Blessings And Curses

Chapter 4

Georgia's POV

We walk to Coras house in relative silence. After the first person we pass, I find myself slinging a protective arm over her shoulder. She sends me a questioning look, and I shoot her an apologetic one in return. The urge to make it crystal clear to every living creature that Cora was mine was overwhelming.

We near the house, and Cora gestures for me to stop. "I should probably warn you that my mom's reaction could be pretty extreme. Though she's not technically in my pod, she still considers it her job to look out for me." Cora visibly braces herself for her next words. "She hasn't been in a pod since she was banished. That was so long ago that her pod had an alpha of its own. I can only guess how she will react to not only being around pod-bonded mers, but also to the presence of an alpha."

Coras expression is pained, her eyes downcast. "Hey," I say, nudging her foot and squeezing her arm in what I hope is a comforting manner. "I'm sure your mom will be fine." I reassure her. Cora laughs shakily, "It's you I'm worried about, asshat. What if she flips out and starts attacking you?"

"That's a no-brainer ," I taunt, "I'll just throw you in front of me." To my eternal concern, Cora looks slightly reassured by my comment. "Come on then," she sighs, "let's get it over with."

Cora strides toward the front door, and I think for a second about how different our houses are. My gran and I live much closer to the centre of town. Thousands of small holiday cottages are cramped together on a crumbling hill. The thin chalky was the cause of many nightmares in my youth, of my sublets foundation crumbling, and rolling at full speed into the frigid sea. Needless to say, we are one of the few perennial Clifton residents in the area.

Coras house is almost the exact opposite. It sits majestically on solid rock, it's three storey height looking down on all the two storey plebeian neighbour's. A double lane road and a stretch of luscious grass is all that separates them from the beach. It's always been downright impossible to not be jealous.

I enter the house behind Cora with my body tensed and ready for a fight. "Mom?" she calls, "Don't freak out, but we've got a bit of an unusual guest over."

The words must fall on deaf ears, because a moment later Toran flings herself from the shadows towards me.

In a second she has her claws buried deeply in my neck. Cora screams and moves forward, but I issue a low growl, it's meaning clear- this is my fight. After that, time slows down to a leisurely crawl. I grip both of her hands and yank them out my neck. I release them to spin around. With a single hand I take hold of her neck, and lift her squirming body into the air. A pitiful whine pushes past her lips and I understand it for what it is- concession.
I release her immediately and her knees give as she tumbles to the floor.

"Who are you?" she demands half heartedly, bringing a trembling hand up to her bruised throat.
"I guess that answers our question about whether people would recognize you or not." Cora pipes up from behind me. I realize with a jolt that I had left her completely undefended, and rush forward to envelop her in my embrace. Her heads slots in below my chin, and I realize distantly that I must have grown taller since the last time we hugged.

"Are you okay?" I ask her softly. "Watching that must have been unpleasant." She shrugs indifferently, though her eyes betray her. " It was over before I even realized what was happening." A lie, but I wasn't about to call her out on it.

I feel Torans eyes on us, so I turn to meet her gaze. Just like all mers, Coras mom doesn't look a day over eighteen. Mers were kind of immortal in the way that the only they can die is to be killed. Which sounds like another existential crisis I will be having further along the road.

"It's a pretty long storey," I tell her, "But in a nutshell I am Georgia and somehow became a mer."

Torans eyes widen comically, "Georgia? Oh my shit I am so sorry. I just sensed an alpha and went into auto drive." She stands up shakily, running a hand through her dark hair.

"It's really okay." I reassure her. Right now I'm the queen of acting on instinct, without stopping to think. "
For some reason this causes Toran to flinch. I jump at the feeling of something warm and wet pressing against my neck. I realize Cora is licking at my wounds. My stomach clenched in very inappropriate arousal. She stops a moment later, and looks up at me in surprise. Her expression is so adorable I bite down the very human urge to kiss her nose.

"The cuts are already healed," she informs me. I frown, feeling slightly defensive. "What's wrong with that? I thought all mers healed fast." Torans snorts from where she's standing. "All mers do heal fast. You just heal about seven times faster than that."

"Because I'm an alpha?" I ask, though it isn't much of a question. Toran nods anyway. " There are other bonuses as well," she informs me cheekily, "But it will be way more entertaining to watch you figure them out yourself."

My mer takes immediate offense at her offhanded disrespect. For a second I image throwing myself at her, wiping the smug look from her face with brutal force. I see my clawed hands paint bloody lines across her trembling body, pulling her canines from her gums for their transgressions, and listening to her choke on her on blood in desperate haste to tell me what I want to know, so that I might spare her life.

"Moooomm..." Cora groaned, and my hands tighten around her arms, terrified by the intensity of my own mind, and what I had vividly imagined.

Toran must have seen the flashes of murderous intent in my gaze because she drops her eyes submissively.

"Why don't you stay for the night, Georgia, and I'll do everything I can to help you figure it out in the morning." She offers.

1I smile wanly at her, "Thanks for the offer, but I'm not sure that's the best idea." Cora tugs on my shirt. "Please?" she whines, "I don't think it would be a good idea for us to separate at this point-" I growl softly in agreement-" and we slept at your house last night. Plus, we have real fish here , not that frozen shit you try to feed me when I come over."

"It's not my fault that shitty fish is half the price," I grouch. She looks at me imploring, her eyebrows raised to show Disapproval. "Fine." I huff.
"Good," Cora says, "Come on, let's put on some clean clothes before lunch." She drags me away by the hand

This is kind of how I imagine Georgia... Let me know what you think👀👀