Page 69 of Blood of the Sirens
“Sleep, now.”
Gladly.
I let her darkness bleed into every pore of me. I was complete.
TWENTY-THREE
Jesse
Caspian was nothing but pure muscle and sinew as he slammed into me, taking the air out of my lungs as launched out of the air like a heat-seeking missile and pinned me to the dock. I tried to wriggle out and push him away, but it was useless. The same feeling of alarm and panic overcame me, the experience too similar to when Archie had cornered me in the locker room only a year ago.
No, it wasn’t the same.
This time, there wasn’t anything I could physically do. I couldn’t scream. I couldn’t call for help. I couldn’t—
I stopped, realizing nothing bad was happening. Caspian was simply lying on top of me, those dark eyes just watching and waiting, scanning for my reaction, his tail hanging into the water. His scales were cold against my skin. This close, I took the time to examine his face further. Past the pitch black eyes, his eyelids and the entire area around his eye was a dark purple, with black, inky veins stretching out from his eye back towardhis hairline. With a pang, I wondered if Merrick looked the same now.
I’d thought Caspian’s scales were black, but this close they were the same dark amethyst color that ringed his eyes. Black rot clung to each scale, with patches of raw, pink skin showing through in many places where his scales were simply gone, as if rotted away or plucked out.
What had happened to him?
I snapped out of my musings as cold fingers dipped under the elastic of my leggings and pulled. Panicked, I writhed and twisted and punched him in the nose.
Caspian hissed and reared back, but kept me pinned with his scaly hips. He flashed bright white fangs at me, but ceased to tug at my pants. He stared at me, long and hard, not moving. Again, he was just … waiting.
I took a deep breath, realizing he was trying to tell me something, not rape me.
I held my hands up helplessly in what I hoped was the universal sign for ‘what’?
Caspian grunted deep in his throat, placing his hand around his own throat. Then he pointed at mine, stroking one finger down the column of my neck.
I failed to repress the delightful shiver that went through me.
Then his hips thrust against mine again, his meaning clear.
Uh … what?
Was he trying to say he needed to …sex mein order for us to have our voices back? That made little sense. If he was trying to pull a fast one, he must think I’m the stupidest woman in the world. Nice try, fish boy.
I narrowed my eyes and shook my head.
His tail slapped in frustration against the dock, still submerged into the water. He grabbed his own throat with onehand and mine in his other, bringing his forehead down until it touched mine. The meaning was clear.
We are the same.
His hips wiggled against mine, insistent.
I was running out of reasons to say no.
Then again, just because we’d both been fucked over by the sea witch didn’t mean we should … fuck. Not that we could, with the fishtail and all. And there was Merrick. I didn’t think he’d be too thrilled to hear I’d gotten it on with the zombie mer while he was stuck down with the sea witch.
That left one choice. I cocked my hand back and slapped him across the face as hard as I could.
Caspian let out a wounded, surprised sound and rolled off me, splashing back into the water heavily. I panted on top of the deck, waiting. Two hands reached out and grasped the edge, then his dark hair appeared, followed by big, sad black eyes.
My heart constricted.
Caspian slowly climbed back over the edge of the dock, and my amusement quickly turned to fascination and shock. As he hauled himself up, my eyes shot to a very human waist, and the human ass. Muscled legs followed, long and lean.
