Page 79 of Siren in the Rain

Will he want to stay on the island someday with his maternal relatives and the rest of his sept?

While life here moves at a slower and more laid-back pace than the mainland, I think I could get used to it. After all, I would have easy access to the ocean for surfing and swimming still.

Oh, who am I even kidding? I’ll move to Timbuktu if that’s where Shae wants to go. As long as I can be with him, I don’t care where we’re at.

Although I would miss the ocean if he wanted to move somewhere landlocked. But I suspect that, given his half-siren nature, he’s unlikely to want to do that. I’ve seen how much he relishes his time in the sea, and I don’t believe he’d give that up after so many years of deprivation.

Wherever we end up, I’ll make sure he’s able to swim every day for the rest of his life if that’s what he desires.

The afternoon moves about as slow as molasses while I wait for the hours to tick by, hoping with each passing minute that I’ll be closer to seeing Shae again.

When the sun begins to set in the sky, I head to the base of the path leading up to the temple and hot spring. Once there, I pace back and forth, waiting for my mate to return to my side.

The horizon has turned deep shades of red, purple, and orange when I hear the recognizable tread of my mate coming down the trail. Then I catch a whiff of his wonderful scent and my tail starts swishing like mad.

It’s everything I can do to restrain myself from racing to meet him, but somehow I instinctively know I need him to come to me right now. This experience has been all about him, not me.

When he comes around the bend, he spots me and breaks into a blindingly beautiful smile. It, along with the joy I feel radiating off him, hits me like a punch to the solar plexus, and I can’t breathe for a moment.

He’s so damn gorgeous. Radiant even.

And I’ve missed him so damn much.

But I can tell a change has happened within him, my powers sense it even from a distance. My heart does little flips in my chest as I let myself indulge in all the dreams I have for Shae, and for us.

He starts to run the last few hundred meters on the trail and then, to my delight, takes a flying leap into my arms. I catch him and twirl him around, but I nearly fall flat on my ass when he uses both hands to hold my face steady in order to plant the mother of all kisses on me.

His mouth devours mine with almost desperate fervor, sucking down my whimpers of need.

I lose complete sense of the world around us and all that remains is me and him.

Eventually, I need to come up for air and I pull back, gasping in a lungful of oxygen. My cheeks hurt from smiling, but I can’t stop.

“I missed you so bad,” I whisper.

“Fuck, I missed you too, Wolf Boy. Why does it feel like I’ve been gone for ages when it’s only been two days?”

Indeed. My gold coin’s been getting annoyed and extra sassy with me the last two days that Shae’s been gone. Of course, that may be because I was asking it the same questions about whether my mate would be all right every few minutes.

“Were you good while I was gone?” he asks as he pets my head in the way I’ve always loved and gives my ears a good scritch.

I lean into his caress and can’t hold back my noises of contentment.

It’s a Wolfkin thing, okay?

Shae chuckles as I set him back on the ground and takes hold of my hand. “Come on. It’s getting dark. Let’s head back to the villa. I’m sure Coral and Anemone are waiting too.”

We’re quiet on the way back, but it’s a comfortable silence. We don’t talk about what happened at the temple, and I’ve promised myself I’ll wait for Shae to start that conversation with me if and when he’s ready. I understand that the ritual is deeply private and personal for him. If he’s not ready to talk about it yet, that’s just fine with me.

I sneak quick glances at him along the way and am reassured to see that he looks healthy and happy—happier than I’ve ever seen him. It gives me genuine hope that the healing ritual was at least somewhat successful.

Before long, we return to the villa to find Grandma Coral and Aunt Anemone waiting for us. They both embrace Shae.

“Welcome back,” Grandma Coral says.

Shae leans down and kisses her forehead. “Thank you for arranging all of that. I’m not exaggerating when I say I feel like a new man.” He grins. “It was even more amazing than I could have imagined.”

Relief spreads across his grandmother’s and aunt’s faces, and I let out a breath I didn’t even realize I was holding. Warm tendrils of joy spread in my chest and I want to howl with happiness or attempt to breakdance—emphasis on the “attempt” part.

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