by Kaye Draper
Grey set her water aside and snagged one of the shots off the tray, not waiting for the others to join her. Tossing back something apple flavored, she set the shot glass down and stared into Steffen’s warm brown eyes. “You seriously just said that, didn’t you?”
He bit his bottom lip again, and for fuck’s sake no, Grey, you’re not allowed to think that’s hot. This is Steffen. And he’s a fucking mess because your mother basically mind-jacked him. Or...something.
Steffen gave her a wobbly smile, thankfully oblivious to her thoughts. “Yeah. Pathetic, right?” He shrugged. “But Pontus and the therapist guy think maybe it’s because you used your...uh, magic...to break that bitch’s control over my brain. They think I uh...imprinted on you? Or something. It makes more sense when you hear them go on and on about it.”
His smile grew a little stronger. “I think they’re onto something though, dumb as it sounds. I already feel the anxiety easing up, just from hearing your voice, from being close to you.” Then his smile fell, and he put his elbows on the table, head in his hands. “Fuck, I’m so god damned messed up.”
Grey sighed and reached out to pat the top of his head, absolutely not noticing how soft his hair was or how that thing inside her was absolutely in agreement with the assessment that he needed her to control him, to own him like every other man in the place. “Okay,” she muttered. “It’s fine. Everyone around here is at least a little messed up, so you’re in good company.”
Steffen lifted his head, looking tired. “You’ll let me hang out with you sometimes?”
Grey shrugged. “Sure, why not?”
He straightened up and glanced out to the open space where the others were still dancing and laughing. “What about them? They hate me.”
“Well,” Grey said in a gruff voice, “I guess you’ll just have to make them not hate you, if you want to stick around.”
Standing, she made to join the others, then hesitated, looking back over her shoulder at the lonely ex-singer. “For what it’s worth, I think they miss you too. You guys were all friends once upon a time, right?”
He hesitated, then nodded. “Until I messed everything up.”
“So go apologize,” she said, rolling her eyes. “It’s not that hard. I’d start with Luca or Ethan. They won’t punch you. Probably. Save Matheus for last, cause he might actually try to murder you. You never know.”
Steffen laughed and stood, following Grey to the small dancefloor area. Gods, it was just one weird thing after another.
Now she had to figure out how the hell to undo whatever she had done to Steffen’s brain. But what if undoing that let him be controlled by someone else all over again?
Chapter 12
In the end, everyone took Steffen’s presence pretty well, with only a few minor jabs at his past assholism. Joy hadn’t known him before, and only saw all the pretty, so at least he had someone to talk to. Even if Grey suspected Steffen didn’t swing Joy’s way...at least, when he wasn’t under mind control.
They practically closed down the club, stumbling out and going their separate ways amid an easy, sleepy buzz of alcohol and contentment. A hired car took them back to the townhouse, since they’d all been drinking. Grey and the others waited patiently, swaying on the curb, as Luca tipped the driver then turned to them. She looped an arm around Grey’s waist as they all headed up the front steps and into the house, softly singing all the wrong words to one of their new songs.
Grey chuckled and leaned up to kiss Luca’s jaw. “You’re skunk as a drunk.”
Luca snorted and stopped in the hallway, pulling Grey around into a hug. “Am too.” She bent her head and ravished Grey’s mouth in a passionate, ridiculously over-the-top kiss that left them both laughing and gasping for air.
A big hand ghosted over Grey’s hip, and Mat’s deep voice floated through the boozy haze. “No fair,” he purred. “I want a kiss too.”
Grey rolled her eyes, her body saying “Yes, please,” but what was left of her soggy reasoning saying she shouldn’t...for some reason. Luca just released her into Mat’s arms like it was the most natural thing in the world. “Such a whiny baby,” Luca told the bassist as she carefully made her way to the living room to collapse on the couch.
Grey liked the way Mat’s long arms felt around her as he drew her close, pressing her curvy new body to his long, hard form. “Well? Do I get a goodnight kiss, Grey?”
His hazel eyes were sleepy with alcohol and hooded with that slow-burn of lust that made Grey’s knees weak—like every single sappy romance novel ever written. She tilted her head back, giving him a stoic look. “I suppose, if you must .”
Mat smirked and leaned down, his lips sliding over hers in a wicked promise as his hands drifted lower to cup her wide ass and fit her closer to him. Kissing Matheus was an experience. His hands on her body, his lips on hers, trailing to her jaw and along her neck, all said just how much practice he’d had driving people wild. And Grey was surprised how absolutely glad she was that he was such a man-whore. Because she was going to reap all the benefits of all those trial runs....
They pulled apart and Mat gripped her hips again, turning her away from him and gently pushing her toward Ethan, who was watching them, his kind blue eyes filled with want. Some part of Grey knew she was going to have some serious embarrassment to deal with at some point. But that was for later, for sober Grey to deal with. Drunk Grey just wanted to take everything she was being offered.
She stepped into Ethan’s embrace as if she had every right, as if she belonged there. He looped his strong arms around her waist and hauled her in, smiling fondly. “Hi there.”
She smiled back, feeling like she was floating. “Hey.”
Then she pushed up on her tiptoes to press her lips to his, reveling in his warmth, his softness, the way those strong arms held her so tight, but at the same time with such gentleness. She snuggled closer, drinking him in. Gods, he was perfect. They all were.
And all hers .
Mat pressed close behind her, brushing her curls back from her ear so he could nibble the curve of it while she continued to kiss Ethan like her life depended on it. Slender fingers ghosted over her jaw, then turned her head, pulling her lips away from the drummer’s. Luca’s dark eyes met hers and Grey nearly melted at the look of smug appreciation in that gaze. Then Luca was kissing her again, swallowing down the moan that left Grey’s lips when Mat slid his hand around to stroke her through her jeans, while Ethan’s big hands cupped her breasts. It was all too much, and yet not enough, just a hint, a tease of the flavor of what might happen if they weren’t inhibited by a stupid little thing like clothing.
Grey writhed between them, feeling the rising tide inside her that called out for...something. It wanted her to drink them in, to bend them to her will so they never stopped pleasing her and...filling her with power. That was it, the thing her siren heritage was urging her to do. It wanted her to take something from them. She broke her kiss with Luca, panic edging its way in through the lust.
Luca’s expression was full of understanding, as if she could feel the magic rising in Grey. “Okay,” she said, gripping Grey’s hand and gently pulling her away from Mat and Ethan, her rich alto voice even and calm. “You can grope Grey when she’s sober. For now, we’re going to bed. Alone.”
Mat took half a step toward them, then stopped himself, shaking his head. “But...oh. It’s...a magic thing, isn’t it?”
The heat was rapidly leaving Ethan’s face, replaced by concern. “Are you okay, Grey?”
Grey held up a hand, knowing that Ethan was going to start apologizing and blaming himself, even though he didn’t even know what was wrong. “I’m fine. I just don’t want to hurt you guys. Ever.” Her face flamed with embarrassment as she glanced around the room at her bandmates. “I just...don’t think I can control it right now.”
She reached up a hand and clutched the kleidí, seeking the warmth and comfort the weird stone always provided. The geode pulsed against her palm and some o
f her tension eased.
The ground started shaking and Grey reached out to grip the back of the couch as a framed picture fell off the wall and shattered on the ground in the hallway. The earthquake seemed to go on forever. But that might have just been Grey’s soggy brain having trouble telling time. When it ended, they all shared a tired glance. What the heck was with all the tremors? And now Grey’s head ached.
Luca sighed. “Come on Grey, I think I can help with the energy thing you’re feeling while the guys pick up that mess. We’ll all talk more in the morning, when we’re not piss drunk. Okay?”
Grey nodded. Matheus stepped close to trail his fingers over her cheek before bending to steal one more glancing kiss. “Sleep tight, sweetheart.”
He turned and left as Ethan shyly took his own turn, pressing a soft kiss to Grey’s forehead that somehow affected her more than all their other kisses combined. “Night, Grace.”
Then Grey was alone with Luca...and with her aching head. Jesus, it was too soon to have a hangover—she was still drunk, for crap’s sake. Luca led her to Grey’s room and pushed her down on the bed, trailing a hand down Grey’s torso, her fingers rimmed in glowing blue power. “I think the siren side of you needs to draw energy from others,” she said, blinking, clearly trying to focus through her own drunken haze. “I’ll try to give you some of my energy, okay? You’re less likely to take too much from me than the humans.”
Grey sighed and let Luca have her wicked way with her. They had played around with the energy between them before, back when Grey was male. And Luca had hinted before that she thought sirens were more than just giant sluts—that there was a reason they needed to draw people in and keep them close. For feeding, for maintaining their freaky powers of manipulation. It sounded so gross. But the familiar touch of Luca’s aura against her own was like coming home. Soon, they were both mostly naked, trading slow, sleepy touches, power dancing between them riding the edge of fatigue and lust, until Grey couldn’t keep her eyes open any longer and finally succumbed to sleep.
Chapter 13
It was still freaking dark outside when some sort of ruckus dragged Grey out of her self-inflicted coma. She lifted her hand, becoming briefly tangled in the bedsheets, and grasped the kleidí, which was so hot it felt like her skin would blister. Sitting up, she blinked at a groggy, confused Luca, only then realizing that while it was dark, she could see Luca’s face. Glancing down, she watched the kleidí pulse with a faint purple light that reminded her of the geode inside.
“Now what?” Grey groaned, wanting nothing more than to go back to sleep for about ten hours.
Luca shook her head. “I don’t know, but it feels...not good.”
Grey arched her eyebrows at that. Not good? Somehow, she got the feeling that wasn’t what Luca had been about to say. They stumbled out of bed and down to the first floor of the townhouse, Ethan and Mat joining them along the way.
“What’s going on?” Matheus whispered as they headed down the hall toward the front door, where someone was knocking so hard the door shuddered.
Grey shook her head. “I have no fucking clue. You guys get back.” She shoved Ethan and Mat back behind her and Luca, ignoring the baseball bat Mat had found somewhere along the way. They were human. Grey had no idea how any of her supposed powers or half-human physiology worked, but she would probably stand up better to some sort of magical threat than the full humans.
Glancing through the peephole in the door got her nothing but a view of a shadowy person standing on the stoop with their arms crossed. She heaved a sigh and unlocked the door. Judging from how magic was literally pulsing around her now, it wasn’t like whoever it was couldn’t just murder them all from out there if they really wanted to. Something like a flimsy little door wasn’t going to stop them.
Twisting the handle, she pulled the door open, flipped the porch light on...and stared. A slender figure stood before her, their body mostly concealed by loose, flowing cotton pants and a long, black cloak-like shirt thing with a hood. But what she could see was enough. Their skin was a light violet blue, with iridescent silver markings here and there, and a constellation of silver stars painting a line across their high cheekbones. The long hair that trailed out from beneath the hood was a smoky, silvery blue-violet color. Their eyes were hidden in the shadow of the hood, but when they tilted their head, Grey swore she saw something that looked like a night sky—deep pools of blue-black, dotted with pinpricks of light.
“Uh. Hi?” she managed intelligently.
The person—though that was probably using the term loosely—nodded and spoke in a voice so deep and smoky Grey felt it in her bones. “I am here.”
He stepped closer and Grey stepped back, her and the others making way as the guy just brushed past them and into the house. Closing the door and locking it again, Grey flipped off the porch light and headed down the hall toward the living room like this was all perfectly normal.
The guy slowly paced around the room, tilting his head as if looking around. Someone had turned on a light, and Grey took a minute to try to reconcile what she was seeing with reality. Sure, she’d seen some freaky shit in the last few months, but this was kind of weird, even by her ever-changing definition of the word. When the guy lifted his strangely colored, four-fingered hands to push back his hood, she just stood there, blinking at him. Horns. He had a pair of horns sprouting from either side of his forehead near his hairline. At least...she thought they were horns. They were rounded on the ends, though, not pointed. Like the horns on an eastern-style dragon, or shimmery blue coral or something. He looked at Grey, and she realized she hadn’t been imagining things earlier. His pretty, almond-shaped eyes were galaxy colored. How was that even a thing.
“Who are you, and why are you here?” Grey said, her voice only wavering a little.
He tilted his head at her as if he were confused, or like Grey might possibly be a little slow. “You woke me. You’ve been calling to me in your distress. You hold the kleidí and you freed me from my prison, so I came to see what manner of creature you are. And to help ease your fears.” He stepped closer and Grey forced herself to stand firm and not flinch away. “Together we will destroy all who cause you distress,” he said in a calm tone. Like he was talking about the weather or a neat TV show he’d seen the other day. “I will burn them. Devour them. And you will fear for nothing as long as you keep me at your side. Is this not what you wished?”
His eyes narrowed and even though his face was so foreign, Grey could read the bitterness there loud and clear. “Is this not what all the mortals and immortals on this plane wish? To control and use me, or to lock me away when they find they cannot?”
Grey swallowed hard. “I didn’t...look, I have no idea what you’re talking about. I have the kleidí, yes. But it was given to me in order to lift a curse on the island. That’s it. I didn’t call you. I don’t even know who—or what— you are!”
The corners of his sensuous mouth curled up in a wicked, evil way. “You hold the key to my prison, and yet you didn’t know of my existence? What a sweet, simple child you are.” He reached out, warm fingers skimming the swell of Grey’s chest as he wrapped his hand around the kleidí. The faint purple glow that surrounded the stone stretched out along his skin, wreathing his whole body in that same light. His eyes bore into hers and it was like looking into the depths of the darkest ocean or deepest space. “I am called Leviathan. And this island has been my prison for thousands of years, ever since the gods decided I was too dangerous to be free and too powerful to be destroyed.” He smirked. “And it seems you are my new owner.”
Luca shouldered her way in between Grey and the...leviathan. “Back off, dude. Don’t touch her.”
He flicked his dark galaxy gaze toward Luca and shrugged, then let go of the kleidí and stepped away. “Apologies. It has been long since I wore this form. I’ve forgotten how to behave.” He bent at the waist in a sweeping bow. “I meant no harm, Grace. My bitterness toward the gods is not your fault.�
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He straightened and gave Grey a sweet smile—or it would have been sweet if she hadn’t noticed that all his teeth ended in sharp, delicate points. “Your lover is quite protective. This is good. You need protecting. I have assimilated the thoughts and memories of the residents on the island. I fear it will take some time before I understand all the nuances of life in this time. But I will endeavor to be a good guardian.”
Matheus found his voice, clearing his throat a few times before he could get the words out. The bat dangled from his hand, forgotten. “Guardian? Are you saying you’re, like...planning on sticking around?”
The leviathan turned to study Mat like he was an interesting specimen in a science lab. “Yes. Correct. I will go where the kleidí goes. Where my new overlord goes.”
His eyes slid back to Grey, and she shivered at the banked anger she saw there before he covered it up. Whatever this thing was, he was pissed. And wasn’t that just great? An ancient, powerful, scary as hell mythological sea monster shows up at her door and it just happens to be in a murderous rage over being imprisoned or something. Cool. Neat. Just what she needed in her life.
She knew things were feeling too good to be true lately.
“Fuck,” Grey muttered.
Luca gave her a sympathetic look. “I don’t know how you do it,” she murmured, and Grey knew exactly what she meant—that Grey seemed to have a knack for drawing trouble right to her like a magnet. “Oh, shut the hell up.”
Ethan tugged a hand through his hair, making it stand up in an adorable disarray of white-blond spikes. “Uh...should we, like...find a bedroom for him or...I mean....” He glanced at the crazy-assed monster in our living room. “I don’t suppose you want to sleep on the couch? It’s pretty uncomfortable.”