“I hope you will be very happy here.” Bizarrely, she’d had a soft Scottish accent, totally unlike the alien tones of every other sea dragon she’d heard that day. “If there’s anything I can do to make you feel at home, tell me. I too know what it’s like to be a newcomer to Atlantis.”
Then the Empress had actually winked at her, lowering her voice. “I can assure you, I’ve at least improved the food down here.”
Martha had been too tongue-tied to do more than stammer out a few incoherent words in response. The grandeur, the magic, the glittering sea dragons swimming through the city in their native forms…it was all too overwhelming.
Now she felt like she needed to sit in a darkened room for a week, just to process everything she’d seen. Even her coyote was exhausted, lying belly-up and panting at the bottom of her soul.
“Martha.” Finn touched her shoulder, and before she knew what was happening she found herself scooped up in his arms. “I am sorry. We should not have stayed so long.”
“It’s all right.” She leaned gratefully against his broad shoulder. “There was just so much to see. And I still don’t think I saw a tenth of it.”
“There is plenty of time to see the rest.” He fell silent for a moment, carrying her up the beach. “If…you are still certain.”
She kissed his neck, tasting the saltwater on his skin. “I still want to be with you, if that’s what you mean. And Atlantis is marvelous. Thank you.”
Though having seen the place, she had no idea what she was going to do there all day. Apart from just gape at everything like a country bumpkin.
We’ll figure it out. She snuggled closer into her mate’s neck, wrapped in the security of his strong arms. We’ll be together. Everything will be fine, as long as we’re together.
She sighed, a twist of anxiety knotting her gut. Even though she knew she was making the right decision, she still had no idea how she was going to explain this to her pack. To her family. They’d probably think she’d gone stark raving mad when she announced that she was off to live with a shark shifter under the sea.
No sense putting it off. I have to tell them at last.
Finn put her down gently outside the door of her cottage, opening it for her. He started to follow her in, but she put a hand on his chest.
“I need to call my family. Tell them what’s going on.” She attempted to smile at him. “Probably best if you don’t listen in. There’s likely to be a lot of yelling.”
He hesitated, his eyes shadowed in the moonlight. “Martha-“
“No, go on, shoo.” She gave him a firm shove. “This isn’t something you can help me with, Finn. It’s okay. They’ll understand eventually.”
I hope, she added to herself, as he reluctantly left. Closing the door, she collapsed back against it with a sigh. She was strongly tempted to just fall into bed and call her family in the morning, but she’d never been one to avoid trouble.
Still, she could at least peel out of her clammy wetsuit and wash the salt out of her hair. She took a shower, for rather longer than was usual, until she could no longer deny to herself that she was just trying to delay the inevitable.
Steeling her nerve, she picked up her cellphone.
26 missed calls, said the screen.
Chapter 16
Martha!
Her distress jerked him from sound sleep to combat-readiness in a heartbeat. He snatched up his sword from beside his bed, unsheathing the blade in a single fluid movement as he charged out the door.
He could have followed her scent halfway round the world. This close, it pulled at him stronger than any tide. She needed him, now.
And he wasn’t there.
Teeth and sword bared, he hurtled over a low barrier with a sign reading Staff Only. Lights were flicking on in a long, low building up ahead, sleepy-eyed staff poking their heads out of windows to see what was going on.
“No, it can’t wait!” Martha stood outside the staff quarters, fully dressed despite the late hour. “I have to go!”
She seemed to be arguing with an elegant, red-haired woman that he dimly recognized through his blood-rage as Scarlet, the manager of the resort. Her scent was strange, ever-shifting, elusive yet powerful. He had no idea what sort of creature she was.
He didn’t care. He would rip apart anything that threatened his mate.
“Martha!” he roared.