Olympic Cove 2-Breaker Zone (17 page)

The raised voices in the living room
grew louder, with Aidan’s coming through clearly. “I need to go out there,”
Nick said, pausing to peer under the coverlet.
Nope,
definitely still naked.
“Could you get my clothes from the kitchen?”

Ian stared at him. “Dude, you just got
the shit kicked out of you. You don’t need to go out there. By and Aph can
handle this.”

Nick shook his head, wincing at the
movement. “I need to talk to Aidan.”

“Aw, hell.”
His friend
stood reluctantly.
“Fine.
Wait here.”

He ducked out, returning after a minute with
the clothes. “I hope you know what you’re doing.”

“Yeah, so do
I
.”
Groaning a bit, Nick climbed out of bed and started to dress, cataloging his
symptoms as he went. Bruised throat, bruises on his back and neck, wrenched
shoulder, rug burns on his ass and knees.
Makes Barnard’s little engraving fade into
the background, at least.

With Ian at his back, he limped slowly
into the living room. Bythos was pacing back and forth in front of Aidan and
his huge boyfriend, who were sitting on the couch looking appropriately cowed.
A grim Aphros leaned against the wall, ready to offer backup.

“Every pod from here to Africa should
know by now that this cove is our
agapetos
’s
home,” the tall sea god thundered. “Your concern for your mate is
understandable, but invading this place and injuring one of our guests is
grounds for the harshest punishment.”

“I’m sorry, Lord Bythos,” the tall
merman said humbly, head bowed so that long, damp brown hair hung in his face.
Nick had a feeling the apology was something he’d been repeating a lot in the
last few minutes. “I knew that you and Lord Aphros had found an
agapetos
, but I swear I didn’t know that
this was his home. And when I tasted Aidan’s blood in the water, I panicked. I
tracked him here—”

“And then burst in and assaulted our
guest,” Bythos snapped.

“Lord Bythos, he was just trying to
protect me,” Aidan said quickly, grabbing the tall merman’s hand. “It was all a
huge misunderstanding—”

“Yeah, it was.” Nick’s voice was low and
croaky as he stared at Aidan. “If you told me you had a mate, I never would
have touched you.”

Aphros blanched. “Er, that may have been
my fault,” he said. “I suggested that Aidan hold off telling you about Liam
until both of them were here.”

That statement made no sense whatsoever.
“For God’s sake, why?”

The blue-eyed sea god raised his
eyebrows at Aidan. “This may be the time to tell Nick what you told me.”

“Now?”
The mer’s
shoulders sagged.
“Oh, gods.
Nick, please try to
understand.
Liam’s
mo
chuisle
.”

That word again, the same one Aidan had
called him. He didn’t understand what it meant, but his heart ached hearing it
applied to someone else.

“He can’t be,” Bythos interrupted.
“Neither of you are marked.”

“Because we weren’t complete, lord. Not
until we found Nick.” Those apple green eyes pleaded for Nick to understand. “Sweetheart,
you’re
mo chuisle
. And so is Liam.
And you’re ours as well.”

I am hurting way
too much to stay upright for this bullshit.
Gingerly, Nick lowered himself
into one of the armchairs. “Would someone please tell me what the hell a
macushla is?” he snapped.

“It literally means ‘my pulse’ in
Gaelic,” Bythos said, “but it translates as the endearment ‘my love’. It’s the
merfolk term for an
agapetos
.”

“Aga—"

“—petos?” Ian cut him off. The smaller
man had gone as pale as Aphros. “Nick is an
agapetos
?”

“What’s an
agapetos
?” Nick growled. “Or
chuisle
,
or whatever the hell you guys are talking about?”

“Jesus.” Ian scrubbed at his mouth. “It
means that those two—” he pointed at the mermen, “—
have
been deemed by the Fates to be your mates. The same way
By
and Aph are mine.”

Nick sucked in a deep breath as he gripped
the chair’s arms, taking some comfort in squeezing the old upholstery. He was aching
badly, both physically and emotionally, and the last thing he needed was some
bullshit story about Fates, mates, or anything else that rhymed with “ates”.

“Fuck that shit,” he said, his voice low
and savage. “If anyone seriously thinks I’m hooking up with a liar and an
abusive asshole, they can go fuck themselves.”

The tall merman’s head came up,
revealing a face that could have graced a painting by Caravaggio.
Oh, fuck. Of course he’s gorgeous, too.
Goddamn it.

“I am so sorry, Nick,” Liam said,
choked. “I never would have hurt you if I knew. I thought you were...”

He trailed off, but
raping Aidan
was perfectly clear. “Not that I really want to bring
this up in front of everyone,” Nick snarled, “and yeah, I may have been on top,
but Aidan was participating willingly. Or did you not notice his hard-on when
you grabbed me by the throat and threw me across the room?”

The merman’s head bowed again, a fine
tremor running through his shoulders. “Yes, I noticed.”

The whole wounded act suddenly
infuriated him. He dug deep, hearing Aaron’s Dom voice. “Look at me when I’m
talking to you,” he ordered.

Liam glanced up, startled.

“You were being protective,” Nick
continued. “I get that. But I do
not
appreciate being tossed around like a rag doll and having you threaten to shove
a giant fork in my throat, especially when Aidan was screaming at you to stop.”

The mer licked his lips. “I know. I was
just so angry. I’ll spend the rest of my life making it up to you,
chuisle
.”

Nick could actually feel the emotion
streaming off the big mer, the shame and regret. And behind it, something so
immensely tender it terrified him. “Oh, hell no,” he breathed. “I am not your
chuisle
. I am not anyone’s
chuisle
, you got it? I just want to be
left alone.”

Aidan’s mouth fell open, stricken.
“Nick, no.”

He turned on the green-eyed mer. “I’m
not your doctor anymore. Chiron said so. You’re fine to go do whatever the hell
it is you people do, so take your mate and get the hell out of here.” His
throat burned from the words and he rubbed it, grimacing. “Just go.”

“I think that’s a good idea,” Aphros
said, cutting off Aidan and Liam before they could argue. “Mers, come with me,
please.”

Reluctantly, the two stood and let the
sea god chivvy them out of the cottage. “I think I’ll give my brother a hand,”
Bythos said, pausing when he neared Nick. “I am so sorry about this. I swear on
my word as sea lord, no one will ever touch you again without your permission
here.”

He left, but Ian hovered near Nick’s
chair. “You okay?”

Nick sagged. “Does the term, ‘fuck no’
mean anything to you?”

“Yeah, as a matter of fact it does. And
I’m sorry.”

“Why are
you
apologizing? You didn’t do anything wrong.”

Ian shrugged guiltily. “I got you into
this fucked up situation. If I knew you were an
agapetos
—”

That was the last straw. “Okay, whoa. First,
I don’t believe in that whole
agapetos
thing. I
mean,
maybe that applies to you and the
twins, but I’m not a god or anything,” Nick said. “Secondly, if we’re going to
be strictly accurate, Barnard got me into this fucked up situation by using me
as a carving board. So if we’re gonna blame anyone, let’s blame Barnard.”

“Yeah.
He
is
an asshole,” Ian agreed. “But I still
owe you an explanation, about me at least.” He hesitated. “I’ll tell you now,
if you want.”

What Nick wanted
was
a couple of Vicodin, a hot shower, and his bed. For an evening that had started
out so well, it had gone straight into the shitter. “Save it for tomorrow. All
I want to do right now is crash.”

“Yeah, I understand.” Still looking remorseful,
Ian went to the front door. “Look, come over whenever you get up. I’ll have
breakfast ready. We can talk more then.”

Nick leaned forward, resting his head in
his hands. “Look, I don’t mean to sound like a baby, but are they going to come
back? I need to know if I should lock my windows.”

Ian shook his head. “If By and Aph told
them to leave you alone, I guarantee you they won’t come back. Knowing By, he
put a geas on you.”

“Geas?”

“Protective
spell.
Anyone comes near you without your permission while you’re here, and they’ll be
in a world of hurt.”

Nick lifted his head, staring at his friend.
“
Spells.
Jesus.”

“Get used to it,” Ian advised soberly.

****

Bythos tucked his hands behind his back
and considered the two mers waiting for their sentence. “By rights, I should
bar you from this cove and report your actions to your grotto Elders,” he said.
“But as this disaster isn’t
all your
fault,” he
leveled a look at a regretful Aphros, “I’m going to be merciful.”

Both mers bobbed their heads like
puppets. “Thank you, Lord,” they echoed.

“That being said, Nick Gardiner is now
under my protection and I will not allow further harm to come to him. And so I
ask you this now—are you sure he’s your
agapetos
?”

Liam stepped forward, giving Bythos a
respectful bow. “My Lord, we have confirmation of this from the Oracle himself.
Both Aidan and I are fated to love a man from the land, one who bears a
powerful staff. We’ve been searching for him for years.”

“And I recognized Nick the moment I saw
him,” Aidan added. “He’s definitely our
agapetos
.
We swear this, lord.”

Bythos nodded. “In that case, you have
well and truly fouled up your courtship. I would suggest you sleep in the cove
overnight,
then
return in the morning to apologize.
With any luck, Nick may agree to speak with you by that time.”

Aidan gazed worriedly at the cottage.
“We have to leave him alone tonight? But he’s injured—”

“Not severely. He will live,” Bythos
said crisply. “However, if you go barging back in there I guarantee you that he
will never forgive you. I speak from experience here.”

The mers glanced at each other,
then
reluctantly nodded. “Good. I have field quarters out
near the coral beds. You can sleep there tonight.” Bythos jerked his chin at
the water. “Off you go.”

Giving the cottage a longing look, the
mers turned and jogged towards the water, diving into the waves. With a flicker
of two dark flukes, they were gone.

****

Sitting on the cottage’s back deck, Nick
watched as the sun rose over the Atlantic. Next to him was Marcia Kuttner,
sandal-clad feet crossed elegantly at the ankles.

“You aren’t having a very good time of
it, are you, Dr. Gardiner?” she said conversationally.

He glanced down at himself. To his
relief he wore jeans and one of his favorite t-shirts, the one that read STAND
BACK: I’M GOING TO TRY SCIENCE.
“No, not really.”

She picked up a glass of pinkish fluid
and handed it to him. He sipped, pleasantly surprised by the taste of freshly
made watermelon juice. He took a deeper swig. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. You really need to
start making better choices about your personal life, you know.”

He snorted, glad he’d already swallowed.
“Yeah, I kinda noticed that already. I don’t plan on dating any more psychotic
Doms, trust me.”
Or
jumping into bed with gorgeous non-humans who happen to have huge, homicidal
boyfriends.

She frowned as if she’d heard his
thought. “Barnard Whitfield isn’t nearly as important as he thinks he is in the
grand scheme of things. You pushing away your mers, however,
worries
me.”

“They’re not my mers,” Nick muttered. “I
don’t care who they think I am, or what this whole
agapetos
deal means. I just wanted to come down here and get my
life straightened out, not screwed up even more.”

Marcia sighed. “I know you’re angry, and
I can’t blame you. Unfortunately, the Fates can’t take situations into account
when they weave together lifelines.”

“Fates?”
He turned to
stare at her. “Lady, what are you talking about? There’s no such thing as
Fates,
or Fate singular. My life is my own, okay? I may make
some really stupid decisions, but they’re mine, not some imaginary trio’s.”

The rental manager pursed her lips,
tilting her head to the side. “Imaginary. Like mermen?
Or
demigods?
Or a snake on a staff that talks to you?”