His dark, blood red hair was damp from our jump in the ocean. Pointed ears with no gold hoops poked out of the strands. No jewelry on any part of his body. He grew almost a foot from what Drew’s height was, making him awkwardly hunch in the cabin to avoid knocking his head against the ceiling. His naked torso was significantly paler, no longer sporting the skin of a Californian who spent most of their time in the sun. He had taken out his second contact, unveiling a pair of those distinct,siren irises. His torso was wider, too. Perhaps he looked so big because of the smaller quarters of the cabin. Perhaps he looked so big because he genuinely wassobig.
I gaped at the siren prince, standing there with a stone-cold facial expression, complete with a clenched jaw. His eyes locked me in place. I both wanted to freeze and run away at the same time.
Instead, I ground my teeth together and glared at Drustan Shaw.
“What the hell?” I muttered, before balling my hands into fists. I got to my feet and started marching toward him. Drustan wasn’t expecting that. His eyes widened in surprise before he quickly trapped my wrists in his large hands to keep me from hitting his chest with them. Perhaps my emotions and thoughts were racing too fast for him to keep up with.
“Fuck you,” I grunted between clenched teeth as I struggled to free myself. I wanted to hit him. I wanted to punch him. Rocks were forming in my gut, and betrayal and loss filled my chest with ice.
“Vanessa.” Drustan tsked at me. “You’re going to hurt yourself.”
I kicked him in the shin, but he didn’t react to it. I did, however, feel a small crunch in one of my toes before I yelped and my knees buckled. Drustan cursed again as he released his hold on my wrists to drop to his knees. He clasped my foot in one of his hands to study it. “Dammit.”
“No!” I yanked my foot out of his hold, falling backward on my ass. I tucked my foot, which for sure had a broken toe now, closer to my body as I yelled at him, “Don’t do that. Don’t pretend that you care.”
Drustan frowned at me before he snapped, “You assume I’m pretending?”
I scoffed at him and asked, “Are you shitting me?”
Drustan grumbled as he shook his head in irritation. Then, using his hands and knees, he stalked toward me. It took no effort for him to crowd me against the pantry again, because the cabin was so small. My heart was racing; something was thawing in my chest. Excitement? Adrenaline? Because his stupid handsome siren magnetism was on full display now, and my pitiful human nervous system didn’t stand a chance.
“Do you think I enjoyed the ruse?” Drustan spat as his golden eyes flared with his words. “That I enjoyed playing the part of a pitiful human male?”
“Yeah.” I widened my eyes at him, curling up in a ball against the pantry. “I think you did. You probably got off thinking about how stupid I was.”
Drustan frowned. “You are not stupid. It was challenging to keep up the deception.”
I widened my eyes in horror and shook my head. My mouth opened and shut as words escaped me. I pressed both of my palms to my cheeks, unable to process this.
Andrew wasn’treal.
Drew was Drustan.
Drew…wasDrustan.
I’m such a moron.
“W-why?” I finally settled on.
“Why?” Drustan asked as he shifted closer. He rested his massive body on his knees as he braced both of his palms against the pantry doors. Caging me between his arms as I struggled to press as much of my curled-up side against the pantry as possible, “Why doyouthink, Vanessa?”
“To fuck with me?”
Drustan shook his head, frowning with his words, “We’ve already established your competence, Vanessa. You know I wouldn’t put in that much time and effort for a prank. So, tellme, why would I spend weeks masquerading as a human with you in your realm?”
I frowned at him, pissed that he dared to seem irritated with me right now.
“To taunt Audrey? Give the halfling and fae that you hate the finger?”
Drustan’s nostrils flared. From the way he squeezed his eyes closed for a moment, I had a feeling he was struggling not to roll them. “Wrong again. The realms don’t revolve entirely around the halfling and her mate.”
“Don’t they? Why else?—”
Something he said tugged at my chest. Her mate.
Mate.
My expression fell, not in disappointment, but in bewilderment.
