Page 36 of Blood of the Sirens
I tried to crawl back toward the stairs to get away from it all, but someone caught me by my ankles and tugged me backward.
“Come here, female,” a voice cooed at me. My heart caught at a flash of blond hair, but it wasn’t Merrick. Merrick was on my right,throwing a man overboard.
Oh well. I’d worry about that later.
This man was more of a dirty blond. I reared my foot back and kicked him in the face. He let go, hissing and spitting.
I didn’t know why these men were attacking, but it was clear they were after me. Were they on drugs of some kind?
“Jesse! I’m—” Merrick’s voice cut off as a man with long, brown hair punched him in the jaw.
I saw red, but what could I do? There were five of us on this small boat. We were horribly outnumbered.
“Fucking bath salts …” I muttered to no one. Trying to rationalize it wouldn’t help. The fighting needed to stop. If the crazy men wouldn’t stop, and if it was over me for some reason, maybe the best thing to do was … go away.
I clutched the railing and glanced down at the dark, choppy waters. Faced with a choice between the men and a gator, I’d take the gator.
And yet, I hesitated.
It cost me.
I turned, my gasp of surprise cut short as another man put his elbow around my neck and pressed himself against my back. I rammed my bleeding foot as hard as I could into his crotch, and he shoved me hard away from him.
I overbalanced but it was too late—momentum dragged me forward toward the dark waters in front of me. I squeezed my eyes shut as I fell overboard and hit the water hard.
TEN
Merrick
I was tryingto figure out how to tie the knot Mike wanted, musing over how I should really incorporate more rope into my art, when Jesse screamed. It wasn’t a normal cry—that would have been alarming enough. But the sound she made—it burned through my blood and reverberated in my soul. Every nerve in my body lit up like an eel had shocked me. My feet and arms moved before I’d even made the conscious decision to go to her. I jumped over a wall and hauled myself over the railing to the upper deck without thinking. My ‘feet’ hit the deck hard and I bent inwards, throbbing pain shooting up my human legs on landing. As guppies they warned us to never “jump” while on land, because it was very dangerous.
I got it, now.
When I landed and looked up, it was to see the mer hunting party staring back at me.
A moment of frozen shock went through.Thiswas the boat Barrett had brought them to? What were the odds?
My eyes dragged over to Jesse, wounded. The scent of her blood was fresh in the air, its presence no doubt shocking and astounding the hunting mers. Her hair was stuck to the front of her face, confusion and fear etched in her face.
Aris snapped first, feral madness overtaking him as he lunged for her. I caught him in midair and slammed him to the floor.
“She ismine.” I twisted his arms behind his back. Soon enough, other mers were on top of me, fighting and hitting. Biting and scratching. Trying to show their dominance in their effort to win the female.
Jesse screamed again, and I threw them all off me. Adrenaline coursed through my veins, my muscles quivering with tension. I’d kill them all and have no regrets. Jesse was the only thing that mattered. Though she was doing a fair job of fighting them off herself, and I hardened with arousal. My Jesse was strong! A true siren born!
I’d rip them all apart for daring to touch her.
Barrett advanced toward her, and my anger doubled, tinged with betrayal.
He didn’t know. How could he know?
Blinding pain exploded in my back, and I stumbled.
“You’ve been keeping secrets,” Aris sneered, driving a piece of glass deeper into muscle and sinew. It felt worse than a shark bite as it delved deeper into my flesh.
“And you haven’t claimed her yet, have you? We’d smell it. I always knew you were an idiot.”
I dropped suddenly to the ground and rolled, ignoring the glass still stuck somewhere in my back. The moment Aris’s stupid face appeared, I punched him twice as hard as I had that other human who had threatened Jesse. His nose split, and Ifollowed with an uppercut to his head. Aris dropped hard, unconscious. The urge to shake out my hand was strong. Everything hurt on land; jumping, punching …
