The Beauty's Hidden Beast

67 - Naughty Girl (3.3k words)

YaYa's POV

Within Gold's bubble, I pulled out the luminescent pearl necklace I received from Muir, but even it could not penetrate the ocean's darkness.

If it weren't for Vick's and Curtis's ability to teleport to me, I'd probably be panicking by now. The ability to summon them gave me a strange sense of safety. It was the kind of comfort I hadn't felt for a long, long time.

A short while later, we appeared inside the cave where Jean used to stay. It was lavishly decorated with seashells, colorful corals, and luminescent pearls.

In the middle was a giant clam bed. There, a person with long red hair, green eyes, and a very pale complexion lay in wait. Her body was curvy and supple, like a young woman in the prime of her youth.

Gold mentioned that when they traveled back, she didn't even realize that they weren't from her own tribe. She didn't seem to miss her previous males, and even seemed excited to move out to a new place.

Upon our arrival, Bluepool placed down a plate of dried fruit and immediately ran to our side. "Mandy, Mandy, come see who's finally here!"

"Gold?!" Mandy quickly got up. Her legs wobbled, but she didn't fall over as she ran towards the stern male. "Why aren't you happy to see me like others?" she asked with a beautiful smile, completely unfazed by his rejection, "It's the first time someone doesn't want me. I like that. Why don't you become my next mate? I think I will like you better than any other merman."

Everyone's faces dropped.

"It's like history is repeating itself... Gold was chosen again..." the elders muttered and shook their heads, "Bluepool, you are our tribe leader now. What should we do?"

"Well..." Bluepool rubbed the back of his head. It was easy to tell that he hated his role as a tribe leader. The mermen were not only putting pressure on him about their mating rights and challenging him to fight for a tribe leader's position, but even Mandy's situation was something he was struggling to deal with. "I guess if that's Mandy's choice... and her happiness is what matters..."

"She will get bored soon enough," Gold interjected, "I am just something new, and her curiosity will wear off. When that happens, she will be looking for someone else... someone more warm."

"That's not true!" Mandy's face twisted into a scowl. "I really like you!"

Gold didn't seem interested at all. The wrinkles between his brows deepened, "I told you that I've already promised myself to the land female. Choose another─"

"No! No one has ever rejected me!" Mandy didn't listen. She wrapped her arms around Gold's arm and clung to him, unwilling to let go. "Where's that land female anyway? Why is everyone making such a big deal out of her?"

"Here." I stepped forward, "I'm the land female."

Mandy's scowl immediately disappeared and was replaced by a look of curiosity. She clearly didn't expect to see a head-to-toe-covered female. Her gaze slowly went up and down my body as if measuring the competition. "So you're the female Gold is obsessed with?" She snorted, "Show me your face, land female."

"I don't see the point, but as you wish." When I lifted my burka, she shrieked and buried her head into Gold's arm, not wanting to look.

"What kind of ugly monster are you?! Are all land females like you? If so, I understand why no mermen want you!" Mandy shrieked, still covering her eyes, "Go away. I don't want to contain your ugliness. It's disgusting!"

I laughed in amusement. The ability to change my skin to match a frog's was a fun trick I had picked from Vick's spousal imprint. Because of my boys' 'over-amazingness', people started getting weird ideas that I was a beautiful mermaid or something. It was about time I cleared up that misunderstanding.