The Siren's Son (The Siren Legacy Book 1)

by Helen Scott

  “My lady.” Alec bowed. “Your torches.” He held out the necklace in a gesture of reverence.

  Hecate came forward, her statuesque frame and elegant stride making her look more regal than ever before. The goddess collected the necklace and fastened it around her own neck.

  “Much better.”

  “Thank you for trying your spell.” Ellie smiled at her.

  “My dear, a goddess does not try, a goddess does what she wants. She bends the earth to her will.” Hecate smiled a little at the end, letting Ellie know her attitude was just for show.

  “Do you require assistance in transporting Circe, my lady?”

  “No. I will handle her myself. Be warned. Zeus will most likely want to speak with you. Also your brothers are back at your home waiting for you. I healed Thaddeus and transformed them all back into their human forms.”

  “Thank you, my lady.”

  “You are most welcome. Thank you for the return of my most precious items. And thank you for your bravery, Ellie. I have not met one such as yourself in a long time. If you ever have questions about magic, please reach out. I will be happy to steer you on the right path.” Hecate and Circe began to disappear in front of their eyes.

  “Let’s go home.” Alec held his hand out to Ellie.

  They arrived in Alec’s living room and found the brothers in the kitchen, eating him out of house and home. The counter was covered with sandwiches and salad and all kinds of takeout. Their plates were piled high, and they were busy stuffing their faces.

  “I see we’re having a family dinner?” Alec raised his eyebrows at them.

  “Hecate said you guys had won and you’d be home soon, so Hal stopped for food on the way back. You know how much he can eat,” Thad said after washing his mouthful down with some beer.

  “I’m glad you’re healed,” Ellie said, truly meaning it. She had hated seeing him injured, even in dog form, knowing it would upset Alec.

  “Thanks, Ellie. Want to join us for dinner?”

  “I’m starved.” Ellie’s stomach growled as though it was emphasizing the point for her, causing the brothers to laugh. It was a moment she wished she could freeze in time. She had never seen them so happy.

  “You okay, brother?” Hal said, taking in the bruises that covered the left side of Alec’s face.

  “I’ll be fine. Nothing that won’t heal,” Alec said, slapping Hal on the back.

  “So how’d you guys do it?” Hal asked.

  Alec proceeded to fill them in on the events that occurred while they were knocked out upstairs as dogs. His version made Ellie seem like some kind of superhero. She objected where she could, and downplayed her role without making it seem like Alec was lying. As they all finished their meals and headed to their own homes, each brother came over and thanked Ellie individually, making her feel uncomfortable like they were paying her tribute somehow. After they left, Alec and Ellie sat in silence for a moment.

  “Ellie, I want to thank you for coming after me, well, coming after all of us,” Alec said, clearing his throat.

  “I came for you.” Ellie was staring at the sleeve of the hoodie she had borrowed during dinner. All the power that had been flowing through her when they were facing off with Circe was gone, and now she felt cold and empty.

  “I know you want to leave, but would you let me kiss you one last time before I jump you back to the shop?”

  Ellie looked up at him, tears shimmering in her eyes.

  “I want you, Alec, I truly do, but I can’t do this. I can’t be vulnerable again, not yet.”

  Alec looked like she had punched him in the gut.

  “Let’s get you back to the shop then.” Alec’s voice was grave with unspoken emotions.

  “Thanks.”

  He jumped them back to Speak O’ the Devil, and they stood there awkwardly for a moment.

  “You take care, Ellie.” Alec gently kissed her on the cheek. “If you ever need me, just give me a call; my info is in your phone.”

  A thunderbolt struck the room before Alec could jump out. He pulled Ellie to the side and slightly behind him.

  Alec whispered under his breath, “Zeus.”

  A large man with slicked-back brown hair—close-cropped on the sides and long on the top, with a thick gray streak coming from the crown of his head—stood in front of them. He was muscular and tall and dressed like a hipster, all skinny jeans, plaid shirt, curly beard, and glasses. Ellie was willing to bet he could even put his hair in a man bun or braid if he wanted. This was not the Zeus Ellie was expecting.

  “Alec, good to see you again. And you must be Ellie. I’ve heard a lot about you from Hecate.”

  “My lord.” Alec went down on one knee.

  “My lord,” Ellie said, curtsying.

  “Up, up, enough of that. I just came to confirm Hecate’s story.”

  Alec went through and explained things again, significantly downplaying Ellie’s part.

  “You are of lightning blood?” Zeus asked, looking at Ellie with a raised eyebrow.

  “I don’t think so. My family is of Fae blood; my powers just manifested this way.”

  “I see.” He stroked his impressive beard as if deep in thought. “I could use someone with your talents. Would you be willing to work for me?” There was something in his voice that made Ellie think he was talking about more than just slinging lightning bolts at people.

  “My lord, with all due respect, I came here to close up my grandfather’s store. I’ve a life to return to in Scotland.”

  “Ah, I understand. Well if you ever change your mind, just call for me.”

  “Thank you, my lord.” Ellie curtsied again for good measure, and when she raised her head, she found Zeus staring at her. She could feel Alec by her side, prickling at the attention Zeus was giving her. Zeus’s gaze traveled over her body, making her feel more like an object he wanted to acquire than a person.

  “My lord, what of Circe’s fate?” Alec said, interrupting Zeus, who was undressing Ellie with his eyes.

  “She will be punished by the Furies.”

  “For how long?”

  “Until they report back to me that her need for vengeance has been broken.”

  “I see.” Alec’s voice was grave.

  “Hera’s waiting. She’s in one of her moods. Thank you both for your good work.”

  With another clap of thunder and a huge lightning bolt, he was gone.

  Ellie looked at Alec. “That was really Zeus?”

  “Do you know someone else who travels by lightning?”

  “But he looked so young!”

  “People see what they want to see.” He shrugged. “Do me a favor?”

  “Sure.”

  “If he visits you again, for any reason, call me?”

  “I will. I’ve never felt as exposed as when he was looking at me. It was really uncomfortable.”

  “He does love busty brunettes. Well, he loves women in general—and men too, for that matter—but your lightning powers might garner you more attention from him than you want.”

  “I don’t want any.”

  “Exactly. Just try not to say his name, and if he approaches you, tell him you always work with me or something to that effect, and hopefully he will back off.”

  “Okay.”

  “I’m going to head out.”

  “Okay.” There was a knot in Ellie’s throat as Alec turned to her. She didn’t want to be apart from him, but she also didn’t trust herself around him.

  “If you ever want to give this a shot, call me. It was truly a pleasure getting to know you, Eilidh MacLeod.”

  Alec leaned in and gave her a final kiss on the cheek, his lips soft and warm, sending a shiver of anticipation down her spine. But he jumped out before he even pulled away. When Ellie opened her eyes and realized he was gone, tears started rolling down her cheeks. She didn’t try to check them or hold them in, she just let it go. She sank to the floor in a prison of misery of her own making.

  Al
ec arrived back at his house and went to his liquor cabinet; he didn’t need a glass for what he had planned tonight. He was going to get good and hammered. He loved her, and he let her go because that’s what she wanted, but it was killing him.

  Hal jumped over a few hours later when Alec was already three sheets to the wind, and he tried to take the bottle away. It didn’t go well for either of them. Alec flew at him in a fury he couldn’t control, breaking furniture and bones like they were twigs. Hal must have sent a distress call to Dem and Thad since they jumped in just as Alec broke Hal’s arm.

  His fury was immediately transferred to the two brothers who had just arrived. They charged him together. They had always worked well in tandem, but they weren’t prepared for the sheer, mindless anger and hopelessness that drove Alec.

  His punches and kicks were swift and hit pressure points all over their bodies, leaving them with arms that didn’t work for a few moments or legs that buckled under them. His fighting—although sloppy because he was drunk—was almost the best it had ever been. The three of them had to work together to finally restrain him. Hal leaned over him, eyes full of pity, while Alec raged against them. Pain exploded over Alec’s face as they hit him again and again and again before everything went black.

  Alec’s face was cold, and his body was stiff when he came to. He stretched out, and his feet hit something. Cracking his eyes open, his suspicions were confirmed: he was in the cage at the back of the training area. They had sworn to only ever use it out of desperation or self-preservation. They saved it for if one of them ever lost his mind and was uncontrollable.

  He had never thought they would actually end up using the cage. Shows what he knew. He raged against the thick bars until he wore himself out and the despair took over. Finally after hours of fighting the cage, Alec couldn’t hold back any more and howled his grief to the gods. He had never thought love could hurt like this.

  “Well, Granddad, I think it’s time I took you and Gran home, don’t you?” Ellie knew talking to her grandparents’ ashes wasn’t the closest she had ever been to sane, but it felt strange to do this by herself. Hell, after everything that had happened, it still felt strange to be alone—even after spending two weeks packing up Granddad’s shop, moving everything, and going back to her studio apartment.

  The brownies were always there, though they didn’t speak with her. She probably wouldn’t have been able to pack the shop up safely if it hadn’t been for their help. There were multiple days when she woke up to boxes filled with items from around the shop.

  Now that she was home, her apartment had never been cleaner. She left food out for them every night, and in the morning, everything was clean. It still didn’t make her feel any less alone though. Ellie’s time with the siren brothers had fulfilled her in ways she didn’t realize she had been missing.

  Still, it was time to spread her grandparents’ ashes. Gran’s favorite season had always been spring. She loved seeing the first flowers poking their tentative leaves up from the cold, sleeping ground.

  Since Granddad loved nothing more than his wife, Ellie thought this would be the best time to take a mini holiday and go to the Isle of Skye where the MacLeod clan was strong and spread the ashes of the two people she loved most in the world. Plus with all her credit cards maxed out from shipping the contents from Speak O’ the Devil back to Scotland and paying for their storage, she’d had to save up before she could rent a car for the trip. Ellie had the distinct feeling that unless she won the lottery, she was going to be broke from now until eternity.

  She drove into the mountainous Highlands and past the lochs, the beauty of which seemed unable to touch her as it usually did. Her thoughts were preoccupied with Alec; the one thing she couldn’t seem to get out of her head was that siren. Maybe this was just part of his siren charm? That was the thought she kept repeating to herself whenever he crossed her mind, which was all the time. It may have been months since she last saw him, but she could still feel the strength of his touch, the heat of his embrace, and the scratch of his stubble on her skin as he kissed her silly. Her heart still began to race at the thought of him.

  Ellie shook herself back to the present. Alec was amazing, but she needed to look after herself, to grieve her grandfather, and move on. After her trip to the US, she had gone back to her flat and her eight-to-five job and focused on getting through each day, one after another. She convinced herself she wouldn’t be lonely for much longer—if she could just get past this. But here she was, less than an hour into her three-hour drive, and her brain was swimming with images of him.

  For months she had been wondering what he was doing, what item or person he was tracking down now. If he had met someone else, what she looked like, if they had amazing sex, if all the sex he had was as amazing as the sex they had together. She was driving herself mad.

  At least once a day she picked up her phone to call him, to reach out and tell him how much she missed him. It wouldn’t be fair though. She wasn’t immortal, and if he stayed with her, he would have to watch her grow old and die. That thought brought her back to her mission.

  This trip wasn’t about Alec or any of the craziness that happened when she was in the US. This trip was about her grandparents, giving them a fitting farewell, and laying them to rest in the same area as so many of their ancestors. She was not going to spend this time thinking about how she had found love and had walked away from it because she was a coward. Besides, she couldn’t love someone after a week or two, could she?

  A sinking feeling in her stomach told her there was no mistaking this feeling of heartbreak though. That was what hurt the most, knowing she was choosing to walk away from love because she didn’t want to deal with the question of her mortality versus his immortality.

  Coming back to this life—where she managed a shop and lived in a flat that had cockroaches bigger than her dinner most nights—highlighted just how much of life she had missed. She wanted it all, but she was trapped by her own fear. Tired of going over the same thing in her head again and again, Ellie flipped the radio on and began singing her heart out to whatever came on. It was the only way she could stop thinking about him.

  “I want to go and see Aphrodite,” Alec said to Hal. The bars still separated them. Alec was still somewhat unstable, and his brothers didn’t trust him. His mood swings left them all with whiplash. He would go from pleading and begging to a fury they had never seen in him before in a matter of seconds. So he stayed in the cage. He knew he was unsafe, but all he wanted was Ellie. “She has to have a way to fix me, to make this easier, and if she doesn’t, then just call Charon, he can take me over Styx to the underworld. Either way, I can’t live like this anymore. I can’t ask you to take care of me like this. I’m no longer worthy of being a siren brother, of bearing the guardian name.”

  Hal sighed, staring at his brother thoughtfully. Alec knew Hal was his only hope. He was the only one who had been bringing him food and water, as well as the occasional book, most of which was thrown back in his face when the rage took over.

  Occasionally Hal would sneak him a beer or two when he could tell Alec’s rage was passing and he was falling into his own personal pit of despair, which at least gave the guy a peaceful night. That is until Alec threw the bottles at Hal the next day. Alec’s hair and beard had grown long, and he had lost weight. He had changed so much in just a few short months. He knew his brother hated seeing him in the cage.

  “I will see if she will grant you audience. I make no promises though.”

  Alec sank to the floor, staring up at his brother with admiration. “Thank you, Hal, thank you so much.”

  “Don’t thank me yet, she still needs to grant you an audience.”

  Hal walked away from his brother, who remained on the floor as though he didn’t have the energy to get up. Some days he raged against the cage, others he was despondent. The change in him was as though he’d lost part of himself, and Hal would do anything to get his brother back, or at least provide
him with peace.

  Hal knew if he was ever going to gain Aphrodite’s favor, then he would have to win it with the finest Commandaria wine from Cypress and a basket overflowing with the sweetest pomegranates and apples. Hal also picked the best roses from Thad’s garden; they were the most fragrant roses he had ever encountered.

  After traveling to the house the brothers had on the mainland that wasn’t warded, with everything gathered for Aphrodite in tow, he called to her. He began scenting the room with incense and decorating it with mirrors and images of doves and swans—her favorite birds—all just to persuade her to respond.

  The air became thick with a sweet scent that indicated she was responding to his call, and he was stunned. Never had one of the more prominent gods or goddesses responded so quickly. He laid the wine and fruit out on the table alongside the roses he had placed in the most beautiful vase he could find. When she appeared before him, he went down on one knee.

  “My most beautiful lady,” Hal whispered reverently, his head bowed so as not to be overwhelmed by her beauty.

  “Why have you called me here?” She wandered around the room, assessing the decorating he had done in her honor, then came to stop before him. “Rise, son of the siren, and answer me.” He rose up, taking in her beauty as much as he could while avoiding looking at her face. He needed to remain alert. Speaking with a goddess could be very tricky, especially one as sensitive as Aphrodite.

  “My lady, my brother has lost his love, and we humbly request your assistance. Would you be willing to meet with him?”

  “Lost his love?”

  “Yes, my lady.”

  “I didn’t think you were supposed to form attachments.”

  “We aren’t—it was a surprise to all of us.” Curiosity lit her face, which Hal watched from his peripheral vision.

  “I will meet with him.”

  “My lady, we are most honored by your assistance. I would warn you though, he has been driven half-mad by her departure and has been kept in a secure cell for everyone’s protection. This also means he is not groomed in such a way as would honor you. If you take my hand, I will take you to him now, or I can escort you at a later time once he has been cleaned up, whichever my lady prefers.”