The Silkie's Call

by Laura Browning

“And what will you be doing?” Taylor asked.

  “In case it slipped your mind, Taylor, I was supposed to be resting. So if you don’t mind handing over my painkillers, I’m going to take my lame, chemically addicted butt to bed and swallow enough pills to knock me out for the rest of the day.”

  Taylor dug in his pocket and tossed her the bottle which she caught in her right hand. This was her escape. Her way to evade whatever Cayden thought he still wanted. She looked at him for a long moment. Was it relief she felt or just regret? It would be better this way, she thought, and said quietly, “Goodbye, Cayden.”

  Annabel shut her mind, closed off her feelings and swallowed another valium before she rolled her chair next to her bed and set the brake. She grunted with the effort to scoot herself onto her narrow bed. As she finally lay back and stared at the ceiling unseeingly, her mouth twisted. She never wanted Cayden to see her like this. She hoped he understood her message. That this was goodbye.

  ****

  The two men watched her roll out of the kitchen and then heard the door to her room click shut. Cayden felt Taylor watching him. He knew he must have a shocked look on his face. How the hell could he be anything but shocked? Seven years ago, the girl he had known had been vital, athletic and bubbling over with a willingness to experience everything life had to offer. Now she used a wheelchair to simply get around the house where she lived.

  “You didn’t know, did you?” Taylor’s quiet voice interrupted his thoughts.

  “No.” Cayden’s hand clenched in a fist on the table. “I tried to see her in the hospital and her father had me kicked out, then arrested when I tried again.”

  “I didn’t know that,” Taylor said. “But then, it seems there were a lot of things that Poppy and I didn’t know.”

  Cayden looked over at him, at the blond streaked brown hair, the sapphire eyes. “You mean things like Phillip Barton being your father?”

  Taylor snorted. “That would be the biggest one for me. It fucking sucks to find out at the age of twenty-three that you’re the product of a one night fuck-fest between your mother and the man you thought was your uncle.” His expression softened. “But one big benefit that’s priceless? I got Poppy as a sister out of the deal. That makes up for a whole truckload of shit.”

  “You love her.” Cayden envied Taylor that. It seemed so simple and straightforward for the other man.

  “Yeah, I love her…like a sister, Cayden, but not any other way. She’s always been like a kid sister to me, and it tore me up to see what you did to her seven years ago. You ripped her fucking heart out. The Poppy I knew died that summer, and I wanted to kill you then. Hell, there are plenty of days now when I still want to kill you!”

  Cayden’s free hand unclenched, but he continued to hold the ice to his eye with the other hand. “Fair enough. There are a few people I feel that same way about. You just don’t happen to be one of them anymore.”

  “Why the change?”

  Cayden shrugged. “You’re not the fucking competition anymore. You’re her brother. It takes you right out of the game.”

  Taylor crossed his arms across his chest and leaned back in his chair. “She’ll never let you back in her life. And as long as she feels that way, I’ll support her.”

  “I’ll take my chances. I have to.” Cayden stared down at his hand. There were so many things he could say. He could talk about how much he loved her, had always loved her, but that was such an easy word to throw around. “I can’t live without her.”

  “You have for seven freaking years!” Taylor growled.

  Cayden stared down at the back of his hand. “No. I haven’t lived. I existed. Fucking existed was all I did. I went through the motions, doing the things I needed to do to get by without my family and without Bell, but I haven’t lived.” His hand curled up again into a fist and he swallowed thickly.

  “What do you mean without your family?”

  Cayden smiled distractedly. “My family’s a little different. Actually, we’re a lot different, and you wouldn’t believe me if I told you. Anyway, after what happened to Bell, Poppy, I was brought before a Council of Lords and banished for seven years.”

  Taylor was looking at him as if he were insane. “Don’t feed me a fucking load of bullshit, Clifton. I don’t need it, and Poppy sure as hell doesn’t.”

  Cayden stared at Taylor Stokes. “You know it just doesn’t matter anymore. I’m a dead man if she won’t accept me. I’ve already severed ties with my family over her. I might as well show you, because you won’t believe me otherwise. Hell, no normal person would fucking believe it. You seem like a level-headed sort that won’t go off the deep end when you see.”

  “I have no freaking clue what you’re talking about, man,” Taylor told him. “But it’s just crazy sounding enough that I’m curious. I warn you though. You try to yank my chain or pull some crap over on Poppy, and I’ll be all up in your shit.”

  Cayden looked over at the hall leading to Annabel’s room. “Will she really sleep the rest of the day?”

  Taylor followed his gaze. “Yeah. She’s been doing too much, and her body can’t take it. Last night was the final straw.”

  Cayden frowned. “I caused this?”

  “In a roundabout way.”

  “You don’t pull any punches, do you?” Taylor just arched a brow in response, so Cayden continued. “I just can’t get it right. I’ve done nothing but fucking hurt her, and all I ever wanted was to love her. Ever since she was seven, there’s never been anyone else for me.”

  “Since she was seven?”

  Cayden put down the ice and looked at Taylor. His cut was healed and there was no black eye. As he expected, the other man’s eyes widened in astonishment.

  “Your eye! How the hell did you heal so fast?”

  “It’s part of who I am.”

  “You know, I’m in real need of whatever it is you’re gonna tell me about yourself, because that is just some real out there shit that you can heal that fast. Just what the hell are you?”

  Chapter 6

  “It would be easier to show you, and then if you haven’t completely freaked out, I can tell you.”

  Taylor lowered his own ice pack to reveal the beginnings of a real shiner. “All right.”

  Cayden glanced down the hall again. “We’ll have to leave her and go someplace isolated.”

  “I can leave her a note. We’ll take the Revenge. She won’t mind.”

  Cayden began to have second thoughts as they sailed, but he needed an ally in the worst possible way, and if he was ever going to get through to Bell, he needed Taylor’s help. Failure with her was not an option. No fucking way because if he failed, death awaited him. If he succeeded…well, he’d beg forgiveness of his king and the rest of the freaking Council of Lords. Even if they banished him again, at least he would have Bell. Taylor sailed toward Bell’s cove. That was how Cayden always thought of it. It was where they’d shared their first kiss. Such innocence, it seemed so long ago. Now wasn’t the time to think about it. Thinking of Bell always gave him the same reaction, and he didn’t need to be sporting wood while he was trying to win Taylor over.

  When they reached the cove, Taylor tossed the anchor over the side and then drew in the slack. He crossed his arms and looked at Cayden expectantly. “Okay. You’ve piqued my interest, Clifton. This had better be good.”

  Cayden smiled lazily and began to strip off his clothes. He glanced up and saw a flush on Taylor’s cheeks.

  “Whoa! You brought me out here to strip for me? Hey, I’m not really into that shit.”

  Cayden laughed. “Neither am I. But clothes just get in the way.” He set his boxers off to the side and turned to look at Taylor. “Watch closely…and Taylor?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Whatever you think you’re seeing? You really are seeing.”

  Cayden stood up on the gunwale, bent his knees slightly, and briefly touched the leather bracelet on his ankle before he leaped up and out to dive into the w
ater. As his body twisted into the dive, Cayden morphed into a sleek, dark seal.

  ****

  Taylor watched, his breath stopping, his eyes widening, and his mouth falling open.

  “Oh shit! Holy fucking shit!” Taylor gasped. He rushed over to the edge of the Revenge and stared down into the cove. He must be hallucinating. Something was wrong with the aspirin Poppy gave him. Shit! Suddenly about twenty feet from him a seal popped to the surface, swam on its back and then dived below again. Taylor watched as the seal approached just below the surface and then transformed once again into Cayden Clifton’s naked body.

  Cayden surfaced and stared at Taylor warily. “Now you know.”

  “What the fuck are you?” Taylor asked faintly, flopping down on the seat.

  Cayden levered back into the boat the leather bracelet once more around his ankle. “A Silkie.”

  Taylor blinked. “Poppy was into all that seal shit when she was a kid. If you’re a Silkie, aren’t you supposed to dance on the beach naked at midnight and seduce women?”

  Cayden chuckled. “I have no doubt some of my ancestors have probably done just that. In fact, there’s probably a few now who still do. Men, women, who cares? There’s one of the lords on the council who will fuck anything that moves, anywhere, anytime. Hey, you have a towel?”

  Taylor tilted his head. “Do it again.”

  Cayden scowled. “This is not Goddamn Sea World, Taylor! I showed you this to help you understand that things aren’t as straightforward between Bell and me as they might appear. There’s a whole lot of it that’s just a royal pain in the ass.”

  “Yeah, but I’ll bet there are some pretty cool perks too.” Taylor flipped open a storage area under the seat and tossed Cayden a towel. Once he dried off, he hooked the towel around his hips and sat down next to Taylor.

  “Is your whole family Silkies?” Taylor couldn’t take his eyes off this altered reality of the Cayden he thought he knew. He felt an odd tug of familiarity, as if he should know this already.

  Cayden nodded. “Our lineage goes back thousands of years. In our world my father, Carrick, is Lord Carrick over the Northwest Atlantic. I guess it would be kind of like being an Archduke or like that guy in Monaco.”

  “Prince Albert?”

  “Yeah.”

  “So does that make you and your brother princes?”

  Cayden shrugged it off. “It doesn’t matter. I left.”

  “So explain to me how all this plays a role?”

  Cayden stared at Taylor. “You don’t think it will be enough of an issue for your sister that I can turn into a seal?”

  “She doesn’t know?” When Cayden shook his head, Taylor grinned, “Well I can see some potential problems, but then again, Poppy’s always been fascinated by those cute little furry seals.”

  “Fuck you.” Cayden snorted and leaned back against the stern. “There are a lot of problems, but let me give you the background. Do you know anything about Silkies other than the dancing at midnight and seducing women B.S.?”

  “Not really.”

  “Well, we’re basically the aquatic version of faeries and before you ask, not the kind in Key West looking for a new BF. The magic-making kind from legend. And at least part of what you know has some truth to it. We’re attracted to humans. That is to say that some humans call to us. For some of us, it’s a casual thing. Our job is to go make the human happy, and for most humans that means…”

  “Sex,” Taylor supplied with a grin.

  “Right. So most of the time, the Silkie transforms, comes ashore, has a hot, steamy relationship with the human in need and then disappears. No harm, no foul, everybody’s smiling.”

  “Why do I get the feeling that we’re now getting to the ‘but’ and it’s going to squarely involve Poppy?”

  Cayden’s face was totally serious as stared at Taylor. “She first called me when she was seven, Taylor. I wasn’t even old enough to transform as easily as I do now. So I came to her only as a seal. No one but me could hear her.”

  Taylor’s eyes widened. “Oh man! I remember that summer. Her mom died of cancer on Poppy’s birthday.”

  “It’s also my birthday. And she was devastated. She came down to the end of the dock and cried. It was her tears. Each time her tears called me. Seven tears.”

  “She told me that summer she made a friend, but when I teased her, she got mad and said I couldn’t meet him because he was a seal. I thought she was lying.”

  Cayden shook his head. “We played all summer around the dock and farther up along the point. We even took naps next to each other. Because we were both so young, the Council of Lords let us be. After all, I would be prohibited from seeing her again for seven years.”

  “Why seven?”

  Cayden shrugged. “Tradition. The Silkie like the number seven. In the past, when a Silkie impregnated a human, he had to wait seven years before coming back to claim the child. Once a human calls us, we have one season with them and then we must wait. If the human calls no other Silkie, then we’re allowed to return again in seven years.”

  “When she was fourteen,” Taylor said. “But this time you showed up as you, well as the human you.”

  Cayden smiled without humor. “And I also came with all the Silkie baggage that time around. I was under intense pressure to mate with her.”

  “You were supposed to fuck her? She was just fourteen!” Taylor snarled.

  “In our world, she was old enough, and no one saw anything wrong with it. But I knew better. After hearing Poppy’s call when we were nothing more than children, I spent the seven years after that studying humans, and I knew your customs were different. I also knew that even though she might look old enough to do it physically, she wasn’t ready mentally or emotionally. I kept putting it off, making excuses, despite my promise to my father that I would do what I was supposed to. What tradition demanded. Then I fell in love, and by some miracle Poppy loved me back. Despite her father forbidding us from seeing each other, we found a way. We met secretly, but it was still so innocent. Too innocent for my heritage and too intense for hers.”

  “But the accident happened,” Taylor interjected quietly.

  Cayden stared out into the cove and swallowed. His eyes narrowed as he remembered that night, and Taylor saw the sorrow limning his face, making him appear far older than twenty-four. “Yes. The accident. I failed her. When she needed me, I was gone. Her father was right. It was my fault, because if I hadn’t left, if I hadn’t been so proud that my father had asked me to come with him, to train to take over for him one day, then I would have been there. I could have fucking stopped her from sailing out into the sound that day. But I didn’t. And when I failed her, I ended up failing my whole damn family. I couldn’t fulfill what our traditions demanded. It didn’t matter just how close we had come, just like it didn’t matter what had happened to prevent it.”

  Cayden looked back at Taylor. “After your uncle…father had me arrested, my parents came and got me. We sailed immediately for the islands around Scotland where I was brought before the Council of Lords. They, including my father, heard my case and passed judgment. I was banished until my twenty-fourth birthday. I could have no contact with the Silkie. Even my own family.”

  Taylor stared at him. “But that was just two days ago. And last night, I saw you out with your father and your brother. Wait…I thought you said you couldn’t come to Poppy unless she called. What about last night?”

  “If you’ll think about it, Taylor, I was watching you. I never made eye contact with Annabel, I never spoke to her.”

  “Then how are you here, now?”

  Cayden swallowed again. “Last night after you got back, she came down to the dock and called to me. Seven tears, and to me each one reverberated as loudly in the water as a thunderclap echoing through the mountains. She doesn’t realize that she’s doing it. And I have no choice. I must come to her. God help me, Taylor. She may hate me, but I can’t leave her.”

  “What h
appens if things don’t work this time?” Taylor asked quietly.

  Cayden’s laugh was harsh. “I’ll die.”

  “They’ll kill you?”

  “No. I’ll die. My life will end. For me to live, I must fully mate with her or she must die.”

  “What?” Taylor’s dark blue eyes narrowed chillingly. “You’re not killing my sister, Cayden. I’ll kill you before I let anything happen to her.”

  He looked at Taylor sadly. “Haven’t you heard a word I’ve said? I could never kill Bell. She is my heart, my mate. Silkies may be into casual sex, but a mate is for life. She’s mine. I would die before I hurt her again or let anyone else hurt her,” he finished hardly.

  Taylor stared at him. “Is someone threatening her?”

  Cayden’s expression shut down and he closed his mouth in a thin line. “I should go.”

  “Where? If you’ve cut off ties with your family, where are you living?”

  Cayden shrugged. “What does it matter? I can morph into a seal so any beach will do.”

  “There is the little matter of clothing.”

  “I keep a stash around. And I’m buying a boat.” Cayden stared at Taylor and said quietly, “I’m glad she has you, and I’m sorry about the eye and your nose.”

  He stood up, dropped the towel, and was over the side of the Revenge before Taylor could ask him anything else. And he still had a million questions. Like what had happened in less than twenty-four hours that Cayden had gone from going out for a beer with his dad to cutting off ties? Somehow, though, he knew it had to do with Poppy.

  He pulled up anchor and sailed the Revenge back across the bay. He knew without having been told that what Cayden shared was done in confidence. Taylor grimaced. Besides, who would believe the guy was one of the seal people anyway, unless they saw it with their own eyes? After all, Silkies were a myth. Not people you lived around year in and year out. And Cayden had talked about Faeries like they were just as real. What the fuck was that? Suddenly Taylor was reassessing everything he had thought to be true for the past seven years.

  He had no choice. He had to believe Cayden. He had seen with his own eyes the transformation from man to seal and back again. And having been shown that little brain-frying bit of information, he had no reason to doubt any part of his story. Even down to what happened after Poppy’s accident. After all, he already knew his parents and Uncle Phil had lied. They’d lied to him for years. That left Cayden as the one who had told the truth, and risked revealing his family’s secrets to do it. Pretty compelling evidence.