Rowan

After a very uncomfortable walk back to the packhouse, Maria leads us to her office. Marcius sits against one wall, the rest of us on the loveseats and armchairs around the room. Maria looks down at Marcius for a moment as she closes the door.

"Did you bring water?" she asks him.

He shakes his head. "I forgot. I was too excited."

Maria turns to Clareese. "Bring us your jar of seawater, please."

Clareese, though as confused as the rest of us, nods and heads out of the room. She brushes past Chris, Maria's beta and Josiah's father, who glares down at Josiah the moment he steps into the room.

"Dad-" Josiah begins.

"Josiah Samuel, how in the fuck am I supposed to pass this role to you if you don't stop to think through Luis's decisions?" Chris asks harshly. "If Maria came up with this scheme when we were eighteen, without telling her father, I would have INSISTED we stop and slow down."

Because he will soon be the alpha, reprimanding Luis publicly would have destroyed him. But Josiah has no such instincts, and it looks like Chris has no such reservations.

Maria nods. "He would have. He would have stopped me."

Chris scowls. "This is the problem with having two boys as the alpha and beta. No self-doubt. Complete confidence in every stupid thing they do. Women and girls are not this fucking dumb."

Arlette smiles, though I'm getting the sense that she is bored of all of these dramatics and would prefer to read a report on Marcius's species instead of witnessing our discussions. "I'd drink to that."

Luis prickles at this insult. Neither Chris nor Maria attempt to soothe his wounded pride. "You are going to feel really stupid when we lay this all out for you," Chris tells his son. He looks at Marcius. "And you have brass balls to show up at our packhouse and show your fins in a pond with Rowan after what happened last time."

Marcius looks blankly up at Chris. "What happened last time?"

Chris scoffs. "Your school sent you out here without knowing our history?"

Arlette bursts out laughing. She can't help herself. "School?" she asks, nearly tearing up. Serena realizes why Arlette is laughing and giggles along with her mate. "That's what you call your pack? A school?"

Marcius is surprised by this. "I mean... fish don't swim in packs."

"Ya ain't fish!" Arlette points out, wiping her eyes.

"You're not wolves," Marcius points out.

Clareese returns with the jar of seawater and hands it to Maria. I watch, awestruck and horrified, as Maria gives it to Marcius and he begins to drink it. He doesn't even flinch as he gulps down the saltwater.

"Hold up," Kirk says, stunned, both of us his hands raised in alarm as though he intends to rush forward and grab the jar from Marcius. Even Arlette goes silent in shock. "That'll-" He visibly starts to doubt himself, though we are still unified in our panic. "I mean, that'll kill a human."

"It's opposite for them," Maria says softly. "They can dehydrate to death in an ocean of fresh water. They can only drink seawater."

Marcius stops drinking and cups his hands around the jar almost protectively, completely unfazed by downing a chugging a substance that would make the rest of us vomit until our abs ached. "Usually we carry bottles," he explains. He looks down at the jar. "I forgot."

"And you don't puke your brains out?" I ask in spite of myself. My face is flattened in an expression of disgust as I try to wrap my mind around drinking saltwater. "What are mermaids' sodium levels like?"

"High, I'd imagine," Marcius says.

"Luis, there are some things that alphas and betas of the pack keep secret for different reasons. The secrets are passed to the new alpha and beta when they are coronated. You were going to find out about all of this when you turned twenty," Maria says. She glances over at Marcius. "Including that his school nearly killed Josiah's great-great-great-great-" She looks at Chris. "How many greats?"

"I don't know," Chris replies, but he looks at his son. "Grandfather. Ancestor. Whatever."

Marcius is as stunned as the rest of us, but he dares not say a word as he realizes what an interloper he truly is.

"There is a journal written by Paloma, the first alpha of this pack and our ancestor, Luis," Maria says. "It is one of the gifts I am going to give you on your twentieth birthday. There's lots of important information in the journal, but the biggest revelation is about mermaids."

She looks to Chris to continue. He takes a breath. "It's a long story, but to make it short, the first alpha and beta of the pack were two women named Paloma Delgado and Storie Maldin, though her surname was Lovejoy at the time. They received a strange letter asking them to go to an island off of the coast of Astoria. On the way there, they were attacked by pirates. They shifted to protect the crew and themselves. One of the men on the crew was Samuel Maldin, an Irish immigrant. He was the most badly injured in the attack by the pirates. When Paloma and Storie reached the island, they learned of Marcius's kind and saw their abilities. The gills, the saltwater, the rigid fins, all of that."

This feels like pure insanity to me, but I hang onto every word.

Chris continues. "The mermaids were proposing an alliance between mermaids and werewolves if the human government went nuts. . Considering this was all happening in the 1850s, it's pretty understandable that mermaids with those origins would fear the government. But somehow, it came out that the mermaids arranged the attack of the pirate ship to see what Paloma and Storie could do in combat and gage whether or not it was worth making an alliance with them. Paloma and Storie were furious. They left without another word. When the ship docked in the mainland harbor, Samuel went with them to join the pack, and later, to become Storie's husband. Storie hated the mermaids with a special rage because Samuel had gotten so hurt."

Luis looks at Marcius. "You mentioned pirates."

Marcius looks crestfallen. "I... I thought..." He swallows, shaking his head. "I always thought that they were just upset that we didn't protect them. I... I didn't know we arranged it."

Chris takes a deep breath. "Marcius, you didn't arrange anything. Luis and Maria didn't reject the alliance, and Josiah and I don't hate mermaids. We can't- and won't- hold each other responsible for the mistakes of past generations. But I need you to understand that this is the story you stepped into."

Marcius looks up at him. "I didn't know. I promise. I never would have asked Rowan to race me if I'd known."

Maria and Chris look at me pointedly. For a moment I forget myself and wonder why they're looking at me. Then I jolt and nod. "Truth. All of it."

Marcius's eyes find mine. "Are you just really good at reading people, or...?"

I manage a bit of a smile. "Sort of."

Maria glances down at her phone. She takes a breath before looking at Josiah. "We have a mission, Josiah."

Josiah looks surprised, but happy to be singled out for a mission. "What is it?"

"I'll explain on the way. Meanwhile, Chris is going to oversee Luis and Marcius, with Rowan's Solar help, discuss the reason Marcius is here," Maria says.

I know Luis is irritated at the reinstallation of his training wheels, but his face betrays nothing of the sort.

Maria looks at Chris. "I know you don't need me to say this, but you have free reign."

Chris gives her a smile. "Thank you. And if you need more help with your thing, let me know."

Maria nods. "Of course."

With that, Maria and Josiah leave the room.

And the discussion begins.

***

Despite the training wheels put upon him, Luis looks every bit an alpha as he appraises Marcius from his position behind his mother's desk.

I reflect on the fact that when I met him, he was not the man he is today. He was just as brilliant, but not as comfortable in leading. He didn't trust himself to make decisions. I think his respect for his mother as an alpha hamstrung him in this way. He was so in awe of her flawless leadership that he felt her shoes are too big to fill.

I'm not sure what changed. I doubt it was loving me. I do my best to build him up, but Luis is too smart to let my words alone boost his confidence.

Chris was wrong to pick at Luis's confidence. He deserves every morsel of it he has.

I'll tell Chris to shove it up his ass later.

"Why are you here?" Luis asks Marcius. Beside him, Chris only watches.

It's just us in the room now. Luis asked everyone else to leave, except for Arlette, whom he invited to stay because of her position as future alpha. Arlette slipped her arm around Serena's waist and declined, telling Luis that she had better ways to spend her last day in Oregon. I think I might have been asked to leave, too, if not for my Solar powers. The thought irritates me.

"We have attracted the attention of some hunters," Marcius replies. "I'm not sure how. But there's a group patrolling around Elcott Island, our home. If they attack it, some of us will die. All of us will lose the homes we've had for generations."

"Who sent you?" Luis asks.

It looks like Marcius wasn't expecting that question. "Uh... no one. I sent myself. I found an old archive about werewolves in the area and the failed proposal for an alliance. I started working at Silver and Salt to try and find you guys. To... to see if you could help." He takes a breath. "But we can help you, too. Tens of thousands of pounds of fish to fill your pack's freezers, for free. Or you could just sell it. And, I mean..." He trails off. "We've found treasure."

"Treasure?" Luis asks.

"There are hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of shipwrecks that are never found by humans," Marcius says. "We can get to them easy. Historical artifacts, jewelry, old coins. And everything's free on the island, so that money just kind of... sits there."

Luis casts him a doubtful glance. "And you can use that money? You have access to it?"

Marcius thinks about this. "I mean... it's... shared. Whoever needs it takes it. I probably wouldn't be allowed to write a check for like a million dollars, but I'm sure I could get you that kind of money if I asked for it."

This confounds Luis. "There's that little oversight?"

Marcius shrugs. "I mean... yeah. We have everything we need. And if someone really wanted or needed money, they could just go find their own wreck and keep the profits." He gestures outward a bit. "If I went to the Mediterranean I'd be a millionaire in a few days."

I find myself annoyed by his flippant attitude, but it is a symptom of a communication breakdown here. Something is not being conveyed properly. It's like Marcius is speaking a different language than we are. Luis doesn't know how to politely break the barrier.

Good thing I don't have to be polite.

"Why are you acting like it's no big deal?" I ask. "A million dollars is a lot of money."

Marcius looks at me almost uncomprehendingly, as though trying to figure out how much a million dollars is. "I mean... I guess it's just not a big deal to us."

"I think they're hippies," Chris observes.

"Hippies," Marcius agrees, nodding. He realizes why I'm annoyed. "And I'm not... like... trying to brag. Just facts." He gestures to Luis and taps his nose. "I mean, you guys could probably make millions hunting for missing people or fugitives. I imagine some of you do."

He's right. That's how a lot of smaller packs make their money. For the Tillamook Camp Pack, there aren't enough manhunts in the area to make the energy spent on them worthwhile. If a packmember wants money, it's much more lucrative for everyone to employ them at one of our businesses.

"We're interested in the money," Luis says. "But we're more interested in keeping you safe. What can you tell us about the hunters?"

Marcius's face turns regretful. "Not much. I've been living in the city with my sister since I was young. Only go back for occasional visits. I do know that one of them took an armored speedboat in a patrol a few weeks ago. Nearly killed one of my school."

"What can you tell us about that?" Luis asks.

"Well, the weird thing was..." Marcius trails off. "Gosh, this sounds wild. I promise it's true. The victim said it was a white woman. Dark hair. Pretty normal looking. But she used a bow and arrow."

I stiffen. As do Chris and Luis.

I remember our senior trip, just half a day after I found out Luis was my soulmate. I remember the dark hair of the white woman who shot him with an arrow and nearly killed him.

Marcius senses the change in us, and looks to each of us with wide eyes. "What's wrong?"

"We know her," Luis says in a dark voice.