I filed the information away, committing each detail to memory. "His current location?"
"As of three days ago, he was aboard theSilver Promise, heading south along the coastal trade route." Her tail swished slowly behind her, stirring the dark water into lazy spirals, and she raised one clawed finger as if remembering something particularly interesting. "He'll make port in Saltmere within the week—he always does this time of year. Something about a seasonal market." Her lips curled with distaste, pulling back from her yellowed teeth, her expression souring. "He attends an... auction. Private. Invitation only. The kind where the merchandise doesn't consent to being sold."
An omega auction. My claws extended again, and this time I didn't bother retracting them. The points dug into my palms, drawing thin ribbons of blood that swirled away into the darkness.
"The location of this auction," my voice came out harder than I intended, rough with barely contained fury.
"That will cost extra." Serath's voice held no apology, no sympathy—just the cold calculation of a creature who had survived centuries by never giving more than she was paid for. She examined her claws with feigned disinterest, though I couldsee the gleam of anticipation in her silver eyes. "Another two kills."
"Done," the word came out as a growl, low and dangerous, and I saw Serath's eyes widen slightly—the first genuine surprise I'd seen from her. Her tail coiled tighter beneath her, an unconscious defensive posture, and she drifted back a few inches. "The location. Now."
She told me. A private estate outside Saltmere, owned by a consortium of wealthy merchants and nobles who shared certain appetites. The auctions happened four times a year, always coinciding with the seasonal markets that brought enough traffic to hide the comings and goings of the attendees.
Marcus wasn't just a buyer. He was a supplier.
"One more thing," I kept my voice cold, controlled, even as rage burned through my veins like fire. My hands curled into fists at my sides, claws pressing crescents into my palms. "I need to find two humans. A mated pair, living in a port town. The father sold his daughter to Marcus. Recently—within the last year. I need their location."
Serath tilted her head, curiosity flickering in her ancient eyes, her gaze sharpening with renewed interest. Her tail swished thoughtfully behind her, stirring patterns in the dark water.
"You're building quite the list, Kaelan. This daughter—she's the personal interest, isn't she? The reason your claws keep extending?" Her voice was silk and poison, probing for weakness, for leverage she could use later.
I said nothing. My silence was answer enough.
"I don't track individual humans." Serath's tail flicked with something like regret—regret at losing a potential sale, nothing more. She spread her webbed hands in a gesture of helplessness that didn't quite reach her calculating eyes. "Too many of them, too short-lived to bother learning their movements. But..." Shepaused, one clawed finger tapping against her chin, considering, her silver gaze going distant. "There are others who might. The shore-walkers. The ones who move between worlds."
"Shore-walkers?" I kept my voice carefully neutral, though I knew of them already. I wanted to hear what Serath knew, what she might offer.
"Sirens who've learned to take human form. They live among the land-dwellers, gathering information, building networks." Her tail flicked with something like disdain, the purple scales rippling with the motion, and her lip curled with distaste. "Unnatural, if you ask me. But useful, if you need to find specific humans. There's one in Thornhaven itself—goes by the name Coral among our kind. She runs a tavern near the docks. Caters to sailors, merchants..." She smiled thinly, her silver eyes glinting with dark amusement. "The kind of men who buy and sell omega flesh. She hears things."
"Coral." I repeated the name, committing it to memory alongside the rest, filing it away with the precision of a predator cataloging prey. "In Thornhaven."
"Tell her I sent you. She owes me a favor—a real one, not the unspecified kind you were too clever to agree to." Serath's smile widened, showing more of those yellowed teeth, her eyes crinkling at the corners with something that might have been respect. She wagged one clawed finger at me in mock admonishment. "She'll help you find your humans. And perhaps... she can provide details about Marcus that I cannot. Port gossip. Rumors. The things that only land-dwellers know."
I inclined my head—the closest I would come to thanking her. "The kills I owe you. Where do you want them?"
"The warm currents, three leagues south of the reef. Fishermen from the coastal villages sail there regularly." Her silver eyes gleamed with anticipation, hunger flickering across her ancient features for just a moment before she schooled herexpression back to neutrality. Her tongue darted out to wet her thin lips. "Fat, slow targets. I'll expect payment within the month."
"You'll have it." I turned to leave, my dark tail cutting through the water as I angled away from the trench. Her voice stopped me at the edge of the abyss.
"Kaelan," something in her tone made me pause—something almost like warmth, buried beneath decades of calculated coldness. I turned back to find her watching me with an expression I couldn't quite read, her ancient body hovering at the lip of her trench. "This daughter you're hunting for. The one who was sold." She drifted closer, her ancient eyes searching my face with uncomfortable intensity, seeing things I'd rather keep hidden. "She's yours now, isn't she? Pack-bonded. Mated."
I didn't answer. I didn't need to.
"Be careful." Serath's voice dropped lower, and for a moment, she sounded almost concerned—almost like the young siren she must have been, centuries ago, before time and survival had stripped away everything soft. Her silver eyes held something that might have been genuine warning. "Vengeance is a current that can pull you deeper than you intend to go. I've seen it destroy stronger sirens than you."
"I'm not seeking vengeance," I kept my voice quiet, controlled, my dark eyes meeting her silver ones without flinching. "I'm seeking justice."
"Is there a difference?" She held my gaze for a long moment, her silver eyes ancient and knowing, and then she turned and disappeared back into the darkness of her trench, leaving me alone at the edge of the abyss, her question echoing in the cold water.
I considered the question as I swam away, letting the current carry me back toward warmer waters. Vengeance was personal—a wound demanding repayment in blood. Justice was somethingelse. Something colder, more absolute. Vengeance could be satisfied. Justice never could. Maybe there wasn't a difference. Maybe Serath was right, and I was swimming toward a depth I wouldn't be able to escape.
I found I didn't care.
The journey back to our territory took the better part of two days, and when I finally reached the cave system, my pack was waiting for me. All four of them—Riven and Vale flanking the entrance like guards, their bodies tense with anticipation, crimson and silver scales gleaming in the bioluminescent light, while Thane curled protectively around Lily in the nest's center, his tail wrapped around hers. She looked up as I approached, her dark hair swirling around her face, and I saw the question in her eyes before she spoke it.
"You found something." It wasn't a question. She could read me through the bond, could feel the grim satisfaction settling in my chest like a stone finding the seafloor. Her fingers tightened on Thane's arm, her whole body leaning toward me with desperate hope.
"I found everything we need." I swam to her side, letting the others close ranks around us, feeling the familiar comfort of pack surrounding me. "Marcus operates out of Thornhaven. He runs three ships along the eastern coast, and he'll be making port in Saltmere within the week. But there's more—he doesn't just buy omegas. He sells them. He's part of a network—private auctions, wealthy buyers."
