Page 22 of Siren in the Rain

“I’m what he needs in a mate, right? I can help him and love him and show him all the beauty in this life?” I whisper to my coin.

The previous writing fades to be replaced with I don’t make mistakes. You two are meant to be.

My tail tries to wag from where it’s trapped behind me in my seat and my ears flick happily. When it comes to my mate, I’m going to trust in our connection and give it my all.

Chapter

Five

Shae’s List of Life Goals

3. Don’t just survive, thrive once you find freedom!

Shae

I jolt awake with a start as the SUV comes to a stop in front of a security gate.

For a second, panic rises inside me and I fear that I’m being taken back to my prison in the Hollywood Hills. Then I catch the scent of the sea from the open windows and I calm a little.

“We’re home!” Wolf Boy announces with palpable excitement.

I glance at him and then have to avert my eyes. He’s blindingly bright, his golden hair gleaming in the sunshine that pours through the windows of the vehicle. There’s something uncomfortably innocent and pure about him, and I don’t know how to deal with it.

He’s also stupidly sexy and adorable all at the same time. And his anime vibes are totally slaying me left, right, and center.

He can never know how hot I find him.

The gate soon opens and the vehicle winds its way up a private driveway to an enormous white edifice. Further back, I can see a couple of outbuildings. “Compound” was right.

Haku emerges from my hair and perches on my shoulder to peer out the window. “Is this our new home, Master Shae?”

I stroke his head and he shimmies happily. “For now.”

We park in an enormous six-car garage and enter the main house from a connected door that leads into a large mudroom.

“Sometimes we need to hose down in here before going any farther,” Dallas explains. He points to a wall full of built-in shoe racks. “We all remove our shoes before entering the house in support of Harper’s wishes on that issue.”

The lovely vampire smiles at me. “Much cleaner this way. It also prevents bad luck.”

“No problem. I’ll do whatever I can to avoid any more bad luck in this lifetime.”

Following everyone else’s lead, I remove my shoes, then we head out of the mudroom and into an open concept space, where a massive wall of floor-to-ceiling windows overlooks the ocean.

Something I long thought dead inside me gives the faintest twitch of life.

Almost in a daze, I wander over to the windows, then lightly rest my fingertips against the glass as I stare transfixed at the waves lapping against the shore.

Wolf Boy comes to stand beside me, and heat radiates from his body like he’s absorbed the rays of the sun.

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?”

I nod, never taking my eyes off the panorama before me.

“You can go swimming anytime you want.”

Memories of my mother and I gliding through the water together fill my mind.

“Master loves the sea,” Haku says.

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