21. Baltasar

CHAPTER 21

BALTASAR

The Mafia Queen: Has anyone seen Zion?

The Mafia Queen: I'm on little queen duty and there's been a…slight hiccup…

The One with the Biggest Dick: I swear to gawd, do ANY of you know how to take care of a woman?

The Mouthy One: Why would we need to, Vi? This is the House of GAY! [Victory hands emoji]

The One with the Biggest Dick: [Knife emoji] [Knife emoji] [Knife emoji]

"MY EYES!" Isaiah Salah shrieked, cackling as he scrambled onto a random surfboard and paddled away.

Sigh.

Ending up naked at inconvenient moments was part of the supe-shifter gig, but it doubly sucked to have it happen in front of my in-laws… especially with how exposed I already felt .

And that leaves just me and Zion…

"Jesus, are you okay?" He hustled to where I awkwardly stood, covering my junk from his brother's burning eyes. "You've been gone for hours, and I was worried sick."

He was looking me over intently—more so than usual, if that was possible—and I side-stepped into the shadow of an overhanging palm—just in case any of my scales were still visible.

"I left a note…" I mumbled, dropping my hands, since he'd probably think it was weird if I hid my dick from him.

"The note didn't tell me much, B—" His eyes abruptly widened, and his brows shot up. "Wait… was that…" His gaze flickered to the dense jungle over my shoulder before returning to my face. "Was that you I heard crashing around in there?"

My knee-jerk reaction was to lie, but then I realized he'd just seen me walk out of the jungle butt-ass naked.

And it's not like he doesn't already know what my supe form is.

Was…

Since, apparently, I'm a giant lizard now.

Just as I'd feared, the random scales hadn't stopped with my dick. Entire body parts started changing while I was in the shower this morning, and it took me channeling how my parents used to force me to stay in human form to not go full Godzilla and tear the bungalow apart.

I guess my trauma was good for something.

As soon as Zion left for clan leader duties, I'd packed up Daisy for the day and dropped her off with Simon. Vi was my first choice, but when I texted her privately, she flew off the handle .

Something about Kai's missing underwear…

Unclear.

Once I was free from second-daddy duty, I'd scribbled a note and changed into workout clothes—if only to give the impression to anyone I ran into that I was just going for a jog.

Nothing to see here.

Just a guy in hoochie daddy shorts and a Gambit crop top.

Those clothes were now abandoned on the other side of the jungle, because once I hit the treeline, it was clear my beast was coming out.

Is this how Zion feels all the time?

It's way hotter on him…

I cleared my throat, realizing the O.G. lizard was still waiting expectantly for an answer. "Yeah," I mumbled, dropping my gaze so he couldn't see my half-truth. "It was me crashing around in there. I just, uh… needed to get some shit out of my system."

Please don't ask me what.

Zion looked like he was about to do exactly that, but then his enormous shoulders slumped, making me wonder if I should comfort him. Then he yanked me into his arms, and I melted—because there was nothing I loved more than being manhandled by my man.

I'm baby.

"You know you can tell me anything, right, beautiful?" he murmured into my sweaty hair. "No matter how overwhelming it seems?—"

"That's it!" I blurted out, probably too eagerly. "I've just been… overwhelmed this week with our families all together. I'm so used to it just being us."

Our family of three.

It wasn't a complete lie, and I relaxed into Zion's familiar embrace as he squeezed me tighter.

Disaster averted.

"Thank fuck." He exhaled as he pulled back to smile warmly at me. "I thought it was something I did… especially when Andre said you had an issue with my dick."

WHAT?!

"What?!" I choked out. "Where would he even get that idea…"

Oh.

Oh no.

For all their mild threats, the twins actually did their best to stay out of our heads—out of respect but also because they said the external input drove them nuts. However, they kept psychic tabs on all of us, and since I was more connected to them than our other siblings, they were stuck receiving my anxiety transmissions.

Which I've been blasting out more than usual…

Judging by the number of cat videos Gabe has sent me.

The anxiety in question spiked as I realized Dre had interpreted whatever he'd found in my head as an issue with Zion—when the problem was one thousand percent me.

"Your dick is awesome, Z," I vehemently hissed. "I love your dick. It's literally the best dick ever, and I'm not just saying that because it's the only one I've had. I bet I could try out a whole bunch of dicks and yours would still be the best." I knew I was babbling uncontrollably, but—as usual—I couldn't stop the floodgates once they opened. "Best. Dick. Ever."

Periodt.

"That's what she said!" Isaiah called out from the water.

Double sigh.

Zion rolled his eyes before hollering over his shoulder. "You're just jealous because I've got a man on lock."

That's right!

I hope…

Isaiah yelled something back about how he had one for every day of the week, but I'd already started spiraling again.

What if I turn into a lizard permanently?

Will Zion want me on lock then?

Or just keep me in an aquarium?

"I wanna go," I muttered, yanking a couple of palm fronds off a nearby tree to cover up with. "I need… I need to…"

"What do you need, beautiful?" Zion asked, his attention immediately on me, with so much care in his deep brown eyes, I almost started crying.

What do I need?

I needed to understand what was going on—why my body was betraying me when the only thing that had changed since the inventus bond was finding out Apocalypto Man wasn't my father?—

"Luca!" I shouted so abruptly, Zion stumbled backward. "Sorry… um, I need to talk to Luca about some… thing… "

Real smooth, B.

Instead of more concern, Zion smirked knowingly. "Does it have something to do with asking him to renew our vows while we're here?"

Huh?

Ohhhh…

"Yes!" I yelped, as if that had been my plan all along. "Yes. I want to lock you down. Again. You and your dick." When Isaiah catcalled from the water, I sighed and indicated that we should start walking back towards the resort.

Let's take this shit show on the road.

"Works for me." Zion chuckled as he began strutting down the beach, dick swinging—literally. "I was actually thinking the same thing, so let's talk to him together."

"NO!" I bellowed as my newly-awakened beast paced beneath the surface, clawing to get out.

Must. Claim.

Must claim our mate.

This time, my long-suffering inventus had no choice but to throw his hands in the air. "You know, Baltasar, the mixed signals thing was fun during our rivals-to-lovers phase, but I'm not really interested in playing games at this point in our relationship."

Well, excuse me!

"What happened to ‘for better or worse,' Z?" I snapped, even though I had no right to get snippy with him. "What about when things get hard, huh? You gonna leave me just because it's no longer sunshine and unicorns?"

Now it's lizards .

We'd blessedly moved out of Isaiah's earshot, but that didn't save me from Zion's rightful reaction. "What the hell are you talking about? When have I ever given you the impression that I'm not in this… with YOU?!"

But what if I'm not me anymore?

My stupid eyes were welling up with stupider tears, so of course I had to open my stupidest mouth. "I guess we'll see!"

Oh, fuck.

"Z…" I reached for him, only to have him sidestep my grabby hands with the grace of a Supremacy Games-winning long-shot. "That's not… I didn't mean?—"

"You know, Baltasar…" Zion's tone was the chilliest I'd ever heard from him. "For someone who's supposedly so obsessed with my dick, you sure seem to enjoy aiming below the belt."

I deserve that.

"I'm sorry," I mumbled, but all I got was a grunt in return.

Fair.

Rationally, I knew I was acting ridiculous, and that I should just tell Zion what was going on. But anxiety wasn't rational, and for all my box breathing—and box breathing blowies—I couldn't seem to drop the idea he would reject me if I was no longer the supe he fell in love with.

The walk back to the resort was tense, and I gave up trying to make conversation after the first few attempts. We scooped up our discarded clothing stashes along the way, and Zion dropped me off at Luca's bungalow without another word.

Ice cold.

I raised my hand to knock, only to have the door swing open, revealing the deceptively human face of my longtime mentor. "Oh! Baltasar. What a lovely surprise…"

Something in Luca's polite tone told me it wasn't as lovely as he let on, but I was too stressed out to care.

"Am I a lizard, Sensei?" I whispered.

The not-supe known as The Kinetic Assassin slow blinked—which was a fairly typical reaction to my outbursts. "Not any more so than your other siblings…" He leaned forward and took a whiff before his frosty blue eyes widened. "I stand corrected. Come in."

I practically plowed him over in my excitement, but then I stopped mid-step to find Erich of all people, hanging out in Luca's bungalow.

That's… random.

Erich was a normie on Wolfy's payroll—a semi-famous DJ who looked after his Berlin properties and was somehow allowed to tease my brother in German. He was also the nicest guy ever, which was probably how he'd charmed his way into being friends with The Hand of Death.

Luca cleared his throat, looking weirdly uncomfortable. "Erich, would you please give Baltasar and I some privacy? We have a delicate matter to discuss."

Yeah.

My lizard dick.

Erich rose from his chair before replying in his typically stoic way, "Of course. I will check in later?"

Luca Meier, the Kinetic Assassin, an actual thousands of years old alien from another goddamn planet fucking blushed. "I would like that. "

Soooo… not random.

GET IT, SENSEI!

After the door shut behind Wolfy's bestie, I dared to waggle my eyebrows at my mentor-slash-Stellarian-dad.

He waved a hand, while clearly fighting a smile. "None of that, Baltasar. Let us focus on your problem."

Whatever, playa.

"Ok, so," I started then abruptly stopped, suddenly too overwhelmed to explain the freaky shit I was dealing with.

Because he was the best guy around, Luca didn't let me suffer. "You have found yourself in possession of Lacertus- like characteristics."

"Yes!" I gasped, then immediately began searching wildly for any glaring evidence. When I found no sign of scales, I narrowed my eyes. "How did you know?—"

"Your initial question," Luca calmly interrupted before his lips twitched again. "Plus, you smell like the enemy."

I huffed. Apparently, Stellarians and Lacertus had some old drama back in the day, but since supes were the literal love children of their union, everyone on Earth—and in this bungalow—had to just get over it.

So there.

"Just give it to me straight, Sensei," I pleaded. "Am I about to turn into a giant lizard and have to go live in some remote swamp because I'll be too hideous for Zion or society?"

Luca slow-blinked again. "Doubtful. I assume this is simply you pulling from Zion's powers through your inventus bond."

I balked. "But I thought Zion was only a lizard because his parents messed with his DNA… "

Luca pressed his lips into a thin line as he hummed thoughtfully. "I don't believe that's how the serum works. In talking with Theo, I learned it was developed to isolate dormant traits and enhance them. So, Zion's powers were always meant to manifest as such—just perhaps not to the magnitude they have."

So my big, smexy lizard just became a bigger, smexier lizard.

As usual, Luca's words settled me. Even before I found out he was my actual dad, he'd always felt like a father. He was kind and patient and taught me more about controlling my powers during my summers I spent with him than the torture my parents put me through ever had.

He's the best.

"But why did this take so long to show up?" I asked, hoping my questions weren't dumb. "Zion and I have been bonded for months now."

He shrugged. "I'm not entirely sure. We could ask Theo?—"

"Nope." It was my turn to interrupt. "I'm good."

Despite what existed beneath the surface, Luca was still my mentor, and Ziggy was obviously a good dude beneath his contract killer exterior. Theo, however, was a straight up demon who thrived on chaos, and the last thing I wanted was to give him any ammunition against me.

Some people just thrive on making others squirm.

Luca nodded once, back to business. "Very well. Would you like to work on controlling your newfound powers?"

Fuck yes.

Imma make these new powers my bitch.