Restless Waves

Chapter 47

"And how do you know so much? Who is your father because you said you know through him? You could be anyone, and I can't trust just anyone."

Jack didn't answer right away. He took a step back and smoothed down his t-shirt. "Do you want to break the curse?"

"Of course I do, but-"

"Then I'm the best you've got. Turn me away, fine, but you'll be turning away someone who can actually help."

"I don't know how you can help me, Jack. You don't even know what I'm doing or why I'm looking into curses, and I'm not prepared to tell you."

"Why?"

"Because if I tell you, I'm putting you in danger and I don't want that." Rowan stepped outside and closed the door behind him. "I'm not shunning you out because I don't want your help, I'm telling you this because I don't think you realise what kind of situations we're facing."

"I know about hunters, I know about the supernatural world, I know that you have to be sleep deprived to see it, and you're looking pretty tired this morning. I know a lot about vampires and fairies, more than you would think. I can help."

Rowan had a feeling that Jack wasn't going to back down easily. He got his father to talk to Jack instead.

"Do you have fighting skills?" Michael asked. Jack shook his head to say no. "Sorry, Jack. I'm not taking a kid the same age as my son into a vampire's home if you don't know how to protect yourself. We don't know you. You could be anyone working for anyone. I'll say thanks for the information you've given us so far, but that's all the help we need. It'll put our minds at rest if we know you're safe. I don't want to be the one to tell your parents that you got eaten by a vamp. That would break me, alright?"

Jack nodded. Michael, sometimes, could be the right amount of stern. "okay," Jack said and hunched his shoulders with disappointment. "Well, if you need me, Rowan has my number."

"Thanks, Jack. Text Rowan to tell us that you got home safe. Just knowing that the supernatural really exists is dangerous enough."

When Jack left, Rowan and Michael returned to Kaerius who sat patiently at the table.

"Did you find out who his dad was?" Rowan asked, seating himself next to Kaerius, whose eyes hadn't left him since he entered the room.

"I didn't. I couldn't actually find anything about him or his family. Seems like he only made Facebook to get in touch with you about this project. He has no other social media and his phone is prehistoric."

"He seems like a private kinda guy, but he's harmless. I guess that the supernatural world is his passion. He was just eager to help out and be involved," Rowan said and turned his attention to Kaerius, whose purple eyes were embedded into the side of his face.

Kaerius leaned forward until their faces were inches apart. "Want sea. Now."

Rowan's eyes flicked around his features. "Okay," he said, and their eyes fell into each other. Kaerius's purple eyes sometimes looked like excellent contact lenses, but when his pupils grew, it proved they were real.

* * * * *

Twenty minutes later, Michael dropped them off by the cliffs. Rowan barely unclipped his seat belt when Kaerius sprinted from the car and dived out of sight and into the water.

"You guys have to compromise. He's on land too much," Michael said and waved goodbye.

Rowan watched his car until it was gone, then followed Kaerius's route to the water. When Rowan jumped in, despite the sun shining down on him, the water took his breath away, and Rowan had to swim above the surface for a while until his skin turned numb and he was used to the cold.

Kaerius surfaced right next to him with sharp teeth, webbed hands, and a turquoise tail. "We kiss, Rowan get tail, we find Jaiker and Laiken," Kaerius said and pulled Rowan further from the cliffs until the water around them seemed black when the sun dipped behind the clouds.

"You can sleep here tonight if you want?" Rowan said, wrapping his arms around Kaerius's shoulders to keep their bodies together. "I don't need to sleep, and I think I could stay awake just swimming around."

"Are you sure you're ready for that?" Kaerius asked though he did miss sleeping in the ocean, in the cold water, with Jaiker and Laiken, among his kelp forest and the fish. When Kaerius was little, he used to run his fingers through the sand on the ocean floor to help him sleep. He had wanted to do that a few times while sleeping in a bed. Running his fingers along the duvet wasn't quite the same.

"You weren't ready to sleep on land, but you did it for the sake of getting a better night's sleep because it's too painful being so far away from each other. If you want to sleep in the ocean, I don't mind at all. It'll be an adventure," Rowan smiled, feeling Kaerius's tail brushing against his legs to keep them afloat. "And I think the excitement of it will keep me awake."

Kaerius turned in the water when the sun shined, so Rowan's face was covered in the rays, and his light green eyes shimmered. "We kiss now." When Rowan smiled again, Kaerius's chest warmed as though the sun shone directly onto his heart.

Rowan closed the gap between their faces and their noses brushed together. Kaerius's nose was cold. He knew before their lips touched that he would taste salty, like the sea.

Rowan's lips were warm when they skimmed Kaerius's mouth. The Thalassic Mortal's webbed hand gently touched the back of Rowan's neck, and they sealed the kiss. The seagulls, water, wind, and distant screams of kids playing by the shore was silenced. Nothing was more important than Rowan's body pressed against Kaerius's. Their affection bloomed right away as they kissed, moving their mouths together and holding each other as though they were the most precious things the ocean carried.

Kaerius tried to pull them under the water. Rowan wasn't ready and gasped and kicked his legs harder. "My tail isn't there yet," he said, still sucked into the tender moment. Kaerius was too as he rested their foreheads together. "You'll have to kiss me harder."

"I can do that," Kaerius thought, running his tongue along his bottom lip, tasting Rowan on his own mouth. He pushed hard on the human's shoulders, and Rowan clung tighter when they sank. Kaerius connected their lips, needing the affection to grow.

At first, kissing was hard for Rowan because he was trying to hold his breath. He soon forgot, and the saltwater was flowing in and out of his mouth and through his gills. His tail appeared, and it wrapped around Kaerius's tail. A burst of passion exploded through him, and he opened his mouth with surprise. Kaerius's tongue was touching his as they sank deeper and deeper.

They spun slowly, kissing rougher. Rowan's back touched the ocean floor, and Kaerius rooted his hands in the sand to keep them there, and to trap Rowan underneath him. They kissed for a while. Rowan felt Kaerius's tail that was wrapped around his relaxing, then tightening, relaxing, then tightening.

The sensation was thrilling, and Rowan wanted to kiss him longer and richer. Suddenly their lips parted, and Kaerius's mouth trailed his neck. His sharp teeth nipped at Rowan's skin. Rowan grabbed his black hair and the skin on Kaerius's back, feeling Kaerius's lips kiss around him and over his jaw, and the corner of his mouth until their lips found each other again.

They didn't know how long they kissed for, but when they eventually parted, their lips tingled, and their breathing was unsteady. Kaerius's eyes were almost black with arousal. His gaze traced Rowan as though he was a meal ready to devour, though they pulled back for the sake of taking things step by step. He stopped pinning Rowan to the sand, and their tails unravelled. Kaerius moved his dark hair from his eyes. Watching Rowan drift in the water, softly waving his magnificent tail. "Rowan pretty," his deep voice shouted, which sounded muffled in the water.

Despite being engulfed by the freezing sea, Rowan somehow managed to blush.

After Kaerius decided that Rowan was the most beautiful person he had ever seen, he took his hand, so they wouldn't float apart, and they swam together to the caves to find Jaiker and Laiken.