Restless Waves

Chapter 11

"Get off!" Rowan cried, thinking the Thalassic Mortal was going to drag him into the ocean. The webbed fingers that wrapped around his ankle were so cold, it hurt his skin.

Instead of getting dragged into the sea, the Thalassic Mortal dunked Rowan's foot into the rock pool next to him. The water was just as cold as the creature's fingers and Rowan gasped, trying to pull away. The Creature had impeccable strength, and Rowan failed miserably.

In a frustrated panic, Rowan lifted his other foot and smashed his heel straight into the Thalassic Mortal's forehead. Pain crinkled up Rowan's leg, but at least the creature had let go of his other one. As the sea mortal rolled off the rock and into the ocean, Rowan ran as fast as his legs would carry him. He slipped on seaweed and scrambled over shells, grazing his knees and feet, but he didn't stop. Rowan kept running and running until he reached the top of the sand dune. He collapsed to catch his breath.

He couldn't see where he was previously sitting from that angle, and thankfully, there were no scratch marks on his ankle. The creature didn't poison him.

Kaerius laid in the water face down, holding his head in his hand. It throbbed, and the cold water soothed it. "As soon as I remove this bond, I'm going to kill him," he muttered in the Thalassic Mortal tongue.

Kaerius's other hand held his chest. Rowan had injured him, and it not only hurt his head from getting kicked in the face, but it also bruised his heart. There was a definite bond, and it whined within him.

When Kaerius had tried to drown Rowan, Kaerius started to choke too, and ever since that night, there had been a constant pull in the sea creature's chest. One that heated up every time he saw the human. Kaerius's tail twitched when Rowan looked at him.

Kaerius wanted to inject Rowan with poison and drag him underneath the water and watch him struggle to breathe. At the same time, Kaerius's heart threw a tantrum every time Rowan's eyes watched over him with curiosity. Rowan's inquisitive stare made Kaerius feel less like a monster of the sea, which was the exact opposite of what he wanted.

Kaerius owned the waves, his species dominated the ocean. He was born to be a creature of the sea, feared by those who roamed the land. There was no way in the depth if the waters that he would let a puny human ruin his life.

* * * * *

When Rowan got his breath back, he hurried home and into his bedroom. He threw his bag, and it landed in the corner of his room. Rowan rechecked his leg. His veins were still a normal colour, thankfully.

Instead of flopping onto his bed or having a shower, Rowan sat at his desk and leaned over the big stack of files his mother had left. He pushed aside the werewolf file, the vampire file, stopping when he stared at large bold letters reading 'THALASSIC MORTALS'.

It felt like Rowan's lungs tightened around his heart. He had just booted a Thalassic Mortal in the face less than half an hour ago. Adrenaline still whizzed around his body from such a ruthless act. He knew he shouldn't have met up with the creature. Rowan clearly wasn't in a rational state of mind.

The Thalassic Mortal had tried to kill him, and Rowan had stupidly thought they could find peace with a simple apology. He thought the whole soulmate act was a game to get Rowan close enough to poison him when he least expected it.

Yet Rowan sat, furiously flipping through the pages of a file dedicated to the sea creatures, searching for the part about soulmates and royals. It didn't take him long to find 4 full A4 pages on the subjects.

As rowan's eyes traced the first paragraph, a voice said, "I thought you were finishing at 12. Why did it take you so long to get home?"

Rowan's head snapped in the direction of the door. His mother had entered unannounced, as usual. Mandy's eyes flicked to the files her son was looking at, and her blue eyes gleamed with surprise.