Lelas turned to glance at Nalu, then quickly back to me.“That is true, but I fail to see how it changes what must be done.”
“You need to be safe.”
She looked toward Nalu.“Our group has one more fighter. I would say I am safer now than before. We are all safer now because of Nalu. All the more reason I should stay.”
I gestured too wildly, already overly desperate. Even I wasn’t sure where my manic energy was coming from. All I knew was I had to convince her. I had to keep her safe.“Think about the babies!”
She blanched. “What babies?”
“Well, your babies, of course!”
“Brett. I think we may need to rest for a day or so before we continue. I fear you have overworked yourself.”
I looked back and forth between my best friend and her mate, beseeching with all I had.“I’m serious, Lelas. You’ll be able to have children someday, maybe even soon. You shouldn’t risk that.”
She shook her head.“We’re not even sure that a mating between a Chromis and a Scarus can produce offspring. But if we can, they will be more proof that I should see this quest to its fruition. I do not wish to bring children into this world if they are going to be taken by vampires.”
This time when I looked at Nalu, I kept my eyes on him, refusing to look away, pouring every ounce of manly emotion I had into my words.“Nalu, surely you understand what I’m saying. We need to keep Lelas safe. There are too many risks on this journey. Too many things that could happen.”
He looked at Lelas long enough that I wasn’t sure if they were communicating between themselves or simply staring into each other’s eyes, as they seemed apt to do. Finally, he returned his attention to me.“I am here to keep Lelas safe, as are the rest of you. We will all safeguard each other. I am now a part of the Chromis tribe, but my first loyalty is to my mate. Where she goes, I will go. Who she loves, I will love. I will give my life for her. I will give my life for you, because she loves you.”
Well, shit.
Desperation took full hold at this point.“Lelas, I need you to go back. For me. Please. Do it for me! Go back to the rest of the Chromis.”
In an instant, she closed the distance between us and reached for both of my hands, stopping them in their flailing.“Brett, what is going on? I do not understand where this is coming from.”
I felt my eyes burn, and my throat clenched. If I’d needed to speak out loud, I wouldn’t have been able.“I can’t explain it. I just have a feeling. I don’t know what it means. I’ve lost too many people I love already. I cannot lose you too. I won’t survive it. Please, I need you to go back.”
She pulled me close and wrapped me in her arms like she would if I were a small child, instead of nearly four times her size.
As she held me, I started to shake.“Please, Lelas. Go back.”From my blurry vision, I saw Nalu turn away from us—whether to give us privacy or in shame of seeing another male act in such a fashion, I wasn’t sure. Nor did I care.
Lelas continued to hold me, her grip tightening and relaxing depending on the severity of my tremors. For a while, it was as if I was transported back to my childhood, my grandmother soothing me through so many hurts.
After minutes or hours, I regained some amount of self-control, and she pulled away so she could look into my eyes, her hands never breaking contact.“I love you, my dear friend. My dear brother.”She raised her hand and stroked my cheek, another Beverly Wright expression, and I knew I was lost.“I must see this through. For my species. For Nalu and my children. For me. And to be here for you.”
I just stared at her, unable to form any more words. Nothing I would say would change her mind.
“I will be fine. We are going to stop the wrongs that are being done to our people. I feel it in my bones. We will be fine. You’ll see!”
Twenty-Four
BRETT WRIGHT
Two dayspassed in uneventful monotony. Sure, it was pleasant to be back in familiar waters, but it ate at me that we’d been so close to the Chromis and each stroke took us farther and farther away. I still couldn’t put my finger on why I was so convinced Lelas had to go back, but the sensation battered at me until it felt like my nerves were going to drive me mad. It was good I’d finally gotten control over my fire, or I would have been bursting into flames every few minutes.
As it was, my foul mood made me an unpleasant traveling companion. Even Lelas kept her distance, though she still swam close by at regular intervals. I’d stopped trying to convince her. It was pointless. I couldn’t even argue with her logic. With Nalu here, we were safer now than we were before. It wasn’t like Lelas was defenseless either. With the exception of my demon abilities, she was more equipped to face anything the sea might send our way than I.
And yet, try as I might, I couldn’t shake it. There had to be something I could say or figure out that would keep her safe, would make her see that she had to go back to the others. Not much chance of that happening when I couldn’t even explain it to myself.
Wrell had been sending out “feelers” to see if he could sense the Volitan or if they would answer his summons. I wasn’t exactly sure how this worked or if it was even a good idea. Did we really want to give them a heads-up about our location? Wrell was certain we were getting closer. When he got a confirmation of their presence, he shared it with the rest of us. Each time, the group sped up, excited about finding them so easily. I never felt much of anything when Wrell did this. I only felt an increase of the pressure closing in around my chest. Maybe I just didn’t know what I was looking for.
We’d been staying fairly close to the shoreline, traveling back the way we’d come with the Chromis ages ago. Since Wrell had started sensing his old tribe, we traveled in more of a northwest direction, taking us farther from the coast. I was fairly certain my entire time with the mers had been spent in a never-ending circle—from California, down to South America, over to Hawaii, then back toward South America. I was so turned around I had no idea where we were anymore, even though much of the coastline seemed familiar. Now that we were farther out in open water, the lost sensation was even more prevalent.
The farther we traveled, the more frequently Wrell shared his stress-inducing confirmation of the Volitan location. I was swimming in my typical place at the back of the group and couldn’t help constantly glancing over my shoulder, expecting a hoard of quilled warriors to be overtaking us. Luckily, the waters were bright and clear, and I could see for what felt like miles around. Schools of fish were scattered here and there around us, but not close enough to determine what they were.
Despite my anxiety and fear, I was once again struck by this existence. I couldn’t fathom how I’d survived on land. This was where I belonged, dangerous or not. It wasn’t like life had been free of danger before, anyway. Much less than I’d even realized until it was too late. Now here I was, surrounded in this vast other world, my friends and family around me. Friends and family. Mermaids. Still so bizarre. Yet, there they were. So beautifully alien from myself, their powerful tails brilliant in the sunshine that filtered over their scales. If only I could truly be one of them. It seemed so strange—wrong—that the majority of my blood came from the mer side of my heritage, and yet here I was, swimming with legs instead of a tail. Therin’s belief that it was my legs that would ultimately save the mers didn’t help make the situation any better.
