Mermaids are Menacing (Book 2) Complete

61.) Together At Last

This was impossible. How did i not know he had gotten this close. I should have felt it, should have seen him coming but now he was here. Sitting looking down at me with a haggard face grinning ear to ear. I could smell the blood on his clothes both new and old. His hair was longer now than I had seen it, he had always kept a tidy image but now he left his hair unkempt. Dead leaves and blood were smeared into it. He wore the same black mantle as i remembered but he felt different. We stared at eachother for a moment. Me at the base of a cliff and him at the top.

"Why are you here?" I asked looking  up at him. He turned his head to the side.

"I've come to pick you up of course." He told me, his red eyes peirced into mine.

"Im not going back." I shook my head. He frowned turning his head to the other side before jumping of the ledge. He landed just a few feet from the caves entrance. The ground trembled when he landed in a crouched position.

He straightened up, his aura was oppressing. "You've had your tantrum, made your point but its time to return home." He insisted reaching out his hand.

"That place is your home, not mine." I sneared angrily. "Im not going back to the awful place!"

"What of Vihar?! Is he not your offspring? You abandoned him!" He responded with a scowel.

"I didn't abandon him, you took him from me!" I shouted pointing at him.

"I gave you time to cool off, went to handle my responsibilities and come back to find you have run away from yours!" He roared back.

"You were fucking another woman! Locked me up and you took my son from me! Do you think thats something I would live with!" I only got louder.

A scuffle came from inside the cave. Cerastes ears twitched at the sound and his pupils dilated infront of me.

"Is. he. there?" He spat out the words.

"Who are you talking about?!" I shouted at him confused.

"I knew it." He scoffed "While I've been searching for you. Fighting every manner of blight on the continent to retrieve you. What have you been doing? Or should i say who, since you've been holed up with some wretch in the wilderness." He laughed madly, his hand covering his face.

His behavior was irratic, unfamiliar. Just as abruptly as his laughter began it stopped while he faced the ground.

"We're going to put all of this behind us." He said nodding to himself. "I've made you angry and you've made me angry but this little argument will be over ...after I eat him." He said looking up at me.

He rushed forward and I grabbed a log that had been leabing against the entrance to block the wind and swung it at him with a shout. I caught him by suprise, maybe because he didn't think I'd swing at him or because the sheer amount of force i put into my swing was more than he expected. He was knocked off course.

"Stay out!" I shouted at him.

He recovered and rushed again. This time he was ready and swiped the log out of my hands, thrusting it aside. Losing my weapon, I rushed at him and used my body weight to tackle him. We rolled into the middle of the clearing. The ice on the cold ground dirtied my clothes wetting the outer fur.

"While I've been wanting your embrace, it'll have to wait till after." He said rolling me away. He jumped up and his clawed feet tore into the ground as he made another mad dash towards the cave. I growled at him in frustration and chased after him again. While I was not fast enough to completly catch up to him or get infront of him I was able to grab onto his leg and hold him in place. We were only few strides from the entrance and I couldn't let him go in there. It would ruin everything.

"NO!" I shouted at him.

"The more you protect him! The worse I'll make his death!" He flashed a set of sharp teeth. Using his hands to try to pry me off his leg.

"I told you to stay away so leave!" I argued with him. "Theres no one in there!"

"Mom?" A small voice called out. We both turned our heads at the moment  to see Jen standing in the opening. She was rubbing her eyes, still sleepy. 

He turned his head back slowly to me. His jaw clenched.

"You.. abandoned OUR offspring, but your raising another mans welp?" He snarled.

"Go inside!" I ordered Jen urgently. "Now!"
She took a couple steps back scared and ran further into the cave.

Cerastes marched toward the cave entrance dragging me along despite my protests. He shoved away the timber blocking the entrance to make room for him to enter. The cave was well lit in the fire light. Jen and the girls werent visible, they had vanished under the furs on the bed.

Cerastes looked around the cave in disgust. "You picked living like this, over us?" He scoffed picking me up by the arm.

"Let go!" I kicked him and my claws tore at the arm the held me. Shredding his sleeve to scraps. He pulled me toward the bedding were the three were hiding.

"No!" He argued. "Your going to watch me rip that man and his brat apart." He said angrily. "and then we will return home and everything will be as it was." He nodded.

With his free hand Cerastes yanked off a fur and Jen was immediatly exposed.

"I'll start with the brat then." He nodded raising a clawed hand.

A pair of fearless white heads popped out of the other furs roaring angrily. They climbed on top of Jens shoulder and head. Their tails swung wildly to stay balanced and they flapped their small white wings quickly, ready to fight.

While Aelia and Idelia were not particularly powerful or fearce in anyway they succeeded in stopping Cerastes in his tracks. His hold on me dropped along with his jaw. I rubbed my face not knowing what to do. If i had been able to keep him out, stopped him from seeing them i felt like there might have been a chance i could get him to leave but now that hes seen them... there was not even a sliver of a chance.

He looked at them in disbelief. Looking between me and them confused.

"Younglings? When did you? Two?" He mumbled. "How did you?"

He reached out a hand toward Aelia who held her position ontop of Jens head. She growled at him and batted at him with her non-existent claws.

"I wont hurt you." He whispered to her, kneeling on the floor. Jen was crying infront of him while the twins hissed at him prepared to defend their position.

"No!" Aelia shrieked at him.

"Jen!" Idelia added.

He was taken aback at their ferocity.

"Whats a Jen?" He asked me without taking his eyes off them.

I felt like ripping my hair out.
"Shes Jen." I gestured to the crying child they were proped up on. "The girls are very fond of her, if you hurt her, they will hate you forever." I scowled at him.

"The girls?" He said amazed. "Two females?... I have daughters." He kept repeating it over and over."I have daughters!"

He stood up and wrapped me in a firm embrace. Rocking back and forth the joy he felt radiated throught the bond. It was entirely uncomfortable feeling. Not unlike a leg that had fallen asleep prickling awake again. I pushed him away.