I flirted with death, taunting her like this, but it was so worth it. Her eyes blazed with enough fire to turn me to ash, and the heat from her anger brought a bright pink tint to her cheeks. The same color they turned when I made her come. Fuck, now I was horny.
“I dare you to fucking try,” she challenged, ever the defiant firecracker.
It was that spark that first caught my attention, way before I felt the stirrings of a bond. The gods must have known she was perfect for me; only a woman with that much sass could keep my pace. And that temper… a thing of fucking beauty.
My hand tightened on her hip as I rested my forehead against hers, never once breaking eye contact. “You know I can’t turn down a dare.”
“Ezra, if you throw me over your shoulder, I will…”
“What? Tell me, baby, what little threat do you think will keep me from doing whatever I want with you?”
The corner of her mouth curled in a feline smile. “I’ll tell everyone you have a small dick. A micro penis. More non-existent than a Ken doll.”
My head fell back as I laughed. This was exactly what I meant. I tightened my grip, and she wiggled, realizing her small window of escape had come and gone. She should have fought me instead. Not that that would have worked either.
“You think I’m afraid to walk around naked to prove you wrong?” I purred. “Half the faction wouldn’t recover from the sight of, what did you call it? Mynot-a-normal-sized dick.”
Maybe that threat would have worked on a man with less confidence, but I knew what I was working with. Plenty of women cried, begged, squealed, even fainted at the feel of my cock, and I swore right then and there I’d make Rani do all those and more. She’d never sell that lie with a straight face.
Tossing her over my shoulder was just principle at that point. It did make the small trek to the pond much easier, though. And the reveal would be even better if she didn’t see it until the last moment. Around the side of the cottage, through the tall grass, and down the hill, then it was a straight shot to the shallow but clear pond under the sprawling branches of a willow.
The soil was soft and damp, allowing water to rapidly fill my footsteps and soak my sneakers. Rani’s mouth got busy trying to bite her way free, and my very existent, non-micro dick was now too hard to sit comfortably. Gods, the feel of her teeth on my skin should have been illegal.
I took my time wading into the pond. It was pretty shallow near the shore, but Cova warned me of a steep cutoff a few feet out. Not wanting a repeat of when I jumped into the pool, I eased into the water and brought Rani off my shoulder to float in front of me. Glimmering scales appeared along her cheeks and shoulders, reacting to the salinity, and a sigh of relief escaped me. She was going to be okay.
“Stop wiggling or I might drop you,” I cautioned, worried she’d squirm right out of my hands. “You’re so slippery.”
“It’s fine. It’s impossible for me to drown.”
She wouldn’t, obviously, because I’d never let that happen. And also because I was pretty sure she could reach the bottom right here. However, she said it wasimpossible, and while I liked the new confidence and lack of overall panic, it was suspicious as fuck.
“I’m going to need you to dissect that and explain it to me.”
Was it bravery? False confidence? A brain tumor?
“After the djinn chased me to the cliff and I jumped into the ocean—don’t look at me like that—”
I might have frowned at the mention of the most recent djinn attack. And her reckless cliff dive into storm-churned waves. And the fact that she camebackinstead of running like I freaking told her to.
“I thought I was going to drown—Ezra, seriously, I’m fine. Stop glaring at me—but when I was in the ocean, I discovered Icouldn’tbecause, get this; I. Have. Gills.”
She ran a slender finger at an angle across the side of her neck, I’m assuming, where these magickal gills would appear. I didn’t know sirens could breathe underwater, none of us did. I just thought they were really good at holding their breath. Now I was glaring for a completely different reason. I functioned off of information, gathering it was literally my job, and this was a huge miss on my part. What an epic fucking failure.
“Why the hell didn’t Cova say anything?” I growled. He could have saved us so much time and Rani several months’ worth of trauma.
She shrugged. “Maybe he thought we already knew? He did say I was being stubborn about not wanting to get into the water…”
Whatever the damn reason, that blue-haired asshole and I were going to have a talk, but for now, I was just happy that Rani didn’t fear the water anymore. Her eyes shone as she floated infront of me, arms gently gliding through the long grass; not a hint of shadows in that gaze. My heart lightened at the sight.
She was night and day different from the wraith of a girl who first stepped into that beach house. Lighter, more full of life. This was a Rani I feared I’d never see again. Surging forward, she squealed when I scooped her up and licked her neck, right over where she traced an invisible gill.
I dragged her toward the middle of the pond and reluctantly let her go so she could swim beside me. Our hands and legs grazed as we twisted and spun. Rani pinned me with a playful smirk, opened her mouth to gather some water, then made a face and promptly spit it out before she could spray me with it.
“It’s salty!”
Her wrinkled nose was so fucking cute. Swimming closer, I wrapped my arms around her waist once more and pulled her to me. We slipped against one another in a smooth caress, reawakening my dick that the cold pond had sent to sleep. But despite the half chub I now sported, I was completely content to stay right here like this. The hot sun overhead, cool water cocooning our bodies, and the perfect girl wrapped around me; this is what heaven looked like in my dreams.
“This pond is fed by the ocean,intentionally, according to Cova,” I explained, pointing to the small and barely visible grate on the shore wall closest to the tree. “They used a road map of pipes to connect this otherwise freestanding pond to the marshy inlets nearby.”
