Hey guys,

My past week/weekend has been suuuuuuper busy finishing my manuscript for the paperback version of my newly published book Beast Unburdened. And it's out now! Yay!

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09PZ7RN1B

My apologies if this chapter feels more rushed than usual as I didn't have as much time to refine it as I normally do. I hope you all like it!

Much love,

Robin

*

History Lesson

Curled up against Matt's chest we lay in his bed in his room above the Stonefish. "So," I started softly, "None of your navy buddies could make it here in time? That's why you called Noah?" Matt nodded, his chin brushing against the top of my head. "Fletcher, the guy who made your knife. He'll try to get here but he was in Melbourne and probably unable to get a flight out yet. The others weren't in the country or on a mission and unreachable."

No wonder he'd been getting more and more agitated as he'd made his round of calls. I should have paid more attention to him while I'd been trying to sort my own thoughts and feelings. "Do all of them know about what you are? Or would you have told them when they got here?" I remember him specifically saying Thorne discovering his fish genes but he'd never mentioned the others and neither had Thorne.

"I would have told them if they got here," Matt confirmed, "But Noah's a good choice. I'm glad he's back here, having him on our side is probably a better asset right now." I had to chuckle at the phrasing, thinking that his training was showing through. "I bet, a guy who can make people spill their guts is handy."

Noah had come across as extremely friendly and trustworthy, then again it was entirely possible that that magical voice of his was enhancing that impression. He'd admitted himself that as a Siren his gift was in his voice, he could sweet-talk anyone. Thorne had known better what a Siren was than Noah had expected though. Rather rudely describing him as an emotional vampire.

I remembered how Noah's face had shuttered for a moment before he'd nodded, "That's fair to say." Though neither man had elaborated much on what it did mean. To Matt Noah had firmly said, "I'll have your back. I can have people keep an eye out for both the boat, and the Corenths in question. When it comes down to a fight you can count me in too."

When the cop had left Thorne and Matt had shared a brief look and then Thorne had shrugged out of his tank top, opened his pants (thankfully not actually dropping them) and shifted in a flash of rust red light. I'd never seen him shift, had never seen him changed into his other form or even known he could do that on a whim.

As the light faded away a big red wolf remained, shaking out his fur with a thumping sound of his tail as it hit the nearest table. Matt grabbed a black collar from the top edge above the door and clipped that around Thorne's neck and then opened the door for the huge animal. "I'll leave your shorts on the deck."

So, despite the two of them deciding to trust Noah with this, they weren't taking any risks. Thorne as a wolf, poorly camouflaged as a dog, set out to follow the cop from a distance, just to make sure. I was still in aw at remembering the huge beast he'd turned into. Wolves were not native to Australia obviously so it was a doubly strange thing to see.

"So who is Beryl?" I asked, finally able to ask it now that everything had at least calmed down. Matt's dark brows lowered over his face, making it clear he was unhappy when thinking of this woman. "You've got every right to know. I wish I could tell you exactly but I don't know everything either, just what we were told growing up."

Then he found my hand on his chest and held it tight, "Beryl was Dave's wife and she was a mermaid too." Wow, an actual mermaid. Matt had told me how rare that was, that of the four families originally transformed nearly all children were born male ever since. They had never run into other merfolk either beyond their group.

"When they met and married, Dave and Josh weren't working together yet. Josh had enlisted in the navy I believe; possibly he was doing something similar to what I did. In any case he wasn't around, it was just Dave and their dad and then Dave managed to convince Beryl to elope with him and run away from her family, the Whitakers.

From what I gather from my dad's stories, Beryl had been raised extremely sheltered and protected and she probably saw her chance at freedom and took it. I was three when this happened so I didn't know anything.

After they eloped, Beryl gave birth in nine months to Gavin and barely a year after that to Clay. The Whitaker family was furious but since they looked so in love in the end nobody tried to get Beryl back."

From the sad tone to Matt's voice I realized, like before, that this was not a happy story. I felt for the girl Beryl had been, wanting to escape a restrictive family and ending up in the hands of a slime ball like Dave.

"Josh returned from deployment," Matt said, "From what my dad told me he was pretty messed up at that time. Not really fit for company." I could hear the shadows in his voice, could hear how he understood far better than I could what state of mind Josh had been in at that time.

"They got the boat then, the Berylia, and lived there with all of them. From what I understand, Josh figured he'd live with them, recover a bit and get back on his own feet. Instead... Beryl gave birth to George and then not long after she committed suicide and Josh simply stayed."

I drew in a horrified breath, "And nobody knew how much she was struggling? That she needed help?" Matt leveled his dark eyes on me and I saw pain there even though when this happened he'd been a little kid and couldn't have possibly done a single thing. "Knowing what we know now..." he said huskily, his hand tightening around mine. "I fear her fate was far more tragic, I think she took the only out she felt she had left."

We were quiet a long time while I let the horrible implications circle through my brain, the knowledge that these assholes were trying for a repeat of history with me. "Shit, that's so horrible!" "I know my dad and more importantly her family carried a lot of guilt over her fate, knowing what we know now..." No wonder he'd plied his dad with scotch at the family meeting.

"Can we ask the Whitakers for help too? They probably would love a shot at payback wouldn't they?" I asked and Matt gave a dry laugh before nodding. "If any of them were left alive they probably would. But only Beryl's baby brother is still out there somewhere, and he's as nomadic as they get, we wouldn't be able to get hold of him."

He explained to me how he or Orly would leave messages for the last Whitaker at their arranged drop off spots and that he'd sometimes drift in and stay for a while. Then he'd disappear again without a word, sometimes for years, sometimes a few months. Apparently Orly had agreed to go around the drop offs now to do so but there was zero guarantee the guy would see those messages in any timely fashion. Cellphones were not a thing as he swam were the current took him and often took zero possessions with him.

"What about the fourth family?" I asked eventually. Hadn't Dev once said that there had been four boys changed by the Moonfell originally? Four families that had the merfolk gene? I now knew of the McLarens, the Whitakers and the Corenths but who was the last family?

Matt shrugged, "They're not fighters, they're farmers. I don't think they'd want to get mixed up in this. The Kahlon family is pretty large and they run an amazing experimental kelp farm off the coast of South Australia. They're a little ways off and very busy."

I processed that a moment, picking up on the fact that nobody had considered asking them for help. "Don't tell me you guys aren't on speaking terms?" Now Matt raised an eyebrow, "Dani Darling, what on earth would make you say that?" Then he grinned, "Okay, Okay... I might not much feel like asking their oldest son to help because I stole his girlfriend once..."

Fake punching him in the shoulder I demanded, "What the hell? Apologize then! Don't be dick!" I didn't even feel a little jealous about it because clearly, the girl wasn't in the picture now and I knew his history. Knew how he'd changed so he could be with me.

He laughed and caught my hand, pulling me down onto his chest until I stopped struggling. Turning it into a tickle fight instead that finally, at long last eased the tension out of us and out of the room.

*

I have the honor of sending out a giveaway for another new indie author, Ava Blake, to everyone on my mailinglist, and give you guys her contemporary romance book My Surrender for FREE. Cool right?

(PS, feel free to subscribe, receive the book and then unsubscribe again if you just want the book!)

Much love,

Robin