“What?” Skyler asks.
“Your pheromones,” Razorjaw says.
Oh fuck. Another bead of sweat rolls down the back of my neck. I was afraid of getting hard, but I didn’t realize my inner kraken would expose me like this. Razorjaw is obviously some shifter, because he can completely smell my arousal.
“You are a shifter and wish to mate with me,” the tall man says.
“I…I don’t…want to mate with you,” I stutter. There’s no hiding the fact that I’m turned on, and it’s mortifying.
“Reed is not a shifter,” Skyler adds. He assumes I would have informed the Institute of my monster background, which is fair since I’m enrolling my nephew here. Skyler pointedly looks away, and I wish the ground would swallow me whole.
“If you do not want to mate with me, then why are you oozing pheromones?”
“Dude, us land-dwellers don’t shoot off pheromones,” Skyler says with a frown.
“But he is a maritime monster.” Razorjaw points at me. “And his pheromones continue to spike as this conversation goes on.”Monster god, kill me now. “He must be attracted to me, and I am politely telling him that I am not interested.”
Mortified is not enough of a word to describe the way I feel right now.
“You mean…” Skyler says, glancing at his friend and then me.
I clear my throat and shove my hands in my pockets. Time for some damage control. “I forgot to mention that…I’m also a shifter.”
“Oh!” Skyler says, looking down.
“I hope you are a valuable asset to us here in the Institute. But I am still not interested,” Razorjaw says.
Can he not read social cues? I huff in frustration. “Dude, I’m not?”
“Interested? Then why are you…?” He turns to Skyler, then me, and I debate whether I should just walk away and never return.
It’s a long three seconds of silence before Skyler says, “Um…” His face is beet red, and it’s so damn cute I can’t stand it. Now he knows I’m a monster and that I’m shooting off pheromones, for someone who’s not Razorjaw. He realizes I have the hots forhim.
I clear my throat. “I don’t…usually tell people that I’m a monster, and um…”
“It is alright.” In seconds, this Razorjaw guy shifts into a tall, fish man. He’s a shark shifter?oh, his name makes a lot of sense now.
“I, too, am a shifter. This is my hybrid form, but I have spent most of my years in my shark form.”
“That…that’s incredible,” I say. There are others who were in the sea their whole lives? Maybe there is hope for Aisen after all.
“I am looking forward to helping you with research and adjustment to life on the surface,” the shark says.
“I don’t need to adjust to life on land, remember? My nephew does.” I adjust my collar in an attempt to breathe better. Skyler seems frozen, and I hope we begin to talk about literally anything else.
“Well, we are more than happy to assist you and your entire family.”
I think about my brother and sister-in-law swimming around the ocean, as well as my parents ditching us both and moving back to Korea. An average family, we are not. “An impossible task,” I mutter. Looking at the shark, I add,” About those pheromones, they’re…”
“It does not matter,” he says. “Skyler. Shall we bring him to Emma or take him on a tour?”
I’m quietly grateful that shark boy also wants to move past my arousal scent. Skyler nods, seemingly unfazed. “We can take you to Emma. Don’t want to take up too much of your time since you’re this healthcare hotshot, after all.”
When we walk, I stride next to him, finally feeling relaxed after five minutes of pure humiliation. “I took the day off of work. I’m surprised you remember that.”
“How could I forget? You have this huge, high-paying job, and we’re lowly researchers funded by the OME,” Skyler says with a smile. I forgot that they’re supported by the Organization of Monster Enhancement, a worldwide government program that assists shifters in all facets of life.
“But your work is important.” I shrug and play with my watch. My hands can’t keep still around this cute boy. “And money doesn’t mean everything.”
