Lewis sat in the sand in stunned dismay. He’d gotten too close lunging for Riley and now the waves were soaking his shorts; not that he noticed much.

The tips of Riley’s fins disappeared below the surf, and then she was gone. Lewis saw Rebecca lurch after her, but the older Mer resurfaced a moment later shaking her head and muttering something in a whistling language Lewis could not understand.

Shaking himself out of his daze, he fumbled for the burner phone he was currently carrying in case of an emergency and flipped it open. He had to warn Sophie before Riley got herself into a worse situation. He couldn’t believe the headstrong girl had just been that reckless.

Lewis paused halfway through dialing Sophie’s number. Slowly – with a shaking hand – he closed the phone and put it away. His heart pounded in his chest as he did. He couldn’t call her. He had no idea if she had already contacted Lemuria or not, or if anyone was currently with her. If he called, he might not only also alert the institution, but also give them an opportunity to trace the call. Lewis couldn’t risk exposing them all.

He dropped his hand in dismay and glanced at Rebecca, who was wringing her fingers and twisting her fin in an agitated twitch. “Could you catch her?” he inquired. He winced as he asked the question, hating how he had to expect it of the Mer that he had only just met.

Rebecca stared evenly back at him and sighed with a shake of her head. “No,” she replied. “But-”

She broke off and twisted around. Lewis followed her line of sight to Luna’s brother. The two were silent for a moment before he shook his head and shrugged. “She has a lead, and you know how she is when her mind is set.”

Rebecca hissed her annoyance and then glanced back at Lewis and sighed. “Riley can take care of herself,” she said finally.

Lewis shook his head and rose from the sand to dust his shorts off. He needed to fix this, though he wasn’t quite certain how. “No, you don’t understand. The only protection Katie has right now – however flimsy it might be – is that they need at least two Mer for their public display. If Riley goes, she’s only delivering herself to them and condemning Katie as well. We have to catch her.”

“Catch who?”

Already stressed and on edge, the sound of Lukshia’s voice behind him caused Lewis to yell as he spun around to face her. The broad-shouldered woman was staring at him with the same calm, serious expression she almost always had. Previously, she had been checking on her surveillance measures upon returning and getting the boat docked. He hadn’t heard her approach to know she was listening.

“Riley,” he answered. His cheeks flushed at his earlier reaction, but Lukshia didn’t comment on it, so he continued explaining the situation to her. “She’s going after Sophie. I couldn’t talk her out of it. Do you think your boat can catch her?”

Lukshia pursed her lips and frowned. “I can’t take the ship that close to the park. The reefs are too shallow in the area and it’s too conspicuous. A speedboat might have caught up to her if we had one and left now, but if she’s that bent on going, short of a net launcher and a tranq gun, catching up to her isn’t stopping her,” Lukshia pointed out.

“Then what do we do? We can’t call Sophie and warn her.”

“No,” Lukshia agreed. She shrugged and sighed. Her hand rose to pinch the bridge of her nose and then rub her eyes. “We have to just let her go. It’s not ideal, but it was always a risk they would reclaim Katie into their custody anyways. I’m not sure how long it will take, but we’ll make plans and get them out again. This time we’ll play it smarter too, so that they don’t find them again.”

“We can’t just leave them! After everything Lemuria has done to Katie and to Luna, we can’t just let them have her and Riley,” Lewis protested. He balled his hands into fists and then opened them again, the twitching motion acting as a release for his frustrations.

“We don’t really have much of a choice,” Lukshia countered. “Besides, they’re not the ones I’m worried about. They’re valuable, they’re not going to want them damaged. I’m more concerned about Sophie, who officially becomes a liability the moment they no longer need her to get their hands on a second Mer.”

Lewis felt his heart stall in his chest. He licked his lips and shifted his weight from foot to foot. “They wouldn’t hurt her, would they? I mean, she still knows the location of this place. They won’t want to just settle for two, surely? And the park is heavily populated.”

He studied Lukshia’s grim body language. “I’ll see if I can get someone there to get her out; but I doubt she’ll be willing to abandon her daughter to her fate, and any move is risky. Let’s just hope your girlfriend doesn’t do anything stupid.”

Lewis pulled at his hair and hissed in frustration. He twisted away from the woman – he wasn’t truly cross with her, but rather how helpless he now felt – and kicked some sand as he stalked to the shore until the water pushed up over his toes. He cupped his hands over his mouth and shouted after Riley. He loved the reckless Mer and knew she was only trying to help in her own way, but he couldn’t help cursing her hasty decision. He called again, then flinched when he felt wet fingers brush against the bare skin of his shin.

“She is long gone,” Rebecca said. She spoke softly, and her tone seemed laced with regret. “She will not hear you. My niece is headstrong and not easily dissuaded once she sets her mind to something. All we can do is hope that she is smart enough to realize on her own the precarious situation she will be putting the others in.”

Lewis sighed and dropped back down to the sand. The water soaked through his shorts, but he didn’t care. It would dry. “I’m sorry. It’s probably been quite the trying day for you and your family as well; me losing my head isn’t going to help anyone. You’re down a hunter now…I know you have your reservations, but let us accommodate you, just for tonight,” he offered again. While he wanted nothing more than to dash off to Sophie’s aid, he knew he had to stay behind. Luna and her family still needed him and he knew Sophie would never forgive him if he put the rest of the Mer at risk for her sake. He would never forgive himself either. He hoped they would take him up on the offer so that he could at least feel moderately useful.

He could see the uncertainty flickering in Rebecca’s gaze and she pursed her lips before glancing behind her. “It is more than my reservations; we have no desire to impose either. You have done more than enough for us by protecting our own as you have. We will manage. But – if you are willing and she can be convinced to brave her fears – I might accept on behalf of Karina; her pregnancy is taking its tolls on her, especially after such a long journey, and she needs more nutrition than the rest of us.”

Lewis nodded. “That’d be no trouble at all. How far along is she, if you don’t mind me asking?” He glanced out where the Mer in question was in the water. She was slumped bodily against Luna’s brother, Nero, and looked exhausted. “Is she alright?”

Rebecca turned instead of answering him and was silent for a moment. When she finally did speak, it wasn’t to him and it wasn’t in English.

When she finished, both Mer out in the water dunked under it and swam over. When Nero surfaced, he was supporting most of Karina’s body weight, and Rebecca was quick to shift closer begin fussing over the blonde Mer.

Though Lewis couldn’t understand the chirping conversation that struck up, it wasn’t hard to notice how Karina’s voice was far more subdued and wearier than the other two. She looked a little pale and her breathing was shaky, and – though she eyed him warily at first – her gaze seemed unfocused.

“The stress has been a lot,” Rebecca said in her slightly warbled English. Lewis appreciated being filled in. “This trip has been a bit too taxing with her pregnancy so far along. She just needs a chance to eat and rest. I would like to give her something to help her sleep, but the few supplies I did bring with me were lost when we were welcomed aboard that ship.” Though Rebecca’s tone was dry and laced with a bitter layer, she didn’t look angry as she gazed at him. Still, he felt a little guilty that they had endured a less than polite interception. Lukshia was efficient at her job – and seemed to genuinely care most of the time – but he also knew she could be a bit headstrong too, and was prone to getting things done efficiently, even at the expense of the comfort of those she was trying to help with little regard or remorse.

“I have a few medications on hand that would help with any anxiety and make her drowsy, and they’ve never had any negative effects on Luna or Riley, but I’d be worried about whether it would affect the baby or not.”

Rebecca hummed in the back of her throat, but she barely seemed to acknowledge him. She stretched out a hand and laid it over Karina’s swollen middle, and said something to the ailing Mer. “She just needs to relax,” Rebecca finally explained in English for him. “There has been too much excitement, and a proper rest will do her more good than anything. It is just difficult for her to settle here. Worries plague her mind and these waters are not ideal for rest with the waves jostling the body every moment.”

Lewis nodded as he processed the Mer’s words. While she seemed to know what she was doing and he often knew better than to involve himself with another’s patient uninvited, he had an idea. “I might be able to help,” he offered. “But she’d need to be comfortable leaving the water. If she’ll let me, I can carry her so she doesn’t have to drag herself.”

As if she had understood him, Karina shrunk back against her mate with terror glistening in her chocolaty irises, and shook her head. Lewis frowned.

“We pick up languages quickly, but it takes longer to learn to speak then to comprehend,” Rebecca elaborated, confirming Lewis’ suspicion. “What is this aid you are suggesting, an herbal remedy?”

Lewis shook his head and scruffed a hand through his hair as he leaned back on his heels. “No, but it is effective. It’s a little hard to explain since you won’t really understand what I’m talking about until I show you, but it’s helped Luna a few times too…” Lewis trailed off with a frown as he glanced up and noticed a distinct lack of young Mer on the beach. He glanced out over the water next and supposed she could be under the surface, but he didn’t like the idea of her brooding by herself and had a sinking feeling in his gut. “Where is Luna?” he inquired as he voiced his concerns.

As soon as he said it, Rebecca’s eyes widened and her face fell. She twisted to scan over the shore and her lips parted. She didn’t speak, so Lewis assumed she was scenting. He’d seen Riley do it enough to recognize the behavior. “Ixion?” Rebecca called out. She shook her head and the next vocalizations were ones Lewis couldn’t understand.

A moment later, the water further out began to stir and dark shadows from below distorted across the surface. When Ixion’s dark head broke the surface, he came up dragging Luna with him. She was thrashing in his grip and with the way she was squirming, Lewis was impressed her father was maintaining a solid grasp.

“No, let go,” Luna yelled. She was writhing in his arms, and her fin was splashing wildly and stirring up the water. “Please, I need to go too.”

Lewis winced as his concerns were confirmed, though he was quietly impressed she had managed to sneak past everyone else – Lukshia included – in order to get as far as she did.

Despite her unrelenting fussing, Ixion didn’t seem to have too much trouble dragging her back towards them. Still, Lewis hurried over and sloshed through the surf in order to haul the flailing young Mer up out of the water once it became too shallow for Ixion to pull her any further.

Though Ixion’s expression was grim and his lips were pursed into a thin line, he didn’t protest Lewis pulling his daughter up into his arms. Luna certainly seemed to mind though, as she lurched her weight backwards and Lewis nearly fumbled to keep a hold on her. “Luna, stop! Enough now,” Lewis ordered as she beat against his chest and began contorting herself to get away.

He remembered the last time she’d been held while in a panicked state all too clearly, and – while he was willing to risk a bite to help her – knew it would not be very good for her psyche to have a repeat experience. This in mind, he hurried up further onto the beach and set her down, but positioned himself between her and the ocean so that she couldn’t sneak away as easily again.

Her piercing blue eyes were brimming with tears as she met his gaze and stared him down. “Move,” she hissed as she tried to pull herself around him and he stepped in front of her again. “Please, Lewis; I have to go.”

Lewis shook his head, though his heart squeezed at her obvious desperation. “I’m sorry, Luna; I really am, but I cannot allow you to go after Riley. You don’t know how to properly navigate the ocean, and even if you did; I won’t let you put yourself in pointless danger.”

“I agree,” Ixion added. Lewis glanced to his side where the Mer had pulled himself up. His posture was tense and his tone stern, but Lewis could see the concern clouding Ixion’s dark irises. While it was a terrible situation, Lewis felt relief. They were going through so much, but at least he knew that – despite all the changes and time apart – Luna’s father deeply cared for her, and she was going to be alright with them.

“But, I-”

“No.” It was Rebecca’s stern voice that cut Luna off. “I understand you are concerned for your friend, but I will not indulge any reckless behavior. You will stay here, you will remain safe, and you will not make the situation any more precarious for those already at risk by adding yourself to the frenzy.”

Thus far, Luna had seemed rather shy around her parents – her mother especially – and always hesitated when standing up to them, but now she bared her fangs and sunk low into a defensive position as tears rolled down her cheeks. “You do not understand,” she protested.

Lewis leaned forward and pulled the trembling girl into his arms before she could protest or properly resist. He squeezed her tight and knotted his fingers into her long hair. “I do understand, Luna,” he whispered. “My niece is dying and in danger, and the woman I love has been forced to invite wolves into her den, and I have no way of knowing if either of them are going to be alright. And now Riley has raced off into the same fray, and I couldn’t stop her or protect her either. I want nothing more than to race down there to warn them, defend them as best I can, and simply be there with them. I want to, but I can’t. I can’t do that because it only gives Sophie one more person to worry about, and it leaves you and your family all alone. I promised them I would keep you safe. You know that there’s nothing Katie would hate more than to see you dragged back there. It’s hard, and it hurts, but we have to stay here and have faith that they will be alright, okay?” Lewis gritted his teeth and hugged her even more tightly. He empathized, and he hated feeling powerless just as much as she probably did right now.

“I do not want to wait here, safe,” she spat the word with enough venom that Lewis tensed. “Not while they are not.”

“You’re doing more good right here,” he whispered back.

Luna shook her head. “It is not enough. Lewis, please, I have to go. I need to be with her; I love her.”

Lewis began to rub the girl’s back as she continued shaking and clinging to him desperately. “I know, sweetie. She loves you too. You girls have been through so much, and you’re so close. I know you’re worried, I know she’s your sister, but she loves you too and that’s why you need to stay here.”

Luna broke down into further sobs and shook her head against his chest as he cradled her. “No, no, no, no,” she whimpered. “Let go,” she begged as she pushed at him. Lewis dropped his hands away from her back so she could sit up, and Luna began frantically wiping at her tears. “Lewis, I love her more,” she admitted. “She is more than my sister.”

“Is she a mate?” Rebecca probed gently when Luna failed to elaborate.

Lewis frowned at the thought. There was nothing inherently wrong with it, but he already knew that Luna was highly attached to and dependent on Katie – which was understandable given their shared trauma – but Luna also seemed to treat Katie as her savior, and that sort of romantic entanglement wasn’t healthy for either of them. Luna was fragile enough as it was.

So while the fresh tears streaming down her cheeks made his heart squeeze, he was relieved when her nose scrunched and she shook her head. “No. No, not like that. I do not…I do not want a mate. It is not like that.”

“Then what?” Ixion’s tone was tender as he reached out and placed a hand on Luna’s shoulder.

Luna’s face scrunched like it often did when she was trying and failing to hide something that was paining her. After a moment, she shook her head and curled in on herself further. “Please just let me go after Riley,” she whispered.

“You’re so desperate to go, tell us why,” Lukshia said as she stepped up. She didn’t crouch, so Luna had to crane her neck to look up at the woman. Lewis has seen the rather monotone bounty hunter look slightly stressed or relieved through the time she’d hung around, but she’d rarely shown too much open emotion. Now, however, she looked openly frustrated and annoyed, and any of the previous warmth and patience she’d shown Luna had vanished.

“We want to help, Luna. We want to understand. But you need to talk to us. What is it?” Lewis probed. He didn’t like the fresh tears watering in Luna’s eyes, nor the way she’d flinched at Lukshia’s harsher tone, so he tried to keep his own request soothing.

“It is okay,” Rebecca pressed. “Whatever is upsetting you, Luna, you can tell us. You said that you love Katie as more than a sister; what is the more?”

Luna shook her head. “I do not want to upset you.”

“Why would it upset me?” Lewis watched Rebecca’s tail flick. Her tone was still soft, but she seemed to be growing weary. He sighed. Luna was not the easiest clam to pry open when she was distressed.

“I..I do love her like a sister,” Luna began hesitantly. “But…she is more, she felt like my world for a while. When it was just the two of us…she was the closest thing I had to…to a mother.”

While Rebecca pulled back like she’d been slapped, Lewis felt his gut sink. It made a lot of sense, but it also greatly reduced the chances that Luna would see reason about staying behind. He wasn’t anticipating her letting it go.

Luna whimpered at Rebecca’s reaction. “Please, I do not mean it that I want Katie over you, or that you have failed me. But I lived for so long in fear and isolation. There was never anything but pain. No one bothered to reassure me or smile, or pretend even for a moment that I might be a living, feeling creature worth any sympathy. I did not even have an identity, real or not, because there was no thought that I could have a name or deserve one,” Luna’s explanation was frantic, but then her tone turned bitter. “Creature, animal, fish, monster, beast, demon, devil, thing…I started to believe them after a while.” Luna broke off and hung her head.

Though her long, sopping hair fell into her face like a concealing curtain, Lewis had seen the tears still streaming down her cheeks. He yearned to pull her into a hug, but it was her mother that she reached for. Rebecca didn’t waste any time pulling herself a little further up in the sand and bundling her daughter into her arms and resting her chin atop the crown of Luna’s head. Luna was silent as she hugged her back and continued to cry. “None of that is true,” Rebecca whispered.

Luna shrugged and didn’t respond to the comment, but Lewis saw a small smile twitch across her lips. “When Katie showed up, she looked so confused and so afraid, and I knew that she was also afraid of me. I was afraid of her too, I was always afraid then – but I also felt so hopeful. I hoped that maybe it would mean I would not be alone anymore, though I dreaded that it was a trick and feared it had cost her freedom too. But…then she smiled at me. She smiled at me and she gave up food for me, and spent the night in frigid water so that I would not freeze,” Luna recounted.

She paused to rub furiously at her tear-filled eyes and her shaky smile grew. “She talked to me. Before she knew if I could understand or comprehend, she spoke to me. She was the only one who considered me worth talking to. She gave me a name, an identity, and I felt that maybe I did not have to be a skittish, volatile beast. We played games; I had never played before…that I could remember,” she added. “I laughed. But I could not speak to her in return. I still do not understand it, but whenever I tried, my throat would tighten, and I could never make a sound. It only hurt to keep trying.”

Rebecca nodded and smoothed Luna’s hair back.

“I explained to her,” Lewis said.

“And I have witnessed it before, once, and heard of other instances as well,” Rebecca continued with a nod in Lewis’ direction. “You are the first I have heard of to regain your voice however.”

Luna nodded and wrung her fingers before continuing. “Katie protected me – or she tried – and she told me stories of the ocean and the world; hoping that it would help me remember. She stayed with me at night, and held me when I had nightmares…she made me feel safe. And…I remember thinking – all those times – that it felt so good to feel loved and wanted. I remember imagining that this feeling was the one I had longed for all those cycles. The one I vaguely remembered, desired; that I felt from you. It had to be what it felt like to have a mother. But Katie called me a sister and a friend, never a daughter. I knew it did not make sense, was not fair or accurate to think of her that way, but it was the only association I had to the one thing I had wished for over and over and over,” Luna whimpered. “I just wanted you to come save me.”

“Luna…” Rebecca’s voice broke as she rubbed her daughter’s back. There were tears in her eyes too.

“It was not your fault; I never blamed you,” Luna continued. “But roles and identities were so confusing, they still are. I do not know how to be or act or feel around others, not after so long alone. I know I projected a wish onto Katie, but it does not change how I feel about her. I need her. And I think she needs me too.”

Rebecca smoothed Luna’s hair. “I am sure that she does,” she agreed. “I understand, Luna. I understand why you feel the need to go, but I hope you understand that as a mother – who just got her daughter back and has heard all that she has endured – that I cannot allow you to swim back into danger and that life.”

“We just want you to be safe,” her father added. Lewis glanced at the male Mer. He was squeezing his fists and stirring the silt with his tail. The cloudy gray-white fin running down the length of the limb had darkened to a stormy shade. It was a unique emotional response that Lewis hadn’t seen in any of the other Mer, but he was quickly learning that they all seemed to be very different, with their own unique – and often disorienting – features and body language. He wondered how they managed to read one another accurately when nothing seemed to be universal among them.

“I have to go,” Luna repeated. She was clinging to her mother now, but Lewis was not surprised that she had not caved.

“You can’t,” Lukshia reminded. “It will only make things worse.”

“It was the two of us,” Luna whispered. “Just the two of us. We needed each other. She did so much for me, and now I have to let her endure it alone, so that I will be spared? That is no way to repay her generosity.” Luna squirmed from her mother’s hug and Rebecca responded by clasping Luna’s hands in her own. “It was one thing to take the risk when she was dying and they needed both of us to take her; and it was hard enough to know she might die there. But if she no longer has that protection, I cannot abandon her.”

“You don’t know that’s what’s going to happen,” Lewis reminded. “Riley’s a smart, resourceful girl. I don’t know if she’s going to ensure things are alright or if she intends to help, but she won’t just rush in recklessly. She knows that a lack of other Mer is the one thing that might offer Katie some protection. She won’t risk that without a good reason.”

The look on both Rebecca and Ixion’s faces suggested they didn’t believe him, but Lewis was clinging to the same hope he was offering to Luna.

“I am sorry,” Luna whispered. She glanced at Lewis and her eyes were wide and bloodshot, and filled with more tears. “I am sorry that I am a hassle and causing everyone so much trouble.” Her attention twisted back to her parents. “I am sorry that you came all this way, and that I am probably not what you were hoping for. I know you want to keep me safe this time, but I cannot sit here, I cannot and I will not.”

She tugged her hands free of Rebecca’s grip. “I am sorry, but I am going. I am going because Katie would come for me. I need too.”

“Luna, please,” Rebecca begged.

“She’s not going to let this go.”

Lewis jerked his attention from the gut wrenching scene to where Lukshia stood. He hadn’t noticed her make her way around to his side, and she had spoken quietly enough that the preoccupied Mer didn’t seem too interested in acknowledging her, though he knew their hearing was better.

He sighed and shook his head. “No.”

Lukshia pursed her lips and didn’t say anything more.

Luna and her parents were still arguing quietly, and judging by her twitching fin, Luna was growing increasingly desperate and agitated.

Finally, it seemed Lukshia had grown tired of the debate, because she strode forward from where she was standing. She was digging in her pocket, but by time he saw the needle, it was too late for Lewis to protest.

“I do not want anyone to get hurt, but I have tried to be patient and do what everyone else thinks is best. I cannot anymore. I need my sis-ah,” Luna broke off with a pained yelp as Lukshia grabbed her by the shoulder and jabbed the needle between her shoulder blades.

Luna’s eyes clouded with terror before they rolled back in her skull and her lids drooped shut as she slumped. Lukshia looped an arm around her to catch her as she collapsed.

“Lukshia!” Lewis shouted as he lurched to his feet. This was not the way to handle the situation.

“What did you do?!” Ixion snarled. He bared his fangs and hissed furiously.

Lewis held a desperate hand up. “She’s only sleeping,” he assured the Mer. “It will wear off. Lukshia, what were you thinking?”

Lukshia shook her head and lowered Luna down to the sand. “I was handling the situation. She was going to work herself into a frenzy, and we don’t need to be worrying about any injuries out here. You know it would only be a matter of time before she tried to sneak off again. Take her inside, where it will be harder.”

“I’m not going to lock her up,” Lewis refused. “That’s exactly what we’ve been trying to get her away from.”

“You had no right!” Rebecca snarled. “She is not an animal you can just control or knock out when you cannot be bothered to deal with her.”

Lukshia scoffed and shook her head. “Look, I know what Luna has been through, and the last thing I want is to make her feel worse. But I don’t know if any of you truly understand exactly who we’ve gone up against. I was happy to help because my best friend asked me to, but I am one person. I am very good at my job, but my resources and connections are a pinprick on the map in comparison to the international, corrupt company we’re battling over these two Mer.

“My life and my career depend on making smart decisions and knowing when to lay low, and your blonde teenager just threw a massive wrench into carefully constructed plans. Sometimes you have to make tough decisions in these situations, and I’m not going to let a young girl jeopardize her life after so many people have put so much on the line to protect her. Because honestly? If Lemuria claims Katie and Riley, I don’t know that I have the means to get them back again. Not for a very long time at least. So take a minute to decide which is worse, penning Luna up until this blows over, or letting her spend what remains of her youth as a science experiment and performing monkey, because there’s only so much more I can do.”

Lewis took a step back. The fury in Lukshia’s eyes was intimidating, though his own temper flared at her lack of empathy. Luna wasn’t a troublemaker and she didn’t want to hurt anyone. She was just desperate and afraid, and he felt she deserved better courtesy than being jabbed in the back of the neck with a sedative.

The woman shook her head and turned on her heel. He watched her walk away, headed towards her SUV. He wasn’t sure where she was going, but figured it best to let her blow off steam away from the other Mer. So much for good first impressions.

Lewis glanced back at Luna. Her limp form was sprawled on the beach, but Rebecca had pulled her head into her lap and was stroking her daughter’s hair. He was confident that she had her daughter well looked after, so he made his way back over to where Nero and Karina were still sprawled. There was another Mer that needed tending to.

Karina’s eyes were wide and she shrunk away from him when he approached. He didn’t blame her, not after she witnessed how Lukshia had dealt with Luna’s fussing. “Don’t worry,” he murmured. “I don’t want to hurt you. I just want to help. Will you let me?”

There was a moment of silence after he spoke before Karina chittered something to Nero, who responded in turn. The young woman still looked terribly frightened, but after licking her lips and swallowing, she nodded.

Lewis kept his movements slow as he reached out and carefully scooped the pregnant Mer up. He heard her whimper, but stayed quiet and kept their trip short. Once she was all the way out of the water – where the surf wouldn’t reach her – he set her back down, moving slowly so he wouldn’t jostle her.

“Lay down and get comfortable, okay?” he instructed. “However you normally would.”

She was chewing on her lip, and Lewis followed her gaze when she glanced back down towards the water. Nero was pulling himself up out of the surf – likely to be with her – but still had a bit of distance to drag himself.

Lewis chewed his lip – he needed to calm her down and suspected he might be able to kill two birds with one stone – and then he gestured behind them both. “Would it be alright if I brought Luna over? I won’t lock her up, but she does need to be watched right now and she might feel more secure over here when she wakes up.”

Karina looked over her shoulder at Luna and Lewis watched her fear-struck features soften. She had one hand pressed to her belly, and already seemed more relaxed. He’d had a feeling her maternal instincts were raging as her pregnancy neared its final stages. After a moment, she glanced back and him and dipped her head. “Y-y-yes,” she managed. There was still a whistling chirp to her tone, and the word was shaky and poorly pronounced, but Lewis found himself once again amazed at their abilities.

By the time he’d fetched Luna and carried her back, Nero had made it to his mate’s side. He pushed back a little so there was room for Lewis to lay Luna down at Karina’s back. The pregnant Mer was rolled onto one side with her arm still wrapped around her middle. When he set Luna down, Karina slowly rolled to her other side and draped her free arm over the unconscious girl.

As soon as she was settled, Nero pulled himself over to rest at her back. He bent down and pressed a kiss to her cheek, and Karina hummed softly. She looked exhausted, however, and made no move to lift her head and return the gesture.

It was starting to get dark, and Lewis didn’t want to still be reacting to issues once the sun was down, so he hurried inside. He pulled a blanket off the back of the well-worn couch and turned a small dial on the one corner. The blanket was weighted and heated – battery powered – and he found it was the one simple thing that seemed to put Luna at ease. Katie tended to love it too, and he suspected that the weight and warmth might also help in this situation too.

Though Nero eyed him curiously and Karina looked a little alarmed, neither of them made a move to stop him as he shook the blanket out and draped it over both Luna and Karina. The moment it settled over her, Karina’s hum returned, magnifying into a rumbling purr before she slumped and her eyes closed. The purr died softly into quiet snoring and Karina finally seemed to give in to her exhaustion because she didn’t stir anymore.

“Thank you,” Nero murmured. “She needed to sleep.”

“Of course,” Lewis replied. He was just glad that she was finally resting.

He left Nero to settle in quietly next to his sister and his mate, and made his way over to Rebecca and Ixion. “I’m sorry,” he said when he reached them. “Today has been a lot for you all, and this last situation didn’t help matters. Lukshia has a funny, grating personality, but she does care and wants to help. She shouldn’t have done what she did, but I hope a hasty choice won’t reflect too harshly on us overall. Luna’s wellbeing remains a high priority. The same for all of you.”

“You have shown us nothing but kindness,” Rebecca replied. “I am only sorry it seems we have brought more trouble with us.”

“Riley was going to do something foolish with or without your presence anyways,” Lewis laughed. “I love her, but that girl is going to drive my stress levels every time I see her, I’ve accepted that fate.”

“There is nothing foul between us then,” Ixion stated. “We are grateful for everything you have done for our blood.”

Lewis nodded and shoved his hands in the pockets of his shorts. He was worried about Katie and Sophie, and stressed about Riley, but despite everything, he knew he wouldn’t trade knowing this quirky bunch of people from the water.

He glanced up to the darkening sky where stars had just begun to appear, twinkling calmly above. He didn’t regret a thing.