XIV. Best Mates

Lewis was removed from the "bachelor pad paradise," as christened by Nate, and put in the tank with the pod of girls. Denman wasn't lying about making things better for those who followed her mandates. Since going through with her mating trap, Lewis was given many allowances and preferences, all of which extended to Cleo for being his choice.

Some things were out of the question, of course, such as baked or fried fish every night instead of the live bait they wrapped in seaweed in order to stomach. But Cleo did get her hair comb and conditioner; requests Denman laughed at, but provided to show how obedience was rewarded.

Lewis learned that the large enclosure he'd been inhabiting was no longer to be his exclusively. It provided all the elements conducive for Denman's breeding programme, and she intended on placing only the most compatible "specimens" in the tank together. Lewis petitioned Nate not to take his friend to the hidden pool, but the response he got was not very reassuring. It wasn't as if there was anywhere really safe in their circumstances, but he wanted one place that Cleo at least could feel safe without it becoming the communal retreat.

He hadn't seen Cleo since their forced bonding. Nate had managed to lift his spirits, but that was nothing if Cleo was traumatised. He tried to calm his erratic heartbeat as he swam through a small pod, and one of the brunettes flashed a grin his way. It wasn't for the smile that he felt jittery, but he couldn't shake the image of Cleo's quivering shoulders and quiet sobs from his head.

He almost didn't recognise her. She was perched on a rock with her back turned, hair twisting into a thick braid over her shoulder, stuck with a dozen colourful shells and bits of plant life—and she was laughing. She looked more like a cartoon rendition of a mystical creature rather than Cleo Sertori in mermaid form. It frightened him.

The girl she was laughing with paled at the sight of Lewis and disappeared with a splash. Lewis snorted. He wasn't some kind of predator.

"Lewis!" Cleo welcomed him with the same unveiled excitement that she always had. "I have to tell you something!" She grabbed his hand, and with an ingenious twist, had flopped off the rock and pulled him halfway to the edge of the tank.

Her swimming had become much more confident as she breezed through the water with little effort; it was nothing like the steady, but fearful surge she used to have. He hoped that didn't mean she was losing the human part of her.

"Wait." He stopped her, pulling away slightly. "Cleo, are you okay? You were crying, and I didn't want to bother you, but the next morning you were gone, and..." he took a deep breath, "just tell me if I hurt you."

"No, Lewis..." she surprised him by putting her arms around him and squeezing. "You were fine. I'm sorry I didn't say anything, then. I was just a bit in shock." She put her hands on his shoulders to look him in the eyes. "I'm really okay. But Lewis..." He almost smiled to hear the normalcy of her voice return. It was the voice she used while admitting to an embarrassing full moon mistake. "Don't be mad..."

"How could I be mad? At you, anyway. I could never..."

"Well, when you hear this, you might be." She twiddled her fingers together. "See, Nixie says that what we did sort of made us, according to merfolk customs..." her eyes wandered and she made a funny face, "married."

Lewis blinked. He blinked several times, but it wasn't quite registering.

"Are you... are you angry?" she prodded.

"Nope. Not angry," he stated blankly.

"Aren't you going to say something more than that?"

He tried to put it to her gently. It was clear how important this was to her, and he wasn't about to crush her spirits for the sake of a reality check. "It's not that I don't want to be married to you, Cleo, I promise. It's just that... a friendly mermaid telling you we're married doesn't make it true."

"Why not?" her lip quivered, and he felt like scum again. "Marriage is a commitment between two people who love each other, and want to face the world together! Just because it's not on paper..."

"That's not what I mean," he faltered, and he wanted more than anything to draw her head to his shoulder and bury his face in her hair so she couldn't see the heat rush to his cheeks. "I don't want to disappoint you."

"If that's all, you might as well give in now because you'll only disappoint me by saying we're not married." He couldn't believe she was pouting at a time like this. Maybe she didn't know how helpless it made him feel. Or maybe she did, and that was exactly why she did it.

"Okay. We're married, then," he relented.

"No, you have to really mean it!" she insisted. "Look right into my eyes and promise me we're married, and that we'll still be married when we get out of here!"

Surprising himself with his boldness, Lewis held her face between his hands to pull her close. "I promise you, we are married, Cleo Ser—McCartney." And he sealed his promise by drawing her in the rest of the way, and bringing their lips to meet.

Cleo refused to let him go without deepening the kiss and it was several moments before they parted with heavy breath and shining eyes.

"Good," she said, as if that settled things. "Because Nixie already had an announcement party for me and everything. We're going to have one for her, too, soon as she gets back!"

"Where is Nixie? I've heard a lot about her, and it's got me curious."

"Didn't you know?" Cleo asked with the quirky tilt of her head.

He shook his head. "Know what?"

"Nixie's with Nate. He chose her as a mate."

-x-

She stayed a respectable distance from the land boy, arms crossed defensively until she made things clear to him. Nate was a pleasing enough specimen. His ears were a tad unfortunate in size, but his hair might have covered it, had it not been soaked through. His nose was sharp, and he was heavily freckled. Nixie liked that. She also liked that despite his ears and freckles, his smirking expression spoke only of pride in his looks.

"You should know," she started off, "I'm a seaborn mermaid, not a magicked one. That makes me almost like royalty here."

"I knew it," he nodded seriously. "When I saw your picture, I knew you were something special."

Nixie had meant to cause him alarm, and make sure he knew there would be consequences if she felt in any way mistreated. She was taken aback by his brash compliment. "Really?" She was floundering between flattered and suspicious.

"Well. Your eyes are really pretty. I mean, normal girls don't have eyes that blue. At least I don't think they do. Maybe it's the normal thing for all seaborn mermaids, but..." he shrugged, hoping for an answer.

She granted him a careful smile, not quite exhibiting her row of perfect teeth—something often commented on by the members of her pod to be even more dazzling than most mermaids'—and instead of a direct answer, said, "You know, you're kind of adorable."

Nate puffed out his chest. "I was going for 'cool.'"

"Right. So what's your story? How'd you get stuck in Denman's crazy school?"

"You may not know this, but I'm something of a genius."

"Please explain."

"Well, everyone's in a panic over the missing kids. People don't just disappear out of the blue, right? The police are questioning anyone who connects them; customers at the Juicenet—that's a place we all chill out for drinks and gossip—teachers, co-workers, classmates, and I realised something. If this was a mystery, the answer would be in the last place they'd suspect. So I took off for Mako Island, because it's the one place none of them have in common, and found the lady doctor and her team right in the middle of a full moon dive."

"So she captured you, and forced you into the moon pool?"

"Nah, I dove in myself. Wanted to see what was so special about it. Then she captured me."

Nixie rolled her eyes, but she was smiling. "Okay, tell me why you picked me. If I don't like your answer, I'll refuse to bond with you, and Denman will probably feed you to a shark."

Undaunted, he laced his fingers together and made a cradle for his head while he floated on his back; a position that gave Nixie a good view of the newly defined muscles he'd acquired for this very purpose. "You were the hottest girl in the files. I'm the hottest guy. It's like the prom King and Queen hooking up. It just makes sense." His wink made her snort.

"I don't know what a prom is, but I appreciate the reference to royalty. Anything else?"

"Sure, I liked your smile. But now that you're here, I like you even better. You're sassy," he nodded to her in approval. "You seem to suit me."

"I find you an acceptable mate," Nixie said with a toss of her starfish-studded hair. "I heard you've been working out to please me. Did you learn anything other than how to lift heavy land things over your head?"

Nate wiggled his eyebrows and made a sweeping gesture, "Swim right this way, if you care to find out."

Author's Note:

AAAHH! I am so sorry for almost forgetting to post yet again! This week I've been in a fog over some pehsonal mattahs, but that does not excuse forgetting my duties as Writing Slave! I've still made it before Tuesday! At least, from where I live. With five minutes to spare! :P