The Sea God's One-Night-Stand *Tides of Fate*

13)

"Take me to church" by Hozier

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I didn't know what to do or say. The only thing I could think of doing was standing and trying to bolt into a run before I was suddenly tackled. I felt myself going through air and space, almost as if I had no control of my entire body. I was gently tackled onto a large, soft bed, my hands landing underneath me as they dug into a comforter. I felt familiar arms wrap around my waist as a warm mouth placed a chaste kiss on my neck. Strangled cries escaped me as fear wracked through my body. Ajax held me very close against his torso, not permitting me to move. I did not know what to feel. A strong part of me felt nothing but an overwhelming amount of happiness the man I cared about had me safely in a hug. All I really wanted to do was allow Ajax to cradle me in his strong arms as I tried not to cry. The more rational part of my brain reminded me that if not for him, the monster woman would not have thrown me into the path of an oncoming delivery truck for certain death.

There was something else that was more pressing to think about. Where was I...? Terrified gasps escaped me as I started to tremble out of fear over the unexplainable events that were happening. Before I could even catch a breath, Ajax twisted me around to face him while simultaneously standing me up. "I can explain."

I could guarantee he didn't anticipate my shrieking scream of fear given he slightly jumped upon hearing it. No words could make it to my mind as I started shrieking so loud I felt my own eardrums ready to burst. Screaming was the only thing that seemed rational to do given the scenario. I couldn't think, but I suddenly knew I needed to run. There was something abnormal and twisted going on; something that only existed in corny young adult novels and supernatural TV shows. There was only one thing I could process as I jumped away from Ajax and went bolting for the nearest door; he and his fiancé were most certainly not human.
"Bloody hell, Mia! Allow me to explain!"

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" I continued to scream as I plucked up a nearby lamp off a desk before launching it in his direction. Ajax had very nice reflexes; he easily dodged the lamp that crashed past him, looking exasperated as it broke on the floor. I then bolted from the room, trying hard not to trip a I made a sprinted run down a long hallway. I had no idea where I was going but I couldn't stop moving. Ajax was soon right in front of me, startling me to the point of almost tripping. He was behind me before magically appearing right in front of me.
His eyes were wide and maybe even frightened. "If you could just allow me to explain-"
I trembled before I ran to open a door I spotted to my left. I ran as fast as I could to reach it. Only, there was no doorknob. Even though it held the presence of a door and even a peephole to stare out into, there was no way to even open it to get out. I willed a doorknob to magically appear before my eyes. It didn't.

"I've brought you to my old bedroom at my parent's place, could you please hear me out?"
I stupidly yelped again after Ajax spoke. My momma was a bit stereotypical when it was irrationally assumed all black women yelled at a TV during a scary movie. Right about now, I could only imagine my mother shrieking and waving her hands wildly telling me to run if she were watching me. Unfortunately, I backed myself into a corner as Ajax slowly approached. He stood before me, watching me with saddened eyes and a heartbreakingly depressed look that would have tugged my heartstrings if I wasn't so very terrified.
My bottom lip trembled as I tried hard not to cry. "W-what are you?"
"I'm still the man you've gotten to know," he said carefully, his bourbon-colored eyes swimming with unsaid words.

I shook my head. No, he wasn't. He launched a van across a parking lot using inhuman strength. His fiancé turned into a green-faced monster with fangs. I had no idea what he was, but he was not the same man I thought he was just yesterday when I was snuggled securely in his arms. "You're n-not human," I breathed. This was not a question on my part but rather a very clear observation. Human beings did not magically appear and disappear before someone's eyes. They didn't hold the ability to throw trucks that weighs a few tons.
"No, I'm not," Ajax agreed, not daring to blink. He slowly took a step closer, causing me to completely box myself into the corner.
"D-don't come near me."
A truly pained expression crossed his handsome features as Ajax watched me sadly. "I'm not a monster."
Perhaps our definitions of monsters were different. I remembered the way Aura's eyes enlarged and glowed an inhuman yellow as her face changed colors. "Your fiancé t-turned green and grew f-fangs," I stuttered as warm tears dripped down my cheeks. "That's monstrous."

"She's not my fiancé!" Ajax scowled, using a hand to cover his eyes. "That term makes it sound as though I have a bloody choice in marrying that psychotic banshee." He looked depressed. "I am not like mortal men," he explained in a whisper. "I do not get to merely fall in love and choose who it is I spend my life with. Being a part of my family means I must marry who it is I am betrothed to-"
"What are you?" I interrupted, more confidence in my voice as my legs trembled wobbly beneath me.
"I am Poseidon and Queen Amphitrite's youngest son."
Poseidon? I never cared for Greek mythology to remember key-note individuals from it. To me it had been boring stories my old high school history teacher went through due to not having any real lessons prepared for a day. "W-what does that mean...?"
Ajax ran both hands through his tussled bronze hair. "It means love, I am the prince of all seven seas, and, an immortal God."

As if to prove a point, Ajax suddenly appeared right in from of me, as if he stepped through time and space just to move himself to standing directly in front of me. "I lost my mind," I concluded, pressing myself harder against the wall.
That was the only sane explanation. I had to be insane. "No," said Ajax gloomily. "Come." I stared at the hand he offered me to take, refusing to touch it.
"Everything between us is real, my darling," Ajax purred, moving to hold me only for me to wiggle away from him. I kept her arms tightly crossed as I refused to let him touch me. It was seeing he held no chance of me going willingly that Ajax grabbed me around the waist.

The strange sensation of moving through time and space transpired once more. Only now, Ajax and I were on a very large, very secluded beach that went on for miles. It was no longer three in the afternoon in sunny Florida, now, it was pitch black outside. The air smelt salty like the sea. The only sound that could be heard were rushing waves, and the waves were only visible with the moonlight. I had no idea where we were or how we seemed to magically appear here.
As I trembled Ajax gently released his hold of me.

"We are at my favorite beach in all of Greece," he said quietly.
Greece? That would mean there was at least an eight-hour time difference between Florida and here. I wanted to believe he wasn't serious, but I didn't know how. It had been afternoon, and now, it was night. I had half the mind to run. Ajax slowly started removing his blazer and next his dress shirt, causing me to wonder what on earth he was doing. Next, he removed his shoes and socks before taking off his jeans and leaving himself in only boxers. No words escaped me as I looked anywhere other than at his beautiful and toned body.
"You asked me two weeks ago if I wished to go for a hike along the shoreline," Ajax said, frowning. "Do you remember what I said?"

I did even though I didn't reply. I remembered he didn't want to go anywhere near the ocean. When I gently pushed him for an answer, Ajax explained he enjoyed being around the water but not in it. I felt this was confusing given his previous words of enjoying swimming and aquatic animals. I didn't further push the issue. Watching me while slowly back stepping, Ajax wandered into the ocean with his eyes still resting on me alone. Once he was in knee deep water, Ajax allowed himself to fall backwards into the waves before disappearing under water completely. I didn't know what this was supposed to show or accomplish.

I was still reeling fromthe strange revelation of being able to travel through time and space. Itwasn't possible for my mind to comprehend any more craziness than what I wasdealt with. As a full thirty seconds trickled by, I grew very alarmed when Irealized Ajax did not come up for air.
I took a step closer to the shoreline, not really knowing what I was supposedto be seeing. Even though the water was clear in the moonlight, massive wavesand darkness permitted me not to see further. Now I was worried. I truly hatedhim for being engaged, but I didn't wish him any bodily harm besides myslapping him.

It was only as I kicked off my sandals and hurried into the water did I realizeI didn't want something bad to happen to him. I held up my long skirt as Iwaded into the water further. Upon two feet in. I hear the loud slapping soundof something hitting through the surf. It didn't sound like a normal personmoving around the water, either.

My first thought was that a shark was close by. Didn't Shark Week revealthat certain sharks hunted near the shoreline, especially at night? I couldn'tremember, it had been a few years since I had watched the yearly special. Asthe strange sound of fast swimming and the flipping noises sounded again, I hada very bad feeling me and Ajax were not alone in the surf.
His lovely voice suddenly filled the night air, breaking the silence apart fromthe waves. "I don't go into the salt water specifically, otherwise, mytrue form is revealed," Ajax called out at least fifteen feet away indeeper water. Before I could even process what he was doing, he jumped highinto the air before diving forward. It was not a normal dive that a man woulddo off a high board. When Ajax gave a mighty jump and then a dive, a very largetail came up into the air, showing that it was attached to his body.

Spooked, I hurried back to get out of the water. I was not fast enough beforeAjax and his strange fishy tail caught up to me. I didn't move as Ajax'sbourbon-colored eyes watched me as he lolled in the water. "I amimmortal," he said carefully, almost thinking as though speaking calmlyand carefully would suddenly stop my fearful trembling.
"My siblings and I cannot step foot into the ocean without developingtails that merfolk have," Ajax explained just as calmly. "Our motherholds the same ability being the one of fifty sea-nymph daughters. On land orfresh water, I can resemble a human."
My bottom lip trembled as I spotted slits in Ajax's neck; they were gills. Icouldn't process how he could possess them when he was speaking and breathingperfectly above water. Then again, I was also struggling to comprehend how Ajaxthrew a truck and developed a shimmery scaled tail.

"If you still need further proof of what I am, look towards thehorizon," said Ajax, not looking as though he enjoyed my frightenedexpression. Brandishing a very large weapon out of thin air, it was a mightysilver trident at least four feet tall. Ajax touched the tip into the water,directing it towards the spot he told me to look.
Lightning cackled throughout the dark sky, but that wasn't what he wanted me tosee. The lightning was to show off the real view. There were twolarge cyclones of water at least five-hundred feet away and at least a hundredfeet tall. Ajax soon gave a mighty wave of his hand, causing the cyclones ofwhirling water to suddenly drop. Waves started heading towards our directiongiven how the massive amount of water dropped suddenly.
I was having trouble process these strange developments of the man I had beendating. He meanwhile, watched me with bright, hopeful eyes. "So, yourfather, is Poseidon," I said conversationally, feeling incredibly lightheadedand sick. This was too much too soon. Isoon fainted.
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