Chapter 4
Ezra
What a fucking day. I’d been on the receiving end of a siren’s call once or twice before, but the effects were subtle and from a more experienced siren.
Their call was a gentle nudge, not this sledgehammer Rani whacked around campus.
If I were anyone else but her bond, that call would have made me a mindless groupie like the rest of the horde.
Only worse, because I was already obsessed with her.
I glanced over to where she sat curled against the opposite wall.
After our brief moment of peace, she distanced herself once more and hadn’t tried to speak to me again.
I wished she would. Her voice was my favorite sound, even when it was screaming at me, and the silence it left in its wake was smothering.
She had a faint, lingering glow, so her call was waning but still on.
Probably because a few hours had passed since she touched the ocean.
It was a working theory of mine that any contact with water, but especially the ocean, enhanced a siren’s power.
There was no way to know for sure without testing it, or downright asking—and sirens were notorious for being secretive —but I’d come to this conclusion from watching Rani bumble around like a newborn foal.
Poor girl, she really had no idea about anything.
She hadn’t even recognized her own magick until she felt mine up close.
What the hell has she been doing these past few weeks?
Eryn said she was figuring things out on her own time, and I thought that meant at the very least she was explained the basics and then left to her own devices.
But that out there was a cluster fuck of the highest level.
So much clustering of fucks. Like, it was actually illegal for a siren to use their influence like that.
There were some humans still outside, scratching at the wooden door like hounds put out for the night.
Maybe it was a scent thing. Could sirens attract by scent, too? I covertly raised my nose but couldn’t smell anything over the ripped bag of mulch next to me.
“Did you just sniff me?”
“You’ve got some strong voodoo, babe,” I said, and watched closely for her reaction. “They haven’t set eyeballs on you in hours, and they’re still trying to get in.”
It was impressive, really. But she looked annoyed rather than proud of her strength.
That’s fine, I would be proud enough for the both of us.
I always knew my bond would be powerful, but seeing it firsthand was sexy as hell.
Too bad her call didn’t work on me. It would have been fun to see her try and boss me around with it in bed.
“Maybe that proves it isn’t me,” Rani finally responded after staring at the barricaded door a little too long. “Maybe the djinn are behind it all, and it's a new plot to get back at us.”
She seemed both terrified and resigned to the idea. I knew she still had nightmares about the djinn kidnapping her, Eryn said they woke her every night, and I wanted nothing more than to scoop her up in my arms and reassure her that those assholes would never lay hands on her again.
“The djinn can set illusions but not control minds, that’s Eryn’s forte. And unless they set an illusion of you doing a naked jig on the roof, it's your very real, delicious ass that’s drawn them here in the first place.”
No giggle. Not even a smile. Rani glared at the door like both our explanations sucked, when clearly one was far superior. She put up that wall again. That’s what was happening here. Her anger was so potent I could almost see it in the air, like little fireworks.
“I’m just saying, maybe it's not,” she grumbled.
Denial. Stage one .
“And how would you explain what happened down at the beach?” I pointed at her arms in challenge.
“Are those scratches from the tiki bar then?” She shrugged, but moved her hands to cover some of the more obvious marks.
I sighed. “You’re going to have to accept it sooner rather than later.
Nothing will even begin to go back to normal until you stop the fucking pity party, face this new you, and conquer her. ”
Oh, I had her attention now. She glared at me, and I raised a brow.
It may have been harsh, but she needed to hear it.
The nightmares, her uncontrolled surges of magick, the ‘fuck you’ attitude she carried like a shield…
she needed to get a hold of it all. She needed to let someone close enough to show her how.
“Fuck you.” There was that shield.
Anger. Stage two.
“Did I say something untrue?”
“I was kidnapped , asshole. You don’t just get over that.”
I was more than aware, because that haunted my dreams every night.
I couldn’t close my eyes without seeing the door to her dorm torn from the hinges.
Couldn’t breathe when I remembered how cold she was when we found her washed up on the beach, barely breathing— barely alive .
I had just as much anger about that night as she did, but I refused to let it rule me.
“You were,” I nodded, gravely. “ And you were changed, something you’re more than aware of but also desperately trying to deny.”
“I—” She shut her mouth and glared at me again.
“I’m more than just these good looks, babe. I’m freakishly aware of all that happens in and around those I care about.”
“In?” she sneered, trying to lessen my authenticity, but I waved a hand and continued,
“It’s my job to watch and evaluate those around me. And you, my little moody muffin, have been the biggest puzzle of all since the moment those lips of yours dared to smirk and tell me no.”
She rolled her eyes, but the heavy swallow that followed told me she wasn’t as unaffected as she tried to appear. “So, this is some drawn-out master plan for you to get in my pants?”
I rose and slowly walked over until my shoes and hers were only inches apart, then crouched and waited until she met my eyes. I wasn’t going to let her brush this off or ignore me. I was her bond, dammit. And whether she knew that yet or not didn’t matter. I was here to stay.
“This is me saying that I see it. I see your hurt and your rage and all the other fucked up parts you’re trying to bury.
” My voice was little more than a gravelly whisper, but by the sharp rise of her chest, I knew she heard me.
“I see you . And no amount of avoidance, attitude, or venom you spew will ever get me to look away.”
It was late afternoon before the first sign of rescue. Rani and I were back to our default setting, my subtle pining and her intentional avoidance. I felt her gaze on me, often, but each time I looked over, she was pointedly staring at the barricade with that damn stubborn frown on her face.
Well, buckle up, babe. That frown was sure to morph into a downright scowl when she learned what I had in store for her.
Tutoring. It was a crazy idea, but I decided to take a page from my cousin’s book.
Rani had no idea what it meant to be supernatural.
She knew nothing about her magick and how it related to her inner strength, nothing about bonds and fates and our laws.
Fuck, she couldn’t even tell that our rescue had been under way for at least an hour now. I felt it the moment Eryn got to work on the human minds outside. It was a faint signature, barely more than a buzz on my radar, but with how close we all were it was as familiar to me as my own magick.
Once again, I glanced over at Rani to see if she felt it, but it didn’t appear like she did.
That was the first thing we were going to work on.
Eryn’s signature should be familiar enough for her to pick up, even on its lowest setting.
She either had the best control I’d ever seen, or absolutely none at all.
Had she even noticed that the scratching stopped?
“The cavalry has arrived,” I said, finally moving from my spot on the opposite wall.
I began clearing items from the barricade while Rani slowly came to the realization of all the things I’d known for an hour.
Her head did an adorable tilt as she listened, her frown giving way to relief when only the sound of my efforts reached her.
She gradually uncurled from her sanctuary in the shadowed corner, reaching her arms above her head in a sensual stretch that did funny things to my dick.
Now is not the time to pop a boner, my dude. Go back down.
It was pretty difficult to move a potting table and hide your chub at the same time, but I think I managed it.
My bond was more worried about what was going on outside than my lack of control in here.
Good thing too. I didn’t want to scare her off before I had a chance to woo her, and the size of my dick has been known to cause apprehension in all but the most daring of women.
“How did you know?” she asked, then helped me grab a couple of the larger pots I’d set aside so I could move the table. “That the cavalry's here, I mean.”
The exit was mostly clear now, definitely enough that we could squeeze through, but I needed to test something before we rejoined the others.
Eryn still had control of what few humans remained outside, I could tell by the low hum of her magick.
Now was the perfect time to see if Rani was deliberately blocking her senses or just not attuned to them.
Turning to face her, I pretended to take a break and wiped the sweat from my forehead with the bottom of my shirt. “I listened.”
I let my shirt fall and caught her staring. My usual smirk danced at the corner of my mouth, but I didn’t want to distract her, so I held it in check. She could look all she wanted; it belonged to her anyway.
“I’ve been listening for hours,” she muttered, obviously annoyed. “I’ve heard nothing but those scratches and what I’m pretty sure is a mouse in that back corner. Maybe a giant lizard. I was too scared to look.”
It was most definitely a lizard, I saw its tail, but we needed to stay on track.