Chapter Twenty-One
Knuckles looked out the back of the building. Behind him, Amy had her hammer out, ready to use it if she needed too. Behind her, Rouge and Tails were hovering, holding onto Sonic. Tails had him by his armpits, while Rouge had him by his tail, remembering to be extra careful and wary of the barbed stinger on his tail. Shadow was with them, using the most of his strength to hold Ryn in a bridal style. To be honest, Ryn didn't mind it as much. She kinda liked being carried this way. If only it was Sonic instead of this surface walker.
"Ok, the coast is clear." Knuckles assured them. "Let's go."
"We'll go around and distract the crowd." Amy told the carriers. "You guys just get them to the water."
"Got it." The others nodded.
With that, Knuckles and Amy went around to approach the crowd from behind and distract them. Once they were sure the crowd wasn't paying attention, the carriers ran/flew as fast as they could, carrying the Sirens with them. With Shadow's speed, he was the first one at the beach, just a few miles from the beach house and the moonpool. Luckily, nobody was at the beach to see them.
"Such speed." Ryn signed. "Impressive."
Shadow frowned at her signing, unable to decipher what she was saying. The sign language she was using was foreign to him, not like the normal ASL he was taught. "I'm sorry. I don't understand." Ryn tilted her head, clearly indicating that she didn't understand him either. Shadow sighed and placed the purple Siren in the water. "Guess you don't understand me either. Rouge and Tails should be here soon with Sonic. They're not as fast as me, but they're still pretty fast." Ryn just laid in the water, frowning at him and splashing her tail in the water to keep herself wet. "Not much of a talker, huh?"
Ryn smirked and opened her mouth, beginning to sing again, but this time, she had a different intention. This land dweller had gotten her home safe and sound, and quite quick too. He had done his best to keep her wet so that she didn't experience that pain of drying up again. Maybe he wasn't so bad after all.
Once again, Shadow was entranced by her beautiful voice. It took over him quickly, just like it had before. When she sang, he couldn't focus on anything else but her voice. Ryn smiled and waved her hand, beckoning him to come closer. Unable to resist, Shadow got on his hands and knees and crawled over to her. Once he was close enough, the purple merhog wrapped her arms around his shoulders and pulled him into a deep kiss, her razor sharp fangs lightly grazing his lips. Shadow's fur stood on end, the action completely unexpected. Though, as unexpected as it was, he couldn't bring himself to pull away. He closed his eyes and kissed back, not caring if the others came and saw this.
One would be lucky to be kissed by a real live merhog.
After a few seconds, Ryn pulled away and smiled. Such a great kisser too, this land dweller. Maybe Sonic was right about the surface world.
At that moment, Rouge and Tails finally showed up with Sonic.
"We're here!" Tails called, shaking Shadow out of his stupor.
"Right, put him in the water with Ryn." He ordered them. The fox and bat nodded and gently placed their friend in the water with the female. Sonic sighed in relief. It felt good to be back in the water again. Shadow knelt down to the two Sirens and looked at them seriously. "Are you two going to be alright?"
"We'll be fine." Sonic signed with a nod. "We have to go now. I'll be back soon. Goodbye."
With that, both Sonic and Ryn turned tail into the salty depths of the ocean, swimming as fast as they could away from the shore of the beach and away from Sonic's friends. Shadow sighed and stood up, watching the waves crash against the ocean surface, disguising the two Sirens.
"Man, what a day." Tails sighed, shaking his head. "Sonic sure has a lot of explaining to do tomorrow."
"That's if he even comes back tomorrow." Shadow frowned.
"What do you mean? You don't think this experience is actually gonna scare him back to the ocean, do you?"
"No, of course not. He's not that kind of hedgehog... or merhog... do so. What I mean is that he has a responsibility with his colony this week."
"What do you mean, hun?" Rouge asked him in curiosity.
Shadow smirked and turned to look at them. "Why do you think he was so worried about the female?"
It took them a second to understand what he meant and they gasped. "Shadow, surely you're not implying that... they..."
"I am... unfortunately, the week we've chosen to vacation is the same week where Sirens are preparing to mate."
"Mating season." Tails shook his head. "No wonder why he was acting so strange about this trip."
Shadow nodded. "Indeed... we should get back to the beach house. We'll need to explain to Cream and Vanilla what they just saw if they happened to have been watching the news lately."
"We'll have to explain Blue's disappearance to begin with." Rouge placed her hands on her hips, staring the ebony down. "Tails, why don't you go ahead and start heading home. I'm gonna have a chat with Shadow here for a moment."
"Oh... ok then." Tails shrugged and started flying back to the beach house.
Shadow sighed. "What is it you want to talk about now? Whenever you want to talk, it's usually not about something good."
"Oh, it's nothing. I just want to know why you were so close to that female Siren before we got here."
Shadow blushed but quickly turned away so she couldn't see it. "It's none of your business."
"Shadow... did she kiss you?"
"What? No! Of course not. Why would she kiss me?"
"I don't know. Maybe to show her gratitude for saving her life?" Rouge smirked.
Shadow rolled his eyes. "Whatever, keep thinking that Rouge, but I will not confirm that she did such a thing. Besides, she has Sonic... and he's a much better kisser than me."
"Ooh, and I bet you know that from experience." Rouge smirked again, then frowned. "Hey hun?"
"What?"
"When you kissed Sonic under the house earlier, in front of me, did you do that because you're actually dating... or was it a cover up?"
"... It was a cover up..."
The bat didn't miss those silent hesitations. She nodded, understanding that the black and red hedgehog may be starting to question himself and his actions. She sighed, deciding not to dwell on it any further. "Come on. Let's head back to the house. We've got some explaining to do."
