“Oh, I didn’t say that,” I said. “I’m just curious.”
“Hmm,” Nyx hummed. “You know what they say about curiosity, right?”
“It’s about to bite me on the ass, isn’t it?”
“Well…” Lani hedged.
“Pretty much,” Nyx admitted. “The reason we choose this spot instead of our usual cove is because we live not too far from here, and so do our folks.”
Screech.
Total brain-stop with grinding gears and everything.
I was going to puke, and with the surf rolling around us, that was going to kick the level of disgustingness up a thousand percent. I tripped over my feet as I backed away and fell, head grazing the side of the rock ledge I’d been reaching for. Water swirled around my face, closed over my head, and choked me when I drew in a lungful. I felt the change coming but couldn’t control it as my body instinctually fought to protect me by shifting to our jellyfish form. Even that proved unhelpful, though at least not as painful as it could have been if the surf had slammed me into a rock when I was in skin. My gelatinous form simply molded to the shape of the rock, though the jarring sensation rocked my already jumbled thoughts. At least I didn’t have to worry about breathing anymore, though I was still at a disadvantage when I tried to propel myself away from them. Another wave rocked me, despite how hard I compressed my tentacles together.
I was getting nowhere.
Hands appeared in front of me, prompting another frantic attempt at motion that just got me slammed into a rock with a surge of water that threw me against the lip of a small ledge.Clinging, I gripped it with my tentacles. It didn’t hurt, being hit by the water or even the jagged edges of the rock, but the water churned like the thoughts and emotions I felt inside.
A touch along one of my tentacles shocked me as the water around me went from chaotic to a gentle, lapping flow. Slowly I unwrapped my tentacles and fell away from the rock with a plop. Bobbing in a slow circle, I turned to discover that the reason the water was no longer smacking me was because Nyx stood behind me blocking it, his hands held out in front of me. This time he didn’t wait for me to almost hurt myself trying to get away. He scooped them beneath me and lifted me up to press me against his chest, right over his heart.
With my supersensitive body I could feel it beating beneath his skin. All my nerve endings were alive in that moment as he held me safe while he carried me out of the sea.
For a moment, I wanted to screamDon’t touch me, but with my next thought I remembered that he could because sea turtles were immune to jellyfish stings.
…And he was my mate. The person I’d waited years to find. The person meant to be my safe space, and I had two of them. He carried me beneath a tree and sat down beside Lani, who reached to cup my body and stroke it while I remained clinging to Nyx’s chest.
“I’m sorry we sprung it on you that way,” Nyx said. “We were just so excited that we blurted out to everyone that we’d found you, then they got excited, and then it blew up into a whole thing when they started calling their friends and the rest of our local family members, and well…we’re sorry. They sprung this whole fiesta thing on us, and it’s happening tonight with, like, everyone we know or are even remotely acquainted with.”
Yeah, wrong, wrong, wrong thing to tell me. All the calming down I’d been doing while Lani stroked me flew right out thewindow. They wanted to introduce me to everyone all at once, like…like…
…they wanted them to welcome me. Because I was their mate, and that meant forever to them.
…and I was probably freaking them out right now with my reaction.
The realization smacked me in the face because if I were them, I’d be worried that my mate was about to book the first flight off the island, and honestly, that was the last thing I intended to do. I needed to fix this, but I couldn’t do it as a clingy jellyfish, so I shifted right there in my very naked mate’s lap only to realize he was hard as hell.
“Your tentacles,” Nyx groaned, one hand landing on my ass to hold me firmly in place. “Never been so horny in my life, which is bad, ‘cause we need to talk.”
Nyx was right, we did need to talk, so it was a good thing I wasn’t feeling the least bit turned on because what he was packing was fucking impressive.
“Yeah, me too,” I replied, lifting my head off his shoulders. “And I’m the one who’s sorry.”
“Come again?” Lani muttered, having scooted over so he was side by side with Nyx and able to look at me.
“You probably think I’m about to reject you and run away,” I muttered. “That’s the furthest thing from what I intend to do. I’m going to the fiesta with you tonight, and we’re doing the wholemeet everyonething.”
“Wait…but…” Nyx stammered.
“I just had a panic attack,” I interrupted, finishing his statement for him. “But only because it hadn’t sunk in yet that I’d found my mates. What you told me about wanting me to meet everyone just drove home the point for me that this was real, but in a good way. Like, the very best of ways because I’d beentreating today like a date instead of a building block towards forever.”
I felt Nyx stiffen beneath me while Lani’s hand in my hair tightened, and he turned my head so he could kiss me. Melting into it, I felt not only his relief but also Nyx’s as his muscles began to relax. His cock, however, was still rigid as hell, which might get interesting if this kiss went on much longer because Lani sure as hell knew how to kiss.
One of them glided a fingertip up the back of my neck, and I shuddered, hissing into the kiss as Nyx’s fingernails dug into my ass, gasping as I rocked to get away from the sting, my chest brushing against Nyx’s hard nipples.
“Don’t squirm,” Nyx groaned.
“Don’t make me,” I hissed, breaking the kiss with Lani just long enough to grit out the words before diving back in to claim Lani’s lips.
