I looked out the window and saw Gears jogging back to me with a water bottle. When did he leave me? Man, I was losing it.
He came around the open car door, smiling gently like I was a baby dear and was going to get spooked by him. “Here is some ocean water. Lucky, whoever you stole this from had some empty water bottles in the back. I filled up two since I learned that you heal better with water, but ocean water helps you the fastest.” I nodded, knowing all this, but was still in a state of shock.
He grabbed one of the bottles and ran some of the water down my throat. “I have a feeling that you are going to want to be able to use these pipes for this conversation, so if you need me to get another water bottle, I will.”
He made a move to turn, and my hand snapped out, grabbing his, not letting him go anywhere. He looked down, surprised, but then looked up at me with a smile worth a thousand watts. I swear, he could light up the galaxy with that secret smile he kept hidden. “While it fills me with joy that you don't want me to leave, I do need to tell the guys to head home and that I will ride next to you.”
I told my hand to let go, to stop being such a weirdo. It wouldn't listen. In fact, it gripped him tighter. He chuckled under his breath, and I looked away, embarrassed by my body's reaction, and he put both water bottles in his pants.Wait, when did he get pants?Then he picked me up.
“Okay, new plan. Do you think you would be okay riding with me?” I nodded. “Great. We don't need the car anyways, and we can worry about that later. Right now, we need to get you home and healed up to have this conversation all out on the table.”
I didn't want to wait anymore, and I whispered in a raspy voice, “You, too?”
He smirked as he kept his face forward, somehow knowing it would make me more uncomfortable if he looked at me. “Yes, Celine. We all feel the mate bond to you, but that's the thing about mate bonds outside of species… they can get a little lost in translation.”
When I gave him a pinched look, he continued bashfully, “When I first felt it, I did a little bit of research. I didn't want to alarm anyone if it wasn't a mate bond.” He straightened up as he heard the guys close by. "But we will get to talk about that soon. Let's just think about right now and getting home, okay?" I tapped on his chest, saying okay without words that I knew he would understand.
As we got closer, I could feel all of them watching me, waiting for something to happen. Gears brought the attention to himself. "Change of plans. We are going to leave the car, and she will ride back with us."
Duce was the first to pipe up, "I feel a lot better about that. I didn't want you driving on your own, Cupcake. Who knows what crazies are out there." I looked over at him, giving him a small smile, knowing what he was doing but appreciating it all the same.
Temptress… would you like to ride with me?I looked at Bricks, who was signing, but since his fingers kept going, I guess he was telling Gears something else.
Gears nodded. “You're right. I need to stay in the back. It would be better if she was with someone who could stay in the middle. Do you want to go with Bricks, baby?”
I nodded, and he carried me to my mountain man, who was preening at getting to have me with him. He set me down, and before I hopped on the bike, Gears halted me. “Let’s just put this on.” He poured more of the ocean water on my neck, all of the guys watching. I could feel their anger every time they looked at my neck, I wish it would go away faster. When Gears finished the first bottle, he turned to go away, and I grabbed the second bottle out of his pocket.
He was shocked at first, ready to grab it back, until he saw it was me and nodded. I swallowed, giving a low raspy whisper, “I will use it on the way.”
Come, Temptress. Climb on the back and hold on tight, okay?I went on my tip toes and kissed his chin, meaning it to be a small sign of thanks, his hand caught mine, and he kissed both of them as he stared into my eyes. His dark orbs captured me to fall into them.
There was a rumble of bikes starting, and that broke his spell. He pulled me over, climbing onto his bike, and turned it on as he looked back at me.Let's go, Temptress. We have a home waiting for us. I smirked, my voice finally coming out in less of a whisper, “Let's go home.”
It was a nice ride. I laid my head on Brick’s large back the entire time, gripping his sides as I watched the landscape go by. It was oddly soothing. It was far from my first time on a bike, but it was a different experience when you were just a passenger. I didn't have to pay attention to other cars, I didn't have to watch the road or look out for flying debris. I could just sit and watch, letting my mind free of all of my worries as the world passed me by. It was poetic, really.
As soon as we parked in front of the house, I felt a sense of calm settle over my racing mind. When Bricks got off his bike, I swung my foot over and poured the second bottle of water along my neck. I could feel the ache turn dull, and I knew that my voice had gotten better, at least enough to talk.
“Man, I didn't know that not talking was going to be so annoying.” There was a slight huskiness to my voice, but I could still talk, so I just left it at that.
“Really, I was starting to like it quite a lot.” Dino’s voice came out from beside me, and I turned towards him, glaring at him. He scoffed. “Oh, come on, Killer, let's get you in the house.” He put his hand on my back lightly, guiding me forward, and I smiled up at him sweetly, catching him off guard, and I threw my elbow into his side.
He bent over, clutching his side with an oomph. When his head snapped up, there was a twinge of fiery competition in his eyes. “That's better. You were starting to worry me.”
I winked at him as he stood up straight and threw his chin at the door, “Go on now.”
I hesitated at the steps, knowing that there was no going back once I went through that door. I thought about it for a second and realized that I felt more alive this week, with these men, than I have in my whole life. If the worst was to keep it all the same, I could live with that… and if the best… if the best was something I thought lost to me forever, then getting it back would be a blessing, right?
I took a step forward, then another, and soon I was in the living room, sitting at the table where we had shared meals at. The perfect six-seater table that fit all of us together. While I was happy to be back here, there was an air of hesitation that wasn’t there before. Like no one knew where to start off.
Rabid cleared his throat and folded his hands together. “I understand we have a lot to talk about, but let's start with the basics.” He looked up at me across the table. “Celine, I feel like it would be helpful to hear from you about what you do.”
I dipped my head, realizing that this would be the easy part, and I started to rattle it all off. “So, I never lied about being The Songbird, that is me… but it's more like that was the cover-up for my real job with the CIA.” I folded my arms and leaned back in the chair. “My job was to do field recon and to take out the targets handed to me. In reality, it was all the problem children of the higher-ups. If the vampire council couldn't quell an uprising, they would tell us all the dirt they had on them and give us the okay to kill them. Same with all the political leaders of each species. I never did a job that they didn't approve of. They were always bad guys that I did research on ahead of time, so I didn't mind.”
Gears raised his hand, and I smiled at him, nodding my head to him to ask his question. He was adorable when he did shit like that. “How did you get into this position? We know you are a siren princess… so, how did royalty get into the assassin game?”
I sat up and uncrossed my arms just to cross them again, noticing my knee was bouncing. “Well… I guess it really started when I turned eighteen and had my mate ceremony.” The whole room went still. Not even a breath escaped their lips as they waited for me to continue. I sighed as I put my arms on the table and just spit it all out.
“So, all sirens grow up on siren Island. Which explained why James wanted to meet at the siren ferry because he wanted me to take him to my mother… that is beside the point.” I rolled my eyes at myself as I continued, “When you turn eighteen, there is a ceremony. All the single men on the island gather in an amphitheater, and all the women line up to sing. When a siren sings a song for her mate, it affects them differently than what you have seen.” I took a breath, looking at my clenched hands. “They don't turn into mindless drones like the others. The song turns… turns into a sort of mating call that only your mate is in tune with. It compels them to sway and move forward instead of staying stagnant.”
