolf, but I have found my fated mate. I meet her gaze and we share a moment of seriousness. ‘Moira, is that Earth guy your fated mate?’

Moira forces a nervous laugh, but it fades quickly. She shakes her head. A question she can’t, or won’t, answer. Not yet.

I wrap my arms around her. ‘Well, since he makes your face look all weird with your smiles, I’m happy for you.’

Moira smacks me in the arm but returns my hug. ‘Thanks,’ she whispers.

We start walking again. She gives me time to work up the courage I need. We wend through the trees, each of us bathing in the soft breeze.

How exactly do I start this conversation? Moira and I have always been close, but we’ve never talked about guys, because we never had them to talk about before. Aside from my sex dream earlier, and I haven’t said much about Carter. Best to dive in. Face first.

‘When you and Killian went to get supplies and I found his note, I was mad he told me to stay put—’

‘I told him that was stupid,’ Moira interjects.

‘—I figured, thank you. So, I left. I was finally free of that room. I wanted to see if I could shift, so I did, then I found a river and, you know, needed a wash, so I went in. There was a waterfall.’ As I recount it, the sound of rushing water throbs in my ears. ‘And I sort of… started thinking of Killian and, you know…’

Moira blinks at me.

Oh, for fuck’s sake, she’s going to make me spell it out. I sigh, feeling my cheeks heat. ‘I was pleasuring myself,’ I say through gritted teeth—Moira snorts, nodding—‘and just as I got off, I see him there, watching me!’

Moira explodes in a fit of snort-laugh-choking. ‘Ohmygod!’ When she can breathe again, I help her stand. ‘That’s… weirdly creepy but also hot?’

‘I know!’ I slap at her excitedly. ‘You get it! At first I was going to die of embarrassment and he looked so guilty, but… I actually like it.’ I recount the details, how hard he was, the shirt he offered and how I refused. We keep falling over laughing and smacking at each other in glee until tears fall down our cheeks.

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