Page 57 of Siren's Kiss & Feral Beasts
“No. Come back, and let’s talk this out. Whatever it is, I can help you.”
Her lips curve at that. “You already are. Just don’t stop dreaming.”
With that, she dives beneath the small waves, rushing in my direction and splashing my feet before disappearing. She doesn’t come back, but I’m left with a gift—my chain and stone. Lit a fiery blue and thrumming with magic, I pick it up and enclose it in my fist.
If she wants me to keep dreaming, I will. If she wants me to chase her to the ends of the earth, I will.
All my pretty little siren needs to worry about is how much trouble she’ll be in when I catch her.
When I findthe men again after securing clothes from a shifter donation box and slipping the chain inside a pocket, they are standing with an older she-wolf outside her home. They’re discussing something, and all I catch isSeverusandMorvane. I’m distracted, my mind reeling since she left, picking apart Nerissa’s words—that I didn’t fully pick up on their conversation.
Torren is the first to spot me. “Alpha, Otto’s already surveyed the east side, and it’s all clear. No inhabitants.”
“And what about the pack leader here? Have you spoken to him?”
“That’s what I’ve been explaining to them, Alpha. Everyone but a few of the older generations is gone.”
“Gone where?” I ask, keeping my tone soft so as not to scare her. In that moment, I push aside the problem with my mate bond and focus on the needs of these wolves. “Who took them?”
“The vampires came and took them back to Morvane, starting with the scholar’s family. All but Brina, and no oneknows where she is, were taken away.” At her words, my eyes snap to my gamma.Again, the vampires. This needs to end.
We’re ready for a fight, Alpha. Been itching for one.Otto asks the woman something, walking with her inside the abandoned home. The rest of the wolves look to me for directions.
“Prepare the ship to head home. We’re going to war with those nasty bloodsuckers.”
The men thump their chests with their closed fists, and a few howl to the moon while I make a promise to the goddess.
When this is over, I’ll bring her home. I’ll destroy whoever or whatever is keeping her from me.
21
NERISSA
It’s been four months since I left him on that beach. Eight months since Kai’s hands, his teeth—everything that makes me ache—left me trembling for the first time. Every day I relive that night, memorizing the curl of his lips and the feel of his skin on mine, the way the Cordis Lux burned bright for us, tying us together for life.
But I already knew that.
I was sure of my ties to him the very first time I scented him. The first touch.
The day he held his hand out to me in that tavern, and then when I led him back to my place and gave myself freely and wholeheartedly to him. He claimed my first kiss. My first time.
Everything is his.
Moreover, I hated leaving. More than he’ll ever understand, but as part of my promise, I returned that which I’d taken the first time. And maybe I didn’t steal directly, Orion tried to claim it, but I held onto it and never let anyone wear it. Only my grandmother touched it for a short while; her health was on the line, and even that was hard for me to allow.
Jealousy is a powerful thing, and no one can touch what belongs to us.
I’ll be with him soon.
The village is quiet tonight as I make a promise to the gods. This place is a hidden pocket near Bazra that is forgotten by time. It’s tucked away between two cliffs and a dense forest, where no one asks questions or notices me.
Unless they’re supposed to.
Magda’s cousin, Elara, is one of those sharp-eyed people who miss nothing. She keeps tabs on me without ever making it obvious and has taken me under her wing, teaching me harmless spells and how to use herbs, when she isn’t attending her shop.
She also explains passages in her cousin’s book that at first glance make no sense, but with time, I’ve gotten better at reading between the lines. Like now, as the bell tolls on the shop door alerting her of my entrance, I pick up a bushel of lavender, some mugwort, and a few pieces of clear quartz before plopping myself next to her behind the counter.
“Just tell me if I am right,” I say, opening to the page I’m reading and laying my spoils in front of it. “These three can help me sleep more deeply, calm my mind, and maybe even guide me into a more vivid, meaningful dream?”
