When he didn’t reply, I bared my teeth. “At least they asked nicely.”
The blond-haired male with the sunset tail crooned, “Yes, we asked nicely.” He studied my captor. “You can come too, if you’d like. I prefer the tall ones.”
My captor’s voice sputtered in my ear, then snarled, “I’m not getting in the water with you, fish boy, and neither is she.”
“Hmm, touchy.” The blond frowned. His eyes flicked to Nevaeh, where she seemed to be struggling against a restraint of her own. I blinked. What was holding her? My eyes fell back to the men in the water and I took a long breath.
Escape, my mind purred.
I slammed my heel backward, grinning when the kick struck home. The grip around my waist only tightened. I sighed, dropping myself into a bundle of dead weight. But still, my captor held firm, like he expected the maneuver. Now two arms were banded around my stomach, lifting me from the ground.
“Reagan, what’s going on?” the voice said. The words were laced with confusion and . . . an emotion I couldn’t define. “Why are you listening to these creeps?”
I paused. “I like them. I don’t like you. It’s pretty simple.” Vibrant images filled my mind and my cheeks warmed as I added in a flustered rush, “And we would make beautiful merlion babies and I want to get on that and, oh hell, have you seen their abs? You can’t protect me or our merlion babies like those abs can.”
My captor sucked in a sharp breath. The arms slipped an inch and my feet plopped into the grass once more. “This isn’t like you. Something’s wrong. Seb, talk some sense into her.”
Seb . . . Why did that sound familiar?
A new voice spoke to my right. “I think you’re under an . . . an enchantment of some kind, Reagan. You and Nev. Snap out of it.” The men in the water chuckled before he added, “I think they want to eat you or something. Come on, we should go.”
Eat me? Well that seemed ridiculous.
I measured my options. My captor was strong, but was he easily fooled?
“Sure,” I said. “I’ll come with you.”
The grip around my middle slipped some more, and then slid to my wrist. Damnit. Nevaeh was swearing loudly, airborne, and clawing behind her. I frowned. That wasn’t going to get her anywhere. I followed my own captor almost to the treeline before I jerked my arm, catching him by surprise and breaking free. Three steps from the water my waist was snared again and I was up, in the air, tossed over . . . a shoulder? I struggled, punching at his back.
“Let me go, now,” I growled.
A hand clamped down on the back of my thigh. “You won’t listen to reason. You’re giving me no choice, stubborn woman!”
“Man, that yellow-tailed one really wants to take a bite out of her,” said a new voice.
“Or Tarik,” a second chimed in.
“Yeah, but Tarik might like that. Did you see what that shark shifter did to him?”
My brain fogged. Shark shifter? Tarik? My mind felt thick, struggling to piece the familiarity of the voices with their conversation.
The grip on my thigh tightened. “The next fish that takes a bite out of me will be on my dinner plate.”
“I don’t think Akeno will be so lucky,” the first voice added with a chuckle. “I think Nevaeh up there nearly clawed his eyes out before he got her to calm down.”
Slowly, as we passed the treeline, my vision began to clear. I blinked as the wheels finally started to turn. The twins were behind us, wearing identical grins. I glanced to the side, caught a glimpse of red hair, and stopped fighting. Tarik.
What happened? What am I missing?
My thoughts swirled, dizzying.
“Can you put me down, please?” I asked quietly. “And maybe explain why I’m up here to begin with?”
“I’m not falling for your ploys again,” Tarik grumbled without breaking stride.
“Ploys?”
He sighed, clearly exasperated about something. “Hot merdudes, Reagan? Really? Do I need to sprout a tail?”
“Tarik, honestly, what are you on about?” I tried to rack my brain, tried to remember. Something wasn’t clicking.
He jerked to a stop and his shoulder dug into my ribs. “If I let you down, will you go back to them? Because I won’t . . . I won’t hold you prisoner. I told you I wouldn’t. Just . . .” He sighed again. “Tell me what you want.”
“I want you to put me down so I can try to get my head straight. I don’t remember—” My words faltered. Images crashed into my mind. Conversation. I swallowed. “Oh, no. Tarik, no, I don’t know what that was all about.”
He bent forward. I slid off his shoulder as he deposited me on the ground. His hand left my thigh and he stepped back. Spreading his arms wide, he said, “Your choice.”
But he wouldn’t meet my gaze.
“Tarik, there’s no choice to be made. I’m being honest with you.”
With a shrug, he slowly backed away. “Fine. Micah, Malachi, watch over her while I—” He shook his head and turned around, saying over his shoulder, “I’ll be back.”
“Wha—Tarik, listen to me. Please.” But he kept walking and my heart leapt into my throat. I strode after him. Not today. He wasn’t walking away because of a stupid compulsion. “Tarik, that wasn’t me. I had no control over what I was doing or what I said.”
For a second, he paused, but didn’t turn around. “I know. I just . . . I need a minute.” He kept walking. My chest tightened. How did I fix this, fix the hurt and fear I had seen flash across his eyes? The twins still trailed along reluctantly but I ignored them. I bolted after Tarik, grabbing his wrist and spinning him to face me.
“Tarik, please, I’m sorry.” The thundering beat of my heart consumed me. I couldn’t hear, couldn’t breathe, and he was about to pull away when I blurted, “As long as my mind and body are my own, they’re yours. Yours, Tarik. You—everything about you—calls to me in a way no magic ever could. Please. I’m sorry.”
His eyes snapped to mine. He was so quiet, so still, I didn’t think he was breathing. Swallowing once, he released a shaky breath. His brows pulled together. “You really mean that?”
“With everything that I am,” I whispered.
For several agonizing seconds, he simply stared. Then a soft groan slid past his parted lips. He reached a hand up, trailing his fingers along my cheek. Bending down, he touched his forehead
to mine. “And I’m yours. If you want me.”
“Of course I do.”
Puffing out a long sigh, he folded me into his arms. With my ear pressed to his pounding heart, I heard him whisper, “Gaia, Reagan, you scared me.”
I turned my head and pressed a kiss to his chest before resting my forehead against him. “Me? I’m nothing.” I huffed a small laugh. “But you . . . You’re like the rise of day. The light that wakes me up, reminds me I’m alive.”
His chuckle vibrated through my skin. “See, this is why I couldn’t stay away from you, even while I was angry at the whole world. How you saw me as anything but a jerk, I’ll never
know. But you, on the other hand . . . you’re what’s right with the universe.” He settled his chin on top of my head. “And I hope someday you’ll see what I see.”