Chapter Thirteen

DAY FIVE—At Sea

When Dane teleported Marcus back into his cabin after midnight, Marcus knew sleep wouldn’t come. He tossed his sketchbook down beside the other, the latter still open to the drawings of the unicorn and Dane in his true form.

He closed the book, head spinning.

Though well after midnight, he wanted to call Jeremiah and Lewis to demand why the hell they’d kept secrets from him.

This. Huge.

Then he’d conference his cousin and husband in on that bitch fest.

They had all known.

Deep-down Marcus suspected something was being kept from him, but he’d never imagined this.

He scrolled through his cracked phone at the handful of texts he’d noticed when Dane magicked the device back to him in the library that was in another realm. WTF?

Kendra and Josh had both messaged him about a massive power outage in Montego Bay, while Lewis and Jeremiah wondered where he’d gotten off to. Skip asked what he was wearing to tonight’s theme party. But the general consensus derived from secondary texts, both group and single, was that Marcus had hooked up with someone. Overall no one seemed overly concerned by his absence at dinner because of his MO on another cruise. His friends were caring, but never pushy or intrusive.

Scanning his contacts to pick the friend he planned to reem first, Marcus plopped onto the bed, but the tousled sheets gave him pause. It bore the heady aroma of sex, and memories of Dane swamped him. Deciding not to call anyone, he simply sent Josh an: All good cuz! Both because he was family and he would pass on the all-clear.

He didn’t know if all was good though.

But he needed to be alone with his thoughts.

So he plugged his phone in, stripped down to his underwear and crawled under the covers that still smelled of sex, and the minty scent of a man he’d been obsessed with for months.

Sleep wouldn’t come.

The dull hum of the ship’s engines and the occasional partier traversing the halls were the only sounds as he stewed over everything he’d learned.

I’m a spiritwalker.

A human connected to the spirit world.

Which meant Dad, for all his mental health problems, had not been as delusional as Marcus had always believed. He didn’t know if that knowledge was a gateway to forgiveness, however. As black-and-white and demanding as his sister was, her heart was more open to Hector than Marcus’s had ever been.

Of course he’d never beat her with fists, just words.

Maybe that made the difference.

Unlike Hector’s screaming visions, spirits had been making Marcus draw his mate—still a foreign concept—missing paranormal people, and identifying a para’s identity with just a glance.

How was any of that even possible?

Nothing he knew about the world made sense anymore.

Theron wasn’t a French bounty hunter—well, not of escaped bail-jumping criminals, anyway—rather, an emissary of the fairy king.

His little nerdy cousin was married to a sex demon.

And Jeremiah and Aleek were mermen!

His favorite ship’s bartender was a fire wizard!

Hell, Marcus wasn’t even Marcus anymore.

He was a spiritwalker mated to a fairy.

Bound by blood for eternity.

Marcus didn’t know what the hell that truly meant. It could all be magic mumbo-jumbo, with a side of ridiculous romanticism, added in for effect.Whatever bond they had, if Marcus didn’t appear useful tomorrow to the king, it would probably be terminated. He rubbed an ache in his chest, right over his heart.

No, things ending with Dane before they had a chance to start was untenable. Dane wanted to get to know him, right? But Marcus couldn’t shake the fear if he wasn’t able to access this spiritwalker shit, Dane would retract that wish. After all, the man’s mood changed on a dime.

Sure, Marcus had seen missing paras, but it wasn’t like he had control over any of this shit. When they discovered his ability wasn’t all that helpful, the bond with Dane would be broken, right?

He tried not to let that depress the hell out of him.

Did he want to be bound forever to a moody little stranger?

A tug yanked in his chest, just behind his heart, as if his body protested the idea of rejecting the bond with Dane. He rubbed the spot again until the sensations subsided, his mind a giant pinball machine, bouncing from one new piece of information to another question, without stopping to process.

A night of restless sleeping did not provide answers to all the questions ricocheting through his mind. He rolled onto his side and stared at the light peeking out from the curtain drawn across the porthole window. Dawn had come, but it was too early to get up. The heavenly scent of the man he’d made love to yesterday filled his nostrils. Unable to help himself, Marcus rolled onto his stomach and buried his face in the second the pillow, catching glimpses of the minty scent of his mate.

Mate.

The word was so strange and foreign, but it felt right too. Dane felt right. He felt right in his arms, his cock felt right buried inside Marcus, and his own was at home within the Fae Lord. The scent of his skin and the taste of his kisses were like shots of expresso, or the warmth of a good bourbon settling within his muscles.

Everything about Dane felt right, deep in Marcus’s bones.

Except he doesn’t really want you, a nagging voice whispered. He doesn’t like your ink. Once he gets what he wants, he’ll dump your worthless ass.

If it sounded like the verbal abuse he’d tolerated from his father in his youth, he chose to ignore that because the voice wasn’t lying.

Dane had bound their souls because he didn’t want to be trapped and held prisoner by some assholes who’d tortured him and used his blood for unknown evil spells and drank it for immortality. The fact that saving Marcus’s life was a boon? Had that even weighed in on his decision? Or was it an unintentional side effect of saving himself?

Relieved Marcus had a latent connection to the paranormal world, Dane grasped onto it as if that alone suddenly made Marcus worthy to be his lover or boyfriend... or whatever the hell they might be.

Yet they’d agreed to get to know each other, to become good friends. “Perhaps more?” Dane had even suggested.

A light should exist at the end of this tunnel, but Marcus couldn’t deny how deeply Dane’s initial rejection hurt.

So why did he still have a foolish desire to put all of it aside to be with the other man?

With a groan Marcus rolled onto his back and stared at the ceiling.

Dane might possess all the working parts of a man, but he was not human. He was another entity altogether, but somehow, with the union of their blood—and just how did that happen?—they had become mates?

Shaking his head at his never-ending thoughts with their never-ending questions, and complete lack of answers, Marcus climbed from the bed and shuffled to the bathroom. He ignored the sheet wrinkles on his cheek and the shadows around the goatee he hadn’t trimmed last night. The missing ink.

Irritated, he emptied his bladder and climbed into the shower, grateful this cruise ship always had a ready supply of hot water.

He’d been on cruises before his sister picked this vessel for her wedding. Now he wondered if magic had something to do with how quickly room service responded, how immaculate everything was, how promptly the bags were in the cabin upon arrival, and how hot the water became immediately.

Great customer service and killer amenities, or just magic?

Nothing he could put into a review on Yelp!

Keeping his head under the hot stream, he scrubbed his hair quickly, using his sage and lavender shampoo/body-bar. He scoured his body too, rinsed off, then quickly extracted himself from the blissful heat. Any warmth against his body brought back the memory of Dane in his arms, and he didn’t need the distraction. He roughly dried his skin and applied a light lotion all over. Then he dabbed in the anti-aging eye cream Sheri and Allison had introduced him to.

He studied his reflection after he applied the shaving soap with his shaving brush, straight razor in hand.

“Guess you don’t have to worry about aging anymore, do you?” he questioned his reflection.

Immortal.

Yeah, he couldn’t even think about that one. Especially when it probably wasn’t true.

Shaking his head, he quickly shaved, keeping the tight line on his jaw and goatee as straight as his shaking hand allowed. Then he gelled his hair and misted himself with a cologne that complimented his lotion. He needed coffee, breakfast, and answers.

And he needed Dane.

Damn, I need him.

The ache behind his heart swelled once more, tangible and almost painful.

Dressing quickly in another white tank and breezy linen shorts—it was supposed to be above ninety today—he threw on a wide brown leather belt and his rainbow checkered Vans. He donned his cross necklace and favorite gold bracelet, then checked his appearance. Wanting to look his best for Dane, he put the diamond stud in his ear too. Then he grabbed his busted phone—opting to leave behind his messenger bag with his drawing supplies—and headed for the door. They could come back for it before they met with the king.

Met with the king?

I’ll take ‘Words I Never Thought I’d Say’ for $400, Alex!

When he stepped into the hallway, he let out a quiet shout of surprise.“Dane? When did you get here?”

“You needed me, so I came.”

The other man’s wide lavender eyes and startled expression calmed Marcus’s heart rate and the ache in his chest vanished. He couldn’t help but ask, “Did you hear me thinking I needed you?”

“You thought that you needed me?” Dane questioned right back.

“You didn’t answer the question.”

Dane rolled his lips together, the bottom one more plump than the upper—both so tempting and kissable. “We had plans for breakfast, but they weren’t specific,” he replied in a brusque tone. “I simply waited until I noticed you leaving your cabin.”

“You noticed? How? Were you hanging out in the hallway?”The idea flattered rather than alarmed.

“No. We are bound by our souls. I am Fae. I will always sense your movements anywhere on this world or in any other realm the Goddess has touched. I will always know where you are.”

The words were oddly comforting to a man who had spent so much of his youth scared in his own home and longing for roots.

Could Dane become his compass to point the way home?

Marcus pushed away such sappy thoughts. They were just having breakfast, which basically amounted to a business meeting with friends he thought he knew.

This wasn’t a date.

“Okay.” Marcus awkwardly cleared his throat. “My friends and I have been grabbing breakfast every morning at the buffet by the pool. I didn’t text anyone yet, but I’m assuming, if any of them are up, that’s where they’ll be. Would you like to join us or would you prefer to eat somewhere else, just us? I can text them and say I won’t make it.”

Marcus didn’t know which answer he preferred Dane to give—that Dane would like to meet his friends or he wanted to be alone with Marcus.

“We may dine with your friends. We have much to discuss.” Without another word Dane turned on his heels and headed down the hallway.

Shaking his head, Marcus shut the cabin door behind him and followed the tiny man, half expecting him to teleport them to the buffet by the pool. But he supposed Dane couldn’t do so during the daylight or in front of human passengers.

Obviously shit needed to stay hidden.

Seeing as no one was around, Marcus tried to joke, “Must be irritating to have to walk somewhere when you could just teleport.”

“I enjoy walking,” Dane said. “I do not like to be stationary.”

Marcus suspected a lot of meaning in that sentence, seeing as he’d been imprisoned and chained up for decades.

Shit, Marcus scolded himself. You’re such a jerk!

He’d laid up all night worrying about Dane not accepting Marcus when he should’ve been festering and stewing over the abuse his new friend—boyfriend?—had suffered. He’d been a prisoner, tortured for more than twice Marcus’s lifetime, yet miraculously the man still walked upright and hadn’t curled into a fetal position in the corner.

Marcus might be three times his size, but he didn’t have half the strength the tiny man at his side possessed.

He’s not so tiny in his true form.

A shimmer of untimely arousal sizzled down Marcus’s spine, and he swallowed a few times to moisten his suddenly dry mouth. Would things ever progress to where Marcus could ask Dane to fuck him in his true form? Would he pin him down like he had last night? Did he even have a cock in that form? Dane had worn a loin cloth, but there had been a bulge, right?

Please don’t be a Ken doll bulge!

Now is not the time to think like that! There is serious shit to take care of!

Dane pushed the elevator button and the door slid open. Marcus followed him inside, only to find a small man with white-blond hair, impossibly long eyelashes, and a green streak through his bangs.

“My lord.” The guy tipped his head to Dane.

“Keenan, this is Marcus Rodriguez,” Dane introduced. “He is my bonded soul mate.”

Though shocked by Dane’s introduction after his continued denial of their connection, Marcus somehow managed to smile.

“It is good to meet you, Lord Marcus,” Keenan said politely.

Lord Marcus? He smiled back. “You too, Keenan.”

“Thank you for introducing me, my lord,” Keenan said to Dane.

“Do you not recognize him?” Dane asked Marcus pointedly.

Shock like a bucket of ice water in the face struck Marcus hard. “I drew you,” he said in a breathy whisper.

“I saw the sketch you made of Penelope.” Keenan used that same sprightly tone the woman had, big eyes wide and long lashes batting. Maybe those eyelashes aren’t fake? “Did you draw me as well?”

“No,” Dane said bluntly. “He drew you in your prison. My mate is a spiritwalker. He is connected to the realm of the dead. He drew you in your cell before His Majesty and Lord Kevin even found you. His gift will help us find more missing paras.”

Keenan stared up at Marcus, awe plain in his green eyes. “Lord Marcus, that’s the most wonderful thing I’ve heard all day!”

Hoping he wouldn’t disappoint them, Marcus nodded.

Um, guess I’m a lord now?

They arrived at the pool deck, the warm air ripe with the scent of saltwater and yummy food. Keenan floated off without another word as Marcus spied Kendra, Theron, Lewis, and Aleek sitting at a small table in the corner. Dane made for the buffet line and Marcus followed, waving when his friends noticed them. Lewis excitedly whispered to Kendra and not-so-subtly pointed their way, while both Theron and Aleek sat up straight and stared at Dane.

Maybe they sensed he was Fae. Marcus wasn’t sure how all of it worked yet.

Marcus squirmed under their bold gazes, suspecting they had as many questions as he did. With no sign of anyone else from the wedding party on deck, Marcus would have questions for Jeremiah and his cousin when they surfaced for the day. It wasn’t even seven AM, so he supposed there would be time later.

Famished, Marcus piled a plate high with scrambled eggs and a plethora of pork products, then he grabbed a second plate for syrupy waffles, an apple pastry, and fresh pineapple. He hadn’t worked out since Theron’s class, but he was starved.

Hmmm, having a sex-marathon after being shot then discovering some crazy spiritual ability must be good for the appetite.

Waitresses wandered around fetching beverages, and silverware sat on the table, so he didn’t have to juggle with anything besides his two plates as he led Dane toward his friends, his heart rate faster than expected.

“Morning,” Lewis said with a bright, shit-eating grin. He held up a carafe and gestured to the upturned coffee mugs on saucers in front of the two empty seats. “Coffee?”

“Yeah, thanks.” Marcus sat, feeling both awkward and relieved, knowing the big secret hanging between him and his friends had been laid out in the open, though they doubtless couldn’t talk about it in front of Kendra or the other passengers sitting nearby.

What had Dane meant when he’d called Kendra magic resistant?

“You guys haven’t had a chance to meet Dane,” Marcus remarked as a still-smiling Lewis filled their coffee mugs.

“Hi, Dane,” Kendra said, passing over the cream and sugar. “Nice to officially meet you. I’m Kendra.”

Marcus dutifully made all the introductions, then tucked into his breakfast. After he destroyed the eggs, he moved on to the waffles. Freaking starved after last night, he glanced at Dane and swallowed back his grin at the memory of fucking, trying to ignore the delicious minty fragrance of his soul mate. The smaller man ate a much smaller breakfast, but he seemed to be calm and relaxed. Nothing like the frightened man who’d run away from Marcus, nor the bossy man demanding answers.

Then again, maybe Dane’s serenity came from not being stuck mated to a mere human.

That reality soured Marcus’s stomach, and when a waitress came by and offered to refill their water, he gratefully said yes.

Theron stared between Marcus and Dane, his unique dark, gold-flecked eyes darting back-and-forth. If he had magic, maybe his eyes weren’t contacts. Only looking away for a moment, Theron whispered to Lewis, “Would you please take Kendra to the buffet? I have several questions for Dane and Marcus.”

“No way,” Lewis hissed. “I am not leaving. What do you know that I don’t?”

“They bound blood. Mates,” Aleek remarked between shoveling in alternating bites of lox and cocktail shrimp. The sight of crab puffs and raw oysters on his plate so early in the morning made Marcus want to gag.

But if Aleek was a merman, what else was he supposed to eat?

Damn, is this reality?

Marcus glanced at his friend’s twin, who’d also become his friend. For the first time, Marcus noted how Aleek’s eyes were too large for his face, and maybe those purple and green hints in his hair might not have been made by a hairdresser. Hell, they weren’t dissimilar to coral reefs or the scales of a fish. Was he na?ve because he’d grown up under the sea? Was that why he loved the saltwater aquarium in Marcus’s parlor so much? Was that why Jeremiah, a merman, ran an aquarium shop? But hadn’t Jeremiah’s late boyfriend Eddy owned Ocean Treasures first?

Marcus had so many questions!

He glanced back at Theron, to those dark eyes with the gold flecks. A Magus, a wizard blessed with Fae magic who taught Warrior Fitness because he was a legit warrior of olden times who once hunted the dark races for a long-dead Fae king.

Was it no wonder he couldn’t drive a car?

“Can you please take Kendra to the buffet?” Theron asked Lewis again. “I would love a chocolate chip croissant, please?”

“She is magic resistant, Magus,” Dane remarked, gesturing to the woman with her nose in her phone. “It doesn’t matter if she stays or leaves. We could tell her everything about the paranormal world, and she would not believe it.”

Lewis cocked one eyebrow. “Really?”

Dane nodded.

With a deviant smile, Lewis faced Kendra. “Isn’t it great Marcus and Dane are finally together? Their soul mates, you know?”

She laughed and kept scrolling. “Oh, come on.”

“No seriously,” Lewis insisted. “There’s a magical piece of each other’s soul inside them from birth, waiting to be connected to their other half. Aleek says they’ve already bound their blood, which means they’re united for eternity. They’ll be bonded forever, just like me and Theron.”

With a soft, almost patronizing smile, Kendra set her phone down and laced her fingers on the table in front of her. “Lewis,” she addressed him. “I’m so happy you’re in love. I’m even happier Theron loves you the way you want and need. And I’m thrilled you guys are getting married in a couple of days. But you need to stop watching so many Hallmark movies.”

“Why?” Lewis demanded. “Hallmark movies are awesome.”

“They perpetuate lies and stereotypes, darling,” she insisted. “Not every person is out looking for some non-existent soul mate. Take me for example. I am perfectly happy with my career, my freedom, and my life. I do not need a husband and a bunch of crotch goblins underfoot. So don’t put that kind of pressure on Marcus and Dane. They literally just met.” With that, she lifted her brows and raised a mimosa to her lips.

Lewis let out a sigh and glanced between Marcus, Dane, and Theron. He gave Kendra a weird smile. “You’re right,” he told his best friend. “I’m just so excited about getting married I want everyone else to have the same thing.”

“I know.” Kendra patted Lewis’s cheek.

He flinched out of her reach. “Don’t patronize me.”

“I wasn’t, Lewis.” Laughing, she threw up her hands in defeat. “You just need a reminder every now and again that everyone doesn’t want the same things you do.”

“Obviously,” Lewis said, turning towards Theron with an incredulous expression. “Seriously?”

“Told you.” Dane smirked as he popped a piece of bacon into his mouth. The mischievous glint in Dane’s lavender gaze made Marcus feel all wonderful and squishy inside. Hearing Lewis repeat the things Dane had said about soul mates helped too.

“Kendra, will you come to the buffet with me?” Lewis asked. “Piggy here wants a chocolate chip croissant.”

Theron sniffed with amusement at his fiancé’s snark.

“Sure.” She tossed her napkin on the table. “I need a refill on my mimosa anyway.”

“You literally have a teaspoon of orange juice in there. Why don’t you just call it champagne?”

“Duh, because only alcoholics have alcohol for breakfast. A mimosa is a classy breakfast cocktail,” Kendra told him as the two scooted off to the extravagant buffet.

When they were out of earshot, Marcus remarked, “Okay, I can’t believe she didn’t even question anything Lewis said.”

“She is completely magic resistant,” Dane assured him. “A growing percentage of the human population refuse to see magic even when it is right in front of them. Atheism, politics, higher education, and science often close minds to the spiritual unknown. Many humans knowingly and unknowingly train their brains to think differently, believing everything must have a logical reason, and that having a faith or believing old stories and legends are for the ignorant or unsophisticated. They honestly believe plants cannot communicate with us. Absurd, I know. But as they fill their minds with paranormal and fantasy television shows, books, and movies, it completely separates them from any belief that those sorts of things might actually exist in the real world.”

Marcus thought about Dane’s explanation and while he could argue some of his points were overly generalized, much of it did describe Kendra, and there were many people he knew just like her. “I suppose that makes it easier to hide.”

“In some situations, yes,” Theron agreed.

“Hide in plain sight,” Aleek offered around a mouthful of crab puff.

Marcus looked around, then leaned over the table to whisper. “You’re a merman, Aleek?” His friend nodded. He addressed Lewis’s fiancé. “And you have magic, Theron, right?”

Both men grinned, but Theron answered, seeing as Aleek had moved on to his oysters. Gross! “We both have magic. They are just different types.”

Aleek nodded.

Marcus sat back, not feeling the relief he expected after learning the truth from the horse’s—rather, the merman’s mouth. “Yeah, I have so many more questions.”

“I have a question first.” Theron set his coffee mug down. “I am sensing something on you that is somewhat familiar, but I cannot be sure what it is.”

“And what do you think it is?” Dane wore an impish smile.

“It’s a unicorn, or am I wrong? My grandmother had a piece of a horn that was much revered. This feels similar.”

Aleek paused in eating to study them both intently with his too-large brown eyes. “They live? We went below after the cajikeé.”

“The what?” Marcus asked.

“That is what the merfolk named the massacre of the unicorns,” Dane explained before answering. “And yes, we met one, but she is not in this realm.”

“Lewis is going to be so jealous you saw unicorns,” Theron said with a devilish smile that showed he loved teasing his snarky fiancé too.

“We saw only the one, but she said we and our, so perhaps there are more. I cannot guess. Marcus retains no memory of her, aside from his drawings,” Dane told him matter-of-factly. “She healed me when I escaped my prison, then granted Marcus a second chance at this life.”

“A second chance?” Theron questioned, brow furrowed. “What happened to his first chance?”

“Apparently a gargoyle named Lowrey shot me and set a trap to get to Dane,” Marcus explained, still in disbelief even as he said it.

And a unicorn massacre? What the fuck was that about?

“Marcus was injured as a trap for me. We were in a room with dark warlock sigils which drained my magic. There was but one thing to do,” Dane replied. “I bound our blood to unleash my full power in order for us to escape.”

“Notice he didn’t do it to save my life.”

Dane flinched and his shocked expression made Marcus feel like a jerk for saying that out loud.

Theron and Aleek stared at him curiously.

“Well, I mean you must have wanted to save me too,” Marcus awkwardly corrected.

At least he hoped Dane had.

“The decisions were one in the same,” Dane assured him, placing a hand on his arm. “To save both your life and my own, I needed my full power. One piece of information did not outweigh the other. You must understand that.”

“Oh,” Marcus muttered, his heart warming at the earnestness in Dane’s lilac eyes. “That’s good to know.” He forced himself not to smile too hard as he shoved more bacon into his mouth before he said anything else stupid.

So Dane had wanted to save him. What that meant for the two of them in the future, he couldn’t begin to fathom. He supposed it was a start though.

Of what he still didn’t know.

But he did know he wanted to find out.