Siren's Kiss (Seraphine Thomas Book 5) Read online

  “I didn’t do it lightly,” Dain argued, flinching at the implied reprimand. “You are thinking as if we are still nobles, and then it would be unheard of. We’re not, as we were disowned. I pledged my ultimate loyalty and everything to Seraphine, as she rescued us and I believe will help many paranormals, not only fairies. That is a cause I wish to give my everything to.”

  “As do we,” Tasar conceded, giving me a serious look. “It’s simply not done for someone a person just meets, no matter what you did for us. As people who have known Dain for a long time, we worry if it was because of your influence, not his own will.”

  “I didn’t use my influence on him,” I argued. “We might have had sex that one time, but he didn’t have my blood and go crazy like vampires can. I didn’t bind him to me. I used my influence on both of you, and it wore off.”

  “Of course, and we understand that is the case,” Alok quickly interjected. “But there is not a lot known of the full range of siren powers, as some are as different as between vampires, and others take time and power to develop. We make no accusations, but simply we are stating information or perception as you have asked us to.”

  “I get it,” I mumbled as I set down my fork on my now empty second plate. “Everyone’s been watching Noah to make sure he doesn’t go all Tristan crazy since I tied him to me. It’s better everyone be careful.”

  “It simply makes you feel alone and different,” Dain surmised, his emphasis on that last word basically telling me most might have used “freak.”

  Yeah, I felt like a freak most every day.

  “Now that you have fed you and your wolf, and that is how you must think of this going forward,” Alok lectured, gesturing to the two plates that would have been way too much for a human, plus the protein shake. “You must feed your siren.” He leaned down, smiling when I flinched away from him. “You will soon be doing this at your own club. You know Tasar and I are in a committed relationship. This is no more than—”

  “I know what it is,” I whispered, looking away.

  “No, you do not if you feel shame,” Dain growled, sliding off his chair and kneeling before me so I looked at him. “You are not a mythical succubus that takes years off of life. Alena feeds from those she has sirened every day, and they have lived centuries. Some are stronger than before, as being with a siren is magical and can give power. Feeding from us is a renewable energy and pushes us like a workout.”

  “Plus it’s a rush,” Tasar chuckled, giving me a wink. “You are not my type, but it’s the best kind of kiss. No one has issue with it. If they did, they would say so, and you wouldn’t feed on them. Everyone is willing, Lady Seraphine.”

  “It’s hard when you’re the only one who does it and it’s also a chi talent, which is life, so I can’t stop visualizing it that way after…” I shook my head, not wanting to talk about Igor and his crazy and the crazy I’d given him after feeding off of him.

  “Then I demand it as my payment for breakfast, as it brings a thrill to our sex life, and we will have sex after you and Dain leave,” Alok announced.

  My mouth dropped open as I turned to him, shocked he said something so personal so bluntly. He took advantage of the moment and kissed me, lips parted, but not Frenching me. I took a small amount of his energy, and he gave a heavy sigh as he shivered.

  “Did you not like my breakfast? Such a small feed can only tell me that you are displeased with me, Lady Seraphine.”

  “Are you guys saying it’s better when I feed more?” I whispered, pulling back enough to glance at the three of them.

  “Yes,” they immediately told me.

  “You will not hurt me. Your siren is young, but Alena was very clear that there is a line they know not to cross. Listen to her when you are with humans, but the rest of us can take it, and honestly, it might wind me, but you know as well as we do that the best fun will energize you after you recover. Now show me you are pleased with me and feed like you want to reward me with an orgasm that rivals glorious sex.”

  I nodded and let him kiss me again, drinking his energy in several deep gulps. When he let go, I felt better than I had in a while; so did my siren.

  “Tasar, there is something I need your help with in our room,” Alok panted, glancing over to his love with glazed over eyes.

  “Dishes later,” the fairy agreed and practically threw the other man over his shoulder before racing out of the room.

  “Why does no one else understand how humiliating it is that I basically wound Alok up for a good fuck?” I whispered, staring at the door they’d left from.

  “Because you were raised in a country that was born of Puritans and their prudish ways, and you had no real upbringing in personal matters,” Dain answered gently, even though it was a rhetorical question. “Do you not feel better?” He didn’t even wait for me to answer, knowing without making me say it. “Next is some yoga, and before you say you don’t have the time, you can take ten minutes for some stretching and a bit of relaxing that will also aid in digestion.”

  When he put it like that, I really couldn’t argue.

  “Fine, as long as you don’t give me some shit about clearing my mind, as I can’t ever do that and not fall asleep,” I agreed as I trailed after him.

  “I don’t think anyone ever does really unless they’re an idiot,” he chuckled as he led me into their new workout room and gestured to the mats. “I want you to think of your siren and wolf. Take this time to be one with them. Talk to them. Ask your wolf how the meal was and plan your next run. Check with your siren that the feeding from Alok was enough for the morning.”

  I didn’t object because I had promised to give his way a chance for a week. So that was what I did besides a few interruptions with him correcting my posture.

  “Shouldn’t that really be done before eating?” I checked, thinking about how I’d always worked out then eaten.

  “For a full class, and yes, we will do that going forward, but today, you needed food more than anything.”

  I did feel good after even ten minutes, my wolf wanting a run but my siren happy with the large feed… Until he went over the new rules of my diet, showing me the cooler that would be loaded every day, along with cool packs. What was my lunch and all the snacks they said I needed to consume in a day. It wasn’t a cute little cooler bag for lunch but a real forty-quart, super-duper camping cooler that could retain cold for twelve days.

  “Stop looking at me like I’m nuts,” he chastised with a smile. “There are bottles of the hydration and sleep help tea, though you will be getting at least seven hours for the next weeks or I will tie you to your bed.” I shot him a look like I didn’t know why if I was getting the tea. “The tea is to help, not live off of. You have been sleep deprived for over six months. This will help you heal that damage, not allow you to continue off a few hours a night.”

  “Okay, I promised to try for a week,” I sighed. I listened as he pointed out the peanut butter banana protein muffins for my morning snack and travel yogurt along with dehydrated veggie chips.

  “Yes, yes, you hated the cucumber ones,” he chuckled when I made a face.

  “They were pungent.”

  “I don’t care for them either, but these are good. They simply are not horrible for you like potato chips. Just try them. Alok made the sushi rolls you like, so lunch should be easy as long as you also have the apple.”

  Yeah, I could suffer through that. I wished I got spoiled like that every day.

  Then again, that was exactly what they were trying to make happen.

  Dain drove me home after I gathered my things. I would have just walked, but we had the cooler and some other supplies since Alok was going to make dinner at our place to begin the cooking classes now that I had approved it. Plus, I was in his borrowed pajamas, and that wasn’t something I felt comfortable even walking a block in.

  “I don’t want to go inside,” I admitted as I fiddled with my keys, my dirty clothes and other stuff in the bag on my lap.
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br />   “I know, but you must, and I already warned Hagan and Reagan to give you space, as it was their mistake that drove you from your own home. They will wait to discuss it until you’re ready besides apologizing.”

  “Are they really sorry?” I rasped, my eyes burning again. “Shouldn’t I be apologizing for failing them and not being what they need? They called me a dead fish, Dain.”

  He sighed and kissed my hair. “They’ve been upset at their inability to help you. You have nothing to apologize for, as you didn’t do it on purpose. Less idiotic men wouldn’t have pushed you for sex when they realized you were uninterested in it. They thought you were only uninterested in it with them.”

  “I haven’t been sleeping with anyone else. I told them that.”

  “Yes, which is why they are idiots,” he explained and then got out of the car. It was either do the same or sit there and stare at my house when I had to get ready for the day. “Oh, and I’m not sure if you remember the phone call with Chief Havers, but he needs to speak to you and see you for work. It sounded important.”

  Fuck a duck. I didn’t want to have to call him after the drunken rambling sob the night before. Being an adult sucked too often.

  3

  “What the fuck do you mean ‘bring the boys down?’” I demanded on the phone not twenty minutes after arriving home. So far, I’d gotten to assure the boys I was okay—not meeting Hagan and Reagan’s watchful gazes—and had taken a shower before calling Brian back. “No fucking way, Brian!”

  “Sera, do you think I’d involve them in anything if I didn’t have to?” he asked, his tone laced with anger. “Give me some credit, okay? They might be your adopted little brothers, but I adore them too. Tommy was showing me his rubber ducky collection last time I was there. Do you think I’d sit through him explaining all their names and why he decided on them if I didn’t like them?”

  “You did look in pain,” I replied, biting back a laugh. The situation wasn’t funny, but that had been.

  One of the things we’d decided as a family was we’d all been without normal as kids. The boys and I had been in the foster system and had rotten experiences, and while Hagan and Reagan had had loving parents, they’d been dirt poor. And then they’d join the Marines very young because their parents had died in a car accident right before they’d turned eighteen, so they didn’t have family anymore.

  Noah, well, Noah was so fucking old I wasn’t sure they’d had childhoods back when life had been that harsh.

  So we’d come to a decision that we were going to have one goofy thing that might be childish, but we could get away with it. Tommy’s was rubber duckies. For whatever reason, they made him giggle. And it made the rest of us giggle to see his growing collection or when he found a new one, along with the fact that he named them all and rotated which ones went with him for bath time.

  Yes, we were dorks in my house, but I honestly loved it.

  “The only reason I didn’t hang up already was because you found that police set.”

  He chuckled quietly. “He was so damn excited. I can’t believe he named the SWAT one Brian. I swear I got choked up almost like someone was naming a kid after me.”

  Yeah, he was a big softie too.

  I sighed when the silence got awkward, and he cleared his throat.

  “Zach Brown wasn’t the guy’s real name, Sera. I know you’ve been working on trying to find whatever hunters had been after him before they come for the boys, but I’m telling you that there’s international implications to that bastard. It’s not like another government’s intelligence is looking to talk with them just to draw them out. They’re on our side.”

  “Yeah, DCFS is supposed to be too, and great fucking job they did if Zach Brown wasn’t even the asshole’s real name,” I shot back, too much growl in my voice. “Do you even know these guys?”

  “Enough to know they’re clean. I can’t get into specifics on this one because I had to get higher clearance to get in on the investigation, but it’s brought us to this link. We might be able to get someone who was after the guy too, okay? I’m not going to let anyone hurt or railroad those kids.”

  “I know you won’t,” I admitted, drying my hair harder than needed with the towel. “I’m also their guardian. I could squash this.”

  “Two are of age, Sera. That only works for the minors.”

  “Fine, I’ll bring Alvin and Leo to be polite. They can’t make me bring the others, and I won’t until I know if it’s even needed. It could totally turn out to be fishing and nothing come of it, and why do that to all of them? Alvin and Leo can handle a lot more than the others.”

  “Sure. Yeah, that’s fair. Bring whoever you think you need, Sera.”

  I heard him loud and clear. This wasn’t his decision, and he was being pushed, so cover our asses. “I’ll get there as soon as we can.”

  “Thanks.”

  I could see the worry in their eyes when I explained what was going on not even minutes later, swallowing down my own feelings and trying to be the adult who acted as if it was no big thing. After several moments of silence, there was only one question.

  “Can we ride the ‘L’ downtown then?” Leo asked, and I could tell he was trying to make it as if we were going on a field trip instead of into trouble.

  Except the adults who knew Chicago laughed, as that wasn’t fun in Monday morning rush hour. But I gave in. “I almost wish you had asked if you could practice driving,” I called after them as they raced off to change.

  “I’m not that bad,” Leo shot back.

  He was. He was so nervous to drive any of our new vehicles he rode the brake and barely got anywhere. I was about all out of ideas and thought to take advantage of Brian in a tough spot, texting him he had to give Leo and Alvin at least five driving lessons to make up for it. I knew things were complicated when he immediately messaged back that he would.

  Dain hurried off after making changes to my meal plan given I’d have two of the boys and we could eat downtown. He left Reagan to handle getting me a cooler bag for snacks and the bottles for both me and the boys. I thought it was overkill, but I had agreed, so I went with it, wondering why he was suddenly in such a rush.

  “Tonight is the first menu sampling party for the club,” Hagan reminded me, his voice low.

  “I know. It’s not until six. We’ll be back before then. I texted Harris and Davis to meet us down there just in case since this is official business.”

  “Obviously your lawyer will meet you there,” Reagan added.

  “Good.” I wasn’t sure what else to say given the four remaining boys and Noah were watching us like hawks, but I wasn’t sure why it was obvious the lawyer would meet us there. Did he think I wouldn’t trust him enough to handle that much? “Is everything on track for Alpha Hinata’s arrival?”

  “Yes, he is landing at three tomorrow, and we will greet his party and escort them to Timequake before bringing them to the menu tasting party,” Reagan confirmed, moving closer to me.

  What I hadn’t known until after working to open the club was that the host club I’d trained at in Tokyo was owned by a werewolf. An Alpha who was thrilled to get my call asking if I could send some people for training, as he had wanted to reconnect with me once he’d heard I was a Dorcas. Or at least of their very powerful bloodline.

  Alena had actually flown out there with her eldest daughter—who I had yet to meet or anyone else in the family besides Zeno—and handled the negotiations. The Alpha had been so over the moon at even getting such an audience that he’d agreed to train as many as we wanted to send. Japan was pretty accepting of paranormals I found out—having tons of myths and legends along with praying to many gods—and while they didn’t have all the same rights humans did, it was one of the better countries.

  That didn’t mean any paranormal who wasn’t stupid wouldn’t still want allies for an out in case that changed, and given Greece had around as many paranormals as humans, it was about the safest place. Alena had liked
the Alpha a lot and his values, making an official alliance with the Tokyo pack, which I’m sure had layers I didn’t understand besides they were buddies and would come to aid them if the shit ever hit the fan.

  Hey, great. I’d helped people make more good friends. Chicago had the same alliance too as well as ours with Vegas, but that was slightly complicated given Alpha Stud had old mob ties, but since I’d accepted letting his son into my city for college with several conditions, he was working hard to turn that perception around.

  “Sera, can we talk?” Hagan asked quietly, moving his hand to my arm.

  I pulled away as if he burned me. “No, we can’t. I can’t even look at either of you. I thought maybe I should come home and apologize for not giving you what you need, but Dain’s right that if you’d been paying attention at all, you would have realized it wasn’t about you, but me and I was drowning.” I swallowed down a sob but still choked out what I said next. “I’m not a fucking dead fish!”

  “I shouldn’t have said that, I’m sorry,” Reagan rasped. “I’m so sorry, Sera. You’re right, we should have realized what was going on or talked with you. I-I just got so upset that I couldn’t help you—we couldn’t help you or reach you that we—”

  “The new puzzle came,” Tommy announced loudly and tried to shove them away from me, which did nothing but make him bump into me since he couldn’t move my two Betas. “Are we going to put it together this weekend?”

  Reagan had been right that my idea of art was all of us putting together puzzles to hang on the walls, and it turned out the others loved the idea, so we’d done well over a dozen since we’d officially moved in. It was great to do in the sunroom since the natural light made matching colors easier, and we’d kinda made it weekend break time fun in between chores or work. Even my ancient vampires next door had gotten in on it.

  “I’m not sure with the opening this week,” I admitted, taking the puzzle from him and smiling. “This is going to be a good one. It’s so awesome you found it on eBay.” Apparently I was really a little girl at heart, as I’d fallen in love with all the Disney collages or most of the princess puzzles. We had six already finished and framed in my room, the hallway outside it, and even the loft one by the front staircase. This one was for my room too.