I honestly don’t see how it could possibly matter.
“Maybe, I mean it would feel like that if it were me,” Lirin says. “She’s losing her whole self to us and this world.”
“How so?” I challenge, outraged. I shift my weight and stalk towards him. He raises an eyebrow but doesn’t back up. Not even when I grab his throat and squeeze. “Tell me, Siren, how am I making my beloved drown.”
“Because we keep almost getting her killed,” he says and tugs at my wrist until I let go.
“Oh, yeah, there is that.” I have all this rage in me and nowhere to direct it.
Brio is still pale, but I saw Ronit check his chest earlier, and he’s got no wounds, not even a scar.
“Why can she heal you so you have no scars, but her body is covered in them?” I ask in irritation.
“Because she can’t afford to use her healing magic on herself. It makes her vulnerable,” Ronit says without looking at us.
A part of me wants to go to him, stand beside him, absorb the still, confident comfort from him. Have him say something to make it all better.
Ronit is my alpha, though I’m not sure I will ever tell him.
“Yet, she saved me,” Brio murmurs.
“You are special,” Lirin teases, but his teasing is so contrived we can all hear it, even me.
“Enough!” Ronit says darkly. “We’re not looking for her. Canto can go, but we’re going to respect her desire to try and outrun this curse. If she can’t do it, she will be back, but we’re not going to force her. Not after yesterday.”
He’s right, I know he’s right, but the bite mark is throbbing painfully. I rub it, feeling it ache.
“What’s wrong with your finger?” Lirin asks. “Did Deux get you? We need to clean it up.”
“No, it’s not from Deux,” I say hesitantly.
Ronit turns around really slowly, but the whole room turns ice cold.
“How did you get the wound on your finger?” He asks in a dark voice.
I glare at him, furious at his tone. “She bit me.”
Ronit’s eyes flare wide, his mouth drops open, but it’s the sizzling strike of his temper filling the room with his scent that has me growling and preparing to shift shape.
“Did you bond her?” Ronit asks in a low voice.
“Bond?” I ask in confusion.
“Oh, jeez, he doesn’t even know what it is,” Lirin says and flings himself onto the couch. “Did you bite her? Did she bite you?”
I snarl, not wanting to give that information, but my temper rises to match theirs.
“You did!” Reed says in horror. “Leaf, you don’t know what you have done.”
“She is mine!” I bellow.
“No-” Brio protests.
“She has always been mine,” I snarl, and the Sirens finally remember who I am. My coils are everywhere, and I snarl and bare my teeth in their direction.
I am Leviathan, and she is mine.
The tension in the room goes up and falls away. They aren’t scared of me, but they are wary.
