Page 66 of The Seer

“I don’t!” she denied hotly. “Stop this right now!” Taryn stepped forward, prepared for battle. “I don’t know how to beat the hell out of a ghost, but I’m not above trying.”

“Me thinks the girl protests too much,” he taunted. “That you’re afraid of him but don’t want him to know.”

“I swear to God, I’ll?—”

The Siren’s granite-hard arm encircled her and tugged her back against him. She barely suppressed a scream as his claws swiped the air before her. But it wasn’t her the creature wanted to harm.

It was Peter.

Protect.

Mine.

“Good. He’s here,” he said. “Now, leash your admirer, girl, and follow me.”

“What?”

“Fintan wouldn’t have released it, and I needed the Siren for this next bit,” Peter told her matter-of-factly, showing zero remorse for provoking a dangerous beast. “I knew if they were both angry enough, he’d transform.”

A small amount of the Siren’s tension eased, and Taryn felt it huff in irritation. Fintan was going to be equally annoyed when he returned.

She pushed at the steel bands encircling her, not budging those solid arms an inch. In fact, he tightened his hold, hunching over her like a bodyguard protecting their charge, and she feared he’d never release her.

Then another scary thing registered—the erection forming against her backside. Like his arms, it was iron hard and growing by the second.

“That thing is going to snap my spine, buddy. Can you rein it in?”

He huffed a laugh, and though gruff, the magical sound relaxed her, causing her to lean back against him.

“Oh, shit,” she muttered. Was the power of his voice able to steal her will, or did he put off some type of pheromone able to lull her into submission?

“Mine,” he purred.

“Fintan’s,” she retorted.

Burying his nose in her hair, he inhaled and then rubbed his cheek against hers, ending with a kiss on her temple.

“Love.”

Her heart hiccuped.

Were he and Fintan the same? Or were they two different souls crammed together in one body? If the latter, how lonely must it have been all these years, trapped without human contact!

His claws retracted, and his arms loosened. But he didn’t free her completely. Instead, he shifted Taryn, lifting her to make her face level with his.

Her jaw gaped. Gone was the mythical-looking creature she’d met the first time, and in his place was a tall, well-built man who bore an astonishing resemblance to Fintan. There were subtle differences in his eye color, hair, and body composition, but he was a handsome fucker.

“Love,” he said again.

“Uh, thank you?” What was she supposed to say to a magical monster able to detach her head with a swipe of his wrist?

His overbright eyes crinkled with amusement, and he cocked his head. “Five notes?”

“No! Absolutely not. No way, no how.”

Peter’s rusty chuckle rang out, attracting the Siren’s warning glare.

“You can’t kill our audience, buddy. He’s already dead.” She pitched her voice low. “Also, Fintan might not be so happy I’m receiving orgasms from other guys. Not that the last one wasn’t lovely and all.”

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