Page 18 of Wrong Mate

Leah loved his kisses. Not just a little either, but a hell of a lot. She loved the feel of his mouth, not to mention when he cupped her face and kissed her. She didn’t want him to stop. She loved it all. But something didn’t feel right.

Those vampires were nowhere to be seen. Killian wasn’t covered in blood.He’d not killed them, but she had felt the threat. Why hadn’t they attacked? Crouching, she looked across the river.

“What’s the problem?” Killian asked.

“Nothing. Are you sure we need to cross this river?” she asked. It was afairly long river, and she had a bad feeling about this.

“Yes.”

“What kind of map are you reading from? Is it the whole let’s-make-this-super-secret-mission-as-hard-as-it-can-be map? Why can’t we find someplace with a boat?” she asked.

“Then that would make life easier?”

“Hell, yeah. That’s a lot of water,” she said.

“It doesn’t look too deep.”

“From here, but there is … yeah,” she said, stopping to blow out a breath.

“Are you afraid of the water?” he asked.

“No, I’m not afraid of the water. What I am afraid of are the things that lurk beneath.”

“I don’t think there are any sharks or crocs waiting to eat us,” Killian said. “Besides, I’m a wolf, and I’ll taste all sinewy, and you’re a witch.”

“But I’m more than a mouthful. Trust me, I know my worth.” She shook her head. “I’d rather take on the sharks and crocs than mermaids and sirens.”

“Mermaids and sirens? I think they liveout in the ocean, not in a river.”

Leah blew out another breath. “That’s kind of not true.” She pursed her lips. “The ones that aren’t banished live in the ocean as they’re allowed. The ones in rivers and lakes, well, they’re the banished ones for being naughty and tend to feed on human flesh.”

“What?”

“I’ve met a few,” Leah said. “Trust me, they’re vicious.” She had been at a few meetings with Lucinda. The mermaids and sirens were beautiful. No doubt about it. Totally in awe with the perfect body, not to mention the full tits and all of that. But, a banished mermaid and siren, yeah, they kind of, er, turned ugly when they didn’t get what they wanted.

This wasn’t going to be easy. She could already feel the hairs on the back of her neck, and she knew she was being watched. Taking another deep breath, she heard Killian laugh.

“You have watched way too many horror movies, Leah. I’ll take the lead, and that way, you’ll know there’s nothing to worry about.”

Yeah, that wasn’t going to make her happier. She didn’t argue with him, but followed closely behind.

It wasn’t long before the water was up to their waist. “As you were saying?” she asked, “about it not being deep?”

Killian didn’t geta chance to respond as he quickly disappeared beneath the surface, and she panicked.

“Killian!”she screamed his name, cringing as she did. If there were mermaids or sirens in the river, they were fucking awake now.

He broke the surface and chuckled. “Okay, my bad, I fell off the ledge. It’s pretty deep, we’ll have to swim.”

“None of this is funny. Why are you laughing?” she asked.

“Come on.” He held out his hand for her to take. “I’m not going to let anything happen to you. I promised your parents and your coven.”

She took his hand, and they locked their fingers together. Leahhated how her heart raced. They started to move across the river.

“Just how deep do you think it is?” Killian asked.

“Deep.”

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