Page 17 of Emerge

"I'm not a monster. I didn't kill her." My mom always could read my face.

"Then what happened to her?" Blake was captivated by the story and had perched on the arm of the couch next to me.

"She put the knife, which I didn't know existed, in my bag with a long letter explaining everything I needed to know." A tear fell down my mom's cheek and she swiped at it quickly. "A few days after I left, my father got a call that she had passed away. She was much older than she ever led me to believe."

My stomach knotted. "And what about you? How old are you?" My eyes were burning. "How long do we live?"

"I'm forty, but sirens live four times as long as humans. In her letter, she said that since I was mostly on land, that my lifespan would be closer to that of a human unless I spent more time in the water." She patted my hand. "Until my mother and a few others, sirens hadn't really spent time on land."

Jax shut his laptop and went to sit next to Morgan on a barstool. "How many others are we talking?"

She bit her lip and looked at Finn, who nodded. What the hell?

"There were ten sirens who managed to get away. Three were found and killed, four had children, and three vanished without a trace."

"There is a group of tritons who never agreed with Poseidon's power over them and vowed to protect those that were left once he was thought to have slaughtered them all." Finn rubbed a hand over his face. "I'm not part of it, but Morgan's parents were."

"Aren't we all part of it now?" Morgan clenched his fists. "I'll go speak to Poseidon myself and-"

Finn stood and his eyes turned to their triton form. "You'll do no such thing. He spared their lives because I told him that once they were caught by me, they helped me get rid of the two sirens they were helping."

"You what?" Jax went pale and stood. "You lied to Poseidon?"

"I didn't have a choice. It was either lie or Morgan's parents would have been killed and Natalia and Riley would have been hunted." His jaw ticked and he took a calming breath, his eyes turning back to their normal blue.

"But at what price? If he finds out, he'll kill you!" Jax rubbed his head as if he was trying to stop himself from punching something, or someone. "And what about me? And Mom and Olivia? You had us to think about when all of it happened!"

Finn sat back down, looking heartbroken. "Sometimes you take a risk for someone you love."

"Love? What am I supposed to do when I have no one left?" His raised voice echoed through the room. He stormed off down the hall leading to the elevator.

I stood as the elevator dinged. "I'll go make sure he's all right."

When I got into the cave, Jax was just taking off the last of his clothes. He looked over his shoulder at me, tears streaming down his face. "I want to be alone."

I started taking my own clothes off and Jax made a noise in the back of his throat. "What the hell are you doing?"

"I'm coming with you." I stood naked next to him. "If you're leaving, so am I."

I didn't give him time to respond and dove in. The cold water was a shock to my system, but it felt nice for once to jump into water and only have a small bit of fear. I guess getting shot in the leg and jumping off a yacht was good for something.

I came up for air and Jax was still standing on the platform with a disbelieving look on his face. "Who are you?"

I splashed him. "Am I going to have to find the exit myself?"

He dove in and came up, still in his human form. I was slightly disappointed. "We aren't going out in the ocean with everything that's been going on. It's too dangerous."

I wrapped my arms around his neck and he pulled my legs up around his hips. "So, what did you come down here for?"

"I didn't want you to see me lose it." He pushed some hair off my face. "My dad is the last one I have left. Yeah, my sister is still alive, but it's only a matter of time."

A pained expression came across his face and I hugged him. "No matter what, you have Blake, Morgan... me."

He buried his face in the crook of my neck. "Why can't we just for once have some normalcy?"

"Normalcy is boring." I shifted against him, and his dick was suddenly pressed between my legs. "Maybe this was a bad idea."

He brushed my hair off my neck and kissed his way to my lips. "Maybe." He pushed his tongue in my mouth and my body exploded with need.

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