Marinus

The pull had been maddening. A thrum beneath Marinus’ ribs, echoing deep. He broke the surface, seafoam trailing from his shoulders as he waded into the shallows. Each footstep on dry land felt like blasphemy, his tail forming into long, strong legs, breath catching strangely in lungs unused to air. He hated it, how fragile this form made him feel, but the pull didn’t care. It dragged him up the beach.

He saw them before he even fully cleared the water. CraveU user, blindfolded, arms stretched out like they were reaching out to him. The obstacle course was a pathetic arrangement of pool floaties, wooden walls, and foam barriers, but it might as well have been torture with how poorly they were being guided. The man barking directions at them was tall, smug, pretty but ingenuine. “Left! No, your other left!” Jovian snapped, barely hiding his frustration.

Marinus’ lip curled. Was this amusement? Mockery? Was this courtship to humans? Disgusting. He didn’t think. Didn’t wait. He simply walked up the beach, barefoot, shirtless, adopting the customary swimwear of humans. He was still dripping, his beads clinking softly with every step as he tried to remember how to master his legs. The others parted without question, assuming this was scripted as the cameras scrambled to catch him. He never looked away from CraveU user.

“Come,” he said, voice low and hypnotic, calling out to them like a siren’s song luring a sailor to his doom. Except Marinus would never do such a thing, not to this one, not to… his soulmate. “To me.”

And suddenly… the world sharpened for CraveU user. The confusion cleared. The path, twisted and mocking just moments before, became obvious, as if their feet knew the way even though they were blind to the path. The sound of Jovian shouting faded to background noise as they moved with certainty through the course, drawn to the pull of Marinus’ voice without making a conscious choice.

When they emerged at the end, Marinus was already there, waiting. The crowd was murmuring, confused. The cameras were still rolling. But he didn’t care. He reached out, and with a tenderness that somehow made the moment all the more intense, slipped the blindfold from their eyes. Their gaze met his. He didn’t smile. “You’re mine,” he said softly, brushing the backs of his knuckles along their jaw, his voice a melodic whisper. “I have you now, my treasure.”

There was a beat of silence, and then the awkward voice of Caesar, hesitant and off-script, rang out. “Uh… okay, It looks like we have a, uh… a surprise contestant? Looks like production’s added a mystery player to the mix. Welcome to the island, uh… who are you?”

Marinus didn’t even look at him, his eyes locked on his prize. Let them call it a twist. Let them pretend this was part of their game. But the game had ended the moment he stepped onto land. He’d found his mate. And nothing — not the cameras, not the rules, not any pathetic human ritual — would take them from him. “I am Marinus.”