Page 14 of Siren’s Kiss & Feral Beasts

KAI

A lpha, we’re under attack!

I’m pulled from my sleep by the sudden shout in my head. For a moment, I’m disoriented, inside a room I’m not familiar with, but then her scent hits me. Orange blossoms, coconut—me. My scent is all over the wondrous creature beside me, her face peaceful in her slumber.

Then again, she hasn’t had much time to rest.

I gave her the promised hour, then fucked her for two hours straight.

Another short break, and I had her cock-drunk body in the shower, claiming her again while the steam clung to our skin.

On her back in the living room, sprawled beneath the wall-to-wall shelves overflowing with books and an odd collection of trinkets.

On all fours in the hallway, when I couldn’t control myself, the sway of her enticing hips too much of a temptation. And finally, just two hours ago, I had her draped over me in this bed, riding her slow, spanking her ass, and guiding her exhausted body to meet me thrust for thrust.

Alpha, the merman general just…

Torren’s communication is cut off, and I’m on my feet, waking Nerissa in the process.

I’m not worried about my nakedness, but I still grab a pair of pants I’d picked up after I put her to bed after the last round.

The shifter’s clothes box was close enough that I couldn’t have been gone longer than three minutes.

I’m on my way. Kill anyone who boards the ship.

“Where are you going?” she asks, sleepily rubbing her eyes.

Rumpled and with a few lines from the pillow on her cheek, Nerissa truly looks adorable.

Walking over, I bend low enough to reach her lips and place a peck on them.

Suck on the lower one just a little bit before pulling back. “One more, Alpha.”

I do, but this time lay a tiny kiss on her forehead, my hand caressing her cheek. “I’ll be back. Get some more sleep.”

“But—”

“Trust me, I’ll be back.”

“What’s wrong?” Nerissa’s brows pucker, her hand grabbing mine. “Did something happen?”

Surrounded. Two hurt.

“ I’ll be back.” Ignoring the concern on her face and the call of my name, I leave her room and I’m out the door within seconds, my wolf bursting through and landing on his paws just outside her property line.

He’s angry, and so am I, but we still turn and look at her door when we sense her standing there.

Something is wrong with her expression; there’s worry and a touch of sadness—guilt. The latter of which makes no sense, especially since she’s done nothing wrong.

I’ll be back and will soothe her.

I will not leave her. She’s mine, my mate and future, and nothing will take her from me. The stone is irrelevant; my wolf and I already know the truth. It’s carved into our bones. She belongs at my side, and I’ll make sure that’s a reality no matter the cost.

When the time comes, I’ll place the Cordis Lux in her hands, not as proof, but as my vow—it’ll be hers until the day our heir claims his birthright.

My wolf agrees. Happy, yet it’s tempered with our gamma’s earlier mindlink.

Disrespect isn’t something I tolerate. To trespass upon my ship is unforgivable, but to attack it? That’s a death sentence, one I’m the judge, jury, and executioner of.

Gamma, open the link. Let me hear.

Immediately, there’s shouting. The sound of heavy footfalls and rapid movement—the clink of metal striking metal.

Where the fuck is it? The voice that comes through isn’t Torren’s. It’s slightly higher in pitch and entitled, yet beneath the false bravado, I can detect fear. The slight tremor at the end gives him away.

I’m going to gut you and display your filthy remains at the bow of our ship.

I tear across town and to the port, every muscle coiled tight and paws hammering the cobblestone street and then the planks of Port Avaria’s dock. My pants, which had been clenched between my teeth, are now somewhere behind me as I reach the edge.

Instincts are a dangerous thing, and when you hurt a predator’s family, they're merciless. Unforgiving.

I jumped onto the ramp and into my ship, teeth bared and claws scraping wood.

The air reeks of salt and blood, and my senses flare—pain, fear, and the scent of my pack mingled with those of mermaid bodies.

One siren is dead, an older man with a decorated kelp sash across his chest. His blood spreads across the old wood, tainting everything with his life’s essence, which to me is worth less than that of a dead rat.

Then my eyes find Torren’s. He’s bleeding, the jagged edge of an armored glass protruding from his flank. He’s hurt, bleeding, still standing his ground, and I jump in front of him without hesitation.

A growl rips through my chest, full of ire and promised retribution, while mermaids swarm the ship. Their army chants, less a siren’s song and more of a clicking sound—a war cry as they use their sharp nails to climb my vessel.

Their skins holds a faint glimmer under the sunlight, tails thrashing, creating a thumping sound as they push their way up. It’s loud. Irritates my wolf, and he grabs the arm of the one closest to us and bites down, shattering his arm before tossing him aside.

He lands with a sickening crunch against the railing before slipping through and disappearing beneath the small waves.

And to my great pleasure, it silences the annoying thwack . What tries to climb aboard now is human skin: legs, arms, and not a single scale can be seen. Not even the shadow of one.

“Not one more filthy fucking merman on this ship. Understood?” Their alpha’s command is met with a low, Yes, sir.

Those who try to leap past my men are beaten back by iron bars or wooden planks. The salty port air is filled with cries, howls, and the satisfying crack of bones as their army is met with force.

Ire. Hostility.

My attention turns back to the men standing a few feet from me: a nobody guard and then their general.

Orion is a figure of over-bloated elegance and a rotten core. We’ve met before, the few from the siren kingdom that show their pompous faces, and the narcissistic self-importance comes from his flesh in waves.

It’s a pungent stench. Like an old, sick fish, and I catalog that fact for later.

He smells as though he’s rotting from within.

“Stupid move, General.”

“I see it as brilliant,” he counters, hand gripping his sword tight. And in that grip, a flash of metal catches my eye.

My chain.

“Your blood will stain my claws, Orion,” I growl, low and vicious. “Your ripped throat will lie at my feet before the sun has reached its highest peak.”

Gamma Torren steps up beside me. In his hand, there’s a fisherman’s spear, and its deadly point is already bloody.

“He was caught by Ewan and Oren sneaking out of your private quarters. They were ambushed from behind, but their growls alerted the crew who’d been eating below deck. I was checking supplies.”

The two he mentions are injured. Breathing, but knocked unconscious near the gunwale while the rest of my pack fights like the proud beasts they are. Some have shifted, jaws snapping and grabbing the intruders in their maw and ripping chunks out before tossing them overboard.

Every strike from my wolves sends a thrash of mermaids tumbling back into the water, but more keep climbing. Their claws dig into the wood, hissing with rage.

I don’t pause.

I lunge at Orion, shifting my attack at the very last second, going for his shoulder instead of his hand. It would be too predictable, and I want his hand holding the sword to be rendered useless. His scream rends the air a seconds before his blood drips from my fur.

The chunk I ripped falls from my mouth and lands with a splat, pulling a wolfish grin from me.

“You’ll never keep her, mutt,” Orion hisses from between clenched teeth, blue eyes glowing brighter. His head also tilts, as if hearing something in the distance, and his grimace quickly turns into amusement. An expression of sick satisfaction creeps onto his face.

Before I can ask what he means, I hear my gamma grunt in pain, his feet staggering back, and there’s a new cut, this time on his chest. A straight line from one pectoral to the other, but it’s not deep.

It’ll burn, but there won’t be a scar after he heals. Not even a faint trace within an hour.

It does serve to piss him off, though, and he grabs the soldier holding the small blade by the neck, slamming him headfirst into the wall nearby. Blood streaks down the old wood, the semi-conscious merman slumping until my gamma holds his entire weight off the ground.

A weight he disposes of with a quick toss to his left. He goes overboard, his limp form taking two other mermen with him.

Yet for every fallen, three more appear, and my men are bloodthirsty and ruthless. Teeth and claws—those in human form swing their weapons, striking anything that isn’t pack and family.

Orion’s sword flashes in my periphery, its sharp blade missing my shoulder. It grazes, but no damage is done, and I lunge, raking my claws across his face.

Then his neck, but he’s smart enough to move back before I slice deep enough to hit any arteries. Dark blood oozes, his frantic eyes swinging right to left while I stalk forward.

My lips are curled back, and my blood-tipped claws are dragging across the deck.

“She’s mine, Daire. She’ll never accept you.” The who he’s talking about, I give no fucks about. At the moment, all my beast and I understand is eliminating this threat.

Taking back what’s mine.

An answering snarl rips from my throat, lips curled back over my blood-stained teeth. I advance, and for every step I take, he retreats. There’s a nervous energy all around him. I can taste his fear in the air, but then it all stills.

His army withdraws; one by one, they’re falling back and over the railing, shifting into their tails and putting distance between them and my ship.

Orion leaves, too, but not before tossing the stone overboard.

His retreat is less cautious and more of a desperate dive—I try to catch him mid-jump—but I’m stopped in my tracks by the sight in front of me…

Nerissa is in the water, her eyes on mine, and in them I see the truth.

She’s also holding my necklace, and the stone dangling from her delicate fingers flares—black surface igniting into a fiery blue, as though flames lick and dance beneath the surface.

The light is bright, wild, and uncontained, matching the ire in my chest.

Mates.

I am hers. She is mine.

And yet the betrayal burns just as bitter on my tongue, and my hands grip the railing, splintering the wood. When did I shift? I don’t know or care; my instincts are zoned in to kill.

I watch as Orion swims up and tugs on her arm, moving her further away, and the once-bright Cordis Lux dies at his touch. I watch as those violet eyes dim. She nods, but then mouths, We can’t.

My response? I wink.

That’s it. Nerissa is in my blood now, our bond semi-formed, and I’ll find her and the stone.

Both belong to me.

She’s mine to worship and discipline; this betrayal won’t go unchecked. That stone is more than its magic. It was the gift from a woman who broke the heart of an honest wolf.

I’ll see you soon, little treasure.