Page 14 of Spelled By Truth and Tresses

The room swelled around us; its hollow confines were absent of any furnishings. I blinked a few times, then noticed there were used black candles resting on small mounds of melted wax, scattered all over the charred wood surface of the floor.

Moonlight streaked over Jax’s face through the gaping hole in the roof as he sat down within the ring of candles directly below the opening above.

“How?” I mouthed, my eyes widening.

“Zellie,” Jax called, jerking my attention back to him. “I will explain that,” he said and waved vaguely toward the closed door, “Later. We cannot linger here.”

Small clouds of dust rose as he patted the spot next to him. However, I folded my legs beneath me as I sat across from him instead.

He chuckled, then smirked, as if my small defiance was to be expected.

“It started this past summer,” he explained huskily. “The dreams. You, haunting my nights, smothering me with your presence.”

Almost all of his words stuck a cord of familiarity within me.. “Pretty much the same happened to me.”

“Pretty much?” He questioned, then raised an eyebrow.

Shit. Nothing was beyond his notice. “All of it.” I lied.

He twisted the silver ring on his thumb with deft fingers and narrowed his eyes at me. “More lies, pet,” he snapped. “You’re losing the battle.”

My neck pinched as I lifted my head much too quickly. “Excuse me?”

His gaze darkened, then he bared his teeth. “I’m fine.”

“There’s that fucking phrase again,” Jax hissed through clenched teeth. “You keep trying to convince yourself and everyone else that, but I see the truth. The evidence is pretty fucking damning.”

I turned my face away from him. “I’d rather not talk about it.”

“Fine. For now.”

“Why are we here, Jax?” I snapped.

He clenched his jaw, then spoke. “I have a theory about the dreams.”

The corner of my mouth twitched involuntarily. “What’s that?”

“I believe you and I have a connection woven by the fates.”

I smiled. “That’s hilarious.”

His serious expression didn’t shift, but the corners of his lips turned down farther.

“Well…” I started, feeling awkward now. “How can that be possible? We aren’t even the same species. I gestured to myself, then to him. “Siren, remember? Phantoms like you cannot connect with my kind…Our magic is much too different.” He rested his elbows on his knees, then leaned forward, our faces now inches apart. “Mmm. And what if you have yet to reach your full potential as a siren?” His breathing sped up as he leisurely brushed his nose against mine, wiggling the hoop pierced through my nostril. “My magic senses something greater hides within you. Something dark and wicked that matches mine lies burrowed behind your ribs.”

I watched him for a few seconds, but as if his words were the catalyst of my destruction, something curled and stretched in my chest, pressure rising against the bone cage that contained it.

“What the fuck?” I whispered. My voice held an edge of panic as I rubbed my sternum. “You feel it,” he stated. “Don’t you?”

I dropped my hand to my lap and forced a laugh. “Oh, come on. You can’t really believe that.”

He shrugged. “I do.”

“Well, I don’t,” I lied. Clenching my teeth as the pressure inside me grew, as if threatening to crack my bones and flee its host.

“There’s always a skeptical one amongst partners.”

I blinked in disbelief. “Partners?”

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