Chapter 21

21

The flight back sucked a lot, but I survived and almost kissed the ground in relief after landing.

After dropping off the suitcases, we headed to Silver’s to meet Theo. I’d promised her that I would see her as soon as I could and since the flight landed in the early evening, we’d agreed Silver’s was the best place. Plus, I was in desperate need of a drink and a familiar, safe place to drink it in.

The bar was busy, but not unusually so, Tonka even welcomed me back and fist bumped my guys. We quickly found Theo seated at the bar talking to Silver with a big, burly man I didn’t know beside her.

Silver spotted us first and whistled. “My daughter has returned from the land of sand!”

Several of the regulars cheered, which made me smile wide.

Theo hopped off her barstool. Her cute black skirt was paired with skull leggings, a bright pink sequin tank top, and a white wig. She’d also done her makeup flawlessly; the colors matched her outfit. “Kass!” she screamed as she rushed forward and hugged me.

I nearly fell due to her attempted tackle-hug, but managed to keep my balance. Laughter burst out of me and I squeezed her tight. “I don’t think you missed me at all.”

“You are going to make me go prematurely grey,” she accused and stepped back, hands on her hips.

“Good thing you wear wigs all the time then,” I said and winked.

Her cheeks puffed. “You had assassins after you! Assassins! Can’t you just go on a calm, quiet vacation?”

“Apparently not,” Jong-min muttered.

Reed walked up to the bar and smiled at Silver. “Evening, Silver. Can I get two old fashioneds and two of those new red beers?”

Silver looked at him and folded his arms over his chest. “I’m not sure you get a drink.”

“Silver,” I chastised as I walked over to stand beside Reed at the bar top. “Don’t be hard on him.”

“No, he’s right. I have a lot of apologizing to do,” Reed said and put an arm around my lower back. “I’ll spend the rest of my life doing it, too.”

Silver lowered his arms and nodded once before grabbing glasses to make the drinks Reed had ordered. “As long as you acknowledge your mistake and work towards rectifying it, that’s good enough for me.”

Turning to my left, I looked at the guy who’d been talking to Theo when we’d walked in. “Sorry, I didn’t catch your name.”

He smiled at me and a chill ran down my spine. “I’m Damien. It’s nice to finally meet you, Kassidy.”

As I shook his hand, realization hit me and I gasped, stumbling back away from him. “Or-Orca!”

“It’s okay, he’s not—” Theo tried to grab my shoulder, but I turned sideways before she could grab me. Fear coursed through me like lava in my veins and I stumbled away from her.

“What’s wrong?” Jong-min asked as he and Jong-hyun came up behind me, standing protectively on either side of me.

Damien held up his hands placatingly. “I won’t hurt you.”

“The fuck kind of statement is that?” Grant demanded and snarled, turning around from the bar to glare at Damien. “Of course you won’t hurt her. I’ll tear your head off before you can hurt her.”

“Everyone, calm down,” Theo begged.

“What’s going on?” Silver asked as he noticed our tense standoff. “Kass?”

Damien lowered his hand. “I understand why you’re scared, but I don’t have a pod and I don’t mess with sharks. I know the others in this town are assholes so your experiences with orcas has been bad, but I’m not like them. I hate those cocky douche nozzles and how they continue to give us a bad name by being bullies and killers. Letting go of your prejudice may be hard, but you have to know that Theo wouldn’t be dating me if I was like them, right?”

I wanted to believe that Theo would only date good people, but they hadn’t known each other that long, so he could be hiding his crazy. However, his words felt sincere and I had never seen him with the pod here.

My shoulders slumped a bit as I relaxed. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have reacted that way.”

He smiled. “It’s understandable when you’ve dealt with the pod here. They’re psychopaths who bully me as well.”

“We should team up and kick their asses,” I said returning his smile. “I’ve got a dragon who could pluck them out of the sea and dangle them up in the sky.”

He laughed and everyone else in the group relaxed fully. “That would be fun to witness.”

Holding out my hand, I said, “It’s nice to meet you, Damien.”

As he shook my hand, Theo wrapped her arms around my shoulders and rested her head against mine. “I’m sorry. I should have warned you.”

Dropping Damien’s hand, I turned to face her and shook my head. “No, I’ve got to stop being so prejudiced against others. I have to stop letting fear run my life.”

“You haven’t had the best track record with a lot of the sea life here,” she said. “Sometimes I consider just cursing each and every one of them.”

Laughing, I shook my head. “You’d run out of magic before you made it through that list.”

She joined my laughter and I hugged her again. I wasn’t one hundred percent convinced that Damien was clean, but Theo was a big girl who could handle herself. Plus, I had to really stop allowing fear to win so often with me.

“Get your drink,” Silver ordered me, “and update me on everything that happened on your trip.”