Siren Misfit
Page 14
“Really? Because the mermaids think mine might be Neptune.”
“The god of the oceans? I thought he went on a sabbatical a few decades ago.”
“He’s gone, all right. Apparently, I have his tail.”
“It would explain your mermaid characteristics.”
While he held her and talked, he’d brought them back to the cliff. The sirens still stood atop it, now wearing robes. Xylo looked pinched and annoyed; however, Cymba appeared pensive and beckoned.
Jory wouldn’t mind a word with her. He still had a bone to pick.
But when he set Lana down and would have drawn his sword, she stepped in front of him.
“Don’t kill her.”
He let out a long-suffering sigh. “Why the fuck not?”
“Because, like it or not, I think they’re family.” Lana faced the sirens. “Why didn’t you tell me Bella, your sister, was having an affair with Neptune?”
Xylo spat. “It was no affair. That womanizer used her.”
“Not according to the mermaids. They say she seduced him. That she lured him from the water and did something to him, which is why he’s not been around.”
“If anyone did any luring,” Chella sputtered, “it was him. Always hanging around. Showing off.”
“Doesn’t matter who did what, they both disappeared over two decades ago,” Xylo argued.
Nods all around.
“Is it possible the humans caught them?” Lana asked.
Immediate protests and denial and yet, Jory had to wonder. Humans had gotten wilier over the last century. They now had the capability to not only capture but possibly even contain a god. More frightening, they had the science to experiment.
He eyed Lana, someone who should be an impossibility. Yet there she stood.
“We saw nothing of their presence in your mind,” Cymba stated. “Not even a hint.”
A frown creased his brow. Exactly how much had happened while they were apart.
Lana cocked her head. “But it’s possible. A DNA test will tell us if I am related to her.”
“Human science.” Said with a sneer.
“Oh, stop it with the retro attitude to advancement. Science is probably why I’m standing here.”
“I don’t see what proving a relationship will do.” Xylo’s stubborn stance.
“It won’t improve your attitude,” Lana sniped. “But if it turns out I am, then did it ever occur to you that perhaps your sister, my mother, lives?”
It hadn’t, but now that the seed was planted, the sirens had a change of heart. As did the mermaids in the sea.
It seemed they were willing to call a truce on the war waging between them since the disappearance of Neptune and Bella so long ago. A ceasefire at least until they found out for sure what might have happened.
And it would be up to Lana and Jory—because she wasn’t going anywhere without him—to figure things out.
But as Lana lamented later, on the mainland—after he’d sketched them a portal to Valhalla, then one back to Earth and their apartment— “How will I find them?”
It was Claire—who’d only twitched her nose slightly when they landed in the living room—who said, “Dangle the right carrot, and they’ll come to you.”
Later.
Jory didn’t really want to spend a few hours going over what had happened with Claire. Nor did he want Lana rushing off to Limbo to chat with Beth. He only wanted one thing.
And Lana hummed happily when he returned with coffee and donuts.
Lots of donuts. Which he planned to eat off Lana’s body.
“Leave,” he ordered Claire.
He might not have the power of song, but the bunny didn’t linger.
“Have fun,” she sang on her way out the door.
It hadn’t even shut before he had Lana sitting on the counter. Since she was eating from two fists, he took care of the offending shirt she still wore, rending it in two.
“I probably smell like seaweed,” she noted, munching on her treat.
“You’re briny like the sea,” he agreed, taking a long lick that ran from the edge of her collarbone and down the valley between her breasts.
“We really should talk.”
“About what?” he growled against the soft skin of her belly.
“Us.”
“Are we an us?” He paused between her legs to eye her.
“If we are, then I should mention, I don’t share.”
“Good.” He nuzzled her mound.
“I’ll expect this every morning.”
He knew she meant the coffee and donuts, but he chose to give her a kiss on her lower lips and rumbled, “With pleasure.”
“This is probably just a temporary thing,” she said on a low moan as he lapped at her moist sex.
“If you say so, wench.” He, on the other hand, knew when he’d lost a battle. He’d fallen for this woman. This unique misfit, who was the perfect match for a demigod who also didn’t fit in.
“Jory.” She panted his name. And clenched at his hair as he kept licking her, bringing her pleasure.
He stood as she sat poised on the brink. He loosened his trousers enough that he could slide into her, the long length of him stretching her so perfectly.
She hugged him close, her keening cry rising in pitch.
The windows rattled as she got louder. When he heard the crack of glass, he finally placed his mouth on hers lest she kill everyone in the building. He swallowed the sound of her orgasm and took it inside him.
He took everything she gave. Which seemed only fair since she’d taken his heart.
Epilogue
My plans to find my possible parents were on hold. Not my choice, or Jory’s. I’d had to stop to keep the peace between the sirens and the mermaids. They’d stopped because of what was in my belly.
A baby. Not just any baby. A boy baby.
The sirens past the age of bearing their own children, and the mermaids stuck with dolphins—and sharks—with their sea god missing, were beyond delighted, but it came with rules.
For me. Rules meant to protect the baby. A child who would be in danger given his rare genes.
Ain’t no one hurting my kid.
Now that I was about to be a mother, my protective instincts had jumped into overdrive. I looked at everyone with suspicion. Jory absolutely loved it.
“Finally, looking at the world with the eye of a warrior.” Except I didn’t have to fight it with my fists. I no longer feared what my voice could do. I could defend myself.
I would protect this child. A baby made of love…with a meathead. “Did you seriously just track blood and dirt into the apartment on the clean floor?” I placed my hands on my hips and glared.
He didn’t even look sheepish. “I was eager to come home to you.” Jory dropped his armor in a pile. Sweaty armor. Even sweatier skin. A man in need of a hot bath.
And me. But first…
I crossed my arms over my chest.
He sighed and sketched a new portal. When he returned, he had not only bathed, he’d also brought me what I craved.
Coffee and donuts. But not just any type. A true double-double coffee from Tim Horton’s Canada and stuffed maple creams.
Which, as it turned out, was a clue. However, I wasn’t the one to solve it.
Somewhere in the Canadian Rocky Mountains…
The calendar mocked her, the moon fat and round on that Saturday three weeks ago. A Saturday run in the woods that she didn’t remember. Claire never did when she returned to herself the following morning, huddled in a naked ball in the woods.
Surely, there was a logical reason to explain why her period was late. Stress. After all, she was on a mission.
She’d not slept with anyone in months.
So there was no reason to fear the stick she’d peed on.
No reason at all.
No way did she have a baby bunny in her belly.
Oh please say I haven’t slept with one. She’d heard horror stori
es of past examples of this happening. Babies born looking human but with the mind and instincts of an animal.
Her nose twitched. The seconds on the clock ticked.
And she glanced at the little window to see….
The End
Next, see what Claire is up to in Bunny Misfit.
More books at EveLanglais.com
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