Seduced by the Sea Lord

Chapter 4

"So I can't be your bride." Lucy curled her fingers, so recently in his grasp, around her mug. "Sorry."

But she had to be.

This was destiny.

She had rescued him. Her soul resonated with his.

And just now, when she rejected him, her soul darkened to match the night.

Torun slid around the booth until his leg rested flush against hers and cupped her firm jaw. "You are mine."

Her soul brightened. Her lips quirked to the side. "I wish."

"Yes? Good." His thumb stroked the softness of her cheek. "Then accept my claim."

Her lashes fluttered. 

He tipped her head back to accept his kiss.

"Mm. Wait, no." She pushed his face back and straightened, frowning. "I keep thinking one thing and then find myself doing the opposite."

"Because joining is our destiny."

"Yeah, that's the part where I'm not convinced." She opened the crinkly wrapper and handed him a thick bar. "Eat. You need the calories. And I need to think."

He obeyed, chewing the dense wedge of strangely flavored sustenance.

She felt their connection. Her soul light flared brighter with his touch. What more convincing did she need?

Ah. Of course.

He must give her his mating jewel. Then she would realize he was her mate.

Torun patted his bare waist.

Claiming a mainland bride was against the rules of the mer, and so his elders had sent an entire unit to stop him. But only the best two warriors had managed to track him to the correct shore and corner him in a fight.

Torun had tricked them into tight quarters against a reef, then pivoted to steal Malem's trident. Malem had successfully resisted, and Torun had wasted precious moments grappling with him. Prince Jolan had used his distraction to slice into the seaweed pouch tied around Torun's waist, spilling all but one of his mating jewels, then his blade had bitten deep into Torun's shoulder blades.

Torun had arched in pain.

Malem had stopped fighting him out of concern. "Warlord Torun, do you yield?"

Both their hands had still gripped Malem's trident.

Prince Jolan had floated back at a safe distance. "Yield, Warlord Torun."

Torun gathered his strength. "I...will..."

Malem's grip had loosened.

"...never yield!" Torun had finally wrested Malem's trident away.

Both warriors had jolted in surprise.

He'd whirled and struck Jolan's brow with the solid base. The turquoise prince's eyes had rolled back into his head. He had collapsed.

"No!" Malem had gathered Prince Jolan's vulnerable body to his purple-tattooed chest. "You will pay for striking your prince. The entire city will turn against you. I will destroy your Life Tree seed with my bare hands!"

Torun had swum away with Malem's trident and one single mating jewel in his pouch.

But his warriors had performed well. Torun's blood had flowed heavily into the current, and he'd had to evade opportunistic surface predators before weakness had stolen over his body. He must have lost consciousness and drifted on the currents. That must have been when he'd dropped Malem's trident and the last mating jewel.