Page 22 of Siren's Kiss & Feral Beasts
And even without the stone, I do not doubt that she is mine.
8
NERISSA
This isn’t good.Monumentally, a huge mistake.
For two days, I’ve wandered through town searching for the owner of the guaiac wood and pineapple combination. Its traces follow me, but there’s no one there. Taunt me, and without conscious thought, I find myself walking in front of the wolf-owned inn and the blacksmith shop her husband owns.
I’m met with a dead end every single time, unable to answer what this could all mean.
The couple doesn’t ask, but I sense their stares and lingering questions. My father’s been sending me sonar pulses through the water just beyond my home, but I’ve asked him for more time. No explanation given, just a plea from his daughter.
Stupid? Maybe.
Irresponsible? Yes.
And yet, I didn’t care until the moment Alpha Kai Daire walked through the tavern’s door.
Imposing, his aura fills the room, and every head turns in his direction. There’s a rumble in his chest, while large fangs peek through his lips, the latter of which are curled up in a snarl.
Dark, dangerous eyes meet mine. His attention is on me, and I feel the old mage beside me tense, what sounds like anoh mycoming from her thin lips.
Not that I look away from the man. I can’t.
More so when I’m slammed with the unique scent I’ve been desperate to find.
“This is bad,” I mutter low, a sound that to a tide-hopper sounds like a series of clicks. He hears it, though, and I’m afraid to ask if he understands my language. Not that it matters a second later when those dark pools shift to the older woman beside me.
It’s fleeting. Barely a few ticks of the clock, and yet, I don’t like it.
Almost bristle in annoyance.
What the hell is wrong with me? I need to get out of here.
Magda clears her throat then, hand already reaching for her canvas bag. “I’ll be leaving now.”
“I’m not sure you?—”
“Come find me tomorrow before you head home.” With the tips of two fingers, she taps the book I’d been summoned to pick up. It’s already protected, the preservation spell making it waterproof and only to be opened by the queen herself. “Truth and lies, my child. Hide one and expose the other.”
Before I can ask what she meant, Magda is up and out of the tavern. Many others follow suit, and the ones who decide to stay keep a wide berth between themselves and the imposing alpha wolf. The same man who steps closer, his bare feet padding across the wooden floor until he’s towering over my much smaller frame.
His expression is guarded, but there’s something soft about his eyes. A warm mix of chocolate and honey, they fluctuate between the two shades, and there’s no hiding the slight crinkles at the corner.Smiling with his eyes.
He’s also bare-chested.
Strong and sinuous, his muscles bulge—the thick cords tensing while his nostrils flare. He’s scenting me, and I follow the rapid rise and fall of his chest with rapt attention. Because he’s a gorgeous man. No mistaking that.
Tall. Dark. Handsome.
Every solid inch of my enemy has been designed and carved by the goddess herself, a literal manifestation of all that I find attractive in a man. Easily over six foot five, if not taller, Alpha Daire makes me feel small. Tiny. Delicate against his sharp muscles—a jaw carved of stone—and I take him in as desperately as he does me.
My tanned skin prickles with awareness as his gaze travels lower; I do the same.
Tattoos. Dark ink against olive skin.
From the base of his neck down to his ribcage, ink marks his skin in brutal detail. Vertebrae stacked, ribs arcing outward, and every line and bone etched as though his skeleton had clawed its way outward. Black and gray shadows turn his body into a living X-ray, while on each wrist, there is the clear imprint of a black paw.His wolf.
