Sealed Fate: Paranormal Dating Agency (Otherworld Shifters Book 5) Page 15

  Things had become dark. Messy.

  She rapped her knuckles on the moss-laden wood of his door and called to him. Seeing his home made her sink further into guilt. While she had a home, he had nothing. A single room of a tired shack that was never meant to be a residence. She’d forgotten. Teall would rather sleep in his seal form, bobbing along the water, rather than in a bed alone.

  No sound came from inside, but she couldn’t imagine where else he’d be. She pushed on the door but the moment she did, it opened and Teall filled the dark doorway. His tall form slouched. She’d never seen him defeated. In truth, she’d always assumed that Teall didn’t experience sadness, only a different shade of anger.

  “I didn’t think I’d see you tonight.” He stepped out.

  She held out his skin. The silver fur drank in the pale moonlight and nearly glowed. “I had no right to take this.”

  His hand lifted but stopped short. “You had every right.”

  “No. I was cruel.”

  “You did what you thought necessary, and I’d pushed you to that moment.” He pursed his lips. “My choices hardened you.”

  The pain in his voice broke her heart. His words reminded her of the argument she’d had with Cam upon returning to Prism. “I know you think you ruined me, but you didn’t.”

  “Didn’t I? How many times did we fight? How many times did I apologize and promise to change, only to go and hurt you again? I tore through your kindness and forgiveness as if love was a never-ending fountain.”

  She stepped close and pressed his seal skin into his hands. He took it in and embraced it, wiping his cheeks against the soft fur.

  “You’re only feeling this way because I stole a part of you and kept it too long.”

  “No,” he murmured. He stroked the sleek pelt and avoided her eyes. “The moment you left I knew. Or maybe I knew long before then. Cam always knew.”

  She caressed his arm, longing to hold him. “Cam told me everything, and while he has his pain, we all know that it wasn’t meant to be. The three of us… it would only have been a bigger mess.”

  “But you wanted it.”

  “I did. And when I was younger, I didn’t see why it never happened. But we were an out of control blaze. We couldn’t drag him down with us.” Her hand slid over his and squeezed. “If wishes paved the way for possibility, we would have been better together. But just because I wanted us to be perfect, it didn’t make us perfect.”

  “But now you have it.”

  “I do,” she admitted. Pavel and Cam were an easy pair. “That doesn’t mean I never loved you. It doesn’t mean what we had is erased.”

  He stared down at her. With careful maneuvering, she placed himself into his arms. He didn’t move to hold her, but she tucked herself against his body and embraced him. No matter what happened in the future, she’d never forget her first love.

  “I’d like a last kiss,” he whispered.

  She cupped his cheek. “Of course.”

  Rising on her toes, she closed the distance and pressed her lips to his. She intended a sweet, chaste kiss, but the moment their skin touched, everything changed. Her lips parted to welcome his tongue, and his arms wrapped around her body, lifting her and holding her tight.

  The heat between them roared, lacking nothing to suggest that the passion had dwindled in their time apart. She hooked her hands around his neck and held on while their tongues danced and the intoxicating taste of him awakened her body. His hands roamed, touching her everywhere with eagerness and impatience. His fingers tangled in her hair and clawed at the small of her back.

  She’d missed him more than he knew. Maybe it was madness, but she’d never wanted to tame his wild nature. Soften it, yes, but she thrived on his chaos and complexity. He was never easy or predictable, but she’d always known he was worth it.

  But he was too much. That was their downfall. He would push too far, and she would drown beneath him. They couldn’t both stay afloat.

  She pulled from the kiss to say goodbye but was caught by the need in his dark eyes. He lifted her and placed her back against the door. The wood scraped at her bare shoulder blades, but it didn’t matter. His hard length ground against her thigh—that mattered.

  Cam would understand if she slept with Teall one last time. Pavel likely wouldn’t. He’d adapted well and tried hard to accept their customs, but she wouldn’t risk this night becoming a tipping point. She’d made enough mistakes.

  “We can’t,” she breathed.

  “I know.” Teall’s hand slid beneath her dress and caressed her wet folds. “Just this. Let me please you.”

  She closed her eyes as his fingers plunged into her, quick and determined. The pleasure wiped her mind clean. He kissed her again, leaving her dizzy and breathless. His fingers stroked her inner walls with precision. After a few hundred years, he knew exactly how to bring her climax, and he didn’t take his time. His palm flattened against her clit and he shoved into her rough and deliberate, shaking her body.

  All she could do was hang on and try not to collapse. Her body trembled with the building release, and she moaned into their kiss. He swallowed her every desperate sound, and when she could take no more and her ecstasy overflowed, he freed her lips to set her cries loose on the wind.

  She shook from the powerful release, but he held her steady. He kissed her forehead and she clung to him, memorizing the beat of his heart. She didn’t want to say goodbye. Not because of the pleasure, but because of the love she still had. If only it could always be this way. This beautiful. But together they were flawed.

  When she could stand on her own, she searched for words to make it okay. She wanted to promise that someday they would be friends again, but her throat was too dry to speak.

  His skin had fallen to the ground, but he now lifted it. He caressed her cheek then turned away. As she watched, he donned his skin and dove into the tide. It carried him down and she didn’t see him resurface. That was all.

  Twenty-Two

  Annika

  All selkies hid their skins.

  The habit likely had no reason anymore, but they continued to be secretive about where they kept the magical half of themselves. Granted, it wasn’t uncommon to know where one’s friends or family kept theirs. The action was more habit than anything else.

  When Annika took Teall’s skin, she’d simply hid it under her own. They were both silver, and in the darkness of the underwater pocket she used, looked identical when folded.

  Why Teall never thought to look there remained a mystery to her. Maybe he never considered that she’d hide it in practically plain sight, or maybe he wanted to earn it back rather than steal it, as it showed growth of his character.

  She’d never know now.

  Since their farewell, they hadn’t spoken. She didn’t see them crossing paths again, even if neither of them would be leaving the pebbled shore. Selkies were good at hiding, and Teall could easily avoid her for the rest of their lives. She didn’t try to find him, though. It would only bring them both pain. No point in that.

  She swam along the familiar jut of sharp rocks and dived down when her foot found a particular edge. Her hands felt along the layers of rock and coral as she continued to swim down until she found the lip of a rocky shelf. She reached inside the hidden space and retrieve her skin then wrapped it around herself.

  The comforting magic of her fur pelt filled her. As long as she inhabited her seal form, the entire ocean felt like home and radiated love. After her time on Earth, she’d only gradually spent more time swimming and living in this form. Mostly due to guilt, but also a pinch of fear.

  Today, however, she hoped to trade her guilt and sadness for something else. For a future. She swam in wide circles as she rose to the top of the water, following the rippling waves of light that pierced the surface. The sun warmed her head and back as she skimmed and bobbed her way back to the shore where Pavel waited.

  He stood as she came close, and after the tide propelled her forwar
d, she slipped out of her skin and stood before him.

  “I’m still confused about the surprise,” Pavel said. He reached out and twirled a lock of her hair around his finger. “But I’m envious of the magic that keeps your hair dry when you’ve been out swimming.”

  She grinned. “As long as it doesn’t touch the water after seal form, it comes out this way. A practical trick. I hate walking around the house with wet hair.”

  “You seem better today,” he commented.

  She took a deep breath and nodded. He’d been an absolute treasure while she mourned Teall. He and Cam did all they could to keep her in high spirits. “Because I came to a decision.”

  “Is that so?”

  Rising on her toes, she kissed him gently while pressing her selkie skin to his chest. As she pulled from the kiss she backed away, leaving him clutching her pelt.

  He smiled at her in a daze which wore off once he glanced down. “No,” he said firmly. “I don’t want this.”

  She stepped back as he held it out to her. “It’s the only way. You have to take possession of it.”

  “The only way to what? Enslave you? Make you miserable?”

  “I know you asked Cam if I would give it to you. He said it wasn’t possible. But it is, and now I have.”

  “You’re in too much pain.” He held the skin out and folded it in half twice, his movements careful and reverent. “I’ve watched you. Swimming brings you half the joy it used to. But that will pass, and when it does, you’ll regret having done this.”

  There was truth in his words. The shipwreck of her emotions gave her the ability to release her selkie skin. But it was a loophole, and they could work with it. “I’m not trapped with you. I love you. And I know everything you feel for me is pure, but this is the only way we can have a future together.”

  “And Cam?”

  “He’ll understand.”

  “I can’t own you. Even if you think that’s not how it is, that’s still the reality.” He held it out to her, insistence in his strong stance. “I don’t need you to choose between this and me. I love you regardless.”

  She looked down. “But you have to take it. It’s the only way to start a family.”

  Stepping forward, he drew her into his arms. “I don’t believe that. You want to talk about loopholes? Think about why men stole selkie furs. Think about why the women always had to leave their men and why the men couldn’t follow.”

  “I know the legends. All the stories beneath the myths. I’ve felt the pull of the water my entire life.”

  “But we aren’t on Earth.” He stared into her eyes. “You were destined to leave me and return here, where I couldn’t follow—but I did. I’m here. Every couple before were torn between the human land and the fae waters. But we aren’t.”

  She wanted to believe him. There was a thread of sense to what he said. At no point in their time on Prism had she felt compelled to leave him. “It can’t be that easy.”

  He laughed. “I wouldn’t call me drowning and being jetted across the galaxy via undine driven magic portal ‘easy’ by any stretch.”

  His smile tried to reassure her, but inside she felt as down as before. No, she didn’t think they’d found a loophole. If anything, they were prolonging the inevitable. For them to be together, there had to be a sacrifice, she could feel it in her bones. It’s how love and magic worked, especially for selkies.

  On the outside, they were playful and lived in the moment. On the inside, they were chaos and penance. They all paid for the crimes of their ancestors, whether it be judgment and exclusion from the rest of the fae society or…

  She forced herself to smile with him. The burden of her desires was too dark to hang from his shoulders. “Maybe you’re right.”

  “Of course I’m right.” He wrapped her hands around the folded fur. “Did you want to go for a swim? Or put it back in your secret spot?”

  A swim wouldn’t clear her head in her current state. The sight of a small woman walking toward them made Annika reluctant to leave Pavel anyhow. “We have company.”

  He turned to see, and his face lit. “Vevina!”

  Annika followed him to the fae, whose sprite features were obvious, from her short height to her vibrant hair, which currently shifted between a rosy pink and dark peach color.

  “Pavel! Oof!”

  Grinning ear to ear, he spun Vevina around in a tight hug and dropped her in front of Annika. “It’s about time!”

  Vevina stepped aside and brushed at her dress and hair with playful annoyance. “I came as soon as I heard, actually.”

  “We sent correspondence weeks ago,” Annika murmured.

  Vevina held her hand out. “I don’t doubt that. But it’s nice to meet you.”

  “This is Annika,” Pavel said. “And you know what? Let’s go inside.”

  The women shook hands quickly before Pavel ushered them up the sand and into the house. Annika lingered around the counter and watched Pavel, who’d instantly gone to the kitchen.

  “Tea?” he asked.

  Vevina ran a hand over a leather-topped stool before sitting on it as if it would bite. “You have tea? Selkies don’t drink tea…”

  Annika studied Vevina. Her instincts were to welcome Vevina as a friend, but a nasty fear lurked in her gut. If Vevina was high on the Pure court roster, it meant she was likely prejudiced.

  “They don’t, but I’ll make converts of them yet,” he said while placing a pot of water on the stove. “The hardest part isn’t the tea. It’s the honey.”

  “It’s too sweet,” Annika agreed. “And the source is questionable.”

  “Bees are questionable?” Vevina asked. “What about them?”

  Annika shrugged. She simply didn’t like bees. They stung and tended to be pests. There were none on the coast, but she’d had a run in with the pesky insects once when she was younger. They’d ruined an otherwise pleasant day in the village.

  “How did you just get word,” Pavel asked.

  Vevina rolled her eyes and leaned on the counter. “For the past few years, the messengers have been lax whenever it came to communication with the neutral parties. It’s always been an issue, and an annoying one, because some fae refuse to put their biases aside to properly do their jobs.”

  “Of course,” Annika murmured under her breath. This wasn’t new to hear.

  “Now it’s worse,” Vevina continued. “Particularly for the selkies, because of Kerren’s past and his current situation. It was bad enough that his interest in Mira was thwarted, but when he was revealed as the prince, many selkies, Mira included, felt it as a deep scam and insult.”

  “Scam?” Annika straightened. “I hadn’t heard of this.”

  “We get many threats and angry letters that their relationship was denied because the truth of his royalty was always known but kept a secret… which is nonsense. He had no idea. I had no idea. The King and Queen were absolutely floored by it—but it doesn’t matter. Enough selkies believe it was an intended slap in the face of their Duchess.”

  Pavel measured the tea while frowning. “This sounds exactly like something that would happen back home. Are they demanding reparations of some sort?”

  “Almost. That is, the complaints we get are divided. Some want a formal apology and admittance of the hoax. Some want Kerren to take Mira as a second wife—which actually, Mira doesn’t even want. She’s hurt by everything but has moved on from him.”

  Annika laughed. “She moved on from him instantly.”

  “Well, yes,” Vevina agreed “Mira doesn’t seek anything long-term.”

  Though she’d commented first, Annika scanned Vevina’s tone. Pavel didn’t seem to notice anything and poured them each a small cup of tea.

  “Regardless, the end result is that a substantial amount of the selkie correspondence now slips through the cracks. Even though your letter was addressed to me, it was assumed as a ploy to circumvent the system of how royal mail is usually handled.”

  “I’m
surprised you got it at all, then,” Pavel said.

  “Truly,” Annika agreed.

  Vevina glanced between them. “I went searching, actually. Even though the Pure court and the selkies have never gotten along, in so many words, we keep tabs on what is going on everywhere. It was hard to ignore the rumors of a human washing up on the shore somehow. Then Blair contacted me to say Pavel wasn’t answering his phone and Gerri left me a cryptic message about Pavel taking a vacation…”

  “Not really a vacation,” he said.

  “But here I am. And I’m glad to see you but confused at how this all… works.”

  Annika moved closer to Pavel. “What do you mean?”

  “A selkie and a human,” Vevina said.

  “Does it bother you?” Annika asked.

  “Vevina is a water fae in part,” Pavel pointed out. “She doesn’t hate selkies.”

  Vevina’s lips pursed and she stared down at her tea. Her hair shifted to a bluish hue at the roots. “I don’t hate selkies. Naiad blood runs through me. We’re practically kin.”

  “Truly?” Annika marveled. “But wouldn’t that mean… your allegiance should be to the Virtuous court?”

  Pavel peered at Vevina. “Aria said that too, actually. Most naiads are.”

  Vevina wrapped her small hands around her steaming cup and pulled it forward. “It’s a long story, but I have always been a part of the Pure court. I can’t say the same for all my ancestors.”

  “Then you could give your opinion of each, I guess,” Pavel mused.

  She nodded. “I could. But… I lied. I didn’t come immediately.” Her gaze averted them. “The moment I hit the shore, I realized I couldn’t turn away from this anymore.”

  “I’m lost,” Annika admitted.

  A sad smile curved Vevina’s delicate lips and she pointed to the window. “I haven’t seen the waves in centuries.”

  “Why would you do that?” Annika asked. “That would be torture.”

  Vevina blinked and tears formed in the corners of her eyes. “It has been, but I didn’t know that until now.” She stood and shimmered until her body was translucent. Within an instance, she reappeared outside, walking down to the water line.