Chapter 5

"And don't even think about coming back until you get your shit together or else I really will have Finny eat you this time," Corelyn threw over her shoulder as she swam away. She was not happy when she learned I almost broke our contract with the buyer by letting a human nab the briefcase.

She cast me one last look before closing the thick gates into our kingdom. It was more of asymbolic move, really, considering I could just swim over the gates. The iron gate and fence that circled our small sperm whale kingdom served as a powerful conduit for the magic used to conceal ourselves. It was great at keeping strangers out, but did shit when someone already knew of this place'sexistence.

Finny, the shark in question, tilted his head my way like he was confused at his owner's actions.

"You would never eat me, now would you? You're a good boy, aren't you?" I cooed as I stroked his scarred head. Half his frontal dorsal fin had been cut off by human fishers and what remained was a short stump that barely helped him swim straight.

Humans like the ones who'd hurt Finny were the reason that many sperm whale shifters, including my sister, disliked them. It was also the reason why I was sent to complete the business transactions, even when my family knew I was more likely to mess up than not.

I knew how horrible humans could be, but I never felt the strong disgust toward them as my family had. In fact, I found humans made great bed partners, especially when picked up at the club.

Most were there to have fun and nothing more. Which suited me perfectly well. Some people liked being tied down, stuck in one place, and always having someone on their back.

I was the opposite type of person.

Finny drilled harder into my touch and made a happy noise at a frequency too low for human ears to hear but sounded like a low cat's purr to my ears.

There was a hard tug on my pant leg, and I turned to find Deedee munching on the flowing fabric. "Are you the one who's gonna grant my sister's wish?" I joked and slowly stretched out my hand,deliberately making waves in the water so that she could sense I was reaching out to her.

Both her eyes had been blinded by harpoons used by the same fishers who had been after Finny. They probably wouldn't be here right now if my sister hadn't swum by and saved them.

Corelynrescued them and then nursed them back to health. They would never go back to living normal shark lives, so she kept them as pets. They were very well taken care of and seemed happy.

It was another reason why it was so hard to hate my sister. While she tended to be a hardass, never taking any bullshit, I knew she cared. She was a kind person. Well, as kind as the future ruler of a kingdom could be, at least.

There weren't many of us sperm whales, which meant other races thought they could come in and try to take us over. That wasn't happening on my Mom's watch, with the help of my sisters.

I understood Corelyn needed to be firm to protect us, to protect me, and all I ever did was fight her every step of the way. Maybe it was just my instincts; male sperm whales were solitary animals—free spirits—so it made sense that we were as well.

I sighed, knowing full well it was a bullshit excuse I'd used to try to make myself feel better. My dad and all the other men in our kingdom were perfectly content following and serving the pod. Meanwhile, I was…restless.

That was the best word to describe this need that I had to always go out and do my own thing, like I was searching for something. What it was exactly, I didn't know, but I knew I hadn't found it yet.

Now that Corelyn had basically given me permission to wander around as much as I'd like, it was the perfect time to do exactly that.

"Where do I go now?" I asked Finny. He tilted his head again and wiggled his tail, probably expecting that I was going to take him out for a swim. Finny and Deedee didn't veer far from our kingdom much unless they were with someone they trusted—either me or my sisters.

"Sorry, bud. You and Dee have to stay here, but I'll bring you a treat when I get back."

"You're gonna spoil them."

My middle sister, Dyna, swam over the gates and landed beside me. As I said, nobody really used those gates for their intended purpose.

"Heard Core sent you on a mission," she said.

I rolled my eyes. "Of course, Core thinks her threatening me is the same as giving me a mission."

Dyna smirked and handed me a bundle spelled with waterproofing magic. "Naial and Dad made your favorite squid soup for the road. They said to take care of yourself."

"What? No well wishes from you?" I said while accepting the bundle. Naial was the youngest sister and was only five years older than my twenty-nine. She'd inherited our dad's nurturing personality, unlike my two oldest sisters.

Dyna huffed out a snicker. "I delivered food to you, didn't I?"

"Gee, thanks. I feel so loved," I deadpanned and placed the bundle in a storage ring for easy travel.

Whoever thought of casting a void space spell on a ring deserved a medal, because best invention ever. The only reason I hadn't put the briefcase full of shit in my space ring was because having shit so close to my food reserves and other items felt kinda icky.

"I should get going before Core comes out with the trident to chase me off," I said, turning to swim away. Dyna put a hand on my shoulder to stop me.

"Text us often, will you? We'll miss you."

I turned back to her with a huge smirk on my face. "So you do love me," I teased and pulled her into a tight hug. She grunted at the force of pulling her to me but quickly wrapped her arms around me.

"Don't get into too much trouble. And cut back on the partying, okay?" she instructed.

"And that's my cue to leave before you go into full-blown lecture mode," I said, releasing her.

She chuckled and gave me a hard pat on the back. "Where are you gonna go?"

Icontemplated the question, partly because I didn't have a destination in mind. I hadn't planned on leaving again so soon after returning, but a strong pull told me I already knew the answer.

After the business exchange, I'd waited on land for a few days just in case the cutie called. Honestly, I kinda expected he would since the attraction was definitely there on his side, but when the weekend came and went, and the only call I'd received was from the police requesting I help with the investigation, I figured I wouldn't be hearing from him.

Maybe I should just leave it at that. As the humans would say, it wasn't meant to be, but the nagging voice inside of me wouldn't shut up even after being home for a few days.

There were thousands of places I could go, hit up a party with the sea mermaids, hunt for some delicacies in the Arctic Ocean, or even hitch a ride with the sea turtles and go on an adventure. But there was only one place I wanted to be right now.

"I'm heading back to land."