Chapter 20

Falling asleep with Conall was nothing like how it was with my old hookups. Cuddling had been just another chore that needed to be done before I could gently push my partner away to rest, but the way Conall fit perfectly in my arms as we snuggled and chatted had me wondering how I was going to sleep any other way from now on.

Conall had a bed in the small loft above his nest, but it was too small for my large frame, so he brought out new blankets to replace the ones I'd dirtied. We fell asleep wrapped around each other in his nest and it was fucking perfect.

I was reluctant to leave him the next morning, but he had plans with his best friend. We'd bumped into said friend when Conall was walking me to the parking lot.

I'd caught a glimpse of Aisha when she chased after the briefcase thief, but up close, she was a lot more intimidating than I'd expected Conall's best friend to be.

Her long black hair was tied up in a high ponytail, which made her sharp features look even sharper. Her entirely black attire was a comical contrast to the colorful personality Conall had.

Aisha's dark eyes bore into me, like she was trying to read my very soul. I got the distinct feeling she didn't like me very much, and that wouldn't do. I wanted to make a good impression on the people important to Conall.

I reached out my hand and introduced myself while putting on my most charming smile, but that only made her scowl deeper.

"Ai, be nice," Conall whispered as he nudged her with his elbow. Aisha looked between the two of us, then sighed in resignation and stepped closer to accept my handshake.

The distinct scent of cat filled my nose when she came close. Her nose also twitched like she was scenting what kind of magical being I was too.

"Fish. Yum," she said, showing me her sharp canines.

"Aisha!" Conall squeaked out, slapping her on the arm. She seemed unbothered by it and continued to grin at me threateningly.

I snorted, amused by the protectiveness she was showing. Never mind the fact that whales were mammals, not fish, my original form would easily crush her into a cat pancake.

I was glad Conall had people who obviously cared about him, though he didn't need protecting from me. In order not to antagonize her even more with my presence, I assured Conall it was okay and told them to enjoy their time together.

Aisha might not approve of my relationship with Conall, but I wasn't going to give up this precious man just because of that. Nor was I going to hold myself back from getting a goodbye kiss, even if she threw a hissy fit.

The circus was closed for the next three days, so we'd planned to meet up after hanging out with Aisha. He still insisted on helping me find my passion.

I had my doubts about this plan, mainly because I didn't want Conall to be disappointed when I ultimately didn't find anything that interested me.

The drive to my hotel was quick since I'd found one close to the circus after I'd tracked Conall down. It made no sense to continue staying in the heart of the city when the entire reason I was still here was because of a certain man.

There were still hours before I got to see Conall again, and now I had to figure out what to do with myself. There hadn't been any work since the last trade, so I'd been holed up in my hotel, bingeing TV shows while waiting for Conall to get off work these past few days.

As I lay in bed, prepared to do just that again, my phone rang with a call from my sister.

"Tidun, I miss you!" Naial's loud, peppy voice had my eardrums ringing.

"Ow," I grumbled and pulled the phone away. She giggled innocently. I hadn't gone back home since Corelyn told me to get my shit together, but I'd been in touch with Naial. Text messaging worked just fine in our underwater kingdom, and I'd messaged the family chat to let them know which city I was in, but phone calls were a bit hazy. Judging by how clearly Naial's voice came through, it must mean she was on land.

"What are you doing on shore? You never usually come up here," I asked.

"To see you, of course! You're not going to just leave your favorite sister stranded on the beach, are you?"

"Who said anything about you being my favorite sister?"

"Oh please. There was never a competition." I could practically hear her eyes rolling through the phone.

She wasn't wrong. Dyna was almost twenty years older than me, and Corelyn was over ten years older than her. It was rare for sperm whale siblings to only be five years apart, so Naial and I grew up as best friends.

"Now are you coming to pick me up or are you just gonna leave me here to wither away?" she asked. It was my turn to roll my eyes at her dramatics.

Half an hour later, I was pulling up to the beach closest to our kingdom. Naial was already waiting in the parking lot in her flowy yellow dress and extra wide-brim sun hat. Maybe it was because we spent most of our lives deep underwater that our pale skin burned easily under the sun. It was better for me since I was above water more often, but I could already see Naial getting flushed as she stood under the shade.

"Naial!" I rolled down the window and called. She ran over and hurried inside, sighing in relief as she adjusted the air-conditioning vent toward her.

"Tidun! My favorite brother!" She leaned over the central console and pulled me into a hug. I pulled her small frame for a tight hug. All my sisters were smaller than me, but Naial was the tiniest out of them.

"I'm your only brother."

"And that's why I can say that!" She grinned, then pulled back with a questioning look on her face. "What's that smell?"

"What smell?" I lifted my arm to sniff my armpit, wondering if I'd overheated and sweated too much in my sleep. Great. Now I was worried that Conall thought I stank too.

Naial leaned in again, her nose moving as she took another deep breath. "It smells like my favorite herb but more intense."

She moved her face down my body, sniffing me all over like she was a dog, before finally grabbing my right hand and basically pressing her nose to my palm.

I pushed her head back and retrieved my hand. "Quit being gross."

"I could go for some Gingersnaps right now," she said, licking her lips.

"Fine, I'll take you to get some. After you tell me what you're doing up here."

"I told you, to see my favorite bro?—"

My unimpressed look had her ending her sentence short with a sigh. If she really had missed me, she would have demanded I return home to visit her instead of coming to land herself. Naial didn't hate humans as many of our people did, but she wasn't a huge fan of how harsh the sun was.

"I got into a fight with Core," she said, sinking into her seat.

"So you decided to pull a Tidun and run away?" I asked with a smirk.

She rolled her eyes again. "Like you could ever run away from us. You'd miss us—mostly me—too much."

I laughed, because she was right. Although I didn't always understand my family, I still loved them, and I knew they loved me too. Even if they had a weird way of showing it.

"So, what did she say this time?" I asked as I pulled out of the parking lot and drove toward one of the popular bakeries in the city that was already open this early in the morning.

"She just always thinks she's right, you know? Like her way is the only acceptable way. Honestly, with how dominant she is, I don't know how she and Mom get along so well," she grumbled.

"They're very similar to each other," I agreed.

They were practically carbon copies of one another. Corelyn was basically born to be the next leader of our kingdom.

"Anyway, I just needed to get away for a bit and remembered my little bro was partying it up on land, so I might as well join you." She leaned in and took another deep sniff. "Speaking of, why is the smell of human on you so strong? Did you have a sex-fest or something?"

"Stop, you're gonna make me crash," I said, using a hand to push her face away again. I loved Naial, but she had no concept of boundaries, or personal space, for that matter.

"And no, I did not have a sex-fest," I deadpanned. She was way too comfortable talking about sex with me. "But I did just get back from my boyfriend's place."

"Oh-my-goddess! You have a boyfriend! Since when?" She practically screamed the words. If any humans had been in the car with us, their eardrums might have ruptured.

"Ow! For fuck's sake, use your human voice, please!"

"Sorry," she said sheepishly. I had two seconds of peace and quiet before she poked me in the arm and whisper shouted, "So who is he? How did you meet? I want to meet him!"

"Absolutely not! I don't want you scaring him away," I said.

"Oh please, I'm a delight. If anything, he'll love me more than he loves you," she said with a giggle.

My body tensed up, not because I was worried Conall would like her more than me, but because of the word she'd used.

Love.

Sure, I grew up under the careful love of my family, but this was different. The warm and gooey feeling that flowed through me whenever I thought about Conall was more intense than any emotion I could have for my family.

I never thought it would be possible to feel this way for anybody, but then Conall appeared in my mind and I wondered how I ever went through life without this feeling to sustain me.

And that was where the fear came in. I didn't know how long I could keep how I felt a secret from him, and what would I do once he knew? Could I survive if he didn't feel the same way?

Probably not.