“I know. We find my pelt, return to the sea, and take down the enclosure. Then, and only then, do we go home,” Breena said. “But until that time comes…”
She trailed off, causing everything in me to stir. Just one look from her sent shivers down my whole body because I knew the intention behind those big, brown eyes.
“Until that time comes, we don’t take things too seriously?” I asked, pulling her in by the small of her back. She yelped as she collided against my chest. Her squeal melted into drunken laughter that reached the depths of her. I could feel the vibrations of it hitting her stomach as she pressed herself against me.
“Exactly.” Breena’s gaze wandered over my face before it dropped to my mouth. Her hand found the side of my face, and she cupped my cheek. I leaned into her touch, my eyes closing as I felt her warmth. I sank into her embrace, the shards of ice protecting my heart melting one by one, and I let them. I did nothing to stop the softness from consuming me, because that was what she begged of me. I was never willing to do it formyself, butdepths, I would do it for her. That should scare me, but for some baffling reason, it didn’t. Not tonight.
“Look at me,” she demanded, her tone hardening. I did as she asked, my eyes blinking open. They focused on her and the way she drank me in. “Let go with me.”
It was all the permission I needed. Slipping my hand to the back of her neck, I guided Breena’s lips to mine. I tasted the sweet mead on her tongue as she let me in, allowing me to explore her.
She pulled back and took a breath before a devious smile crossed her face. She pushed me onto the settee with reduced strength, and I sank into the floral cushions. Staring at her expectantly, my lips cried for more of her. My entire body zinged, downrightdemandingmore.
Breena crawled into my lap, a knee on each side of my hips. She stole more kisses, and I let her. I’d let this woman take whatever she wanted from me, because I wanted it just as badly.
“What am I going to do with you, siren?” she said as she pulled back from my mouth. We both caught our breaths, our chests heaving. She licked her lips, looking at me as if she could devour me whole, and somehow, I believed it.
“Whatever that wicked little mind of yours comes up with.”
“Wicked?” she asked, a smile matching the word she spoke.
“You think I don’t see the darkness that lurks within you? The spark that lights you when you use your strength? You could break me in more ways than one, little droplet.”
“But the risk of it all makes it so much more fun.” Her hips rocked forward as she pressed into me harder.
“I may be stronger, but you have more magic than either of us knows. Youaremagic. You are pure, raw power.” She bent down and whispered into my ear, her words skating across my skin. “And I want to feel it.”
“Are you sure about that? You might get a little… wet,” I said, excitement prickling across my lower belly. No one told me I’d be able to use my magic on land, and now, it was mine to wield, mine to make this woman crumble.
“That, I’m counting on.”
Using my foot, I knocked over the glass of water on the side table next to the settee, and it came clattering down. Water splashed us, and Breena yelped at its surprisingly cool temperature. I flicked my hand, and the spilled water began pooling on the settee before migrating toward us. It snaked up Breena’s leg, and she watched as the trail of water slipped under her dress.
Her eyes bulged, and she held her bottom lip between her teeth. It was then I knew the water had reached her center. I watched her face light up, pleasure behind her eyes, satisfaction swelling in me that I was causing this reaction in her.
When I could no longer take the tease of watching, I pulled her in by the back of her neck and stifled her moan with my mouth.
This is release. This is freedom.
Breena grinded into my lap, and I could feel the water I used to elicit wicked pleasure in her soak through my skirt. I increased the vibrations through the water so I, too, felt my power. I never needed anything other than this. This right here was all I could ever ask for. I remembered that as each layer of our clothing was peeled off. I remembered it as my back hit the seat of the settee, stretching out for my selkie. And I remembered it as her kisses trailed down my body.
The water I used like a third hand intensified as the build between my thighs did. Breena could barely contain her moans, and at some point, both of us stopped trying to contain anything. We reveled in the unyielding pleasure until sweet release found us.
Water dropped to the floor, and Breena collapsed onto me. Nothing but heaving breaths and beating hearts filled my ears. After a minute, Breena propped her head up on her arms folded across my belly. Sweat beaded her hairline, and her smile reached her twinkling eyes.
A laugh poured out of her, and between heavy breaths, she said, “I’ve never been more thankful for water in my life.”
Breena and I devoured summer soups and bread after washing up and throwing on some lounging clothes left behind by the previous owner. Exhaustion had overcome her, so she’d made her way to the bedchamber early. I, on the other hand, needed some time to relax before slipping into bed with her, and that was when I’d picked upThe Last of Elhainand sank into the settee.
The book in my hands was one I’d never seen in my father’s collection. I’d realized moments after entering the apartment that my father was no longer the owner of the place, but I hadn’t told Breena. From the dust and empty cabinets, it was obvious the new owners had been gone for a while, and I hoped it would stay that way. There was no reason to freak her out.
It’d been silly of me to think this place would have still been full of my dad’s belongings, that it would have smelled like him. He’d been gone for three years now, and every day, more of him was lost to this world as I was forced to stand by and witness his erasure.
Adjusting the blanket thrown over my lap to cover my toes, I took a deep breath and tried to recapture that feeling of release Breena had gifted me. And that was exactly what it had felt like—a gift. When had I ever been out of my mind for that long andsmiled that much? When was the last time my chest released the tightness it always held?
These past few years had been a crushing weight that never let up. I always thought the pain of losing my father was going to ease with time, but then, the fish disappeared. We all had to endure a different kind of pain then, now a physical one.
Being on land, I was able to slip into a temporary amnesia where my problems didn’t matter. I was able to throw myself into finding Breena’s pelt, and instead of thinking about the next time I got to eat, I thought about the next time I got to see my grandfather.
