Page 30 of Siren in the Rain

Ruby pulls out her cell phone and brings something up on the screen, handing it to me. “Let’s get you up to speed, Sunshine.”

I stare at the phone and then gape at my mate. “You’re the voice behind those songs I hear on the radio?”

Shae nods.

My mate’s even more epic and amazing than I thought.

“This could be more difficult than we anticipated,” Harper says, setting down his now empty wineglass.

I watch Shae’s throat bob as he swallows convulsively.

“Margaret’s money and power are far-reaching. There’s no way she’s going to let me go without a fight. I’m a cash cow for her and the source of her daughter’s rise to fame. They’ll have people looking for me and scouring the streets of Los Angeles twenty-four seven.” Shae’s expression turns bleak. “I may have simply exchanged one prison for another. If this is the only place I’m safe, then I’m trapped here now.”

Chapter

Seven

Shae’s List of Life Goals

4. Catch up on all the awesome anime I missed since I was a kid.

(Addendum: Maybe watch them together with Wolf Boy.)

Shae

“Don’t think that way, Shae,” Wolf Boy pleads. “This is your home.”

I stare at him. He’s fighting back a fresh round of tears and looking at me like my words have ripped his heart out.

I glance away and mumble, “I’ll think about it.”

“Calm down, Griff,” Dallas says in that deep voice of his. He turns his attention to me. “I understand why you might feel trapped, Shae. But there are ways we can protect you when you leave the compound. We won’t force you to stay here all the time, but you will need one of us with you whenever you want to go out for a while.”

Something unclenches in me. “Okay. I can handle that.”

Dallas strokes his beard, his eyes distant. “I think our first task is going to be reaching out to the Silverstorm sept. It’s very likely you have relatives who have been looking for you for a long time.”

Part of me wants to flat-out deny it. Early on after my mother had died, I’d longed for her family to come and rescue me. I waited day after day, but eventually I gave up. For years, I felt deeply bitter toward them. They couldn’t have cared much if they never came looking for either of us. But as I got older, I had to wonder if that was in fact the case. Knowing my father and stepmonster, they could have easily thwarted any attempts at contact that my mother’s family might have tried to make.

Dallas studies me, noticing my expression. “Would that be all right with you? If we reach out to them?”

“I suppose. Honestly, I don’t remember any of them. I met my grandmother once, but most of the sept stay on their island and don’t venture to the mainland often. My mother was a bit eccentric that way.”

Wolf Boy reaches over again and rubs my back.

I should hate it.

I should jerk away from his touch and tell him to piss off.

But I can’t.

There’s something about Wolf Boy’s hand on me that’s warm and soothing in a way that plays on every single one of my vulnerabilities, leaving me unwilling to turn away from his touch.

Ruby clears her throat, a faint flush to her cheeks as she darts a gaze between me and Emma. “Can I ask, uh, how you two met?”

A look of pure shame falls over Emma’s face. I know she feels guilty about this even though she really shouldn’t.

“I… I was hired by Margaret.”

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