I gasp and pull up short when we get to the edge of the coral and the shoal looms large in front of us. It's amazing! I can't believe this whole world exists down here, and no other human has ever been here. The palace architecture is primitive, made of piled stones, but it stands tall and regal in the center of the court, with smaller dwellings surrounding it.
I can see merfolk swimming, completely unaware that they’re being watched. I feel like a dangerous predator stalking my prey, but I have no intention of hurting any of them. I'm just here to take back what is mine.
The plan is simple; it relies more on surprise and brute strength than any complicated strategy. The three of us will head towards the palace and try to bust our way in. We’ll fight off anyone who dares to intercept us. Hopefully, our appearance will be such a surprise, we’ll be in and out of there before they have a chance to round up the calvary. Thankfully, Pearl told us that the merfolk power of compulsion doesn’t have the same effect underwater, so at least they won’t have that advantage.
We watch the comings and goings around the palace for several minutes, trying to look for any patterns. It doesn't seem to be particularly well-guarded. I guess attacks by humans or even other merfolk isn't a big concern. But what's happening inside might be a whole other story. Unfortunately, the only way to find out is to barge in there.
When the coast is clear, Jude, Liam, and I rush towards the back entrance. As soon as we're inside, we’re met with the shocked faces of several merfolk. They gawk at us, their tails frozen mid flap, and I have to resist the urge to stare back at them. I'm blown away by the sight of so many of these beautiful, mythical creatures existing in my world. Discovering Coral’s true nature was incredible enough, but seeing dozens of others like her is unfathomable. They’re surprised by us, but they don't immediately attack us; They must be household staff, not guards.
We push past the stunned merfolk and swim down the hall where we believe Coral is being kept. Her friend Maribel drew a map of the interior that Pearl passed on to us, so at least we aren't going in totally blind. But we only have a few moments before the merfolk let out a warning cry and the guards are alerted to our presence. We hear them before we see them, their powerful tails flapping, stirring up the water, as they make their way towards us.
We’re halfway down the hallway, counting the doors, looking for the one Coral is behind, when they see us. The hallway is a dead end, but merfolk emerge from several rooms beyond Coral’s, and even more head towards us from the other direction, blocking us in. Jude swims ahead so Liam is bookended between us. The plan is for Liam to break into Coral’s room while Jude and I fight off the attackers.
I raise my knife, and adrenaline courses through my bloodstream, searing my veins, as I gear up to fight. The hallway is barely big enough for two men to stand shoulder to shoulder, and the mermen’s swishing tails take up a lot of space, so even though several of them are heading my way, only one can really get to me at a time. A large merman with hulking muscles and a massive tail swims towards me first. I jab at him with my knife, not trying to stab him, just warning him off. He grabs for the knife, but I block him, swiping at him with the sharp blade. We tussle for several moments, and I can only assume Jude is doing the same thing behind me.
I’m trying my best to block his attacks without cutting him, but he’s a persistent asshole and just as strong as me. Plus, his tail gives him an advantage I don’t have. I’m sure he can tell I’m trying to avoid hurting him, but if he thinks he’s gonna intimidate me into surrendering, he doesn’t have any idea what it means to fight for something you care about.
Eventually, he gets his hands around my neck, and the only thing left to do is stab him. I make one quick jab to his abdomen, my sharp knife easily piercing the flesh, and he curls up around my hand, his eyes wide and his mouth hanging open. Blood gushes from the wound in a red cloud that swirls around us.
The merman stops fighting me long enough for me to take a glance behind me. Jude is holding his own against the two merman he’s battling, and Liam is concentrating hard on getting Coral’s door open. When I whip my head back towards the guard I was fighting, another merman is pushing his injured body out of the way so he can get at me.
I don’t hesitate this time, I just stab him in the shoulder. The wound isn’t life threatening, but it lets him know I mean business, and it puts his good arm out of commission. There’s another merman behind him, and I take a swipe at him, too. I’m not close enough to hit him, but it gets my point across. No one is gonna stop me from getting what I came for. They back off a bit, still blocking the hallway but no longer attacking.
I feel a rush of water moving behind me and glance back again to see Liam shoving open the door to Coral’s prison. Two seconds later, Coral emerges, stunned and overwhelmed. With her long hair flowing out around her stunned face and her gorgeous, iridescent tail flicking, she’s more beautiful than I’ve ever seen her. My heart revs into overdrive at the sight of her — emotions flooding through me like a hit of cocaine. Suddenly, I’m euphoric, and my energy level doubles.
Coral gapes at the sight of us and throws herself at Liam, wrapping her arms and tail around him. Liam embraces her, letting his lock pick tools float to the ground. She looks okay, and that’s all I need to know right now, so I quickly whip my head back around to the mermen blocking our exit. Now comes the hard part.
I barrel towards them, my knife held out and my face twisted up into a menacing scowl. I’m baring my teeth like a wild animal as I lunge at them, daring them to stop me. I swing the knife wildly across the hallway and push forward, and the mermen back up down the hallway.
Jude is keeping the mermen behind us at bay, and Liam is flicking his head back and forth, his knife at the ready to assist whichever one of us needs him. Coral is following us out, staying calm and trying to make herself as small as possible so she doesn’t get in the way of the fight.
We slowly force the mermen back, making our way down the hallway. Once we’re out of the hall and into an open area, the mermen swarm around us, penning us in and grabbing at us. There are a lot more of them than us, but they don’t have weapons, and we’re not afraid to use ours. Jude, Liam, and I form a circle around Coral, slashing at anyone who comes within reach as we swim towards the exit. The water turns pink with blood from the wounds we inflict.
In the back of the room, I see an old man with long, gray hair and a bushy beard staring at us. Is that Coral’s grandfather? He’s wearing a bold necklace that looks significant. His face is frozen with shock, twisted in anger, his body tense with the urge to fight. But he knows he’s too weak and slow, and there’s nothing he can do to stop us. We’re holding our own against his strongest fighters. What help would an old man be? Coral glances at him, a look of sadness on her face, then quickly turns away. He watches in disbelief as we slowly force our way out of the palace.
Once we’re outside, we take off, kicking our fins as hard as we can towards the surface. But Coral grabs a hold of us and starts swimming, pulling us along, her small but mighty tail propelling us faster than we can move on our own. If she’s that fast, how fast are the mermen whose tails are a lot stronger? They’ll catch us in no time. Will they be able to overpower us?
I expect them to chase after us, and they do at first, more than a dozen of them. But after a few moments, a loud song pierces the water, echoing around us, and the mermen stop swimming. Coral’s face twists in agony, and her tail falters at the sound. Her body goes limp, and we grab her when she starts to sink and drag her upward. Our progress instantly slows, but the mermen are no longer chasing us. In fact, they’ve turned around and are headed back to the palace.
A few minutes later, the boat is visible, and we make one last push towards the surface. When my head breaks the water, it’s like bursting a bubble. The adrenaline that fueled me through the rescue instantly dissipates, and my body shakes as it sloughs off the superhuman energy. If I close my eyes, I’m sure I’ll pass out, I’m suddenly
so exhausted.
Coral grabs onto me, her fingers digging into my shoulders, and I reach to hold her. I’m expecting her to pepper me with thanks, and maybe the kiss I’ve been fantasizing about forever, but instead, what comes out of her mouth is, “Where’s Avery?!”
I’m so surprised, I throw my head back, laughing, but I stop as soon as I see the look on her face.
“It’s okay, Coral. He’s safe. He’s on the boat.” I smile at her, and she sags against me. Hot tears gush from her eyes, burning my skin, and her whole body heaves with sobs. I wrap my arms around her, holding her tight against my chest, engulfing her tiny body in muscle. My hand strokes her hair, and I whisper comforting words in her ear till her breathing settles.
Eventually, she pulls away enough to look at me. Her face is puckered with emotion, her bright eyes sparkling with love and gratitude. “I knew you’d come for me. I just knew it. Thank you, Gio. Thank you for saving me.”
She surges upward, her lips claiming mine as she wraps her hands around my neck. Her mouth is cool from the water, but it heats up quick as she kisses me. I can’t help myself, I devour her like she’s the first meal I’ve had in days, weeks. Hell, it feels like I’ve been waiting a lifetime to have her.
I’m not holding back anymore. I can’t even remember why I thought I should. I want her, and I know she wants me. Thinking I’d lost her, thinking she’d chosen to leave, and then finding out she was in trouble and needed me — all those emotions have cleared away any doubt in my mind about my desire for her.
My lips are hard and demanding against hers, but she gives it right back, her body pressing firmly against mine, her hands clenching onto me. We kiss till our breathing gets ragged before finally pulling our mouths apart. She lays her forehead against mine, and we share hot breaths for several moments, lost in a haze of passion.
“Uh, can I get some of that? He’s not the only one who was down there fighting off a bunch of mermen.” Jude’s voice brings us back to reality.
Coral grins, and I nod at her and loosen my grip around her waist. I don’t want to give her up, but I know the deal — one for all and all for one. If I want her, I have to be willing to share.
Coral swims over to Jude and has a moment with him and then Liam. I busy myself climbing aboard the ship and taking off my equipment. Avery is there, bouncing with excitement, begging me to tell him all about it.
“I wish you could’ve seen that place, Ave; it was incredible. An entire city under the water. The maps Pearl drew for us were great. We were inside the palace in minutes. The guards came after us, but the hallway was small enough that only one or two could reach us at a time, so Jude and I were able to hold them back while Liam got the door open.”
“Did you have to hurt anyone?”
“I stabbed one guy in the gut and another in the shoulder, and I slashed a few others,” I say darkly. I have a feeling the first guy won’t make it. Hopefully all the others will recover.
Jude and Liam must be done making out with Coral because I hear them climbing the ladder. A few seconds later, Jude hops on board and turns back, holding out his hands to Coral. Liam must give her a hoist from below because Jude easily hauls her up on deck.
“Avery!” she cries out as soon as she sees him, her face beaming with happiness.
He rushes over to her and drops to his knees, wrapping his arms around her, his mouth descending on her.
From behind me, I hear small sounds, but it’s not till I hear a gasp that I whip my head around and see my sister peeking out of the cabin area.
“Holy cow, she’s a frickin’ mermaid!”
Chapter 11
Coral
“Bella! What the hell are you doing here?” Gio stalks over to her, anger radiating off his massive body, making his flesh quiver.
Bella immediately cowers under his looming presence, hunching her shoulders, dipping her head, her tiny body shaking. She goes from a cocky teenager to a petrified child in half a second. She’s wearing her typical, all-black uniform, but her face looks much younger without the heavy makeup she usually wears.
As soon as Gio sees her reaction, he softens his stance, taking a step back and letting the tension roll off of him. He reaches out to her but stops when she flinches. “Hey, hey, it’s okay. I’m not going to hurt you.”
She peeks up at him with wide eyes, and her body relaxes a little when she sees he’s calmer. “I wanted to come, but you said no, so I decided to sneak on board. I figured you were just being overprotective. I mean, how dangerous could it be? It’s the Caribbean, not the Arctic.”
Gio frowns at her. “Bella, there was a lot more to it that that.”
Bella quirks her lip and an eyebrow as she peeks around Gio to look at me. “Yeah, like the fact you have a mermaid with you? Can we talk about that now?”
Gio scrubs a hand over his face and shakes his head. “I guess we might as well; it’s not exactly a secret anymore.”
Avery stands up and backs away from me as Bella tiptoes past him and heads towards me. I tense as she approaches. I’m lying on the deck, my tail still out, slick with sea water. The setting sun paints the sky orange and red and makes my iridescent scales glisten like a rainbow.
How will she react? Will she be fascinated like the guys were, or horrified? Can we trust her to keep my secret? I shiver and stare at her, begging her to accept me.
She kneels down beside me and reaches out to touch me but then stops and looks at me like she’s asking permission. When I nod at her she runs her hand gently up and down the length of my tail, making my scales ripple.
“I can’t believe mermaids are real. This is so cool! How in the world did you ever find her?” She turns back to glance at her brother like I’m suddenly an object, not a person.
“I found them,” I answer before he has a chance to. She whips her head back around and widens her eyes at me.
“I pulled them from the ocean when I saw their boat sinking and brought them to the island. When rescue came, I decided to come home with them.”
Bella stares at me for a moment then turns to Gio again. “So this is why you didn’t want me to come? You didn’t want me to know she was a mermaid?”
“Well, partly. But this really was a dangerous trip for us. Coral was being held prisoner by her people and needed us to rescue her. I wasn’t sure if I would make it back or not.”
Bella leans back on her heels, fascinated by the story, her eyes sparkling with the reflected sunset. “So you had to fight a bunch of mermaids to get her back?”
Gio chuckles. “Well, mermen, actually.”
Bella’s mouth fall open, and she takes a quick peek at me. “Are they dangerous?”
I speak up again. “They’re very strong and powerful. It was a brave thing what your brother did.”
“You risked your life to rescue her? I gotta say, bro, that’s pretty romantic. I didn’t think you had it in you.” She smirks at him.
Gio shrugs and smiles back, but he’s looking at me, not her. “What can I say? I’m in love with her.”
His words hit me like a tsunami, crashing over me, drowning me in emotions. My mouth gapes open like a fish trying to breathe air. I stare at him, and an invisible tether stretches from his eyes to mine, binding us together. We’re too caught up in the moment to notice Bella’s reaction until her voice breaks through the haze.
“Then aren’t you kind of upset that she was just kissing Avery?” Her brow wrinkles as she glances between the three of us.
Avery runs a hand nervously through his long, blond hair. “I was just so happy to see her alive and well that I couldn’t help myself. I’m sorry, Gio, Coral. I promise it won’t happen again.”
But Gio shakes his head. “No, we’re not going to do this. I’m not gonna ask you guys to pretend for me. Bella’s here, she knows Coral’s secret, she might as well know all of it.”
Bella raises an eyebrow and looks at Gio. Jude and Liam are standing stock still, watching anxiously.
; Gio starts pacing and grabs a rope off the deck, wrapping it tight around his knuckles. He stares at the rope like he’s mesmerized by it. When he finally starts speaking, he peeks up at Bella for just a moment. “Bella, we were alone on the island for a long time. We didn’t think we’d ever be rescued. Coral was the only woman there, and she’s pretty amazing.”
Bella’s eyes start to widen, and the corners of her lips curl in a hint of a smile like she knows where this is going.
Gio glances rapidly between Bella and the rope wrapped around his fists, afraid to make eye contact but desperate to gauge her reaction. Finally, he sighs and spits out the rest of it. “We decided it would be better to share her than to fight over her. Coral was in agreement.”
Amazingly, Bella’s face opens in a wide smile, and she glances around, beaming at each of us. “So, it’s like a reverse harem, right? One girl with multiple love interests?”
Gio gawks at her, opens his mouth to say something then closes it again and shakes his head. “What?”
“Reverse harem. It’s trending.” Bella grins, and Jude bellows out a laugh.
Gio slaps his hands over his face and shakes his head, but his smile shines through. “You don’t think it’s weird, or wrong?”
Bella shrugs. “I mean, I didn’t think anybody actually lived that way; I thought it was all fiction. But as long as you guys are okay with it, why should it matter what anyone else thinks? The fact that she’s a mermaid is a lot weirder, but pretty awesome.” She glances nervously at me, worried she’s offended me.
Gio collapses on the bench behind him and throws his head back, smiling. “Bella Romano, I’ve gone from wanting to strangle you to wanting to hug you in less than five minutes.”
The Mermaid's Return_A Reverse Harem Romance Page 10