“So you think.” Ner chuckled then grew serious. “But she’s right.” He scooted closer to me, scraping the stool against the tiled floor.
“You told me you dreamed of me. Well, you appeared in my dreams too. Way before we met.” I took his tentacles in my hands and traced my thumbs between the suckers. “I only realized it was you after you came to play with me. I didn’t want you to think I said it to make you believe the legends you mentioned, and that you had to stay with me because of fate.”
“I would never think that. I feel a connection that complements my love for you. But fate didn’t make me fall in love with you. You did that by yourself.” He made his tentacles pulse in my hands, then wrapped them around my forearms. Calmness washed over me. Fuck, how I missed him.
“When I touched your mating tentacles for the first time, there was this… electric current. What did that mean?” I met his gaze, eager to find out everything, leaving no secrets between us.
“If I believed in old wives’ tales, I’d say we’re fated mates. That we could choose a different path, but the one together would make us the happiest. My grandma would say it’s all true. That we can nurture a mating bond and that way bind our lives together permanently.”
“Bind our lives? What does that mean, and how would we know if it’s even real?”
“We won’t, at least not for a long time. Maybe never. But we would live together and die together. For those with different life spans, it means they’d live longer to stay with their soulmate.” Ner looked at our intertwined limbs and squeezed. “I was afraid to trap you, both of us, in a doomed relationship. If we became even closer, it would be hard to part, the heartbreak would be too painful. Some say the fully formed mating bond is unbreakable. So if I left, we might not survive it.”
“Maybe that’s exactly what already happened.”
“No, it’s not possible, we didn’t have enough time—”
“Ner, listen.” I swallowed, meeting his beautiful teal gaze. “I came here to tell you I don’t want a life without you, whatever it may be. I had time to think about it and I’m ready to quit the band if it means I can be with you.”
“What?” Ner pulled back, shaking his head. “You’re insane. That’s your dream, the band is a part of who you are.”
“You’re my dream now. If you let me stay, I’ll be just as happy washing the dishes at your restaurant. I’d sell the house. I have savings, investments—I’ll be fine.”
Ner buried his face in his hands and mumbled something in Greek. “About that.” He emerged and released a long breath. “Mom and Dad saw how miserable I was when I came back and told me that they’ve been thinking of solutions when I was away.”
“For the restaurant?”
“Yes. My cousin, Tabitha, is a fantastic cook and runs her own small business. Her dream is to have a taverna like my parents’. She’s a selkie and knows the local food very well…” He looked towards the closed door and smiled softly. “Mom and Dad told me to follow my dreams wherever they may lead, and not to worry about their restaurant.”
“What did you decide?” I held my breath. I had an idea of a life I could offer him. Hopefully, with this new development, he’d accept.
“I don’t know yet, but if you’re staying, I want to talk about us.”
“I tried booking a hotel, but couldn’t find a room anywhere in the city, so if you’d have me, I have nowhere else to go.”
“We can sleep in my house because this place is packed. I live close by.” Ner lifted his brows in an apologetic look. “Don’t count on much privacy as my guest, and living rooms are occupied too. Mom and Dad couldn’t fit the entire extended family in here.” He chuckled.
“Would I get to hold you at night?”
“Definitely.”
“Then that’s all that matters to me right now.”
A loud whistle startled me. Ner grinned and pulled me to my feet. “Mom is calling us.”
We joined the celebrations, ate more and stood up with the rest of the family for the countdown for the New Year.
“Do you have a New Year’s resolution?” Ner asked, resting his tentacles on my hips as his hands cupped my face.
Fuck, how I loved his touch.
I nodded. “I want us to figure out how to be together.”
He flashed his dimples, grinning. “We will.”
When the clock struck midnight, we kissed. The love that flowed through me told me everything was right in the world now that Ner was back in my arms.
Epilogue
