Page 61 of Cruel Tides

Little by little, our tails gradually slowed to a pace where Laverne could swim on her own again.

“You want to talk about it?” Barren asked, his chest still heaving from exertion.

Claira shivered. “There was an eel.” She paused, hesitant, before saying, “And I thought I saw—well, you guys will think I’m crazy.”

“You believed me when I said I thought the trident absorbed the portal’s magic, right?” I said, giving her a light nudge. “There’s nothing you could say that would sound crazier than that, beautiful.”

“Well, I—I think that eel might have been the sea… wizard.”

Kai opened his mouth with a question, but Claira cut him off with a groan.

“I know, I know. That’s crazy, right? But there was something strange about its eyes.” She sighed again, frustrated. “I don’t know. It lookedfamiliar.But I do know, sea wizard or not, we needed to get out of there.”

“Mmh.” Barren nodded sternly, and she looked relieved that someone else agreed.

We only made it through a few more beats of silence before Kai opened his mouth again. “So, I guess this means we aren’t going to Barren’s island?”

“Fuck.” I scrubbed a hand over my face. I’d been too shocked by the destruction to realize that we needed a new plan. “So much for sneaking over to the Indian Ocean without Queen Javalynn noticing.”

“Let’s not talk about it down here,” Claira said softly, stealing looks back behind us. “The intelligence that eel had in its eyes… I don’t know. It feels like someone was watching us.”

“All right,” I said with a nod. “We’ll get back to shore and come up with a new plan.”

Kai gave Claira a playful nudge. “Hey, do you think this means we can go back to your place for dinner? I’ve been thinking about pie nonstop since yesterday.”

That seemed to lighten Claira’s mood. “I could go for some pie,” she said, her voice warming. “You guys don’t mind going back, do you?”

“Of course not,” I said.

“I love it.” Kai’s smile was almost as bright as his eyes. “It’s fun, staying with your family.”

Claira grinned, slowly nodding like she was pleased with the idea of us enjoying spending time with her land family. Then her face paled.

“Oh no, your clothes.” She groaned. “I swear, if Gram sees me strolling up the beach with you guys naked, she’s really going to take her pistol out and start shooting. She thinks I’m only with Barren,” Claira said hotly, and she didn’t seem to notice the way Barren’s tail twisted, thrown off its rhythm. “Gram’s old-fashioned like that. She wouldn’t understand this whole multiple mate andthrallthing,” she added with a long sigh.

“Don’t worry.” I ran my free hand through my hair. It was amazing how much better I felt now that our swim had worked off some of my newfound energy. “We’ll resurface at one of your neighbor’s beaches. I’m sure they won’t mind the view.”

“Lee!” Claira elbowed me in the ribs. Then she paused. “Well, actually… What if we come up by the docks? I could run into the surf shop and grab you guys some clothes before we head back home.” She took a moment to work through it in her head some more. “It might work, as long as they have your sizes. Dad has a ton of store credit that he’s never going to use.”

“If covering all of this up is so important to you,” I said, gesturing down the length of my body, and I couldn’t help but smirk as Claira’s eyes rolled, “then go right ahead. Lead the way to the docks, beautiful.”

15

Claira

By the time we made it to town, I was sure we’d been swimming for hours. We broke the surface to the sound of seagulls cawing, and when Laverne glided up to the nearest sandbank, her barks echoed down the shore as she chased them away, emptying a stretch of sand for our arrival.

I was confident no one usually ventured this far south of where the boats came in and hoped we were far enough away from the storefronts that we’d be able to dry off without the risk of being seen. It was horrifying to think what would happen if we arrived at the house in this state. Sure, Dad would have shrugged it off like he’d done on the boat, but if any of the neighbors saw the guys, Gram would have been scandalized.

Her reputationruined.

Okay, maybe she didn’t care about all that, but Gram prided herself on raising me. She always complimented my good senses and strong moral fiber.

Now, here I was, disappearing for days at a time, stealing jewelry, and hanging around grown men in various states of undress out where people could see us.

Coming to the docks felt like the best decision—I just hoped it wouldn’t backfire.

As we fought the waves, straining to pull through the heavy sand, Laverne moved gracefully alongside us, taking easy strides up the slope. When we finally reached the safety of dry land, the guys collapsed in exhaustion, their bodies and tails still dripping with salt water.

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