This seemed to amuse Remington. “I like the mental image of a shark whacking a microwave.”
I grinned. “Me too. Except I wasn’t a shark back then, but whatever.”
Remington tilted his head and his fluffy, black hair fell over his forehead. “It must’ve been a shock. To both you and Nishiki.”
“Oh, you mean the ‘suddenly magically transforming into fish’ thing?”
“Yes, that.”
“Yeeeah. It was definitely the biggest plot twist of my life.”
Remington shot me a tiny smirk. I got the feeling he wanted to grin but was holding himself back for some reason.
I shrugged. “It’s not like I can change it now. And if I could, I don’t think I’d want to. I mean, how many other guys out there are sharks? If that’s not one step above the rest of the dating competition, then I don’t know what is.”
Remington eyed me warily. “You’re single, right?”
“Yup. Don’t rub it in.” It took me a second to notice Remington had stopped walking. I turned back in confusion. “What’s up?”
“Nero, can I ask you something?”
“Sure.”
“I—er, I’m not trying to offend you,” Remington said. “But are you gay?”
“I’m bi,” I said.
Remington’s cheeks turned pink again. They did that a lot. It was honestly really cute.
“I see,” he said softly, then cleared his throat. “It’s just that most alphas are gay, and, um—especially so when they’re around an omega in heat. Like I am.” He paused. “Oh my gods, that sentence made no sense. Please disregard everything I just said.”
I chuckled. “No, it’s fine. I understood what you meant.”
But his face kept turning deeper shades of pink.
I regarded Remington for a moment. Back when I’d first transformed into a shark, he was among the shifters that rescued me from the pond (thanks, well-meaning but misinformed townspeople). Remington had also been there to reunite me with my mom. But at the time, I hadn’t given him much thought, which feltincrediblystupid in hindsight. I mean, how could I ignore such a handsome young man? He was gorgeous. The way his black hair contrasted with his pale skin, the lithe shape of his body, his moody attitude… It was all a huge weakness of mine.
By the time I realized I’d been staring, Remington’s cheeks had turned at least fifty shades deeper.
“Um,” I said, trying to be casual and failing. “Sorry, what were we talking about?”
“Erm,” Remington mumbled, apparently feeling just as awkward as I did. “Heat cycles. Sexuality. You know what? Nevermind. Let’s just keep walking.”
He shuffled ahead at the speed of light, careful not to brush past me as he zoomed in front of me. It was at this extremely uncomfortable moment that I realized I wasstillfucking naked. My clothes had ripped off when I spontaneously shifted earlier. I glanced down in horror to see my cock was half-hard.
FUCK.No wonder Remington was running away from me. I was being a creepy asshole.
“Hey, uh, sorry,” I called, smacking my forehead. “I… should be wearing clothes.”
“Not a big deal,” Remington replied without looking back at me.
Ugh, I’d really messed this up. “If there’s a place nearby where I can put some on—”
“I said it’s not a big deal,” Remington said, louder this time.
Was that annoyance in his voice? I deserved it. Crestfallen, I sighed and slowed down so Remington could walk a healthy distance away from me.
It was like a door had opened in my mind. Now that I’d realized Remington was exactly my type, I couldn’tnotthink about it. It was telling someone not to think of the color red and then putting a red square in front of their face.
