“I’ve always been drawn to movement. I wanted to help people get better and heal their bodies, but I didn’t want to be a doctor or a nurse.” His voice turned sheepish. “I don’t like the sight of blood.”
Declan said, “I didn’t know that,” and it made me roll my eyes.
I turned around, drawing my feet up so I could lean against Erik and face him and Declan. Erik almost looked as though he were leaning into Declan, smaller and slender and darkly pretty, but his long limbs were splayed over Declan’s shoulders, holding him the way they were holding me.
“How could you not have asked that already? Didn’t you want to know?”
Declan shrugged. “I never thought to ask.”
“You don’t know much about each other at all, do you? You’ve just been lusting after each other’s bodies. Not that I blame you.”
I shimmied, and Erik laughed.
“If I confess that there was a substantial amount of lust, will you forgive me?”
Grandly, I granted forgiveness. “Yes, I will.” Then I got distracted by another thought. “Who taught you to shift into your octopus form?”
The laugh lines around Erik’s eyes vanished. “I learned that on my own.”
“Oh. I’m so sorry.”
“It’s really not your fault. When I started going through puberty, that’s when my abilities kicked in. I couldn’t control it very well. It caused… a lot of problems for a while, until Ilearned to control it. Well, almost control it. Sometimes I still lose control of my limbs and my octopus pushes out without me meaning it to. Like now.”
“Is your octopus inside you?” I peered into his eyes, trying to see it. His eyes were black and liquid.
“It’s always inside me. It’s part of me. I’m just used to keeping it locked away, that’s all. Most people don’t like my tentacles.”
Declan grunted, “Welike them.”
“Oh?” asked Erik. “I thought you hadn’t made up your mind.”
“I have now.”
Declan sounded as though he wanted to go and murder everyone who’d ever made Erik feel shy and embarrassed about his tentacles.
“I used to hate that I was different. I didn’t know anyone like me, and even other shifters didn’t like to see my animal form. But I’ve done a lot of work on myself and I’m glad that my animal is an octopus. It’s freeing, to be able to slide into the water and drift. And it’s useful. I’d never have got to Sonny in time if I hadn’t shifted. I’m fast in the water when I’m not weighed down by clothes and skates.”
“I probably owe you some new skates,” I said. “If you lost yours coming into the lake after me.”
“I got mine back. I snuck out in the night and collected them. That’s when I found your phone, too. It must have fallen out of your pocket.”
“No wonder it’s dead. But thank you.”
I leaned forward and pressed a kiss to Erik’s lips, and then looked expectantly at Declan.
He rolled his eyes. “Are you going to make me and Erik kiss every time you kiss him?”
“Yes!”
Teasingly, Erik said, “If it’s too much bother for you…”
Declan took hold of his chin and tilted his head up so he could swoop down and lay one on him. Erik’s dark eyes fluttered closed and their lips moved over each other, the soft sounds filling the air beside me along with the crackling of the fire. They were both so handsome, both so strong and their bodies were the perfect contrast.
When they broke apart, their eyes were glazed and Declan kept his hand on Erik’s cheek. He looked deep into those liquid dark eyes and said, “I love you, Erik. I know it’s fast, but I can’t help it. I love you.”
FinallyDeclan had said it, and I expected to feel a bit sick, hearing him say that to another man right in front of me, but I didn’t. I already knew he loved Erik, after all, and I was convinced we could make this work. We had to because no way was I going to lose Declan now he’d told me he loved me, and I wanted Erik here with us, too.
Declan smiled into Erik’s eyes and then leaned forward again, kissing him softly, and reaching for me. He drew me closer, until I was almost pressed against them, my lips brushing Erik’s cheek.
