Alexei helped Calum get into bed for a much-needed nap (with only a token protest, so the old man must have really been tired) and borrowed the truck from Bethany, who was acting odd. Women. You could live thousands of years and never understand them. Alexei had given up trying long ago. Of course, he’d spent most of his time with Baba Yagas, who weren’t exactly normal women, so that probably hadn’t helped.
Bethany had asked him if Beka ate twigs and leaves for some reason, to which he’d responded with a baffled, “Not that I know of. I think she just eats, you know, food.” Then he grabbed the truck keys and ran away before she could get any weirder.
As he’s expected, Beka was waiting for him at the docks, sitting patiently in front of Calum’s boat with Chewie stretched out in a patch of sun at her feet. Dragons enjoyed lying in the sun almost as much as cats did.
“I like her,” Beka said as Alexei walked up to her. “She’s tiny, but she’s tough.
“The boat?” Alexei said, not sure that’s how he would have described it.
Beka rolled her eyes. “Your friend Bethany. I’m glad you’ve finally met someone nice.”
Alexei scowled at her. “Bethany is not ‘nice.’ She’s a pain in my ass. Never lets me get away with anything. I’m just hanging out for a little while because I get free drinks and a place to stay. It’s not a big deal.”
“Uh, huh. How long have you been here?”
He shrugged. “Dunno. Couple of weeks. Maybe three.”
Chewie made a coughing noise that might have been dragon-dog laughter.
“And you’re living at her house, taking care of her crippled father, and her pregnant Great Dane?” Beka grinned at him. “Sounds like kind of a big deal to me.”
Alexei growled at her. “I’m living in the guesthouse. I’m just helping with her father for the free drinks and because the old bastard scared off his last minder, and it’s not her Great Dane. Bethany is just fostering Lulu until she has her puppies and they’re old enough to be weaned. It’s a temporary situation, just like me hanging around here. Do not make something out of nothing.”
“I saw you when you got off the boat earlier. You were smiling. That’s a big deal.” Beka patted him on the arm. “I’m just glad she makes you happy, that’s all.”
“I’m always happy,” Alexei protested.
“Sure,” Beka said. “So happy you’ve been avoiding all your friends and your own brothers, who you love more than life itself, and drinking your way across the country.” She sighed. “I get it, Alexei, I do. Mikhail and Gregori both had a hell of a time getting over what happened too. It’s okay not to be okay. But maybe it is also okay to let yourself find a new path, the way they did. They both found a purpose and someone to share their lives with. There’s no reason you can’t too.”
Alexei crossed his arms over his chest. “I don’t want a new path, Beka. I want my old path back. I’m never going to find a purpose as satisfying as being a Rider. It was what I was born to do, and there’s no second choice. It’s who I am. At least it was, until that damn Brenna stole it from me. From us. I’m glad Mikhail and Gregori have made their peace with it, but I’m not them.”
“So what?” Beka asked, a blonde eyebrow quirked up. “You’re going to spend the rest of your life drinking and fighting and never staying in one place for more than a few days at a time? That’s your plan?”
Alexei felt tears of frustration pricking at the back of his eyes. It was ironic - the evil witch had tortured him and his brothers for days, and he had never gotten emotional about it. Never cried, or begged for mercy, or gave in to the gnawing beasts of hopelessness. But since he’d recovered, it seemed as though he fought those things constantly. Nightmares haunted him. It was…hard. And being here had only made it worse.
“That was my plan,” he said flatly. “But lately I don’t seem to enjoy drinking and fighting either. Now I got no plan. No plan at all.” He shook off his melancholy with an effort. “So why don’t you tell me yours? I assume that you’ve got one, or you wouldn’t have needed a boat.”
Beka looked as though she was going to continue to argue with him, but Chewie butted her in the leg and said, “Leave it, Beka. He’s a big boy. He’ll figure it out. We have a job to do.”
“Spoken like a true Chudo-Yudo,” Beka said. “How would we Baba Yagas manage without you?”
Chewie gave one of his barking laughs. “What makes you think you would?”
She bent down and kissed him on the top of the head, her fair hair a stark contrast against his curly black coat. “Well, I hope I never have to find out.” Straightening up, she was suddenly all business, the pretty surfer girl replaced by the powerful witch with a mission to accomplish.
“Okay, yes, I have a plan. Or at least the start of one. We got word that the local ocean dwellers - Selkies and Merpeople, primarily - were having a problem with some kind of mysterious sea monster that suddenly appeared out of nowhere. So I figured the first thing I would do was search out some of the Paranormal folks, so they can tell me exactly what’s happening.”
“Hmm.” Alexei nodded, and gestured her toward The Flora MacDonald. They might as well get underway while they talked, since he had to get back for dinner. “I might know a little something about that. A few of the fishermen who come into the bar have been complaining about the fish vanishing, and one guy swore his boat was attacked by a giant squid.”
“A giant squid?” Beka shuddered. “Ugh. That’s not good.”
“It’s worse than not good,” Alexei said, steering them carefully out into the open sea. “I saw some fish from his hold, and the sucker marks were as big as a dinner plate. I think we’re dealing with a kraken.”
“A kraken!” Beka turned pale under her California tan. “There hasn’t been a kraken sighting in over a hundred years. Where the hell would it have come from, and why show up here now?”
“I guess that’s what we’re going to have to find out,” Alexei said, a trifle grimly.
“Ha! You said ‘we.’” Beka jabbed him in the chest with one pointy finger. “I knew you were going to help me.”
He set his jaw. “I’m just here to drive the boat. I told you; I’m not a Rider anymore. This isn’t my job.”
Beka grinned at him, her blue eyes sparkling like the water that surrounded them. “Maybe not, but it sounds like you need a new hobby. Kraken hunting sounds like an excellent place to start. You know, unless you want to take up needlepoint.”
Alexei just growled at her. Women. They were all going to make him crazy.
*