Making Waves (Mythological Lovers) (13 page)

We took our seats and ordered our drinks; water for me and wine for Dante and my mom. I figured I could have a sip or two from his glass. The moment my mother excused herself to the women’s room, I kicked Dante beneath the table. “Plans for a ceremony? Since when?”

“Since today,” he answered. His grin reappeared, the one I’d come to love — one part arrogance to two parts adorable. “You were away when I went to pick up my suit from Teo, so I didn’t have the opportunity to discuss it with you.” He didn’t apologize for the snap decision, and frankly, I didn’t want him to. The sudden take-charge attitude turned me on as much as it thrilled me.

Dante put on a flawless performance as my handsome fiancé. I beamed proudly beside him and held his hand throughout dinner. It turned out that I couldn’t tolerate the smell of beef any more than I could fried chicken. Dante and I stuck to the elaborate salad bar. I took generous portions of grilled shrimp, marinated artichoke hearts, and seaweed salad while my mom sampled their Greek offerings off the menu. For dessert we ordered fresh made baklava and almond cookies served with coffee, then followed our meal with a lazy, scenic stroll back to my home.

“It’s been a true pleasure to meet you, Dante.” Mom hugged us both when we reached my doorstep then stepped inside to grant us privacy.

“Will you walk with me for a few?” I asked him.

“Sure.”

He waited until we rounded the corner on the stone walking path before a thousand questions came from him. “Do you really think she likes me?”

“My mom loved you. Trust me, she wouldn’t have had a word to say to you if she disapproved.”

With our fingers interlaced, we made our way down toward the beach. The stone path was lit by a pair of hanging solar lanterns every fifteen yards. I moved aside for a broad-shouldered blond man to pass us. He looked as if he’d been chiseled from marble. Something about him struck me as familiar.

“Did you mean it about wanting to be married, Dante?”

“Of course I meant it. If marriage is the human way, why shouldn’t I want to make you happy?”

“But will it make you happy?” I asked uncertainly.

Dante’s warm laughter snaked around my heart, granting me the perfect amount of encouragement. “
You
make me happy.” He turned to face me on the narrow trail and set both hands on my hips, treating me to the hard outline of his body and perfect muscles I knew by memory.

A few tourists passed by and veered out of our way, taking the sandy route away from the light and our romantic moment. I ignored them all in favor of gazing into his blue eyes. At some point during the course of our friendship I’d become impossibly, hopelessly in love with my best friend. And I’d have it no other way.

“Come on. This way,” I whispered to him. Our fingers laced, my hand a perfect fit against his palm. We moved onto the beach, and once we were alone again, I captured him by a handful of his dark hair, dragging him down to kiss me. “We did it.”

“Did what?”

I giggled against his lips and whispered, “I’m pregnant.”

At first, he stared, as if he didn’t understand the words coming from my mouth. His stunned silence ended with a whoop and then he swept me into his arms, spinning me around on the moonlit beach.

In that moment, nothing but the two of us mattered.

“Really?” he asked, refusing to set me down. The tips of my toes skimmed the damp sand.

“Positive. I took a test this morning.”
After throwing up everywhere... He doesn’t need to know about that. Not tonight, anyway.

Dante ran his fingers through my hair, smoothing my bangs away from my face. His kisses never got old, each one setting my soul on fire with the same intensity as the last. “I promise you I will be the best father for our child.”

“I know you will.”

~Dante~

W
e decided to wait a couple days before spreading the news to my herd. I kissed Alessa one more time for luck, handed her my trunks, then waded into the water until it lapped against my thighs.

“Good luck!” she called.

I glanced over my shoulder at her and grinned. “Two hours tops.”

“I’ll be here.”

In daylight hours, our herd grazed amidst the ocean plant life between rounds of playful frolicking.

A colt fell beside me, adopting my stroke rhythm to keep pace.

“Hello, Taavi.”

“Will you play with us today?” the youngster asked.

My path to Dad took a delayed detour until we’d had three rounds of tag and the little ones were satisfied. One day, in the not-so-distant future, my foal would be among their number.

“Good day, Delia,” I called through our link, spotting the ivory-furred mare my father had taken for his new mate. She jerked her head up, startled by my enthusiastic greeting.

“Hello, Dante,” she greeted me uncertainly.

“Is my father near?”

“Above us.”

I bowed my head to her and swam up to our cavern’s rocky surface. Dad frequently monitored the amount of grass and tropical life available to sustain our numbers. It was part of his job as our alpha, the boss who made sure we remained safe and fed. I’d watched him take on a shark once alone without the rear guard to have his back.

I could never be my dad. Or could I? For Alessa or our child, I’d take on a swarm of them.

“Father?”

“You’ve returned.”

“I have news to share.”

Adon moved toward me across the wet sand, swift despite his muscled bulk. “Yes, I am well aware.”

“What?”
He knows? But how? We’ve told no one except her mother.

“Did you believe such behavior would slip beneath my notice? That I would not realize two members of my guard have gone not once, but twice to the surface?”

“Father—”

“Perhaps you think me to be stupid or too blinded by my trust in you to realize what you have done.”

“I never meant to displace your trust in me. I only wanted to show them there was a world above us full of people who are kind, and interesting things to learn. That’s it. Nothing more.”

I couldn’t breathe. Nothing about this had gone the way I imagined it in my head. I had hoped he would for once, for once since my childhood, embrace me as his son again. That he would love me and take pride in my actions.

My head drooped further, my muzzle pointing toward the mossy rock beneath my webbed hooves.
This will never change. It’s now or never, I have to stand up to him for once in my life.
“I took them because we are not your slaves, or your servants. You speak of the Phoenician people enslaving us as their animals then behave as if we are owned by
you
. What need do you have for Hyrum and Lycus here? If you punish anyone for what’s occurred, then punish me, Father.
Me.
I acted against your orders and convinced the others to come to the surface.”

Adon stiffened, a mountain of golden-furred muscle before me. “What did you hope to accomplish?”

“To show them there is more to life than the sea. To help them understand the world above. You think me foolish, but all I have ever wanted was to share my life with you, Father. To prove I’m not the waste you think I am.”

“Well. You have. I have never felt more pride for you as my son as I do now.”

I prepared myself for the worst, expecting a violent tongue lashing. When it didn’t come, I stared as if he’d grown a second tail. “Proud?” I repeated.

Adon’s shape shifted and shrank. The memory of my father’s human form didn’t match the man standing before me. I stared at him, too stunned initially to speak as I took in the shoulder-length blond hair and muscles as impressive as mine.

“You were there. I saw you. I saw you at the beach, but I — I didn’t recognize you.” Like my father, I took my human shape and stared at him in awe.

“I wished to see your filly with my own eyes. I wanted to understand your fascination and the justification for this defiance. She is radiant, my son, but more importantly, she made you smile.”

“Of course she makes me smile, Father. I love her.”

“I have not watched you smile since you were a boy.” My father inhaled a breath and squared his shoulders. “Since your mother’s passing.”

I could speak the same of him. “You came up to spy on us?”

“As I said. I wished to see her with my own eyes. When I ventured onto land, I sought the resident dragon of the island as I once did years ago to find you. He spoke well of her, enough to pique my interest. She swims like a fish, graceful in the water even with that fake tail.”

“You watched her show?”

“I did. She carries nereid blood in her veins, I am certain. Something about her reminds me of the old stories from when the water nymphs frolicked with the humans, as we once did.”

His words stunned me, but they made sense.
Is this why we’re so drawn to one another? Because she has sea nymph in her bloodline?

If such was the case, our child would be twice blessed.

“Now, what am I to do about your escapades with Hyrum and Lycus? Their place is here, protecting the herd. Not gallivanting about in the human world.”

“I have a thought about that, father.”

Adon arched a brow. We returned to our hippocampus shapes to achieve a measure of comfort we sometimes lacked as humans. “Speak,” he voiced in our natural communication.

“Allow members of the guard to voluntarily join, Father. The days of old are long past. Let us be the ones to decide. Allow fathers to protect their foals and sacrifice if they choose. Don’t bar them.”

“But the mares—”

“Will understand. For once, I believe the humans have the right idea. Their men take pride in becoming warriors to defend their homes. There, it is an honor, not a position of shame to fear. They wish to protect their loved ones. Their people.”

“Unbelievable.”

“Their mares fight as well.”

His eyes widened in disbelief. “Their women fight?”

“Voluntarily. They eagerly commit to fight alongside males sworn to the service.”

A rare, quiet chuckle came from the stallion who never smiled. “One change at a time, Dante. You know as well as I do that great change takes time to implement with our people. We are stubborn. Perhaps someday our mares will fight, but for now I will consider your other suggestion.”

Yes. One change at a time.
I nodded in an effort to control the tight feeling in my throat, emotion burning my eyes with an upsurging of joy. “Thank you, Father. Thank you. Now I have news to share with you.”

“More news? You are full of words today. I suppose the fault, however, is mine. I have given you little chance to speak freely of your thoughts.”

It was the closest to an apology I had ever received. “I hope these words will please you.”

“Then share them.”

“I came to tell you Alessa carries my child.”

“I am to become a grandfather?”

“You are.”

Dad caught me off guard with the ferocity of his affection. My father hadn’t embraced me since the day Teo reunited us on the shore, always keeping me at arm’s length. In one hug, I knew he’d never stopped loving me, and while I could never understand the reason for his distance, I chose to forgive.

Leaning against him, I rested my face on his golden neck. I exhaled a relieved sigh and closed my eyes, soaking in the warmth.

~Alessa~

I stood alongside the water with my arms crossed against my chest, Dante’s trunks balled in one fist. “What took you so long?” I demanded when he returned. He answered by shaking water from his body, splattering me with errant drops.

“No, no!” I cried with both of my hands out in front of me. His shorts were a poor shield from the water, and my open palms failed to ward off his attention. Dante bumped his muzzle against my chest and soaked my shirt.

“You ass. I just got cleaned up for the staff party!”

He shrank down to his human form. “Sorry... not sorry.”

I resisted the urge to slap the cocky look off his face. “Anyway, are you going to come with me? Mom is getting a body massage and mineral soak at the spa.”

The party was in full swing when we arrived. I brought my donation, a tray of stuffed crabs and my mother’s homemade tulumba. Each bite of gooey pastry tasted like deep-fried heaven and guaranteed they’d go quickly.

“There you are!” Pam almost bowled me over with her enthusiastic hug. “This turned out great.”

“Hey, where’s Julia?  I have something to tell you both.”

Once we located Julia, I delighted in sharing my pregnancy news with my two best friends. We squealed, hugged, hopped up and down, and then the gossip spread amongst our coworkers. A couple guys patted Dante on the shoulder in congratulations, but the reveal shocked no one.

Dante and I had truly been the last to realize we were in love.

“Okay, okay! I have gift cards!” I announced. “While all of you are terrific employees, Doctor Castlebury and I chose the most exceptional to award for your hard work and diligence.”

I passed out fancy gift baskets, certificates to shops, and notified key employees of raises.

“Hey Alessa, snap my photo with my certificate?” one of the men called over. “My kids’ll get a kick out of it if you can do it by the shark tank.”

“Sure.”

Crap, I forgot to swap memory cards,
I noticed when I powered it on again and saw the depleted space. My camera had gone neglected since the swim with Dante’s herd mates.

I shrugged it off and stepped onto the floor to take photos of mingling staff members. Castlebury arrived well into the luncheon. His khaki slacks and white button-up shirt was the most casual I’d seen the man who favored slacks and ties.

Once photos of all the awardees and raffle winners filled my camera, I returned to my office and plugged into the desktop. Hundreds of digital images spread across the screen in thumbnail size until I enlarged the icons for a closer look.

Smiling fondly, I swept through last year’s winter photographs of New York City with Daddy. I wished he was alive to meet Dante, but most of all, I regretted he wouldn’t be around to meet his grandchild.

Switching folders, I pulled up the most recent pictures and selected a few that came out clear without goofy expressions or closed eyes. Another sporadic wave of nausea hit me after I chose the print option on the day’s photos. I abandoned the computer and hurried into the restroom.