Porpoiseful Intent [Placida Pod 2] (Siren Publishing Everlasting Classic ManLove) (9 page)

“Good morning, sweetie,” his mom brightly said. She kissed him on the cheek.

He tried to catch Louise’s eye, but she looked away.

“You okay, Mom?”

Helen nodded. “I’m fine, sweetheart. Did you sleep well?”

Sean’s brow furrowed. “So we’re okay with the dolphin—”

She let out a too-shrill laugh as she patted him on the arm. “Sean, Sean, Sean. You are my son, and your father and I love you. We only want you to be happy. We’ve already told you we accept Emery and we mean it. I think there’s enough coffee for you now.” She pointed at the carafe.

This time, Louise did meet his gaze. When she slid one eyebrow up, matching her wry smile, he knew what she was thinking.

Told you so.

Okay, so she’s going for ignoring it. Fine with me.
“Thanks, Mom. Where’s Dad?”

“He’s taking a shower. He’ll be down shortly.”

And that was how the rest of Sean’s morning and afternoon went, with his parents blithely pretending they never saw their son’s partner transform into a dolphin in the Nadels’ pool. Once the other shifters realized that, they eventually relaxed around the Moritas and conversation grew more normal and less forced as the morning progressed.

By lunchtime, Laura had apparently gone from mentally trying to make Denby’s brain explode to outright ignoring him. Even Emery felt a little sorry for the guy and cut him some slack, talking to him again.

When the weather cleared enough shortly before dinnertime for everyone to go home, the Moritas went upstairs to pack before dinner. Joseph Nadel gathered the shifters in the kitchen to go over the search operation. “Tonight we’ll meet off Gasparilla Island again, like we have been, at eleven.”

“Dad, it’s going to be murky as hell,” Emery said. “Not to mention rough. You sure you don’t want to wait until daylight?”

He shook his head. “We can’t. We’ve lost enough time as it is.”

Sean didn’t miss how everyone looked at Emery. Apparently there was something else on their minds, and Emery had been unanimously picked to be the one to broach the topic.

Emery bit the bullet. “If we haven’t found him by now—”

“I know the odds,” Joseph said, cutting him off as his face darkened. “Believe me, I’m well aware that he’s likely not alive. But he’s one of our pod. I won’t give up without feeling I’ve exhausted every possibility to find him. I’d do it for any one of you or your family members.”

“Okay,” Emery said, placating him. “We’ll keep looking.”

Sean left the Nadels’ house before Emery, following his parents home after dinner to check on their house. During the walk-around, his parents did an excellent job at deflecting and ignoring all his efforts to talk about what had happened.

As far as they were concerned, it hadn’t.

Finding no flooding and no damage other than a few downed tree limbs, Sean crossed the bridge back to the mainland and drove home. Physically as well as emotionally exhausted, Sean didn’t bother surveying the outside of the house for damage or turning on the lights inside when he walked through his front door. He could tell from the outside that their house hadn’t flooded, and that’s all he cared about. He left his suitcase in the utility room and started for their bedroom before changing his mind.

Pool. A float in the pool.

He knew Emery wouldn’t be too far behind him anyway. They could shower together.

Mmm. And maybe a lot more than that before he has to leave again for the search.
He was coming to love Louise and even Joseph, but he wasn’t comfortable doing more than fooling around in the shower under their roof with a houseful of others, including his own parents.

Especially after the family smackdown and revelations that happened.

At least I know I can let go of my jealousy over Denby.

He opened the sliders, groaning at the sight of three of the pool cage’s screen roof panels hanging down. “Dammit.” They’d have to call a company to repair those. He could reach and replace the four side ones the storm had also damaged.

He didn’t bother turning on the pool lights. It was nearly dark, and all he wanted to do was chill out for a little while. He stripped, dropping his clothes to the concrete deck. Then he dove into the deep end and swam underwater halfway down the pool before surfacing. He flipped onto his back and lazily backstroked the rest of the way to the shallow end. There he stood and pushed his hair out of his face. He had the creepy feeling he was being watched, but he didn’t see anyone inside their fenced backyard.

He took another slow lap down and back, noticing a large accumulation of dark gunk in the bottom of the deep end.
Weird how it’s all clumped together like that. Storm must have blown it in. I’ll have to clean it in the morning.
He was too tired to do it then. He swam back to the shallow end where he stopped again to rest.

He closed his eyes and lounged against the wall at the shallow end when he heard an odd sound, like water being disturbed.

Accompanied by a strange, chuffing noise.

He opened his eyes, swallowing back his scream.

At the deep end of the pool, an alligator’s head had breached the surface.

Fuck! Fuckfuckfuckfuck!

His bladder let loose, which, fortunately, happened in the pool. As the alligator stared at him with large, preternaturally amber eyes and a snaggletoothed grin, Sean understood what the phrase “frozen in terror” truly meant.

When he could finally suck a breath into his lungs, he turned, boosted himself out of the pool, and ran for the house. He didn’t realize he was shaking until he slammed the sliders shut behind him. They weren’t the world’s best protection against a huge alligator if it decided it wanted in, but it was a start.

Phone. Phone. Phone! Where’s my
fucking
phone?

He grabbed his cell and, before dialing 911, realized he wasn’t sure that was a good idea. Technically, he wasn’t in immediate danger now that he was safely inside the house. And no doubt 911 had its hands full with the aftermath of the storm.

He returned to the sliders and reached over to the wall switch to flip on the pool lights.

“Fuck!” The gator had to be nearly seven feet long. Its dark bulk, silhouetted by the pool lights, slowly turned toward the sliders, blinking as it stared at him from the pool. He’d seen plenty of gators in the wild while fishing in the mangroves around Placida.

He just didn’t want one in his pool. And he damn sure didn’t want to be in his pool with one in there. As he stared at the gator, he noticed rhythmic ripples in the water.

He’d swear the damn thing was laughing at him

“Fuck you, Wally Gator,” he muttered at the reptile. “Your ass is out of here.” He dialed Emery’s number, swearing when his voice mail picked up. He turned his back to the sliders and the pool. “Hey, you ain’t gonna believe this shit. There’s a frickin’ gator in our pool. I guess I need to call Fish and Wildlife about it. See you shortly.”

When he turned back, he let out a shriek. “Fuck!”

The gator now sat on his pool deck, his snout a few feet from the sliding glass doors. How the hell he’d managed to get himself out of the pool that fast amazed Sean.

As he stared at it, in shock and fright, the gator blinked. Again Sean would swear, from the rhythmic movement of its ribs, that it was laughing at him. The snaggletoothed grin didn’t detract from that assessment, although Sean knew most gators always looked like that.

He heard the front door open and started speaking at the same time Emery did. “Dude, take a fucking look at—”

“Sorry I missed your call—”

“This fucking thing—”

“Forgot to tell you Wyatt might still be—”

“It’s fucking huge!”

“Here from the storm.”

They looked at each other, and at the same time said, “What?”

Sean pointed at the sliders, turning to look as he did. “There’s a fucking gator in our—
aah
!”

A large, naked, handsome black dude now stood outside their sliders, sop-soaking wet and dripping water all over the concrete.

Smiling at them and laughing.

“What the fuck! Who the fuck is that? Where the fuck is the gator!” He was torn between wanting to get the guy away from the gator and afraid to let a naked stranger into their house.

Emery started laughing as he walked over to the slider and opened it. “Wyatt, let me guess. You got him?”

The man laughed. “Sorry, Em, but you know me. Couldn’t resist. When I heard the car I was going to get out and introduce myself, but then he came and jumped into the pool before I could shift back. I wasn’t sure if he was yours or not. Didn’t want to out myself to a civie, so to speak.”

Sean stared, jaw agape, as Emery shook hands with the naked guy. As his pounding heart slowly stopped trying to burst its way out of his ribcage, he finally noticed the man’s eyes were the same amber color as the gator’s.

And there was no longer a gator anywhere on their lanai.

“What?” Sean asked.

The guy, apparently totally unconcerned about his naked state, stepped inside and extended his hand to Sean. “Wyatt Belaforte. Gator shifter.”

Blinking as he tried to process this, Sean automatically shook with him. “Gator shifter?”

Emery chuckled. “I did tell you some friends had come out to help with the search.”

“Emery let me hang here during the storm. Sorry I scared you, man.”

“No you’re not,” Emery playfully teased. “You love scaring the crap out of people. My mom still hasn’t forgiven you for last New Year’s.”

As a human, Wyatt could easy scare the crap out of people. Taller than Emery, he had to be at least six ten, and well muscled. And
very
well…

Gulp.

Just because Sean was mated to Emery didn’t mean he couldn’t appreciate a well-hung man.

Sean, realizing he was also still standing there naked and wet, felt less than adequate compared to Wyatt.

“Yeah,” Wyatt agreed. “I guess you’re right, Em. My momma always said I was a devil at heart.”

Sean realized Wyatt had a bit of an accent. Now feeling more than a little self-conscious, Sean walked out to the lanai and grabbed his shorts from where they’d landed and pulled them on before rejoining the men in the living room.

“You’re not
a
devil,” Emery countered with a grin while Sean did that. “You’re the whole damn lot of them.”

Wyatt shrugged. “If you’re gonna do something, do it right, I always say.”

“We’re going back out tonight at eleven. Can you come?”

“Naw, wish I could. I need to get to work in the morning. But I’ll come out after work and help again.”

“I’ve got your stuff in my trunk,” Emery said. “Let me go get it for you.” He went out the front door, leaving Sean standing there with Wyatt.

Sean wasn’t sure what the etiquette was for a situation like this. “Um, can I get you something to drink?”

“Naw, I’m okay, but thanks. I wouldn’t mind a warm shower, though.”

“Oh, sure. No problem. Where are you from, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“I know, the accent, right? I was born and raised in Morgan City, Louisiana. I been in Sarasota now ’bout nine years. Went to New College and Ringling. Decided not to leave after I graduated. I love it here.”

Emery returned with a small sports backpack. “Here you go.”

“Thanks, man.” He pulled a cell phone out of the pack. “Shoot. Momma’s probably worried about me. Got eight missed calls from her. Let me call her real fast.”

“Oh, sure,” Sean said.

Wyatt stepped back out onto the lanai and closed the slider behind him.

Sean wheeled around on Emery. “A little warning next time would be nice!”

Emery snickered. “Sorry. I totally forgot to tell you. I offered to let him come to my parents’, but he said he was happy to ride it out down here. He kept searching long after everyone else gave up. He doesn’t mind the weather and he can get into shallow places along the shore that dolphins can’t normally reach.”

“Oh.” Yeah, the missing dolphin had briefly escaped Sean’s mind during his terror. “You’re right.”

Emery pulled him close and kissed him. “Forgive me?”

Sean didn’t miss the playful twinkle in his grey eyes. “Yeah, but I know you’re wanting to bust out laughing again, aren’t you?”

Emery did just that. “I’m sorry, it’s just you looked so terrified. And that scream when you turned and saw Wyatt standing there. Priceless.”

“Yeah, well, you’ll love that I peed myself in the pool, too.”

Emery tightly hugged him, kissing him again. “I’m sorry, babe. Really I am.”

“Fine,” grumped Sean, trying to pretend he was still aggravated even though Emery’s kisses could nearly make him forget his own name. “I’ll go put some stuff out for him in the guest bath. He asked if he could take a shower.”

“Thanks, babe. You’re the best.”

He’d laid out towels, soap, a spare razor and shaving cream, along with shampoo and body wash when Emery appeared in the doorway, Wyatt behind him. “There you go. Take as long as you want.”