Olympic Cove 2-Breaker Zone (18 page)

Nick huffed, hunching in his chair and
glaring at the ocean. “Fuck.
Fates.
Seriously?”

“Mm.”

“And I’m really…” He couldn’t even say
it.

“An
agapetos
.
Yes. It’s not
as bad as you think,” Marcia said. “
That imaginary trio, as
you called them, have
a way of rewarding people who stop resisting what
they’re supposed to do. And you’re obviously supposed to be with Aidan and
Liam, for whatever reason.”

He growled softly. “Great.
Just what I need, another psycho.”

That earned him a reproving look. “I
think you’ll find that Liam is hardly what you would call a psycho,” she said.
“A bit irrational, but that’s understandable considering that he thought Aidan
had been captured by humans. Imagine how you would feel if someone you loved
disappeared unexpectedly, and when you finally found him it looked like someone
was taking sexual advantage of him. What would you have done if you were in
Liam’s shoes?
So to speak.”

Probably the same thing.
“Shit. Okay,
fine, he’s not a psycho, but I’m not buying him being my fated mate, either.
For one thing—”

“You don’t know if he shares your taste
for BDSM,” Marcia said calmly. “More specifically, you don’t know if he’s
dominant, or if he can top you the way Aaron Carstairs did.”

Nick stared at her, horrified. “How did
you
know
that?”

“I know more about you and Mr. Carstairs
than you think, doctor.” She sipped her own glass of juice. “Very few things
about sex shock me. Your games with your former Dom are hardly a ripple on the
very wide and strange sea of human sexuality. That being said, I do understand
your need for someone you can rely on, someone who can be trusted to take care
of you and give you what you need. I suspect that Liam would fill that role
quite well, if you gave him the chance.”

He imagined the tall mer standing over
him, trident aimed at his throat. “He almost killed me.”

“But he didn’t. When push came to shove,
he stopped.
Which puts him head and shoulders above Barnard
Whitfield.
”

Reflexively, he touched his chest.
“Okay, then there’s that. Barnard is a vindictive bastard. If he got the FBI or
some governmental agency on them, they’d wind up in labs being studied. I don’t
want to put them in danger.”

She gestured with her juice glass.
“Danger is a part of life, doctor. The mers understand this. And the danger
they face now makes any problem Mr. Whitfield could throw at them pale in
comparison.”

He sat up. “What danger?”

The sun began to dim unexpectedly, as if
reversing its rise. “Talk to them, Nick. Give them a chance,” Marcia said,
becoming a shadowy shape in the fading light. “You might be pleasantly
surprised.”

“Wait, what do you mean?” It kept
getting darker, and he could barely see anything. “What danger?”

The sun flickered once,
then
went out.

****

Nick sucked in a sharp breath, opening
his eyes.

He was still in bed. Early morning
Florida sunshine painted glowing squares on the walls. Outside, he could hear
the waves breaking on the shoreline.

Dream.
It was a dream.
A weird one, but still.
He rubbed his
eyes and sat up, wondering why he’d dreamed about the Atlantic Rentals manager,
of all people.
Maybe I see her as an
authority figure? God knows she’s scary enough.

More likely it was his subconscious
trying to tell him he needed more information about what exactly was going on
at Olympic Cove.
Well, you know where you
can find all the info you need.

A half hour later, he knocked on Ian’s
door. A slightly breathless sea god opened it, hastily pulling on a t-shirt.
“Morning.
How are you feeling?”

Nick eyed his friend’s bedhead and the
brief glimpse of taut stomach as it disappeared under the shirt. “I’m upright,
which is good. I’m also starving.”

Ian grinned. “Aph is getting breakfast
ready.”

They headed into the kitchen where the
bearded sea god was hard at work over the stove. “I’m in the mood for
pancakes,” Aphros announced. “And since I’m doing the cooking, so are you all.”

“Pancakes sound great, thanks.” Nick
took the guest chair and accepted a mug of coffee from Ian.
“So,
about last night.
I don’t think I thanked you guys for saving my ass.”

Aphros looked back over his shoulder in
surprise. “You don’t have anything to thank us for,” he said. “It never should
have happened in the first place. Quite frankly, we’re the ones who should be
apologizing to you.”

“No, Aidan is the one who should be
apologizing to him,” Ian said, taking a slurp of his coffee. “He’s the one who
conveniently ‘forgot’ he had a mate.”

“I’m at fault for that as well, love,”
Aphros said gently. “And I’m sorry for that, Nick. Some humans don’t react well
to the idea of a polygamous relationship, and I thought it would be better if
Aidan and Liam spoke to you together about their beliefs.”

Beliefs.
“So you don’t
know for sure that I’m their—” He waved a dubious hand.
“Cushla
thingy.”

“
Chuisle
.
And no, I
wouldn’t know for sure until the three of you make love.”

Nick choked on a mouthful of coffee. “Ex
cuse
me?”

Ian sighed. “Yeah, you didn’t hear about
that part. Once you make bouncy-bouncy with your
agapetos
, all of you get a nifty tattoo on your back announcing
your matehood, courtesy of the Fates.” He smiled at Aphros. “What did you call
it, angel?”

“The seafolk
equivalent of a wedding ring.”

Nick hid his shock in a deep slurp of
coffee. He’d never even heard of anything like that. “Wait, I already fooled
around with Aidan,” he said after swallowing. “And I know he didn’t have a
tattoo last night.”

“He wouldn’t, at least not yet. The
agapetos
have to make love with each
other at the same time in order for it to appear,” Aphros said. “And seeing how
you just met Liam—”

“Want to see mine?” Ian said, obviously
trying to head off that particular topic. “It’s the same one that’s on
By
and Aph, so if you see mine you’ve seen all of ours.”

Nick was happy to avoid any discussion
of the tall merman.
“Yeah, sure.”

Ian stood, turning around and pulling
off his shirt. Between his shoulder blades was a stylized tattoo of two sea
centaurs swimming around each other in Yin Yang fashion, with a lightning bolt
streaking down the center.

“Wow.” Nick didn’t know much about
tattoos, but he could recognize the artistry of the mark. “That’s really
beautiful.”

“Thanks.” Ian peered over his shoulder
at it. “Spotted it the morning after those two got me into bed for the first
time. Talk about a surprise. At least you know what to expect.”

“You’re assuming I’m going to sleep with
both of them. If it was just Aidan, that would be different, but…” He could
still see Liam standing over him, a look of loathing twisting the mer’s face
into something chilling. It was hard to untangle that from the memory of
Barnard and his favorite scalpel.

Ian pulled his shirt back on. “Look, I
can’t tell you what to do. But if those two are right, and you’re their
agapetos
, then the three of you getting
together is important, somehow. You can try running from it, but I guarantee
you it’ll wind up biting you in the ass.”

“I don’t see how me hooking up with two
mermen is important,” Nick pointed out. “Besides, I’m already the Bearer of the
Rod. Isn’t that enough?”

“Hell if I know,” Ian admitted moodily.
“I’m still trying to figure out some of this god stuff myself.”

Aphros came over and kissed the top of
Ian’s head. “You’re doing just fine, love. As for you,” he turned to Nick, “I’m
asking you as a personal favor to talk to your mers. I’m partially responsible
for this mess, and I’ll feel wretched if you miss out on what could be the most
wonderful thing in your life. So please, just talk to them.”

Nick let out a harsh breath through his
nose. As much as he hated to admit it, dealing with the mers was the reasonable
thing to do.
“Fine.
I’ll talk to them. But I’m not
promising anything.” He folded his arms across his chest, feeling mulish. “And
I want pancakes, dammit.”

Aphros beamed.
“One
stack of hotcakes, coming up.”

****

Aidan swam along the sandy cove floor,
then turned and swam back.

Liam floated a few feet away from his
path, still looking woebegone. Neither of them had been able to sleep, waiting
for the sun to rise and give them the chance to apologize to Nick. “What if he
won’t forgive me?” the big mer said.

Aidan paused. “He’s our
chuisle
, and he has a kind heart. I
think he’ll understand you were just trying to protect me.” He resumed his
pacing, heart aching at the thought of Nick hating them. “I hope.
Gods, Li.
We can’t lose him.”

“We won’t. I’ll grovel if I have to.”

“You hate groveling. And I still think I
should come with you. He’s angry at me, too.”

Liam shook his head. “You did what Lord
Aphros told you to do. That’s not your fault. I’m the one who ran this whole
mess into the jellyfish field.” He flicked his fluke. “I’m the one who has to pull
it out.”

Aidan paused again, sinking slightly in
the warm, clear water. “I didn’t thank you for coming after me, did I? Thank
you, gorgeous. I knew you would come once you found the trail.”

Liam immediately reached for him. Aidan
went into his mate’s arms, sighing as they wrapped securely around him.

“I was terrified,” Liam confessed.
“Nobody had seen you, and then the storm came in and everyone came back to the
grotto. I kept waiting at the top, hoping you were just delayed.” His arms
tightened. “When you didn’t show up, I went out looking for you. And when I
tasted your blood in the water…”

Aidan ran his lips across the underside
of Liam’s chin, nuzzling under his ear. “Stupid human nailed me with a
speargun. I couldn’t even pull it out because the scaleless son of a whelk
wired a floater on the other end.”

Liam sucked in a quick breath, the rush
of water soft in Aidan’s ear.
“Oh,
chuisle
.”

“But Lord Bythos heard me calling for
help. He and his brother rescued me.” Drowning wasn’t a method of death for
merfolk, but being eaten by sharks, battered against rocks by underwater
currents, or dying of blood loss certainly
were
. “And
then I saw Nick. Li, it was like I knew him. The pull was so strong.”

“I know. I felt it, too, once I’d calmed
down.”

Aidan pulled back, staring into his
lover’s somber eyes. Saying that he wished Liam had stopped, listened to him,
wouldn’t help now. “Then he’s our
chuisle
.
Which means you’re right—the Fates will bring him back to us.
We just have to wait. And be ready to grovel.”

Liam smiled slightly. “You don’t have to
grovel, sweetheart. That’s my job.”

“So I’ll teach you how. I’m good at it.”

A webbed hand cupped the side of his
face, tilting it up for a kiss. “You don’t grovel,” Liam said against his
mouth. “You give me every bit of yourself, willingly. And I cherish the gift.”

Aidan sank into the kiss, drinking down
the love and tenderness into his soul. Too soon, he pulled away reluctantly.
“Li, Nick’s like that. Like me. He calls it being submissive.”

Liam’s mouth opened slightly.
“Really?”

“Yes. If you’d come in just a few
minutes earlier, you would have seen him squirming under me as I teased him. Gods,
it was beautiful to watch.”

Liam laughed, bubbles trailing from the
corner of his mouth. “Damn. Yes, I would have liked to see that.” He sobered.
“Are you trying to tell me something, Aid? Are you tired of me having control
over you?”

“Never,
Maighstir
.”
He loved the
possessive look that came over Liam’s face when he addressed him by the title.
“My body and soul belong to you, you know that. But it was fun to make him
serve me.”

One of Liam’s hands began to move,
sliding around to his front while carefully avoiding the gill slits between his
ribs, “Mm. Then you’ll have to do it again, when I can watch. And then the two
of you can serve me.”

Aidan’s cock pulsed, emerging from his
pouch. “I think he’d like that,
Maighstir
.
I know I would.” His enthusiasm dimmed. “But we have to get him to talk to us
first.”

“Trust the Fates, sweetheart. Our
chuisle
will come to us, and we’ll be all
the more ready for him.” One large hand snaked down, playing with the slit of Aidan’s
pouch and the exposed part of his shaft. The other slid into his hair, grasping
it firmly and holding him in place. “In the meantime, however, I believe you
were saying something about thanking me?”