When I returned to the villa, I was so tired that I just headed straight to the pool to snuggle with my mate and get some sleep. When I got there, I found everyone in a Naethari cuddle puddle around Maddie and Natalie, who had been placed in the shallow end of the pool so that their IVs and other medical-related stuff could still reach them somewhat easily. Because everyone was covering them to stay in physical contact while they were still changing, I wasn’t able to get a very good look at the changes in either of them yet.

I was too tired to go out of my way to do so, especially since the changes were supposed to be going faster now and they would likely have changed even more by the time I woke up the next morning. I found Kara’s signature aquamarine and sea green coloring at one end of the group and quickly stripped off my clothes, eased into the water, and allowed myself to shift back to my native form before snuggling up beside her. Kara turned around and wrapped her arms around me as her sleepy voice slipped into my mind, ~ You’re tense, Babe, long night? ~

~ Yeah, given how things have been going lately, I was expecting something to go horribly wrong all night, but I’m here in your arms now, so I’m ending it on a high note, ~ I replied as I melted into her embrace with a contented sigh. We stayed like that, just talking and cuddling for a while until we fell asleep in one another’s arms.

When I woke the next morning, everyone else was already awake. Well, not Nat and Maddie, but everyone else was up and about and had let me sleep. After the past few days, I greatly appreciated being allowed to sleep until I was fully rested, as much as I appreciated that there was a nice big breakfast, including a bucket of chilled shrimp, waiting for me by the side of the pool.

Kara and Kieshala were on cuddle duty with Maddie and Nat, so it was Jenny who led me to the very welcome morning feast. It was nice getting a chance to sit, relax, and talk to my sorta sister-in-law for a bit. “So, what have you been up to while I’ve been busy squirt?” I asked the emerald-hued Naethari girl.

She shrugged but replied as her mouth quirked up in a smile, “Mostly I’ve been on cuttle duty. But Kieshala has been trying to teach me stuff too. Common Naethari knowledge and stuff. It’s like being in a school, though with me as her sole student it’s pretty small scale.”

Wait. Were those fish puns? She had graduated from giggling at them to making them herself. Aww, kids grow up so fast. I allowed myself a hearty giggle and managed to shoot back, “Oi, the puns! You’re krilling me here, but I have to admit that it’s nice to see you coming out of your shell.”

Her answer was to laugh, stick out her tongue, and say, “I learned from the best, Sis.”

My eyes widened a bit at that, “Wait… Sis?”

“Well, duh,” she stated as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. “You’ve been with me and Kara since we all woke up in that pool, and the two of you are practically married. You’ve been as much a big sister to me as Kara has all this time. Kieshala said that when Maddie and Nat wake up you should both make it official since you’re mates now, and we really haven’t had much time to celebrate it ‘properly’. She wants to have you both do a Naethari wedding ceremony and have a big party to celebrate before something else can happen.”

“Don’t tempt fate, Jenny,” I said with a sigh. To be honest though, making it official and celebrating it with my mate and family did sound nice. “We can talk about it when they’re both awake and getting used to their new bodies.”

I finished eating while Jenny kept me company and the two of us chatted. Then I spent the morning just hanging out and relaxing with my fellow Naethari as we kept close to my sister and her girlfriend. I also got a good look at the changes in both of the Naethari-to-be.

My sister’s hair had definitely grown longer and had changed from her original ginger to a very familiar and eye-catching electric blue. I knew that she liked that color more than she was letting on while in disguise as our trainer. Her gills were looking good and while her face had gone through some subtle changes that made her a lot prettier, she still looked a lot like her old self. Even her faint freckles had stayed, though they now had a slight golden tinge to them and seemed more prominent.

There were subtle changes in her body shape too, like wider hips and a slight increase in her bust size, if I had to guess. She retained her generally fit appearance though, with the hint of hard muscles under her soft and pale skin. Her legs were also partially fused into a tail, with electric blue scales starting to grow in patches there and on her forearms. Her tail fins and Vuhac were starting to grow as well, though they were far from complete, and seemed to be a bright gold that matched the freckles on her face, chest, and shoulders. I had a feeling that Maddie was going to be very eye-catching once her changes were complete.

Natalie’s changes were progressing similarly, though her hair and the scales on her would-be-tail seemed to be coming in as a dazzling amethyst hue with nascent fins that were a hot pink that would likely rival the magenta of my hair and tail. Her figure had been somewhat slight before, but tall and nearly as fit as Maddie. Now it was definitely becoming more generous, while maintaining that fit look, much as Maddie’s was. The changes in her face were a little more obvious than with Maddie as her nose had gotten a bit smaller and less pronounced, her cheekbones slightly more prominent, her lips less thin and more plump, and her face shape, in general, had gone from oval-shaped to more heart-shaped. Honestly, I probably wouldn’t have recognized her if I didn’t know for sure that it was her.

According to Kieshala, their faces and upper bodies had stopped changing for the most part, so this was likely a pretty good measure of what they would look like from now on. Their hair might continue to grow a bit, but now the changes were mostly focused on forming the tail, fins, and their vuhac. She seemed certain that their changes would be complete, and they would wake up sometime in the next two days. We would know that the changes were finished when they both woke up on their own.

Sadly, I couldn’t relax for the entire day since we still needed to be prepared in case Carmichael’s goons decided to show up. With that in mind, after lunch, I went through some more combat practice with my parents and Aunt Carmen, got familiar with some of our new weapons, and discussed tactics with the others. Uncle Jack had also managed to collate a ton of information on General Warren Carmichael for us all to study and get familiar with. Most of it was public stuff, but there were some bits of his early military records before he started getting into the classified stuff.

As I had discovered, he liked to think that he was smarter than his targets. He would either hit hard and fast with a numerical and tactical advantage or trap his enemies, often offering only one route of escape, which in turn would lead to an ambush or an inescapable second trap. He seemed to hold a special type of fury for those few enemies who had managed to outmaneuver him and he would chase them like an angry badger until he brought them down. I had to assume that I, or rather Danica Holmes, was now in that category after my escape on Frost’s yacht. It was a very good thing that Danica didn’t really exist.

Carmichael did have a family, a daughter, and two grandchildren, but targeting them to get him to back off was not an option that we were willing to entertain for several reasons. For one thing, we were better than that. You don’t target an enemy’s family, especially when they likely have no idea just how messed up their family member really is. Secondly, it was guaranteed to bite us in the ass later and would likely have the opposite of the desired effect on a man like Carmichael. Even if we were so inclined though, they were in the States and we were stuck hiding in Cuba for the foreseeable future, so it just wouldn’t be practical.

We also took turns making sure that the other Naethari became familiar with the handguns and assault rifles that we issued each of them and were able to get some target practice in. Each got a turn while the other pair stayed with Maddie and Nat, even Jenny. The youngest of us was a bit unsure about the whole thing but I didn’t see the big deal since we were showing her proper gun safety and how to use them properly and responsibly. Besides, Maddie and I had both started to learn self-defense and the use of weapons when we were younger than she was.

If those military assholes got the jump on us then every single one of us would have to know how to use those weapons to hold off an assault, and even Jenny knew the reality of our situation. We had three options if it came to that; die, live a miserable life in captivity for the rest of our very long lives, or kill every last motherfucking one of them. Guess what option we would be choosing.

Target practice went a lot better than I had feared. We Naethari were surprisingly stable on land when we had our tails coiled beneath us, and knowing the risks, even Kieshala and Jenny had a lot of incentive to learn to use the weapons. None of them were able to get more than the absolute minimum practice in to hit in the right general direction of the target though. We needed to conserve ammunition in case of an assault and as long as they had the fundamentals down, that was all that we could realistically ask for in this situation.

After dinner, I took my shift cuddling with Maddie and Nat. Though technically, all of us were there in one large protective cuddle pile around the pair as we talked, and Kara held me in her arms. Kieshala also brought up her idea for having a proper celebration and the Naethari equivalent of a wedding for Kara and me and, while we both agreed that we wanted to do that as well, we decided to wait to plan anything concrete until Maddie and Nat were awake and healthy.

The next day passed much as this one had, and it was nice to be spending some quality time with my mate and family. Maddie’s and Nat’s changes were progressing at a pace that Kieshala and Mom were both happy with, while I was trying to mentally hurry them along. I wanted to talk to my sister again. I wanted to know that she would forgive me for my stupidity the night that we were attacked and for what I had to do to save her.

I woke up in the arms of Kara for the third morning in a row and their changes looked nearly complete. Their fins were roughly three-quarters the size of mine and Kara’s, their scales had mostly grown in, and their lower halves were looking a lot less like fused legs and more like a proper tail. Kieshala guessed that they would probably wake up sometime in the middle of the night or sometime the next morning.

Oh well, I couldn’t stay and watch their scales fill in to kill time anyway. We were running low on supplies again with us Naethari eating so much, and Mom and Aunt Carmen had come up with a massive list of groceries and other things for me to retrieve in Havana. If I didn’t know better, I would have sworn they were hosting a party. To be fair though, staples like sugar, eggs, and flour were a necessity and would help us to stretch our supplies longer.

Reluctant to leave my mate and my family again, I took the list and made my way out to my pink sports car to head back into the city. I wasn’t looking forward to the crowds or having to look over my shoulder and keep an eye out for danger. It needed to be done though. Right now, I was our lifeline, and my family needed me. I let out a long sigh as I put the car in gear and drove back toward Havana, muttering, “Once more into the breach.”