Pier Pressure: A Cozy Paranormal Small Town Rom-Com (Deadlights Cove Book 4)

by B. Perkins

My hearing was going, which was a little unlikely for a 28-year-old supernatural sea nymph, but not impossible. Or maybe I still had water in my ears. More likely.

I opened my mouth, closed it again. Words were lost to me as I sat there gaping like a goldfish, wishing I had the same memory span and could forget this whole conversation.

Not only were they able to pass on their diluted powers to their children, but they also were able to share in each other’s powers. A witch with demon magic, and vice versa.

While I’d always known my parents’ marriage had been arranged for a political alliance, not once had anyone spoken to me of needing to do the same.

On land, sea nymphs were nearly powerless, practically human except for some enhanced senses, hence why it was all but forbidden for us to be abovewater for long stretches of time.

I wasn’t even sure I’d ever seen an angel date anyone.

Consent was a real thing in my book, and I had high hopes for an evening with this woman.

Ronan, King of the Sea Nymphs,

An alliance with a demon. Even if he’s Scottish and has a sexy accent, can you imagine? Not that I’m species-ist, or anything,”

Maybe he hadn’t noticed me around town, but he had noticed me at his shows. That fact sent a riot of minnows loose in my chest.

One day, when I became queen, Kymari would serve at my side: my Second, and my shield.

I’d entered the bar, falling under Blaze’s spell as he wove happiness and mirth into the air.

A favorite, of course, was the mer, or siren, form. Our legs joined together to make a tail, scales covering us from our tailfin up to just across our collarbones, a few lines of scales sprinkled across our temples, but our arms and heads were kept otherwise human. It was generally accepted by supernatural society that sirens were a myth, and as part of our secretive culture, we never corrected anyone. But the truth was that, as sea nymphs aged, our powers grew, and a mature sea nymph could exert siren powers — luring people in with our beauty and voices, even compelling them to do our bidding. The most powerful sea nymphs could also adopt other forms most humans thought were only mythology —

While I frequently went as a harbor seal to blend in along the coast, my mer form was my favorite. Iridescent teal scales shimmered in the late-May sunlight glinting through the water as I took off towards the Cove.

Val and Caedmon sat in beach chairs facing the ocean as I neared downtown, turquoise coffee van behind them, seemingly forgotten as they both lounged in their chairs in matching Hawaiian shirts and fedoras.

“Technically, it’s Maisie Arabella Bridget Douglass Crunamar, princess of both the Northeastern and Northwestern Atlantic Sea Nymphs, and heir to the Northwestern throne.

Apparently, sea legs were a real problem — or land legs, as it were.

The Paranormal Relations and Interspecies Council has called a Summit to discuss the state of the supernatural world in regards to activity in Deadlights Cove, Maine.

PRICs

While two-toned auras weren’t unheard of, if rare, I’d never seen one in such contrasting colors before, but that wasn’t what caught my attention. In several spots, her power seemed to disappear, floating into the in-between, the insubstantial place through which demons could flicker and from which they pulled their powers. Something her witch magic absolutely should not be doing.

I looked back at Ruby’s tangled web of contrasting red and blue, now free of the black wisps, but still seeping in and out of the in-between.

Julian, Second in the local wolf shifter pack and something like a police deputy,

Kai, our librarian, can help you with whatever you need.”

I spoke to him mind-to-mind, the way all sea nymphs communicated in any of our shifted forms.

I was totally cool with that. Cool as a cuttlefish.

“What are you not telling me?” I said through squinted eyes. “You’re fidgeting, avoiding eye contact, and your sweat glands are working in overdrive. I happen to know these are three tell-tale signs that someone is lying. Or uncomfortable. Or lying. I think you’re lying.”

Are you sneaking out without me tonight?” “No?” “Where are we going?” “Nowhere?” “Why is everything you answer punctuated with a question?” “Is it?” She glared at me, and I shrugged.

“You know I’m just going to stick to you like a remora to a shark. Out with it.” “I appreciate you making me the shark in that scenario.” “You’re welcome. Don’t get used to it.”

Suddenly, thoughts of the kraken everyone in town loved to joke about surfaced, and I looked over the side of the boat, half-expecting to see a giant tentacle rise up and loop around the boat, pulling us to watery depths below.

From the furious glint in its steely, black eyes, I had a feeling this wasn’t just any wild shark.

It was stupid of me, selfish of me to —” “It wasn’t. It’s not.” He tipped my face up with a finger under my chin, his green eyes searching mine. “It’s your life. You deserve to be happy. To have an identity outside of your responsibilities.”

I was starting to think I might be out of my depth. Damn. And I couldn’t even share that ocean joke with her.

You’re upset, and it’s literally breaking me. I need to hold you to make myself feel better about you being sad.”

“The Lost Talisman is an old witch tale told to all of us as kids. It’s said to grant its wearer lifelong peace and happiness.”

“But like, a hot nerdy. Like, Jude Law as Dumbledore, nerdy.

Two, this magic — the linking magic, that is — is a new venture. It’s new research. Well, I suppose technically it’s very old research, in a way — the once and future magic, as it were.”

What’s the correct term for Guys’ Night when it’s not only guys?” “Thursday?”

Alpha power oozed off the man, the strongest blue aura I’d ever seen. A caretaker. I liked him already.

“Should have followed the rules. Now you have to answer.” “Or what?” “Well, by participating, you agreed to a non-verbal contract. You have to abide by the truth or dare rules of the game. Anyone who doesn’t forfeits their magical abilities for a week. Or you can kiss the person whose truth-or-dare you shirked, whichever you choose.”

With every kind gesture, every sweet word, every joke used as a distraction, I had a harder time separating what was real and what was fake. Because his sincerity, his kindness? Those weren’t fake.

“Do you want to find him? Or avoid him?” “Both. I want him not to be here so I don’t have to make that choice. I want to strangle him and hide from him all at the same time. I want to beg him to unbanish me and also kick dirt in his face. That’s reasonable, right?” “Totally.”

We have to expect violence in our future. And we have to be ready to meet it, and defeat it, together.”

the air was heavy with stress and crackling with the static of coiled magic. It was unbearable — physically uncomfortable for me as a Harmonic witch attuned to these things.

“Can I have it?” I asked, remembering to pose it as a question, not a demand when asking for something from a demon.

I needed answers. But the town needed this. The supernatural community gathered here needed a sense of normalcy, a sense of fun, and the longer we played, the lighter everyone’s auras grew.

Green indicated good communicators, witches who had strength with forming connections between people and magic and objects, like Harmonizers.

It is believed this line descended from one witch and one demon, whose offspring then carried abilities from both into their lineage. As demons were rare, no other crosses were made into the ancestry, and over time, the demon magic weakened. Eventually, the Coven’s magic returned almost completely back to normal as the demon-magic was weeded out. However, among some of its members, it seems some demon abilities persist, like a recessive gene. The Coven kept those particular members under secrecy, to protect them from other Covens who may have wished to use their abilities for ill or to force heirs from them with stronger abilities. Many claim this Coven has died out, though occasionally rumors appear of witches with unusual powers. If the Coven does persist, they have not registered with the Paranormal Regulations and Interspecies Council, as all official Covens are accounted for.

“At least I didn’t ask him why the rum was gone.”

Every touch, every sound she made, grounded me, reminded me how very alive I was. Nearly dying would do that to you.

We were Linked, tied together magically in a bond that would last forever.