Claimed by the Mer-Shifter Prince I Made Cry novel · Chapter 8 of 24

Chapter 8: My Fiance

The deputy came at six, and he did not come alone.

I saw the cruiser pull up outside the kitchen window, and behind it a white coat that didn't belong on a gravel road.

Soren stood behind me in my father's flannel shirt, hands loose at his sides.

"They will take me," he said quietly.

"No."

"Minnie, the law of your people is..."

"The law of my people says you can say no to a stranger with a clipboard."

I opened the door before the deputy could knock.

He was a heavy, tired man holding a folded paper, and next to him stood Neris, hands clasped, wearing a look of perfect concern.

"Ms. Marlow," the deputy said. "I've got a report that you're sheltering an adult male who's gone missing from a residential care facility. I need to see him."

"He's not missing."

"Ma'am."

"He's right here." I took Soren's hand and pulled him up beside me. "He's my fiancé."

The deputy blinked.

Soren's hand went rigid in mine.

Neris's smile did not move at all.

"Your fiancé," the deputy said.

"Soren. We got engaged last month."

"I've lived in this town my whole life, Ms. Marlow, and I haven't seen you with anybody."

"Maybe you weren't looking."

Behind the deputy, the road was filling.

Gus had been right.

Half the harbor had come up Gull Lane to see what the cruiser was for, men in rubber boots and women in coats over their nightgowns, standing in a loose circle at the bottom of my father's yard.

Nobody said a word.

Gus stood at the front, arms folded, looking like a boulder with a pipe.

"Sir," the deputy said to Soren. "Can you tell me your name?"

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