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He heard the sound of struggling long before his sister’s curse filled the air. Then a little arrow darted through the water toward him, her eyes wide and her hands already outstretched for whatever he held in his hand. Like he’d somehow plucked an oyster off the ground and prepared it just for her.
Now was the tricky part. If his niece realized he didn’t have an oyster in his hand, she would dart off in another direction. The little one had a nose like a shark, and she would head to the nearest oysters in the vicinity. Of course, that would be a problem to find her. She was voracious, and would likely rip through the entire oyster strand before he or Virago had time to get to her.
Looping his tail, he gently flicked his fluke at the same moment she barreled toward him. The lightning quick child wasimmediately caught up in his much larger fluke that shoved her right into his waiting arms.
Catching her, he held onto her by the waist so she couldn’t wiggle free. Her spines jabbed at the delicate webs between his fingers as she struggled.
Wincing, he held her wriggling body while her mother showed herself in the kelp.
“I thought we had said we weren’t going to spy on each other,” he grumbled, eyeing his sister. “That was a rule from when we were children. Need I remind you?”
“Yes, yes, well, we’re all simply so curious about who you’ve been meeting that I had to be the one to see. Otherwise, it would have been one of the other younger ones.” His sister shuddered. “The last thing you needed was someone else discovering you’ve been meeting with an achromo.”
His entire world ground to a halt.
His sister knew.
Virago had seen him with Alys, which meant she knew he’d been meeting with someone who wasn’t of their kind.
He had said for so long that he was meeting with a young woman that he was falling completely and utterly tail over head for. Everyone knew he wasn’t even available anymore. They could smell Alys on him.
His pod was kind. They were more open than the other pods of their people, especially the ones that were deeper in the ocean. But he hadn’t really given much thought to what they would do if he... if he...
Bringing her home to his people had never been an option, he realized. He risked losing everything if he did. And yet, if he lost Alys, then hadn’t he already lost everything?
Breathing hard, he gulped and held his niece out from his body. Even though her tail slapped at his wrists, he couldn’t stop staring at his sister in horror. “So what now?”
“What do you mean, what now?”
“What are you going to do?” Was she going to tell the pod? Would he have to leave everyone because he was the deviant who had covered himself in the scent of an achromo?
Virago looked at him with pity in her eyes. “Imber.”
The single word wasn’t enough of an answer. He needed to know what she was going to do, because right now, she was the only one who could save him.
“Virago,” he croaked. “None of it was a lie.”
“None of it? You’ve been meeting with an achromo for weeks. Months, maybe. You’ve been telling stories about how you’ve found your mate, and how she makes you feel more complete than you ever hoped to feel.” She grabbed her child, gently wrapping her back up in the net attached to her waist. “Was it because you didn’t think you’d get to mate with anyone else? I know you’re smaller than the other males, Imber. But clearly that doesn’t matter. Look who I chose to mate with.”
“And you killed him in the process,” he muttered.
“A mistake.” Virago at least looked a little guilty. “He was smaller than even I anticipated, but there are females smaller than me. A few scars later and you’d be a father. You’re so good with your niece already, just think if she was your own.”
He shook himself free from old thoughts. “I don’t want a mate from our people, Virago. I’ve already found my mate.”
His sister tilted her head back and laughed. Sharp teeth flashing, she looked somehow even more terrifying than usual with the mirth that made her shoulders wobble and the muscles on her belly visibly seizing before she got control of herself. “Hilarious, brother. But you don’t have to lie to me.”
He wasn’t laughing with her. And it took a bit for her to realize that. “I’m not lying to you, Virago.”
An awkward silence fell between them. Even the sea seemed to hold its breath, not moving a single current as the two siblingsstared at each other. Imber refused to change what he had said, though. His sister needed to understand this wasn’t some ruse, so the others would leave him alone.
Alys meant something to him. More than anyone else had ever meant, if he was being honest. She made his soul feel like he mattered. Like there was someone out there who saw him as more than just a potential mate. As more than someone who could bring life into this world.
“What?” Virago finally asked. “I don’t understand what you’re saying. You think that... that achromo is your mate?”
“I don’t think she is my mate.” He watched his sister deflate with relief, knowing that he was about to bring that tension back. “I know that she is. I choose her above all others, Virago. She is the one that the sea has sent for me.”
“A soul bond?” his sister scoffed. “It is impossible with their kind. You have no idea what they are doing underneath the water. You haven’t been going out on the scouting missions with the others. You haven’t seen the madness they bring to our waters.”
