I backed up slowly, keeping a firm grip on his hand as I walked him toward the cave—I loved Mark, and even if we didn’t work out, I still wouldn’t go to Kona for consolation. One, because it was cruel. And two, because no matter how much I cared about Kona it was always going to be less, going to be different, than how I felt for Mark.
We made it into the cave and the first thing I did was turn toward Mark and rip his rash guard right over his stomach and shoulders. Then I pressed myself against his bare, beautiful chest and kissed him all over.
He let me, at least for a little while, and then he stepped back. I tried to hold on to him—I’d been to hell and back since I saw him last and I needed to feel him against me. To know that he was real and safe. And that, for now at least, so was I.
But Mark insisted on pushing me away. At first I was hurt, but then I realized he was cataloging my bruises.
“What the hell happened?” he demanded, brushing gentle fingers over the bruises on my upper arms. “I’ll kill Kona if he did this to you.”
“Kona would never do this!” I blurted, shocked that Mark would even think such a thing.
“Then who?” His hand brushed over my collarbone as his fingers traced the bruises on the part of my chest he could see over the bikini top.
“Sabyn. Do you remember him? He was with Tiamat—”
“I know who he is.” I’d never seen Mark look so fierce, like he was contemplating ripping Sabyn apart with his bare hands. Seeing him like this, I believed—if he ever got the chance—that he would do it. Or die trying.
The thought terrified me. Though I was pretty certain that sometime in the next few days I was going to die, the thought of something happening to Mark made me physically ill. “Don’t think about him,” I told Mark as I kissed my way down his rigid jaw. “He doesn’t matter.”
“He hurt you.” Mark lowered his head, ran his lips over the bruises on my shoulder before moving on to my neck and collarbone.
Shivers of need worked their way through me, and I wrapped my arms around Mark, pressing my cheek against his chest. His heart was going crazy, beating hard and fast beneath my ear. It was the best thing I had heard in weeks and weeks.
He bent his head, brushed soft, sweet kisses over my hair, and that’s when I knew I wasn’t going to walk away. Wasn’t going to push him away. I’d tried to be noble, tried to give him up. That hadn’t worked for either of us. So this time I was going to take what I wanted, was going to take him. Tomorrow could worry about itself.
“I love you.” I hugged him close to me, kissed his strong, tanned shoulders. His rock-hard biceps. His broad, sculpted chest. I didn’t want to let him go. Not now, not ever.
And then Mark was lowering me to the makeshift bed. “Are you sure?” he whispered as he pressed gentle kisses wherever he could touch. “Is this okay?”
I thought about avoiding the question. But I didn’t have to be strong anymore, didn’t have to hide behind a mask that showed no emotion. This was Mark, the person who knew me better than anyone else on earth and loved me anyway. Why should something else—anything else—interfere with the fact that I loved him? Especially now, when I knew very well that I might die tomorrow.
“Tempest?” he urged, and I realized I’d taken too long to answer. He’d pulled back and I knew he was going to stop. The thought made a sick panic race through me, and I plastered myself against him.
“I’m more than sure.” I pulled his mouth down to mine.
Thankfully, it was all the encouragement he needed.Chapter 24
“What’s he doing here?”
I turned at the belligerent question, my hand already extended in a placating manner. We were on the beach, surrounded by people. Some were eating breakfast while others trained in small groups, but they’d all been casting surreptitious looks at Mark and me from the second we sat down. Obviously, they knew he was human and were just waiting for the fireworks to start when the other monarchs got a look at him. But the last thing we needed was a fight, especially now when we should be putting on a united front. “He came with Mahina last night.”
“He needs to leave. Now,” Kona said.
“I’m not going anywhere.” Mark moved to stand next to me.
“That’s not a decision you get to make, human.”
Again with the deriding tone, the one that made being human sound like an insult. Which got my back up, as I very often considered my human half the better part of myself. “No, it’s a decision I get to make,” I told him. “He stays.”
Kona’s eyes narrowed. “You’re overstepping, Tempest.”
Maybe I was. Kona had helped rescue me, after all. He had set up this island refuge and therefore he had the right to make the rules we lived by here. That didn’t mean I was going to bow and scrape to him, though. Not when I could feel two thousand pairs of eyes staring at me, watching, waiting to see what was going to happen between us.
Which, now that I thought about it, probably only made things worse for Kona. Everyone knew we’d been together once and the fact that I had brought my current boyfriend here was probably a mess-up of epic proportions. My stomach tightened at the realization. The absolute last thing I wanted was to make Kona look weak in front of his people and the other kings. He didn’t deserve that.
I stepped back, lowered my head. Did my best to take the challenge out of my actions. “I’m sorry,” I told him. “I’ll get my stuff and we’ll leave.”
Kona’s hand came out, fastened on my forearm. “You can’t leave.”
“Hey. Don’t touch her.” Much to my chagrin, Mark inserted himself between us. I’m sure, in his head, he was standing up for me, protecting me against the big, bad selkie. But it was the worst move he could have made at that point.
Kona kept one hand on my arm while he pushed Mark with the other, using every ounce of selkie strength he had—which was considerable.
Mark stumbled backward, nearly fell. He caught himself at the last minute, somehow managing to remain upright. I turned to placate him, shrugging Kona’s hand off at the same time. Which was a good thing, because Mark chose that moment to launch himself at Kona with a primal roar.
I froze, eyes wide, expecting Mark to get slammed to the sand at any second. But it was Kona who fell under Mark’s onslaught, with my boyfriend following him down to the ground. Then Mark straddled Kona and plowed a fist straight into his face.
Kona responded with a two-fisted blow to Mark’s kidneys. Then he shoved Mark off, rolling so that he was no longer beneath him. As he climbed to his feet, he lashed out, dealt a solid kick between Mark’s ribs. I swear, I felt it in mine—in those moments the look on Kona’s face was so close to the one Sabyn was wearing when he beat the crap out of me that it scared me a little. Took me back to that dank, dark dungeon.
I started for Kona, determined to pull him off Mark and talk some sense into him. But there was no sense to be had, especially not when Mark tripped him and dragged him back to the ground where the two of them proceeded to beat the hell out of each other.
I started to get in the middle—I couldn’t just stand there and watch the two of them kill each other—but before I could do anything but grab ineffectually at them, Kenji wrapped an arm around my waist and pulled me back.