"Welcome home," he murmured against my lips, his dark eyes shining with an emotion too big to name. The others pressed close, their hands on my skin, their bodies warm despite the cold water, their voices murmuring words of love and welcome and fierce, possessive joy.
I was one of them now. Siren. Omega. Mate.
And I was finally, completely, irreversibly home.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
LILY
Swimming as a siren was nothing like swimming as a human.
As a human, the water had been an obstacle, something to fight against, something that resisted every movement. I'd had to work for every inch, kicking and pulling and struggling to stay afloat. Now, the water welcomed me. It parted for my new body like it had been waiting for me all along, flowing over my scales and through my gills with an ease that felt like flying. Every flick of my tail sent me gliding forward, faster than I'd ever moved in my life.
"You're a natural," Vale said, swimming alongside me, his silver tail catching the bioluminescent light and throwing it back in dazzling patterns. "Some newly transformed sirens struggle for days to find their balance. You move like you were born to this."
"Maybe I was," I said, and the words came out strange and musical in my new voice, carrying through the water like a song. "Maybe this was always what I was meant to be." A low growl of approval rumbled from somewhere behind me, and I turned tofind Riven watching me with fierce golden eyes, his scarred face soft with something that looked almost like wonder.
"You were meant for us," he said, his rough voice distorted by the water but still unmistakably his. "That's all that matters."
I tried to swim toward him, but my tail moved in ways I didn't expect, and I ended up spinning sideways, my arms flailing for balance. A startled laugh bubbled out of me, my grin stretching across my lips.
"Here," Thane said, appearing at my side, his honey-colored hair floating around his face like a halo, his golden-brown eyes bright with amusement. "You're trying to use your upper body too much. Let your tail do the work." He demonstrated, his own golden-brown tail undulating in a smooth, powerful wave that sent him gliding effortlessly forward. "See? Just like that. One motion, from your hips all the way down."
I tried again, focusing on the new muscles in my lower body, the way my tail connected to my spine. This time, the movement came more naturally, still awkward, still uncertain, but better.
"Good," Kaelan said, swimming up to join us, his dark tail cutting through the water with the ease of centuries of practice. "You'll find your rhythm. It takes time, but your body knows what to do. Trust it."
I practiced for what felt like hours, swimming in circles around the tunnel system, learning the feel of my new form. They stayed with me the entire time, offering guidance and encouragement, their hands finding my scales whenever I stumbled, their voices a constant reassurance. Beneath it all, something else was building. I'd felt it since the transformation ended, a warmth in my belly that had nothing to do with exertion. A tingling awareness that seemed to intensify every time one of them touched me, every time their scents washed over me through the water.
My heat.
It hadn't disappeared with the transformation. If anything, it felt closer now, more insistent, pressing against the edges of my awareness like a tide waiting to break.
"I can smell it," Riven growled, suddenly close, his scarred face inches from mine, his golden eyes dark with hunger. "Your heat. It's building."
I felt heat rise to my cheeks—could sirens blush underwater?—and ducked my head.
"I feel it," I admitted, my voice coming out softer than I intended, almost shy. "It's... different than before. Stronger."
"Siren heats are more intense than human ones," Vale explained, swimming closer, his silver eyes tracing over my face with careful attention. "Your body has changed, and so have your cycles. The heat you were fighting as a human will be nothing compared to what you'll experience now."
A shiver ran through me that had nothing to do with the cold water.
"But not yet," Kaelan said firmly, his voice carrying that note of alpha command that made something deep in my belly clench. "You need to learn your body first. Need to understand what you've become before we claim you completely."
"How long?" I asked, and I wasn't sure if I was dreading the answer or desperate for it.
"A day," Thane said softly, pressing close to my side, his hand finding my hip and stroking gently over my new scales. "Maybe two. We'll know when you're ready. Your scent will tell us."
A day. Maybe two. The thought sent anticipation and nervousness warring through my chest in equal measure.
"For now," Kaelan said, his dark eyes holding mine with fierce intensity, "we show you your new home. All of it. Every corner, every cavern, every inch of territory that belongs to us—that belongs to you now." He offered me his hand, and I took it,feeling the strength in his grip, the warmth of his skin against my newly sensitive scales.
"Show me everything," I said, and meant it.
They led me out of the tunnel system and into open water, and for the first time, I saw their territory in its full glory. The reef stretched out in all directions, vast and colorful and teeming with life. Coral formations rose like underwater mountains, their surfaces covered in creatures I had no names for—anemones and sea fans and things that glowed and pulsed with their own inner light. Fish swam in schools so thick they looked like living clouds, parting around us as we passed and reforming in our wake.
"This is the outer boundary," Kaelan explained, gesturing toward the reef's edge, where the coral gave way to deeper darkness. "Beyond here, we don't go unless necessary. There are other things in the deep—older things, hungrier things. Things even we don't want to face."
