The Beauty's Hidden Beast

51 - Mer Guardian (2.60k words)

Vick, in his half-human, half-octopus form, was still a giant. Not as huge as in his full beast form, but enough to make me feel like a dwarf instead of a mere bug.

"How do you feel?" I asked.

"Hungry," he rasped, his arm curved around me like a rookie dad handling a toddler. I've never asked Vick about his past. He was secretive, and if he wanted to reveal something, he would have revealed it whether I asked or not.

I watched his long tentacles catch fish swimming in the deep water and feed them to his second mouth, located at the center of his octopus body.

Muir landed on top of one of Vick's tentacles in his beast form and started eating the fish that another tentacle fed him. Curtis jumped into the water in his beast form to get a nice soak and have a meal as well.

A flock of mermen stared warily at us from afar, but none dared to attack us. Then, more and more began to resurface until there were thousands upon thousands of mermen. Some were holding tridents, while others had crossbows.

They began to murmur amongst themselves, "Leader, she must be a mermaid. Otherwise, how could she attract a sea creature like him? There must be a reason why she is covering her face."

"Our tribe already has Jean," their leader said, his eyes still fixed on his people. His presence was a force of nature, with golden locks flowing down his broad shoulders like a waterfall while four shining stripes adorned his chest, whispering tales of his power.

"But Leader, you never allow us to mate with Jean! Our strongest warriors have been abstaining for too long," one of the mermen spoke.

"If you allowed us to mate with Jean, we wouldn't have called you here to ask the sea creature for help," another merman snapped, "Leader, please let us mate with Jean. We have to increase our numbers and regain our power. Jean hasn't given birth to anyone in the past ten years. If she is sick and the Elders are seeking a remedy on land, we require a new female, and the only one who can help us fight another tribe is that sea creature."

(A/N: Help. I forgot what a year is called in the beast world.)

The Leader's fingers clenched around his trident, his eyes flashing with an icy fury that sent shivers down the spines of those present, "If you are that worried about increasing your numbers, then go trade some salt for a land female and mate with her."

The merman's expression twisted in disgust. "You mean those ugly females? They are so hideous, even the lowest-ranking merman can't stand to look at them, let alone touch them."

The reason why mermen only bred with mermaids was because land females were not beautiful enough for them. So, one could say that an entire Merfolk tribe would rather go into a bloody war against another Merfolk tribe or go extinct rather than mate with a land female.

After a while, the leader approached us cautiously, flanked by a trio of striking mermen, "I see you've found what you've been searching for."

Vick nodded, sounding like they'd met before, "Yes, I did."

The leader looked at Vick and then at me, then back at Vick, "We have a favor to ask. All you have to do is help us fight a battle against another merfolk tribe. It's a half-moon's journey from here. If you are willing to do that, we will provide you with enough salt and seafood to last you a lifetime. Furthermore, should we emerge victorious and secure a new female, I'll protect your female and offer her the finest of everything as her guardian, regardless of her appearance."

Vick raised an eyebrow, his gaze piercing. "Aren't you already mated, merman? Becoming my female's guardian means you'll protect her with your life without expecting anything in return."