Then she felt something. A pair of hands closed over her mouth. Isa’s eyes snapped wide open as a pair of tentacles wrapped themselves around her legs and arms, pinning them to hersides.
Isa tried to scream, but nothing came out. She heard a dark chuckle, and a sinister voice whispered in her ear, “Gotyou.”
ChapterFifteen
Adrian
Adrian had never felt moremiserable in his life. He’d beenso close.He could see it in her eyes when they were dancing earlier. She loved him. She loved him, and she was about to tell him, but she wanted to know if he loved herfirst.
Someone had upset her, that much was obvious. It wasn't like her to act that way. Isa was always composed, never revealed how she felt, never lostcontrol.
Tonight was different. He saw something sickening in her eyes. She'd been wounded by someone she cared about, maybe a few people. Adrian wasn't sure how she could go from being fine to being completely devastated in the span of less than a fewminutes.
But her rejection had done worse than break his heart— it had broken the mating bond. Isa refusing his love felt like a sharp board being snapped in half on top of his chest. Before Adrian could feel her happiness, her joy, and then the sharp change into pain andsadness.
Now there was nothing. He could no longer sense her, and that frightened him. He was free to chooseanother.
Despite the mating bond being broken Adrian was still madly in love with her. His feelings hadn't changed. He still felt like he would die without her. He’d wondered if his heart would choose differently once the mating bond was broken, and refused to think about it, but he had nothing to fear. Adrian's heart would always belong to Isa, no matter what magic did or did notbindit.
Fated mates or not, Stavros' spell was still holding. Adrian had some time before he would be forced to return to the sea. He had to find Isa, make her changehermind.
"Sorry," Adrian said as he bumped into someone, a man much larger than him. The man was wearing a Navy uniform and instantly snapped when Adrian accidentally knockedhimover.
"Watch where you're walking, boy," he growled. "You ought to be taught somemanners."
Adrian was about to bite back a comment before the man's eyes struck him. They were light green and churning likethesea.
LikeIsa's.
It was him. He'd upset her. Her father had shown up and ruined everything. “Do you know whereIsamariais?”
The man's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "I don't know. She ran off. Are you her newboyfriend?"
Adrian shoved him aside. He looked through the ballroom frantically, scanning the hundreds of faces in the crowd. Wherewasshe?
Then Adrian looked out a window and spotted Isa standing on the shoreline. He ran outside onto the beach and called her name, but before she could hear him a figure rose out of thewater.
"No!" Adrian screamed, but it was too late. Stavros wrapped his tentacles around Isa and yanked her downward, swimming out to sea. Adrian watched Isa's head bob along the top of the water as Stavros took her farther and farther into theocean.
Adrian ran into the sea. He jumped against the waves and started paddling, swimming after Stavros with all his might. But the waves were too strong for a human to master, and Adrian was forced to turn back and watch as Stavros carried his lovefaraway.
"No," Adrian said again, but he was crying this time. He knotted his fingers into his hair and pulled. Stavros had Isa. Who knew what he would dotoher?
There was a bump against his leg. Adrian looked down and saw Moona's black eyes. She huffed a bit and nibbled at hiscalves.
"I'm sorry, Moona," Adrian said mournfully. "I can'tunderstandyou."
Moona rammed herself into Adrian's side and he nearly fell over. That got the message across. "Right," he said. "I need to goafterher."
Isa had given Adrian her car keys to hold onto, since he was the only one with pockets. Adrian got into her car and drove to the docks. He broke a window to get into her uncle's office. Adrian grabbed the keys for the boat he and Isa had taken out yesterday, hauled up the anchor, then drove the boat out to sea as fast as hecould.
Moona kept up to the best of her ability. When Adrian stopped the boat he dropped anchor over the area where he knew Stavros' lair waslurking.
Moona worriedly skimmed along the surface. By this point, the sky was dark and the moonwashigh.
It was then that midnight came over the earth, and Adrian was forced tochange.
The agonizing pain came over him again. A fieriness came over his body, and every breath he took felt like knives piercing into his lungs. He tilted overboard, forced to return to the water. His legs were gone, and his tail was back. He could feel magic coursing through his veins stronglyoncemore.
