67. Aurelia

Chapter 67

Aurelia

S omething has taken over Scythe. Some thought or emotion, I can't be sure. But he has a wild look in his eyes now. A feral energy that I've never seen him fall into. That he's never allowed himself to fall into.

He grips my hand tightly as he extracts me from the car and I get a strange sensation like we're running from something. We jog over the sand, our hair and clothes flapping wildly.

I can't wait to see him as a shark again. And yet, on the dark of this beach, with a tremor in the air, a wedge of fear strikes my gut.

"It's like the sea is angry," I pant as water slaps onto our shoes.

Scythe whirls around, cupping my face in both hands. "I know you do not trust me, but?—"

"I do," I urge, gripping his wrists. "I do. I'll do what you say."

He closes his eyes as if he enjoys hearing this and steps back, yanking off his shirt and pants.

It's freezing, but I know the quicker I do this, the quicker I'll be warm. My pants and jacket are off in an instant, followed by my bra and panties.

"I've never been skinny-dipping before," I laugh.

He takes my hand and tugs me into the water. "I have. Plenty of times."

My laugh turns into a screech as the icy water claws at my ankles. I jump, splashing around awkwardly. Scythe doesn't seem to notice my antics, nor the cold, just doggedly tugs us deeper and deeper.

I cry out as my feet go numb and my thighs feel the attack of the battering waves.

"Shift," he commands, before diving headfirst into the water.

"Fuck!" I shout in reply and then I throw myself into the ocean too.

My scream is swallowed by my gills, slitting themselves into both sides of my neck as my face elongates and my arms and legs retract into fins and my body cools to a much more pleasant temperature. The current is rough around me, but my body is powerful, and although it takes me a moment to get the hang of my new muscles, I find a rhythm to my tail.

It's dark under the water. An even darker shape funnels towards me.

"Keep close," Scythe instructs, before turning around and swimming on ahead.

I hasten to follow, keeping to his left fin exactly the same way a whale calf keeps close to its mother. The ocean is much quieter than the world above. Most of the worldly sounds have bled away into faint thuds and booms above and around me, but even then, I feel so much more. My skin detects all sorts of tickling new sensations, and something inside me seems to be picking up things that sparkle and glitter far away.

"It's electricity that's the sparkly one," Scythe says to me when I ask about it. "Electrical impulses of the marine life."

The way I sense the vibration of the current on my skin is similar to the way serpents feel vibrations from the ground, or the way I feel the wind as an eagle. I ease into the alien nature of it, the sheer vastness of the endless water, and as we head deeper and further into the ocean, this new way of sensing the world becomes comforting.

After perhaps an hour of swimming, Scythe slows down and the currents shift aggressively above us. I sense the water slapping against something hard that could only be cliffs. Scythe leads me towards the towering darkness before us until I see an even darker circular dent.

"It's a grotto," Scythe says. "I discovered it years ago but I haven't brought anyone else until now."

My heart swells at the thought of Scythe sharing something private with only me. I follow him into the tunnel, the space uncomfortably narrow in certain sections. It only lasts a few seconds, however, because all at once it opens up into a slope that heads upwards and there is a strange green light above the surface. It ripples above me like fairy lights and I immediately head for it, breaking the surface to see what it is.

"Glow worms!" I say excitedly, shifting back to my human form to see a big space with millions of tiny green lights scattered along the roof of the low-ceilinged cave. Scythe has already climbed onto the rocky floor and is reaching a hand out to me.

Suddenly, I'm freezing and dreading the air upon my skin, but I grab Scythe's hand and he helps me out, pulling me into his body before wrapping me in a clean towel and rubbing my arms.

"Where'd this come from?" I laugh, my teeth chattering.

"I often bring provisions," he explains, pointing to a stack of supplies including plastic bags, water, tinned food, and blankets. "I come here from time to time." There's also a stack of firewood.

I'm already hurrying to the makeshift firepit. "It won't harm the worms?" I ask.

"It hasn't so far."

I try not to explode the whole thing, but I've been letting my power out into Savage and Lyle lately, so I'm not boiling over with it right now. Quite quickly, I'm crouching before a merry ball of red-orange flames.

Scythe sits a little away from me on a small boulder, hunched over his knees, watching the water. His earlier frantic energy is gone, tempered by the swim, perhaps. Is he regretting bringing me here?

I want him to know that he is safe with me. That I will never touch him without permission, call him any sort of pet-name, or treat him any less than he deserves. Hell, he might not even want to have sex with me, and that's fine as long as he's happy.

It hits me in that moment, as I crouch by the fire with my arms wrapped around my knees and stare at my mate. I just want to see him happy. And if his happiness meant never touching him, then I could live with that.

Tears spill, because it hurts so much to think of yet another loss. Of another type of grief. But for him, I would do it.

Scythe rises from the boulder and it's almost in slow motion as he strides over and pulls me upright, forcing me to look at him. "I'm not above admitting when I am wrong, Aurelia." His voice is like cracked glass. "And I was wrong about you. I should have never made a blood contract with your father. If I'd known what he planned for you, I would never have given you up to him. It makes me sick to my bones that I almost subjected you to the same thing that I?—"

He cuts himself off, breathing hard, his eyes boring into mine, spilling over with emotion he won't, or can't, emote out loud.

My vision blurs and my voice trembles. "I know, Scythe." It hurts to see him like this. Gods, it hurts. "I know."

We stare at each other for a long, intense moment that might have me break my resolve entirely. But I won't. I can't lose myself in this moment. It's too important for simple lust.

"Can I touch you?" I whisper, blinking away my tears so I can see him better.

He blinks before inclining his head stiffly.

A smile touches my lips because I know exactly what he's thinking. And that's exactly why I reach up to hold his face between my hands gently and press a chaste kiss to first his left cheek, then his right.

Those sharp eyes follow my movements so closely, and uncharacteristically widen as I purposefully and carefully step away.

"Our fathers were fucked up, Scythe." I clutch the towel tightly around myself. "But we are nothing like them. I know your heart. And it's far more beautiful than anything else about you."

I turn away, fully intending to leave him with his own thoughts.

The scuff of his foot is the only warning I get before I'm spun back around, firm lips crushing mine.

The kiss turns into a bite on my lower lip, bruising and harsh, before he buries his hand in my wet hair, tilting my head up and letting me see the forbidden, mad desire in his blazing ocean eyes.