Page 69 of Cursed By a Siren's Kiss

“No, love,” he said, nipping at my breast with his teeth. “Both of us will always be monsters.”

I grinned as I let my hold drift down his chest, feeling the lifted scars that crisscrossed his entire body. “I think I like the sound of that,” I admitted, bringing my lips to the crook of his neck. “…being your monster, and you being mine.”

My muscles spasmed around his hardened cock as he rocked into my heat. I moaned at the feel of him, at the way he fit so perfectly within me like he was the key and I was the lock, opening desire and pleasure I could spend the rest of eternity soaking up.

Kipp pressed himself into me until I’d taken his entire width and length, and then he stilled, bringing his forehead to mine. “Be mine always?”

I arched against him, bringing my mouth to his. “And forever.” My kiss was gentle, soft, and unlike anything I’d ever done before.

He smiled down at me, his warm gaze glittering. “I love you,” he said, his breath warm against my lips.

“I love you too,” I said, blinking up at him before adding, “forever.”

“My vicious little monster.”

Our mouths collided, and we lost ourselves to the passion we never had any hope of holding back.

Chapter 40

Epilogue

The Siren

With my eyes closed and my chin tilted upward, the warm, salty breeze of the Mediterranean Sea brushing against my face as I stood on the deck of Kipp’s ship. The sound of the sails billowing, the wind filling them and propelling us forward like a sharpened knife splitting through the deep blue waters. My breath was deep, it was relaxed, and a smile stretched across my lips… until I dropped my attention to the waves that rocked against the hull, to the depths below that I used to call home.

“Say it,” Kipp said at my side, his thick hand warm on the small of my back. “I can tell that something is bothering you.”

I didn’t look at him when I spoke. My gaze fixated on the never-ending horizon ahead. “I made a promise. We made a promise.”

I felt him turn from me, his arm slipping from my waist as he placed them along the railing until he leaned over it. “Their path is not ours to worry about. You owe her nothing,” he responded gruffly.

I stared down at the bargain tattooed on my palm. “Beg to differ on that one. Unless you want to call dear old dad to come revive me too,” I teased darkly.

He sighed and shook his head. “I suppose not. I’d forgotten about that.” He took my hand in his, studying the bargain tattooed there. Silvery in color, it was easy to miss if you didn’t already know that it was there, and just as easy to forget.

I knew why he didn’t want to keep our promise. He hadn’t said the words to me yet, but I could see it in the way he looked at me. Still, I wanted to hear him say it. I needed to, and, if I were being completely honest, he needed to admit it to himself. We wouldn’t be able to move past it if it all remained unsaid.

The silence stretched between us, but I didn’t fill it. I waited for him to break it.

“You’re not as powerful as you were last time. Do you think you’ll be able to defeat a sea monster if one pops out again?” he finally asked.

The route back to Scylla would be treacherous, and it would take us dangerously close to Charybdis. I no longer feared Poseidon. He had gotten what he had wanted, and he couldn’t be the one to end my life. I’d seen to that when I broke the curse that had bound our people.

I shrugged. “Maybe yes. Maybe no.”

“It’s not just about you.” Kipp turned to me then, his hands closing around my waist. “If something happens to you, it affects us all.”

His shadowy tendrils slithered from his fingertips and danced across my body, signaling his growing strength as an heir of Thanatos. Now that he knew more about his origins, he saw them for what they truly were, rather than fear them for a curse that had only ever bound him from himself.

I faced him then, resting my arms around his neck as I lifted my chin. I saw just a flicker of his fear behind his warm browngaze, but there was love there as well. Something I didn’t know if I’d ever get used to seeing. I brought my lips to his in a chaste kiss.

“Kipp,” I said, my voice soft and for his ears alone as his crew already readied our ship to change direction. Despite his fears, he would take me where we needed to go. “Death claims us all when it is our time. I don’t think the fates pulled all those strings to claim us just yet, do you?”

He smirked, his gaze raking over my chest while I admired that dimple that threatened to steal the strength from my knees as I clung to him. “I sure hope not.”

“Besides, I only gave up half of who I am,” I reminded him with a grin.

With a shake of his head, he replied, “We still don’t know what that even means.”

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