45. Holter

"How's your arm?"I hand Nico a glass of seaweed gin.

"It's been two weeks. It's fine. I'm not sure why they insist on me keeping this sling on."

It's because Belle bribed Dr. Pertusio with a supply of coffee to keep Nico from going off and tracking down more rogue Braesen. It's fine. We can leave the security wrangling to others. I shrug my shoulders at him.

Belle comes into the apartment from the foyer, Castor right behind her. "Any word on when the Centauri is getting here?"

"No, Belle, I'm sorry." The Centauri was almost to the city a week ago when it raced off to defend a boundary dispute with the Vikings. They've had to go radio silent as well.

"I figured you would have told me, but I just?—"

I pull her to my chest. "I know you're ready to see your aunt and cousin. I'm sure they're ready to see you too. But you've met Broderick. He would never let anything happen to them."

She nods. "I know, you've both said."

"How's the podlet?" Nico asks, tugging her away from me.

"Oh, Kai's baby is the cutest little thing. Her nose is adorable, and I can't get enough of the way she smells. Isabel is a perfect little mermaid."

I laugh. "With a good set of lungs. At least, that's what Ellery told me."

Belle smiles. "Are you ready to go?"

"Ready for what?"

"I told you we have an appointment today."

I glance back at the pod room. "I thought that was a metaphor for..."

"Sexy times?" she asks. "No, but maybe after."

"Okay then, I'm ready."

"Great." She takes my hand and gives Castor a wink. "We'll be back soon."

"Oh, this is just the two of us?" I say.

"Yup, this only takes the two of us."

"Okay." I wave over my shoulder. Sitting in the omada, I look at her from the pilot seat. "Are you going to tell me where we're going?"

"Not yet. Just go out the airlock and head north. No, take a right."

"Okay. This should be interesting."

Belle has her block open to a map of the city. "Next left and then right."

This is the new part of the city. There's construction everywhere.

"Okay, into the docking airlock here."

"The new Maelstrom?"

"Yup." Her eyes are glistening as she says it. "You and I are becoming official."

It takes all of ten minutes to register as mates, but I stand a little taller afterward. It's weird that a document could make me love her more. It's not the document, so to speak, but the fact that she's willing to do it. And now, even more so, understand what it means.

"I love you." I take her hand and head back to the omada. I need to have her. Strip the tunic from her peachy skin and claim her in the best private way.

We open the door to our apartment, and there's something stretched across the walls in weird, taut, straight lines across the room.

Belle's laughing so hard there are tears running down her face.

"Surprise!" Eros yells, jumping out from behind the sofa. He pulls a blanket off Nico, sitting in the same spot he was when we left.

Castor jumps out from behind the counter. "Ahhh."

Belle jumps, gasping for air.

"What, was that not right?" Castor's face drops.

"No," Belle says, half in shock, half laughing. "But it's perfect." She pulls all of us to her.

I pick her up and carry her across the room, the paper strips gathering around us as I do. "Thank you for today." I place her gently down on the bed. The rest of the guys gather around. Clothes fly while I slowly peel Belle's leggings off her. "Arms up, pretty mermaid." I slip her tunic from her amazing body in front of me.

I start with her feet and kiss my way to her pussy, licking her and stopping to lavish and suck on the mate mark I gave her. It might be too much too fast. Her back arches from the sheets.

Eros jumps on the side of the mattress, and Belle turns to look at him. "Oh no, Sunshine. I'm here for the pregame show. Eyes on your registered mate."

Her fingers stretch and intertwine in my hair. I move to her clit, swirling my tongue around. I'm hungry for her. We all are. Even after weeks of knowing we're safe, it's like our touch reminds us of how we're alive. How we worked together and solved our problems. A family. My family. Damn.

I lick up her torso. "I'm unbelievably lucky to have you." I lift my head and stare into her blue eyes.

"No. I'm the lucky one, mate." Belle smiles at me, and damn, I want to come already and I'm not even in her.

"I disagree with you, mate. I'm the lucky one."

"Neither of you appears to be getting lucky. If you need help, Sunshine, I'm ready to step in for your groom." Eros sucks on the side of her neck.

"Groom." Her eyes sparkle as she looks at me. "Come here, my groom." She loops her arms around my neck and pulls me to her. I place my hand on Eros's face and push him away.

"Hey?" Eros laughs and crawls right back, pushing his head in between the two of us to lick at Castor's mark.

Belle's hips buck. And that's it. I can't wait. I push into her. Zings of pleasure ring through me, and I'm not even all the way in yet.

"Holter." She pulls up on me, and our lips brush. Her tongue swipes into my mouth, demanding. When she pulls back, her blue eyes are wide and dilated. A lovely red blush has spread from her breasts up her neck. She's close too.

Fuck, I want this to last long, but that will have to be for later. "Hang on, Belle."

I buck my hips. My movements are jagged, out of control. Belle's hands slip from my neck, and she fists the sheets below her. Her eyes shut, and she moans as her back arches. I grab her hips, tilting her to drive deeper.

"Yes, that's it, just there. Just like that. Oh!" She shatters around me. Her pussy flutters and takes me over the top with her.

I soar. Fuck, how can every time be better than the last? I swear this is how I'm going to die. Can you die from pleasure? I don't know, but as the stars fade from behind my eyes, I know I'm willing to find out. I collapse on top of her but quickly roll her to her side. Belle isn't a tiny mermaid, but my weight can't be good for her.

She opens her eyes, and we're inches apart. "Mate." She smiles.

"Mate," I say back. And somehow the guys don't barge in. None of them move. I should get up and get a cloth for Belle. But part of me wants to see how long I can make this go on for.

"You are adorable. Now go get something to clean our mate up with," Eros growls.

"I've heard getting you a cloth is a good idea." I stare into her light blue eyes.

"I've heard that too. From somewhere around here."

"Would you like one?" I kiss at her neck.

"No, but yes."

I feel the bed shift behind me. Eros has gone to get a cloth. He pushes it into my hand. "Look, I found a cloth."

"That's wonderful." She kisses my neck, and I let myself slide out of her. I take the cloth and wipe up her leg, cleaning the release off her. As I do, scales appear behind the cloth. Eros has his mouth on hers. Castor sucks on the mate mark under her breast. I slap the side of Nico's head as he's about to suck on her clit.

"What?" Nico's tone drops in irritation.

I incline my head and do it again. His eyes widen at the purple scales. "Are you feeling okay, Little Krill?"

"Mmm-hmm." She moans into Eros's mouth. Nico's gone, and when I turn around, he's back with another rag and a glass of water. He slowly trickles it down her legs.

"Oh." She lifts her head from Eros.

"Oh, good or bad?" asks Nico.

"Good? Good. It's cold. I'm mean it's an odd thing to do, but..."

"Belle, look at your leg."

"Oh, are those scales?"

Castor and Eros are looking now too. Nico puts his hand in the glass and places his palm on her leg. When he lifts it, there's a handprint of scales beneath it. And this time, it doesn't disappear.

"I think we should get you to the tub or outside." If what's happening makes her shift and she can't shift back, we don't want her to suffocate.

"Tub," Belle says.

I agree. It's deep enough that she could duck under to breathe for a while if she had to. Eros is on it. The tub has a good six inches of water by the time we get there. I hold her until it's deep enough that she could breathe if she had to. She lets go of me around my neck slowly as I ease her into the water.

"Hold your knees close together," Nico says.

"Right. Do I do anything else?"

"Don't try to shift yet. See what happens, Let the water get deeper," I say.

"Okay." Scales are popping up all over the skin on her legs. They're beautiful, mostly purple, but some are blue.

"They are amazing." Castor kneels by the tub.

She gasps. "Purple—my favorite color."

"And blue." Castor touches one and looks up at her.

"Oh, I see it now. Blue too. That's really cool," she says. The blue matches her eyes.

"That's not common, Little Krill. It's really something special." Nico kisses the top of her head. I see what he's doing, staying near her head in case she needs help.

Eros fans the surrounding water in a whirlpool. With each passing minute, more scales appear on her skin. Purple and blue. I'm wondering if the rest of the guys are thinking about the fairytale of the mermaid with a purple-blue fluke that comes to save the Dorian from evil. It's just a podlet story.

I lean over and kiss the top of Belle's head. "You doing okay?"

She nods. "Yes. Scales but no fluke."

"Give it time, Belle."