The petal seemed to glow with its own golden light, and the beads scattered through the braid like captured sunlight, the shells and pearls making it shimmer with warmth.
When they finally finished, I reached up to touch my hair—and gasped at what I felt. The braids were intricate, complex, woven together in patterns I couldn't begin to understand. But much of my hair remained free, flowing over my shoulders and down my back like dark waves. The braids framed my face and wove through the crown of my head, but they didn't contain me—they adorned me. More than that, they felt alive somehow—humming with the same energy as the bonds, pulsing with the love and devotion of four ancient beings.
"It's beautiful," I whispered, though I couldn't see it. "I can feel it."
"See for yourself," Vale said, producing a small mirror—polished metal, gleaming in the dim light. I looked at my reflection and felt my breath catch.
The braids were stunning. Four distinct patterns that wove together at my crown and temples, each one decorated with treasures that caught the light in different ways. Kaelan's star-stone glowed softly at the crown, surrounded by shells and dark pearls. Vale's chimes cascaded down my right temple, singing softly, glittering with iridescent shells and pale jewels. Riven's bone shard and fire-stone gleamed fiercely at my left, nestled among black pearls and red shells. And Thane's golden petal and beads shimmered at my nape, warm with amber shells and honey-colored pearls.
The rest of my hair flowed free—waves that caught the bioluminescent light and shimmered with their own beauty. The braids were the frame; my unbound hair was the wild heart of it. More than the hair—I looked different. The transformation that had given me a tail had also changed my face, subtly, in ways I hadn't noticed before. My features were sharper, my eyes darker, my skin luminous in a way it had never been before.
I looked like a queen.
"The treasures will stay," Kaelan said quietly. "Even when you shift back to human form. They're woven too tightly to fall out, and the magic of the ceremony will keep them secure. Anyone who sees you—human or siren—will know you're claimed. Will know you belong to us."
"And we to you," Thane added softly. "The braiding goes both ways. You carry our treasures, but we carry your love. Your trust.Your heart." I set down the mirror and looked at each of them—my mates, my pack, my family.
"I love you," I said, the words inadequate for everything I felt. "All of you. So much it scares me sometimes."
"Good," Riven rumbled, a rare smile crossing his scarred face. "Fear keeps you sharp."
"Love keeps you soft," Vale countered, his silver eyes warm.
"And together," Kaelan said, pulling me into his arm.
"And keeps you whole." Thane spoke last as the others joined the embrace, surrounding me with warmth and strength and the steady pulse of four bonds. I closed my eyes and let myself sink into the feeling—the safety, the belonging, the overwhelming rightness of being exactly where I was meant to be.
For the first time in my life, I was truly home.
Chapter Thirty-Five
RIVEN
I had been waiting for this. Through the days of heat, through the braiding ceremony, through every moment of holding Lily in my arms—some part of me had been counting down to this night. The hunt sang in my blood, ancient and primal, demanding satisfaction.
Lily slept peacefully in the nest, curled between Vale and Thane. I could feel her through the bond—warm, content, safe. The heat had left her satisfied and exhausted, and she wouldn't wake for hours yet. Perfect.
Kaelan met my eyes across the dim cavern, and I saw my own dark anticipation reflected back at me. The other two decided they wanted to stay back with Lily, as long as we made Cort suffer. We didn’t want Lily to have to deal with Cort.
Thought…this was my kill—my right as her protector, her fiercest defender. Kaelan was coming not to hold me back, but to witness. To participate, if the mood struck him.
We slipped from the cave in silence, leaving our sleeping mate in the care of our packmates. Vale's silver eyes tracked usas we left, understanding and approval in his gaze. Thane simply pulled Lily closer, his arm tightening protectively around her waist.
She would be safe. And when we returned, she would be avenged.
The ocean embraced us as we dove into the dark water, our tails propelling us forward with powerful strokes. We'd tracked the ship for days—felt its presence on the edge of our territory, moving slowly toward port. It wouldn't reach its destination. Not with all its crew intact, that is.
"You've been planning this," Kaelan's voice reached me through the water, low and amused. His powerful tail cut through the dark currents beside me, scales glinting like obsidian in the faint light filtering from above.
"Since the moment she told us his name." My claws flexed at my sides, extending to their full lethal length. "I've imagined it a thousand ways. A thousand deaths, each one slower than the last."
"Which one did you settle on?" He glanced at me, dark eyes gleaming with something that matched the hunger in my own chest.
I bared my teeth in something that wasn't quite a smile. "All of them."
We swam in silence after that, but I could feel Kaelan's satisfaction through the pack bond—dark and cold, like the depths we navigated. Our leader wore his control like armor, but beneath it, he was just as much a predator as I was. He'd simply learned to hide it better.
Lily had told us everything. In the quiet moments between heat waves, when she lay exhausted in our arms, she'd whispered the truth of her life before us. The arranged mating she'd fled. The alpha who'd claimed ownership of her beforeshe'd ever had a choice. She went into more detail and her feelings, something she didn’t when we talked about it before.
