by Zoe Chant
“I will also expect incidents like last night to remain at a minimum,” Scarlet added then.
Saina felt her eyes widen and she swallowed. “You heard about that?”
Scarlet smiled without humor. “I know everything that happens on this island,” she said dryly.
“I will make sure that doesn’t happen again,” Saina said with a shy, tentative smile. Not all siren charms relied on magic, she reminded herself. She didn’t like how unpredictably her magic worked here, and she didn’t like how dirty it made her feel to use her magic on people who had offered her nothing but charity.
Scarlet made a noise that may have been polite or simply skeptical, and turned to leave just as Bastian came running up the gravel path.
Saina didn’t like to admit how her belly fluttered at the sight of him, or how weak her knees suddenly felt. He was so gorgeous and athletic looking, with shoulders like a wall, and strong swimmer’s legs, shown off to advantage by his lifeguard uniform.
Scarlet looked from one to the other and said dryly to Bastian, “I believe you’ll be wanting the rest of the morning off?”
Bastian grinned and managed to look sheepish at the same time. “Yes, ma’am,” he said hopefully.
“Fine,” Scarlet said without smiling. “But we’re getting a new batch of guests with the charter plane this afternoon and I expect our lifeguard to be on duty when they are ready to enjoy the swimming.”
She didn’t wait for Bastian’s affirmation, but turned her attention to Saina. “If you are feeling up to it, we could use your help cleaning up after lunch rush in the kitchen.”
She didn’t wait for Saina’s answer either, but turned on her heel and stalked away.
Her exit took a tension that Saina hadn’t even recognized with her, like the pressure before a storm, and it left a new one in its place as she was alone with the man who had saved her.
He smiled at her foolishly for an awkward length of time, and Saina found herself doing the same, until she recognized it. “You mentioned a tour,” she suggested.
“Yes, of course. I’d love to show you around!” Bastian offered his elbow chivalrously.
Saina nearly took it, then realized that she was still wearing the dress she had worn the previous day and then slept in. “Oh, could you wait while I take a quick shower? I promise it won’t take long.”
“Of course,” he said with effort.
She was gazing up at his face, so she could see his impulse to offer to join her, and watch him wrestle with his desire to remain appropriate. No other man under any siren song had ever demonstrated that kind of restraint. By this point, she expected him to be demanding his way into her bed, and she’d have to sing him to sleep to make her escape. Once again, she wondered why her powers were behaving so strangely; he certainly shouldn’t still be enchanted, let alone acting like this.
She was faintly disappointed that Bastian hadn’t made that kind of demand, and had to wonder if she wouldn’t straight out welcome him there. It was an eye-opening revelation, as she scampered into the bathroom to wash.
She hadn’t anticipated how exciting the shower would be, knowing that Bastian was just outside the door. Covered with bubbles, she couldn’t keep her hands from drifting over her breasts a few extra times, and rinsing more intimate parts threatened to become a serious distraction as she wondered what he would look like out of his uniform. Then she imagined soaping those gorgeous shoulders, and her breath grew shallow and fast and she had to lean against the cool tile wall of the shower and get control of herself again.
Down girl, she told herself firmly.
She toweled off briskly, careful not to linger anywhere, then realized that she’d left her new clothing out in the bedroom.
Part of her wanted to saunter out naked and test Bastian’s unexpected self-control, but most of her knew that would break her own tenuous restraint, so she cracked the door. “Ah, Bastian, could you bring me the clothes on the bed?”
“Of course!” He had been staring out the double doors over the porch and came swiftly with her request, slipping it through the door to her.
Any of her sisters would have given him a tantalizing tease, opening the door more than strictly necessary, but Saina only took the clothing and dressed efficiently out of sight. She didn’t want to do more to the people here than she already had.
It’s not real, she reminded herself firmly. None of this is real, and you’ll be gone in a day or two, so don’t do anything stupid.
Like fall in love…
Chapter 10
Dressed in a patterned golden sundress, freshly showered, with her hair loose and wet over her shoulders, Saina was the most glorious treasure Bastian had ever seen. The early morning light made her glow, and her green eyes were more radiant than any sea glass he’d ever seen. She left the bandages off, and Bastian made himself look at her shoulder professionally.
“I think we can leave the bandage off this morning,” he said, trying not to sound as flustered as he felt. The wounds were barely puckered scabs, and the skin around them already looked healthy, with no signs of infection.
She rolled her shoulder experimentally, wincing only once in the rotation. “It’s better,” she agreed.
Then she tipped her chin up to smile at him. “I believe you’ll be my tour guide for the morning.”
Bastian shared the resort with her as if it was all his own realm, an attitude he was sure that Scarlet wouldn’t appreciate, but one she was not present to correct. They started at the top, where Scarlet’s office presided at the top of the steep slope. From there, he pointed out the cottage roofs. “Tex and Laura are staying in that one, for now. The big one with the two porches, that’s Magnolia’s. She’s one of our semi-permanent residents, you’ll love her.”
Saina made a small skeptical noise that made Bastian suspect she didn’t have many female friends.
He led her down past the spa. Wrench and Travis were there, repairing some storm damage to the spa building finish, and Bastian was happy to show her off and introduce her.
“It’s lovely to meet you,” she said, and gravely shook their gloved hands.
He took a quick walk through of the garden, and braved Graham’s wrath by picking one of the red bell-like flowers for Saina’s hair.
“There’s a greenhouse, there.” He pointed to the diamond-sparkle roof through the trees. “We grow a good portion of our own food. And the tall white house is where most of the male staff lives. The ladies’ staff house is the green one beyond.”
They walked past the utilitarian hotel building for budget guests, and Bastian pointed out his old room in the windows.
They walked down to the entrance of the restaurant, and snagged egg bagels dusted with green onions and flakes of salmon from the buffet before making their way down to the bar level. The bar was open air, as most of the resort was, tucked under the restaurant deck. The bar tables and chairs overlooked the jewel of the pool. Twin waterfalls toppled from this level, framing a grand staircase with columns down into the sapphire water.
Walking past the bar led to the event hall, where Lydia held her sunrise yoga and they hosted semi-weekly dance events. “You’ll meet Lydia next week,” Bastian told her. “She’s back home visiting family in Mexico and doing some sort of massage training.”
The pool deck had a few guests sunning themselves, and Bastian was pleased with Saina’s reaction to the pool itself. “It’s the biggest pool I’ve ever seen,” she said in awe.
“We hosted the World Mr. Shifter event just a week ago. The photographers said it was one of the most beautiful places they’d ever hosted a shoot.” Bastian was as proud of the resort as if it had been his own ancestral home.
“I can see that,” Saina agreed, appropriately impressed.
Then he could guide her down the steps to the beach itself, and if she had loved the pool, she was clearly moved by the picture-perfect white sand crescent.
“This must be where you work,” she said, standin
g by the lifeguard tower. At some point over the sand, she had taken his hand, and they had fingers twined together.
“Well,” Bastian said modestly, “I hardly ever use the tower. I’m usually in dragon form so I can see further, and keep an eye on the pool deck at the same time.”
Her fingers in his turned to rock. “In what form?” she asked, frozen.
“Dragon,” Bastian repeated, and he was surprised when she withdrew her hand and backed away from him, eyes wide and skin pale beneath her natural golden tone. “What is it?” He asked gently, suddenly afraid he’d done something wrong.
“You’re a dragon,” she said flatly.
“You didn’t know about dragons?” Some cultures kept their dragons secret. Perhaps India was one of those. “I assure you, we are not simply mythological.”
“I know about dragons,” she spat, and Bastian felt as if his world was tipping unexpectedly.
Chapter 11
A dragon, Saina thought. She hadn’t expected Bastian to be a dragon. This changed everything.
She had finally felt like maybe she could take this place at face value, had even felt badly for her first instinct to try to control the people here who had been nothing but kind and generous.
She turned away, more disturbed by this revelation than she ought to be. She shouldn’t care. She shouldn’t care in the slightest for this man, let alone should she care what his shifted form was.
But despite her care, he’d gotten under her skin, she’d trusted his boyish smile and softened to his chivalrous actions. Dragon honor could be a tricky thing, she should know.
“Saina?” Even his voice sounded innocent.
“What family are you from?” she asked, chin high as she looked out over the turquoise ocean that lapped along the beautiful beach.
He hesitated so long that she made the mistake of looking back at him.
His face was so terribly dear to her already, and the pain on it now made her want to comfort him.
“I am from the Santa Rosa dragon family,” he said, and he said it with so much guilt that Saina knew he had to know. He had to know what his family had done to hers.
“You knew,” she said. “You knew all along. Did Keylor send you after me? I’m such an idiot. I can’t believe…”
“Keylor?” Bastian said in surprise. “You know Keylor?”
Saina paused in her rant. His disbelief felt genuine, however much that didn’t make sense.
“Who are you to Keylor?” she asked, taking one angry step towards him. She put music into her words, and added:
“Tell the truth,
Say it fair,
Speak it clear,
Don’t lie, don’t dare…”
It was one of her strongest songs, and backed by her betrayal and anger, she could feel it bind Bastian like iron as she held the last note.
“He is - was - my brother,” he gasped, as if he were being squeezed.
Saina let the last note go and he blinked at her in consternation. “I am not accepted as family any longer, and I am not allowed to claim kinship or mention their name.”
Saina furrowed her brows at him. “Explain,” she said firmly. She drew in a breath and held it, in case he needed a second verse.
Bastian sighed. “I am… mentally unfit for the family. I was cast out when my deviance was discovered. The only way I would be permitted to return would be to marry dragon royalty.”
“Deviance?” Saina pressed.
Bastian gestured with a hand, out to the ocean. “Water. I am a fire dragon, a creature of air and flame and fortune. But my treasure sense is… flawed, and I have an aberrant love of water that my kin could not accept. Worst of all, though I come from a proud lineage of warriors, I wanted to save people, and learn healing. I am in every way a perversion of dragonkind; they could not allow me to pollute the purity of the family with my association.”
Saina chewed on this. “And Keylor?”
“My younger brother,” Bastian said. “A proper dragon of fire and temper. He took my place as heir when I was thrown out. I haven’t seen any of them in three years.”
Saina turned back to the ocean to digest these revelations.
“What was that?” Bastian asked quietly. “Saina? What are you?”
Saina turned back to him. She believed that he’d told the truth about his exile, and she knew that her song had been unnecessary. He would have been genuine without her magic, she realized, and it shamed her that she had used it.
“Haven’t you guessed?” she mocked gently. “I’m a siren.”
He looked at her blankly and Saina sighed. “A mermaid, Bastian. I’m a mermaid.”
He continued to stare.
Did he have to be so handsome and innocent? Saina wanted to brush his unruly hair back from his high forehead and plant a kiss there. “Come on,” she said. “I’ll show you.”
She took one unresisting hand and led him out into the water. She didn’t bother undressing, but waded out with him until the swells were chest deep, then she fell into the saltwater and shifted.
Chapter 12
Bastian let Saina lead him into the lapping waves, bemused by the depth of his own confession. He’d had every intention of telling his mate about his family disgrace, but he had hoped she’d have a chance to know him a little better before he divulged the extent of his exile and the depths of his depravity.
He certainly hadn’t planned to tell her like that.
But he’d been as compelled as if he’d had Wonder Woman’s lasso of truth wrapped around him, and she seemed to think that it was perfectly normal to be able to sing her will into anyone around her.
A siren, he thought in wonder. He’d been feeling so smug about how unknown dragons were, and she was something rarer and more mythical.
She is our treasure, his dragon said proudly. There is nothing rarer or more valuable.
Then, between one step and the next, she dived into the lightly lapping waves, and Bastian reached after her in alarm.
She surfaced beside him again, her long dark hair spilling back from her face, then swam beside him and flipped glimmering fins at him.
She was astonishing.
Her violet tail was more than just a simple flexible appendage; it was finery in jewel-faceted scales, longer than her legs had been by half. Feathery fins shimmered around her like veils, and when she moved, there were green and rainbow hues glittering beneath the patterned shades of purple.
Bastian had to swallow. Her breasts, bare, were as glorious as he’d imagined from all her various states of dress, and he had to remind himself repeatedly not to stare.
You should stare, his dragon urged him. She is ours, and she is beautiful, and we should admire her. (He was, not surprisingly, more impressed with her stunningly scaled bottom half than her curvy top half.)
“Come swim with me,” she invited. Her voice was musical, but there was no compulsion to it.
“Don’t sirens drown their victims?” Bastian said, trying to keep his voice light and the raging need in his blood from boiling over. He was grateful he was waist deep in the water now, because his erection would have been difficult to hide.
She raised an eyebrow at him, and while he was watching her face, flipped her fins to shower him with water.
Spluttering, he dived after her, to find that she had slipped further away, laughing and splashing.
Underwater, she was even more gorgeous than above, her graceful fins in mesmerizing motion, and she led him out to the wavebreak, and slipped over it into the surf.
Bastian hesitated only a moment before following her, and once past the reef, he shifted, diving fast and powerful through the water as the ocean floor fell away beneath them. She swam faster than a human swimmer, but not as fast as a dragon.
He was gratified by her wide-eyed surprise when he caught up with her.
She reached out as he passed, and her fingers were tantalizing brushing along his scales. He circled back to her, and she put wondering ha
nds on his scaled nose.
You are so beautiful, she said in his head suddenly.
I was just thinking that, he told her, surprised and delighted to discover this new intimacy. Dragons could speak in this fashion with each other, but he had not known that he would be able to speak with mermaids this way, too. Was it only because she was his mate?
Take me deeper! she suggested.
She swam to the back of his head and held onto his horns. Bastian gathered his dragon body and kicked off with wings and legs before folding them back against him and letting his thick tail power them forward.
She was the barest tickle of fins at his head, but she was laughter and delight in his mind as they cut through the water, going deeper and darker below.
The wordless depths had been a place of peace before, but with his mate beside him, they became a new paradise. Schools of fish scattered before them, and a startled octopus darted away in a cloud of frightened ink.
It was several minutes before Bastian realized that he had unexpectedly had no need to return to the surface to breath.
It’s my gift, Saina told him. Sirens can let anything breath underwater that they touch.
I thought your voice was your gift, Bastian said bemusedly.
A girl can have more than one gift. Saina’s mindvoice was sarcastic and dry.
Bastian’s response was wordless gratitude and all the love and adoration in his big dragon heart.
He felt her withdraw from him, silent and non-receptive. Finally, she said, Let’s go back to the resort.
There was an undercurrent of pain to her voice, and Bastian wondered if the swim had been too hard on her shoulder.
He took them back through the clear water, and rose out of the waves with her still clinging to his neck. She had shifted back to human form by the time he stepped onto the sand, and he shifted smoothly so that she was riding on his shoulders when he’d left the last lapping wave behind.
“Let me down!” she said, light laughter in her voice.