Beauties and Beasts Pt 2

Chapter 154

Orson manages not to pull all his hair out while Winston only has eyes for Neara. Tony and Benedict invent their own patrol song while a flicker of scarlet gives Neara hope. Also Bluepool is dramatic, but we knew that :)

Orson stood before her, having heaved the boat onto the shore and tumbled everyone out of reach of the waves, although the sea remained calm. They weren't followed. His chest looked like a rock, stiff, and she was sure if she touched it, he'd feel like ice. He showed white all around his eyes, the green dark against his pale skin. "You want to explain to me why this keeps happening?"

"I was just by the water and..."

"And you got snatched by another beastman. And you know why?" He let out a short gasp and turned, rubbing the base of his horns like he wanted to tear them off. Winston held Neara in his lap, Benedict and Tony patrolling the ocean. She wanted to ask where Leopold was, but it'd have to wait until everyone calmed down. Until she calmed down. Heart still racing, she thought of the almost-emotionless kiss that kept her alive. Even now, the ocean still lived in her head, the whirring, clicking, squealing, grunting, heavy splashing pressing against her ears until she thought she'd shake into a puddle. She... she'd almost died.

"You almost died." Orson's voice betrayed nothing, but she felt a hum of fear in her heart unconnected to what she was currently going through.

"She didn't do this on purpose, Orson." Winston's deep voice rumbled against her, a contrasting vibration that soothed her somewhat.

"What..." his voice trailed off, then he opened and closed his mouth several times. "What am I supposed to do with you? We should've stayed in the mountains, or the plains, or anywhere but the water."

She, in turn, opened her own mouth to reply, only to be interrupted again.

"Of course, you want to take care of Shay's precious babies. They're running around wild and we don't even know if they survived the wrath of their father, not to mention the competition just to survive. We don't know if we'll ever find them, and we're... getting off topic." He sighed and pressed a thumb deep between his eyebrows. "I..." He looked at Winston and shrugged hopelessly. "I really can't do anything to stop you, lamb, from doing as you will, much as it might hurt you to do so." His arm came to his forehead, wiping the sweat away.

"Yeah, because being dragged underwater by a merman was my plan all along." She kept it quiet, just in case he started yelling.

He raised an eyebrow. "Not even disfiguring your face would stop other beastmen from wanting you. And that's the trouble with being your mate. I can't turn my back on you for a single second or you're in the arms of someone else." He looked apologetically at Winston. "Of course, you don't count. I've always liked you."

Winston said nothing, though his hands twitched at her sides. She reached down and slowly draped them over herself, wanting to hide from Orson's intense stare, but Winston kept his hands just as stiff over her body as he had at her sides and it brought almost no comfort. I mean, come on, having huge warm hands belonging to someone who liked you draped over your body would bring at least a little pleasure.

"I'm sorry, Orson."

"I'm not... not looking for an apology, lamb, I just want you to know how," he chuckled, "frustrating it is to watch you endanger yourself time and again and it seems the world's only desire is to take my only desire away and hurt her." He crouched in front of her, completely ignoring Winston. "You are my Call of Death, and for others, it seems you're just a Call."

"In my world, we call that a siren."

"An ugly word, although I guess it's what you deserve for making my life so ugly." He smiled and held up a handful of hair. "You wouldn't believe how many of these I pulled out waiting for you."