Chapter 5 #2
I hated to bombard her with questions, but this reunion was months in the making. I had so many questions that only she had the answers to.
"I've known. Your grandmother is one of the sirens who escaped. I didn't know the child was still alive." She sighed and studied my face and then her eyes fell to my necklace that was hanging out of my shirt. "You're happy with these boys?"
"I think so." I ran my fingers across the three pearls. "It's hard to focus on building a relationship when so much is going on."
"Male tritons give a single pearl to those that take their hearts." She put her hand over her heart and looked wistful. "Finn gave me one when we were in high school."
My eyes widened, and I looked down at the three pearls. "All of these things I should know."
"I never intended for you to transition into a siren, Riley. This life... always on edge, wondering when you're going to snap or when you'll be found and slaughtered... I didn't want that for you." She stood. "We're meeting in the living room about what happened last night."
She gave me a tight smile and left me so I could get dressed.
After pulling on jeans and a sweatshirt, I trudged down the stairs, to what sounded like a heated conversation between Finn and Morgan.
"You locked my parents away for helping sirens, but now you're helping sirens. Tell me why we should even trust you not to take Riley away from us." Morgan's voice was trembling.
When I got to the bottom of the stairs I stopped, seeing Finn and my mom sitting on the couch next to each other. Finn was sitting with his arms crossed and my mom had a slightly amused look on her face.
Blake was standing next to Morgan and looked to be more concerned about Morgan than what the conversation was about. "Morgan, you should really sit down. You're supposed to be taking it easy."
"How can I take it easy when Riley's in danger and now this?" Morgan gestured to the two of them. "Jax, what do you have to say about this?"
"What's going on?" I approached with caution since Morgan was on the fine line between frustrated and angry.
I stood by the arm of the couch and my mom reached over and took my hand, pulling me down next to her. I had missed her so much and it had been so long since I had sat next to her and just touched her without fearing for my life. I sniffled back tears. She pulled me to her and kissed my temple.
Finn looked comfortable next to my mom and stretched an arm out on the back of the couch. "Jax called me about last night's festivities. We needed to see the footage from the security camera out front and your mom wanted to check on you."
"We? Since when is there a we?" I looked between the two of them. "Did you forget that he had me kidnapped by his own son and then tied me to a chair and tried to waterboard me?"
Her eyes darkened, and she patted my hand. "I didn't forget. He is still receiving his punishment."
She shot Finn a glare and he smiled sheepishly. Gross.
Jax was quiet at the dining table with a laptop open in front of him. He stood and carried it to the coffee table. "The security cameras caught a shadowed figure outside the front of the house last night."
The guys stood behind the couch so we could all see the video. In the video, the lights were all on out front and then suddenly went out, but in the faint light from a lightning strike, I saw a figure standing by the front door.
"Why are we wasting our time watching a shadow?" Morgan glared at the screen.
"Just watch." Jax leaned forward over his dad. "Watch right here where he is."
A flash of lightning hit nearby and, at the same time, his eyes lit up like the lightning was inside of them.
My mom gasped and put her hand over her mouth. "He's Poseidon's child. He has to be."
Morgan twisted his lips to the side. "And what would you know about that?"
"Son-" Finn turned to face Morgan.
"I'm not your son." I wanted to hug Morgan, but he was grumpy. He hadn't had the best time sleeping, tossing and turning most of the night.
"When I was old enough, my mother told me about serving Poseidon and how his eyes would light like a million lightning bolts when he was using his powers.
" She clasped her hands in her lap and got a faraway look on her face.
"It was how she knew something was wrong.
She saw a flicker and knew that something was going to happen. "
"Where is Grandma?" I had never met the woman, but my mom talked about her like she was well-known and respected in Mexico.
My mom took my hands and sighed. "When I hit puberty, I started the transition into a siren.
She never tried to stop me from going in the water; she encouraged it.
One night, when I was about thirteen, she told me I was going to live with my biological father, here in Salinity Cove.
I was furious and wanted to tear apart the house and everything and everyone in it. "
My stomach dropped. If she killed my grandmother, I didn't know what I'd do. My face fell as that reality set in.
"I'm not a monster. I didn't kill her." My mom always could read my face.
"Then what happened to her?" Blake was captivated by the story and had perched on the arm of the couch next to me.
"She put the knife, which I didn't know existed, in my bag with a long letter explaining everything I needed to know.
" A tear fell down my mom's cheek and she swiped at it quickly.
"A few days after I left, my father got a call that she had passed away.
She was much older than she ever led me to believe. "
My stomach knotted. "And what about you? How old are you?" My eyes were burning. "How long do we live?"
"I'm forty, but sirens live four times as long as humans.
In her letter, she said that since I was mostly on land, that my lifespan would be closer to that of a human unless I spent more time in the water.
" She patted my hand. "Until my mother and a few others, sirens hadn't really spent time on land. "
Jax shut his laptop and went to sit next to Morgan on a barstool. "How many others are we talking?"
She bit her lip and looked at Finn, who nodded. What the hell?
"There were ten sirens who managed to get away. Three were found and killed, four had children, and three vanished without a trace."
"There is a group of tritons who never agreed with Poseidon's power over them and vowed to protect those that were left once he was thought to have slaughtered them all." Finn rubbed a hand over his face. "I'm not part of it, but Morgan's parents were."
"Aren't we all part of it now?" Morgan clenched his fists. "I'll go speak to Poseidon myself and-"
Finn stood and his eyes turned to their triton form. "You'll do no such thing. He spared their lives because I told him that once they were caught by me, they helped me get rid of the two sirens they were helping."
"You what?" Jax went pale and stood. "You lied to Poseidon?"
"I didn't have a choice. It was either lie or Morgan's parents would have been killed and Natalia and Riley would have been hunted." His jaw ticked and he took a calming breath, his eyes turning back to their normal blue.
"But at what price? If he finds out, he'll kill you!" Jax rubbed his head as if he was trying to stop himself from punching something, or someone. "And what about me? And Mom and Olivia? You had us to think about when all of it happened!"
Finn sat back down, looking heartbroken. "Sometimes you take a risk for someone you love."
"Love? What am I supposed to do when I have no one left?" His raised voice echoed through the room. He stormed off down the hall leading to the elevator.
I stood as the elevator dinged. "I'll go make sure he's all right."
When I got into the cave, Jax was just taking off the last of his clothes. He looked over his shoulder at me, tears streaming down his face. "I want to be alone."
I started taking my own clothes off and Jax made a noise in the back of his throat. "What the hell are you doing?"
"I'm coming with you." I stood naked next to him. "If you're leaving, so am I."
I didn't give him time to respond and dove in. The cold water was a shock to my system, but it felt nice for once to jump into water and only have a small bit of fear. I guess getting shot in the leg and jumping off a yacht was good for something.
I came up for air and Jax was still standing on the platform with a disbelieving look on his face. "Who are you?"
I splashed him. "Am I going to have to find the exit myself?"
He dove in and came up, still in his human form. I was slightly disappointed. "We aren't going out in the ocean with everything that's been going on. It's too dangerous."
I wrapped my arms around his neck and he pulled my legs up around his hips. "So, what did you come down here for?"
"I didn't want you to see me lose it." He pushed some hair off my face. "My dad is the last one I have left. Yeah, my sister is still alive, but it's only a matter of time."
A pained expression came across his face and I hugged him. "No matter what, you have Blake, Morgan... me."
He buried his face in the crook of my neck. "Why can't we just for once have some normalcy?"
"Normalcy is boring." I shifted against him, and his dick was suddenly pressed between my legs. "Maybe this was a bad idea."
He brushed my hair off my neck and kissed his way to my lips. "Maybe." He pushed his tongue in my mouth and my body exploded with need.
My nipples were already hard enough to cut something, but with his lips on mine, they ached as they rubbed against his chest.
His lips trailed down to my breasts and he sucked a nipple in his mouth.
Something red caught my eye. "Oh my God!" I pushed at his head.
"Too much?" He chuckled against my skin and started moving to the other nipple.
"No! It's a giant fucking octopus!'' I squealed and managed to squirm away from him. "Holy shit!"
Jax turned and then laughed. "I'll be damned!" He shifted and swam toward the giant reddish-colored octopus that was floating near the top of the water.
"Don't go to it!" I pulled myself out of the water and took a towel from a stack they had nearby. They might have had towels, but I'd seldom seen them use them. They were always walking around the house naked.
"Go get Morgan!" Jax was petting the damn thing. "He must have sensed Morgan's pain over the last week."
"Wait, what?" I wrapped the towel tightly around me.
"This is Monty."
I went to get Morgan and Blake. Finn and my mom were both gone, which was probably a good thing, even though I would have liked to spend more time with her and ask more questions.
“There’s something you guys need to see in the cave,” I said, standing awkwardly by the side of the couch.
Blake and Morgan were in the middle of getting logged into some game on their gaming system. They hadn’t even looked up when I got off the elevator.
I cleared my throat and they finally looked at me.
"Do we even want to know why you're wrapped in a towel?" Blake asked as he set his controller down and stood.
"Just a little distraction." I shook my hips as I walked down the hall with them behind me.
"You naked under there, vixen?" Morgan reached for the bottom of the towel and I swatted his hand away as we got on the elevator. "It's not like I haven't seen it before."
I was glad he was in a better mood now, and he would probably be in an even better one once the elevator doors slid open.
As soon as he caught sight of Monty, he hobbled to the water and stripped down. He sat on the side of the platform and winced before lowering himself in the water.
"Morgan, remember the doctors said your shifts will be-" Blake started, but then threw his hands up as Morgan went under and a lot of bubbles surrounded where he'd gone under. "Painful. It'll be painful."
Morgan came above water next to Monty, and I gasped as the octopus wrapped itself around him.
It seemed like I would never get used to the new life I was thrust into.
New things kept popping up, but the look of glee and amazement on Morgan's face made me forget just for a moment that a crazy demigod wanted to use me.