“What?” Cyrus asked before Sarka smacked the back of his head. Smiling with a faint flush he pulled the earplugs out. “How long will the spell last?”
“Not much longer now, I should think. But when he awakens, I cannot bear to see the hatred in his eyes.”
“You can’t know that,” Sage offered, placing a gentle hand on Serena’s arm.
“I can.” She looked at Cemil, somewhat hopeful and praying that he would contradict her, but he just shook his head. “Please, someone tell him I did—do love him. And always will.”
Tears fell freely from her eyes, and Serena was unaware of Sarka standing before her until the woman lifted a handful of sea glass in an array of colors for her to see. “Perfect,” Sarka murmured.
Sage, never one for anger, looked aghast. “Give those back.”
“Why? She doesn’t need them.”
“She’s right; I have no use for them at all. Keep them.”
Serena turned and dove into the water, giving her friends one last wave with her tail before following her family through the caves that led from the lake to the ocean, pushing herself hard and fast, unsure where she would go. Unsure where she would be welcome.
Chapter Seven
KALEB’S HEAD FELT like it had been ripped in two, and he wasn’t even about to think about what had just happened to his heart. The fog had yet to lift completely around the edges of his vision, making him feel as if he were walking in a dream. All he knew was he needed off this island—now. He would head back to Alaska and pretend none of this had happened. He would lie his way through his psych evals and get right back in that chopper. And he would hunt down and kill whatever mermaid crossed his path.
Throwing his duffle bag over his shoulder, he stormed out of the cabin. Serena had not returned yet, but then he hadn’t expected her to. Walking to the water’s edge, he ripped the silver chain she had given him from his neck; the sea glass glimmered in the late afternoon light. He palmed it for a second. She was good, he would give her that: good at deception, good in bed, and good at making him look and feel like an ass. Pulling back, he let loose and threw the necklace as far as he could into the ocean.
“Take your fucking tears, Serena. I neither want nor need them!” he yelled into the bay. When the stone hit the water, it was like someone had punched him in the gut. And if he didn’t already know he was crazy, Kaleb would have sworn he heard Serena cry out in the distance.
“Are you okay?”
Kaleb turned to see Dana a few feet from him, her look of concern almost too much to bear. “I don’t know,” he finally said.
Dana took a tentative step toward him. She reached out to touch him, but refrained. “I do understand. I’m merely human too. When I first saw Rekkus shift, it was more than I could take. I didn’t handle it well.”
Kaleb nodded and gave her what he hoped was a kind smile. He readjusted his sack and started toward the Haus. It isn’t the same, how could it be? He doubted Dana had watched her best friend be killed by a Were-monster. He couldn’t even begin to wrap his head around that piece of information.
The island was quiet; not even the birds were chirping. It was as if everything was holding its breath. Somehow he knew the day wasn’t over and it was going to get worse before he could get his ass back to the mainland.
When he walked into the lobby, Myron looked up. “You’re expected in the office.”
“Did your damned cards tell you that?”
Myron just smiled and shook her head. “No, Rekkus did.”
Not sure which was worse, Kaleb dumped his bag in the lobby, not caring where it landed, and walked around the desk to the office. He didn’t even bother to knock; he was that done with the place.
When Kaleb walked in, all conversation stopped. Five set of eyes looked at him, but no one said anything. Not that he expected they would.
“I want off the island now, tonight. And don’t give me shit about the boat coming once a week, because I’ve seen the other dock.”
Sarka raised her eyebrows and stood. “I think I’ll let you men deal with this.” She left, followed by Sage who just smiled.
“And when speaking of men, she means these two. Should you need me, just yell,” Cemil said to no one in particular and closed the door on his way out.
“Well?”
“Have a seat.” Cyrus indicated the seat Sage had just vacated.
“I prefer to stand.”
“Suit yourself.” Rekkus pulled out a thick file and slammed it on the desk. “We’ve been watching you for years now.”
“What the fuck?” Leaning over, Kaleb grabbed the thick folder. The dossier started with a photo of him from high school.
Cyrus looked at Kaleb and again indicated the empty seat. This time, Kaleb took it. “By now you have realized that we are not exactly what we appear to be—I know, an understatement. You were sent here, not because you’re crazy, but to see if you fit the requirements the Syndicate sets out for the Army’s paranormal special ops team.”
“Excuse me?”
“We have recently had a few openings in the team, and when the incident happened in Alaska, we knew it was time to get you here to assess if you were ready or able to be a member.”
“So I was right. We were training.”
“I personally would have ripped someone’s head off if I had to attend the classes you had,” Rekkus said with obvious respect.
“It’s not that bad,” Cyrus said without conviction.
“Deep breathing shit? Are you kidding me? Trixie is as flaky as they come.”
“Don’t let Sage hear you say that, Rekkus.”
Rekkus growled, and for the first time the growl made sense. “You’ve suspected for most of your life that things weren’t always what they appeared. In high school, there was a changeling on your swim team; you approached him about not being what he said he was.”
Kaleb searched his memory and pinpointed the episode. Just a few moments in his teenage life. The new kid at school had been acting weird one minute, fine the next. Kaleb had spent too many months training to have some drugged up kid pretending to be an athlete ruin it for him. “I just thought the kid was doping.”
“Whatever you thought, whether it was innocent and you thought he was pretending to be someone he wasn’t, or if you genuinely suspected he was a paranormal entity, it didn’t matter. It got the attention of the Syndicate when the boy informed his father.” Rekkus leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “You see, most humans don’t see what they aren’t supposed to; their brains just shut out what shouldn’t be there. You on, the other hand, do see. Your brain questions. You knew what you had seen in school and what had been lurking under the water. that night when Jim died We have both caught you looking at the night sky here. Do the other humans see it too? Probably, but do they believe it or just think it’s a mirage of some sort?”
“So I’ve been on some fucking watch list for twenty years?”
Cyrus, content to let Rekkus do the explaining, just nodded and let Rekkus continue. “On and off. You made it easy by joining the Coast Guard, but to be honest, until the mermaid showed her ugly head in Alaska, your file hadn’t been looked at since it first was opened.”
“You said the Syndicate?”
“The Para’s ruling body. They govern our kind and make the rules we live by.”
“And they want me to do what?”
“I want you.”
“Excuse me?”
“What Rekkus is saying is that he and, to a lesser extent, I are charged with finding people to fill certain positions that open in Para Elite Force. The P.E.F. makes sure that the ‘normal’ world is safe from Paras who haven’t been following the rules.”
“Why don’t you just get other Paras to go after Paras?”
“Because any Para can smell me coming a mile away. You, however, blend in with the rest of your kind.” Rekkus smiled, sniffing the air.
“Besides, Rekkus is too well-known amongst our kind to work underco
ver.”
“And you?”
Cyrus looked uncomfortable for moment before shrugging. “I have no stomach for killing.”
“The unit is based out of Salem, Massachusetts,” Rekkus put in. “It’s easy to hide paranormal behavior there, as most are expecting to see actors on the streets pretending to be what they aren’t. But you can live anywhere you see fit; Alaska, Salem, or even here if you so choose.”
“Why would I want to live here?”
“There is a certain siren I could name.”
“Yeah let’s talk about that. How much laughing did you get at my expense over her? The man who thinks he’s nuts for seeing a mermaid is actually the idiot fucking one.”
Rekkus raised an eyebrow, but Cyrus at least had the good grace to look a bit embarrassed. “No one was laughing, believe me.”
“I’m having a hard time believing anyone right now.”
Rekkus’s patience with the conversation seemed to be waning, “Look, I couldn’t care less about what the hell goes on with you and Serena, to be honest. I need a good man to fill the shoes of another who just was forced into early retirement. So wherever you go is up to you. Do you want the job or not?”
“Why is there an opening?”
“Justin was shot.”
“Who’s Justin?”
“Justin Lawson is one of the bravest and most honorable humans either Cyrus or I know. To say he was hit by friendly fire would be a lie; there was nothing friendly about it.”
Cyrus nodded in agreement “The shooter—a member of his own team—took out his knee cap. Although Justin was offered a desk job, he wasn’t interested. Not that I blame him.”
“What would I be doing?”
“At the moment we want you in rescue and recovery. We have plenty of operatives ready with skills suited to Justin’s former position, and with training they might one day be as good as he was,” Cyrus said, putting a sheet out to him with a job description and starting pay. “But you have other skills we could use.”
He looked at the number before him and then at the men. “This is my monthly pay?”
Cyrus took the paper for a second and looked at Rekkus who shook his head. Well, the number did seem too high, he thought.
“Weekly.” Cyrus handed the paper back.
Had Kaleb been drinking, he’d have spit across the desk. Monthly, this was way more than he made now to begin with, but as weekly it was insane. “That’s a lot of money.”
“It’s a dangerous job.” Rekkus handed him a pen.
“You’re very certain I’ll sign.”
“I don’t pick people out of a hat, and I certainly don’t waste my time on people who aren’t worthy of it. Justin was a damned good man and filling his shoes won’t be easy.” Rekkus stood up and headed to the door. “By the way, if you’re angry that she never told you what she was, consider two things: one, she was contractually bound with me to let no human know; and two—and I have personal experience in this—there is never a good time to tell your prospective mate that you are something more than you appear. Now if you will excuse me, I have to check on mine. But I think we should speak after dinner. By then I am sure you’ll have more questions. Shall Myron have your bags taken back to the cabin or to a room?”
“Won’t her cards tell her?”
“Her cards will tell her where you should be or where you want to be, but won’t tell her where you will say you want to be. Humans never do what they really want to do. Their ego gets in the way.” With that Rekkus walked out of the room.
Kaleb leaned over the desk in front of him and banged his forehead against it. Over and over. Cyrus laughed out loud, got up, and went to inform Myron to have Kaleb’s bags taken back to his cabin. And to take the cabin off the reservation list. How had they turned him leaving the island into not only staying, but having a completely new job?
Job!
“Wait. I can’t just leave; I still have a tour to finish with the Coast Guard.” Kaleb followed Cyrus out of the office to where Myron was working on the computer.
“You have been promoted and transferred.”
“Just like that?”
“Just like that. Anything else?”
“You tell me.”
Cyrus chuckled again and nudged Myron with his elbow. “Anything else?”
“Nope.”
Kaleb braced himself and let his ego go for a second. “What about Serena?”
Myron placed the cards in a series of piles and flipped them over and over. Shaking her head, she looked at him. “I stopped reading her just before you came in the lobby.”
When Kaleb threw the necklace into the water. Damn, he’d been impulsive. He nodded and walked out the door; he had a lot to think about. The truth was that he couldn’t return to his old unit. He knew that now. His world had altered and there was no going back. But this new job seemed like a dream come true.
The after dinner meeting took place on the porch of Rekkus’s cabin, with Cyrus and a few of the other security guards. They told him how the Wiccan Haus started, about Cyrus’s gift as a retrocog—which Kaleb made him prove—and how Cyrus had a bounty on his head. Rekkus, being charged with keeping him safe, had also made the choice to make the Wiccan Haus home—hammered into place by the Fates bringing him his mate.
To Kaleb’s amazement, they even brought out the beer. And although the cold draft hit the spot, Kaleb’s eyes couldn’t help but gaze out over the moonlit bay. No sign at all of Serena. Yes, he had been angry—and still was. Yes, he had been ready to walk away, but she had run first. Well, swum. Swum as far and as fast as her fin would carry her.
It didn’t take long before everyone made their excuses and Kaleb, handbook in hand, walked back for what he was sure would be a read to knock him right out. But back at the cabin, he found himself unable to get into the bed he had shared with Serena, so instead he bunked down on the sofa.
It was only when the sun began to peek over the edge of the windowsill that he realized that he had spent the entire night reading. And he still had half the handbook to go. There were more Paras in this world than Kaleb could have imagined, and now he wondered how many he had dealt with on a regular basis.
He skipped breakfast to take a much needed nap. Life on the island was significantly better when he wasn’t trying to follow their rules, but was able to just be. He was lounging in a chair on the porch of Serena’s cabin when Yavonka came to the beach at her usual time, looking for Serena, but she refused his offer to assist in her swimming lesson. They were in the middle of a conversation when she looked out over the water and turned white as a sheet and bolted back up the hill. Concerned, Kaleb chased after her. Following her, he was shocked to see that the woman’s arm, which originally had been cut at the shoulder, now seemed to have grown to just above the elbow. He made a mental note to ask someone how Yavonka had managed to regrow a body part.
Entering the lobby, Kaleb watched her slip into the elevator. Even if he wanted to, he couldn’t have kept following her; the second elevator only worked for Paras, according to the handbook. As seemed her way whenever she was needed, Sage was there, and she came walking down the hall toward him.
After alerting Sage that she might want to check on Yavonka, Kaleb turned to head out when Myron stopped him. “Where’s Rekkus?”
“No idea. Why?”
“Dana’s in danger.”
They both turned to the door just in time to hear a tiger roar echo across the island.
Chapter Eight
SERENA SWAM AROUND the island, heartbroken. Kaleb’s face as she had begun singing burned in her memory, the look of devotion searing her soul. She couldn’t go back and face him now. Her mother had turned her out. Serena was adrift at sea. She had nowhere else to go. Bracing herself, she was just coming in to shore when she spotted Kaleb by the water, bag over his shoulder.
He cursed her and threw something into the ocean. As soon as it hit the water, Serena knew what that something was, their bond broken
in that moment. He had thrown her tear back into the sea. She hadn’t expected any less and really didn’t blame him for it, but it still hurt. Whatever connection they had was severed, and she felt like she was bleeding out. Cemil had been right; unlike a Para, he had free choice and he had made his choice to turn her away.
She spent the rest of the night just swimming. She didn’t go to the other side of the island for fear that the boat would be gone and so Kaleb. Instead, she just wandered around the sea floor, angering more than one lobster and picking a fight with a sword fish. But in the end, Serena was drawn back to the island. She stayed well outside the protective fog wall, not that it mattered; the wall was easy enough to push through underwater—the one true weakness in the island’s outer defenses.
Debating whether to go through or not, Serena spent hours arguing it out in her mind. The pros and cons of never going back, versus standing up and fighting for what she wanted. She wasn’t even sure he was still there. And if he was gone, she wasn’t sure how she would manage the long trip to Alaska. If that was where he had gone.
Diving deep where the barrier was the weakest, Serena waited on the edge. She wished the Fates would make her decision for her one way or another. Something to tell her she belonged somewhere.
And then she felt the ripple: fear, anger, hatred—all coming through the water. So much confusion. But one thing was pure and clear: Dana was scared and she was in the water. Bursting through the barrier, Serena ignored the sting that came from pushing through the magic. Her only thought was that if Dana was in trouble, she had to help.
Coming into the bay, Serena saw two sharks circling around the outer edge. Serena moved quickly, calling to her sisters. She had sensed them in the waters around her last night and they couldn’t have gone far. As much as they didn’t agree with how she lived her life, no mermaid would stay away when a woman was in need. And there was a definitely need now. Serena could smell the blood. Not much more than a few drops, but the sharks were getting edgy. The Were-sharks at the beach were in human form, with their pet bull sharks circling as guards in the deep water, two inside the underwater protective barrier of the island and three outside the entrance the school had used.
Siren's Serenade (The Wiccan Haus) Page 7
