Rowan took Kaerius to a cafe the next day, to have a break from their training. Rowan had to try and teach Kaerius how to use his pocket-knife, which resulted in Kaerius cutting himself by accident quite a few times.

Kaerius picked irritably at the plasters on his fingers while they waited for the bill.

Jaiker and Laiken watched everyone and touched everything with broad smiles. Laiken was busy tracing his fingers along a napkin while Jaiker prodded the cushion on the back of his chair.

"Isn't it fascinating that you can let go of things and they don't float away from you," Laiken said in the Thalassic Tongue, picking up his fork and dropping it onto the table.

Rowan jumped, and Kaerius confiscated his cutlery.

"We should get back to the werewolf pack. Volher should be back by now," Rowan said, snapping out of his thoughts about Wez. Volher and a few other vampires intentionally snuck around Michael's parent's boat. They made sure that Hunter's saw them lurking by, then left. Rowan knew that the hunters would stay up for a few nights, checking on Volher and his clang. Volher would go back to his 'normal' life and pretend he wasn't up to anything suspicious. Hopefully, the hunters would then sleep after a few days when nothing happened, and Rowan and his family could pounce.

Kaerius went with Rowan to the counter when the bill took too long. He watched Rowan hand over the same type of paper stuff that he had seen Rowan use before. Kaerius watched with fascination. He took a coin from Rowan's hand when he got change.

"Gold? Treasure?" Kaerius asked and noticed the cashier looking at him oddly. "What?"

Rowan pulled him away. "You know, the further from the sea you get, the more the humans notice you're there."

"They stare," Kaerius said, looking around.

"Not many people have eyes like you," Rowan admitted, looking at the vibrant purple around his pupils, and the black line around his eyes, making Kaerius look like he wore eyeliner. Rowan took the pound coin from Kaerius's hand. "This isn't gold," he chuckled and grabbed his elbow, guiding him back through the tables and to Jaiker and Laiken who waited by the door.

When they returned to the werewolf base, a blade impaled the door inches above Rowan's head. Mandy gasped loudly. "Michael!" she scolded.

"What? You threw it!" Michael exclaimed.

Rowan yanked the blade from the door. "Is training not going well, mum? You used to be so good at this."

"I did?"

"You taught me everything I know." Rowan picked up the long pole he used when fighting, and Kaerius nodded in agreement.

"Rowan kick ass."

Rowan scoffed at Kaerius. "Where did you learn that phrase?"

"On moving screen."

"It's called a television," Rowan said and lightly jabbed him in the shoulder with his stick. "You know this."

"Tel-o-vishon," Kaerius repeated. He grabbed the stick when Rowan tried to jab him again and yanked him close. "No hit soulmate."

"Soulmate privileges, okay," Rowan said with a grin and blocked his body against him by holding the stick to Kaerius's back. Now that their bond was fully complete, sometimes, standing close wasn't enough. The boys kissed which greatly satisfied them.

They kissed until Michael took the stick without Rowan noticing and hitting his leg behind his knee. Rowan would have fallen if Kaerius wasn't right in front of him.

"You can kiss later. Get back to training," Michael said smirking.

Rowan snatched his weapon back and challenged his dad to a fight.

Kaerius stood with Jaiker and Laiken with eyes glazed over with love.

"It's funny to think back to how much you hated each other," Jaiker said in the Thalassic Tongue.

"I thought humans were just... disgusting," Kaerius admitted.

"They are," Laiken added.

"Not Rowan."

"Rowan is barely human. He's more Thalassic Mortal than anything."

"True. Do you think Rowan will get the chance to be the god of the sea, then?" Laiken asked.

"I can hear you talking about me," Rowan thought to Kaerius. In the Thalassic Tongue, there wasn't a different word for 'Rowan'.

"We're saying horrible things about you," Kaerius replied with a cheeky grin.

"Oh yeah? Like what?"

"Like..." Kaerius tried to think, but there was nothing horrible about his soulmate, nothing at all. He sighed. "We were just talking about how much we hated each other in the beginning."

"You definitely hated me more than I hated you," Rowan thought, successfully cornering his dad with his weapon.

"Yes, I seriously considered drowning you a few times."

Rowan tried to glance at his soulmate, but as soon as his eyes left his dad, Michael pinned him to the ground.

Jaiker and Laiken stared at Kaerius when he stopped replying. Laiken smacked his shoulder, and Kaerius scowled.

"I asked you if Rowan would get the chance to be the god of the sea," Laiken repeated.

"He will get the chance, though I don't know if he'll take it."

"Why waste such an opportunity?"

Kaerius watched Rowan somehow flip his father round and bend his arm until Michael yelled in defeat. "To live a normal life," Kaerius said.

"But what is a normal life?"

Kaerius wasn't sure, so he didn't answer.

Eventually, Michael got tired of being thrown to the floor by his son, so he went to train Mandy, knowing that she was less likely to pin his head to the floor now that she had forgotten all her skills.

Kaerius saw Michael's absence as an opportunity to be close to Rowan again. He glided over, eyeing Rowan's weapon, wondering if he could be fast enough to grab it.

Rowan was faster. He spun and gripped it seconds before Kaerius, turned to face the Thalassic Mortal, and lightly hit him on the side of the head with it.

Kaerius stumbled as Jaiker and Laiken laughed at him. "You fast."

"I'm on guard today," Rowan chuckled. "And touching up my skills."

"You have the best fighting skills here."

"Well, I doubt I'm as scary as a turned werewolf."

"True." Kaerius and Rowan looked towards Jenya and Jack. They sat close and talked about something that seemed very interesting to Jack. "I hope we all come away from this safely."

"Me too," Rowan said, looking back to Kaerius to distract himself from getting too anxious. "Come on, show me what you've learnt today."

* * * * *

The training continued late into the evening and started the next morning. Rowan was careful to teach Kaerius moves that would benefit him if all else fails and they get caught. Though, Rowan was tempted to let Kaerius fight in the water as he was strongest in his natural habitat and true form. The same applied for Jaiker and Laiken because they were rather hopeless with legs.

"Have you heard back from the fish people yet?" Jenya asked Rowan as they finished their breakfast.

"Mum and Braiken have gone to the water to see if any Thalassic Mortals have responded to their call." Rowan finished the rest of his porridge and stretched his arms, feeling the ache in his muscles from training so hard the day before. "Have you heard from the vampire clang?"

"Yep. The vampires said hunters were around their houses all night last night. Volher will make sure to continue with his day, and if they ask why he was snooping, then he can say that he was just checking that hunters weren't plotting anything. The hunters shouldn't object because they're doing the same to them."

Rowan nodded, satisfied. "Hopefully they'll stay on alert tonight too and then sleep tomorrow, then we can put a stop to all of this."

"I hope we do, for the sake of peace."

Rowan left Jenya to finish her breakfast and went to look for Kaerius. He wasn't in the room with all the beds, but neither were Jaiker or Laiken. Rowan looked out the front, in the toilets, then to the room where the wolves usually had their meetings.

Kaerius, Jaiker and Laiken sat crossed legged in the corner of the dull room, eating breakfast and laughing with each other in a language Rowan couldn't understand. Kaerius's laughter was deep mischievous chuckles that filled Rowan with joy. He watched them joke around and exist in their happy bubble until Jaiker spotted Rowan leaning against the wall and motioned for him to join them.

Kaerius turned and watched him approach. Rowan sat close enough for Kaerius's knee to rest on his thigh, and their arms and shoulders to press together.

"Are you ready for another day of training?"

"No," Kaerius said, putting his bowl of porridge down. The werewolves didn't have fish, unfortunately. "Leg hurt. Arm hurt. Head hurt. Kaerius hurt everywhere."

Rowan grinned, rubbing his hands together. "Well, if you stop training now, you'll hurt even worse tomorrow."

Laiken groaned, scraping back his shoulder-length blond hair. "Let do this. We get strong."

"And good skills," Jaiker added, pulling Laiken up and shoving him towards the weaponry. "Come, fight father. I beat you."

"No," Laiken protested. "I beat you."

Kaerius watched them, feeling a sudden kick of worry as though it had booted him in the chest. "Rowan," he thought and waited for his light green eyes to face him. "I'm worried about them. They're very clumsy on legs."

"I think they should be in the water for this, to be honest." Rowan rested a light hand on Kaerius's knee. "I think you should be in the ocean too."

Kaerius frowned. "With you?"

"No."

"But your dad told us to stick together."

"It's not fair to make you stay on land when you're better in the water."

Kaerius studied Rowan's face for what felt like forever. He lifted a hand and softly rubbed his thumb down Rowan's warm cheek. "I know you're right. I just don't want to admit it." Kaerius leaned forwards and kissed him. Their lips touched, and their noses squished against each other's cheek. Kaerius kissed him a few times until his heart was pleased. Rowan's smell and taste and touch was everything his soul craved every minute of every day. He felt it more now that they had completed stage three of the bonding process. "I should go back to the ocean, shouldn't I?"

Rowan nodded and pressed their foreheads together. "You're stronger in the sea. You'll put up a better fight."

"What if the hunters don't go in the water and I'm useless?"

"They will," Rowan said, knowing that if his mother could assemble a few Thalassic Mortals for the fight, hunters wouldn't be able to resist the water. "Well, I hope they're too distracted by us to leave you guys alone, but if we really do have to fight, I want you to protect yourself. In your Thalassic form, you have sharp teeth, a powerful tail and poison in your fingers. As a human, you have that stupid pocket-knife."

"Yes." Kaerius held up his plaster-infested fingers. "And proof that I don't know how to use it."