Siren's Serenade (The Wiccan Haus) (6 page)

“I would say you should.” Cemil stood and let the wind blow through his long blond hair. “Besides, we have a favor to ask of you.”

“Me?” Serena followed Cemil’s gaze up the path from her cottage. Coming down the road was Sarka, the only woman to make her mother look like a cuttlefish. But she was with a female shifter Serena had seen in the dining hall. The shifter was beautiful, with sharp, exotic features. She stood a good five inches taller than Serena, with a svelte build. Long dark hair hung to her waist, and eyes the color of seaweed pierced into Serena. Yet with all her strength and beauty, she was full of deep despair, and Serena sensed that this woman had been beaten down until she couldn’t fight anymore. She was missing her left arm, and that said enough; it was rare for shifters to be unable to heal on their own. Usually if one lost a limb, it would repair itself while the shifter rested. But it required a deep rest, one where they’d have to rely on others to protect them from enemies.

Sarka stood before Serena. “Has she agreed?”

“Hadn’t gotten that far yet, but she will once she decides to stay.”

“Your faith in her is far stronger than mine.” Sarka turned to Serena. “Why the hell are you leaving now?”

“I can’t stay. It could put the human at danger.”

“Have him wear a condom. If you can’t get pregnant, you can’t kill him for his soul.”

“Condom?”

“I am not having this conversation. I’ll have a box delivered to your cabin. Believe me, he’ll know what to do with them.”

“But what if he doesn’t?”

Cemil snickered, making Serena even more confused by the second.

Sarka glared at Cemil, then at Serena. “If he doesn’t, you have my permission to take him out to sea and have your way with him. Because he would be too stupid to breathe.”

“Sarka,” Cemil bit out.

“What? Now—” Sarka pulled the injured shifter forward none too gently. “Yavonka, this is Serena, our resident mermaid.”

“No.” Yavonka eyes went wide as she shook her head and walking away from the water’s edge.

Serena closed her eyes, stepping into the water, letting it tell her what the shifter couldn’t, or wouldn’t. It would have been better had they both been in the water, but Serena’s powers were stronger than most and she just needed Yavonka near. The Were-shark, scared and unable to shift safely because of the lost fin, was less at ease now that there was a mermaid on the island. Not that Serena needed any powers to know that. Simple knowledge of a shark and their fins was enough. And everyone knew Were-sharks were no great fans of merfolk. “Your school did this to you?”

“I will not get into that water with a siren.”

Serena opened her mouth and let out a high pitch set of beeps and squeaks causing the Were to cover her ears. “Get in the water, you useless fish.”

Sarka eyebrows shot up to her hairline. “Nicely played.”

“Want to join her?” Serena asked.

“I’m a bitch, but that doesn’t make me stupid.” Sarka turned and dismissed the group with a haughty wave.

Yavonka slowly entered the water. Serena caught her breath; the despair and fear that came from the shark was painful. “Come on. You’re safe in the harbor. I sense none of your school nearby.” Moving into the water, her dress floated on the surface until it became one with the ocean. Finally waist-deep, she dove in and moved deeper. Serena’s legs fused into one, scales coving her legs, starting at the waist and traveling down until it ended in a large fin. Pausing for a moment, her sonar pushed through the protective walls of the island.

There were a few whales beyond the island, and she smiled and sent out a greeting to the two old beings. Turning, she sensed Kaleb; he was swimming in the harbor around the cliff. How she longed to swim to him, to feel his arms around her.

Then Yavonka entered the water, and Serena focused on the woman before her. She was scared to shift, scared that she would go belly up and drown. Swimming beside her, Serena sent out a call, urging the woman to shift. It took two more calls for the shark to do so, and then Yavonka’s long black hair wrapped around her like a blanket until the woman was lost in the circle of black, emerging as the great beast she was. Yavonka’s pointy nose and sharp teeth came straight at Serena’s tail, showing her that she wasn’t a “useless fish.” But just feet from Serena, the shark lost her balance and flipped. Yavonka panicked, and Serena couldn’t get ahold of the shark to bring her to the surface. Forcing the shift from Were into human, Yavonka struggled, frantic to get to the surface as Serena fought her to get control. Eventually, Serena stopped playing nice and grabbed the woman by her good arm and yanked, pushing forward toward the surface. Yavonka was deeper than the human side of her could have survived. The water in her lungs would kill her if she didn’t push it out quickly. The curse of sea-animal Weres; the water could kill them as quickly as the air.

Serena grabbed the other woman around the waist, pulling her to the surface. Yavonka came up for air, gasping and coughing.

“Catch your breath, shark, then we’ll try it again, closer to the surface. If need be, I’ll keep you upright while you rest.”

“Why would you help me?”

“Why would I not?”

“Everyone in the sea knows your mother. Why would any sea creature trust you?”

Serena looked away and let her eyes focus on the horizon. “I am not my mother, just like you are not the killer your school wanted you to become. What happened to you?”

“My mate had his pet bull sharks attack me.”

“Why would he do that?”

Yavonka gazed out into the ocean toward the fog wall. “The betas in the school were getting restless. To prove that no one was beyond his grasp and to show that he would attack anyone, he attacked me.”

Serena had heard stories of Were-sharks using natural sharks to guard the schools while they slept, making usually aggressive animals into terrors of the sea. “Did he mean to kill you or just wound you?”

“I didn’t stick around long enough to find out.”

“We are a lot alike, me and you.”

Yavonka nodded in reluctance before trying again to shift. Yavonka’s inherent distrust of mermaids only grew stronger in her animal form. It took four more tries before Serena and Yavonka figured out how to make it work. But with each shift, the amount of time it took her animal side to calm down shortened, until the shark relaxed and fell into a trance-like sleep. Serena kept on hand on the uninjured fin, allowing Yavonka to sleep without fear of tipping over. The only trick in the end seemed to be that Serena needed to have her hand on the shark before she fell asleep; otherwise when she touched her, the beast would attack.

Swimming in a large circle as Yavonka entered the deep healing sleep, Serena let her gaze fall back to the shore. Cemil obviously thought she had it well in hand, and left her to her own devices. For the first time in a long time, she felt like she had a purpose. And by Poseidon, it felt good.

Kaleb hoped the laps would help. He’d blown off this morning’s session of finding inner peace with the island’s shaman. At this point, he didn’t care if he never made it back to Alaska or his chopper with the others on his team. If he could just find relief from that damned woman, he’d be happy. Serena hadn’t shown up for breakfast. He’d even come early and stayed until the last of the food had been taken away. She confused him and took up every waking moment of his thoughts. But when he closed his eyes he had vivid dreams that had him waking up in a sweat, his cock aching for release.

When he’d asked Myron, she’d said Serena was in a session with the siblings. Well, he had seen three of the siblings this morning already; the only one he hadn’t seen had been the pale blond brother. But he couldn’t get any more information out of the receptionist to determine where he might find them. He didn’t know where she was staying; if it was in the hotel, he hadn’t found her room and he’d knocked on every door on his floor. He knew there were cottages, but they were all over the island: some on the shores, some in the orchard, and a few that were, as he was told, hidden from prying eyes. Just his luck she would be in the latter.

Frustrated and exhausted from a night of restless sleep, Kaleb did what any rescue swimmer he knew did to release tension—he swam. He swam until his arms hurt and his legs throbbed, and then he pushed himself some more. Coming around the cliffs, to the harbor where he’d found the suicidal swimmer the day before, he stopped to tread water. That was when he saw Serena, swimming in the distance with a smile on her face that sucker-punched him even this far away. She hadn’t noticed him yet; she was focusing on something just under the water.

He took two strokes toward her when he saw the telltale signs of a fin breaking the surface of the water just behind her.
Shark
. He began racing toward her, no thought or care for himself, the idea that she might be hurt made him push himself harder than he ever had. Serena saw him then, a look of shock and panic overtaking her.

“Get out of the water! Shark!” he yelled.

She turned from him, and that was when he saw another woman come to the surface next to her. Damn it, why where they still treading water and not moving? But as he got closer he saw they were moving to the shore, although slowly.

“Can you help Yavonka in?” she asked.

He looked at Serena who seemed desperate to keep her distance from him.

“There’s a shark!” He looked around, trying to see if he could see it coming.

Serena smiled. “I know, but it won’t bite. Not all sharks are man-eaters.”

She was as crazy as they all thought he was. Moving up to the woman in need of help, he noticed two things very quickly: one, she was missing an arm; and two, she was missing her bathing suit. And if history were going to repeat itself, which it seemed to be doing, Serena would be naked as well. He would have closed his eyes, but he really was not as convinced as Serena was that the shark didn’t pose a danger. He swam next to the other woman who seemed extremely strong as she did a modified sidestroke. As they neared the shore, both women stopped. Kaleb paused and looked at them.

“Yavonka is naked. Could you close your eyes so she can get out of the water?” A tone of impatience he wouldn’t have associated with Serena edged her voice. He turned his back on the two and did as he was asked, closing his eyes and waiting for the first set of feet splashing though the shallow water followed by the second. He heard Serena say they would continue to work tomorrow and Yavonka thank her before all was quiet.

“She’s gone. You can open your eyes now.” Kaleb turned around and found Serena standing naked on the beach, skin glistening in the sun as she headed for one of two cottages on the shore. He watched Serena’s hips move as she walked away. He marveled that her hair seemed almost dry as she moved onto the porch.

She opened the door, turning to throw over her shoulder, “Are you going to stare or are you coming in?”

Was he coming in? Oh, he hoped so. Jogging up, Kaleb stopped just before the door, dripping wet. “Do you have a towel? My trunks are soaking wet, and I don’t want to leave puddles on your floor.”

“Just take them off. You won’t need them.” Serena ran her fingers between his cooled skin and the wet waistband. “You’ll certainly be more comfortable without.”

“Is that so?” He swallowed.

“Definitely so.” She pulled the cotton cord, untying it. Ever so slowly, Serena worked the wet fabric over Kaleb’s taut hips; every muscle in his body clenched in anticipation. He was wound tighter than a watch spring and wasn’t going to do anything to make her run tonight. But if she didn’t relieve this ache within him, nothing would.

“About last night on the cliffs…”

“We can talk later, if you’re still up to it.”

She moved to her knees, pulling his wet trunks down legs that seemed to refuse to let it go. They clung like a person fighting to stay in a boat sinking into the ocean. With a quick strong tug, the suit landed with a sloppy thud at his feet. He picked up one foot at a time, stepping out of the suit. As if she could sense what he wanted, she removed the offending fabric, before looking up at him from her submissive position.

Serena’s eyes were bright and wide and were a color he had never seen on a person before. The color of the bluest ocean, and they seemed to churn within their depths, blues swirling into one another. And her mouth was the natural red color of the sunrise over the Bering Sea. How he longed to feel that mouth over his cock and balls. As he envisioned it, she did just that. She took his protruding cock into her warm, wet mouth, licking and sucking from the head all the way down, and then back again. With her tongue, she worked her way down to his balls, licking them, then taking each one into her mouth one at a time.