by Helen Scott
The fires beside the stone table blazed as his father and uncles picked up his grandmother’s body and began carrying her to her final resting place. His mother led the family in a dirge as they marched to the burial site.
The dream flashed forward slightly.
Alec was sitting on a mat by the door to his parent’s home, sipping his wine and nibbling some bread. He didn’t think he had ever seen his whole family in one place before, at least not to his memory. His grandfather, Orestes, had died when he was young, and he didn’t have any memory of the funeral. With his grandmother, Acacia, passing, his family lost their matriarch, and the whole family had turned out to pay their respects.
It didn’t hurt that Acacia had been much beloved by everyone in the family, whereas Orestes had been hardened by warfare over his lifetime, and from what Alec knew, he had been a punishing father.
Alec watched as his mother, Thelxiope, visited with her siren sisters, Melope, Peisinoe, and Aglaope. All the women present were dressed in dark mourning robes, but something about the way his mother and her sisters carried themselves was almost regal. Their voices were musical when joined together, and he could tell everyone there was having trouble not drifting toward them. They were clearly aware of the problem themselves as they talked in hushed tones with only the occasional giggle breaking through. His aunts and uncles from his father’s side of the family were there as well. As he watched, he could tell which god had blessed which uncle or aunt. They each possessed qualities, movements, or looks that were oddly accented by the god or goddess who had blessed them at birth.
Nikolaos’s laugh punctured his reverie. Alec glanced over and saw his uncle Leandro clapping his father on the shoulder as they joined in the laughter together. No doubt they were reminiscing about growing up together and comparing notes on fatherhood as Leandro and his wife had just had their first child. Alec hoped for the child’s sake Leandro was more caring than his father.
A stream of images crossed his mind of every time he had tried to make his father proud and failed. Another burst of laughter from Nikolaos brought Alec to his feet; he was outside before the thought even crossed his mind. Seeing his father’s side of the family together and so happy, even on such a sad occasion, had made him realize how much he didn’t fit with them. He wound his way around his parent’s house and back into a grove of trees where he could look down at the water below.
The one thing about being blessed by the gods and goddesses was it helped lengthen the life span. Although he knew his uncles and aunts weren’t immortal like himself and his brothers, Alec couldn’t help but wonder how long they would live. Before he could stop it, his mind turned to the morbid side of immortality: How many family members and friends would he bury? How many lovers? In that moment, he wished his mother had been someone different, that the fact that she was a siren hadn’t meant anything. But it did, and he realized while he wouldn’t have to bury his mother or his brothers, he would have to bury his father, unless his mother was somehow able to make him immortal too. Alec was ashamed of himself when he realized the thought didn’t upset him. He should grieve his father when he passed, but right now he didn’t feel anything for him.
He watched the waves lapping the shore and wished more than anything he could spread his wings and fly, but there were too many people around. While his family knew, in theory, his mother and her sisters were the sirens of legend, his father had drilled four rules into him: never expose himself and his gifts, never show his weakness to anyone, never appear as anything other than a strong Grecian, and never give anyone reason to suspect he was anything other than human. Those four rules had been the bulk of what his father had said to him throughout his life. He had always been more siren than warrior, and his father couldn’t abide that.
Alec’s mind wandered back to his last visit with his grandmother and the prophecy she had foretold. He conjured as many images as he could of what a woman with wings of power would look like. He prayed to the gods she would either be immortal, too, or that he may never meet her. The last thing he wanted was to outlive his soul mate. He prayed to the gods she would love him as he was and not wish he was something different, as his father so clearly did.
Before he could second-guess himself, Alec shook out his wings and took flight from the grove of trees down to the water. He glided through the air with little effort and dipped and rolled, splashing the water around himself before soaring high and diving down under the surface. He was never as happy as when he was flying.
Alec rolled over, his mind still dreaming of his family, and snuggled up to Ellie. Her butt fit snugly against his groin, and his chin rested above her head. She wiggled back into him, trying to get even closer as he wrapped an arm around her, clutching her to him like one of the most precious jewels. Finally the dream dissipated, and Alec slept a deep and dreamless sleep.
Ellie woke up cozy in bed, which she didn’t remember going to, but was very glad she was there nestled against Alec. He really was an amazing man. She thought about everything she had learned about him over the past few days and realized she was developing strong feelings for him, which she didn’t know what to do with. She lay there for a while just listening to him snore softly and breathing in the scent of him until she started to want to fidget. She carefully slid out of bed without disturbing Alec.
The warmth that pooled in her belly when she thought of him—let alone looked at him—sent a shiver down her spine. He had been perfectly curled around her when she woke, and he was still in that position now. His tanned skin was practically glowing against the sheets.
Her eyes drifted down his body. It was covered in small scars all over the place, and she wondered where they all came from. His hands reached out for her in his sleep, his long elegant fingers grasping the sheets and pulling them close. They were phenomenal fingers, so capable and strong.
She could easily fall for him, but she shouldn’t let herself. She needed to be strong. She needed to be in control, which was about as likely as her turning into a siren at this point. She sighed, pulling his discarded T-shirt over her head, and went downstairs. Making him breakfast seemed like a way to start saying thank you for everything he had done to help her recently—not to mention the mind-blowing sex. Not that they were going to have any more of that. She couldn’t risk falling any further than she had already.
Alec woke to the smell of bacon and coffee. He was out of bed and downstairs before he remembered Ellie was staying with him. He saw her standing over the stove singing to herself and doing a little shimmy whenever she moved the bacon around.
With her hair piled on her head in a loose bun, and he suspected no bra on, his entire body craved her. It wasn’t just about sex anymore; he wanted to know how she slept, if she had good dreams or bad dreams, did she remember her dreams? What was her favorite breakfast? Hell, what was her favorite color? He wanted to know everything there was to know about Ellie MacLeod.
“Morning.” He sounded grumpy, and he didn’t mean to, damn it. “How’d you sleep?” He walked over and smacked her butt.
“Very well, thank you, and yourself?” She smiled up at him.
“Better than I have in decades.”
“Must have been all that jumping you did yesterday.”
“Or the mind-blowing sex.” He came and stood behind her, one of his hands exploring the no-bra theory while he kissed a trail from her ear to her collarbone, eliciting a soft moan from her. He was totally right: definitely no bra and cooking him breakfast. She was sexy as hell.
“Alec.” She sighed as he pulled her back to feel the length of him pressing against her. She shook herself and tapped his hand away. “I need to finish breakfast, which won’t happen if you start that. Go pour yourself a cup of coffee. Also that’s the fanciest coffeemaker I’ve ever seen.” She pointed at it with the spatula in an almost accusatory way.
“It can make whatever I want,” he said defensively as he reluctantly left Ellie to finish what she was doing.
“Tony didn’t mention it before he left, did he? I swear, I’m not trying to force you to stay, but we should really give the tattoo a few days to ramp up its protection before you leave. I’m sorry. I know you want to get back.”
“It’s fine.”
Uh-oh. Someone saying they were fine was never a good sign in his book. Alec carefully approached the stove, staying to the side so she wouldn’t think he was trying to get some again.
“Are you really okay with it? We can try to figure something else out if you want. Maybe the brothers and I can take rotating shifts with you at the store or something.” He turned her toward him. He didn’t care if the eggs got screwed up.
“Alec, I like staying with you. I was just wondering what the plan was. That’s it.” She turned back to the stove. As he walked away, he heard her mutter something under her breath, but wasn’t sure what it was. They had been connecting so well. Now it was like a wall had gone up between them. He wanted to tear it down, and he’d do it piece by piece if he had to.
As they ate, they made the kind of small talk people make at uncomfortable social functions. He wasn’t sure what had put the wall up, but he wanted to try to figure it out before he tore the thing down; otherwise, it was liable to go right back up.
“Do you want to try to figure out how to control your magic today?”
“If you think we can do that without having to have sex, aye, that’d be good.”
Alec looked crestfallen, and it almost broke Ellie’s heart. His eyes had become a stormy gray-blue, where it looked like the blue had almost bled out of them until they were just gray.
“Sure, yeah, that’s no problem. Let me just check in with my brothers first, and we can go from there. Sound good?”
“Fine with me.”
Ellie stood and started clearing away the dishes. She felt terrible about being so cold to Alec—especially when it was the last thing her body wanted—but her heart couldn’t take getting attached and then having to break things off when she left, or worse, turning him violent like Robbie.
She couldn’t take losing someone else.
Alec had jumped out without so much as a good-bye, not that she deserved one with the way she was treating him. Some strong tea would solve everything, right?
Chapter 12
Hal was talking about meeting with Hecate. He had been for the past ten minutes. The trouble was all the words were flowing over Alec like water over a rock. They had all decided to meet to regroup and share their knowledge. The problem was he couldn’t pay attention to any of them; all he could think about was Ellie and the wall that had gone up between them. Maybe the magic lesson this afternoon would help break through that—or maybe not—Ellie was too hard for him to predict, not like the other women he had dated over the years. And he loved that she kept him on his toes.
“Alec? Earth to Alec? Ellie’s in trouble?”
“What!” Alec stood up so fast his chair fell to the floor behind him.
“Ah, so that’s where your mind was.” Hal smirked.
“Is she okay? How did something get on the island?”
“Why would Ellie be on the island?” Demetrius rumbled from the corner.
“Ellie’s fine. I was just trying to get you to pay attention.” Hal swept over Dem’s question.
“Sorry.” Alec at least had the decency to look sheepish.
“Now that you’re paying attention…” Hal sighed. “We’ve had multiple reports of undead seeking different objects, breaking in to different magic stores in the entire New England area. The store owners who are aware of such things actually existing are terrified, and the rest are chalking it up to teenagers playing pranks. We think we’re close to narrowing down where they are coming from. Demetrius discovered that if you can somehow break the spell, then the things will return to their graves.”
“Like clockwork,” Demetrius muttered from across the room, his big arms folded over his chest.
“So we need to scout the area around Portsmouth and see if we can narrow it down any further.”
“Actually, there was an attack at Speak O’ the Devil the other day while I was there trying to find my order. Ellie hit the thing with magic, and it seemed to confuse the creature into leaving.”
“It was probably going back to its grave.”
“How exactly did this Ellie girl stop it?” Thaddeus was leaning forward from his seat, his elbows resting on his knees and his hands supporting his chin.
“I’m not sure exactly; she’s not very familiar with magic, but it looked like a bolt of lightning.”
“Is she blessed by Zeus? Or a descendant?”
“Not that I’m aware of. Although magic does run in her family, I don’t think it’s related to the gods.”
“It may be useful to explore this further. We should speak with Ellie about her magic—if she’s willing to help—it might give us an edge when we come up against Circe.” Thaddeus was ever the strategist.
“No!” Alec bellowed from across the room. The idea of Ellie facing Circe with them made his blood run cold. He didn’t care what he had to do. He was damn sure going to keep her safe. A little voice inside Alec reminded him she was mortal and they couldn’t be together for long anyway because of Zeus, but he wasn’t going to take advantage of the fact that she stumbled into their lives. And he sure as hell wouldn’t let his brothers do it either. He took a breath, trying desperately to regain his calm demeanor. “I don’t want to put Ellie in danger. She’s not part of this world, and she doesn’t want to be.”
“Then we should see if she can demonstrate her magic. We may have something in the vaults that can replicate it.”
“Why don’t we just go to Speak O’ the Devil and ask?” Demetrius was clearly on board with Thaddeus’s plan.
“She uh… she’s not there.” Alec spoke softly.
“Where is she?” Thaddeus cocked his head, his blond curls falling to the side, exposing his ghostly eyes and the unnerving ring of grayish blue that existed, it seemed, only to highlight that his irises and pupils were white.
Alec shifted his feet before finally looking at Hal. He knew he should have taken her home by now, but he couldn’t stand the thought of her in danger.
“She’s at my place.”
“You brought her to the island without asking any of us?” Demetrius growled.
“She was injured and needed protection. I didn’t have time to ask.”
“Is she healed?”
“Yes.” Alec hated this. He just wanted to protect Ellie.
“Then why is she still here?”
“She needs protection. Circe can possess her.” That little knowledge bomb proved enough to distract them.
“Circe’s never had that kind of power before!” Thaddeus shook his head, which given the fact that most of the time you couldn’t see half his face, was his version of a concerned expression. After a moment, he came to the same conclusion Alec had. “She must have gained access to all Hecate’s powers when she took the torches.”
“Well, before we find her, we need to figure out how to break the spell connecting her with Hecate, or at least how to separate the torches from Hecate’s power,” Alec said.
“Let’s go talk with Ellie and see what her powers do. Then we’ll contact Hecate and go from there. Agreed?” Hal hated talking in circles and would much rather have actionable steps.
Following head nodding all around, they all jumped to Alec’s place.
“Ellie?” Alec called out.
“Here.” Her sweet voice rang out from the library. He raced to see her first, to try to warn her before his brothers got there, but there was no time. Hal jumped in next, followed by Demetrius and Thaddeus.
“Ah, Ellie, the brothers wanted to chat with you about your p
owers.” Ellie put down the book she was reading and uncurled herself from the armchair.
“Hello!” She smiled brightly at them.
“You know Hal and Demetrius. The one with the mop on his head is Thaddeus.” Alec gestured to the last one of them to enter the room.
“Nice to meet you, Thaddeus.”
“Call me Thad, please, and it’s a pleasure.” He dipped in a slight bow to Ellie.
She smiled at the brothers, but when she turned to Alec, her smile faltered. His heart burned to know what was wrong, but now was not the time. They all sat in the library. Ellie claimed an armchair, and Alec hovered near her, although eventually he relegated himself to the desk chair. The brothers sat on various chairs and couches throughout the room. Looking around, Alec couldn’t remember the last time the brothers had been over that hadn’t been a predetermined movie night or just for his cooking. They filled the space of the library in a way that almost made him feel claustrophobic.
“Ellie, what can you tell us about your powers?” Thad was going to be the one doing the questioning; it was his preferred role in their little band of misfits. He was easily able to read people and was sometimes even able to catch visions about them. Thad, being Thad, never told anyone what he saw though.
“I’ve only experienced them a bit; I’m not sure there is anything to tell.”
“When do they happen?”
“Alec said I shot that thing that attacked us, so mainly under times of intense emotion.” A blush crept up Ellie’s cheeks. She was so beautiful; Alec hated that her gaze was not directed at him. A spike of jealousy rose in him as he realized he wanted her all to himself.
“What happened the other times you’ve experienced intense emotion?”
“It was like lightning shot from my hands.”
“Do you know what caused it to do so?”
“Yes.”
“Mind expanding on that?” Thad smiled sweetly at her.