Page 21 of Siren’s Mark (The Siren’s Mark Duology #1)

ZANE

“So, can you fly?” Ava asks, biting into a piece of buttered toast. “I mean like, you have wings and all, but so do penguins.”

“Yes.” I chuckle. “I can fly. But I hardly ever do. There aren’t a lot of great opportunities to get my wings out in the modern world where no one will see me.”

She’s in my T-shirt and a cute pair of black cotton underwear, sitting at the dining table and chowing down on breakfast.

“Fair enough,” she says through a mouthful of food. “Do you have other magical powers?”

“Sure. If I’m touching someone I can compel them to do whatever I say, kind of like hypnosis. It wears off after a little while—sometimes a couple of hours, sometimes more.”

“What kinds of things do you tell people to do?”

This topic can go nowhere good.

“Erm… Usually just to get free stuff or to make sure they forget they saw something otherworldly. It depends. I try not to use it too much.”

“Hmm,” she pauses. “Isn’t that like stealing? That seems kinda messed up.”

“I mean, it can be. I try to only use it on people who have it coming or wouldn’t mind.”

“Like, have it coming how?”

Like a pompous wanker who tried to not-so-subtly remind me that he used to fuck my girlfriend?

“You know…” I say. “Not-so-great people.”

“Ahhh, so people who don’t use their blinkers?” She smiles and takes a sip of orange juice.

“Well, love, that’s obviously unforgivable.”

“So, anything else? Can you turn invisible?”

“I’m not Superman, love, though I understand how you might think that after that shag last night.”

Her cheeks turn a deep shade of red.

“Don’t flatter yourself, wing boy.” She gives me a light punch on the shoulder and I chuckle.

“I don’t know if it counts as a power, but I’m stronger than humans. Faster, too. And my skin can’t be penetrated by mortal weapons.”

“ Harder, better, faster, stronger? ” she sings with a giggle.

“Well, I certainly could get harder for you, baby,” I tease, scooping her up from her chair and into my lap. She playfully squirms against me and smacks my arm. Her grey eyes catch mine and she bites her lower lip.

On second thought, strike that. Not sure I could get any harder.

“Can you lift a car?” she asks.

With my dick?

Oh, never mind, we’re back on the ‘superpowers’ thing.

“I uh,” I choke. “Ahem… Probably. I never tried. It depends.”

Way to not sound like an idiot.

“Depends on what?”

“On how much of a, erm, carnal state I’m in. I guess.”

“Carnal?” she asked, her eyes widening. “Like when your eyes are green?”

“Yeah. The more green they are, the more that side is in control.”

“They’re green now,” she says with a curious expression.

“Yeah, baby, I bet they are.”

“Wow…” Kami says, her face frozen in a stunned expression. She’s seated on my couch, her elbows leaning on her knees.

“I had to… I practically outed myself,” I say.

Maybe that’s not true, but I couldn’t hold it in anymore. It kept running through my mind that I would keep falling further for Ava and when she knew, she wouldn’t want anything to do with me. It was making me sick.

But of course, leave it to my girl to be only temporarily phased by the idea of her man having wings. Before comparing me to a penguin, that is.

I chuckle at the thought.

“You’re in love with her!” Kami exclaims, jumping up so that her feet are on the cushions and she’s now in a crouched position.

“I’m not…” I start to say; the words feel like bile in my throat. Say you aren’t in love with her, damn it, or Kami is never going to let this go.

Lying sack of shit.

“I’m…” I try again. “She’s human. You’re ridiculous, Kami, okay. We… She and I… Have you ever known me to be in love?”

Smooth.

“You loooovee herrrr,” she teases.

“And what if I do?” I snap.

Oh shit.

There it is.

“That’s great, Zane! You deserve to be in love! Do I finally get to meet her now?”

“I… Yeah, you can meet her I guess.”

“I’m not going to come onto her, Zane, for heaven’s sake.”

“You do and I’ll rip your wings from your body,” I growl.

“Oooh touchy, touchy! Maybe you are a Siren after all!” she teases. “Speaking of wings…”

“I’m not marking her, Kam,” I say with a firm voice.

“But…” she stutters. “You’re crazy about her. You love her. In 200 years you’ve never felt that once, and now you have. You think you’re gonna find another person—another human no less—that would be more worth it? Or are you just attached to your wings?”

Everything out of her mouth sounds absurd. I’m not hedging my bets on another woman or choosing my wings over a real chance with Ava.

“We’ve discussed this, Kam. I can’t risk something like that on her right now.”

“Right now?” she asked.

“I don’t know, okay. Right now she’s sick.”

“How sick?” she asks.

“She doesn’t know what’s wrong right now and until I know, I’m not about to put that on her.

Besides, talk about coming on too strong.

‘Hey, I know we’ve only known each other a few months, but I love you and I’m willing to cut off my body parts for you so that you and I can be linked together for eternity. ’”

“Well, when you put it like that…” she says, scrunching her face.

“When I put it like that I seem like a creepy fucking cunt.”

She lets out a fit of laughter.

“Alright, well on that note, it’s getting late,” she says, getting up and gathering her things. “I’m gonna head out.”

“Alright, night love,” I say, waving from my chair.

“Night, creep,” she says with a chuckle.

The door slams behind her.

ZANE

Dreiflüssestadt, Austrian Empire - Summer of 1840

“You and your like are completely and utterly foolish,” Kami says with a laugh.

“My like?” I ask.

“Your like is men,” she quips. “You get endless attention from ladies, quite beautiful ones too, and you haven’t any interest. But this one, she’s off-limits. So naturally, the first thing you do is go straight for her. It’s as though you enjoy being flogged.”

“And you don’t like a challenge?”

“I’m a woman. There’s never been a man in creation I’d consider a challenge.”

“And you think I’m the cocky one…” I mumble.

“She’s not a challenge, she’s cursed.”

I watch Ilen glide across the street, her long skirt making her seem as though she’s walking on air.

Her face is round and soft, with rosy cheeks and a pale complexion.

Two long ringlets of brown hair frame her face.

She is beautiful. Though Kami would not be incorrect in saying that my interest is mostly because I prefer a challenge.

And the girl with the two dead fiancés—and another still-living one—is quite the challenge.

Let’s just hope it’s a challenge I can survive.