The Sea Wolf's Mate Page 7

  “Morning, Kenna,” she said. “Your hair looks nice. Did you find everything you needed in my bag?”

  Kenna ducked her head and mumbled something. To Arlo’s secret amusement, she mumbled telepathically at the same time. But her mind glowed with pleasure as she went to sit in the bows.

  “We must be getting close,” Jacqueline said, staring out towards the coast. “Is that a lighthouse?”

  “Hideaway’s just around that next bluff. Dylan, want to give me a hand guiding us in?”

  Dylan’s eyebrows almost shot off his face with excitement. He sat down beside Arlo and listened carefully as Arlo explained how to control the ship’s direction.

  Arlo’s heart lightened as the Hometide slipped around the bluff and Hideaway Cove came into view. The small town sparkled like a jewel in the morning sun.

  He glanced towards Jacqueline. Her eyes were shining, too, as bright as the calm waters around his home.

  *SWIM!* cackled a voice in his mind, and movement flashed at the corner of his attention—Tally, making a bid for the freedom of the water. Arlo half-rose, but Jacqueline was already scooping her up.

  “Hey now,” she said, hoisting Tally in her arms so the girl could see the shore, “We’ll get there faster on the boat than with you jumping overboard, okay?”

  Tally’s impatience batted against Arlo’s mind, and his wolf huffed with amusement.

  Jacqueline waited for Tally to respond out loud. When she didn’t reply—but also didn’t wail or shift into her seal pup form—Jacqueline raised her eyebrows at Arlo.

  “I guess that’s an ‘okay’?”

  His chest tightened so fast that his “Yes” came out more like a grunt. The light in Jacqueline’s eyes, the smile dancing around her lips, even the way she’d smoothly out-maneuvered Tally’s leap for freedom—it was almost too much.

  I’m taking her home.

  His heart thudded. I’m taking her home. I should feel happy, not terrified.

  Dylan tugged on his arm. “What’s that?”

  Arlo followed Dylan’s pointing finger. “That’s the marina. I’ve got a berth along a bit further, by our workshop.”

  “No, what’s that? And what workshop? And should I try to talk to him?”

  “Where I work when I’m not out on the water.” Arlo squinted across the water. If Dylan wasn’t pointing at the marina, then what was he looking at?

  Talk to him? What was he on about?

  The water was calm past the entrance to the cove, with just a few ripples catching the sunlight. The water glinted gold where the light touched it, and—

  Arlo groaned. It wasn’t just the water glinting gold.

  “You have got to be kidding me,” Arlo muttered. Jacqueline shot him a questioning look and Kenna leaned forward, curiosity getting the better of her teenagerliness.

  “What is that? It looks like—”

  *Damn it, Pol, this is not the time,* Arlo growled to the figure shimmering through the water towards them.

  *What’s not the time?* his most irritating coworker replied. *You’d better be done sulking, because—wait, who are they? You’ve brought visitors? Why didn’t you say?*

  Arlo groaned. Jacqueline moved up beside him.

  “Anything I should be worried about?” she whispered.

  Arlo shook his head. “No, he’s—” He broke off as Pol got closer and began to surface. *Damn it, Pol, you can’t just—*

  *What? They’re shifters, aren’t they? I can hear them yelling in my head about what they think I am.* Pol’s psychic voice was irritatingly smug. *Smart kids you’ve got there.*

  *They’re not mine, and it’s not just them—*

  Before he could say “There’s a human on board, too,” Pol surfaced.

  And stayed shifted, because of course he did.

  Damned dragon, Arlo grumbled silently as the others gasped in amazement.

  “No way.” Kenna stood up, her mouth hanging open. “No way.”

  Dylan didn’t say anything, but his eyes were wide as saucepans and he was so excited he was actually vibrating. Tally giggled and cooed happily, probably more from coasting the swell of her siblings’ amazement than understanding how supernatural the sight in front of them was. And Jacqueline…

  Arlo stopped himself from looking at her and glared at Pol instead. The last thing he wanted to see was Jacqueline speechless with wonder at the mythical beast that had burst through the waves in front of them.

  Pol’s dragon form was the length of a train car, slender and agile with gleaming scales and wings that looked like sails made from pure gold when they caught the light. When he was swimming, he kept them tucked close to his long, lizard-like body, so it was possible the kids just thought he was some sort of giant, malformed sea snake.

  He glanced at their faces, lit up with wonder. Nope. No chance of that.

  Pol poked his head out of the water as he dragon-paddled beside the boat. His neck was long enough that he could look onto deck and when he saw that Arlo wasn’t alone, he did a dramatic double-take.

  *Well, hello!* he said, broadcasting his voice to everyone on the Hometide. *Welcome to Hideaway Cove! My name’s Apollo. What are your names?*

  The kids replied—psychically and out loud.

  Jacqueline swayed on her feet.

  “They’re… introducing themselves to the… dragon?” She took a small step closer to him and Arlo started finding it hard to breathe. “Am I supposed to as well?”

  “Yes, he’s a dragon, and right now he’s being an asshole. Jacqueline, meet Pol. Pol—come up here and introduce yourself properly!”

  He gritted his teeth. Pol was always annoying, but this was something else. Arlo didn’t know why, but even his wolf was on edge as the dragon approached the Hometide.

  Pol reared up and launched himself towards the boat. Arlo jumped up, grabbing Jacqueline around the waist to anchor her in place and calling to Kenna and Dylan to hold on.

  Right, he thought, gritting his teeth. This is why Pol turning up always gives me a sense of impending, exhausting doom.

  Pol managed to jump half-out of the water, landing with his front legs on the port side deck. The boat lurched to one side under his weight. Dylan hooted with laughter, Pol’s claws scrabbled on the deck—Arlo was caught between irritation that he’d have to fix the wood, and satisfaction at seeing the dragon shifter less-than-graceful for once—and then there was a sparkle like goddamn fireworks and a moment later Pol was standing on the Hometide’s deck.

  Naked.

  The younger kids didn’t react; Kenna muttered “Gross” and went back to slouching over the bows.

  “Wow,” said Jacqueline, and Arlo’s world froze solid.

  Nope. His and his wolf’s bad mood had nothing to do with Pol being a show-off, and everything to do with the fact that Pol was a shiny dragon shifter who looked like he stepped out of a movie screen, and Arlo still hadn’t given Jacqueline any reason to think he was more than a salt-crusted sea hobo.

  His gut twisted. If two shifters were mates, they knew immediately, bam, no questions asked and none needed. But when a shifter’s mate was a human?

  What if Jacqueline didn’t feel the mate bond like he did? What if she didn’t feel it at all?

  What if she felt something for goddamned Pol?

  “Wow,” Jacqueline said again, and then, “O-kay.”

  She’d tipped her head back as though she was staring at the sky, but had her eyes closed, as though even looking away hadn’t quite done the trick.

  “You know, at first I thought maybe the kids were some sort of hippies, but I’m beginning to get the feeling that shifters have different feelings about clothes than the rest of us,” she said to the sky.

  “‘Fraid so,” Arlo replied gruffly. “Hey, Pol! Go find yourself some pants.” He nodded sharply towards the cabin door.

  To his relief, Jacqueline kept her eyes closed until the door clicked shut after Pol.

  He glanced at her warily. She cracked one
eye open and looked around until she met his gaze.

  “Please tell me that’s the weirdest thing I’m likely to see in Hideaway Cove,” she whispered.

  Arlo grimaced. Let me count. Pol’s the shiniest bastard in town, but then there’s Harrison… “Sorry.”

  Jacqueline groaned. “Then I hope you have a good bar in town, because I am going to need a stiff drink.”

  Arlo’s heart leaped with hope. That doesn’t sound like a woman hopelessly in lust with a blond, godlike dragon shifter.

  He cleared his throat. “Anyway, that’s Pol. He’s another one who washed up in Hideaway a few years back.”

  “Washed up? So I don’t need to worry about a whole family of dragons swimming over here after him?” Jacqueline asked faintly.

  “Not—” Arlo began as the cabin door swung open.

  “Thankfully not, is what he means to say,” Pol announced, leaping through the door. He’d found some pants. Thank God. “I expect we’d have been driven out of town by now, if there was more than one of me. Arlo, what have you been up to? Who is this lovely woman?”

  “Jacqueline March.” Jacqueline held her hand out and Pol reached for it.

  Mine! Arlo’s wolf snarled. Pol’s hand jerked back.

  Did he hear that? Arlo was horrified. Usually shifters only heard their own animals. He’d never heard of someone’s creature communicating psychically with another shifter, and certainly not when they were in human form.

  Pol raised his eyebrows. *Everything all right, Arlo?*

  Arlo desperately reined in his wolf, which was still snarling—snarling!—at how close Pol was. *Fine,* he muttered, and Pol’s eyebrows shot up even further.

  *I see.* His eyes slid sideways towards Jacqueline, who was looking at them both like they’d just gone mad, and Arlo’s wolf raised its hackles. *That’s how it is, is it?*

  Arlo braced himself for Pol to say something embarrassing, but to his surprise, he simply withdrew his hand. Jacqueline made a short movement as though she was going to try to grab it to shake, which made Arlo’s wolf whine.

  Pol blinked, placed his hand on his chest, and bowed dramatically.

  “My apologies. My name is Apollo Jenkins, but you can call me Pol.”

  “It’s a pleasure to meet you.” The faint hollowness was fading from Jacqueline’s voice; Arlo’s chest tightened as she visibly pulled herself together. “Arlo said you washed up here—does that mean you’re a relative newcomer, too?”

  “The most recent, not counting the prodigal daughter. Which I don’t, personally. You don’t count as a newcomer if you half-grew up in a place.” He heaved a sigh. “I’ve been bracing myself to lose the crown, what with the new subdivision on the hill, but it looks like I’m going to have to hand it over earlier than expected.”

  He smiled at Tally, who promptly squealed with delight and shifted. Arlo dived forward to grab her before she wriggled out of Jacqueline’s arms, and somehow he ended up with one hand on Jacqueline’s waist, the other helping her hold Tally over one shoulder.

  Pol’s laughter echoed in his head. *I can’t believe this. You sneaky bastard.*

  “That’s why I’m here,” Jacqueline explained before Arlo could reply to Pol—or tell him to shut it. “These three—Kenna, Dylan, and Tally here—have been trying to make their way to Hideaway Cove. Arlo offered to bring them the rest of the way, and I…” Her cheeks glowed. “I, er, came along for the ride.”

  “You were traveling by yourselves?” Pol looked aghast. Kenna and Dylan had sloped up while the adults were talking, and at his words, Kenna scowled.

  Pol exchanged an uncharacteristically serious look with Arlo and turned his attention back to Kenna. “Well you’ve fallen on your feet here, I’ll tell you. Arlo Hammond might look like something he scraped off the bottom of his own boat, but—”

  “I’m taking them to the Sweets. Until their actual guardian turns up.” Arlo’s chest twisted as he said the words, and that must have been why they came out as a half-growl. Three pairs of seal-shifter eyes snapped to his and the wave of disappointment crashing off the children almost made him rock backwards.

  Arlo rubbed his temple as the emotions throbbed like the beginning of another headache. This was the right thing to do, he knew it—and what else could he do, anyway?

  “I won’t be far away,” he reassured them. “No one will. Town’s so small, everyone’s in everyone else’s pockets. Besides, the Sweets are my pack. Being with them is pretty much the same as staying with me, except you won’t have to sleep on the floor of my workshop.”

  “I don’t mind sleeping on the floor,” Dylan said quietly. Arlo shook his head.

  “Well, you don’t have to,” Arlo repeated. He smiled, but on the inside, his wolf was whining fretfully. Something about the situation was worrying it.

  I don’t have time to mull it over now, he thought. Jacqueline and I have got to get these kids home. His wolf calmed down a bit.

  *About that,* Pol began, but was interrupted.

  *What about Eric?* broadcast Dylan in a whisper that was probably meant just for Kenna.

  Pol’s eyes bulged. “There’s another one?”

  Jacqueline looked around the group. “Wait, did I just miss something again?”

  A wave of guilt poured off Dylan. “We’re talking about Eric,” he explained. “We’re going to find him, aren’t we? He wants to live in Hideaway Cove too.”

  Arlo’s stomach hollowed out. “Sure, kid,” he said, trying to hide the surge of frustration that filled the suddenly empty space inside him.

  This was what had his wolf so bothered. The kids needed help, and whoever this Eric guy was, their so-called uncle, he’d failed them. He didn’t deserve to look after the pack—kids, he quickly corrected himself.

  “I work at the council over in Dunston,” Jacqueline said. “I can ask people there to keep an eye out and let him know where you are, if they see him.”

  “That covers the human side,” Pol announced. “And Harrison will manage the shifter side. We’ll round this Eric up before too long, you’ll see. And then you can all play happy families in Hideaway.” He shot Arlo a cheeky grin that he didn’t even want to contemplate translating.

  He had enough to worry him as it was. Once the kids were settled with Ma and Pa Sweets… maybe he and Jacqueline could go for that drink she’d mentioned.

  11

  Jacqueline

  A freaking dragon.

  Jacqueline inspected Apollo—Pol—from under her eyelashes. In his human shape, dressed in a pair of Arlo’s old pants—seriously, at this rate Arlo would be lucky if he had any clothes left—there was no sign that he was anything other than human.

  But wasn’t that the case with all of them? The kids just seemed like normal kids, if a bit strange—well, normal-for-kids strange. And Arlo…

  Her heart fluttered as she glanced at him. He was showing Kenna and Dylan how to ease the boat into dock. The wind riffled through his hair and he looked up—to check their course, not to look at her, of course—but she blushed anyway.

  “So, Jacqueline.” Pol came over and leaned on the railing with her, though she noticed he kept a careful couple of feet of space between them. She blushed again, for a different reason. Everyone must have seen him avoiding shaking her hand earlier. Like she had cooties or something.

  She suddenly realized she hadn’t heard a word Pol had said. She shook her head.

  “Sorry, what was that? I was distracted.”

  Pol chuckled. “Understandable! I was saying, so you’re from Dunston? Did you get hit badly by the weather this last week?”

  At least shifters are the same as regular humans in one respect. The weather is always a safe topic of conversation.

  “Absolutely. The town’s Spring festival starts this weekend, so everyone’s glad things have cleared up.”

  “And you’re missing the celebrations?”

  “I was…” Jacqueline’s brain swerved around the subject of why she hadn’t
been at the Spring Fling. “I work at the sheriff’s office, and I was on phone duty last night. Not that that’s usually much help to anyone after one of those storms…”

  She told Pol about the urban legend of curses riding the breeze from Hideaway Cove. When she got to the bit about electronics going haywire, he went pale.

  Oh God. Have I said something incredibly rude? What have I done now? She bit her lip.

  “You’re sure it was only after the storm?” Pol asked urgently.

  “Ye-es.” Jacqueline was still running over the last few minutes of conversation to make sure she hadn’t accidentally said anything insulting. Joking about a tired urban legend wasn’t insulting, was it? Or maybe it was for shifters. “I mean, it’s probably just some crossed wires somewhere, or…”

  “That wouldn’t explain the car.” Pol dropped his head into his hands and groaned. “I had no idea this was happening!”

  His shoulders stiffened and he turned to Arlo. “Did you know about this?”

  “Only since yesterday!” Arlo grinned. “Maybe it’s time you got that electrician’s certificate after all, eh sparky?”

  “Haunted cars.” Pol groaned. “This is humiliating.”

  “That’s what makes it so great.” Arlo’s eyes sparkled mischievously as he caught Jacqueline’s look of confusion. “If you hadn’t guessed, Pol here is the friend I wanted to see hear that story. He’s got some powers over electricity—some dragon thing that even he doesn’t understand.”

  “Hey!” Pol objected.

  Arlo snorted at him. “Half the places in town only run because he’s poked his nose into them. I keep telling him he needs to learn how electricity is meant to work before he ends up wiring us all up backwards, but will he listen?”

  “Haunted cars,” Pol repeated.

  Jacqueline laughed. She couldn’t help it, it was too ridiculous. Pol looked so stricken, and Arlo so smug, and the kids were staring at the town like all of their dreams had come true.

  Kenna and Dylan helped Arlo dock at the wharf next to his workshop. Pol, still looking vaguely shell-shocked, ducked inside muttering that he had to sort something out, and the remaining five of them headed for the main street.