Page 16 of Siren’s Kiss & Feral Beasts

KAI

T he wolf in me howls as she fades beneath the water, while the man stands still, bottle of rum in my hand. Not drinking, just grabbed it from a nearby barrel before reaching the gunwale to watch the water calm after her disappearance.

An hour has passed now.

I’m angry and thinking—fighting against the urge to call out her name. It sits on my tongue, my instincts daring me to deny her, but the bitterness is hard to swallow.

Nerissa.

A blessing and a curse on my tongue, a taste I can’t wash away no matter how much I wish it so. No amount of rum will help. No amount of blood staining these old, wooden floors will satisfy the betrayal I feel.

My fists clench at my sides, nails biting into my palms until I feel the sting of skin breaking.

I should have known. The signs were there…

Her decadent scent carried a hint of salt at the edge of each note. In the hours I spent between her thighs, a light mist of water clung to her skin. I mistook it for sweat, the workout of a rough ride, but it tastes different now.

Like a dewy morning at sea: everything you touch or drink bears the brine of the ocean, a taste I’ve always craved—enjoyed from a young age as a weakness—yet now the connotation sits differently.

The fates have truly fucked me.

She’s a siren.

Delicate. Beautiful. Dangerous.

Motherfucking perfection.

Every inch of this sultrynymph with the coquettish smile calls to me. She’s designed to make men fall to their knees and worship, and yet the Gods have given her to me—a gift and a curse I accept without pause or doubt.

She belongs to me as I do her, even if, at the moment, I abhor who she is.

My weakness. My home.

Mate, a four-letter word that knocks my world off its axis. I no longer belong to myself, but give freely to a woman who’s already betrayed me.

The wolf howls, the angry sound ripping from my chest, and the crew around me bare their necks.

They don’t understand just how deep this cuts, how my wolf demands I dive in after her and bring her back.

Kicking and screaming don’t matter, and if I kill every scaled bastard who helped her steal from me, even better.

True justice isn’t sweet, but drenched in blood.

My body tenses, ready to leap—consequences be damned—but I fight back the reaction. The man understands what the wolf fails to: below the sea’s surface is not my battleground. Not yet.

“Captain?” Otto’s voice cuts in. He’s the youngest crew member on board and Torren’s brother. He’s wary of me right now, standing back as if he’s unsure of my reaction.

“Speak.”

“How do you want?—”

I tear my gaze from the dark waters, my jaw aching from the grinding of my teeth. “We leave port now. Ready the ship.”

“Yes, Alpha.” The crew surges into motion, while he makes his way to his brother—my friend. Lanterns swing, ropes groan, and sails unfurl while boots thunder against the deck. Voices remain low all around me, but each station master calls out to the other as the ship’s prepared to undock.

“I’m fine,” Torren tells his brother, his body braced against the mast. His shirt is torn and bloody through, yet the wounds are already clotting. Still raw, but healing, and my fury reignites at the sight.

“Let me help you.” Otto tries to slip a hand around him, trying to take on his weight to move Torren, but the latter waves him away. The idiot reopened the stab wound; it bleeds sluggishly down his side, and his face pinches tight.

“Stop—”

“Gamma,” I call out, and whatever bullshit he’d been about to spew dies on his tongue. I’m in front of him in an instant, cataloging his pale skin and the sweat dripping down his temple. Torren tries to push upright, stubborn ass, but the effort makes him stagger.

“Alpha, I’m fine,” he grits out, fingers stained crimson where he touched his side.

“You’re a piss-poor liar.” That earns me a snort that ends in another grimace. For a second, my gaze flicks to the other two pack members lying on the deck, the onboard doctor checking injuries.

One seems to be out cold, with a swollen knot near his temple, while the other has a gash on his cheek. It’s begun knitting together, the skin layers tightening, but the process is slow.

Both will be fine.

“Get them below,” I bark, and another crew member shifts from his duties of tying down supplies to helping pick one of the injured up, carefully throwing him over his shoulder.

“Should’ve killed the bastard before he pulled out his blade,” Torren groans low, and my head snaps to his. His expression is one of self-reproach. “I’m sorry, Alpha. I failed you.”

No. That’s my cross to bear.

“That kill belongs to me, Gamma, but I’ll give you a consolation prize once you’re back on your feet.” Torren looks like he wants to argue, but a low growl from me stills him. “You are of no use to anyone bleeding out. Do not be stubborn, my friend.”

His wolf rises, beast in his eyes, and they both nod, conceding the point. They also bare their neck in a show of respect.

“Otto, get him below deck and attend to him.”

“Yes, Alpha.”

As they make their way, careful not to further injure Torren, the ship moves away from the dock and into open waters. For a second, I close my eyes and enjoy the breeze and satisfying mist coming off the water until my wolf pushes against my skin again.

He wants control. To break free when behind closed lids, I see those gorgeous violet eyes. Remember running my fingers through her inky, black hair with the softest waves in each strand. How she came apart from my touch and cried out for more after each round.

In my thirty-three years walking this earth, nothing could’ve prepared me for her.

For the lightning bolt of need and hunger, the acceptancethat this slip of a girl now belongs to me. Man and beast want her. Throb for her. Nothing can change that.

I can still taste her on my tongue; this unique blend of salt and sweet that's currently licking at my flesh as if her essence were a whip, marking me. Owning me.

I hate her for what she’s done. Because—had she been honest—I would’ve given her the Cordis Lux and so much more.

I want her more than air, and it’s a truth that burns me until I’m choking on this sin.

She’s mine. There’s no changing that, and Goddess help me, I will never forsake her.

The town’s harbor fades behind us, and I grip the bottle still in my hand until my knuckles turn white. Until the glass cracks and shatters at my feet. A thousand tiny shards surround me, some producing cuts, but I couldn’t give a fuck as I watch the horizon for any sign of her.

Nothing. She’s gone.

And me? I’m left with no other option but to stand and then pace, repeating the action while rage cuts one way, and need the other.

It’s in those moments as the ship breaks through the waves and daylight turns to night that I make a vow to myself.

By fang and sea, I will find her and rip the truth from her sweet lips before reclaiming what’s rightfully mine…

But first, I need answers.

Days blur as the sea carries us home. While the crew tends to the wounded and daily shores, I steer and then pace. Then steer some more until it’s time to rest.

I’m a ticking time bomb. Set to go off, and haunted by my dreams.

She welcomes me into her arms every night when I close my eyes, her sweet tone carrying through the tides, while I awake with her name on my lips. I’m hard and throbbing, sweat slicking my skin, and the ache grows heavier with each day that passes.

A physical manifestation of missing one’s mate.

When Isle de Lobos rises from the horizon a few days later, my heart clenches tight for a different reason. This is home. My people, who I’ve let down.

The cliffs rear up jagged from the sea, and black stone was carved by years of storms. A large jungle spills from the island’s heart—full of trees and wildlife—while smoke curls from the pack’s hearth fires as they await our return.

My domain. My family.

On the shoreline, I make out my beta waiting. He’s been made aware of our return by the watchers, wolves who welcome and report on activity beyond our shores.

Veris smiles as we near, broad and steady, a wolf carved of iron and one I trust with my life. He should’ve been with me on this run, but his mate was too close to her due date, and his place was here, welcoming his pup—a new life—into the pack.

“Alpha.” He shows me his neck as I step onto the dock, the exhausted smile of a new father on his face. “My little Ophelia is strong and healthy with the cries of a warrior. Martha rests well.”

I clap his shoulder, pride mixing with relief. “Congratulations, cousin. May she be blessed by the goddess, and her howl one day shake the mountains.”

“Thank you, Kai. That means a lot to us.” The smile drops from his face when he sees the three injured disembark, still a little weak. The glass pulled from Torren’s side needs to be examined for poison. “What the hell happened? You just went to pick up supplies and your sword?—”

“Send word to my father and grandfather. I want them in the stone hall immediately.”

His brows furrow, catching the bite in my tone, but he doesn’t ask. My beta nods, then rushes off to help his brethren and tell the prior alphas that they’ve been summoned.

The stone hall sits at the heart of the island, carved from volcanic rock long before my time.

It’s where all alphas, past and present, meet with their elders or pack members with leadership roles.

Even visiting territory chiefs meet here when I summon them to discuss treaties or intercept bad judgment calls—the removal of someone who oversteps.

This is for diplomacy, while Isle San Tico is where I spill blood.

When I step inside its sacred walls, the torches dance.

Shadows move, and the silence is as still as my father’s position near the wall.

His arms are crossed, face serious, while my grandfather sits like a king without a throne.

Old, but unbroken, and his eyes are as sharp as the day he taught me about wolves and magic.

I don’t waste time.

“Did you know?’ I ask them, my tone hard.

A tinge of bitterness coats each word. “Did you know my mate would be a siren?” Neither speaks, but my father shifts uncomfortably.

Minute as it is, I catch the twitch of his hands and the small shuffle back of his feet.

My grandfather, though, the old wolf, doesn’t react.

Instead, his gaze on me is steady and unblinking. “Why?”

“Son, you need to understand that?—”

“They have the Cordis Lux. The stone is gone.”

At that, a look passes between both men, and for the first time in years, my grandfather looks unsettled…