Two days. Two days of Nic fighting the flu. Every time he thought Nic was getting better, he’d slide back into a fever and vomit up everything Marlin forced down him. Broth, water, juice, sports drinks with electrolytes. Nothing stayed in his stomach.

Marlin was exhausted. Nic had lost a lot of weight just in the couple days he’d been sick. In his worry, Marlin had the doctor out two more times. But Maniford just gave Nic a shot each time and told him that he would have to just endure the flu until it ran its course.

Right now, Nic was fighting a blazing fever once again. Each time Marlin had reached for his phone, he’d put it back down and do what the doctor had told him instead. But it pained him to see the man suffering.

Nic was in a sweat, his eyes closed, his teeth chattering. Every time he tried to cover him up, Nic would throw the covers back off. The fitted sheet underneath him was soaked.

All Marlin could do was try to get him to eat ice chips and put cold compresses on both his forehead and at the back of his neck in an attempt to cool him down and break the fever.

Nic was also restless, his head thrashing back and forth on the pillow, while mumbling nonsensical things.

After a while, his mutterings became clearer. “Kind of you to stay. A prince shouldn’t... you shouldn’t. Your brother never would’ve... You’re a prince. I’m just a fisherman. Not worthy. Want an alpha. Need an alpha. I’m sorry.... So sorry... didn’t mean to lie.”

What the bloody hell was he talking about?

Marlin pressed the back of his hand to Nic’s forehead, which was still hotter than it should be. “Shhh. Nic, you’re delirious.”

“Sorry. Should’ve told you.”

Marlin reached for another ice chip. He needed to get more fluids into Nic, but nothing had been staying down. “Told me what?” he asked distractedly.

“What I am.”

Marlin sat straighter, gripping the glass of ice tightly. “Nic...”

“Tired of hiding. Can’t. Won’t. Tired, my prince. My alpha... So sorry.”

Dread began to tighten Marlin’s chest. “What are you, Nic?”

Nic stopped rocking his head. An audible breath escaped his dry, parted lips and he closed his eyes, his whole body relaxing.

“Nic.”

He got no response because Nic had fallen asleep. Hopefully that meant his fever was breaking. And, if they were lucky, maybe the illness had finally run its course. Marlin wasn’t sure he could take much more of watching his lover suffer.

Nic leaned back against the headboard of the bed. He was so weak. He’d never had an illness that debilitating in his whole life. He couldn’t imagine he would’ve made it through if Marlin hadn’t stayed to help him.

He doubted Kai would’ve ever done the same. If anything, he’d have hired someone to tend to Nic so he didn’t have to be bothered.

But for the past four days, Marlin, a royal prince, stayed by his side and cared for him. He got his hands dirty by cleaning up vomit, changing soaked sheets, feeding him chicken broth and forcing fluids down his throat.

Nic was not only surprised but he was grateful.

The subject of his thoughts came out of the bathroom freshly showered, his dark hair still damp, wearing one of Nic’s T-shirts and pair of shorts, which seemed to be a little snug on him since the fabric clung to his cock, which was still mighty impressive even in its current relaxed state.

The prince must have dug up a razor from under his sink, because the scruff he had on his face earlier was now gone.

What a freaking shame.

Another shame was that Nic hadn’t had the energy to join Marlin in that shower.

The prince’s distinctive sapphire blue eyes looked serious as they landed on Nic.

“Some of your coloring has returned,” Marlin murmured as he approached the bed. “Can I get you anything?”

“You’ve done plenty. Thank you. You didn’t need to. You could’ve called someone to come take care of me. I’m sure the doctor could’ve recommended someone.”

Marlin perched on the edge of the bed by Nic’s hip. The prince traced his fingertips over his forehead, over his temple and along his jawline, before tucking his fingers under Nic’s chin and lifting his face.

“Nic... what are you?”

Nic tried to pull his chin out of Marlin’s grip, but the Selkie only tightened it, forcing him to meet his gaze. His heart began to thump wildly in his chest. “What do you mean?”

“When you were out of your mind with fever, you said you should’ve told me what you are. What are you?” The question was said slowly, firmly and gave the impression that Marlin wouldn’t take avoidance as an answer.

Nic had no idea what he muttered during his bouts with fever. “Like you said, I was out of my mind.”

“No.” Marlin shook his head, his brows furrowed low. “No. You kept apologizing. You said you were tired of hiding. What are you hiding?”

Nic shrugged, trying to make it look as casual as possible. “Nothing. What you see is what you get.”

“No, I need to know what you’re hiding and what you are. I need to know now, Nic.” Marlin released his chin and leaned over, yanking open the nightstand drawer. He pulled the bottle of lube out and tossed it onto Nic’s lap.

Nic felt the blood drain from his face as he stared at the full bottle of lubricant.

“Still full. We’ve rutted... hell... countless times in the past month, Nic. Countless. And every time you’ve stated you’ve already ‘prepared.’ But this tube looks unused. I checked your medicine cabinet. I checked under your sink. I’ve checked the linen closet in your bathroom. I found no other open bottles.”

“Marlin...”

Marlin shook his head and raised a palm. “No. No lies. I want to hear the truth and I need to hear it now.”

Nic opened his mouth, but nothing came out. He didn’t want Marlin to leave. He didn’t want him to walk out and never come back. And if he told Marlin the truth, he’d probably do just that.

Nic didn’t want to feel that type of heartbreak all over again. He knew he shouldn’t have gotten involved with the alpha Selkie. He knew it would end badly.

Marlin stood and quickly strode back into the bathroom, and a few seconds later exited with several small bottles in his hands. With a frown, he stepped up to the foot of the bed and tossed the bottles onto the mattress.

“While I was searching for lube, I found these. Nic... What are those? What. Are. You?”

Nic sucked in a breath and tried to calm his racing pulse. “I’m just a fisherman.”

Marlin’s head jerked back and his nostrils flared. “If you can’t be truthful with me, then I’m leaving and never coming back. This is over.”

As Marlin reached for his cell phone, Nic squeezed his eyes shut and yelled, “Wait!”

Holy shit, he never told anyone what or who he was. Not one soul besides his mother knew the truth. Not one. Not even Dr. Maniford.

Even his Selkie father never knew he existed.

To keep his gender a secret, he always had his heat suppressants and his masking scent shipped in from other places. He never purchased any of it locally. He had kept his secret hidden so well for so long...

And now that was about to crumble around him.

He wasn’t sure if he was ready to reveal his true self. Even to his lover. The one he didn’t want to lose.

Something bound them. A connection Nic did not want to break.

He opened his eyes and saw Marlin standing frozen in the doorway. He really was going to leave if Nic wasn’t truthful with him.

He was damned if he did, damned if he didn’t. He’d have to pick one and hope for the best.

With a shaky hand, Nic lifted one of the unmarked pill bottles from the bed. “These are heat suppressants.” He grabbed a small amber glass bottle that had liquid in it. “This is a masking agent.” He lifted the third bottle. “These are experimental pills to help mask an omega’s scent. It’s supposed to work internally instead of externally like the masking agent, which wears off more easily.”

He slowly lifted his gaze to the prince, who gripped the door jamb with white knuckles as he stared at Nic with a completely unreadable expression.

“Why do you have those?” Marlin finally asked stiffly. When Nic didn’t answer quickly enough, he yelled, “Why do you have those, Nic? Who are they for?”

Nic tried to swallow a lump down his dry throat. “I...”

“Nic,” Marlin growled, releasing the door frame and taking a step back into the bedroom. “Are they a former lover’s? Who are they for?”

He could easily say, yes, they belonged to someone else. A friend. A former lover. Anyone but him.

“Me,” came out on a breath.

“What?”

Nic cleared his throat and braced himself when he repeated louder, “Me.”

He didn’t want to look at Marlin. He didn’t want to see his reaction. Whether it was anger or disappointment. Or even disgust.

He was too weak at this point to physically stop the prince from leaving, from rushing right out of his house, slamming the front door and heading back to his colony.

But Marlin didn’t do that. He continued to stare at him in disbelief.

“You,” Marlin whispered in a voice that held a tremor. “You’re an omega.”

“Yes.”

“What you have there... that... that masking concoction. Those experimental pills. They’re illegal.”

Nic shook his head. “Not for me.”

Marlin scrubbed his palms down his face. “You’re a hybrid,” came muffled from behind his hands.

“Yes.”

Marlin’s hands dropped to his sides but not before they curled into fists. “Can you shift?”

“Yes.”

Marlin spun away from the bed, paced to the other side of the room as he dragged his fingers roughly through his dark hair, then turned on his heels and blew out a loud breath. “I knew it.”

“What?” Nic whispered. There was no way Marlin knew.

“I knew it. I knew it. I just didn’t want to admit it. I had a feeling... When I came here to retrieve Del and your house smelled like omega. When I couldn’t stay away and had to escort Zale here to find Finn. I wouldn’t let him come without me. I couldn’t let another alpha come here alone. This attraction to you that I couldn’t explain... I knew it, deep down inside. Especially when every time we rutted, you’d get slicker as we’d do so. For Poseidon’s sake, you being able to take a knot! I ignored the obvious signs.” He shook his head. “But even so... You purposely deceived me. Deceived Kai. Hell, deceived all of us.”

Nic yanked the sheet back and on shaky legs, climbed out of bed. Dizziness overcame him and he put a hand out to grab the nightstand to keep on his feet. After a second, his world righted and he moved toward the male who was still standing across the room, looking confused and angry among other things.

He needed to smooth this over. He needed Marlin to forgive him for not telling him sooner. He slowly made his way over to the alpha male, stepping toe to toe with him. “This wasn’t about deception, Marlin. I needed to protect myself. This isn’t all about you. Or Kai. Or any of you. You princes forget the world doesn’t revolve around all of you. It doesn’t. You’re not only princes but you’re alphas. You don’t have to deal with what omegas do. Even what betas do. Your gender gives you benefits we’ll never see. Betas are worker bees. Omegas are brood bitches. I don’t want to be a brood bitch!” Nic yelled. “That’s all you alphas think omegas are good for... breeding, reproducing, bearing your pups. I don’t want that kind of life.”

Marlin’s eyes narrowed on him as he growled, “You told me you were human.”

“I don’t remember ever saying that. If I did, it was out of self-preservation.”

Marlin groaned. “I would’ve worn a condom if I’d known.”

“You’ve been knotting me almost every time, Marlin. I doubt a condom would hold through that. And I’ve been on heat suppressants. We were safe.”

Marlin’s eyes widened. “You could’ve trapped Kai.”

“Yes, I could’ve. But he apparently didn’t feel the same way about me, so why make both of us miserable for the rest of our lives. The king probably would’ve found a way to get rid of me, anyway. Could you imagine? His first alpha-born son mated to a hybrid?” Nic scrunched up his nose. “The horror!”

Then Marlin’s eyes narrowed. “You loved him.”

“Yes, you know that. I’ve admitted that. That’s something I didn’t hide.”

“And now?”

“And now, I have someone else in my bed.” Nic could only hope he remained there.

“That wasn’t an answer.”

“It was an answer, just not to the question you asked.”

“Nic...”

“Marlin, I told you, I’m over your brother. It’s been years. I’ve had other lovers since then. I’m still just a little bitter with how he handled things.”

“But he didn’t know, right?”

“What I am? No. No one knows. Now only you.”

Marlin cupped Nic’s jaw with both hands and pressed their foreheads together. “Your deception was dangerous, you know that, Omega?”

“I took precautions.”

Marlin’s voice lowered an octave as he stated, “An omega can’t rut with an alpha that’s not his own. That is law.”

“That’s your law. I’m a hybrid. I’m not bound by the Royal Council’s law.”

“But by being with me, by being with Kai, you put yourself into our world. You have one foot in the human world and one foot in ours. You want to pick and choose what rules to follow, Nic.”

“I choose neither. I don’t want the fates to decide who my alpha is. I want to love my mate, Marlin. Not be stuck with a male who ruts with me because he’s obligated to. That’s not a life I want to live. I don’t want to be anything but independent. And being an omega doesn’t allow that. That’s why I have kept being an omega secret my whole life.”

“And no one else knows?”

“My mother, that’s it.”

“And your father?”

“My father didn’t know I existed.”

“Didn’t...”

“My mother wasn’t the only human that my father impregnated. He got caught when another woman wasn’t quiet about it, wanted him to step up and be a responsible father. Once his king found out, he had him thrown out to sea without his skin.”

“His king...”

“Yes. Not your father. Though, I’m pretty sure King Solomon would have done the same.”

“Your father was a full-blooded Selkie.”

“Yes, he was. That’s most likely why I can shift. Hybrids are looked down upon by not only you full-blooded Selkies but by humans alike. That’s why I kept it secret. Why my mother hid who I was from the moment I was born.”

“The punishment for a Selkie who impregnates a human is death.”

“Yes. From what my mother found out, my half-brother was taken at birth and also thrown out to sea.”

Marlin closed his eyes. “Great sea gods.”

“Sometimes they’re not so great,” Nic murmured.

Marlin’s eyes popped open. “No. What happened to your mother? And the mother of your brother?”

“I have no idea what happened to the other woman since she was bound by human laws, not the Royal Council’s. As for my mother...” Nic dropped his gaze and turned away. “Believe it or not, my mother loved my father even though he was with, what we assumed, many women. Unlike most Selkies, he didn’t have a taste for other males. When my mother discovered he was tossed into the Great Sea, she went into a deep depression for a long time. It didn’t matter that he could never be with her, she loved him anyway. Or at least, the idea of him. A strong alpha male who was ‘special.’ But she also worried constantly about me and how I’d be treated. Eventually her depression got to be too much...” Nic jerked when Marlin moved behind him to press his chest to Nic’s back and wrap his arms tightly around him.

Nic closed his eyes for a moment, enjoying that embrace, Marlin’s closeness.

“What happened?” Marlin asked softly in his ear.

“She jumped from a cliff into the ocean to be with my father.” Her body had been found broken on some rocks at the bottom. She never even made it to the water.

“I’m so sorry, Nic. Did your father love her in return? Is that why she was so heartbroken by his loss?”

Nic shook his head. “I don’t know. I don’t think so. I assume if he did, he would have returned to my mother time and time again. He didn’t. I think he was just cold and heartless and didn’t care about anyone but himself.”

“Again, I’m sorry,” Marlin pressed his lips to Nic’s temple and Nic reached behind him to cup his face. “How old were you when it happened?”

“She waited until I was eighteen and could be responsible for myself. That’s what she said in the note she left me.”

He had almost thrown that note into the fire many times. But he didn’t. He still kept it, tucked away in a drawer. He now kept it as a reminder not to get attached to a male. Not only any male, but Selkie alphas in particular.

Unfortunately, that hadn’t worked. It hadn’t worked with Kai, and now, with Marlin...

Shit.

They’d been only seeing each other a little over a month. But unlike Kai, Marlin always spent the night. They always talked during the knot and afterward until they fell into an exhausted sleep. And in the mornings, Nic would wake up to find himself tucked against Marlin’s chest in one way or another, whether he’d be sprawled over top of the alpha or Marlin would be spooning him snuggly.

And if he awoke first, Nic would imagine what it would be like to wake up like that every morning with his mate. Feeling loved and cherished. Valued as someone other than just a breeder.

Marlin didn’t love him. He couldn’t. He needed to find love with his true fated mate. It wouldn’t be fair to ask the alpha to love him, no matter how much Nic wanted to find his true love.

True fated mate. True love. Two different things. However, when a Selkie alpha found the first, he found the second.

And Nic would never be anyone’s fated mate. Especially a prince’s.

“Since you are feeling better, I need to get back.”

Nic turned in his arms, grabbed his T-shirt and fisted it in his hand. “Don’t go.” Like those words, his holding on wouldn’t stop Marlin from leaving.

“I must, Nic. There’s no reason for me to stay here now that you’re back on your feet. I’ve been here for days.” Marlin peeled Nic’s fingers from the bunched cotton, pressed a kiss to his forehead and pulled away. In a few long strides, he was across the room, snagging his phone from the nightstand, and appeared to be sending a text.

To Kenn, most likely.

Afterward, Marlin lifted his head from his phone and headed toward his clothes, which had been folded neatly and stacked on top of Nic’s dresser. “I’ll be back next Tuesday.”

“Tuesday’s too far away.” Nic winced at his own tone. It sounded like he was whining, which he was. But he didn’t want to be that male. A whiny, clingy, needy one. That would not endear Marlin to him. Not at all.

He had told Marlin he wanted to remain independent. He needed to act like that.

Marlin sighed as he changed clothes. “I’ll stop by and check on you Sunday.”

That was only two days away. And it would give him time to check his ignored lobster pots and do some net fishing. “I can make dinner.”

“Fine. I’ll make excuses why I’m not at dinner with my brothers Sunday night. But don’t expect me to stay the night.”

His elation at Marlin coming on Sunday instead of waiting until their normal Tuesday quickly turned to disappointment. “So, you’ll have Kenn wait in the driveway, stewing and just being a royal pain in the ass?”

“I can invite him in and he can join us for dinner.”

Nic’s jaw dropped. “I hope you’re joking.”

Marlin rose from the edge of the bed, where he had been tying his shoes. “I am not. This tension between the two of you needs to stop. I don’t have the patience for it anymore.”

“You had patience for his behavior before?”

Marlin’s lips flattened. “We won’t tell him that you’re an omega hybrid. Understood?”

His statement and his question came out typical alpha-like and it sent a shudder through Nic. “He’s your slave, what does it matter what we tell him? He needs to keep your secrets as a well-trained beta should.”

“He’s not my slave, Nic. Stop saying that. And you know it’s against Selkie law for me to—”

“Fuck.”

“Rut—”

“Fut.”

Marlin’s lips twitched. “Rut with an omega that’s not mine.”

“But you will do so.”

Marlin’s eyebrows dropped low. “What?”

“Continue to fut with me, even though you now know I’m an omega. That will not stop you from coming, right?”

Nic watched as Marlin took a deep visible breath before answering, “If you promise to remain on heat suppressants. And I will not only use a condom, but will stop knotting you.”

Disappointment rolled through Nic. “But I want you to knot me. I enjoy it.”

“We don’t always get what we want, Nic. That’s the deal. Accept it or don’t. That’s up to you.”

“Will you go elsewhere if I don’t?”