Page 7 of Monster's Obsession
She shrugged. “My shapeshifter nature keeps them hidden.”
“Your shapeshifter nature?”
“I’m part mermaid.” She glared at me like she expected me to challenge her, when really, all that proclamation did was make me want her more. Mermaids were hot. Not that I’d ever met one in person, but everybody knew some mermaids were sirens, and sirens were practically as lusty as lust demons.
Seven minutes in heaven in a closet? Twenty minutes in a shower? All night in a bed? Sign me up, pal. I’d take whatever I could get.
“I have so many questions,” I murmured. Could she have sex in her mermaid form? Did mermaids even have sex organs?
If they didn’t, did that mean no sex in the shower? Because that was a little disappointing, I wasn’t going to lie.
“And I have zero answers, so leave me the hell alone.”
Damn, she was prickly. “I have the perfect cure for grumpiness, you know,” I suggested.
“Oh, hellfire and damnation, shut up.” She scurried to the stern of the ship. Was she afraid I might chase her?
Not that I wasn’t tempted, but Mrs. Caldwell might catch wind of our little flirtation, and then she’d warn all the professors and they would make it their mission to keep Daruka and me apart. They were strong believers in first years needing to keep their entire focus on their studies, so they did everything they could to keep the newest students from forming romantic relationships.
Not that the administrators had a chance in hell of stopping nature. All they did was make the chase that much more exciting.
I wandered closer. Again. “You look a little old to be a first year,” I commented.
“Apparently not,” she snapped. “I’m here, aren’t I?”
“Are you saying you’re only eighteen?” Not that I cared. Eighteen and twenty-four wasn’t that much of a gap. Was she a virgin? Was that why she was so grumpy? I’d hooked up with plenty of virgins; I knew exactly how to blow her mind for her first time.
“No, I’m not. I’m saying I’m a first year.”
“Okay, maybe we should start over. You clearly have an issue with me, and I haven’t the faintest idea why.”
We were nearing the dock at Wellspring, the small town east of the fourteenth century castle that housed Blackthorn Academy. The town, castle, and the woods to the west were all tucked away on Northumberland Island, a place no humans knew existed. As large as it was—hell, the castle alone had six levels aboveground and who knew how much space underground—this place had felt oppressively small my freshman year.
Especially since I hadn’t been allowed to shag any of my fellow students. But then I figured out how to lure the ferry captain—who, by the way, in whatever form she took when she towed students back and forth from the school, had a thing for faery dust, which was wildly prevalent back home—and after that, I could come and go from the mainland as I pleased.
The spires and towers of the castle could be seen in the distance, behind the rooftops of clusters of buildings all tucked together like every small town in the northern UK. What did Daruka think of her new home for the next however many years?
I didn’t hate this place. It was the polar opposite of the sprawling, vast forest I grew up in, but I’d gotten used to it over the years. Kind of a shame, really, that they’d kick me out next year and I’d have to make my way back home.
Although discovering that a demon-slash-mermaid was my mate put an interesting twist on things. Would my family still welcome me back with open arms? Would they still expect me to rule with a not-even-remotely-tied-to-elves supernatural by my side? Hell, my offspring would only be a quarter elf. If I took over as ruler, my children would be my heirs.
Children who hardly qualified as elves.
Okay, I was getting wa-a-a-ay ahead of myself. The woman I suspected was my mate wouldn’t speak to me. I couldn’t even tell if she was attracted to me.
Maybe I needed to step back and start at the beginning. Maybe I needed to recall how to woo a woman.
We reached the dock, the captain sidling her ship up alongside the single wooden walkway like the expert she was. After using her magic to secure the ropes to the pilons, the captain directed the ramp to slide out of its hiding place; it landed with athunkon the dock, and then she offered her assistance as we disembarked.
Daruka shied from the proffered golden hook, which was wise, since that hook contained magic that allowed the captain to see into one’s head, which, yeah, I learned the hard way.
I strutted past, hanging a small bag filled with faery dust on the end of her hook. She smoothly tucked it away in an interior pocket of her red coat before Mrs. Caldwell or Professor Holtsclaw noticed.
As we made our way up the path that would take us through town and into the woods surrounding the castle, Daruka said, “What did you give the captain?”
I chuckled to myself. Finally, an in! “I’ll tell you if you tell me something about yourself.”
She rolled her eyes. “Your elf is showing. And I don’t care that much.”