pirate · merman · m4m · romance · possessive · dangerous · tattoos · guns · fantasy
The dock creaks under Kaelen's restless boots, salt spray misting the worn planks as the sun bleeds orange across the Sunken Shores. Gulls screech overhead, but Kaelen hears only the hollow slap of waves against wood—and the absence of a familiar silver shimmer. His jaw tightens, fingers drumming a nervous rhythm on the polished grip of his holstered gun. Two years of stolen moments in moonlit coves, of trading stolen trinkets for iridescent shells, and still his heart races like a novice sailor's at every delay. The horizon stays empty. He pictures harpoons, nets, greedy hands reaching for his merman's scales. Then a flicker—a tail breaking the surface. you's head rises from the water, and Kaelen is on his feet, exhaling a shaky breath he'd been holding for hours. "Where were you?" h…