Page 17

I think back vaguely to the stories I was told as a child about the lure of the siren's song.

Those stories never ended well, and the rational part of my brain yells at me to look away from them, to cover my ears from their song.

Instead of doing either of those things, my body moves of its own accord.

I take a step forward and then another, I can hear the other men doing the same until my feet meet the cool lick of water, and I stand only a step away from Evie, my Dahlia.

My eyes widen as I see her skin begin to glow, lavender and green light shining around her like an aura, her purple eyes glimmering in the sunlight. I am mesmerized by her, unable to look away.

Abruptly, the sirens stop their song, and I am handed a cup of pink liquid that glows just as Evelyn’s skin did. Taking it, I drink without question, letting the sweet taste of the brew bloom on my tongue.

It is extraordinary, like the sweet richness of honied coconut mixed with so many vibrant fruits, creating a symphony of flavor on my tongue.

I taste ripe berries, crisp apples, and other tropical fruits I don’t think I’ve ever had before.

It’s warm as it travels down my throat, and I can feel it as it moves into my stomach, spreading a comforting warmth through me that makes me moan with delight.

Leaving a tantalizing tingling sensation in my chest, the strange drink begins to make my head feel woozy.

A thick fog seems to shroud my mind, leaving me disoriented.

I blink, struggling to clear the haze and remember why I am here and what I was doing before this moment.

“What was that?” I hear myself ask, but it sounds as if my voice is far away.

“The siren’s Elixir,” Evelyn says, her voice still sounding like the song I heard her sing only moments ago.

I look past her, my eyes sweeping over the vast expanse of the sea, and I can’t help but gasp at the astonishing vibrancy of the colors before me.

The ocean scratches out like a brilliant tapestry, revealing every hue of blue imaginable, from the deepest indigo to the clearest cerulean.

I can even see the coral reefs dazzling beneath the shimmering waves, their intricate patterns and vivid colors creating a masterpiece that captivates my senses.

“Do you like it?” Evie says and I nod, looking back down at her.

For the first time, I realize that her skin is not two colors, but many, a hundred different shades of colors, some that I have never even seen before.

They meld together, shifting and growing more vibrant the more I look.

And there is an aura of bright yellow and orange that surrounds her like a sun. She is glowing before me.

“You are stunning,” I breathe. “How is this possible? I can see everything so clearly now.”

“It’s the Elder flower.” She grabs my hands and pulls me through the water toward the forest we came through yesterday. “It’s incredible. You have to see it. It will make every flower you’ve seen look dull in comparison.”

My mind is a blur, keeping me from coherent thought, and I feel like I can’t trust my own lips to move and say words correctly, so I simply nod and follow her to the edge of the trees.

“How are you feeling?” She asks with a knowing giggle.

“Like I’m seeing the world fully for the first time,” I say. “And I want to know if that sweet pussy tastes even more magical than the siren’s Elixir.”

Blushing, she smacks my arm, and I pull her in my arms as she stares into my eyes.

She’s stunning, I can’t seem to get enough, and neither can my cock.

It’s growing hardness is distracting me from the task at hand.

I kiss her gingerly on the nose and mentally scold myself for allowing such boy natures to take control.

“You’re a goddess, and I can’t wait to have my way with you again. When can I do that?” I joke.

“Soon, sailor, soon, but first we have to go mingle with the others. Plus, you need to eat. It’s been days since you’ve had a proper meal.”

“Oh I don’t know about that, I think I feasted plenty over the last few days,” I whisper into her ear and lightly nip her lobe, my dick surges as she presses herself further into me.

She tilts her head to the side, allowing me full access to her neck, where I kiss and nip down to her collarbone.

I resist the urge to pull down her top and capture one of her supple nipples between my teeth.

A quiet gasp escapes her lips as I let my hands roam up her sides, squeezing her full, rounded backside.

“Kai, we have to go,” she says in a breathy whisper. “You have to meet Yvette and the others.”

Reluctantly, I pull away and take one final moment to admire her beauty, the faint glow still emitting off of her and the slight lavender hue to her cheeks that I’ve come to realize is her blushing.

I take her hand, and she leads the way back to the party. Sweaty bodies writhe around us as more of the siren’s Elixir is passed between the men of the village.

“Evelyn,” a voice calls from behind us, and we both turn.

It’s the Elder I met earlier, the one with the red hair and the scales that shift from silver to gold.

Her hair is no longer coiled atop her head, but flowing long down her back.

She still wears no clothes and I find myself wondering if she ever does.

She is quite stunning, but her beauty feels off.

I can’t figure out why, but there is an eerie feeling that rushes through me at her closeness.

Unlike the other siren’s who glow with vivid colors under the spell of the Elixir, this woman has none.

There is a blackness surrounding her, like an inky poison that has taken over her aura.

I frown, taking Evie’s hand and pulling her away from the Elder siren.

“Yvette,” Evie says. “What a beautiful cleansing you performed, per usual.”

The siren’s smile doesn’t reach her eyes, and I only then realize her eyes are black, just like the aura that surrounds her. I shiver at the way she seems to look through me, and I have the sudden urge to turn and run from her.

“The new man,” Yvette nods toward me, and I force myself not to take a step backward. “You said he was injured. Might I take a look?”

“I'm fine,” I say, and her cold eyes narrow on me.

“Are you sure?” Evie asks, a frown of concern on her features, and I nod, grabbing hold of her around the waist, suddenly feeling like I should protect her from this woman. Whatever this Elixir has done, it’s made me see this particular Elder in a new light, and I didn’t like what I was seeing.

“You will join us for tonight’s celebration,” she says pointedly at me, a demand, not a question. “We should have celebrated your arrival the first night you were here, but our dearest Evie hid you away from us.”

“It wouldn’t have been safe for him to move, mistress.” Evie says quickly, “He was not conscious the first night. I did as any siren would have and saved his life.”

“Yes, how very noble of you, Evelyn.” Her eyes flicked to Evie for a split second before narrowing in on me once more. “Might you join me alone for a time, sailor?” Yvette’s voice drips with her eagerness, and she walks closer to me.

The Elixir has filled my body with lust, raw and uncaged, but the instant Yvette suggests the two of us being alone together, that overflow of sheer desire turns to a waterfall of disgust. I will not go near this woman, but I need to get this bottled-up feeling out.

It itches through me with a fever that calls to the most primal parts of me.

Reaching past the lust and the haze of yearning, I remind myself that I only want one woman on this island and she’s the one captured in my arms. My hand brushes down Evie’s waist, and I squeeze her side teasingly as I kiss lightly at her ear and whisper, “I need you. Now.”

I feel her quiver in my grip, and she leans into me further, feeling my hardening length pressing to the small of her back, before sputtering out, “I–I’m just going to show Kai something really fast, and then we will come back and join you.”

Yvette narrows her eyes at us, but then waves us off and says, “Very well. I would like to inspect the newcomer more…closely, when you get back.”

I force myself not to scrunch my nose up at the thought of this poisonous woman touching me, but before I have the chance, Evie pulls me into the jungle, and all thoughts of Yvette slip from my mind completely.

W e climb, hiking up through the trees, along the island's coast, and I watch as the beach below grows further and further away from us. I don’t care how high we are, all that I can think of is how this entire place looks like a rainbow.

A kaleidoscope of color is spread out before me, and I can’t pull my gaze away.

“We’re here,” Evie stops and plucks a flower in front of her, spinning to hand it to me.

“You’re right,” I say, taking the large bloom. It is the size of both my hands put together, and it looks just like the island down below, a kaleidoscope of color. “It’s exceptional.”

Not wanting to leave it here, I pluck the petals from the flower and put them in my pocket.

Evie smirks at me, “Saving them for later?”

“If they taste as good as that drink did, I want to eat one every day.”

She walks closer to me and wraps her arms around my waist. “Would you care for a morning swim?”

“Does this swim require both of us to be naked?” I query, feeling emboldened after our evening last night.

“You can be as naked as you want, I, on the other hand, will always have my scales and my tail to cover me.”

I raise my brows, “I want nothing more than to see that.”

“Come on, I want to take you to my spot. Not many of the sirens care to come up this high on the mountain, so they don’t all know about the caves.”

She pulls me to a spot at the crest of the hill, the highest flat area of the mountain. It’s covered in lush, blooming flowers and tall grass.

“Do you trust me?” She asks, her cheeks flushed from the hike and her eyes sparkling with excitement. She literally takes my breath away, and I can’t say a word, so again I only nod.

“Then jump with me. One, two, three…” She jumps forward, and I instinctively follow her lead. Suddenly, I realize there is a chasm below us, but it’s too late. We plunge into the void, air rushing past us as the pitch black swallows us whole.

I hold my breath at the sensation of falling, it’s terrifying, yet exhilarating, and my heart picks up its pace at the thrill.

Our feet hit warm water, stinging with the impact, and we are both engulfed beneath the surface.

I open my eyes, bubbles clouding my vision, but as soon as they dissipate, brilliant glowing blue light emerges, clinging to the rock formations beneath the water, illuminating an artistry of colorful coral and shimmering schools of fish gliding around us.

I can see everything so clearly, as if it were daylight beneath the water in this dark cave.

My eyes catch a glimpse of a purple tail, and I spin, taking in the full view of Evie, my little Dahlia.

I suck in sharply, water filling my lungs at the pure majesty of her in this form.

Cursing myself for trying to breathe beneath the water, I swim, trying to get to the surface, but then stop suddenly, realizing that I’m not choking, nor do I feel like I am suffocating.

I breathe in again, and the wonder of it hits me.

I can breathe underwater.

Swimming to Evie, I grab her and push us both up to the surface.

“What’s wrong?” She says, brows drawn together in concern, and she places a hand on my face.

“Nothing,” I say, covering her hand on my cheek with my own hand. “I can breathe underwater. How is that possible?”

Her brows scrunch like she’s holding in a laugh, “Did I forget to mention that?”

Frowning, I think back to everything that happened since yesterday.

We hadn’t eaten anything, in fact the only thing Evie and I had done was let our lust consume us.

Then I realize it's the Elixir. That was the only bit of food or drink, the only substance I have ingested since coming to this island. It truly must be magic.

My mind wanders back to the feeling that moved through my chest as the drink spread within me. Something in it made me capable of breathing underwater.

Reaching into my pocket, I pull one of the damp petals I plucked from the Elder flower and inspect it. It is no longer an array of colors, but only pink, just like the petals I saw the sirens put into the Elixir before I drank it. Had the effects of the drink already begun to wear off?

“Extraordinary,” I muse, tucking the petal back securely in my pocket.

“I almost forgot about that part,” Evelyn says, looking away from me. “I don’t interact with the others as often as I used to, I’ve kept to myself in recent years. Sometimes I forget the perks of the ceremony.”

My face softens at that, “Why did you choose me, then?”

Our eyes lock, and I feel her tail wrap around my legs, pulling me closer to her.

“You’re different from the others. I don’t know why, but when I touched you for the first time, I felt something.

It was like a spark that ignited a flame inside me.

Something that has been dormant my entire life.

And I didn’t want to let that flame go out.

So, I’m keeping you all for myself for as long as I can,” She says that last bit in a whispered tone, drawing closer still.

“I like the sound of that,” I whisper back, our lips so close I can practically taste their sweetness already.

When her lips finally meet mine, it is like a restraint inside of me snaps free, and I explore her in every way I want to.

I let my tongue trace over the soft curves of her mouth, savoring the taste.

My hands roam down her waist and down to the smoothness of her tail.

She lets out a moan, sending a shiver through me, and I pull her closer, wanting more of her, to feel all of her.

I break the kiss momentarily, reaching around to untie her top when she puts a finger to my lips, drawing my attention back to her eyes.

“I didn’t get a chance to ask, did you find your brother among the men? Did you see Dru?”

I frown, searching through the fog still hovering in my mind, “Who?”