by Starla Night
“It is disappointing to lose important tools.” Balim drew his attention with sympathy. “I lost my first trident when I was about your age. A fish dragged it away and nearly hooked me as well. My father healed my injuries, and we set about making a new one. I missed my first trident for a long time.”
Jonah’s brows drew together with sadness but he mastered himself and did not cry. “I was level seventeen in Street Warrior Twenty-Eleven.”
“I’m sorry.” Bella nudged his bear. “You still have this.”
“Because it has your rock inside.” He opened the bear to show her Balim’s offering. “I was always cold at that other hospital, and the rock felt warm. And it stinks like you.”
“Stinks?” Her lips quirked and water shimmered in her eyes. “Is Mom stinky to you?”
“Maybe a little,” he admitted. “It’s Mom stink, so it’s okay.”
She snuggled him so hard. “I’m getting my mom sink on you.”
He pushed away, wiggling but also laughing, and his chest glowed bright.
Jonah might never be a merman because there was now only one mermaid of the sea, Queen Lucy’s young fry Tory. But the elixir in his body had reacted with Bella’s jewel. Balim resonated with Bella just as Bella loved Jonah and Jonah loved her. She was the nexus between them. The Life Tree had healed Jonah after all.
Nora popped up suddenly, startling them. “That explosion socked me right in the chest.”
“The general survived?” Bella asked.
“For now. He wouldn’t let me cure him.” Nora pouted. “I think, and I could be wrong about this, that he’s on the side of the All-Council because he’s bitter about an ex and he never wants her to rejoin the mer.”
“You are right,” Balim said.
“No. I refuse to believe it. That would be too childish. He’s second-in-command of the armies!” She shook her head. “Anyway, he said land is close, and if we drift this direction, we’ll hit the shore. I’m going to nap in Octopus Kong’s shadow for now. It feels like I’ve been awake for six months. I’m just exhausted.”
“We will let you know when we arrive.”
“Great. After you get rescued, Octopus Kong and I will hunt down that general and clarify that he needs to be cured, and that he’s an adult and my soul mate.”
Bella’s lips curved. “He’s your one, huh?”
“Yes, definitely.”
“How ironic that you have to convince him.”
“Ironic? Or interesting?” She smiled and steepled her fingers. “Yes. I can’t wait.”
Balim was also exhausted but content, a feeling he never expected to feel while clutched in the tentacle of a giant cave guardian. Queen Elyssa was right to gift Octopus Kong with a special treat of rare food. He should join her next offering.
Oh. His contented glow faded. He could never return to Atlantis.
Bella squeezed his fingers, somehow divining his thoughts. “We’ll go back someday.”
“You may.”
“We both will.” She kissed their entwined fingers. “The mer and human worlds are only beginning to change. You’ve cured an incurable disease. Mitch and every other innocent person who’s been hurt by this disease will be healed. You said you would atone, and I believe you. I’ll be right there with you. Someday, you’ll win a medal for that.”
“For curing a disease my own twisted genius unleashed?” He shook his head. “I need no honors for stopping what my revenge started. Especially since the queens of Atlantis will star in the cure.”
“Good.” She smiled. “It will put a curveball into the Sons of Hercules destroy-all-mer pitch if the mer queens are curing everything. Of course, we have to stop the Sons of Hercules from recruiting another person. ‘Hate is the great unifier’ indeed.”
“You will stop them,” Balim assured her.
She grinned. “My marketing campaign of hope versus their smear campaign of fear.”
“But you will not spread lies. Only truth.”
“You have the utmost confidence in my marketing skills.”
“Yes, Bella. You are exceptional in all you do.”
She kissed his nose, closed her eyes, and rested against Octopus Kong. “Except for the acrid smell of burning metal, it’s a beautiful afternoon for a nap.”
He also closed his eyes, filled with her same warmth and confidence.
They had found her young fry son, stopped a health crisis, undermined the loyalties of an important All-Council commander, and thwarted a Sons of Hercules double agent. Soon they would be rescued. Bella’s young fry would flourish. Balim would remain with Bella all his life.
On the surface, he would be okay. They were together. All that remained was to pledge the vows, sign the contracts, and make them a family.
He would live for Bella, for the father he had loved and lost, and for himself.
“You’ll do great,” she murmured, again divining his mind without him speaking. “And the answer is yes. Whenever you ask.”
“Yes?” He fixed on the question. “Will you marry me in a human wedding ceremony with a white cloth, festive cake, and glittering tiaras?”
She smiled.
His heart soared. They were already soul mates. And he knew her answer.
Together, they would spread healing, hope, and love throughout the mer and human worlds. As husband and wife. Male and female. Warrior and queen.
“Yes.”
Epilogue ~ Balim’s New Fatherhood
“Young fry Jonah.”
Balim stood in the doorway of the dark, blinds-drawn family room and squinted at the preteen huddled under the blankets playing on his replacement Switch.
“It is the daylight hour when human fathers play a sport with their young fry human sons. Come out, and we will throw a soccer ball.”
Bella suppressed her smile as she listened for her son’s response. She already knew from the short three months they’d lived in their house—nestled in Upstate in a good school district—what Jonah’s response would be.
“You’re not human,” he replied, muffled and disinterested. “And I’m not your son.”
“I would like to be your father.”
“Why? Chaz is a jerk.”
“I do not wish to be Chaz. I wish to be like my father was to me, but as a human. That is what I wish to be to you.”
Bella melted a little and pushed the freshly washed towels into the cupboard. Balim had grown increasingly open with his emotions to the point of being able to express himself like this to Jonah. She knew what it cost him and how hard he still had to try.
“So stop.” Jonah tossed the effort back in Balim’s face. “You made me lose my level. Just go away. I don’t want a dad, and I don’t want you.”
Balim looked down and trudged away.
Bella’s heart squeezed.
She couldn’t see the soul lights of the mer, but she could see how he was wounded by her child’s simple, thoughtless words.
“Hey.” She sidled up to Balim. “Jonah doesn’t need you right now, but I do.”
The shadows haunting him fell away. “You do?”
“I absolutely do.” She took his hand and threaded his powerful fingers through hers, sealing their connection. “This way.”
“Is it your marketing? The Sons of Hercules? Has Starr found their leader?”
“No, no. Something else, if you’re up for it.”
Intrigued, he followed her up the stairs.
Bella still ran marketing campaigns, but her passion project was undermining the Sons of Hercules. She worked remotely under Starr’s digital protection and in a secure community.
Releasing her masterwork had caused an explosion in the media like a bomb.
The Sons of Hercules had paused their mainland attacks. Their military funding had come under scrutiny, the CDC had spoken out on the side of the mermen, and even the postal system had gotten involved. Postal Police Officers were aggressive, thorough, and relentless in prosecuting criminals who abused the mail. Be
lla had her fingers crossed.
The Sons of Hercules had stopped actively recruiting disgruntled college students to be their terrorists, but the airy confidence of the mysterious Herc couldn’t be stopped by one campaign. He had too much power and influence. This was the calm before a storm.
But today was a Saturday, and she was finally living the dream, working on the week and enjoying a fun, loving family on the weekends. How funny that a dream she had never wanted with Chaz was now the biggest, brightest happiness in her life.
At the top of the stairs, she raised her voice. “Jonah, in five minutes, I want you upstairs cleaning your bedroom and sorting your socks!”
Silence followed.
“Jonah?”
“Okay, Mom!” he shouted with irritation.
“Don’t play video games all day. We’re going for a picnic at the lighthouse, and I need to shout at you if I think of more chores.”
“Okay, Mom!”
She grinned at Balim and led him through the door of the master bedroom and clicked the lock. “He’ll hide under the blankets with the earbuds on full blast. We’ll have a little privacy.”
“You do not wish for him to sort his socks?”
“Oh, sure, but he’ll be playing frantically to beat the level before I bother him. He won’t dare walk away from his game now.”
“No?”
She rested her arms on Balim’s shoulders and pressed her full breasts against his hard, masculine chest. “I need you, Balim. I need you to inspect me.”
He played along, walking her between piles of laundry toward the nice big bed. “Are you feeling well?”
“All hot, actually.”
“Have you been feeling hot for long?”
“Ever since you followed me into the bedroom.”
He grasped her hips and slid his skilled hands up, lifting her velvet shirt. “I will check every part of your body for injuries.”
“I was hoping you’d say that.”
“With my tongue.”
She curled her calf around his iron-hard thigh. “I’m ready.”
He dipped her onto the bed, straightened, and unbuckled his belt. “Take off your clothes, my queen.”
Bella shimmied out of her shirt and jeans to reveal plain white panties. Balim’s gaze gleamed, and the heartblood-red threads shimmered in his brown irises. He seemed to like her plain cotton more than her lace and so she’d worn more of them; something about the white color reminded him of their first time when she’d unwrapped a condom.
He kneed onto the bed and made good on his promise, searing her lips with his hungry kiss and then continuing downward, consuming her body in wet heat and flames.
She splayed her hands over the broad scar crossing his chest and the smaller dagger line on his rigid abdomen. He had regained his strength and health, and now he used both to lift her from the fluffy comforter, kissing over her panties to tease her trembling thighs.
He made her his queen. Over and over and over again.
Bella dipped her fingers beneath her waistband. “Do you want to unwrap me today?”
His red iris threads flared with inner heat.
He pinched the underwire at her chest. “Yes.”
The fabric peeled away in his hands, revealing her breasts. He chased first one globe with his wet mouth and brought her to the peak of arousal, then the other.
Her channel slickened, and her sex lips turned slippery for him.
He rubbed her through the dampening fabric. She moaned. He smiled with cocky satisfaction at her readiness.
Two could play, and she liked games. Bella gripped his rigid cock.
He closed his eyes, sucked in a deep breath, and centered on her. Touching his forehead to hers, he finally hooked his thumbs in her soft cotton and unveiled her slick pink femininity. He stroked the visible beauty and kissed her mouth deeply, thrusting his tongue in time with his strokes because he knew it drove her wild.
And it did.
She urged him to cover her. Obliging, he knelt between her legs, opening her to him, and positioned his thick cock at her ready entrance. “Do you wish to wrap me today?”
Sometimes, he still liked to wear a condom because he enjoyed the friction and heat; he said it focused his pleasure. But she also liked the slippery length of him driven deep into her, joining them for eternity.
What did she desire today?
Bella simply entwined their legs and drew his bare cock into her channel to the hilt.
He rested there, his pelvis to hers, pubic bone to pubic bone, curly hairs nestled. Hers were the same fiery red as her hair, and his were darker chestnut-mahogany. His tattoos and her freckles colored their skin in intricate patterns. Every time they made love, he affirmed everything about her. He made her feel like they belonged.
Balim nuzzled her, centering her on this moment, joined with him, his scarred chest and abdomen to her smooth one.
She smiled. He wanted what she wanted too: the joy lifting her heart that they were here, together, joined. Although there was no guarantee of the future and they had seen too much pain in the past, this moment was perfect. Happiness wrapped in sadness, bittersweet and beautiful, like a fine square of the darkest chocolate.
He lowered onto his elbows and thrust into her pleasure spot.
She arched, meeting him with slow certainty, building to the climax they both loved. Sweaty, gasping, thrusting, moaning kisses and pleasure caresses. Promises, a thousand promises. His cock stroked her channel, kindling a fire in her that only he could quench.
She gasped her peak.
He jammed his arm under her waist and lifted her to meet his cock’s thrusts, drawing out the pleasure.
She blazoned into light as the orgasm sang over her skin, endlessly delicious. He shuddered, synchronized with her soul, and burst his liquid seed deep into her soft womb.
They collapsed onto the bed beside each other, all tangled limbs and satisfaction.
He eyed her. “Bella. Are you happy here?”
“I love this house.”
His smile twitched. “That is not my question.”
Yes. She knew that. “I will be happy when the Sons of Hercules face consequences for their crimes.”
Thanks to Starr’s recording of the final call on the plague ship, their opportunity might come sooner than hoped. Dannika swore she’d met Herc. She never forgot a face or a name.
“The leader is a him,” Dannika had said in the clean, private offices of MerMatch. “Ignore the vocal distortion. I know his way of speaking from those voice patterns. Herc’s not a member of my inner circle, but I’m sure I’ve met him. Maybe he’s a friend of my father’s. Maybe I knew his sister in college. Our connection will come to me, and then we’ll have him.”
It was a happy thought in an otherwise uncertain time.
Balim could not go back to Atlantis because his return might cause unrest, and so Aya had continued his employment at the mer hospital. He also consulted with the CDC.
Doctor Kowalski worked for them as the prime researcher of Blue Ring.
Sea Opal elixir arrested the illness, and a combination of therapy, antidepressants, and a visit from Queen Elyssa had cured everyone infected in the first outbreak. Mitch had made a full recovery with the support of his loving wife and two daughters, and was now back at work in the new mer hospital with Balim. But occasionally, patients still turned up in hospital emergency rooms, and that was when Balim’s team activated.
Bella turned the question around on Balim. “Are you happy?”
His mouth flattened. His gaze drew to the locked door leading out of the bedroom. “I still have much to learn about young humans.”
She cupped his hard cheek. “Jonah likes you, and he’s interested in forming a relationship. He’s just also a typical ten-year-old boy who skipped almost an entire year of his life and has to make up for it. And preferring to snuggle under blankets is a family trait.”
“I wish to act honorably and earn his respect.”
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“Maybe instead of trying to do human bonding activities, you should try mer.”
“But he is a human son. I must give him the human experience he needs to develop into a strong man.”
“You’re attentive and that’s kind. But he knows you’re not human, and he doesn’t want you to be. What merman things can you both do? That’s where you’ll make the compromise.”
Balim thought hard. “Hence the trip to the lighthouse?”
“Yes.” She jammed a hand under her head. “I thought you both enjoy the seaside—”
The doorknob jangled.
Bella dove under the covers, scrambling to hide, and then tossed sheets over calm, naked Balim. “J-Jonah?”
“Mom? The door’s locked.”
“Yeah. Sorry. Did you need something, hon?”
“You have my socks.”
She clutched the sheets higher, her heart thumping a million times a minute. “Weren’t you playing video games? Loud?”
“I beat the level, and I want to go to the lighthouse after lunch with you and Balim.”
Balim brightened and headed to the door. “Very good.”
“Stop!” she hissed. “Where are you going?”
“To let him in.”
“You’re still naked. I’m still naked. Stop it!”
“He saw us naked on the ship.”
“Yeah, but we’re not on the ship. Balim!” She jumped out of bed and wrapped the top sheet around her body.
Balim opened the door.
She stood gross and sweaty and disheveled. “Sorry. Mom decided to, uh, exercise and get in the shower, so…”
Jonah’s nose wrinkled. “Okay.”
“Right. Sorry. The socks are over here. I’ll run away to the shower.”
Jonah bobbed in, nodded to Balim, who was calmly half-dressed, and picked up the basket of socks. “Okay, Mom, but your body is normal, so don’t feel bad about it.”
She checked. “I’m sorry?”
“Balim told me.” Jonah’s bare arms still showed the marks of the many, many IVs he’d had during his treatments. He displayed them unselfconsciously. “Mermen swim naked because bodies are natural when you don’t need clothes to stay warm.”
Balim beamed. “Correct.”
“But humans do.” Bella eased toward the master bedroom shower. “And with that in mind, let’s put clean clothes on so we can enjoy our picnic.”