Chapter Text
Sins of the Mother
Chapter Thirty-Nine: Pretty Deadly
Stiles was almost bouncing as he led the attentive merrow ACE out of the meeting room and over towards the designated ‘porting area with Mesmyr at his side and his alpha-and-beta following a pace behind.
Watching.
Always watching their adored submissive even as their instincts seemed to agree that Mesmyr was safe rather than a danger - at least to Stiles - but not letting down their guard regardless.
Instinct was a bitch at times. Even a dragel like Mesmyr who had the apparent approval of the Merrow Royals to the point that he was a trusted member of Crimson Tide and on the royal guard detail, and potentially had a familial-circle connection to the Merrow Queen, would still be seen as a potential intruder or challenge until he bonded in. Or until Taranis’s instincts in particular settled down, which wasn’t likely to happen before the ACE was fully bonded to Stiles at minimum.
It was one of the reasons why having a beta to balance out Stiles and Taranis was so essential. While Taranis’s instincts would want him to hide his submissive away, Stiles’s were actively insisting on hunting for additional bonded. Additional dominant bonded at that.
Without Ariki to help balance out their competing instincts, it was the sort of situation that would rush headlong into disaster.
Ariki flicked a heated glance over the tall, muscled form at his side, completely at ease with that status quo. There were far worse matches for him than a soul-bonded submissive who came with over six feet of tall-scarred-and-deadly for Ariki to, ah, distract while Stiles hunted. Far worse.
Having experienced the other pair of his triad both together and alone, Ariki was more than fine with taking one for the team and keeping Taranis from smothering Stiles or Stiles from driving Taranis up the wall with his antics - via any means necessary.
Or, knowing Stiles, their alpha attempting to smother him with overprotectiveness only to end up with some new and nasty scarring once their submissive got done with teaching Taran the error of his ways.
“Where to?” The gorgeous specimen of Merrow ACE asked in their lovely voice as Stiles came to an impatient stop right outside the ‘porting area, bouncing on his toes while he waited for Taranis and Ariki to catch up. The question also had Stiles turning to the other members of his triad with a soft questioning chirp.
They’d had plans for the day depending on how their meeting with the Yarad Clan Head went, but needless to say, none of them had had Stiles instantly latching onto a Seeking soulbond with an eligible ACE on their prediction cards for the afternoon’s potential disruptions.
Ah well.
What was the saying?
Something about wishes and fishes - which Ariki found extremely appropo given how everyone had been nudging (however subtly or not) at Stiles over ACEs only to have Mesmyr of Crimson Tide dropped into their laps.
As a member of Crimson Tide, Mesmyr would never be introduced any other way, even once he retired from active service, if Ariki understood the merrow traditions regarding their most elite gheyo force correctly. Members of Crimson Tide left their clan and family names behind once they left training and were fully vested into rank and service within the standing military force. Some of them even took on entirely new personas from the fins-up claw-in-claw with their new dye jobs.
When/if Mesmyr was bonded-in, they would introduce their circle to their family of course, but they would never again use the name - even for their blood-children.
Mesmyr, like all other Crimson Tide members before and after him, would forevermore be Mesmyr of Crimson Tide, without exception.
“Our new temporary residence,” Taranis decided after taking a breath and flicking a look between his excited - and he could feel just how much so - submissive and their Ariki. “The Deveraine Beach House.”
Holding out one hand, he shared the ‘port location with the ACE who was watching him carefully out of sinful indigo-blue eyes that matched his skin.
Mesmyr likely looked very different in a mer-shift, but his landwalker form was lovely with its deep not-purple, not-blue skin and patches of scales over his cheekbones (and potentially other places) in a mixture of fuchsia and royal purple.
A flawless beauty that belied the danger Taran could feel once he was able to take note of the lethal ACE at all.
Taranis mused that, though it wasn’t strict preference, Stiles seemed to have a type nonetheless given the evidence: Derek Hale, Ariki Deveraine, now a Merrow ACE who was one of the loveliest of his kind Taranis had ever seen - and he’d met the merrow royals - Teddy Lupin, even Taranis himself though he’d never admit it given how much being called pretty had chafed when he was younger.
Pretty but deadly, to be sure, but pretty regardless.
Which rather explained the upcoming fine hearing that Stiles was going to have to attend due to an altercation with a Doursen if Stiles’s attention tended to be caught first by shiny and then fully engaged by the substance beneath a pretty face.
For his part, Mesmyr watched the alpha for a long moment before slowly reaching out and accepting the knowledge transfer.
He’d done his research into the various dragels circling Stiles ever since they’d surfaced and he was able to see the adorable sub once more. Both as part of his guard duties towards the sub with royal connections and out of personal interest. Stiles had been cute and intriguing to his instincts when he’d glimpsed him in the merrow palace. Seeing him on the surface living his life unaware of the ACE set to guard him by the King, Mesmyr hadn’t been able to help himself when it came to finding out whatever information he could get his claws on about Killigan’s cousin. Of those he’d noted and looked into, the Maruke Heir was by far the most lethal.
Mesmyr approved wholeheartedly of a dragel who wasn’t afraid to get his claws dirty, let alone an alpha who would do whatever necessary to keep his sub and circle safe and happy.
Maruke being a gheyo alpha was a boon that Mesmyr hadn’t been looking for when it came to Stiles once he’d been willing to admit that there was something intriguing him about the new Yarad than just a cute face, perky ass, and a pretty tail. The alpha being a landwalker was a damn gift, even if Mesmyr’s parentals were going to have a whale over it. Merrow alphas had always rubbed Mesmyr the wrong way, like getting sand stuck between his gill plates, everything else aside.
They would have never been willing to give Mesmyr the sort of allowances regarding his duties and career that a landwalker would simply due to the rarity of a merrow gheyo bonding outside of the waters. A landwalker circle given the chance at having a merrow bond-in automatically was more open to negotiation than a merrow circle would have been. They, unlike other merrow, never took it for granted that any merrow, let alone a merrow gheyo would be willing to accept their suit, potential soul-bonds aside.
Oh, Mesmyr was sure there was going to be a catch or two eventually.
In his experience no situation, no matter how seemingly ideal or calm, remained that way for long - especially with a troublemaker like Stiles in the mix.
But in the meantime, he was absolutely going to take full advantage of having a soulbonded submissive dropped by Fate into his claws, and all that came with him. Right up there in the positive column was that it was very unlikely that any of them would try to interfere with Mesmyr’s position among either Crimson Tide or the King’s personal service. That it was looking like it would give him ample opportunity to remind the landwalkers just how dangerous a merrow gheyo was as he put Stiles’s eventual suitors through their paces, was merely another unsought bonus as far as he was concerned.
“After you,” Mesmyr offered ceding - for the moment - to the alpha’s instincts, then smiled gently down at a soft, pleased hum from Stiles who stared up at him with pleased golden eyes.
“In three,” Maruke began. “One-”
…
Feeling awash with the deep satisfaction of a job well done, Teddy Lupin cast a final cooling spell over his current bake and then felt a wave of relief when the mirror glaze of the torta setteveli gleamed back at him once the spell - and the glaze - had set perfectly. Seven layers of génoise sponge and hazelnut bavarois were enrobed in chocolate mousse and a dark chocolate mirror glaze, making a light but decadent cake topped with a light sprinkle of edible gold dust and tempered chocolate curls. It was a work of hours of precision even with magic to help him along, and a true showcase of his talents as a professional baker.
It was also a courting gift to his intended circle, a surprise prearranged with his future alpha Taranis to serve (along with Teddy’s presence as delivery boy) as a break from moving house from the Gorgens-Nott Estate over to the Deveraine Beach House.
From the information both Taranis and Stiles had entrusted Teddy with, the move was temporary. There had been offhand mention of an inherited property - or potentially two? - on Stiles’s side, besides which he was reasonably sure that as the Maruke Heir, Taranis had inherited an estate from his Sire given that Blood Raven’s circle didn’t use the ancestral seat. Even if none of those properties were suitable, with the connections the nascent circle could already pull with only four fully-bonded and a single (in Teddy) intended, they should have no issue finding something that suited before long.
That might only be property to build on, but nevertheless, the Deveraine Beach House was only a stop along the way to being settled for the new circle, albeit in nearly idyllic environs given how lovely the beach house and its location both were.
And it was lovely: all white sands and clear blue ocean horizon, white plastered walls and large gleaming windows soaring several stories above.
As he walked away from the ‘porting room in the beach house, making a stop in the kitchen to unload part of what he’d brought with him, Teddy took a moment to appreciate the sheer effort in making the beach house both airy and comforting the Deveraines had put in over the years.
Stepping out from the shaded overhang that was created by the wrap-around balcony on the second above-ground floor, Teddy couldn’t help but smile at the scene that awaited him - and his basket of goodies.
At the end of the long pier and large dock that speared out from the beach into the Merrow Waters, Teddy’s intended circle had spread out a blanket. On which, Teddy’s instincts were pleased to note a platter of sandwiches and another of fruit, along with a pitcher of chilled juice. None of the food was currently being picked at however: Ariki had pulled Taranis into his arms between his long splayed legs. Lithely muscled arms wrapped around broad shoulders and rested lightly against the width of stacked muscle and scars that made up Taranis’s chest, all that delightful skin on show - both Ariki’s dusted gold and Taranis’s light ivory - in the small trunks each was wearing.
If not for his height and having Taranis wrapped in his embrace, it would be almost impossible to see the beta behind the gheyo alpha as Ariki rested with a pillow between his back and one of the dock’s pillars.
Stiles was nowhere to be seen, which wasn’t a surprise - but as Teddy took in the scene, he noted an additional used glass on the drinks tray, which very much was not part of the plans that he’d made with Taranis.
Oh?
And given who Teddy knew Stiles was meeting that day, which was one of the reasons Taranis and Teddy planned a surprise for their submissive in the first place…as well as there not being another body waiting on the dock while Stiles swam in the Waters…
Well.
Assumptions could be made, especially once Stiles’s strong merrow nature was taken into account.
Teddy’s brows lifted in interest as - likely sensing Teddy’s arrival - Stiles in his eagle-ray merrow shift popped up out of the water with a light spray and splash, hopping up to perch with his tail in the ocean and ass on the dock with barely a flick of effort. He was joined a moment later, even as Teddy idly used a switching spell to change into swimming trunks of his own, by a single-tailed merrow. Teddy almost stuttered in his walk down the pier, having crossed the sandy beach, as he actually took in the merrow that Stiles had seemingly pulled into his orbit.
That had to be the most beautiful creature Teddy had ever seen - and he was on close acquaintance with the Deveraines and their ethereal elfin selves.
But with the distinctly predatory way that what had to be a new Intended watched Teddy as he strode down the pier towards the dock, watchful with a barely-leashed violence bubbling under the surface, he would never make the mistake of confusing that bit of gorgeousness with a vanity bonded.
In fact…he couldn’t take it as a real theory yet, but there was perhaps a trend developing as he noted who was drawn to his Stiles, and vice-versa:
Beautiful but lethal, seemed to be Stiles’s taste in bonded, if Teddy were to take Taranis, Derek Hale, and now this merrow as examples, even Ariki if pushed considering that he was raised by a circle filled with battle elves and Blood Titles.
Teddy couldn’t include himself - he knew that as Thea she was lovely and he himself was attractive - because his looks no matter his form wasn’t otherworldly in beauty nor was his nature as outright deadly as the rest of his nascent circle.
He had the instincts, certainly - but his inclination would always be to care for and protect before moving to attack - however those same instincts would put him and most others his rank in a different tier of lethality than the fighters that Stiles was gathering to him almost without effort.
“Teddy!” Stiles almost burst; he was so happy to see his Intended.
As if the day couldn’t get any better: won a round with Uncle Cal, found one of his potential soulbonds - an ACE! - with plenty of time to swim and get to know him, and now Teddy!
The only way the day could move into perfect territory was if Derek and the puppies were back from Terra already, but he knew that wasn’t going to happen.
(Still, a guy could dream.)
“Teddy, you’re here! Come meet my Mesmyr!” Stiles nearly bounced from his merrow shift and into his landwalker form, the shift moving with flawless power - getting him looks that he didn’t even notice from his dominant mates at how smooth it was when he wasn’t paying attention - and up onto his bare feet, rushing over to greet his pareya, chattering all the way. “He’s awesome, a member of Crimson Tide, and came up to the surface just to meet me officially...”
Yep, Stiles decided as Teddy indulged him, setting down his basket - ooh goodies! - and taking his hands while letting Stiles run on until he naturally settled.
Today was a good day.
…
“He is out.” Mesmyr huffed a soft laugh as he looked down at the submissive snuggled into his chest and sprawled across his landwalker form as they laid on the dock.
Stiles had crawled up onto him as soon as he’d finished devouring almost half of the luscious cake his intended pareya had brought to indulge the sub’s sweet tooth hand-in-claw with his visit, passing out not much after he’d turned the ACE into a pillow.
“He was anxious about the meeting with the Yarad.” Taranis had no problem admitting, despite the newness of their acquaintance.
As a potential soulbond, there wasn’t much point in playing around as if the big bastard of an ACE wasn’t going to bond-in, so it was better to start as he meant to go on with the other dominant gheyo than play games.
For his own sanity if nothing else.
Ariki, fabulous beta that he was, had disappeared with Teddy up into the guest house, allowing their sub’s intended pareya to sate his instincts with doing a check of their new residence as well as give Taran time alone - after a fashion - to start getting to know and vetting the newest intended of their sub.
Mesmyr hummed under his breath, accepting that and filing it away to remember about Stiles: internalized anxiety rather than lashing-out nerves.
Something to keep an eye or or help redirect in a healthy manner once he fully joined the Gajos-Maruke Circle rather than being an Intended.
Though he supposed if the pretty pareya that Stiles had on deck was worth anything beyond his ability to bake - which was exceptional - as it seemed he was, then Lupin would have already noted the tendency and been making plans to monitor it.
“Don’t know why.” Mesmyr noted with a little smirk of pride down at the sub’s sleeping self. “He and his father led Lord Calladan around by the nose from where I was standing.”
“He’s still new: both to Nevarah and to being a dragel full-stop.” Taran countered the ACE’s - accurate - point. “His confidence is a work in progress.”
Mesmyr tilted his head to the side, conceding the counterpoint without shame.
He might have known of the submissive longer, but the gheyo alpha had had far more direct contact with Stiles than Mesmyr, and certainly knew the inner workings of his bonded better than Mesmyr could as an Intended.
A Seeking soul-bond intended, but only an intended nonetheless.
For all that Nevarah and dragels in general tended to give nearly as much weight to being an Intended as an actual Bonded, there were differences from exposure as much as anything else when it came to the information and knowledge deficits that existed between the two statuses.
Mesmyr would know Stiles as well as Taranis Maruke - better in some ways and less-so in others by mere dint of their different ranks and personalities and relationships with Stiles - some day.
But he wasn’t there yet, and took what knowledge the alpha was willing to freely grant him in the spirit it was offered, without bias.
Or, he tried his best anyway.
He was a Merrow.
Near perfection wasn’t the same as actual perfection, no matter what Alcandor would have to say about it.
The two eyed each other carefully, neither finding the other objectionable on an instinctive level, but not sure what to make of each other either. Yet. With a seeking soul-bond, a portion of the what-if/maybe/testing dynamic was handled from the beginning without either of them moving a claw to get to know the other.
Yes, ACEs were chosen - usually - by submissives, but that didn’t mean there still wasn’t a vetting process and a bit (or a lot) of jockeying for dominance, testing boundaries, between the ACE and Alpha in question.
Double so when dealing with a Gheyo Alpha.
Fate had forced the issue without either of them being any the wiser until Stiles walked right up to Mesmyr in that meeting room and the seeking soul-bond made itself known.
Really, given the givens, there was only one way for them to go from there:
“Spar after Stiles wakes up?” Taran offered the deadly creature lounging with his submissive sprawled across him like a dragel-shaped blanket. “First blood?”
“Third.” Mesmyr countered with a vicious grin full of razor-sharp pointed merrow teeth and fangs. “Claws only, no sharps.”
“Acceptable.”
And it was, to both of them.
Fate - and Stiles’s needs - and ensured that they were stuck with each other, whether they liked it or not.
By the time they reached third blood with fangs and claws, each of them would know the other in a way only gheyos could.
Though whatever may come of that, even Taranis would hesitate to say.
…
Stiles pouted and whined into Mesmyr’s kisses as his ACE bid him goodbye - for the night, was all, but if you asked Stiles’s instincts it might as well be forever with how it felt before Taran stepped in and hit him with another muffling spell - to return to the Waters and check in with his commander, officially take leave, etc.
Handling all those pesky details so that Mesmyr could take time away from Crimson Tide on more than Queen Killigan’s verbal say-so.
It was enough for Mesmyr to steal an afternoon to himself, but unless he wanted to severely piss-off both his elder sib and King Alcandor, tying up all that pesky red-tape was best - for his own continued health and sanity free from Alcandor and Krym’s reprisals if nothing else.
Parting before they completed their seeking soul-bond wasn’t ideal, but they had time. Not much, but enough. To, say, keep Alcandor off of Mesmyr’s tail.
Or for Stiles to bond-in a bit more grounding influences before having to deal with everything that came from bonding both a merrow of Mesmyr’s innate power, but also one of his Rank and Title.
Stiles wouldn’t admit it out loud, but he was deeply interested in the outcome of the upcoming spar between his Alpha and ACE. As interested as he’d been to see Taran fight the first time. He knew, down to blood, bone, and soul, just how powerful his Alpha was.
He only knew by reputation and his instincts/perception how powerful Mesmyr might be.
It wouldn’t be a deal-killer, Mesmyr was his no matter the outcome (or he would be), whatever happened, but there was a part of him that found the idea of waiting until after the spar to bond Mesmyr viscerally satisfying even if another part of him protested letting his pretty gheyo go anywhere without him before their bond was officially recognized and sealed.
Being ferros was such a pain in the ass sometimes, as if he wasn’t, he probably wouldn’t give a damn about seeing Mesmyr in action before bonding him in.
Damn bloodthirsty instincts.
Why did they have to make everything so much more complicated?
Especially since he had a feeling that his were going to demand spars (and blood) from his suitors before he allowed them to bond-in, either with himself or his gheyos, at least for his fighting ranks.
He hadn’t felt the need to take a swipe at either Derek or Ariki after all, not like how he low-key did for Mesmyr or how he’d outright attacked Taran when the alpha had come to claim him.
Nor did the pull towards Teddy have a violent element to it.
Just the fighters.
(Fuck, he was more than a little twisted, wasn’t he?)
“Have fun with your pretty pareya tonight, love.” Mesmyr whispered in Stiles’s ear, dropping into his native merrow dialect with a taunting look at the alpha standing a few feet away. Always within arm’s reach. At least when they were above the waves. Nice. He was going to have so much fun with Stiles’s bonded, especially riling up that pretty chunk of dominant gheyo alpha. “You’re mine, tomorrow.”
It was an earnest suggestion wrapped in the filthiest of subtextual promises.
They might doubt him - for good reason, they didn’t know him from Kesmer - but Mesmyr didn’t have an insecure bone in his body. He knew himself. He knew his power, and had a decent gauge on what Maruke carried within.
He would pass whatever challenge the Alpha presented to him, no matter how much blood and carnage he had to mete out to crush it.
That didn’t mean he wanted to swamp Stiles in what he had to offer in terms of power.
Bonding in that pretty pareya with his earth element would help.
Both in reigning in the bloodthirst and viciousness that came with bonding gheyo, as well as adding a full-blooded merrow to their circle.
With everything that entailed.
Oh yes, Mesmyr was going to claim his adorable submissive before too much longer.
But he didn’t want to harm Stiles in the process, as no matter how deep and true his sub’s water affinity ran, it wasn’t the same as being born merrow.
“Promises, promises.” Stiles neatly dodged around the implications of bonding - either Teddy or Mesmyr - that his ACE brought to the fore. “Big talk from an ACE who has yet to fight for me.”
Behind his back, Taran held back the urge to groan and bury his face in his hands.
Great.
Wonderful.
Fan-fucking-tastic.
His sub just had to stir the waters and bait the vicious merrow elite ACE.
Because of course he did.
He wouldn’t be Stiles otherwise.
The consoling pat on the shoulder he got from Ariki felt more condescending than meaningful, especially as while Mesmyr gave Stiles one last kiss before disappearing into the waters, Taran could feel how his beta was biting back laughter.
Troublemakers. He swore to himself. His circle was shaping up to be filled with nothing but troublemakers of one fashion or another.
What did he do to deserve this? He mourned to himself. Had he killed puppies in another life?
Why?
“Oh please.” Stiles took one look at the put-upon expression on his Alpha’s face - as well as the borderline martyrdom he was sensing through their bond - and snorted. “As if you’d want me any other way, oh Mr. Fights Blood Titles for fun.”
“He has you there, darling.” Ariki snickered as he wrapped his long arms around the waist of first Taran, tugging the alpha into line, and then Stiles as they turned to return to the beach house where Teddy had been well-distracted by sorting out the kitchen. “You knew what you were getting into with bonding our delightfully chaotic submissive.” He squeezed his hand where it rested on the curve of Taran’s hip. “It’s a little too late to complain now.”
“Easy for you to say.” Taran grumbled, wrinkling his nose over at their far-too-entertained submissive. Stiles knew what he’d done. The unrepentant little demon. “You’re not the one that our loving sub just served up to a member of Crimson Tide like a wriggling trout on a line.”
In unison both Stiles and Ariki rolled their eyes, neither impressed with the blatant grab for sympathy from their alpha.
Sure.
Right.
Because they’re expected to believe that the infamous Bloodborn was afraid of sparring anyone, even a member of Crimson Tide.
Though, being an equal-opportunity chaos gremlin, Stiles had zero problem with adding even more fuel to the fire:
“If you win,” Stiles offered, a devilish glint in his eyes. “I’ll talk to Derek about that thing you mentioned last night…”
“Done.” Taranis jumped on the offer like a nytura on prey, even knowing he was being baited.
It was why he’d bothered to complain, after all, so that one of his bonded might want to both stir - and sweeten - the pot.
Underhanded?
Maybe.
Worth it anyway?
Abso-fucking-lutely.
…
Taran and Ariki dropped Stiles off with Teddy - who was being adorable as far as Stiles was concerned with how he was fussing over the kitchen set-up - before they went to add their own power and reinforcements to the beach house wards.
After sending a message to Ariki’s mera anyway.
Nobody was eager to have Blood Wraith crashing down on their heads because they forgot basic manners.
They still weren’t sure how long they were going to stay at the beach house, but with having a full-blooded merrow Intended added to the mix, that nebulous eventual move might have been put back indefinitely. It wasn’t a perfect set-up for a merrow bonded - but it was still acceptable from how Mesmyr had acted despite never setting so much as a toe into the actual house. If nothing else, having it border the Merrow Waters helped fill any gaps in that sphere that might otherwise arise from having a residence that wasn’t already altered to suit a merrow bonded in a landwalker circle.
A fact which only spurred on Teddy’s desire to set up the house just so, as his instincts had kicked into high-gear as soon as he’d seen Stiles and Mesmyr together on the dock.
It had been like a flick to the ear: a bit sharp but also very present, turning what only a day before had been an ephemeral eventually into an active now now now, bond now, urge.
Watching Stiles devour his latest courtship offering with an expression that was nothing more than outright glee, and making noises that were sinful, hadn’t been anything short of provocation to Teddy’s instincts.
They, all of them that made up both Teddy and Thea, wanted their submissive to be theirs in full instead of in theory.
Nothing less would do now that an ACE was in the picture.
Maybe, especially, that ACE, as Teddy’s instincts were insistent that they not cede their position as Stiles’s main Intended to the other.
If the way Stiles was watching Teddy nest into a residence not yet his own with eyes as hungry as they’d been on the torta were any sign, his sub agreed.
Not later, not anymore: now was their time.
When Stiles’s hands glowed as Teddy shut the last drawer, pleased on a soul-deep level at the organization of the beach house kitchen, and a wrapped gift box appeared between them, Teddy let out a pleased chirr.
Oh yes: now.
Stiles was theirs.
They were Stiles’s.
And by the night was over, everyone who ever saw them going forward would know it.
…
When Taran felt the tug from his submissive, and what was coming through their bond, after they were finished with the wards, he shot Ariki a look that was nothing less than wicked, reaching out with rough hands and pulling Ariki into him with a jolt before devouring that perfectly sculpted mouth even as he ‘portaled them directly into the resting room where their sub and new pareya waited.
Their work was done for the night.
It was time to play.
…