I know what is within me, and this boy is one part of a whole.
I know it and my lovers know it. There’s no doubt in our minds that within my belly grows a demi-god, equal parts the men I love, including the man I lost.
“I miss him,” I whisper, pressing my hands atop of theirs.
“I know, love,” Kai says, sweeping a strand of hair behind my ear. “We all do.”
“Our son will always remind us of him, though,” West says. “That’s something.”
I nod. “Eric would have been such a good dad.”
Crew gives a crooked smile, his eyes soft with memories. “He really would have been. He was the best man I’ve ever known.”
“We’re gonna have to step up our game to make him proud,” West says, lacing my fingers with his, the same way he did the very first night we met.
“Which is why I’m going back to school, and you two chumps,” Kai says, jutting out his chin toward Crew and West, “are gonna be stay at home dads, while Harlow is out saving the ocean, one flood at a time.”
“Not to mention the part where we find her sisters,” West adds.
I scrunch up my nose at the responsibility before us all. “We have so much to figure out,” I groan playfully.
“Hell, yeah, we do,” Crew says, pulling me into his lap, twisting his lips in a sexy smirk. “We still haven’t perfected the art of double penetration.”
I squeeze his cheeks. “You’re so bad, you know that?”
“And you love it,” he says, knowing that I do. So very much.
Crew’s hand moves over my thigh, touching my tattoo that glows. Our eyes meet. We’ve learned that it glows brightly like this when I’m needed in the sea.
“Duty calls,” he says a little wistfully.
“I’ll be back later,” I say, kissing him on the lips, the forehead, the nose. “Promise.”
I walk to the boat’s railing, slip off my nightie, stand bare before my men who watch with worry, but also adoration. They love me in ways I never thought possible. Their belief in me, in the Siren I am, makes me strong.
Their love will carry me through whatever storm might come our way.
Their love calms the wild waters of my heart, and in doing so, my heart harnesses all of that, allowing me to offer a steady calm to the great ocean before us.
“Be safe, little mermaid,” they call as I rise up on the railing, ready to dive into the depths I have come to know so well.
“I love you,” I tell them with a clear and sure voice, knowing it’s the only way the transformation works.
I slip through the surface of the water, hands overhead, unafraid.
I may not know exactly where I’m going yet--but I’m not scared--because I know who I am, at long last.
I am the Siren, the child of Poseidon, a daughter of Olympus.
And I have work to do.
After
Not having the life you want is something I know all too well.
But I’m done pacing the halls of this prison.
I’ve waited long enough.
You’ll be summoned, one by one.
Though you don’t all know it yet.
Siren felt the call and is on her way.
For I felt the ocean move when she stepped inside it, with the ring on her finger, at long last.
She was given the ring on her twenty-first birthday.
But when will you, my daughters, receive yours?
One of you is next, but who?
I’m waiting. I’m ready.
Are you?
Their Mate
Daughters of Olympus
BEFORE
Life unfolded in a way that broke me, crushing my dreams in one fell swoop.
The dreams had been so sweet, so true—born from love that was pure.
But that love was destroyed, turned to something ruinous.
Are you, daughter, ruined too?
All my girls have been dealt a hand no mother would ever choose.
But you may have been given the harshest blow.
Your veins run with blood forged with fury.
Your heart beats for revenge before it beats for mercy.
When this battle begins I fear for you.
Your bones and marrow hum a song that only vengeance sings.
But you, daughter of Olympus, can learn another tune.
The song of my heart.
Do you hear it?
1
Remedy
The bakery owner is on my ass and not in a sexy way. It’s a run-for-my-life-so-I-don’t-get-caught-stealing kinda way. Pretty much worst-case scenario, which is saying something considering I’ve been living on the streets for the last year.
“Stop,” he calls after me as I book it up a steep Seattle hill. Why I ever decided to try to make a go of it here in this rained-out, gray city is beyond me. If it weren’t for my steel-toed combat boots my feet would be waterlogged 24/7. “I’ll call the cops!”
I snort through my gritted teeth. Like hell am I gonna stop now. Pulling my backpack straps tighter, I keep pushing through, side ache and all. I knew I was playing with fire, camping out in the back room of a bakery I had no business being in, but I was desperate. There was a wild storm last night and I needed cover.