Phantom Love

Chapter 41

       "Ceto that food was to die for." I groan as I lean back and wipe my mouth. 

        I honestly have no idea what has been happening around me for a good half hour. I've just been focused on shoveling all of this amazing food into my mouth. I never knew what a scallop was until someone put it in front of me smothered with butter and garlic. Honestly, when it comes to the food I've tried, seafood in general hasn't been super present. I've had salmon but outside of that, not much. Mainly because my best friend at that time was, or at least what I thought was, a giant squid so eating anything from the sea felt like a betrayal. I turn to Ceto as I have that thought.

         "Wait, y'all eat seafood? I only ask because when I did finally become corporeal I couldn't eat most seafood at first because it felt like betrayal to Jim."

        I hear an intake of breath before Kei starts coughing. Once he's fully swallowed his food he slaps the table a few times as deep belly laughs start booming out of him and Drazik. 

        "Oh kitten," He says while looking at me softly, "I am pleased you thought of us but Jim eats things that are considered forbidden here." He shrugs at my widened eyes, "Jim is an apex predator, he doesn't stop to think, he just sees food, and eats it."

       "Ha!" Kieran barks, "So you could say he has a see food diet?" When Kei just cocks his head in confusion while the rest of us laugh at the joke, Kieran just smiles and explains, "He sees food and eats it." Kei smiles at that and nods in agreement.

       "It's the same with Shadow." Drazik admits, "When I'm shifted I can control my animal but when he hunts I let him do it on his own and there is no thought process to that. It's simply, I see prey, now I eat."

        Then I catch what Kei just said as my brain comes back on line completely, "Wait, forbidden food? Y'all have forbidden food here?" I look to Ceto. 

        She nods, "We're okay with eating fish, scallops, mussels, etc but we don't go after large game. Dolphins, whales, cephalopods, or anything that has a more advanced form of intelligence than just a regular fish." She chuckles, "I actually had to step in after a visiting emissary thought that the world's best calamari and dolphin steaks would be a great gift. Most of our population wanted to call for hand to hand combat on grounds of disrespect. He did not know and that's what saved his life." She chuckles as she picks up her wine glass, "He knows now."

        The table falls back into comfortable conversation and I just sit there and sip on champagne and watch. I look to Dre who is seated next to the undine who healed me, Shaira. Her eyes are focused on the table with tears welling in them, a smile on her face. Dre's eyes aren't focused on anything as he looks around the whole room, ending with the table. Curious I reach down and squeeze Forrest's and Drazik's hand that are currently resting on either leg before getting up. I move past Draz and Em, running my nails along their shoulders as I do before reaching the end of the table where Shaira is standing. I move around her, not wanting to interrupt before I come up beside Dre. He reaches out, not looking at me, and places me on his lap. He seems to relax a little at the contact with me and I feel a slight tug on my power from him. 

        After a few minutes of steadily feeding him power I feel it cut off before he takes in a deep breath. I'm about to ask him what that was all about when Shaira turns her head in our direction, joy radiating out of her. 

        "I do not know what to say except thank you." She bows her head before she reaches out and, pats the table until finding my hand. "You are even more radiant than what I had imagined." 

        I just raise a brow and look between them, "I feel like I'm missing something."

       "Your mate was kind enough to lend me his eyes for a while. For the first time in my life I got to see what this place looked like and can finally add some faces to voices."