Page 20 of Siren’s Mark (The Siren’s Mark Duology #1)

AVA

Zane has been quiet the entire drive to my apartment. His fists are clenched so tight around the wheel that his knuckles are practically white. The car pulls in to the driveway of my apartment complex.

“Zane,” I say softly as he turns the engine off. “What was that?”

“I’m not allowed to get mad when some prick tries to snog my girlfriend?” His voice is low and rough.

“No, I understand that, I’m just not sure I get why you lost it on his beer before that. What did the beer do to you?”

“I… fuck…” he stumbles. A horrendous crack rings through the car as a chunk of steering wheel snaps off into his hand. “Ah shit.”

“What the hell??”

“I just got it repaired. I guess they didn’t do a very good job.”

What in the actual hell is going on?

“Zane, what is your deal?” I ask.

“What deal?” he asks.

“God damn it Zane, cut the crap.”

He turns to me and a smile spreads across his face.

“You’re sexy when you’re angry, love.”

Damn. Damn your intense hotness.

I see a green sparkle in his eyes and before I know it he’s leading me inside.

My mind is foggy and I can’t see much in the dark. It’s definitely sometime between midnight and dawn but beyond that, I’m not sure. I reach for Zane but he’s no longer in bed.

When I sit up, I can see him pacing back and forth in the hallway.

“Zane?” I call.

“Shit,” he curses under his breath.

“Happy to see you too, babe. Am I interrupting your breakdown?”

He walks toward me and the minimal light coming through the window hits his face.

Are those… tears?

“Whoa, hey,” I say, getting up and wrapping my arms around his neck. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, love,” he says with a reassuring smile.

Bullshit.

“Okay, care to tell me what kind of something that ‘nothing’ means?”

“Well you just see right through me, don’t you?” He tries to smile but there’s a sadness behind it.

“Pretty much,” I say with a smile.

Another tear falls from his eye and he’s quick to wipe it away.

“I’m not who you think I am,” he says, his voice softening to almost a whisper.

“And who do I think you are?”

“Human.”

“And you’re a werewolf?” I say with a giggle, tracing the edge of his jaw with my fingers. A low growl rumbles in his chest. I can’t tell if he’s intentionally trying to sound like a werewolf right now or not.

“Love, can you not touch me right now?”

Oh… Okay. Am I in trouble?

“Sure,” I say, pulling my hands away from his face. I sit down on the bed and he joins next to me.

“Do you know what a Siren is?”

“Uh… as in the sound from a fire engine?”

“No,” he chuckles. “As in the mythological creature.”

“Oh, yeah,” I say. “Mermaids.”

“No,” he says with a heavy, frustrated sigh.

“Okay then, I’m gonna say no. I guess I don’t.”

“Sirens are winged creatures with the power to control and lure humans.”

“Are you having some kind of sleep-walking dream right now?”

“Please listen to me,” he says, distress apparent in his voice. “You asked me why my eyes change color? Well, that’s because I’m not human, I’m a Siren. My eyes glow when my animalistic side takes over.”

Oh yeah, he’s definitely having some kind of bizarre hallucination.

“Okay, Zane. You’re a Siren with magical eyes. That’s fine. Come back to bed.”

“Damn it, Ava,” he grunts. “Why is this so hard?”

He stands up and paces across the floor.

“You know how when we kiss you always feel extremely aroused?” he asks.

“Wow, okay, Mister Full-of-Himself.”

You’re right, but hell if I’m going to admit it.

“I’m not being…” he mumbles before letting out a deep growl. “Okay, fine.”

He faces me and pulls his T-shirt up off over his head. His body is flawless as ever, black tattoos against his tanned skin. He looks to either side of himself before thrusting his shoulders forward.

In a seamless motion, a pair of large, black wings emerge from his back.

I let out a gasp and rub my eyes. Am I having another one of those super-realistic dreams? What am I looking at right now?

What?

What?!?

“Say something,” he says softly. His head hangs low and his posture his hunched. He wrings one hand in the other, refusing to make eye contact.

“Wha… What?”

I step closer to him, reaching a hand to touch his wing just above his shoulder. I rub along the rough feathers. He shivers beneath my touch and the feathers ruffle.

This is too weird. My boyfriend doesn’t have wings.

But how can I feel them if they’re not real?

“How are you even… I’m so confused. This is crazy.”

“I can make you understand,” he says softly. “If you want. If I touch you and tell you to believe me, you will.”

“Just like that? I’ll believe? Forever?”

“Not forever, but when it fades you’ll still remember that it worked, which is in itself a rather compelling argument.”

“And if it doesn’t work?” I ask.

“Well, then we chalk it up to some crazy dream and go back to bed.”

“Okay,” I say. “Seems like a definitive answer. Let’s do it.”

He holds out his palms and I place my hands in his.

“Believe me, I am a Siren,” he says.

He is a Siren . Shit, what??

“Holy shit!” I shout.

I rub my hand along the top edge of his wing.

“These…” I say with wide eyes, my hands still following the curves of the wings, “are real?”

He shivers again and I see his eyes glowing green through the dark.

“Baby,” he says, catching my forearm with his hand. “That feels a little too good for the particular conversation we’re having right now.”

“Oh,” I say, my cheeks suddenly feeling hot. He smirks and his feathers ruffle and shake.

“So you didn’t kiss me because your kisses are magic or something?”

“Not exactly,” he says with a chuckle. “It’s uh, venom actually.”

He opens his mouth and raises his tongue, revealing two small holes on either side.

“Whoa.” My eyes widen. “That’s where it comes from?”

“Yeah,” he says with a shrug, rubbing a hand through his hair. His wings retract and he looks at the ground.

I walk around him to inspect his back, but the only evidence that remains is two slightly prominent ridges along his spine.

“Where do they even go?” I ask.

“They don’t go anywhere really, I think my body just absorbs them.”

I run my fingers over the ridges. They don’t feel particularly strange, but I don’t know what I expected.

“Baby…” he moans.

“Shoot, sorry, I didn’t realize.”

“It’s okay.” He smirks and his eyebrows raise suggestively, but in a split second his flirtatious mood wavers and he looks down at the ground again. “So, do you want me to go?”

“No,” I say. “Why would I want you to go? It’s the middle of the night. Do you want to leave?”

“No,” he says. “I just thought… What do you want to do?”

“About you being a mythological creature?”

“Yeah,” he says, looking at the wall. “I understand if this isn’t exactly what you signed up for.”

“Zane…” I bring a hand up to his face. “I don’t care.”

“You… you don’t?” His eyes widen and a smile creeps across his face.

“I mean, I have questions. Like a lot of questions. But, I kind of get that this isn’t the kind of thing you just tell anyone and—wait, you don’t eat people, do you?”

He bursts into laughter.

“No, love,” he says with a smile. “I don’t eat people, although some others do. Not Sirens, but there are others.”

When he says others, what does that mean? Werewolves? Mermaids? Bigfoot?

“Other whats?”

“Immortals…” he mumbles.

“You’re immortal? Like, you can’t die?”

He laughs and pulls me with him into bed.

“It just means I don’t age. I can die, but it’s not easy to kill a Siren.”

He doesn’t age? Wow… this is a lot to process for my foggy brain in the middle of the night.

“So then… how old are you?” I ask.

“199…” he mumbles, wringing his hands. “But for a Siren that’s not very old, the human equivalent would be around my early thirties. Is that… okay?”

So my boyfriend is almost 200 years old and he has wings… um… I guess now that I think of it the wings are the bigger revelation at this moment.

“Ummm… yeah, I guess so,” I say. He sighs, seemingly relieved. “Wow, okay. I have so many questions.”

“What do you want to know, love?

“Okay, well let’s start with… what was with attacking Trevor’s beer?”

His face becomes more serious and he bites his cheek.

“I caught it a little late, unfortunately. I wasn’t thinking and I forgot I had kissed you. That was a rookie move, I’m sorry.”

“You do know you’re making no sense at all right now…”

“Shit, sorry. You uh, had my venom on your lips and shared a drink. Siren venom is extremely potent. It doesn’t take much.”

“Wait—why is it so bad for him but not for me?”

“Err…” he ruffles his hair with his fingers. “Because it lowers your inhibitions. Makes you overcome with lust. Which is not a problem when it makes you hot for me, but more of a problem with a handsy dick who fancies my girl.”

He slips a hand around my waist and onto my ass, pulling me closer.

“So that’s why Trevor kissed my neck? That explains a lot I guess. But then, why would you go after him if you knew he wasn’t completely himself?”

“Venom doesn’t make you do anything you don’t want to do. It just stops your brain from getting in your way.”

“Still, Zane…”

“I think I’ve made it pretty obvious I don’t share well, love. Not you. Not ever.”