Chapter 29

Rose

" R elease our friend, and no one has to get hurt!"

Ava's voice echoed through the house, projected so we could hear it all the way in the bathroom where Milo, Will, and I were stepping out of the shower they'd insisted I took after breakfast. I froze in place, my eyes wide, as Milo sighed.

We'd had a wonderful night of blissful peace and quiet after visiting my aunt, Adrian, and the kids. With my anxiety about their safety lessened, and with how well things were going with my mates, I could finally relax a bit. Of course, it helped that we'd made love in nearly every single room in the house as "retaliation" for my being saucy with Will—christening our den, as Milo called it—so it was impossible to worry about anything when my mind was overrun with pleasure. Soon, the depths of dreamless sleep between my mates claimed me.

Like all good things, though, it came to an end, and the rest of the world came knocking… literally.

"My fucking sister." The familiar irritation in Milo's voice was tempered by the affection in his eyes.

"I can't imagine you don't know how she is at this point. She's exactly like you," I pointed out, drying the three of us with a small push of my magic.

"Still. I was hoping we could have a nice quiet day." Grabbing a towel, he wrapped it around his waist. "I'll head her off to give you time to throw on some clothes."

"Thank you for your sacrifice," I replied, smiling up at him.

"I swore to protect you with my life… even from my sister." He leaned over and pressed a kiss to the top of my head. "Be quick."

I mock-saluted him. "Yes, sir."

Milo let out a laugh before walking out of the bathroom. I turned to Will. "He's right, though. I suspect we have about three minutes max before Ava bursts into the room, demanding you hand over your hostage."

"You're my hostage? I didn't know that's what this was. If I'd known, I'd have gotten some sexy handcuffs or something," he replied, then laughed when I whacked him on the chest.

"You definitely have been spending too much time with our selkie."

"Probably, but since there's no helping it, it looks like you're going to have to get used to having a perma-blush on your face," he replied, following me out of the bathroom.

Once I was in the closet, I grabbed the nearest sundress and chucked it on before starting to untangle my hair. I only had about a minute of pulling the brush through the strands before the snarling and surliness started in the living room between Milo and Ava. I sighed, racing through the process of getting my hair presentable.

Remember, she's doing this because she loves you and wants to spend time with you , I reminded myself.

Before I left the closet, I went over to Will and pressed myself against him, splaying one hand over his abs while the other threaded through his gorgeous copper hair. Gods, it felt so right to tug him down to me and press my lips to his. I kissed him slowly, languidly, as if we had all the time in the world to be together. But I had to pull away before I wanted to.

There was a dazed look in Will's eyes when I gazed up at him, as if he couldn't quite believe I was there and had done that of my own volition. I couldn't help but smile. I whispered, "Unless you want to share this glorious cock with my best friends, you might want to throw on some shorts."

It took everything in me not to reach out and stroke him, especially after the groan that came out of him when he realized what I'd said. I ended up giving him a pat on his stomach before going to put my hairbrush back in its place. This seemed to bring him out of whatever stupor he'd been in, as the wooden hiss of drawers being opened and shut quickly filled the silence. He joined me in the bathroom a moment later as I was braiding my hair, wearing a pair of grey sweatpants. His expression was that of a lovestruck puppy, and it made me fall for him a little more.

"Let's go?" I asked, tying off the end of my braid.

"Yeah, let's go," he murmured.

I slipped my hand into his just to see how he'd react, and much to my delight, he looked so pleased. He smiled at me, every bit the adorable man I'd initially fallen in love with. I gave his hand a squeeze, then led him out to the living room, where Milo was having a battle of wills with his sister. A very patient Aira stood behind her.

"Listen, I'm not saying you can't hole up in here forever," she was saying, looking less than impressed with her brother, "but at some point, she's got to be able to come out and do things that aren't being double stuffed with dick."

"I'm not forcing her to stay here. She's here of her own volition," he retorted, looking offended at the very idea that this was anything less than consensual.

"She needs fresh air and girl time. Aira and I want to hang out with her and go swimming and stuff. What fun is having a siren for a bestie if she can't go out and do siren shit?" Ava raised an eyebrow at him in a challenge. "Besides, we have a hot lunch date with sushi and drinks waiting for us. It'd be rude to stand it up."

"We do?" I asked as we approached the veritable stand-off happening by the front door.

"Hey, beetch!" Ava grinned, waving at me. "If you'd actually pick up your phone or answer the smoke signals we've been sending over, you'd remember that we're having lunch with Aeden today."

My smile faded from my face. "Oh, shoot. That's today?"

"It is indeedy," she replied cheerfully, as if I wasn't trying to remember what day it was. She narrowed her eyes at me, likely realizing I was struggling. "See? This is why you need some uncomplicated, no-problems time, which we"—she gestured between herself and Aira—"are going to provide. Girl time."

Honestly, she was probably right. I sighed.

"I did promise," I relented before looking at my mates. "And it will give the two of you time to yourselves."

I loved how Will's cheeks burned bright red… and I sympathized when I saw how Milo turned a predatory gaze on him, his eyes already flickering in color between jade and cinnamon brown.

You better watch out for that one, I said to him telepathically. He looks like he's going to eat you alive while you beg for more.

The poor merman choked on his own spit, then gave me a wide-eyed look, as if he couldn't believe shy little me had said something like that… as if he and Milo hadn't done the same to me many times in the last few days. I shrugged, failing to conceal the smirk on my face.

"I promise we'll bring her back in one piece," said Aira, her temper cooled. "We have lunch planned at Oki, and if you're lucky, she'll return back to you for dinner… mostly sober."

Ava nodded. "Maybe."

"Go grab something seasonally appropriate to wear so we can stuff it in our bag, and we will be off." Aira smiled, shooing me away with a few flicks of her hands.

"I'm surprised she's allowed to wear clothes at all," Ava muttered.

I ignored her sass and returned to the bedroom to grab some seasonally appropriate clothes. After checking that I had a full outfit plus shoes and a hairbrush, I trudged back to the living room.

Aira held out the watertight bag, already unzipped, and I shoved my things in there. Once my hands were free, I gave my mates a hug and a not-so-chaste kiss each.

"Have fun," I said, then winked at them.

"Oh, we absolutely will, won't we, baby?" Milo asked, snaking an arm around our merman's waist and tugging him to his side.

"You're going to be the death of me," Will rasped out, his cheeks glowing red again.

"Of course. Le petite mort ," the selkie purred.

"Oh, fuck. He speaks French, too?" Will gave me a pleading look.

"I mean, he is three hundred years old," I said, holding back a laugh when his eyes nearly bugged out of his head. "Anyway, good luck with that revelation. I'll be back sometime!"

Ava grabbed my hand and pulled me out of the house without so much as letting me have a backward glance, but I did wiggle my fingers at them from over my shoulder. Aira brought up the rear of our little trio, shutting the front door behind us.

"You know, next time I'll just start banging your brother, like, right in front of you. I'd like to see you try to pull me away from that, you meanie," I sniped with a smirk as we headed toward the beach.

"First of all, eww. Second of all, that wouldn't stop me, and you know it." Ava grimaced regardless. "Thirdly, this is for you just as much as us. If we didn't save you, those brutes in there would've kept you sequestered until you were fat with their pups."

I elected to ignore the part about Milo getting me pregnant—that was so not in the cards anytime soon, given everything that was going on. "They have birth control things on."

"Which is smart, but that's not going to stop either of them from trying real hard," Ava replied, turning her head but continuing to walk. "Anyway, we're not here to talk about boys. We're here to have fun."

I wanted to believe her, but something else nagged at me. "Your father isn't going to have a baby about me being there?" I asked Aira, trying not to sound too anxious.

The man had made it pretty damn clear to me that he didn't like me. He'd been one of the loudest of those telling me I should leave the islands when the hunters came—which would have been a death sentence, since they already suspected something was off with me. So, I'd challenged Mr. Shioji, telling him that if he wished me dead, he should just put me out of my misery himself. He chose to spare me his wrath while still condemning me to die by doing nothing about the hunters—a mark of shame all the Otherkind in the Golden Isles now bore.

Aira rolled her eyes. "Even if he does, we're going to be in full view of humans. I don't think he'd risk them overhearing anything that could make them question his integrity. Gotta preserve his image and all that."

I decided to trust that they were right. Because, well, they were. I did need to go out and be among people. I just had to hope that Joseph's people had the good sense not to try anything in full view of humans if we happened upon them.

We approached the beach, but rather than going to the docks like I'd assumed, they began to undress right there on the sand. I tilted my head at them. "We're swimming there?"

Aira smiled. "Yup. It's safer that way."

"But how are we going to get into the restaurant? We're going to be naked?" My cheeks burned even thinking about a bunch of humans seeing my bare body.

They exchanged a glance, then Ava said, "That's why we're bringing the bag full of clothes, silly. As for how we'll get in, well, you'll see! Come on!"

As if that wasn't the epitome of cryptic.

Still, once I'd tossed my dress onto the pile of their clothes, I followed them into the water without hesitation. Well, somewhat. I did press the link on my necklace to make me invisible, since we were going to be so close to Nora and to Joseph's people. We swam along the bottom of the caldera, avoiding boats and staying close to the coastline of the islands for more safety. When we reached the bay where Oki was located, Aira pulled open a grate there I'd never seen before and ushered us into the attached tunnel before closing it behind us.

Making myself visible again, I swam just behind Ava, following her up a ladder that led straight into the shop itself. The room it led to was small and somewhat dark, with a slight slope to the tiled floor so that any water would drain down where the ladder was, and on one side, there was a wall of shelves where some uniforms, shoes, socks, and underthings in various sizes were located. Aira handed over the bag of our things before replacing the grate here, too, once she was up.

The two of them were old hats at this, drying off and quickly getting dressed while I fumbled around a little. Drying myself was the easy part—I could do that with barely a thought now—but it was convincing myself to get a bra and panties on that caused the most problems.

"You know, you could go without," Aira suggested lightly. "I know I try not to wear any if I can help it."

"Maybe, but wouldn't it be weird if I was panty-less out in public?" I asked, holding my undies pinched between two of my fingers like they were gross.

"I mean, it's only weird if you make it weird. No one will know if you've gone commando for lunch unless you tell them. Then that'd make you creepy," Ava snarked.

I pursed my lips and hummed, debating as I stared hard at the offending garments.

"Maybe you could invest in one of those spells that hold your tits up like a bra without having to actually wear one. I know someone who can source it if you'd like," Aira offered. "It won't help with the underwear problem, though."

Now they were just staring at me still naked, while they were fully dressed, hair done and everything. I sighed. "You two go ahead. I wouldn't want Aeden to think we were late."

"Are you sure? We can stay," said Aira, concerned.

"I'll be okay. It's just underwear." I smirked. "If you hear me scream, it's because the panties attacked me."

Aira rolled her eyes at me while Ava snickered, but it was enough for them to vacate the room while I wrestled with myself about how stupid it was to struggle with putting on garments I'd been wearing since forever. After another few minutes of deliberation, I had to make some concessions. Panties were a no, but I forced myself to put on a bra. I wasn't particularly big breasted, but I knew I'd be more self-conscious around people if it felt like my boobs were flopping about. The rest of my clothes—an empire waist maxi dress, denim jacket, socks, and shoes—went on easier after that, and I was thankful to myself for the forethought to not pack skinny jeans like I'd worn at the Autumn Market. Satisfied, I left the room, forgoing brushing my hair altogether.

I walked down the hallway toward the dining room, pulling my hair up into a messy bun. The din of people already enjoying their lunch was muffled by the sound dampeners built into the very structure of the building, and I stopped for a moment to marvel at the walls humming with power. I reached out, wanting to see if I could feel the magic, and at first, nothing happened. My fingers only touched the bare, textured wall, the same as it had always been. On a whim, though, before giving up, I pressed a little bit of my power against it.

In a flash, the walls, floor, and ceiling lit up, and repeating patterns of pink kanji rose up from the walls, bathing me in their light. I withdrew my hand, not sure I should be touching them. My eyes traced over the structured lines and swoops, understanding not even a little bit of what I was looking at but fascinated nonetheless.

"If I didn't know better, I'd think you were tampering with my wards," a gruff, accented voice said, each word telling me the speaker was coming closer to me.

I turned and regretted everything, seeing Nagamasa Shioji walking toward me in his white chef's garb. The old dragon preferred to man the kitchen rather than show his face to his customers if he could at all help it. Which, honestly, was for the best. There was nothing welcoming about him or his expression at any time, especially not now as he gazed at me with narrowed black eyes.

Power the likes of which I'd never felt before rippled off him, but it didn't seem intentional. Rather, it felt like the byproduct of being five thousand years old and accumulating an untold amount of magic in that time. Had I known this prior to my change, my fear of him would've made sense. There had always been something about his energy that vibed like he was trying to terrify people. But now? Now he was just another man, and whatever aura he was trying to project flowed right off me. Besides, after how I'd died, what else was there to be afraid of when it came to physical pain?

"I apologize, Mr. Shioji," I said quickly, stepping away from the wall and shoving my hands in my pockets. "I didn't mean to do anything to mess with them. I was just curious."

"Like a child," he grumbled, though he did relax… a little.

"Considering I'm the Otherkind equivalent of a four-month-old, that would be about right," I replied. I was determined not to let him put a damper on my good day or my good mood.

The stout dragon crossed his arms. "I remember the night of your turn. The explosion of power was far more intense than I thought it would be."

I… wasn't sure whether that was a backhanded compliment or not. So, I decided to give him a little of the same back, replying in words so casual they belied the horror of what I wanted to say. "Considering I was tortured to death, I imagine it was very violent."

His eyes widened in surprise. "The hunters got their hands on you."

"Of course they did." I balled my hands into fists, very thankful they were hidden in my pockets, trying very hard not to let myself shift. "But it's okay. I ripped their throats out for the insult."

For a long moment, Mr. Shioji just looked at me, unsure of how to respond to my flippancy. "You should have left when you were told to."

"Oh, no doubt. I would've had to come back soon after, though, considering Joseph Kelley is my last Mark. Maybe if you're feeling kinder this go round, you can help me take him out and spare the lives of his prisoners." I stepped around him, walking away before I said anything malicious, and called over my shoulder, "I hope you have a good day, Mr. Shioji."

I half expected him to call after me, but all I heard was a soft growl from him, which I elected to ignore. There would be time enough for him to come to terms with the fact that I wasn't going to be cowed by him any longer, but today was a good day, dammit, and I wasn't going to let anything dampen my mood. Not even an asshole sea dragon.

The hallway opened into the main dining area of the restaurant, and I was hit with a fresh wave of nostalgia. Everything was as it had been before, all the old Japanese artwork and pictures, the bar, the tables and booths. Even the natural color scheme in shades of green, brown, and off-white softened the bit of irritation that had soured my stomach a little. There were so many memories I'd made here, good and bad, but I cherished them. Despite Mr. Shioji's best effort, I loved every inch of this place with my whole heart.

My eyes scanned the crowd for my friends, but it wasn't Ava or Aira I noticed first… it was a certain kelpie therapist of mine with his vibrant mess of red hair standing out. Almost as if he'd sensed me—and he probably did—he turned his head toward me, our gazes locking.

"Aeden," I whispered, knowing he'd hear me, before I barreled toward him, trying so hard to do so at human speed and probably failing horribly.

What I couldn't keep myself from doing at inhuman strength, however, was squeezing him. He stood up from his seat and opened his arms, catching me when I threw myself at him. I wrapped my arms around his chest and gripped him so tight he wheezed, but he didn't stop me or tell me to ease up. He took it, holding me just as firmly.

"I'm happy to see you, too, Rose," he said, his Irish brogue out in full force… or as much as it could be with how winded he was.

Finally, I pulled back and looked up into his moss-green eyes, willing myself not to cry and failing. A few tears slipped down my cheeks.

"How have you been? Have you been well?" I asked, needing to know if Joseph had fucked with his life, too.

He beamed a smile I'd not seen on him in ages. "I've been very well. Better than well, actually."

"Oh?" I quirked an eyebrow up at him.

"There's someone special I'd like you to meet," he replied, sidestepping my nonverbal question a bit, but when he moved to the side, I saw why. He held his arm out for a woman around my age, her head barely reaching the top of his shoulder. "Rose, this is my mate, Grace. Grace, this is my friend and client, Rose."

Grace had the sort of beauty to her that wasn't overstated. It was a comfortable sort of thing, the ease in which she wore her skin. There were freckles across her cheeks that matched Aeden's, a detail that made me want to chuckle. Her hazel eyes were big and round, and her hair was a medium brown that fell to her shoulders. What caught my eye, though, was the silver chain around her neck, humming with magic.

It took every ounce of my will power not to start jumping up and down and squealing in happiness. He had a mate! A mate! After losing his previous one to hunters fifty years ago, he'd been blessed with another one.

Smiling like a loon, I stuck out my hand. "It's very nice to meet you, Grace."

"Likewise," she replied in a soft Southern accent, shaking my hand. It was warm to the touch, but I felt no power from her. My smile slipped a little.

Aeden, I asked, projecting my thoughts in his direction. Is she… does she know…?

She's human, but she does know about Otherkind, yes. It was a whole to do, he replied with a mental chuckle. He slipped out of my mind to suggest out loud, "Why don't we sit down so we can catch up and clean out Shioji's stash of fish?"

"Sounds fucking great to me!" Ava cut in.

A few moments later, all five of us were sat down at our table. Ava, Aira, and I with our backs to the wall and Aeden and Grace across from us, their backs to the room. We'd had to put together two tables by the bar, as none of the booths would fit all of us comfortably, but since the place wasn't packed—only four other smaller groups and four singles at the bar joined us—no one kicked up a fuss. The waiter came over and quickly took our first round of drink orders as we looked at the menu.

"Soooooooo," I said, "how did you two meet?"

Grace laughed. "I stole his house while he was away, and then I decided I didn't want to leave."

"Away?" I asked, turning to Aeden.

He nodded. "After your… departure… we needed to get rid of what our unwanted guests left behind, so I opted to go to their family personally to… dissuade them from pursuing retribution."

A.K.A. he went to fuck with the hunter's family's minds to make it so they didn't come to the Golden Isles, either.

"I see. Were you gone long? Were there any complications?" I asked, setting my menu down.

"I was gone for about a month tidying things up, but there was little in the way of difficulty. In fact, I came back earlier than I'd thought, only to find I had an unexpected guest." The way he smiled at her, the softness in his eyes, made me melt a little inside. It was so adorable. When he turned back to me, he asked, "What about you? How have you been holding up?"

I let out a breath. "A lot has happened since my ‘departure.' I still have a… target to reach." Gods, I hope he understood I meant I still had a Mark. "When I came back, my house and the shop were ash, so now I'm living with Milo, who, by the way, is my mate. As is Will. It's been… it's been a lot."

He laughed. "I imagine!" Aeden reached over and patted my hand. "Congratulations, though! I was wondering when Milo was going to tell you."

"Apparently, it took me leaving for him to decide not to beat around the bush anymore," I replied. "Though I can't say I'm a fan of being the last to know about something like this."

The waiter came back with our drinks and took our food order, the majority of us getting a mountain of sushi, while the human among us decided on tempura… that I also decided to get last minute. When we were alone again, Aeden turned his attention back to me.

"And how are you handling having two mates? I'm sure that's been quite an adjustment for you," he said, looking at me with the expression he usually wore in therapy.

"I may or may not have had a moment about it," I replied, my cheeks reddening. "I'm not exactly known for handling change well." As evidenced by my stubbornness to leave Nora when the hunters came.

"But things are situated now?" he asked, then took a sip of his beer, looking at me over the rim of the glass.

"As well as they can be, considering"—I gestured vaguely at, well, everything—"but we're getting there."

"Well, if you ever want to come over and talk about it, you know you can always make an appointment. There's plenty of room in my schedule despite my change in roommates."

Grace snorted, whacking him in the arm. "Listen, y'all can speak delicately about sensitive matters, but you don't have to tip-toe around the fact that we're as good as married, pony boy."

Ava nearly did a spit take. "She got you there, doc!"

"Indeed she did."

Soon, the first round of our order was brought out, and we all dug in happily. There was something comforting about seeing the sadness chased from Aeden's eyes, and how normal this felt. Though Grace was new to our little group, she fit right in splendidly, meeting Ava quip for quip, and for a brief, brilliant moment, it was almost like nothing had happened. My home wasn't lost. I hadn't changed. Things were as they should be.

Settling more comfortably into my chair, I basked in the familiarity of the moment. I let my gaze scan the crowd of people eating lunch, watching their faces and soaking up the happiness. Everyone's auras, with their various shades and colors, shined bright, easier to see now that I was relaxed and happy. I sought to find those with matching elements or where the edges blended in with the people around them, but my true amazement was at how each person's was unique, like a fingerprint.

The more I looked, however, the more something nagged at me. Something that definitely shouldn't be there. A pattern, a splotch of blood red in every aura.

A splotch of red.

Recognition crashed into me, and I stiffened in my seat, my spine going ramrod straight. I checked once. Twice. Three times. Just to be sure my eyes weren't playing tricks on me. But they weren't. It was in all their auras.

I reached out with my power, just a tendril, to one of the humans closest to us and touched the spot. Just a tap. And with it came a vision, intention. Clear as day and in no uncertain terms. He's not even trying to hide it.

"Rose?" asked Aeden. "What's wrong?"

He brushed against my mind, searching my thoughts instinctively for what had me spooked, and I used that to my advantage to tell him telepathically, We have a big fucking problem.

What? What is it? he asked, his body tensing.

Joseph is fucking with everyone's minds.