Oh, hell no. I’m not letting him near the water so he can use his power to turn me into a mindless love-sick female again.Just earlier, he’d used his power when only his fingertips were touching the water, so my safest option seemed to be to keep him away from the lake. I wanted to turn into a monster, but I didn’t see how him making me think he was some sort of sex god was going to help that.
Before I could stop him, his pants dropped to his ankles, and I turned my head to the side to keep from accidentally catching a glimpse of him down below. Shit.Determined to get him to dress again, I bent forward, intent on grabbing his clothes so I could shove them at him and order him to put them back on, but he was too close. As I swung down, something hard smacked into my eye, sending pain shooting into my head and making my eye water. It was huge and warm and fleshy, and…
Oh. My. Fucking. Goddess.
With a curse, I recoiled and tried to stand again, my fingers abandoning the clothing I’d been trying to grasp. My body flung backward, and I teetered, unbalanced, before falling into the shallows of the lake, the cool water not doing much to stop my ass from thudding to the ground.
I quickly lifted myself back upright and stood, only to find a still-naked Darian clasping his very defined belly as he roared with laughter. “If I’d known you were that eager, lovely, I would have showed you earlier,” he said when his laughter finally died down.
Scowling, I tried to ignore the warmth in my cheeks, and placed a hand over my injured eye. “I wastryingto get you to put your clothes back on. You’re the one who assaulted my eye.“ I couldn’t help myself then. My gaze lowered to stare at the offending member between his legs.
Ho-ly Goddess.It was huge. Maybe even bigger than Kade’s. It was no wonder that the bloody thing had almost blinded me. In its erect state, it was like a freaking weapon ready to spear someone.
My core heated at the thought of Darian putting his very large cock to good use, but I dug my nails into my palms and lifted my gaze back to his face. Thankfully, the siren was busy wiping tears of laughter from his eyes to notice.
“What the hell are you doing?” I snapped, and his expression finally became serious.
“I like these clothes. The last thing I want is for them to get ruined when I transform. I assure you, Katakin silk is not as easily procured as you might think.”
Goddess, I wished I had a dagger so I could stab him. “That’s not what I meant, and you know it,” I gritted out.
He frowned and peered down at his still-very-erect cock, then added, “Oh, that. Well, now, that’s not my fault. It seems to have a mind of its own when I’m around you.”
I groaned and rubbed my hands over my face, pausing to flick stray strands of wet hair out of my eyes. “I meant, why are you planning to transform?” I clarified. “You’ve already tried to get me to turn with your power. It didn’t work.”
“Oh, yes. Well, I want to attempt something different this time. Unless, of course, you’d rather I stick to torture to try to get you to change?”
I didn’t answer. At this stage, having to continue to stare at him while his beast of a cock was standing on end as if it was pointing right at me almost was a form of torture.
He obviously took my silence to mean that I preferred his (what he deemed to be) nontorturous methods, and he stepped into the water passing by me and moving forward until he was submerged up to his waist. Before my eyes, his legs transformed, molding together to form a fishtail that shimmered with blue-and-silver scales. His tail flicked out of the water, spraying droplets into the air, and Darian stared at me with a self-satisfied smile.
“And here we go again,” I muttered under my breath.
CHAPTER 3
~ Darian ~
“Areyoucoming,lovely?”I called out to where Raine stood in the shallows of the lake with her arms crossed and an unimpressed expression on her face.
Her amber eyes watched me warily, but she let out an exasperated sigh and stripped out of her leather outfit until she was standing almost naked. Something pulled in my gut as my gaze trailed from where her long red hair had fallen over her shoulders and covered her breasts, to her curved body in the black lace panties. The female was perfect in every way, and the fact she didn’t seem to care just drew me closer to her.
Ignoring my stare, she threw her leather outfit onto the bank and waded through the water. She stopped a short distance away from me, but I glided toward her, my tail wrapping around her legs and my cool scales sliding against her skin as I pulled her closer.
“Hey!” she protested, her arms flying up defensively, but I quickly slid my hands behind her back.
“Just wait and listen,” I said, my gaze locking onto hers, and to my surprise and delight, she stopped squirming and stilled.
The steady beating of her heart sounded in my ears as we waited, a rapid thudding that beat in time to my own, and I cocked my head. Normally, being with females didn’t leave me so affected, but with Raine so close to me, a thrill of excitement zinged through my body. I enjoyed the company of other females as much as they enjoyed mine, but having Raine in my arms was making me feel things I hadn’t felt in a long time. It wasn’t just sexual, though my hands certainly longed to slide lower on her body and grip her curved ass, and it wasn’t just because of the bond between us that made me want to protect her with my entire being. But…something else. I found my grip tightening, as though I was afraid that if I loosened my hold on her, she would slip through my fingers and leave something empty inside of me in her wake.
“I don’t hear anything,” Raine said softly, her adorable brow wrinkled, and her head tilted as she listened to the world around us.
“Patience,” I said with a chuckle.
I had barely finished speaking when the faintest song kissed my ears, the notes high and sweet. At first, Raine didn’t seem to hear it, her human ears not as sensitive as my own, but then, as the song became louder, the single voice joined by another deeper, soulful one, her eyes widened, and her gaze flicked to mine. Within a matter of moments, countless voices filled the garden, all singing the same tune in perfect harmony, the sound spiraling down from above.
I watched Raine’s face, pride going through me at the awe I saw shining in her features. “Where is it coming from?” she whispered, as if she was afraid that if she spoke any louder, she would disrupt the song.
“Every morning, while most of the monsters are sleeping, the sirens watch the sunrise and sing this same song. The notes speak of past times and new beginnings that we hope will come to pass. There are many things I detest about the sirens, but this…”
