Page 2 of Rock of Stages (Moonlight Siren #4)

NAIYA

I shouldn’t be this close to the ship.

My pod would be furious to know what I was doing, but I’d always been fascinated by the world above the ocean. The more I explored it, the greater my intrigue. Sure, the world below was home—but there was so much more to see.

When I’d first heard the music drifting from the massive cruise ship, I’d swum after it. The low, pulsing rhythms pierced the calm of the ocean. Drums, steady and primal, like a heartbeat—thump-thump-boom, thump-thump-boom. Often shaken up with a high-pitched crash.

The music called to me, more than it should. Like the tales of sirens luring sailors, but I was the one enchanted.

I’d followed the ship for several weeks now, whenever it sailed near our pod. Its music would waft out into the night, and the melody rippled through me.

I turned to float on my back, listening as I stared up at the twinkling stars. Moonlight caressed my scales.

The music stopped. Shouts echoed from above, sharp against the quiet hush of the sea. I righted myself in the water, heart picking up.

A massive shadow dropped from one of the decks.

Crash!

Whatever it was vanished beneath the surface. I dove under and swam toward the sinking shadow.

One form broke apart from the mass, a sleek and silver selkie. He glanced at me, then swam away.

The other descended, like a tossed anchor.

Panic flickered through me. Why wasn’t he swimming?

I propelled my tail faster, heart pounding. By the ocean’s tides, he was enormous—broad shoulders, limbs heavy and still. His skin shimmered gray in the water. Statue-like. A gargoyle? I’d never seen one in the flesh—or was it stone?

With the way he sank like a statue, it sure looked like it. His eyes were closed and he wasn’t moving.

Oh no. He would drown!

I looped my arms around his wide chest and heaved. By Poseidon’s trident, he was heavy. Like hauling a boulder through a cresting wave.

I kicked harder. Slowly, painfully, we rose through the dark water. When we broke the surface, I gasped, my arms shaking. The weight of him dragged at me. Up close, I gazed at the thick lines of his features, the bluish-gray skin, the heavy brows.

“Caleb! Caleb!” shouts from the ship rang out.

I tuned them out to focus. He smelled of earth and sea—deep and male and strangely enticing.

But he wasn’t moving.

I whispered a spell to help him breathe and pressed my lips to his. A shimmer of magic rippled through me—something deeper than that of the spell. A warm, electrifying sensation in my body, tethering me to him.

No. That wasn’t possible. He was of land, I was of sea.

His mouth opened with a gasp. His eyes fluttered open and locked on me.

“Who are you? Where am I?” He glanced around and released a guttural shriek. He flailed his giant arms and they cracked through the surface, breaking my hold on him and sending arcs of water cascading. “I’m drowning!” His stone-gray eyes widened with terror. “Oh no, I’m already dead…”

“No, you fell into the ocean, but you’re safe now.”

“Oh, shit!” He thrashed through the surface and sank like a boulder.

I dove, chasing him beneath the waves. His body blurred in the darkness until a blue-gray shimmer pulsed around him again. Some kind of magic? It wrapped around my senses like a tether, pulling me closer. Familiar.

He started to shift. I grabbed his hand and pulled him toward the surface. He didn’t fight me.

When he broke the waves, the gray stone was gone—replaced by a broad-shouldered, very human-looking man. Water streamed down his jawline. His hair, now dark brown, floated to his chin. His eyes, still a storm-gray, locked on mine.

“You’ll be okay,” I assured him. “Just relax and let me help you.”

He searched my eyes with wonder. “Are you a—mermaid?”

“Yes.” I reached out to touch his skin, see if it was indeed softer now, but forced my hand down. “And you’re a gargoyle?” I whispered.

“Right.” His gaze swept over me again.

“Wow.” His voice was low and rough with awe. “You saved me.”

The shouts from the ship grew louder. A floating tube splashed nearby.

“I owe you my life,” he said, voice a smooth ripple now. “Come with me to the ship?”

I bit my lip. My father would be furious. He’d warned me about my wandering too far. About seeking my path when he already had one planned for me—to marry a high-ranking mate from another pod. A merman I felt nothing for.

And yet…

When I looked into this strange gargoyle’s gray eyes, a strange shimmer fluttered inside. Almost like a warm current flowing through me.

“I shouldn’t.”

“Why not?” He dropped his head back and exhaled. “We’ve had mermaids join us before. All kinds of supernaturals. You can shift, right?”

“Right, it’s not that,” I said.

He searched my eyes. When I didn’t finish my sentence, he prodded, “But what?”

After taking two steady breaths, I pointed in a vague direction around us. “I heard it’s dangerous up here.”

“It can be,” he said with a grim smile. “But don’t worry, I’ll keep you safe.”

The bond toward him pulled tight. I hesitated. He was a stranger. Massive. Intimidating if not for this enigmatic pull…

“Please,” he insisted. “Come with me.”