Porpoiseful Intent [Placida Pod 2] (Siren Publishing Everlasting Classic ManLove) Read online

  Three dolphin shifters from West Palm Beach, friends from Brad’s home pod, arrived a little after ten that morning. Sean couldn’t send them out until the next check-in in less than an hour. As Sean and Louise conferred over the marine chart, trying to decide where to send the newcomers, Sean tuned out their conversations with Alexis.

  He kept his voice low. “Can I ask you something?”

  “Of course, dear.”

  Sean tipped his head back, toward the living room. “Why wasn’t she out searching with her husband? And why isn’t she out there now looking for him?”

  “She’s not a shifter.”

  “I thought she was. So she’s human?”

  Louise sadly smiled. “No. Her parents are both dolphin shifters. She’s the only one of their four children who can’t shift.”

  “Oh.” A sudden wave of sympathy washed through him. Not only was her husband missing, there wasn’t a damn thing she could do but sit there and wait with the rest of them.

  When they turned from the chart a few minutes later, Sean frowned. “Where’s Alexis?”

  One of the newcomers—Sean thought his name was Gus—shrugged without looking away from where he and another male were watching MSNBC. “I think she walked outside with Carter.”

  Now that Gus had mentioned it, Sean realized the third male shifter was also missing. After exchanging a quick glance with Louise, Sean headed outside. He didn’t have to look far. He found the two of them sitting on his front stoop, talking.

  They both looked up when he opened the door. For some reason Sean got the impression he’d startled or interrupted them. “Hey, we should be getting a call here shortly and we can send you guys out.”

  Carter stood, helped Alexis to her feet, and waited for her to walk inside first.

  Sean didn’t miss how Carter glanced at him and then quickly away again. A guilty sort of look.

  Weird.

  Maybe it was a shifter thing.

  I’m sooo done trying to figure their shit out.

  Not to mention he was exhausted and worried about Emery and the rest of the shifters. A nasty, niggling feeling in his gut told him maybe Erik was behind the missing shifters.

  When the call came in, Sean conferred with Emery and his dad on where to send the three shifters. After they’d left, Sean turned to Louise. “I need a shower.” He tipped his head toward Alexis, who was sitting on the couch and staring at the TV. It didn’t look like she was actually paying attention to it, though. “Can you…”

  Louise nodded. “Of course.” She held out her hand. “Give me your cell in case anyone calls.”

  He handed it over and gave her a peck on the cheek. “Thanks, Louise.”

  The hot water stung his skin, but he didn’t move. He felt totally brain-dead, so exhausted that if he rested his head against the shower wall, he would fall asleep.

  What was that old saying, once was happenstance and twice was coincidence, and the third time…?

  He couldn’t remember. More accurately, he didn’t want to think like that despite logic telling him otherwise. Weary to his very core, he could only imagine how tired Emery and the other shifters out on the water felt.

  Closing his eyes for a moment, he pictured Emery’s handsome face. It was as if the man of his dreams fell into his boat, so to speak. Barely two months into their relationship, he knew it was for life. Without a doubt.

  He’d started drifting into a pleasant memory of their last pool sex session when a knock on the door disturbed him.

  “Sean?” Louise called out. “Emery’s on the phone.”

  He took two breaths before Louise’s voice punched through his haze of exhaustion. “Thanks.” He shut the water off and grabbed a towel as he stepped out. Once it was securely wrapped around his hips, he reached for the door and opened it. Louise stood there with his cell phone in his hand.

  He took it from her. “Thanks.” With the phone to his ear, he tried not to sound like he was half asleep. “Yo.”

  “You okay?”

  “I was in the shower, sorry. How are you?”

  “Dad’s sending me home. I’m exhausted. I guess I’m not as young as I used to be.”

  “Yet he’s still out there?”

  “He’s still the pod Alpha. He pulled rank.”

  Sean wanted to snicker, but knew that would be rude. “Then come home, babe.”

  “I am. That’s why I’m calling you. Anyone else there to send out?”

  He looked at Louise. “Any more latecomers?” he asked.

  She shook her head.

  “Nope.”

  “Okay. I’m on my way.”

  “I’ll have an omelet with your name on it, babe. Love you.”

  “Love you, too.” He ended the call and returned the phone to Louise.

  “They’re all exhausted,” she quietly said, presumably so Alexis couldn’t overhear. “And I think you are thinking the same things I’m thinking.”

  “That there’s something foul in Lemon Bay?”

  She nodded and headed back down the hallway.

  With a tired sigh, he went to get dressed.

  * * * *

  Emery returned home less than an hour later. Sean didn’t miss how he avoided Alexis’ hopeful looks and instead headed straight for the kitchen, where Sean had his breakfast underway.

  Emery kissed the back of his neck. “Shower,” he muttered before heading down the hallway to their bedroom.

  Louise watched him go with a sad look on her face. “They’re all exhausted,” she whispered.

  Sean glanced at Alexis, who was once again staring at the TV. “They won’t find him, will they? At least not alive.”

  Louise shrugged. “One can always hope.”

  After eating, Emery collapsed into bed. Sean left Louise in charge and headed for the grocery store to stock up for dinner. By dark, Emery had caught up on his sleep, the searchers had returned empty-handed, and Sean still wondered about the odd looks Alexis and Carter exchanged once the man returned with the others from the search.

  If Sean wasn’t mistaken, Carter had appointed himself Alexis’ caretaker. He didn’t leave her side once he returned to the house, hovering around her.

  She didn’t seem to mind.

  Sean was too busy cooking for the hungry searchers to think much of it. By midnight, more shifters had arrived to join the search. Joseph left to take them out to the search area.

  Alexis and Carter, who had been sitting on Sean’s couch and talking with their heads tipped close, stepped outside onto the lanai and closed the sliding doors behind them.

  “How well do you know her?” Sean asked Emery.

  Emery glanced at the sliders. “Known her all my life. We’re not best friends or anything, though. Why?”

  Sean couldn’t put his finger on it. “No reason. Your mom said she can’t shift.”

  “Yeah. She caught a lot of flack about it from her siblings. Her parents didn’t bother stopping them, either. Asshats.”

  “Where are they? Why aren’t they helping with the search?”

  “I don’t know. About five years ago, they all moved out of the area. Out to Texas, I think. She stayed behind. She’d already married George. From what I understand, she’s not close with them.”

  “Can’t say as I blame her.”

  When Joseph returned around one thirty in the morning, Emery had already gone to bed. Alexis and Carter were once again sitting on the couch. The two guys Carter had arrived with were sharing the futon in the spare bedroom Sean used as his home office.

  “Come on,” Joseph told her. “I’ll take you home.”

  Worn out himself, Sean wasn’t too tired to catch the anxious look she cast Carter’s way. “I don’t mind staying here, Mr. Nadel,” she said. “It’s late and you’re tired.”

  He let out an exhausted or exasperated sigh, Sean wasn’t sure which. “Nonsense, I can have you back home in twenty minutes. Besides, Sean and Emery have a houseful as it is. There’s no place for you t
o sleep.”

  “But what if you find him? I think I should be here.”

  Joseph didn’t budge from beside the front door. “I’ll call you, I promise.”

  Sean blinked, trying to fight back sleep. Maybe his perceptions were skewed due to his own exhaustion, but it seemed like she cast a sad glance at Carter before slowly rising from the couch and following Joseph out the door.

  For his part, Carter almost looked forlorn. “You get the couch,” Sean told him. “You want a pillow or sheet or blanket or anything?”

  Carter didn’t take his eyes off the door. “No, I’m good,” he said. “Thanks.”

  “Okay. I have to get some sleep.” He headed for the bedroom. Crazy damn dolphins anyway.

  * * * *

  Sean got up at some point before dawn to use their bathroom. He thought he heard someone talking in low tones, a one-sided conversation he suspected was on the phone. He stuck his head out their bedroom door.

  Nothing.

  Silently padding through the darkened house, he realized Carter wasn’t on the couch. When he walked over to the sliders, he spotted Carter on the phone, slowly pacing around the pool, his head down and engrossed in conversation.

  The clock on the microwave glowed blue in the darkness and read 4:52.

  Crazy damn dolphins. He returned to his bedroom and cozied up with Emery again, pushing Carter out of his mind.

  He’d forgotten about the incident when he and Emery were rousted out of bed a little after seven by Louise and Joseph’s arrival. Alexis didn’t waste any time returning to the house either. By eight o’clock, another team of shifters, including Emery and Carter, was out on the water looking for George.

  Alexis barely talked during the day. Sean didn’t blame her, knowing if Emery was missing, he wouldn’t feel like talking, either. He offered her some lunch, but she politely declined.

  Louise patted him on the shoulder in the kitchen. “She’s upset. We should probably just leave her alone.”

  “I feel bad for her. I wish I could do more.”

  “We all do.”

  Joseph called off the search at dark. Everyone returned to Sean and Emery’s house. Sean gave up trying to cook and fired up the grill, keeping hot dogs and hamburgers going with Louise’s help. With everyone fed, Joseph began discussing the next day’s search plan.

  Sean leaned in close to Louise. “Where’s Alexis and Carter?”

  Her brow furrowed as she scanned the living room. “I don’t know. They were just here a few minutes ago.”

  He didn’t realize Louise was following him down the hall until she touched his shoulder, nearly scaring the crap out of him. He stuck his head inside the spare bedroom Emery used as his home office. Nothing. No one in their bedroom.

  But the door was closed to his office. When he opened it, Louise gasped from behind him.

  Alexis and Carter sat on the futon, startled from their kiss by Sean’s appearance.

  “Oh, fuck,” Sean muttered.

  “Oh fuck is right,” Louise agreed from behind him. “I was afraid of this. Joseph,” she called out, “you need to come here. We have a serious problem.”

  Chapter Nine

  Sean had never in his life felt more out of place, especially considering it was his own home. He stayed out of the way, in the kitchen, keeping the coffeepot and ice trays full while everyone else talked in the living room. He couldn’t help hearing the conversation going on, but he forced himself to keep his mouth shut.

  Alexis sat in a chair across from the couch, her hands full of wadded tissues and Carter Hollingsworth protectively standing behind her.

  Joseph stood in front of the couch, his arms crossed over his chest. “You have to see my point of view on this, Carter.”

  “I don’t have to see anything, Mr. Nadel.” Carter rested a hand on Alexis’ shoulder. “We’d never met before I came over here for the search. I swear to you, this was not planned. It was the last thing either of us expected.”

  “Perhaps not planned on your part.” He eyed Alexis, who quietly cried into her tissues.

  Carter glared at Joseph. “We have a mate-bond. Doesn’t that mean anything to you?”

  The older man looked startled. He turned and looked at Emery, who’d been sitting on a barstool at the counter, his back to Sean. Sean, also caught in the crossfire of Joseph’s gaze, looked at the woman crying in his living room.

  Sean hoped Louise would speak up and offer some sane advice, but she remained sitting quietly on the couch.

  “I have one dead and one missing pod member,” Joseph said, his tone full of steel. “And Alexis, you are suddenly wanting to leave the pod with this guy when your husband is missing.” He motioned at Carter. “You don’t think that looks suspicious? What are we supposed to think?”

  “I didn’t have anything to do with my husband’s disappearance! I would never do that. I love him.”

  “Forgive my suspicion,” Joseph snarked, “but you were caught red-handed with Carter by two witnesses who have no reason to lie.”

  She finally looked up at all of them. “I’m pregnant,” she quietly said. “I didn’t plan any of this. Why would I?”

  Joseph rubbed at his forehead. “You’ve known Carter all of what, two days? How do you expect me to believe you’re pregnant already?”

  “Joseph,” Louise spoke up, “I believe she means she’s pregnant by her husband.”

  Alexis cried again as she nodded at Louise’s words.

  “Oh,” Joseph said. “How far along are you?”

  “Eight weeks,” she said. “We were going to tell everyone at the next full moon swim.” She blew her nose. “I still love George. But I didn’t have this with him.” She laid her hand over Carter’s on her shoulder. “I never had a mate-bond with George.” She looked up into his eyes.

  “So your husband is missing, you’re pregnant with his child, and you sleep with another man?” Joseph Nadel’s question spoke what everyone else likely thought.

  She shook her head. “No. We haven’t slept together. We’ve only kissed. We felt it the very first time we did. I thought a mate-bond was just a myth. I never knew anyone who really had one before. Not even my parents.” She laced her fingers through Carter’s. Sean watched as he squeezed her hand reassuringly.

  “Where’ve I heard that before?” Sean didn’t realize he’d said it aloud until he noticed everyone’s eyes were suddenly on him, including Emery.

  Fuck it. He stepped around the counter into the living room. “You know what? I’ve never seen a more uncommunicative bunch of people in my whole damn life.” He pointed at Emery. “You know very well what he and I have, yet you all wanted to not believe it at first until that fucktard Erik nearly killed me. Why don’t y’all try talking to each other once in a while? Instead of this bullshit ‘oh, it’s not proper to talk about it’ garbage? What the hell is your problem, people?”

  Everyone continued to mutely stare at him. He didn’t care. He walked over to Olivia and Brad. Brad had been part of the search team, and Olivia had arrived at dinner to eat and pick him up.

  “Can you read each other’s minds?” Sean asked them. When they didn’t respond, he leaned in, raising his voice. “That wasn’t a hypothetical question. Can you read. Each other’s. Minds?”

  Olivia and Brad looked at each other. Finally, Olivia gave a little shake of her head.

  Sean wheeled on Joseph. “And she’s pregnant with his baby. You and your own wife don’t even have this ‘magical mate-bond.’” He used air quotes around the phrase. “You both admitted it, and you have five children together. So knowing that Emery and I do have it, knowing your own pregnant daughter and her husband do not have it, and now seeing these two claim they have it, why are you acting like such a jerk? Yeah, it’s sucky timing, sure, but being a douche and cheating with a pregnant, married woman, or leaving your husband when you’re pregnant with his baby, isn’t the same as causing your husband’s disappearance.”

  Wyatt, who’d gone
out with the search party that day, sat in the far corner with his arms crossed and a wry smile on his face as he watched the scene play out. Sean turned on him next. “What about you guys, huh? Do you have this same kind of bullshit?” He swept his arm, indicating the dolphins.

  Wyatt shook his head. “Naw. Man’s right. Y’all are messed up. And here I thought the wolves were goofy as heck. Chasing their ‘One’ and stuff.”

  Sean blinked. “What? Wolves? Wait, never mind.” He wanted to stay on topic and contemplating other shifters when he’d barely managed to wrap his head around dolphins and gators would tax his brain too much. He rounded the sofa and stood next to Emery. “I seriously doubt Alexis and Carter had anything to do with George’s disappearance.”

  “And why is that?” Joseph asked, tired derision in his tone.

  “Because there’s only one guy I know who’s got a hard-on in a bad way for this pod, and his name’s Erik, and we already know he’s homicidal.”

  That seemed to surprise everyone. Sean took the advantage and slammed his point home. “Really? Really? Is it that much of a leap in logic? Come on, you people have to be smarter than that. I can’t be the first one to think it. Could I be wrong? Sure. On the other hand, I’d be willing to put money on the cause of all this being Erik and some sort of stupid revenge plot of his than I would on a woman who’d never met this guy before, and who was happily married to her husband and expecting a baby with him up until he disappeared. None of this bullshit started until after Erik went off the deep end. You all are stupid if you don’t stop to consider that little factoid.”

  He walked over to Alexis, grabbed her left hand, and held it up. “She’s still wearing her wedding rings. No, that’s not proof positive, but it’s not the actions of a woman who’d been planning this in advance. Why would she even report him missing? Why not just off him and disappear herself?”

  He released her hand and stormed over to Joseph. “You’ve already got one dead dolphin. As much as this is going to upset Alexis, I’d be willing to bet you’ve got a second dead dolphin somewhere out there who you just haven’t found yet. And at some point, someone else is going to go missing from another search party. And another. And another. Until Erik gets who he wants.”