Garr, Amber Betrayal Book Two of The Syrenka Series

Betrayal

Book Two of The Syrenka Series

by Amber Garr

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www.ambergarr.com

This is a work of fiction. The names,

characters,

places,

and

incidents

are

products of the author’s imagination or have
been used fictitiously and are not to be con-
strued as real. Any resemblance to actual
persons, living or dead, events, or locales is
entirely coincidental.

All rights are reserved. No part of this

book may be used or reproduced in any man-
ner whatsoever without written permission
from the author.

Cover Design by PhatPuppyArt

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Acknowledgements

I would like to thank my group of beta

readers who have helped make this story
what it is today. For Mom, Sandy, Marisette,
Celia, Elizabeth, and the Palm City Word
Weavers…thank you! Your comments and
critiques have been invaluable. To those
who bought Promises, I hope you enjoy
reading this next journey as much as I en-
joyed writing it.

Chapter 20
About the Author

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Prologue

Justin Bernard got ready for high school

just as he’d done for the past four years.
Only two more weeks and he would be fin-
ished forever. No more teachers. No more
annoying community service requirements.
And most importantly, no more immature
high school girls. At the end of the summer,
he was going off to the largest state uni-
versity in California with a full athletic schol-
arship. Partying, girls, and football games
were how he intended to make the most of
his college years.

Yet Justin suddenly forgot those frivolous

dreams once he walked into the coffee shop
on his way to school. He couldn’t remember
how it happened exactly. One minute he was
picking up his order and the next second he
turned and bumped into the tall blond man.

“Oh, hey sorry,” Justin blurted the apology

even though the other guy blocked his way.

Brushing a few splashes of coffee from his

expensive jacket, the man smiled down at
him. “Not a problem. You’re Justin, right?”

Staring up into his pale blue eyes, Justin

thought it was weird that this stranger knew
his name but he felt compelled to answer.
“Yes.”

The man wrapped his long arm around

Justin’s shoulders and ushered him to a
small table in the back corner of the shop. A
warm wave of calmness rushed through
Justin’s body as he shuffled along with the
stranger.

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“Um, I have to get to school,” Justin man-

aged to say as they reached the table.

“Yes, I know. This won’t take but a

minute.” For some reason, Justin trusted
this man and he willingly sat down with
him. The man seemed daunting yet his voice
soothed Justin’s mind. As he slid gracefully
into the chair, Justin continued to stare at
the handsome smile on his face.

“Justin, I need you to do something for

me.”

“Sure. Anything,” Justin replied quickly.

It was like the words flowed without con-
scious thought.

The man’s smile widened and his eyes

seemed to glow in the early morning sun-
light. “Do you know Eviana Dumahl?”

Justin was taken aback by his question.

Sure, he knew who Eviana was. They went to
the same small school. But other than an oc-
casional word here and there, they never
really spoke.

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“Yes, but I don’t know if she’s still there. I

haven’t seen her in a while.”

“What about her friends?”
“I know a few of her friends.” Justin’s

mouth turned up into a crooked smile. “One
or two in particular.” He had impressed
some of the girls when he personally invited
them to one of his parties. They were all too
eager to express their gratitude later that
night. The stranger nodded.

“Perfect. Now, here’s what I need you to

do.”

Justin left the coffee shop in a haze. The

gift the stranger had given him felt heavy in
his hands and his words filled Justin’s head
with images of rewards and girls. He only
had one thing to do, and right now, that was
the single thought in his mind that propelled
him forward.

Upon arriving at school, he immediately

searched for Eviana’s friends. There were
still a few minutes before the first class and

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most of the students were hanging out in the
courtyard until they became trapped inside
all day like prisoners.

The small group of girls stopped speaking

when he walked toward them. He noticed
the slight blush rise to their faces and the
nervous way they shifted to greet him.
Normally, this would have been flattering,
but ever since the stranger’s request, nothing
else mattered. As though he were disconnec-
ted from his consciousness, he opened the
rectangular box and looked down at the gun
the man had pushed into his hands.

Nothing else mattered right now except for

hurting Eviana Dumahl.

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One

I wanted to punch him in the face.

For at least the hundredth time today, I

swung my fist towards his infuriating smirk.
He easily dodged it, of course, and proceeded
to look down at me like a child. “You’re get-
ting closer,” he teased.

Throwing my arms down in frustration, I

shook my head. “How am I supposed to
learn if you won’t even let me get a hit in?”

He laughed and resumed a fighter’s

stance. “How are you supposed to learn if I
just stand still and let you pummel me?

That’s not ever going to happen in the real
world. Now, try with your legs.”

I rolled my eyes and shifted my feet so that

my stronger right leg was in front. Ideally,
I’d be having this battle underwater where
my legs were not an issue.

“Protect your face,” he yelled at me and I

lifted my fists up to nose level. I could do
this. He’d taught me how to incapacitate my
enemies. Just go for the knee.

I faked a few smaller kicks, pretending to

hesitate. Then, like a ninja, I struck. The
underside of my right foot was directly on
target and I expected it to land a perfect hit
to the side of his left knee. Only it didn’t
happen.

Out of nowhere, he grabbed my ankle and

I was suddenly airborne. The world spun
around me once before I landed with a thud
on my back, effectively knocking the air from
my lungs. I even saw some stars floating by.
My training sessions were getting harder

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every day, and after this debacle, I decided
that it was time to quit.

A shadow moved above me and I used my

hand to block out the rest of the sun. Look-
ing up at his ominous figure I said, “I’m
done.”

I heard another laugh rumble through my

trainer’s chest as he reached down and
grabbed my arm. In one swift motion, he
pulled me up off the ground.

“You would have broken my knee with that

kick, Eviana. I had to stop you.” I glared at
him. “What?” he continued. “I’m not going
to let you hurt me. But you did well. I knew
that you’d learn eventually.”

I jumped towards him as fast as I could,

intending to get him in a choke hold. My
arms slipped around his neck, but my body
kept rolling over him as he bent forward and
used my momentum to toss me towards the
ground. In less than two seconds, I was on
my back again with a forearm pressing

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against my throat and my pride seeping away
into the dirt.

“Ahh!” I screamed in frustration. The an-

noying grin on his face told me that I would
never beat him in a fair fight. Palmer was
my cousin, my trainer, and also one of the
numerous protectors now living at my
house. We’d been practicing for the past two
weeks and although I couldn’t hurt him yet,
Palmer reassured me that I was improving.

Ever since Lucian Sutherland killed my

parents a few weeks ago, the security around
here increased. As the new clan leader, I
wanted all of my people to learn how to
fight. No one would be helpless against an
attack. There was a war brewing amongst
the various merfolk clans, with my family
seemingly taking the lead against the upris-
ing. It was not a position I’d ever expected to
be in, nor ever wanted. In fact, I ran away
from this life for a chance to be with my boy-
friend and not be forced into an arranged

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marriage and clan leadership. But that all
fell apart the moment Lucian and his follow-
ers attacked me and my friends and pulled
me into the center of the merfolk politics I’d
always tried to ignore.

“Do you yield?” Palmer asked while press-

ing a little too hard against my throat. I gave
him the most deadly look I could muster and
tried to push against his mind. It was futile.
Mermaids couldn’t control each other like
that.

But we could use compulsion on humans.

It was what the clans were fighting over now;
the right to practice The Legacy and secure
our status of god-like creatures in this rap-
idly evolving world. Controlling humans
meant directing the stock market, influen-
cing world politics, and dictating numerous
other scenarios that I really hated to think
about. Lucian wanted me to join him in his
cause to help persuade the Council, our gov-
erning body, to allow us to manipulate the

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minds of lesser species. I had refused his of-
fer and that had cost me everyone that I
loved.

Thinking about this made me angry. With

my newfound strength, I kicked my legs and
aimed for any part of Palmer’s body that I
could reach. His arm pressed harder against
my throat as he scrambled out of the way,
barely avoiding a hit to his most precious
area.

“Oh, you’re in trouble now,” he warned.

Palmer’s grip lightened slightly and his free
hand moved towards my ribs. In an instant,
he began tickling me so hard that although I
tried to resist, I couldn’t. Tears spilled out of
my eyes and I couldn’t catch my breath.

“Stop it! You’re going to make me pee my

pants,” I managed to say in between the
giggles.

“That wouldn’t be very attractive,” a new

voice chimed in. Palmer and I sat up

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instantly and I could feel the heat rising up
to my cheeks.

“Good

afternoon,

Master

Matthew,”

Palmer said after he jumped to his feet. I re-
mained sitting on the ground to give myself a
chance to recover and to make sure that I
really did have control over my bladder.

“Palmer, you can call me Kain,” the new

guy said lightly. Kain was almost six feet tall
with an athletic body and sun bleached
shaggy blonde hair. It was growing out a
little bit now, and it seemed as though he
didn’t quite know what to do with it. He was
my age and a clan leader himself. His smile
was always friendly but I knew that his dark
sunglasses hid disturbingly haunted eyes.

Kain was the fiancé I’d abandoned not

long after his father died and he assumed
leadership. We had been promised to each
other since we were children but I never
really had any intentions of marrying him.
My heart had always belonged to Brendan;

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my selkie. Brendan was a shape shifting
seal, and with my abilities to control all
selkies, no one thought that we should be to-
gether. After the events a few weeks ago,
Brendan began to feel the same way and had
decided not to return home with me. I
hadn’t heard much from him since he left
and often worried that our relationship was
over.

Although my friendship with Kain was still

on the rocks due to my actions, we were try-
ing to keep our clans united in the face of
war. He was frequently a guest at our house
and his budding relationship with Carissa
seemed to keep him content. We never
spoke about our almost kiss. That was prob-
ably for the better, although I would some-
times find myself wondering what would
have happened had I chosen a different
path. Kain was an amazing guy and quickly
becoming a respectable leader.

And I

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couldn’t help but realize that Carissa was a
lucky girl.

“Sure, Master….um…Kain, sir.” Palmer

continued stuttering out his words as though
he was standing in front of a rock star. “Are
you here for practice?” My cousin looked
around nervously. “I hope I haven’t missed
an appointment.”

“Oh no. I had a water session this morn-

ing and I’m spent,” Kain said with a smile.
He had a way of making those around him
feel at ease with very little effort. It was a
really great quality and one I wish that I
could master. “I’m actually here to talk to
Eviana.” Kain looked down at me and I
couldn’t tell if we were going to have a good
or a bad conversation.

I stood and brushed off the sand from my

body. My hair pulled against the back of my
head, so I retied my ponytail to keep the long
blonde pieces from falling in my face again.

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Trying to be casual and confident I threw
back my shoulders and faced my cousin.

“Palmer and I are finished now.” Turning

back to Kain, I added, “Why don’t we go in-
side so I can get a drink.”

He nodded and we began to trek back to-

wards the house. I felt something hit the
back of my skull and I spun around to glare
at my so-called protector. He was standing
there with a huge smile on his face tossing a
small pebble up and down in his right hand.

“Remember your training is never over,

Eviana.” He threw the pebble at me again
and I swatted it away. Tipping an invisible
hat in my direction, Palmer turned around
and jogged off towards the other guys train-
ing further down the beach.

“Jerk,” I muttered under my breath. Kain

laughed.

“That’s pretty tame of you.”

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“Yeah, well…see how grown up I am now?

I didn’t bother to call him one nasty name
that came to mind.”

He smiled at me. “I’m impressed.” My

heart did a little flip-flop. I knew that I had
messed things up pretty bad, so any compli-
ment from Kain was encouraging at this
point.

We climbed the stairs leading up to the ex-

pansive redwood deck my ancestors had
built around our house. Just before reaching
the top, a petite figure with long dark hair
like my mother’s leaned over the top of the
railing and began waving her arms at us.

“Eviana! Kain! You need to come inside

now!”

“We’re already on our way, Marisol.” My

little sister had also been forced to grow up
after our parent’s death. She and I still
didn’t get along most days, but over the past
few weeks she seemed to realize that putting
our differences aside would be the only way

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we could live together. Plus, I was her legal
guardian now so she really didn’t have much
of a choice.

“Well move faster!” she yelled. “You need

to see this!”

I had no idea what she was talking about.

Maybe she learned a cool defensive move or
maybe her new cat was doing something
cute. I didn’t really care to be honest. She
still blamed me for our parent’s deaths and
she didn’t hide her true feelings about my
promotion to clan leader. We had a dam-
aged relationship; that was for sure.

Marisol disappeared inside just as we

reached the top. Shaking my head, Kain and
I silently continued towards the sliding glass
doors that opened up into a large kitchen
and dining area. The television was blasting
from the adjacent living room where we had
been summoned to. Quickly grabbing a
bottle of water, I leaned around the counter
to see that almost everyone inside was

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gathered in front of the large flat screen, vy-
ing for a spot to see the show. I looked ques-
tioningly at Kain, who had waited for me, but
his slight shake of the head told me that he
didn’t know what was going on either.

“Eviana!” Marisol’s squeaky voice called

again, although this time it was tainted with
something I couldn’t quite place. Maybe fear
or despair and my stomach dropped at her
tone.

I pushed my way to the front of the crowd

to see what all the fuss was about. One of the
local channels was on and the words “Break-
ing News” kept flashing across the top corner
of the screen. Marisol was sobbing and while
a female protector tried to soothe her.

“Can someone turn this up?” I asked trying

to ignore her sniffling so I could hear what
was happening.

The newscaster, a thirty-something year

old man with perfectly manicured hair and
an award-winning solemn face, began to

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speak. “I am standing outside of The
Wensler Academy where a student has just
been arrested for shooting several others
earlier in the day. Eighteen-year-old Justin
Bernard,” he said while reading from his
notes, “was detained by police almost an
hour ago. Sources say that Mr. Bernard
came to school with a loaded pistol and bru-
tally attacked three female students.”

Pictures of the injured girls flashed on the

screen and I sucked in a panicked breath.
“Kristy Smith, Carlee Robinson, and Mia
Sarcowski all sustained serious injuries when
Justin opened fire on them without warn-
ing.” The newscaster disappeared and an in-
terview with an eyewitness student filled the
screen.

“He kept mumbling the same words over

and over. I couldn’t understand him but it
sounded like ‘I must hurt her friends’.” The
redheaded boy shifted nervously and his eyes
darted to and from the camera.

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“Do you know whose friends?” asked the

reporter. The boy continued shaking his
head.

“No. I don’t. It’s just so weird. Justin

wasn’t like that. He would never hurt any-
one. I…I don’t understand…” His attention
jerked towards the crowd behind him where
Justin and the police had just emerged from
the building. The star athlete’s hands were
cuffed behind his back and two officers were
escorting him by the elbows. They hustled
him to the car, but not before the reporter
stuck the microphone in front of his face.

“Why did you do it, Justin? What was go-

ing through your mind?”

I didn’t know Justin well, but from what I

could see of him right now, there was
something very wrong. His pupils were
dilated and his lips never stopped moving.
He wouldn’t answer the reporter’s questions
and instead stared straight ahead as if in a
daze. Just before the police pushed his head

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into the backseat of the car, the camera man
got a close enough shot for me to pick out a
few words.

It was only three little words but they sent

ice through my veins. How was this pos-
sible? What could he mean? None of it
made sense to me and when he said “hurt
Eviana Dumahl” over and over, the reality of
what this could represent suddenly came
crashing down.

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Two

“No,” I whispered in a state of shock.

Three of my closest friends from school had
been shot and I believed it was in an attempt
to harm me. We continued watching the
news until the repeating film loops began to
give me a headache. The ticker on the bot-
tom of the screen said that all three girls
were in critical condition at the city hospital,
but that the doctors were hopeful with their
prognoses.

The newscaster added that a few students

heard Justin say that a tall blond man told
him to do this, but everyone seemed to be

passing that off as a delusion. Certainly
Justin was hearing voices. No one could
force another to shoot innocent people.
Right?

Kain and I looked at each other in perfect

understanding. His eyes reflected back the
same fear that was now coursing through my
bones. We knew a tall blond man who could
force a human to do his bidding. And he just
happened to hate me right now.

“It couldn’t be,” I whispered again, forcing

Kain to grab the sides of my arms when I al-
most toppled over.

“I’m sure there’s another explanation,” he

said calmly, but the stiffness in his shoulders
gave him away. Kain thought that Lucian
Sutherland was behind the shooting just like
I had suspected.

The doorbell rang causing nearly everyone

in the room to jump. Jason, one of the pro-
tectors that had been inside earlier, left the
living room to greet our new guest. I heard

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some mumbled words a few seconds before
he came back into the room holding a red en-
velope, a black flower, and a suspicious look
on his face. “It’s for you, Mistress Dumahl.”

I wiped the tears I’d been shedding from

my cheeks and pulled myself away from
Kain. He followed closely behind but didn’t
stop me from taking the delivery. The envel-
ope was made of expensive paper and my
first name was written in perfect calligraphy
across the center. I broke the wax seal, not-
ing the engraved “S” in the center. Inside
was a note card, no bigger than the envelope
with a personalized message written in the
same cursive style.

Eviana-

Consider this your warning.

The next time will be fatal. You
have one last chance to accept my
offer.

I anxiously await your

answer.

Always-

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Lucian
My hands were still trembling when Kain

yanked the letter from them. I turned to-
wards Jason who was holding the other gift
away from his body as though it might attack
him at any second. Knowing it was from Lu-
cian meant that Jason should be scared. I
took the flower from his hand and spent a
few seconds admiring its beauty. It was a
black with several draping petals and a stun-
ning blue pattern of dots highlighting a path
towards the center. I had never seen any-
thing like this before.

“It’s a black orchid,” Marisol said. While

wondering how she could possibly know
that, her commentary continued. “I read
about them. They are supposed to be a sym-
bol of power and absolute authority. Those
that give the black orchid expect submis-
sion.” As though she suddenly stopped
channeling a botanist, Marisol’s head

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snapped up and she stared at me with fear.
“Is that from Lucian?”

“That bastard!” Kain mumbled under his

breath, and if things were different, I would
have made some comment about how he was
unable to control his temper like he’d so of-
ten berated me for. But this was no time for
jokes. Realizing the gravity of the situation,
our security team jumped into action.

Chirps and static filled the room as they

assembled their group and searched our
property for intruders. I knew that they
wouldn’t find him. Lucian wouldn’t be so
careless. Kain, Marisol, and I sat down in
the living room but I muted the television so
that I wouldn’t have to continue hearing the
names of my friends repeated over and over.
I was still trying to fathom why Lucian would
do something like this. Sure he wanted to
threaten me, but why hurt my friends? My
human friends?

It was such an evil

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calculated plan, yet one that I could promise
would not go unreciprocated.

How did Lucian know that I wasn’t at

school today? I was still listed as a student
even though they were making special ar-
rangements for me. I’d missed almost a
month of classes when I ran away with
Brendan and my parents were killed. In-
stead of finishing the school year with my
friends, I was on a special home school pro-
gram to get caught up in time to walk at
graduation. It was a very gracious offer and
one that I didn’t think I would have received
had my parents still been around.

Thinking about this more, it seemed as

though Lucian purposely chose an indirect
assault. Shooting my friends was an emo-
tional attack, one that might lead me to make
rash decisions. He warned in his note that
the next time will be fatal, implying that he
instructed Justin not to shoot to kill. It also
meant that this could happen again.

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I was sick with guilt and reverberating

with fear. Who would he go after next? Me?
Kain? Marisol? My sister and I were not
best friends but I certainly didn’t want her to
lose her life because Lucian and I disagreed
on principles. In fact, no one should have to
die over this. “We need to call the Council,” I
finally said to Kain.

He hesitated a few moments and sat there

watching me. I recalled a conversation with
him in which I all but said that the Council
was useless in this situation and that the only
way to squelch this war was to fight it head
on. Use our powers to take back control.
Don’t let Lucian and his cronies get away
with it. Apparently it was what my mother
had wanted as well, but Kain had disagreed.
Now, here I was, conceding that we needed
their help and advice.

“I’ll talk to Andre,” he replied as he stood.

Squeezing my shoulder slightly, Kain forced
me to look up at him. “Your friends are

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going to be okay.” I nodded and he left me
alone with my sister.

Andre was my only uncle from my moth-

er’s side and the one who seemed to be doing
most of leading since I assumed this posi-
tion. He was an advisor of sorts, and
thought that I wanted him to handle the
clan’s affairs. It was true that I needed help,
but I often wondered how much it bothered
Andre that the position fell to me instead of
the most qualified family member. This was
the way of the clan; our shield decided who
was to lead next and there was no denying
the family heirloom had chosen me.

I looked down at the glistening golden

double wave pendent and sighed. Why the
shield had picked me, I really didn’t know.
But I promised myself and my clan when I
ascended to the leadership position that I
wouldn’t let them down. Plus, I had a bar-
rage of “counselors” and “advisors” at my
beck and call so there was no way that any

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decision would be made alone. At least not
for a while.

Kain had faced a similar distrust in his

leadership status at first, too. We were both
so young and inexperienced in politics and
life, that it seemed natural for our clan mem-
bers to be leery. It was natural, but it was
also slightly disrespectful and very annoy-
ing. And now that Lucian was in my back-
yard, directly threatening me, I had a feeling
more and more merfolk would be interested
in my affairs.

Someone began shouting from the foyer

and the remaining protectors rushed from
their posts to provide assistance. Marisol
and I stood without saying a word to each
other and listened. It sounded like a man’s
voice although it was a little high, no doubt
due to the presence of the guards. He was
saying something about being invited and
then finally yelled at them to check with me.

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Palmer led the group into the living room,

his hand firmly grasping the back of a boy’s
neck. “Boy” probably wasn’t the right word,
but that’s what he looked like. His tiny
frame and soft skin would forever let people
underestimate his age. I smiled at the way
he glared at the protectors like he could take
them all on and win. In reality, he’d prob-
ably rather play fashion show and dress
them all up in tight jeans and tiny tank tops.

“Daniel!” I shouted while running towards

my friend. Palmer immediately stepped
away and allowed me to throw my arms over
my guest’s bony shoulders. With only a little
hesitation, Daniel returned my hug and gave
me a big kiss on the lips.

“Did you forget that I was coming?” he

said sarcastically. Actually, I had forgotten
but I didn’t want to tell him that. I didn’t
want to upset him after being pushed around
by my personal protectors.

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“No…well, not totally. Something terrible

just happened, so everyone’s a little on
edge.” Daniel already finished school, so
he’d asked if he could spend a few weeks in
sunny California with me. I first met Daniel
at the syrenka’s Cotillion earlier this year and
we had become instant friends. He was com-
fortably gay with an amazing personality and
even better fashion sense. I’d been nervous
about that whole weekend but Daniel’s nat-
ural charm comforted me and we’ve been
good friends ever since.

When Brendan almost died, Daniel came

to Maryland to help. Along with the rest of
us, he’d been captured and tortured in the
process. Even though it was ultimately my
fault, Daniel never once blamed me and he
didn’t seem to hold any type of grudge. He
also bonded with Brendan and I was tempted
to see if he’d heard anything more recently
than I had. But now wasn’t the time so I
made a mental note to check with him later.

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“What’s going on?” Daniel studied the ser-

ious faces and vast expanse of protectors
now surrounding us.

“Come on in and I’ll explain,” I wrapped

an arm around his waist and pulled him fur-
ther into the living room.

“My suitcases are on the porch,” he yelled

back over his shoulder to Palmer. My cousin
rolled his eyes. I had no doubt the suitcases
would still be outside by the time we finished
with our conversation. Protectors did just
that…protect. They didn’t act as butlers.
Especially not Palmer.

My sister left us alone and I filled Daniel in

on the day’s events. He asked about my life
and how I was handling my new leadership
role. In no time at all, we were laughing
about my training stories and his tales about
nearly missing the prom. It was a much
needed distraction.

About twenty minutes later, Kain returned

and gave Daniel a quick hug. They chatted

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about random topics until we couldn’t avoid
the real issue any longer.

“So, what did Andre have to say?” I asked

Kain.

“We’re going to let the Council know.”
“And…” I prodded.
“And you and I are going to do it in

person.”

“What?” I exclaimed.

Communicating

with the Council was a big enough deal, but
to actually get some personal time with them
was almost unheard of.

Kain shifted back against the couch and

tried to look relaxed. “They’ve taken a per-
sonal interest in your situation and they’d
like to speak more about it.”

“My situation?”
“Yes, about Lucian and…your abilities.”

He’d hesitated on that last part making me
wonder if he was uncomfortable with my
new powers. Daniel’s head twisted back and

42/425

forth between us trying to follow the
conversation.

“What do they want to know?”
“Andre said that they would like a demon-

stration of sorts. To see if your plan to con-
trol Lucian’s army is worthwhile.”

I jumped to my feet. “How did they know

about my plan? It’s not even really a plan! It
was just a stupid suggestion.”

“Well, apparently Andre didn’t think so

and he and several others have drafted a pro-
posal for the Council.” I continued to stare
at Kain with my mouth hanging open. “They
thought it was best for us to be proactive.”

“Why would they do this without Eviana

knowing?” Daniel asked, taking the words
right out of my mouth.

Kain smacked his lips together and then

leaned forward to rest his elbows on his
knees. “Because they still don’t have full
trust in her and they want to make sure the

43/425

Council will be there for the clans if
necessary.”

I was mad but at the same time kind of

proud. Sure, my clan members didn’t fully
believe that I could lead them yet, but they
also must have thought my plan had some
merit. Otherwise they never would have pro-
posed it to the Council.

“Blasphemy!” Daniel cried in mock ad-

monishment. “Off with their heads!”

I smiled at that thought. “When do we see

them?”

“Friday.”
“Two days,” I stated sarcastically.
“Yes, and since they want to see a demon-

stration, I would suggest you practice
between now and then. We leave Friday
morning.”

“Where are we meeting?” It must not be

too far if we could leave the same day.

44/425

“Seattle.” My heart dropped. Brendan

was in Seattle. And now I was going to be
there too.

“What do you mean practice?” Daniel in-

terrupted. Kain gave me a look that let me
know he was following my thought process.
If I was going to Seattle, then I had to see
Brendan.

“Controlling her powers,” Kain answered

him. “She’s going to need to show them that
she can take over someone else’s hold.”

“But she’s already done that,” the boys

continued as though I wasn’t in the room. It
was all right though because my thoughts
were with Brendan.

“Yes, but that might have been due to the

stressful situation. She needs to show them
that she can wield that much power in a con-
trolled environment before they will even
consider taking on Lucian’s army.”

Daniel sat back and sighed, seeming to

think that justification through.

“Well,

45/425

where does she practice?” I hadn’t really
practiced at all since our return. I don’t like
the fact that I can do things to people
without their knowledge. It felt invasive and
wrong. Although Kain was right in suggest-
ing I practice. I just didn’t know where.

“Tomorrow we’ll go to Bennett’s Park and

work through different scenarios,” said
Kain. I didn’t know what I thought about
that so I stayed silent.

“Sounds like a plan to me,” Daniel said

while pushing himself off the couch. “Now,
where is my room?”

“I’ll show you,” I said robotically, still try-

ing to imagine what it was going to be like to
finally see Brendan.

We grabbed his suitcases from the front

porch as Kain walked by us and said that he
was going to the guest house. He told us that
he’d see us in the morning and continued on
with two protectors following at his heels. I
watched him go until Daniel shoved me.

46/425

“Stop staring,” he teased.
I shook my head. “I wasn’t staring at

him.”

“Mmm hmm,” he said with flare. I turned

on my heel and headed towards the stairs.

“It’s not like that,” I justified.
“Mmm hmm.”
“Shut up.” I smiled down at Daniel who

was a step below me. “Or I’ll kick you out.”

“No you won’t,” he replied with confid-

ence. He was right.

We went on a swim later that evening so

that I could show Daniel some of my favorite
spots. The moment my feet hit the water I
felt the transition begin. My legs fused and
the bones reformed to accommodate a single
tail. Usually the pain associated with the
transformation was excruciating, but now
that I was a leader, the process was smooth
and effortless.

Daniel struggled with his change. I could

hear his grunts and moans under the water

47/425

where I waited for him. Looking around, I
marveled at the changes with my site and in
my lungs. As part of the shifting process, our
vision cleared and the ability to hold our
breath increased. It was a welcomed change
from being on land.

Daniel finally joined me and we set off to

look at the sites. It wasn’t as much fun with
four protectors following our every move,
but at least we were safe for the time being. I
purposely avoided the rocky island that
Brendan and I called our sanctuary. Ever
since coming back, I’d been unable to go
there. The memories were too painful and I
was suffering enough. Daniel didn’t mind
though, as he took enough enjoyment in try-
ing to catch a sea otter that taunted him the
entire evening.

“I almost had him,” Daniel said as we drif-

ted at the surface and admired the stars.

48/425

“He was just toying with you,” I laughed.

“He’s been here forever and not once have
any of us captured him.”

“Well, I’ll get him tomorrow.”
The stars filled the skies like the millions

of phosphorescent creatures in the deep
ocean. Twinkling and glowing in the infinite
darkness. A shooting star passed over our
heads and Daniel quickly grabbed my hand.

“You have to make a wish,” he said. “It’s

good luck.”

“What are you going to wish for,” I asked.

He splashed water at my face in response.

“I can’t tell you or it won’t come true.

Now, close your eyes and make a wish.”

I watched as he relaxed into the water and

let his tail gently rest on the surface. I envied
Daniel and his carefree life. Leadership re-
sponsibility, loss of loved ones, and fear for
my clan’s safety weighed me down like a
thousand years. I wanted to help everyone
and I wanted certain people back in my life

49/425

again. In the end I decided that there were
too many things for me to wish for so I didn’t
ask for anything at all.

The first thing I did when we returned

home, after sending Daniel off for the night,
was draft an email to Brendan. I must have
stared at the computer screen for an hour
writing and re-writing my message. It was
important that I didn’t sound too desperate,
but I also wanted him to know that I wasn’t
willing to leave Seattle without seeing him.

Finally satisfied with it, I pushed the send

button and let out a long breath. Now I had
to wait.

I fell asleep that night thinking about how

much I wanted to see Brendan and about
how I was going to prove myself to the Coun-
cil. I worried for my friends and had visions
of Justin Bernard pointing a gun at me. It
was a restless evening to say the least.

50/425

Three

“Try that one next,” Daniel mumbled

through a mouth full of bagel.

“Stop pointing!” I warned him. The three

of us were sitting on one of the benches in
Bennett’s Park that surrounded the largest
playground area. We probably looked young
enough that this wasn’t creepy, otherwise the
adults would wonder why we stared and
laughed at their kids all morning. I felt kind
of bad but it was the only way I could prac-
tice. “What should I do?”

Daniel tilted his head in thought, and I

could see the moment he got some demented

idea. “Make him do the chicken dance!”
Kain snorted and I agreed with his
sentiment.

“Daniel…,” I groaned. “Really?”
“Yes, it’s genius because no one would be

suspicious if an adult is dancing for a kid.
Plus, you can try to give the command to just
one person,” he pointed out.

“Okay, let’s see.” I did my best to block

out all background noises and focused in on
one of the few fathers who braved the play-
ground scene today. It wasn’t like I could
find his mind per se, but that’s what I was
trying to do. The more I practiced, the easier
it was for me to visualize every individual’s
consciousness. I directed my power towards
the jumble of thoughts that I figured be-
longed to the man and pushed the music into
his head along with the command to dance.
A wave of confusion swept over his face and
he stopped fiddling with his daughter’s coat.

52/425

He stood up and began to sway from side to
side.

“It’s working!” Daniel squealed. The man

smiled down at his daughter and brought his
hands up to his ribs. Flapping his elbows up
and down like a bird, he began the chicken
dance. I was so excited, I continued to push
the command out towards him without real-
izing that I touched a few other minds as
well. Nearly twenty parents and their chil-
dren began dancing the choreographed steps
and I totally lost my concentration.

“Oh crap,” I moaned. Kain and Daniel

laughed beside me and I elbowed them both.
“Humans are too easy.” I was learning that
the power of suggestion on a human’s mind
was way more potent than I could handle at
this point. Pushing out one command to one
person with a little too much force indirectly
affected all of those around him. Now half of
the playground was wiggling and twisting to

53/425

an inaudible tune, and Daniel was in
hysterics.

“Keep going.

This is too good,” he

sputtered out in between giggles. I ignored
him and yelled Stop! in my head to erase
their urge to continue dancing.

Within a few seconds, everyone stopped

and looked around in confusion. My friends
were laughing loudly and several parents
glanced in our direction. But they soon went
back to their normal business as though they
hadn’t just been part of a flash mob. Mer-
maid compulsion: got to love it.

“Oh, you’re no fun,” Daniel chided.

I rolled my eyes at him and slumped back

against the bench. Sipping the latte we
grabbed on the way to the park, I looked
around the rest of the scenery and tried to
think about nothing. Not an easy task.

“You try it,” Daniel said. At first I thought

he was talking to me, but was surprised to
see him looking at Kain.

54/425

“I don’t think so,” Kain said with an edge.
“No, he’s right. You need to practice too,”

I added. Kain had the ability as well, al-
though for some reason mine had jumped
from zero to extreme in one evening. His
power repertoire was building slowly but he
still had the skills necessary to manipulate
minds.

“You’re the one they want to see demon-

strate,” Kain reminded me.

“So? You’re a leader, too and the more

control you have, the more people will re-
spect you.”

He scoffed at that comment even though

he knew it was true. We were young and
people doubted us. I watched as he looked
toward the running path. A young woman
jogger appeared from behind the trees so we
now had a clear view of her. When she
reached the flat terrain, she suddenly
stopped and began doing a bunch of really
fast jumping jacks. They were followed by a

55/425

suite of high knees, butt kickers, and calf
stretches. Then she turned away from us to
face the water and bent over to grab her
toes. There was no mistaking the intent as
she stretched from side to side, flashing us a
rather personal view of her rear.

I punched Kain in the arm. “You are such

a pig!” He was laughing more than I’d seen
in a while and I couldn’t help but smile on
the inside. It was nice to hear.

“Hey, if I have these powers, I’m going to

use them to my advantage.” He spoke to me
but his eyes never left the women’s backside.
She continued to push all of her glory up into
the air, oblivious that he commanded her to
do so. I punched him again.

“Stop it. Look at what you’re doing.”

Several men in the nearby area where now
casually trying to check her out too. And by
‘casually’ I meant ‘blatantly gawking’. Kain
kept laughing but when the women

56/425

eventually stood and continued on her jog, I
breathed a sigh of relief. “Men,” I grumbled.

“Now, if you would do that with him, then

I would be your best friend forever.”
Daniel’s eyes were fixed on a young man
pulling a kayak up onto the edge of the
pond. He was a twenty-something tall, ath-
letic, and tanned skin guy wearing a farmer
john type wetsuit that graciously highlighted
his muscular arms. Something about him re-
minded me of Brendan and I lost all sense of
amusement. He still had not responded to
my email and I was beginning to worry that
he never wanted to see me again.

“No way, man. Sorry. He’s not my type,”

Kain said while shaking his head.

“Spoil sport,” Daniel muttered with a sigh.

He continued to shamelessly stare at the
man until even I felt uncomfortable.

“Let’s go for a walk,” I said while I stood,

letting them know that this wasn’t a

57/425

suggestion. I needed to clear my head and
Daniel needed some air.

We made our way along one of the less tra-

versed paths that led deep into the woods. I
knew that our protectors lurked somewhere
behind us, but for a few moments it seemed
as though we were alone. About halfway
through the trek, we sensed another small
pond that was hidden somewhere from the
trail. We could all recognize nearby water
like a homing beacon, a gift from our herit-
age. With a reassurance to the protectors
that they could stay slightly behind, we
walked off the path and headed towards the
shoreline.

It wasn’t a large body of water and the im-

peding forest probably made it seem smal-
ler. But it was secluded and peaceful and I
instantly felt at ease. I sat and fell back
against the mossy ground. Closing my eyes,
I let the warmth of the sun radiate through
my skin. I could hear Kain and Daniel walk

58/425

up beside me but neither sat down. They
weren’t speaking either so I had a few mo-
ments of welcomed silence.

I thought about my three human friends

who were still in the hospital recovering
from their gunshot wounds. They had all
been downgraded to a less serious condition
but they probably wouldn’t be able to return
to school this year since there were only a
few weeks left. Two of them had been shot in
the leg and one in the shoulder.

I remembered Lucian’s note. Not fatal.

Justin could have very easily killed them
with a bullet to the head or the heart, but he
had purposely avoided a lethal shot. This is
a warning. Lucian had directed him not to
kill and he didn’t. But next time would be
different.

Kain’s grumbling pulled me from my

thoughts. I sat up to see him swatting at
something flying around his head; cursing
each

time

missed.

59/425

“Get…away…from…me,” he said in frustra-
tion. Daniel and I stared. What Kain must
have thought was a large insect was in fact
just water.

“Kain?” I questioned.
“What? Do you see that?”
“Um…yeah. Do you?” He stopped swat-

ting the air and looked at me then at the golf
ball sized water droplet hanging in front of
his face. We stared at it for a few moments
before the droplet suddenly took off and dis-
appeared into the pond.

“What the hell…” Kain began to speak but

was interrupted when a splash erupted from
the surface and shot up into the air like a
geyser. Water streamed nearly twenty feet
high and I quickly looked around to see if
anyone human was nearby. This would be
rather hard to explain.

A figure appeared in the center of the

column and the rest of the water fell back to
the earth revealing a human sized creature

60/425

with a jacket and a bowler’s hat. He had a
solid liquid body with very little coloring to
hide his transparent nature. “Good to see ye
again, lassie,” a thick Scottish accented voice
greeted me.

I jumped to my feet. “Abhainn!” The wa-

ter sprite I’d saved from a crazy merman was
somehow in this pond before us. “Where did
you come from?” I saw our protectors lurk-
ing nearby, but a quick wave of my hand sent
them away. Abhainn smiled.

“Around.”
“Well, how did you get here?”
“I ‘ave my ways,” he replied evasively. “I

think the better question would be what is
yer friend here hiding?” He looked at Kain
with something disconcerting written all
over his liquid face. When we didn’t say any-
thing, Abhainn continued. “I thought I’d
play a little trick on ye but he was able to
stop me.”

61/425

“What?” Kain finally asked. “The water

ball?”

As Abhainn continued to float above the

water’s surface, he threw his hands up in the
air in frustration. “Yes the water ball ye
arse! When did ye learn to control it?”

“What?” we asked together. He looked

back and forth between each of us several
times.

“Oh, ye ignorant syrenkas,” Abhainn

huffed. “Controlling water? Manipulating
moisture? Any of this sound familiar to ye?”
We shook our heads and Abhainn laughed.
“Well then, seems as if it’s time fer a lesson.”

“I can control water?” Kain asked in

disbelief.

“Ye all can. Some more than others, but

aye. How else do ye think I was captured?”
He directed that last question to me. I al-
ways wondered how Jeremiah had im-
prisoned the sprite in his decorative water
fountain. My silence was met with another

62/425

snort. “It’s what makes ye so dangerous for
those of us who live in the water. Well, that
and the mind control.”

Great. Another creature that mermaids

had power over. They really needed to up-
date our history lessons. It seemed as if our
kind liked to wait until we became leaders
before divulging all of our dirty secrets. I
was certainly getting a crash course now.

“Here, catch,” Abhainn said right as he

threw three balls of water towards Kain. In a
knee-jerk reaction, Kain held up his hand
and swatted them away. But they didn’t fly
back towards Abhainn. Instead they hovered
in the air somewhere between the sprite and
the merman. Kain’s eyes lit up like it was
Christmas morning and he just saw the
presents under the tree for the first time. He
flicked his hand back and forth and with
each move, the water balls mimicked him.
Moving one finger in a circular motion, he
made the three globules spin around each

63/425

other in an intricate dance. The smile on his
face grew as he continued to manipulate the
water.

“I want to try,” Daniel whispered and

without hesitation Abhainn threw another
group of droplets his way. Using the same
“hand in the air” technique, Daniel was able
to stop them in mid flight and force them to
do his bidding. He had them joining togeth-
er, moving apart, and then reforming into
one larger one again. The two guys played
with their water like it was the coolest thing
in the world. Like kittens with a new toy.

“Abhainn, give me some,” I said wanting

to try too. The sprite tossed another stream
of water in my direction and I held up both
hands to try and force control over the
particles. I didn’t know what I was doing,
but it seemed to come naturally to Kain and
Daniel. So I stood there, with my eyes fo-
cused, concentrating on stopping this water.

64/425

But nothing happened and within a split
second, I was soaked from head to toe.

I gasped. “What? What’s wrong?” All of

the guys were laughing at me while I stood
there with my long hair matted to my face
and the claustrophobic feeling of wet clothes
clinging to me. “What did I do?”

“Apparently nothing,” Kain replied dead

pan. I glared at him.

“No’ everyone can do it well,” Abhainn ad-

ded with a shrug.

“Here, take mine,” Daniel said and he

gently tossed me the three water balls that
were circling his head. Trying to focus, I
willed them to land in my outstretched
hand. They floated over to me but once they
were a few inches above my hand, each one
fell to the ground with a splat.

“Ugh,” I huffed in frustration.
“Practice makes perfect, Eviana,” Kain

teased as his water continued to dance
around in front of him. I threw my arm in

65/425

his direction and the water soared back out
over the pond and slammed into Abhainn. I
smiled in satisfaction.

“Hey!” Kain yelled. “Don’t be jealous. We

can’t all be perfect.” I wanted to punch him
again, but I’d already been childish enough
for the day.

“Well, I have better mind control,” I blur-

ted. So much for maturity.

“Hey, maybe that’s why.” Daniel looked

back and forth between the two of us.
“You’re a natural with the compulsion, but
he’s better with the water control thingy.”

“Thingy?” I asked.
Daniel waved his hand. “You know what I

mean. Maybe you aren’t supposed to excel at
every power we can supposedly acquire.”

“I think the young laddie has a point,”

Abhainn added. “There aren’t many of your
kind that can wield enough control to cap-
ture one of us. Therefore, it would seem that
most have limited abilities.”

66/425

“Well, we should practice,” I declared, de-

termined to master this skill.

“Yes, let’s,” Kain said with an air of

arrogance.

“Oh, it’s on,” I challenged.
“Deal,” he replied as another stream of wa-

ter leapt from the pond and landed in my
face. “This is going to be so much fun!”

“And ye all may learn something useful,”

Abhainn added.

We spent the next several hours working

with Abhainn like we were in a batting cage.
He would toss stream after stream of water
at us, expecting some response. Daniel was
good at swatting them away, Kain had
enough control to toss them back at
Abhainn, and I just got soaked. It was in-
credibly frustrating and as much as it would
strain my brain from concentrating so hard,
I simply couldn’t get the hang of it.

It seemed as though I was at the bottom of

the group when it came to the water

67/425

manipulation abilities. I needed another
practice session at the playground in order to
mend my bruised ego.

The sun was beginning to fade behind the

surrounding forest casting dark shadows
around the edges and bringing a chill to the
air. Abhainn told us that it was time for him
to leave, but that was all right. Even though
I was wet from head to toe, the day had been
fun. Plus, Daniel and Kain weren’t totally
dry either since I had my revenge during our
water battles.

We left Abhainn with his promise that

we’d see him again sometime soon and made
our way back to the park entrance. Our pro-
tectors stared but didn’t make any comments
when we emerged from the woods soaking
wet and giggling like school girls. Let them
think what they want. They already thought
we were too young to rule the clans, why en-
lighten them to our newfound powers.

68/425

Well, Kain and Daniel’s new powers. It

didn’t seem like I had much ability with the
water control. I’d improved a little bit by the
end of the day but Kain was the real star. It
was as natural for him as compulsion was for
me, and that made me realize even more that
we were a great team. It was also something
I told him he should show the Council. He
disagreed, of course, but said that if the situ-
ation called for it, he would be willing. What
that meant exactly, I didn’t know. I’d just
have to wait and see how things went
tomorrow.

And speaking of tomorrow, there was an

email waiting for me when I got home.
Brendan agreed to meet and I could barely
control my happiness. I read the message at
least a dozen times before replying with a
plan. I told him which hotel we were staying
at and he’d suggested a nearby coffee shop.
We were going to get together after my meet-
ing with the Council. A rush of nervousness

69/425

streamed though my body. I was excited to
see him but also scared. What if he’d de-
cided that he didn’t want to be with me any-
more? Were we even really together now?

There were too many unanswered ques-

tions. Tomorrow, I was going to have to
prove my strength to a bunch of people who
could control the fate of our species with one
decision. Plus, I was going to have to face
my biggest fear; rejection. I needed to pre-
pare myself for the worst in case nothing
went the way I wanted it to with Brendan.
The Council’s decisions were out of my
hands, but I still felt like I could have a say
with Brendan.

Tomorrow was going to be a long day. To-

morrow was going to dictate how the rest of
my life would play out.

70/425

Four

We arrived in Seattle after a short flight

and a mixture of Kain’s calming concoction.
I still hated to fly, so I begged him to make
me another milk and whatever drink to keep
my nerves under control. He had tricked me
when we flew to Florida for Cotillion earlier
this year, but this time I requested it. It
wasn’t the flying that I was so terrified
about. It was more like the crashing and
burning. And that supposed fact that we
were much safer in a car and such? Well,
that really didn’t matter when I was up in the
air bouncing around at thirty thousand feet.

The driver dropped us off in front of a

swanky hotel right in the heart of the down-
town waterfront district. The marble build-
ing and elaborate chandeliers hanging in the
lobby was just a taste of the extravagance
that awaited us. Being a clan leader certainly
had its perks when it came to travelling.
There were four protectors with us, one of
them being Palmer, and although Daniel and
Marisol wanted to come, we had to leave
them behind. When it came to dealing with
the Council, you didn’t show up uninvited.

After checking in, we headed upstairs.

Our group of suites was almost on the top
floor and when I walked in the room, I was
momentarily taken aback by the view. It was
almost like we were above the clouds. Sur-
prisingly, it wasn’t raining and the late after-
noon sunlight cast shards of orange, pink,
and blue over the water and surrounding
cityscape.

72/425

“I’m going to get cleaned up,” Kain said

while lifting his suitcase. We were in a two
bedroom suite with my bed in one room and
his in another.

I looked at my watch. “Guess I’ll see you

in two hours then,” I teased. Kain had a
tendency to take three times as long getting
ready than any girl would. I still didn’t know
what he did to primp himself. It was an on-
going joke between us. I would often tell
him that I needed him an hour earlier to
make sure that he’d ‘clean up’ in time.

“Ha, ha. Very funny,” he replied before

closing the door to his room. I smiled and
thought about the time we’d spent together
at Cotillion. Since we were playing a happily
engaged couple, we were given a cottage with
one bed. It had been an interesting situation
to say the least, but we made it work. Then
his dad died. And then I left him at the al-
tar. I really hadn’t been a good person to

73/425

Kain and thinking about it now made me feel
even worse.

I told him about my planned meeting with

Brendan tonight and he listened without
comment. Perhaps there was a part of him
that was curious to know how it would work
out as much as me. There was friction
between Kain and me, and Brendan’s pres-
ence was always a silent thorn in our cohes-
ive ruling relationship. It was our unspoken
problem. The topic we avoided like the
plague. Maybe after tonight, I would have a
better understanding about what was going
on between Brendan and me. Then Kain and
I could move our professional relationship
beyond this.

I grabbed my bag and went into my room

to take a shower and get ready. Meeting with
the Council was a formal affair, so I needed
ample time for hair and makeup.

An hour later, I was done and Kain still

hadn’t emerged from his bedroom.

74/425

laughed and raided some of the hotel snacks
sitting out by the bar. Catching a glimpse of
myself in the mirror, I took a moment to ac-
knowledge that I looked good today. I’d
twisted my blonde hair up into an elegant
knot in order to show off the cut of my lilac
dress. A halter style in the front joined a T-
shaped back, and clear rhinestones were
sewn throughout. The gold shield attached
to my hip served as my only piece of jewelry.

In the few short weeks since my parent’s

death, I looked like I’d aged at least five
years. Maybe it was the new responsibility.
Or maybe it was the increased stress. But re-
gardless, I no longer looked like the insolent
teenage girl who ran away for love. No, I
looked like Mistress Dumahl, the clan leader
who would never do anything so childish.

By the time I was on my third bag of pea-

nuts, Kain stepped into the living room. He
wore an expensive dark blue suit that com-
plemented his eyes and hair. His jacket

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hung over his left arm and I could smell a
faint hint of aftershave. When he saw me
waiting, he grinned. “Don’t even say it,” he
warned.

“Say what? That I’ve been waiting for al-

most an hour? Or that I was about ready to
leave you behind so that I didn’t make a bad
impression?” He didn’t respond. I started to
strap on my shoes but continued to play with
him. “What do you do in there anyway? It’s
not like you have to shave anything or put
makeup on.” I looked up at his messy bed-
head appearance. “Or do your hair.”

“As I said before…this doesn’t just hap-

pen.” He emphasized that statement by
making a show of running his hands up and
down his body like a showcase.

“You’re such a tool.”
“A tool? More like a god.” I nearly spit out

the last of the peanut I was chewing. It
wouldn’t have been so funny if I knew that
Kain Matthew was one of the least arrogant

76/425

people in the world. He may joke with me,
but Kain certainly wasn’t egotistical like his
comments implied.

I rolled my eyes and grabbed my sweater.

“Let’s go.”

He was still shaking his head as we opened

the door and collected our protectors. Con-
veniently, the Council was gathering down-
stairs in one of the ballrooms. I’d always
thought those rooms were reserved for con-
ferences and weddings, but apparently secret
merfolk meetings happened as well.

Palmer whistled at me when he opened the

door. “Nice, cuz. Going somewhere spe-
cial?” He was in the standard issue black
everything, although tonight they wore suits
to hide some of the weapons strapped all
over their bodies.

“Oh, you know. Just another meeting to

decide the future of our kind.” I shrugged.
“The usual.”

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“Well, dressed like that…I’m sure you’ll get

their attention,” Palmer said and slapped me
on the back in an awkward kind of way.
When we got into the elevator, I leaned over
and whispered to Kain.

“Am I dressed wrong?”
He smiled and shook his head. “No. You

look fine.”

“Fine?” I didn’t know if that was good or

bad. He nudged my shoulder.

“You’ll dazzle them I’m sure.” Okay. I still

didn’t know if my outfit was appropriate for
going in front of a group of people I desper-
ately needed to impress. But I was out of
time because we’d made it to the lobby.

We walked past the restaurant and bar,

then rounded the corner to the area with all
of the ballrooms.

Our meeting wasn’t

labeled, but it was obvious which room we
were in. Ten protectors lined the hallway
surrounding the elaborate double doors
where our leaders waited. Sure we had

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security of our own, but these guys seemed
like they were born specifically for this job.
Each of them had to be over six feet tall and
weigh no less than two hundred and fifty
pounds of pure muscle. Their hair was all
the same; cut into a buzzed military style. In
fact, I would bet that they were ex-military.
Probably Navy Seals. I think the general hu-
man population would be surprised to find
out how many mermen were a part of that
elite military force. The stories about strap-
ping bombs to dolphins weren’t entirely
true. The government used mammals all
right, just not the kind they implied.

The tallest man broke his stance and ac-

knowledged us with a curt nod. His eyes
wondered to my dress and then quickly back
to Kain. Without saying a word, he opened
the door and ushered us inside.

Although the room was big enough to seat

a couple of hundred, only the front portion
had been set up with tables and chairs. The

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tables were in a “U” shaped design that
looked out towards the audience. The re-
maining chairs faced the open space in
between like they were gathered for a show.
In a sense, that is exactly what this was. I
had to perform tonight and my performance
was going to be judged.

When we entered the room, all conversa-

tion stopped. I had a quick moment of panic
when I thought that perhaps we were late but
then realized that we were probably the only
guests that they were expecting. I was a little
surprised that there were so many people
here. It was my understanding that this
Council meeting was closed. Yet at least fifty
merfolk lined the room in a bunch of little
groups. All of them were older than Kain
and me and all of them were staring. I felt
uncomfortable but I did my best not to let it
show.

It also didn’t help that my dress was a little

inappropriate for the occasion. Most of the

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women were wearing two piece business
suits and a variety of tiny hats. It was like
having tea with the queen, and my short lilac
cocktail dress did little to blend in with the
polyester grannies. My hands began to sweat
as my stomach twisted in knots.

We made our way down the center aisle

and towards the open area in front. As one,
the remaining audience members began to
take their seats filling the front rows first.
Our protectors moved to stand at attention
along the side of the room, leaving Kain and
I under the scrutiny of many eyes. Someone
cleared their throat.

“Welcome everyone. Please be seated.” It

was an older, gray-haired woman who
couldn’t have been more than five feet tall.
She was wearing a long maroon cloak that
dwarfed her tiny frame even more, but her
voice carried like a true ruler. This must be
Mistress Lyonetta. She was famous in a le-
gend kind of way. Her seat on the Council

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had been won when she was not much older
than me and rumor had it that she pretty
much ruled the rest of the governing body.
Whatever “The Lion” wanted, she got.

Five more Council members took their

seats in a dramatic fashion. There were
three men and two women all of whom
barely gave us a passing glance. I didn’t
flinch. It wasn’t like they could intimidate
me more.

Kain reached down and squeezed my hand

in a show of support. Or maybe he needed
the extra comfort himself. I looked up at
him as a thousand questions ran through my
mind. He shook his head a tiny bit and
shrugged.

A door slammed in the back of the room

where we had entered and everyone turned
to see the interruption. I couldn’t make out
more than a shape, but it seemed to be a
taller man and he looked like he was getting

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dressed. Well, dressed in the official sanc-
tioned Council cloak.

“Ah, Master Forrester. So nice of you to

join us.” If I didn’t know any better, I would
have guessed that Mistress Lyonetta’s tone
was a bit sarcastic.

“Thanks for waiting, luv,” the guy replied

in a perfectly posh British accent. “I told my
lady friends that I had an appointment to get
to, but you know how irresistible I am. They
just couldn’t let me go.”

I watched in fascination as this guy spoke

to one of the most powerful mermaids
amongst us as though she wanted to know
about his love life. And the surprising thing
about it was that she didn’t stop him.

He hobbled up the center aisle while trying

to put on his cloak, mumbling about how he
always got tangled in the arm holes. When
he reached Kain and me, I nearly gasped at
what I saw. He couldn’t have been more
than a couple of years older than us yet he

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was the remaining Council member. There
were always seven of them to avoid tie votes
but I didn’t know that someone else so young
had claimed a seat. It was very rare.

A wave of cigarette smoke and alcohol

breath wafted off of him. He didn’t seem to
be taking his duties seriously, but for some
reason no one disciplined him. Once he had
the cloak in place, he tugged it down and
straightened his shoulders.

He took one quick glance at Kain but then

met my gaze with force. I couldn’t help but
stare into his deep brown eyes that seemed
to glimmer with hidden promises. Day-old
stubble covered his face and the short brown
hair on his head stood up in all directions.
In a nutshell, he was one of the most hand-
some guys I had ever seen and I thought that
there were already a few of those in my life.
Master Forrester smiled down at me and
winked.

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“Well hello, luv,” he whispered. I thought

that I might blush. “Why don’t you and me
leave promptly after this affair and have a
drink?” Now I know that I was blushing. In
front of everyone. One of the other Council
members cleared their throat.

“Graham, would you please take your seat

so that we can get started.” He winked at me
again and made his way towards the empty
chair at the end of the table. I followed him
with my eyes, unable to comprehend wheth-
er or not having someone like him on the
Council would be beneficial to my case.

“Mistress Dumahl, may we call you Eviana

for the purposes of these proceedings?” Mis-
tress Lyonetta asked.

“Yes.”
“And Master Matthew, may we call you

Kain?” It seemed like such a formality.

“Yes.”
“Very well then.” She directed her atten-

tion to the audience. “As requested, we

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agreed to open the meeting to clan leaders
and their top advisors today so that we can
have an open dialogue regarding the current
situation.” A few merfolk shifted in their
seats. This was not the typical routine. Mis-
tress Lyonetta focused on me. “Eviana, we
have been briefed regarding your recent cap-
ture by Lucian Sutherland, but I understand
that there has been another incident. Will
you please explain?”

I sucked in a deep breath and looked to-

wards Kain for support. His tiny smile was
all the encouragement I needed and soon my
pounding heart calmed. In a few minutes, I
finished telling them what happened at my
school and how we suspected that Lucian
was involved.

“But we don’t know it was him for sure,”

said one of the male Council members.

“No, Christopher we don’t. However, I

think the letter is all the proof we need.”

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Mistress Lyonetta declared. “Plus there have
been the other incidences.”

Kain and I looked at each other in confu-

sion. If this wasn’t the first time Lucian
Sutherland had challenged the Council, than
I was afraid that we were in over our heads.
Or we had been really lucky to escape with
our lives.

“We don’t know that he was at fault with

those either,” Christopher continued. Ap-
parently Lucian had at least one alley in the
room.

“Master Harrison’s and Kiyomizu’s un-

timely deaths were in fact ordered by Lu-
cian,” one of the female members yelled.
“He all but gloated about it in his letters!” I
could see Kain tense next to me at the men-
tion of Carissa’s slain uncle. Lucian had
been murdering those who got in his way for
the past several months. Again, I realized
how lucky we were.

87/425

A few people began yelling from the audi-

ence. I heard shouts like, “He’s killed others,
too!” and “How many more have to die?” fol-
lowed by “Why aren’t you doing anything?”
With that last question Mistress Lyonetta
slammed her tiny hand down on the table
with so much force I thought it would break.
She stood quickly and raised her hands ask-
ing for silence.

“We are doing something about it. That is

why these two leaders are standing here in
front of you.”

An older man rose in the back of the room

and yelled, “Leaders? These two? They’re
barely out of diapers. I certainly hope that
you have something better than this!” His
attitude made me forget that I was scared to
death to be in front of these people and I
turned to respond. Kain’s hand on my
shoulder stopped me, although someone else
beat me to it anyway.

88/425

“I do believe you should hold your tongue,

you cheeky old fool. They have both been
appointed by their clans and by their birth-
rights. Besides, we could use some more
young blood in these dreadful political meet-
ings,” Graham finished with a smirk. The
old man opened his mouth to argue some
more but the look on Graham’s face stopped
him cold. For some reason, this playboy
Council member yielded a great deal of
power. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t
intrigued.

I looked back towards the members and

earned yet another wink from Graham. This
time, Kain noticed and I swear I heard him
groan.

“Enough of this,” Mistress Lyonetta con-

tinued. “Bring them in.”

At once, all of the Council’s protectors

began to move around the room with some
of them leaving it entirely. A few minutes
later, the crowd doubled. Human after

89/425

human filed through the doorways without
saying a word. They all walked in a trance-
like state and made their way to center of the
floor in front of us. Mistress Lyonetta was
still standing and I soon realized that she
was the one controlling them. But where
were they coming from?

As though answering my silent question, I

noticed an entire wedding party shuffle into
the ballroom and kneel in front of the Coun-
cil. They were celebrating in the next hall-
way if I recalled the sign in the lobby. Mis-
tress Lyonetta had just taken control of every
human downstairs in the hotel.

For a full five minutes, people came to

her. They never spoke and never looked
around. They simply walked in and knelt
like an obedient dog. The floor was getting
crowded and soon the humans were nearly
piled on top of each other. When the doors
finally

closed,

Mistress

Lyonetta

had

90/425

summoned about at least a hundred and fifty
people.

The remaining merfolk audience members

moved towards the edges of the room in or-
der to allow for more space. By the looks on
their faces, I think they were a little
frightened of what they were witnessing.
Considering that Kain and I had known very
little about compulsion and how it was used,
I was guessing that a demonstration of this
magnitude was pretty rare. I know I’d only
ever seen one person do this before. And
now I feared I knew what was coming next.

“Eviana,” Mistress Lyonetta declared.

“Show them what you can do. Take them
from me.”

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Five

A frog climbed into my throat. Swallowing

the lump I tried to speak. “Pardon?”

“Take them! This is your plan to fight

against Lucian, is it not? We need to see how
strong you really are.”

Without thinking, I glanced at Graham.

He was probably my only fan at the table and
I watched as a hint of curiosity washed over
his face. It was almost like I needed him to
encourage me to do this and ensure that now
was the time for me to display my strength.
As though reading my thoughts, he winked
at me again. Immediately after that, Kain

place his warm hand at the base of my back.
He leaned in and whispered.

“Breathe, Eviana. Relax and focus. You

can do this.”

I closed my eyes and sent a silent thanks to

Kain. After everything I’ve done to him, he
was still standing by my side. The thought
almost made me cry but it also helped me
push the nerves away. Okay, time to prove
my worth in this world.

The surrounding air seemed stale as I took

in several large breaths. I could smell alco-
hol and some type of fried food on many of
the hotel patrons. That made sense since
they’d been pulled in from their happy hour
drinks and appetizers. How in the world
would we explain this? I stopped my
thoughts from going in that direction and
forced them to focus instead.

First envisioning a dark room, I then tried

to pinpoint each consciousness. Nothing
happened and I heard some of the Council

93/425

members grumble. I knew that if I opened
my eyes, I would be met with skeptical and
arrogant faces. So I kept them closed and
soon I began to see each mind light up in my
head.

They weren’t very bright and I attributed

that to the fact that Mistress Lyonetta had
control over them right now. When I’d taken
over Lucian’s human and selkie army, I had
been so angry and emotional, I didn’t really
even know how I did it. Now that I’d been
practicing more, I could conceptualize the
idea of minds as little floating light balls. Al-
though I still didn’t know how to take control
from someone else.

So, I visualized a tiny hand and began

reaching for them. It was kind of like one of
those sticky arms you get from a gumball
machine. I would throw the flexible append-
age out towards a mind and try to wrap my
fingers around it in time to pull it back to
me. It took three tries before I finally got

94/425

one. I think I sucked in a breath in excite-
ment because Kain whispered softly to me
that it was working. One down and a hun-
dred and fifty more to go.

I don’t know how much time passed, but I

soon created three different sticky hands so
that I could grab more than one mind at a
time. I lost count around sixty but I was also
losing energy. Lyonetta’s hold was strong
and she was able to steal a few back. When I
thought that I’d taken the majority, if not all
of them, I opened my eyes.

The humans I had compelled were all fa-

cing me and the ones I didn’t get continued
to kneel in front of the Council. From what I
could tell, I’d missed about twenty of them. I
looked up at Lyonetta and smiled. “How’s
that?”

Something resembling pride swept over

her face and she gave me a small nod. “Not
bad.”

95/425

“Not bad?” Christopher jumped in again.

“She didn’t get them all. That could mean
the difference between life and death.”

“No, she didn’t,” Lyonetta confirmed but

didn’t say anything else. I could see the
growing doubt amongst the Council mem-
bers and I would bet that those same feelings
were running through the rest of the audi-
ence. Something inside of me cringed at the
thought of letting them down. I had to prove
myself not only for my clan but also for
Kain’s.

Remembering our practice session yester-

day, I began humming the tune to the chick-
en dance in my mind and at once I pushed it
out into the light balls filling up the darkness
of my room. Every human facing me stood
and starting flapping their arms and shaking
their butts in a very unorganized and truly
hilarious version of the traditional wedding
dance. Even the bride and groom particip-
ated, making me wonder how many times

96/425

they would have to perform this dance
today. I let them continue for several
minutes before the sound of someone clap-
ping disrupted my concentration.

Graham was standing now and the grin on

his face told me at least he appreciated my
display of power. “Fantastic, luv.” He
turned to the rest of the Council. “I think
she’s proven herself. I’ve never seen you
make them dance before,” he directed to-
wards Mistress Lyonetta. She glared at him.

“Enough, Eviana. Please release control so

we can send them away.” I didn’t really
know how to do that either, so I imagined a
pair of scissors cutting my gummy arms.
The room in my head instantly went black
and all of the humans turned back towards
the front tables. With another silent com-
mand from the Council’s leader, they began
to walk out the doors with our protectors fol-
lowing closely behind. Maybe Lyonetta had
the ability to wipe their memories too

97/425

because otherwise, I don’t know how they
would be able to explain where the last thirty
minutes of their life had gone.

Kain rubbed his hand over my back again

and sighed. “You were perfect,” he smiled
down at me.

The look in his eyes left me wondering

about the extent of our relationship again.

This was a moment where I wanted to reach

up and kiss him. The way he looked at me
like I was the only person in the room right
now left my heart pounding in my chest.
Yet, being with him, even if Brendan wanted
nothing to do with me, was not possible. He
made that perfectly clear when we got back
to California and agreed to work together.
But what I was seeing in him now seemed to
contradict those harsh words he had for me.
Kain was either an excellent poker player or
he was just as confused as me.

“You are dismissed.”

The command

brought my attention back to the front of the

98/425

room and again I caught a glance of Graham
staring at Kain and me with a bemused look
on his face. When neither of us moved, Mis-
tress Lyonetta continued. “We will recess
until tomorrow morning to allow us time to
confer.”

And with that, the seven Council members

stood and made their way towards the
double doors. Graham and two others
walked right past us but he was the only one
to stop and he only spoke to me.

“Rain check, then?” I wrinkled my brows

in confusion. “On the drinks. Looks like
duty calls tonight,” he said with a sigh. All I
could do was nod my head quickly before he
rushed away and placed an arm over one of
the Council woman’s shoulder. I could see
her glare up at him and shrug it off before
they even made it out of the room.

“He is as irritating as everyone says,” Kain

said while watching Graham’s exit. That
caught my attention.

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“You know him?”
“No, but he’s somewhat famous. You don’t

know?” I shook my head. “He’s the only
Council member other than Adele Lyonetta
to earn a seat as a teenager. He’s only twenty
two and he’s already been a member for five
years.”

“Five years?” I asked. He would have been

seventeen then. Now I really felt like a child
remembering what I was doing, and running
away from, at seventeen.

“Yeah, and apparently no one is too

thrilled with it. But he’s powerful in some
way or he wouldn’t be sitting there.”

“Hmm…” It was all that I could say.
“You should stay away from him,” Kain

added.

“What?”
“He has a pretty bad reputation when it

comes to the women in his life. They fall all
over him but he tosses girls aside like trash.
You really don’t want to be seen with him.”

100/425

“Thanks, dad. I’ll be sure to keep that in

mind.” I rolled my eyes because the idea of
me being with Graham was so ridiculous that
I couldn’t even believe Kain would bring it
up. Besides I wasn’t interested because I had
someone else in my life. Or at least I was
about to find out if I did. “What time is it?”

Kain looked at his watch and then back at

me with a weird look on his face. “Almost
six.”

“I have to go. I’ll get Palmer and Troy to

go with me and I should be back in time for
dinner.”

“Okay,” Kain said but it was clipped with

disappointment. At least I think that’s what
it was. “Call me if you’re running late so we
know.”

I smiled up at him with another yes dad

type of look and went to find my cousin and
his partner. There was a small skip to my
step as I hurried across the room, thankful
that most of the audience members had left

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right after the Council did. I’m sure they
would be talking about me all night long, but
right now that didn’t matter. I was finally
going to see Brendan.

The coffee shop was a few blocks away and

since it wasn’t raining, we decided to walk.
Being in that ballroom not only exhausted
me but it also seemed to creep out my cousin
who kept looking at me in a strange way. I
wasn’t going to let him ruin my moment so I
pushed his concern aside to deal with anoth-
er day.

We arrived five minutes early and I

wondered if I should grab us a table or order
a drink. Ever since taking over leadership,
I’ve found that coffee is a mainstay in my
diet now. I didn’t always like the bitterness,
but I’d discovered that by adding a little bit
of caramel and chocolate flakes, I had a
drink that satisfied both the sweet tooth and
the caffeine cravings. Not knowing what

102/425

Brendan was into now, I decided not to order
for him for fear of being too aggressive.

I found a small two person table along the

side of the coffee shop but far enough away
from the counter and the front door to give
us a little bit of privacy. Taking in my sur-
roundings I had to laugh at the random
design of this place. The walls were painted
a dark purple and the floors were covered in
faux wood. The background music was a mix
of reggae and bollywood sounds that didn’t
seem to go together at all. As if that were the
plan, hanging from every available nook and
cranny were naked Barbie dolls of various
ages and colors. Some were dangling by
their legs while others had tiny intricate
nooses around their necks. It was quite
creepy.

My eyes continued to drift over to the front

door. Right on time, the bell chimed and
Brendan walked in. I sucked in a breath and
held it for several moments. Ever since we

103/425

were little, he had that instant ability to take
my breath away by his presence alone. No
one else had that much power over me and I
knew he had to remain in my life.

He looked wonderful. Tanned skin, dark

hair, and those emerald green eyes that were
unnaturally beautiful. It was like a desert
mirage, too good to be true.

He spotted me almost instantly and

smiled in a way that I knew had to mean
something to him. In only a few strides we
were standing in front of each other, just
staring. I didn’t know if I was allowed to hug
him or kiss him or chain him to me for the
rest of our lives like I wanted to. I couldn’t
tell what he was thinking and I needed to be
strong and prepare for the worst. That
thought brought tears to my eyes before I
could stop them.

Brendan wrapped his long muscular arms

around me and pulled me tight against his
chest. With my heels on, my height reached

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to just under his chin and I felt him rest his
head on the top of mine. I squeezed him so
hard that I thought I would break a rib. His
heart was thundering against my ear and
every day that I spent in anguish over miss-
ing him suddenly disappeared. He was here
now. We were together now.

“Evs,” he breathed and the lump in my

throat tripled in size. He was the only one
that ever called me that and hearing it now
was about the best thing that had happened
to me in a long time. Brendan took a deep
shuddering breath and held me a little tight-
er. “You smell so good,” he whispered.

Brendan’s selkie blood gave him a much

more sensitive nose and he often commented
about how my scent had always been unique
to him. He said it was a mixture of the sea
and the sun with a little splash of cinnamon.
I didn’t quite understand how that was pos-
sible, but I was never going to question him.

105/425

“I missed you so much,” I said before I

could stop myself. Squeezing him even tight-
er, I didn’t give him a chance to pull away.
Not yet. He kissed the top of my head ever
so gently.

“I missed you too,” he replied. This time I

pulled away and held him back at arm’s
length so that I could see his face. I needed
to know he was sincere, not that he was the
type of guy to lie to me.

He smiled and ushered me to the table. I

caught him looking at me in a way a man
should look at a woman. His gaze was full of
hunger and a wave of sensation washed over
me like an aphrodisiac. We had only lived
together for three weeks, but those three
weeks were the closest both physically and
emotionally that we had ever been. Not only
did I miss his companionship, but I missed
our experiences.

“You look amazing,” he finally said.

“You’ve changed.”

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“No I haven’t,” I replied even though I re-

called thinking the same thing earlier in the
evening. “Well, I feel like I’ve aged about five
years in the last month.” I didn’t even try to
hide the sadness that went along with those
words. Losing my parent’s was still hard,
having the responsibilities of a clan leader
weighed me down, but not knowing where
Brendan and I stood had plagued me the
most.

“It’s not a bad thing, Evs.” He reached

across the table and grabbed my hand.
Shivers ran through my body with that one
touch. “You just seem older. More mature.
Wiser.” He smiled his crooked grin that I
loved. It always showed the tiniest hint of a
dimple and accentuated the glimmer in his
eyes. My face lit up without command.

“I suppose I am wiser now.” Squeezing his

hand I pushed the next question out through
gritted teeth. “How are you doing?”

107/425

Instead of responding right away, he

looked at me in wonder again. I wished I
was telepathic at this moment because right
now I had no idea what was going through
his mind. His carefully schooled face didn’t
provide any hint and I began to worry that
he was thinking only bad things.

“I’m alright, I guess,” he finally answered.

“Julian’s been really great and it’s kind of
neat to be in Seattle again.” Brendan and his
father lived in this area before he was kicked
out of the house at sixteen. It wasn’t person-
al. It was just the way the selkie’s were.
They stuck around long enough to raise their
child on their own, but as soon as they were
capable, the kids were left to fend for
themselves.

I wanted to ask him more, but he contin-

ued to speak. “It’s just not right.” He pulled
away from me and sat back in his chair.
Running both hands through his hair, he let
out a sigh that seemed full of desperation

108/425

and defeat. Fresh tears glistened in his eyes.
“I don’t feel right. I’m not supposed to be
here.” His hands reached for mine again and
I didn’t hesitate. This was it. The moment
I’ve been waiting for. “I miss you so much,
Evs. Nothing in me functions when I’m away
from you. It’s like half of me has been cut
away and I’m dragging around a lifeless
body.” He dropped his gaze and shook his
head. “I can’t stay here.”

Time literally stopped as I processed his

words. I think he was saying that he wanted
to come back to California and that he
wanted us to be together again. The pure
happiness and joy that washed over me was
the best feeling that I’d had since we were in
that mountain lodge together on my birth-
day. It was almost too good to be true.

“Come back with me.” I said and then

quickly added, “Or at least to California. We
can take things one day at a time.”

109/425

He raised his head to look up at me and

smiled. “I think that’s what I want.” I
squeezed his hands even tighter as he leaned
across the table and gave me a chaste kiss on
the lips. The electricity between us was un-
deniable and it took every ounce of maturity
I’d gained over the past month not to pull
him back towards me. “But I can’t leave yet.”

My heart dropped into the pit of my stom-

ach and apparently my face showed my dis-
may. “It’s not that I don’t want to,” he
quickly continued. “I just have to talk to
Julian and get a few things in order first.”

I nodded and said, “Okay,” without really

understanding what he meant. I feared that
if he spoke to Julian, he would change his
mind about leaving.

“This is what I want, Evs. Don’t worry.

Seattle is not for me and I think that Califor-
nia will be.” I raised my eyebrows at him
wondering if he’d gained some mind reading
abilities while we were apart. He laughed at

110/425

what my expression must have been and
then nodded towards the giant coffee sitting
in front of me.

“You drink that stuff now?”
“I need it,” I sighed. “Trying to lead a clan,

finish high school, and train with Palmer
constantly leaves very little time for sleep.” I
didn’t tell him that I usually didn’t sleep any-
way because I was always thinking about
him.

“Training?” he asked.
“Yeah, new rules since we got home.” I

told him about the increased security and
pointed out my two protectors sitting at the
counter. He laughed at the thought of me
fighting my cousin, but he encouraged the
training. He said it was a really good idea
that we were able to hold our own on land as
well as in the water. We laughed and joked
about some of my stupid training mishaps
until a man in a black suit walked over to our
table.

111/425

“Mistress Dumahl, we need to leave.”
“Right now, Palmer?” I pleaded, looking

back and forth between him and Brendan.

“Yes, I’m sorry to interrupt but the Council

has asked to speak with you immediately.”
Palmer shifted his stance letting me know
that this was rather urgent.

“Oh,” I said and turned back to Brendan.

“I’m sorry. We weren’t supposed to meet
again until the morning.” Dread filled my
thoughts at all of the reasons why they would
want to see me again so soon.

Brendan stood and pulled me up into an-

other hug. I savored every moment of that
touch, from the feel of his muscles to the
scent of his skin. “It’s okay. I should get go-
ing too. I want to speak to Julian right
away.”

I smiled up at him and was surprised when

he bent forward and kissed me. It wasn’t a
bedroom kiss but it wasn’t an innocent one
either. For a few brief moments, the coffee

112/425

shop and the rest of the world disappeared.
It was just the two of us back together again
like it should be. When we finally pulled
apart, I felt a little embarrassed. Although it
was worth every glare directed towards our
public display.

“I’ll call you soon. I promise,” he said

lightly while rubbing the side of my cheek.

“All right. I love you, Brendan.” I didn’t

really know what his response would be but I
didn’t care. He needed to know where I
stood.

“I love you too,” he breathed as he pressed

one more kiss to my forehead then gently
pushed me towards Palmer. “Good luck
tonight.”

“Thanks,” I returned with a smile. We left

the shop quickly and I had to practically jog
to keep pace with Palmer and Troy. Their
demeanor was all serious and I probably
should

have

been

concerned.

However, at this moment I could have been

113/425

running barefoot through burning coals and
broken glass and it still wouldn’t have
dampened my mood. Brendan was coming
back to me. No matter what the Council had
decided they couldn’t take away my happi-
ness tonight.

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Six

Kain was waiting for us in the lobby. He

had his head down, gaze glued to the phone
while his fingers moved quickly over the
electronic keypad. Anxiety was written all
over his face. When I stepped close enough
to him to invade his personal space, he fi-
nally realized I was there.

“What took you so long?” he asked frantic-

ally. Not liking his attitude one little bit I
tilted my head towards my protectors.

“We practically ran here. I left as soon as

Palmer told me.” His concern panicked me a
little and I uncrossed my arms from a hostile

stance to one of apprehension. “Do you
know what’s going on?”

He grabbed my arm and started to walk us

back to the grand ballroom at a brisk pace.
“No, I don’t. I just got a call that told us to
meet them in twenty minutes.” His eye-
brows rose in my direction. “And that was
thirty minutes ago.”

Yanking my arm away I tried to regain my

composure. “Well, they should have given us
more time. It’s not like I can teleport or any-
thing and besides, they adjourned until
morning.” I refused to feel nervous over
something that was out of my control. Al-
though that mindset didn’t really give me the
result I wanted. My stomach churned with
dread right now.

“Regardless, they want to see us and we’re

late.” I don’t think I ever really saw Kain so
nervous before. Even in the face of our cap-
ture with Lucian, he always maintained his
cool. Something else was going on.

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“Are you sure you don’t know what they

want?”

He let out a long breath and brushed his

hair back out of his face. “No, I really don’t.
But from what my sources say, if they call an
unscheduled meeting like this, then you
should be worried.”

I couldn’t help it. “Your sources? Who are

you?” That earned me a partial grin and I
could feel a little bit of the tension give way.
“It’s not like whatever they want could pos-
sibly be that bad. I mean, really, what could
they tell us that we haven’t already specu-
lated about?”

“I wouldn’t be too naive, Eviana. They can

be pretty twisted sometimes.” I chuckled to
myself thinking about the Council members
playing Twister. Although if I would have
known what they were about to do, I cer-
tainly wouldn’t have been laughing.

We were the only two in the room other

than our four protectors and the seven

117/425

opposing Council members whose faces were
a perfect mask of arrogance and boredom.
They still wore their maroon cloaks and only
one of them looked at ease. But I suspected
that Graham Forrester always appeared to be
amused by any situation. It was just his
way.

He was holding a cocktail in his hand, stir-

ring the ice around with his finger. When he
caught me looking, he sucked the liquid off
his finger and flashed me a wicked grin.
Heat instantly flared to my cheeks and I had
to look away.

“Eviana and Kain, thank you for joining us

this evening,” Mistress Lyonetta began in her
formal tone. “We need to ask some ques-
tions of you that are better discussed in
private.”

Oh no. I really didn’t like the sound of

this.

“Your display earlier was quite impress-

ive.”

Surprisingly,

this

came

from

118/425

Christopher and I must have showed the
shock on my face. “But not impressive
enough.” Ah, there he was.

Mistress Lyonetta continued. “We want to

know if Kain is able to yield the same
amount of power?”

I saw him tense under her gaze and this

time it was me who reached out to grab his
hand in a show of support. He clutched it
tightly a second before stepping forward to
address the Council. “No, I do not have the
same amount of abilities.”

But he did…just in a different way. I star-

ted to open my mouth to tell them about his
newfound control over water. I bet that they
would consider that to be pretty substantial
even though I don’t know what kind of
weapon it could be. Kain abruptly turned his
head in my direction and mouthed the words
not now to me.

Interesting. I wondered why he wouldn’t

want to reveal this skill. Someone made a

119/425

coughing noise and we both looked up at
Graham who was watching us with intense
curiosity. Thankfully, whatever he wanted to
say, he kept it locked down and remained
silent.

“Well, that is a shame,” Christopher

replied to Kain’s statement with an air of su-
periority. I highly doubted that he had the
same amount of power that I’d displayed,
but it was probably better to keep my mouth
shut.

Lyonetta gave Christopher a warning glare

before continuing. “Eviana, your talents are
promising and we do think that your plan to
overtake Lucian’s armies is valid.” That
earned three different snorts from the mem-
bers who apparently weren’t in such agree-
ment. She ignored them. “But you need
more practice. And I’m not talking about
practicing with your friends at home,” she
said and held up a hand stopping my im-
pending protest. “You need to train your

120/425

mind like an athlete would prepare for a
competition. Your gift is a tool and your tool
needs to be in prime condition for us to be
able to accomplish what you have both
proposed.”

I had no idea where this conversation was

going. Perhaps Mistress Lyonetta would
work with me personally. Something inside
of me panicked at that idea. The women
looked like a meek grandmother, but she ab-
solutely frightened me. I watched as she
took in a breath and sat back slightly in her
seat. Her jaw was clenched, leading me to
believe that she was uncomfortable with
what she had to say next. This certainly
didn’t bode well for me.

“There is only one person who we feel can

give you the adequate training you need. He
is rather…unconventional in his beliefs, but
he is strong and he is powerful.” She turned
her head from side to side to look at each
member with what seemed like a warning

121/425

not to protest. “We are going to send you to
Jeremiah Williams.”

“Oh, no you are not!” Graham shouted at

the same time I said, “You can’t be serious!”
Jeremiah Williams was probably the most
repulsive merman I’d ever met aside from
Lucian Sutherland. He was Kain’s distant
cousin and he had been shunned from his
clan because his beliefs were too closely
aligned with what we were fighting against.
I’d watched in horror as he almost killed his
entire human staff to prove that we were
stronger and more powerful and deserved to
have the world know it.

“He is already aware of the arrangement

and he is looking forward to getting back un-
der our good graces by helping Eviana.” The
Council leader was standing now but she
suddenly didn’t seem as intimidating as
before.

“Please, you can’t send me to him.” I

couldn’t possibly imagine spending one

122/425

minute in the presence of that man. Trying
to think of anything to help my case I blurted
out, “Hasn’t he been shunned?”

As soon as I said it I wished that I could

take back every word. The atmosphere in
the room changed and I knew that I was
treading on thin ice. It was one of the female
members who spoke first.

“Yes, he has. Just like you were.” It was

snippy and rude and totally true. My mother
shunned me when I ran away from my fam-
ily and my responsibilities to our clan. It was
a punishment that few had received and re-
voking my shunning was difficult at best.
When Lucian murdered my mother and the
shield connected with me, it showed every-
one that I was meant to be the next leader.
And although our birthrights are never ques-
tioned, it didn’t mean that the rest of my clan
had to like the outcome. I was still having
problems with authority in regards to my
leadership status and the only reason I had

123/425

been accepted was because Kain backed his
entire clan behind me. It was with his sup-
port that I was even allowed back in my own
home.

“And just like you, he will have the oppor-

tunity to prove his usefulness,” Mistress Ly-
onetta replied sharply.

“You won’t always have the final say,

Adele,” snapped the female member.

“Well you certainly won’t be next in line,

Reina.” The two women stared at each other
with such mutual animosity that I swear the
room dropped in temperature. I was watch-
ing in fascination until something suddenly
clicked in my mind. Had the Council, or
more specifically Adele Lyonetta, played a
role in my acceptance as clan leader?

“Ladies, please. Any more of this and I’ll

have to request a mud wrestling competi-
tion,” Graham said in an attempt to diffuse
the hostility. What he got instead was total
disgust.

124/425

“You should not be here!” Reina yelled. A

vein protruded from the center of her pale
forehead and her face contorted in rage.
“Your manners are repulsive and your atti-
tude is incorrigible. I have had enough of
this group tolerating your presence.” She
turned to face the others. “We need to do
something about this.”

“Agreed,” stated Christopher and I think I

saw two other members nod their heads.

“Enough!” Adele Lyonetta did the hand

slamming on the table thing again and every-
one immediately focused on her. “Eviana,
you will go train with Jeremiah Williams un-
til he feels your progress is substantial.
While you are gone, Master Matthew will
oversee your clan’s daily duties and will re-
port back to me each week.

“Weeks?” I asked. “How long do I have to

stay with Jeremiah?” I knew that I should
have remained silent, but things were
quickly getting out of control.

125/425

“Until he deems you ready to face Lucian,”

Lyonetta stated matter-of-factly.

“Adele,” Graham sighed. “You know that

he won’t willingly let her go.”

She turned and I could see him cower un-

der her stare. “That is why you are going to
escort her.”

“Oh, no I’m not,” he quickly replied. I

didn’t know if I should be thankful or
offended.

“You are,” she declared. “Reina is correct

in saying that your attitude could use a
slight…adjustment. As a member of this
Council we are putting Eviana’s safety and
success in your hands. You will make sure
that Jeremiah teaches her what she needs
and you will assume responsibility for her
well-being.” She sat back in her chair and
smiled a little at the shocked expression on
his face. For the first time in what I’d bet
was a long time, Graham Forrester was
speechless. “It will be good for you.”

126/425

He looked like he wanted to protest. His

eyes travelled between me and Adele and
Kain and back again. With pursed lips and a
childish scowl he crossed his arms and
hunched back into his chair. I saw the
amusement written all over the remaining
Council member’s faces. It seemed as if the
prodigal son had finally been put in his place
and they were all too smug about it.

“Master Matthew, I would like to speak to

you in private for a few moments. The rest
of you may go. This meeting is adjourned.”
Mistress Lyonetta stood and walked away
from the table to the door that opened into
an adjoining hallway. Without saying a
word, Kain followed her. I was pretty sure
that he’d tell me what the conversation was
about, so I tried not to panic.

The remaining of the Council members

and their protectors began to exit the room.
Graham stood and downed the rest of his
drink in one swallow. Smacking his lips

127/425

together, he suddenly looked at me. I felt
about as tall as an ant when I was under that
dark stare of his deep brown eyes. He
seemed to look right through me and it was a
feeling that, quite frankly, freaked me out.

“I didn’t sign up for this so that I could be

a babysitter,” he mumbled, referring to his
seat on the Council. I suddenly went from a
girl he had hit on to a child that needed
watching. For all of the growing up I’d done
over the past several weeks, nothing could
have made me feel more inadequate than
what he’d just said. A part of me wanted to
cower and hide, but a bigger part of me
wanted to spit in his face.

“Well, I’m not too thrilled about this

either,” I said with a surprisingly solid voice.
“Do you really think I want someone looking
after me? It’s bad enough I have to see
Jeremiah again.” My body shivered uncon-
sciously at that thought.

128/425

“You’ve met him?” he asked with honest

curiosity.

“Yes.” I didn’t elaborate.
“And…” Graham prodded.
“And he’s awful.” I sighed loudly and sat

down on the closest chair. “This whole thing
is going to be awful.”

Graham didn’t say anything after that. He

just watched me for a few long seconds and
then began to leave the room. Right before
walking out the door, he turned around and
winked at me. “See you in the morning, luv.”

I collapsed against my knees and tried to

think of the positives. When I realized there
were no positive points, I sulked up to my
room and waited for Kain to return. I must
have drifted off because the sound of the lock
beeping woke me with a start.

“Oh, sorry. Did I wake you?” Kain asked.
“No, it’s okay.” I waited for him to sit

down on the couch across from me. “What
did she want?”

129/425

He shrugged his shoulders. “Just wanted

to clarify how it is exactly that I should re-
port to her.” Lying back in the couch, he
crossed his arm over his eyes. “I told her
that we already worked together on a lot of
the day to day operations and that I would
work with Andre in your absence.”

I cringed at the mention of my uncle’s

name. He would be all too happy to have a
chance to rule for a while. “Do I really have
to do this?” I groaned.

Kain chuckled. “Oh yes.” He rolled his

head so that he could see me with one eye.
“And I have to say, I’m kind of satisfied with
this.” I looked questioningly at him. “You’re
going to be miserable and there is still that
part of me that thinks you deserve to be
miserable.”

Well that’s honesty for you. I knew that he

had not completely forgiven me, but his
comment was still harsh. I didn’t even know
what to say, so I stayed silent until I couldn’t

130/425

stand it anymore. “I will forever be sorry for
how I hurt you, Kain. But I can’t change the
past. If we’re going to work together, then at
some point we will have to move beyond
this.”

“Is Brendan coming back with you?” he

suddenly changed the subject.

“What?”
“Brendan?

You seemed pretty happy

when you got back from your date. Did he
profess his love for you?”

“Your attitude is noted. And yes, he said

that he wants to come back.” If I wasn’t get-
ting so irritated right now, I would have been
somewhat uncomfortable with where this
discussion was going.

“Hmm…” Kain replied. I couldn’t stand it.
“You don’t need to act like this,” I said.
“Like what?”
“Like,” I waved my hand around, “this.

All…angry and stuff.”

“I’m not angry.”

131/425

“No?” I questioned with more than a little

attitude myself.

“It’s just going to be different, that’s all.” I

probably would have argued more if I hadn’t
heard the change in his voice. He’d softened
up a little and it was quickly taking the fight
out of me as well.

“You have Carissa now,” I said without

thinking.

“Yes. Yes, I do.”
When he didn’t say anymore, I continued.

“And she’s really good for you. You guys
seem like you’re getting along.”

He rolled his head to face me again. “Do

you really want to talk about this?”

“No.”
“Good. Then I’m going to bed. You should

do the same. Your flight is at six.” He stood
and grabbed himself a bottle of water. “I’ll
check in with you every day, okay?”

I nodded my head and tried to smile. It

wasn’t very convincing. Without saying

132/425

another word, he closed the bedroom door
and left me to my thoughts.

An hour ago I had been so happy.

Brendan was still coming back to me, but
now it could be weeks or months before I
would be allowed to leave Jeremiah’s. Kain
was obviously not thrilled about Brendan’s
return and now I also had to deal with Gra-
ham. Jeremiah was evil incarnate and I was
his new protégé. If I would have known how
quickly things could change, I would have
stayed in that coffee shop forever.

133/425

Seven

When you don’t sleep at night it’s easy to

get up early. My one lone bag leaned against
my legs like a lap dog as I waited for the
alarm to go off. We were leaving the hotel
just after four in the morning and I must
have been on my bed for the past two hours.
I was tired but the peace of mind that I
needed in order to rest was nowhere around.
Kain hadn’t stirred as far as I could tell so in-
stead of asking him to accompany me in my
misery, I left him alone.

Yet when I walked out of my room, I was

surprised to see Kain waiting for me with a

small thermos in his hand. He smiled and
shifted from side to side.

“I made you a drink for your flight.”
“Thank you.” I was relieved that we

wouldn’t leave things on bad terms. “You
didn’t have to do that.”

“I know.” He pushed the thermos into my

hands and looked down into my eyes.
“Please be careful, Eviana. Jeremiah can’t be
trusted and Lucian will be looking for you.”

I swallowed hard, trying to stay strong.

“I’ll be okay.”

The silence stretched between us. Just be-

fore I was ready to give in, Kain reached for-
ward and gave me a quick kiss on the cheek.

“Be safe,” he said.
“I will.” I watched him shuffle back into

his bedroom before turning to leave. It was a
nice feeling to know that we were still
friends. I needed Kain’s support more than
he’d ever know.

135/425

When I opened the door to the hallway, I

was met with a pleasant and very sleepy
face. Apparently my cousin didn’t have any
pressing thoughts on his mind. “Oh, you’re
ready?” he stumbled.

“Yeah. Couldn’t sleep,” I said while closing

the door behind me. “Are you coming too?”
Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad if there was at
least one friend going with me.

He shook his head and rubbed his eyes.

“No, they want me to stay here. Or in Cali-
fornia.” He smiled weakly at me. “Sorry.
Can’t do this early morning thing. Master
Forrester’s protectors are going with you.
You can’t get much better than that.”

I placed my hand on my cousin’s broad

shoulder. “Don’t underestimate yourself. I’d
rather have you by my side any day. Plus,
who’s going to train me?”

He snorted. “Good question. Although I

don’t think you’ll have much free time for
physical training.” I hadn’t told Palmer what

136/425

was going on so I assumed that his orders
had revealed the real reason why I was being
sent to a shunned merman’s house. Instead
of discussing it further I sighed.

“Yeah, you’re probably right.” We walked

towards the elevator and I was surprised that
Troy hadn’t appeared yet. I asked Palmer
about him.

“Oh,” he said with a huge smile. “Troy’s

kind of tied up right now.” I looked ques-
tioningly at Palmer, and he grinned even
wider. Suddenly, I got it.

“Like with a girl?”
“Like with something female. I don’t know

where he finds them, but he sure does have
an interesting taste in women.” Troy tended
to go for the older ladies; the “cougars”. I
shivered with a bit of disgust. It was defin-
itely an image I didn’t want in my mind.

The shiny elevator doors opened up to an

eerily quiet and empty lobby. There were
two employees behind the desk, apparently

137/425

getting the graveyard shift. Graham wasn’t
anywhere in sight but when I followed
Palmer around the corner I spotted him sit-
ting at the bar. His back was to me and I
could see that he had on a different outfit.
Obviously the cloak had disappeared and he
was wearing a normal pair of dark jeans with
a black sweater. His thick brown hair still
stood in all different directions and when he
turned to face me, I groaned.

The face alone was enough to draw you to

him but I didn’t want to be interested. His
eyes glimmered with mischief and I stared as
he downed a shot of something and pulled
out several bills for the bartender. Without
saying a word, his two protectors seemed to
appear out of thin air and the three of them
sauntered over to Palmer and me. Graham
made no attempt to hide his perusal of my
body and I thought that I saw a small smile
twitch at the corner of his mouth. I wasn’t in
my dress anymore, and had also opted for a

138/425

pair of jeans and cute blue top. I hardly
thought I deserved his attention, nor did I
want it.

“Is that all?” he said jerking his head to-

wards my small carry-on bag.

“It’s all that I brought with me. Someone’s

going to send me more.” I already called my
sister to beg her to pack me another suitcase
and send it promptly to Virginia. Three out-
fits were not going to get me through my
time in Jeremiah’s lair.

Graham huffed and began to walk towards

the street. I said a quick goodbye to Palmer,
asking him to check in with me every day,
and hurried off after my babysitter.

We climbed into the back seat of the town

car. From the smell of him, I’d guessed that
Graham hadn’t been to bed yet either. Stale
cigarette smoke and an excess amount of al-
cohol drifted off of him causing me to turn
my head to the side for the entire drive just
so I could breathe. For all the responsibility

139/425

he had as a Council member, Graham For-
rester really didn’t seem to take life seriously.

We hardly said more than a few words to

each other before we arrived at the airport
and were sitting in our first class seats. Do-
ing my best not to show how scared I was, I
glued my eyes to one of those human
celebrity gossip magazines and pretended to
be enthralled.

“Are you still seeing that selkie?” Graham

asked out of the blue.

“Excuse me?”
“Well you’re obviously not with Kain so

I’ve been wondering if you continued to see
the selkie after everything that happened.” I
was so caught off guard the only thing I
could do was develop an attitude.

“I don’t really think that’s any of your busi-

ness.” Plus, I didn’t really like knowing that
the Council was privy to my love life, or lack
thereof at the moment.

140/425

“You’ll end up with one of us,” he said with

a surety that made my heart shudder. Was
he speaking metaphorically or literally? “It
will be the only way for you to live. He won’t
stay with you forever. He can’t. Besides, a
selkie is too far beneath you. It’s almost as
bad as dating a human.” I couldn’t help but
notice the hint of humor in his eyes.

“You’ve dated a human before?” It wasn’t

unheard of but I hadn’t known anyone who’d
actually tried.

“Several,” he said dismissively. “They’re

so easy to control, it just isn’t fair some-
times.” I watched as he sighed and laid his
head back against the seat while a memory
consumed his thoughts.

Imagining the

worst, I decided to try and concentrate on
my magazine for the rest of the flight.

Graham was only a few years older than

me but it seemed as though he had lived sev-
eral more lifetimes. Not only was it disturb-
ing but it also made me feel young and

141/425

immature and I refused to let him ruin this
trip any more than it already was. It was bad
enough that he’d said he had to babysit me.
Taking my hint, Graham pulled an eye cover
over his face and was asleep before we were
in the air.

We drove through the elaborate iron gates

at the entrance in the early afternoon. The
sun was high in the sky and I welcomed the
warmer temperatures and constant sea
breeze. Especially since there was a deep
chill in my bones at the reminder of where
we were. Kain, Carissa, and I had visited
Jeremiah as our first stop in trying to find
the selkies that attacked Brendan and stole
his skin. It was the incident that set the
stage for everything else that followed. My
parent’s death, discovering my powers, and
Brendan leaving all occurred because I had
run away from home. And now I was coming
back to train with a man who embodied
everything I vowed not to become. Someday

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I hoped that I would finally make the right
decisions that led to a better path.

“I see he still has the fountain,” Graham

said while bending forward to look through
the front window.

“You’ve been here before?”
“A long time ago,” he said without looking

at me. I wanted to ask more but the sight of
the fountain sent a wave of dread through
me.

Would Jeremiah be angry about

Abhainn?

“I stole his sprite,” I blurted out, thinking

that maybe if I confessed the fear of facing
my punishment would go away. It didn’t
work.

Graham chuckled. “You what?”
“I stole his water sprite. From the foun-

tain. Jeremiah trapped him here and I felt
bad so I stole him and then set him free.”
The look on Graham’s face was priceless. It
was a mixture of shock and pride.

143/425

“Nice going.” He sat back in the seat and

looked at me with an intensity that sped up
my heartbeat. “I never would have pegged
you

for

the

kleptomaniac

type.

I’m

impressed.”

A small smile spread over my lips before I

could stop it. Why was it so important that
Graham liked me? I needed to stop acting
like a stupid school girl right now. “Thanks,
but I’m sure Jeremiah’s going to have
something to say about it.”

“I’m sure he will,” Graham replied before

opening the car door. I hesitated another
moment then climbed outside. The three
men were almost on the front porch before
turning around to see where I was. Without
saying anything, I hurried to their sides and
waited to face my wrath.

To my pleasant surprise, one of the human

staff members opened the doors and ushered
us inside. She immediately directed us up-
stairs to our guest rooms and told us that we

144/425

were to meet Mr. Williams for dinner
promptly at six. He was apparently out and
about, so that gave me a few hours of re-
prieve. It was nice for a while, but after
thirty minutes I was bored out of my mind.

Graham and the protectors had disap-

peared somewhere behind the numerous
bedroom doors in the upstairs living quar-
ters. The house was a mansion and I had
already counted at least ten bedrooms on
this floor alone. Jeremiah had once been a
famous Hollywood actor and probably still
lived comfortably off of the royalties and en-
dorsements he’d managed to negotiate be-
fore being shunned.

My shoes clicked on the wood stairs and

the sound echoed through the open foyer
area. I could sense the water coming from
the indoor pool Jeremiah had built in the
back of the house, but I certainly didn’t want
to go there. Too many bad memories. There
was no one around, so for lack of any other

145/425

ideas, I went out the front door and walked
over to the large fountain.

There were three small concrete ponds in-

terconnected to a larger, higher one in the
center. The water constantly trickled out
over the fourth pond and sprinkled down
against an array of lily pads and faux
boulders like a magical landscape. I sat on
the edge of the closest pond and ran my hand
through the water, letting the microscopic
droplets seep through my fingers like sand.

I suddenly missed Abhainn, which made

me miss my friends, which made me not
want to be here at all. Not knowing what
was in store for me was not a feeling that I
was accustomed to anymore. I liked having a
plan and I liked being the one in control of
that plan.

Deciding that my thoughts were too de-

pressing, I changed my focus. I remembered
our practice session with Abhainn and de-
cided to try again since I didn’t have

146/425

anything else to do right now. Looking out
over the property in front of the house, I
made sure that no one was around. This was
something that I really didn’t want to anyone
else to see.

Shifting so that I was completely facing the

water, I closed my eyes and tried to conjure
up a few water balls. Abhainn had done that
part for me last time but I was hoping that I
was strong enough to do it on my own now.

In my head I envisioned three glistening

globes of water rise from the pond and hover
over my hands. Although when I opened my
eyes I was only partially satisfied. There was
one ball of water and it had barely breached
the surface. At least it was a start.

For the next twenty minutes or so I tried to

move that water with my own commands. I
managed to get it to circle around my hand a
few times before plummeting back into the
pond, and forcing me to start all over again.

147/425

By the fifth or sixth try, I had two balls of wa-
ter and they were hovering at eye level.

I wanted to do so much more. Having

control over water could mean so many dif-
ferent things. For me, it meant that I could
probably hold my own in a water fight, but
for someone like Kain who seemed to be a
natural, he might be able to control an entire
fountain or even the rain. Then I realized
what kind of damage someone could do if
they really could control and dictate water
flow. It was such an important element to so
many. Directing water away from nature
could be devastating.

The water splashed in my face as the ball

fell back into the pond. I certainly wouldn’t
be disrupting the natural balance of water
and earth anytime soon. Controlling this ele-
ment was definitely not my forte.

But since I was alone with nothing better

to do, I kept on practicing. I don’t know how
much time passed before I thought that I was

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finally getting the hang of it. A small column
of water had risen up before me and I
squealed in delight as the formation moved
from side to side in time with my hand. I
drew circles and waves and squiggly lines
through the air and watched in fascination as
the water mimicked my every move. When it
shot straight up out of the pond and began to
form a tiny tornado, I hesitated to believe
that this was of my doing.

The water spout danced around the lily

pads and jumped from pond to pond, grow-
ing larger with every passing minute. The
water level in the ponds noticeably dropped
and I could no longer hear the trickling foun-
tain. I stared in awe as the spiraling water
stopped moving and spread out across the
width of the fountain to form a translucent
wall. The particles continued to flow to-
wards the ground and seemed to be recycled
as they rose to the top and fell to the earth
over and over again. It reminded me of an

149/425

infinity pool where the water supply seems
to be never-ending. It was breathtaking.

If I hadn’t been so enamored, maybe I

would have heard him walk up to me. The
sharp crunch of gravel nearly gave me a
heart attack and when I turned around to see
Graham staring up at the wall of water with a
smirk on his face, I really wanted to punch
him. Not just for scaring me but also for let-
ting me think that I had actually achieved
something.

“You’re doing this?” I asked incredulously.
He shrugged and winked at me. “Maybe.”

His hands were in his pockets and he had
looked away from the water for a few
seconds. I needed to have all of my attention
on the water balls in order to get them to
even rise. Graham seemed to be controlling
this monstrous display without trying at all.

“How?” I breathed in awe.
“It was natural for me.” As if I needed an-

other demonstration, Graham flicked his

150/425

head slightly to the right and the wall ex-
ploded into millions of tiny droplets. But in-
stead of falling, they moved in slow motion
like someone had literally stalled time. They
spread out wide across every pond in the
fountain and then as leisurely as snowflakes,
fluttered to the surface and disappeared. He
must have noticed me smiling.

“Pretty cool, right?”
I turned to look up at him. Those dark

brown eyes were glimmering again and the
shadows from his stubble only enhanced the
strong line of his cheekbones. I swallowed
hard. “It is.”

He stared at me in that intense way again

before finally turning his back to the foun-
tain. Leaning against the edge, he twisted
his head so that he could still talk to me.
“Why are you out here all alone?”

“Am I not allowed to be?” I said with an

attitude.

151/425

Graham held his hands up in surrender

and chuckled. “Of course you are, luv. I was
just trying to make polite conversation.” I
arched an eyebrow. “What?” he asked.
“Can’t I talk to you?”

“You can. It’s just that you’ve made it all

but clear that you want nothing to do with
me. I’m a burden and you’ve been sent to
babysit. You’ve barely said five words to me
in the past twelve hours.”

“Hmm,” he sighed and crossed his arms.

Tilting his head up to the sky, he closed and
eyes and continued. “Sorry about that. I
didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.”

“Really?”
“Yes, really.” He smiled down at me and

I’m sure that my breath caught yet again.
“It’s not you exactly.

It’s this bloody

place…and Jeremiah…and I just really didn’t
want to come back here ever again.” He
picked up a small piece of gravel and threw it
towards the house. I didn’t say anything

152/425

hoping that he wouldn’t make me ask the si-
lent question. “Adele sent me here when I
was fifteen. It was just after Jeremiah had
been shunned so nobody else even knew
about it. In fact,” he said while giving me an-
other wink, “you’re the only other person
that knows. Well, except for Jeremiah of
course.”

“And now you’ll have to kill me,” I stated

with sarcasm. That earned me another
laugh.

“Maybe. We’ll see how this week goes.”
“Why did you come here?”
He paused for such a long time that I

didn’t think he was going to answer. “My
parents sent me to Adele because they didn’t
know what to do with me. I was out of con-
trol but that was mostly because I didn’t un-
derstand what was happening to me.”

“Your powers?”
“Yes, my powers. It seems as if nature

played a cruel joke when she created me. An

153/425

adolescent teenage male should not be al-
lowed to control the minds of all those
around, manipulate water without a second
thought, and be a natural lie detector. It was
too much at once. I was acting out, partying
all of the time to dull the effects, and my par-
ents simply couldn’t take it anymore.” He
shuffled his feet and I thought that he might
leave. “So they shipped me overseas and I’ve
been here ever since.”

I thought about that for a minute. In a

sense, it was kind of like Brendan’s situ-
ation. Being forced to leave home and live
on their own at such a young age was heart-
breaking. They never really had a chance to
be normal kids. Well, I guess none of us
were really normal, but at least I didn’t really
need to face that truth until recently. “How
did you get a seat on the Council?”

“Adele. She knew how powerful I really

was and once I gave them a demonstration it
didn’t take much convincing.” I wondered

154/425

what that demonstration could have been,
but decided it was a conversation for another
time.

“They don’t seem to like you much.” I

don’t know why I said it but thankfully he
didn’t mind.

“They’re just afraid of me. Fear is a big

motivator of hate. They know what I’m cap-
able of and I don’t go out of my way to make
their lives easy.” He pushed away from the
wall and held out his hand towards me. “We
should get ready for dinner.”

“Do we really have to stay here?” I

groaned.

“Yes, luv we do. But I promise that we’ll

try and make the best of it alright?” I smiled
and grabbed his hand, allowing him to wrap
his warm fingers around mine. An electrical
current shot through my arm as I re-
membered Kain’s warning about Graham’s
reputation. Sure, he was attractive, but I
didn’t need another complication in my life

155/425

right now. Perhaps we could just be friends.
Graham laughed.

“You’re too much, Eviana Dumahl.”
“What are you talking about?”
“You’re attracted to me,” he said with

certainty.

“No I’m not!”
He stopped walking and stepped in front

of me, face serious with concentration and
focus.

“Natural

lie

detector

here,

remember?”

I gulped and he smiled again. “So, you’re

an attractive guy. That doesn’t mean that I
want to marry you or anything.”

He cocked his head to the side as though

listening to my thoughts. “Partial truth,” he
stated. “You don’t know me well enough yet
to declare that you want to spend the rest of
your life with me.”

“I don’t!” I protested but he covered my

mouth with his hand. I resisted the urge to
bite down.

156/425

“Plus, your heart is elsewhere right now.”
“How do you know that?”
“Told you, luv. I’m talented.” With that,

he ushered me into the house, holding my
hand all the way to my bedroom door. He
placed a gentle kiss against my fingers before
winking and telling me he’d see me down-
stairs at six.

I needed that time to calm my nerves and

my racing heart. Perhaps it was because I
really missed Brendan or maybe it was be-
cause I’d been watching Kain and Carissa’s
relationship bloom into something that I no
longer had. Whatever it was, I need to clamp
down on these feelings because Graham For-
rester was not someone that I should be
with. Ever. And I needed to stop imagining
his soft lips against mine while he scoops me
up into his arms and we ride off into the sun-
set together. What a cliché that was anyway.
Not to mention that Graham was off limits

157/425

and as soon as I got through this trip,
Brendan and I could be together again.

158/425

Eight

Jeremiah outdid himself with dinner pre-

parations. The room had been transformed
into an elegant fine dining experience com-
plete with candles and a live violinist. For
about a half a second I thought maybe he
went through all this trouble for me, but
when he greeted Graham, I knew that
Jeremiah could care less that I was present.

“Master Forrester,” he said with a grand

bow. “It is such an honor to have you back in
my home. I hope that your travels were un-
eventful, mate.”

“I’m not your mate Jeremiah, and yes, so

far the company I’ve travelled with has made
this trip bearable.” I was flattered by the
compliment even if it was a backhanded one.

“Ah, yes. Who wouldn’t be privileged to

travel with the beautiful Miss Dumahl?”

“It’s Mistress now,” Graham said and de-

tangled himself from Jeremiah’s grasp. “I
expect you to show her the respect she
deserves.”

Jeremiah threw back his shoulders and

feigned shock. “Why, I would never dis-
respect Mistress Dumahl. She is way too
valuable to us all.” That last comment was
directed at Graham and it had an undertone
of sarcasm. I didn’t have time to digest it be-
cause Jeremiah began pulling me to the far
end of the table. “Eviana, may I call you Evi-
ana? I am so privileged to work with you. If
I would have known what you were capable
of, things may have been a little different the
last time you were here.”

160/425

My eyes darted across the table towards

Graham to see if he knew what Jeremiah was
referring to. His face was perfectly blank as
he sat down in the chair opposite me.
Jeremiah claimed the head of the table and
as soon as we were seated, individual wine
glasses and a small cheese platter was placed
in front of us. Jeremiah reached for the
cheese and Graham downed his wine in one
swallow before speaking.

“Yes, we all heard about your demonstra-

tion when Eviana and your cousin came to
visit.” Graham shook his head. “Poor taste,
mate. Poor taste.”

Jeremiah let the comment slide, but I did

notice a slight tensing in his shoulders. His
long blonde hair hung freely down his back
and the red robe he was wearing over his
clothes reminded me of a pimp more than an
actor. “Ah, don’t be so critical. I hear that’s
nothing compared to what our Eviana
showed the Council.”

161/425

At first I wanted to cringe at the term “our

Eviana” and then I panicked a little when I
realized how much Jeremiah knew. He
might officially be shunned, but he certainly
had eyes and ears all over the place.

“No, it wasn’t even close to the same

thing,” I spat out.

“You made them dance. And you stole

them from Adele.” He placed his hand on
top of mine. “That is no easy feat.” I quickly
jerked my hand away.

“You almost killed your staff!” I yelled.

“That is hardly in the same caliber as making
them do the chicken dance!”

“Tomatoes, tomahtoes,” he flicked his

hand at the old saying and I wanted to argue
more that we were nothing alike. I might
have this power but I did not want to domin-
ate humans like Jeremiah did. No, we were
two totally different people with dissimilar
ideas on how best to use our compulsion
skills.

162/425

The rest of dinner seemed to evolve

around the same few conversation topics.
Jeremiah was apparently extremely inter-
ested in Graham’s rise to power and he used
that position to try and find out more about
what Lucian Sutherland was doing. It had
been almost two hours and I’d had enough.

“He’s killing our kind!” I finally blurted

out. They’d been talking as though I wasn’t
in the room and my patience had expired.
“He killed my mother right in front of me.
He snapped her neck like a bird and then
forced me into leadership hoping that I
would side with him.”

“Oh no dear, he didn’t force you into lead-

ership. It was your birthright. He just
happened to hedge the wrong bets.”

“What do you mean, Jeremiah?” I was

tired of his sing-song voice and cryptic
tongue.

“He knew what you could do, he just bet

wrong when it came to you siding with him.”

163/425

“Well, regardless. He must be stopped and

that is why I’m here. I need better control
and I need it now.” The crooked smile that
appeared on Jeremiah’s lips was enough to
make me down the rest of my wine like a reg-
ular drinker. I caught Graham’s amused ex-
pression and gave him a look that dared him
to challenge me. He smiled and refilled my
glass.

“We’ll start in the morning. Meet me at

the pool at ten.” Jeremiah looked behind
him towards one of the scantily clad female
wait staff and pulled her arm closer to his
face. I didn’t know what he was going to do
until I saw him glance at her watch. “It is
time for me to go. Please enjoy the dessert
and wine and treat this house as though it
were your own,” he said as he rose. Grab-
bing the hands of two human females, he
started to make his way towards the foyer.
“On second thought, you might want to avoid
the pool tonight. The sprites have been

164/425

mating again and that might get a little too
intense for you.”

I made a face as Jeremiah’s laughter

echoed through the room and he walked
away with several females following close be-
hind. My second wine glass was almost
empty, so I finished it with one gulp. It
wasn’t until I put it down that I caught Gra-
ham’s wry smile.

“I’m thirsty,” I said in defiance.
“I see that,” he replied with a smirk.
“He gives me the creeps.”
Graham tilted his glass back and swal-

lowed the wine. I think it was at least his
third. When finished, he lifted the empty
goblet towards me. “Me too, luv.”

“Why do you always say that?” I asked

without thinking. Perhaps two glasses of
wine was one too many for me.

“Say what, luv?”

165/425

“Luv,” I imitated in his English accent and

raised

eyebrows.

“It’s

kind

condescending.”

“I thought it was kind of adorable,” he

replied instantly.

“It’s not.”
“Well, what should I call you then?”
“Mistress Dumahl,” I said instantly with a

sinful grin.

“No, I think not.” He rubbed his hands on

his chin like he was smoothing his beard.
“How about birdie?”

“No.”
“Well then maybe you prefer wench or

hussy?” he continued teasing.

“Or how about you don’t need a nickname

for me at all?” I was twirling the empty wine
glass in my hand deciding whether or not it
was worth having another. As though read-
ing my thoughts, Graham jumped up and
walked around the head of the table. He
reached down and pulled me out of the chair.

166/425

“Come along, tart. I have just the remedy

for you.” I tried to resist but his hands
tightened on my shoulders.

“Oh, that is so not going to fly with me.”
“Tart it is then!” he exclaimed with satis-

faction. “We need something much stronger
than that wine if we’re going to survive the
week with Jeremiah.”

Those words instantly sobered me up. “Do

you really think it’s going to be a whole
week?” Even though I had assumed longer,
after the dinner tonight, I wanted to get out
of here as soon as possible.

“Afraid so, tart.” I elbowed him in the ribs

and he seemed to be genuinely hurt.

“Why did you do that?”
“I’m not your tart,” I replied, imitating his

earlier comment to Jeremiah.

“Where did you learn to fight?” He was

still rubbing his side but his face was full of
curiosity.

167/425

“Palmer’s been teaching me.” I sighed,

thinking about how much I was going to
miss being away from our little boot camp in
California.

“Yeah?” I nodded. We passed through the

foyer and into a room that I could only de-
scribe as a study or library. Three of the four
walls were covered with dark wood book-
shelves, but Graham was directing us to-
wards the bar on the far side of the room.

“Yes. And I’m going to get behind now.”
“Well, I’ll teach you, tart.”
“Stop calling me tart,” I replied before

really listening to his comment. “You’ll teach
me what?”

“To fight.” I stepped away and looked him

up and down like a boxer eying up her
competition.

“You?” I huffed dramatically. Apparently

all of my apprehension about being around
one of the most gorgeous guys in the world
had remained in the dining room along with

168/425

my inhibitions. “I just about killed you with
an elbow to the ribs. What could you pos-
sibly teach me?”

“Oh, so much,” he said with a growl. The

heat instantly darted through my body and
my heart pounded in my chest. “But when it
comes to fighting, I’ve been well trained.”

“Really?”
“Yes, really,” he scoffed. “You’re not the

only one who wants to be able to protect her-
self.” I thought about that. Training with
Graham would at least keep my mind off of
why I was here in the first place. Plus per-
haps it would make this entire trip a little bit
more fun.

“Okay,” I said.
“Yeah?”
“Yep. When do we start?”
“Right now,” he said while pouring a clear

liquid into two shot glasses. Holding one up
to me he said, “Come over here, tart.” I
rolled me eyes and he laughed. Taking the

169/425

tiny glass in my hands, I sniffed the liquid
and instantly wrinkled my nose.

“What is this?”
“Doesn’t matter. If I beat you, you drink.”
“Beat me in what?” He stepped back and

leaned down placing one elbow against the
bar with his hand up in the air. I snorted.
“Arm wrestling?”

“Scared?”
“No.”
“Then let’s go. Best of three. Consider it

your audition.”

“Audition for what?”
“To see if you’re worthy of my time.” His

arrogance was astounding and without hesit-
ating, I grabbed his hand and slammed it
down into the bar. “I wasn’t ready!” he
cried.

“Losers drink,” I said with a smirk. He

stared at me with something that looked like
desire. Once he refilled his glass, he grabbed
my hand again and the challenge was on.

170/425

Five minutes later, it was all over and I

had been forced to take two nasty shots. I
don’t know if it was the wine or what, but for
some reason they didn’t seem as potent as I’d
expected.

“Okay, so try to attack me,” Graham said

while standing in the middle of the floor in a
wrestler’s stance. He was crouched low to
the ground and I had to laugh at seeing him
in this position. “What’s so funny, tart?”
That got my attention and I lunged.

Either he wasn’t ready, or I was getting

better, but after only a few blocked punches I
had the clear shot to the back of his legs. He
went down with a bang and I landed on top
of him to attempt a choke hold. It was a little
too easy.

“Why aren’t you fighting back?” I was

straddled over his waist and leaning close
enough to smell the alcohol on his breath.
Instead of pushing me off, he smiled.

“I am. I’m resisting temptation.”

171/425

“What?”
And then I got it. I tried to move off of

him but his hands were on me so fast I didn’t
even know what happened until my back was
on the ground and Graham was the one on
top of me. He had my arms pinned to my
sides and for all intents and purposes, I was
trapped.

“Get off of me.”
“Mmmm,” he breathed along the side of

my face. “What is it about you Eviana
Dumahl?” He was speaking directly into my
ear and that alone sent shivers down my
spine. I wasn’t scared but I was afraid of
what I might do next. He slid down so that
he was practically lying on top of me, forcing
my arms over the top of my head and looking
at me with an expression that dared me to
fight. I wasn’t fighting. I couldn’t move.

“I think that you should get off of me

now,” I squeezed out past the lump in my
throat. He was so close that I could kiss

172/425

him. But I couldn’t do that. Not now.
Brendan was coming back to me and I wasn’t
going to mess it up by kissing another guy.

“I should, shouldn’t I?” Graham said as he

moved his mouth closer to my lips. I could
always use the alcohol as an excuse but I
didn’t think I needed one. I wanted him to
kiss me and I wanted him to kiss me now.
He suddenly rested his forehead against
mine and sighed. “I win,” he mumbled.

“Fine,” I conceded wishing that he hadn’t

turned his head. His eyes met mine again
and we stared at each other for what seemed
like hours. I still didn’t have use of my arms,
but if I did, I’m pretty sure I would have
wrapped them around his neck and pulled
his lips to mine.

“Fine,” he breathed back. He suddenly

bent down and kissed me quickly on the lips
but was standing again before I even had a
chance to react. Pulling me off the ground
he stepped away and walked back towards

173/425

the bar. He wasn’t facing me when he spoke
again and I saw him pour another shot. “You
should go. You’ve got a long day tomorrow.”

I knew when I was being dismissed and

something inside of me crumbled. I was be-
ing rejected. Not quite giving up I asked, “So
will you train me?”

He turned around and snorted a laugh.

“I’ll train you even if it’s going to kill me to
do so.”

I knew that I was blushing now and I

couldn’t help but smile at knowing the at-
traction was at least somewhat mutual. My
pride needed the reassurance. “Okay then.
Goodnight, Graham.”

“Night, tart.”
I walked upstairs to my room, stumbling a

little along the way. Apparently the shots
were now in full effect and it was probably a
good thing that my raging hormones were far
away from the hot mess of temptation down-
stairs. I needed to clear my head fast so I

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took a long shower and climbed into bed
wondering if Graham would knock on my
door. Pushing that silly thought away, I tried
to focus instead on Brendan. He was the one
I loved and we were going to get a second
chance together. I hadn’t heard from him
yet, but he would call. Someday soon.

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Nine

I was asleep before I knew it because the

insistent knocking on my door woke me up
early the next morning. Stifling a groan, I
opened my eyes to see that it was still dark
out. The clock showed that it was just before
six and I couldn’t imagine who was at the
door this early.

“What?” I growled. Taking that as an in-

vitation, Graham threw open my door and
flipped on the light. I shielded my eyes with
one pillow and threw another in his direc-
tion. “What are you doing? Get out of my
room!”

He dodged the flying cushion and began

rifling through the closet where I had un-
packed my clothes. “Time for your training,”
he said although it sounded a bit muffled un-
der the pillow.

“Did I hear you say training?” Looking at

the clock again, I decided that this must be
some kind of sick joke. “The sun’s not even
up yet.”

He threw a pair of shorts and a tight tank

top on the bed. “I only have four hours with
you before Jeremiah takes over. We don’t
want to waste any time.” He was moving
around the room like a caffeine junkie. I
didn’t smell any cigarettes or alcohol and he
looked relatively refreshed, but he was still
acting weird.

“Did you even sleep?” I asked.
He shrugged. “A little. Now let’s go.” He

bent forward and pulled the blankets down
towards the end of the bed, exposing me to
the cold air and his playful eyes. I was

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wearing a camisole and underwear…and
nothing else. He stared and I cowered under
the heat of his gaze. His mouth was partially
opened and his eyes never left my body. It
took another pillow to the face before he
snapped out of it.

“You don’t get to look at me like that,” I

said sharply.

Running his hand through his head, he

gazed at the floor. “No?”

“No. Now get out so I can get dressed.”

He hesitated a moment more, not making
any attempt to leave. “What?” I shrieked.

Now he laughed. “Just wondering if you’re

telling me the truth or not.” Crap. I had for-
gotten about that little ability.

“Yes, I want you to leave now.” That really

was the truth. I certainly wasn’t going to
change in front of him. There had been just
a few too many awkward moments.

“Alright then, tart. Meet me out back in

five.” Graham bounded out of the room and

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I didn’t move until I heard him running
down the stairs. How he had this much en-
ergy in the morning, especially after drinking
all night, I would never know. Succumbing
to the idea that he was being serious, I got
dressed, brushed my teeth and headed
downstairs.

Last night had been a little too much for

me and my self control, so I was slightly hes-
itant to delve right into physical combat
again with Graham. Seeing him warming up
with side stretches and fast jumping jacks
nearly set my heart into overdrive. Why was
I reacting this way? Apparently I was most
attracted to what I should not have. First it
was Brendan, although he wasn’t a bad boy
per se, he was just not what everyone wanted
for me. Now it was Graham; the prodigal
Council member who loved his women and
his booze. Not to mention that he had im-
mense powers no one single merman should
have. He was dangerous. And I was smitten.

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He caught me staring, so he turned to face

me and lifted both of his hands up over his
head enough to show the lower part of his
bare stomach. It was muscular and fabulous
and I quickly walked past him. If he wanted
to play, then I was willing to give him a show
as well.

“What are we going to do?” I asked.
“I thought we’d go boot camp style today.”

He reached over and squeezed my bicep
lightly. “You could use a little more muscle.”
I bent over to touch my toes, showing him
the best muscle on my body. When he hissed
in a breath, I knew that I’d gotten the reac-
tion I’d intended.

He must have seen my smirk because he

suddenly let out a laugh. “Oh no you don’t,
tart. You do not even want to start playing
that game.”

“Why, whatever are you talking about?” I

asked innocently while bending from side to
side, being sure to get in a good stretch of the

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hamstrings. He slapped my rump and
jogged past me. I jumped up, rather taken
aback by his boldness, and started to yell at
him.

“I am the master of seduction. Don’t you

ever forget that little syrenka.” He was run-
ning backwards now waiting for me to catch
up. “You’re playing with fire.”

I totally agreed with him on that one.

Sprinting at almost full speed, I finally
caught up with him, but that had pretty
much ended our flirting session. For the
next several hours we ran on the beach, ran
in circles, and ran in place. He had me doing
all kinds of squats, pushups, sit-ups, and
weight training. Somehow, he found two
fairly identical pieces of beach rock and I was
mercilessly doing shoulder presses and bicep
curls.

He barked out commands and

wouldn’t let me rest. In all fairness, he did
most of the workout too, but if this is what it
was going to be like every morning, I didn’t

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know if I really wanted to train with him
anymore.

We made it back to the house with just

over an hour to spare before I needed to
meet with Jeremiah. Graham told me to go
shower and he’d cook us some breakfast.
Surprised at the offer, I ran upstairs before
he could change his mind. I was also happy
to see that my suitcase from California had
arrived, giving me a much better selection of
outfits.

Throwing on a pair of jeans and a tank top,

I came down the stairs following the smell of
fried eggs and fresh orange juice. Graham
was facing the stove, leaving his back to-
wards the kitchen entrance. He had re-
moved his shirt and it was now thrown over
his right shoulder. His baggy gray sweat
pants were hanging low on his waist, giving
me an ample view of his defined back
muscles. There was simply no denying how
gorgeous this man really was. He moved

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around the kitchen with ease, causing me to
wonder if he had yet another talent that
didn’t involve mind control. When he finally
turned around and spotted me, he didn’t
seem surprised.

“Here. Eat up.” He handed me a plate and

I sat down at the counter across from him.
There were potatoes and egg whites and
something green that I assumed was spin-
ach. It was definitely a power breakfast. Fix-
ing a plate for himself, he pulled up a chair
next to me and we ate in silence for a while.
It was delicious and I told him as much once
I nearly finished eating everything.

“Thanks. I like to cook.”
“That’s good because I don’t.” I didn’t

realize what that actually sounded like until
he laughed and shook his head.

“Good to know. Perhaps I can just be the

stay at home dad and you can run the
world,” he said with a smile. I blushed again.

“That’s not what I meant.”

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“No?”
“No. I was just thinking that you can keep

cooking breakfast for me after each horrific
training session.”

“Horrific?”
I gave him a look. “I don’t think that I’ll

even be able to get out of bed tomorrow.”

“Well, that’s okay because I’m actually not

going to be here tomorrow.” My stomach
plunged in disappointment at the realization
I might not get to spend more time with him.

“Why not?”
“I just need to go take care of something

while I’m nearby.” He smiled crookedly at
me and added, “I’ll be back tomorrow
evening.”

“When do you leave?”
“As soon as we’re finished here. My ride is

on the way.” I wanted to ask him more about
what he was doing, but I didn’t want to
sound like a jealous or insecure teenage girl.
If he was going to meet one of his many

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girlfriends, then there wasn’t anything that I
could say. Nor did I really want to. I had
Brendan. At least I hoped I did.

My skin suddenly shivered with chills and

it was like I knew the moment Jeremiah
entered the kitchen behind us. His presence
alone was enough to send my senses on high
alert.

“Ah, Master Forrester. So nice of you to

take care of our Eviana.” He walked to the
stove and lifted the lid off of a frying pan.

His dark red robe hung freely over a bare

chest and tight pair of jeans. He’d braided
his long blond hair and it fell gracefully
down the center of his back. “Any left for
me?”

“’Fraid not, mate.” Graham shoved the

last bite in his mouth and began to clear our
plates. Jeremiah watched him with a smirk
on his face but didn’t comment. Something
was going through his mind but I had no
idea what that could possibly be. It just

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seemed as if Graham was the most amusing
thing in the world to him right now.

Graham walked back around the island

counter and grabbed his shirt off the chair.
He quickly rubbed the top of my head, effect-
ively creating a jumbled rat’s nest. I pushed
his hand away and he laughed.

“See you tomorrow night, tart. Try to get

some cardio in if you have time.” I watched
him leave and wondered if I should beg him
to take me too. A snort from across the room
brought my attention back to Jeremiah.

“Interesting,” he mumbled.
“What’s so interesting?” I snapped back.
He pulled in a deep breath and pushed

himself away from the stove. “It would ap-
pear that you have been able to tame the
beast.” He shuffled his feet back and forth
and looked at me curiously. “That is rather
unexpected.”

I had no idea what he was talking about

and I really didn’t want to give him the

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satisfaction of asking. So instead I said, “Are
you ready?”

He raised an eyebrow and I thought he

might continue speaking in riddles, but he
simply nodded. “Let’s get started.”

I followed him out of the kitchen and

down the long hallway towards the indoor
pool in the back of the house. I had feared
this day since Mistress Lyonetta sentenced
me to this place. Jeremiah had a flock of hu-
man’s here and I was sure that I would be
forced to practice on them.

We walked through the double door en-

trance and into a steaming room. It was al-
most like an arboretum with the artificial
warmth and numerous plants creating a
jungle-like atmosphere.

There was soft

drumming in the background that I attrib-
uted to one of Jeremiah’s exotic albums.
Just like last time, at least two dozen hu-
mans lined the walls and stood in silence. I
was surprised that I hadn’t seen more of

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them around the house. In fact, I hadn’t
really encountered anyone other than Gra-
ham and his protectors.

“Where do they all stay?” I asked

distractedly.

“Who?” Jeremiah turned around to face

me and saw where my gaze had fallen. “Oh,
their quarters are next door in the guest
house. The sprites stay in the pool. Or the
fountain,” he said with a wink, letting me
know he was referring to Abhainn.

I cleared my throat. “All of the humans

live here?”

“Yes. Their quarters are quite large, don’t

you fret.” He smiled at me in such a condes-
cending way it made me wish I could slap the
grin off of his face. “Now,” he clapped his
hands together, “let’s begin.”

We moved to the center of the deck sur-

rounding the pool then he raised his arms,
gesturing to all of the humans standing

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around at attention. “Show me what you can
do.”

“What should I command?” Even saying

those words made my stomach cringe in dis-
gust. I did not want to be able to take over
the minds of other people. It just wasn’t
right.

Jeremiah’s face sparkled with evil. “You

could make them go for a swim,” he sugges-
ted, knowing how much that would anger
me. I couldn’t help my response.

“You are the most despicable person I

know. You aren’t even a person. You’re
a…a…” I couldn’t think of the right insult.

“A king? A god amongst men? A bastard?

A genius?” He turned in a circle flaring out
his robes and extending his arms. “This is
who we are, Eviana. This is what it means to
be one of us.”

I watched as three females walked to his

side and stripped the robe from his back. He
hadn’t said a word and he’d been talking to

189/425

me while giving a silent command. As much
as I hated to admit it, Jeremiah Williams was
probably the best one for me to learn from. I
would tolerate his lessons and fine tune my
skills, but I vowed that I would never be as
careless with others’ minds like he was.

“Now, do something,” he commanded.
I closed my eyes and envisioned the tiny

light balls again. It was so easy that I real-
ized belatedly Jeremiah wasn’t trying to keep
his hold over them. I’m sure those types of
lessons would come later. One by one, the
humans dropped to their knees and when I
thought that I had them all, I opened my
eyes. Jeremiah wasn’t impressed.

“You forgot one.” He jerked his head to

the corner and I turned to see a man hiding
in the shadows. His dark skin and shaved
head did little to reveal his true identity, but
I could tell who he was instantly.

“Malcolm?”

190/425

“Hello again, Miss Eviana.” He stood and

walked over to me, extending his hand. I
reached out towards him only to watch as he
gently lifted my fingers up to his lips and
placed a kiss on the top of my hand. “I am
surprised to see you here again.”

I sighed and nodded over my shoulder to

Jeremiah. “It wasn’t my choice.”

“Yes, I can see that,” Malcolm smiled.

There was something so innately familiar
about him. His smell. His demeanor. The
way he moved. Malcolm was a selkie just
like Brendan and my heart begin to ache. I
had literally grown up with Brendan and of-
ten felt more comfortable around his kind
than mine. I missed playing in the ocean
with him or arguing over the name of a fish.
We’d shared so much that I really didn’t feel
whole without him anymore. Malcolm’s
presence was only going to exacerbate that
pain.

191/425

“I won’t control him,” I whispered to any-

one who would listen.

“You will,” Jeremiah replied. I snapped

my head around and took the two steps
needed to invade his personal space.

“I will not control a selkie. I can’t.”
“Lucian has an army of selkies and without

their control, you will fail. My job is to make
sure that you can stand against him. So that
means learning how to use your gift to its
fullest potential.” He was right, but that
didn’t mean that I had to like it.

As soon as I accepted that fact, the easier

the day got. Well, relatively speaking.
Jeremiah taught me how he could almost see
the aura of a free mind glowing around the
subjects. A human mind was white, or blank
as he liked to call it. A selkie’s mind glowed
red. They were a bit harder to command, but
always ultimately succumbed.

Malcolm assured me that he did not mind

playing practice doll. He was appalled at

192/425

what Lucian was doing with his kind and if
his help would stop him, then he was willing
to do it. I had to admire his outlook. It was
mature and insightful, two qualities I needed
to vastly improve upon.

My brain was dead by the afternoon, so

Jeremiah allowed me to quit early. I was so
tired that all I really wanted to do was crawl
into bed, but when Malcolm followed me in-
to the kitchen, I knew that there was
something he needed to say.

“I heard about your selkie,” he said by way

of introduction to the conversation. Not ex-
actly what I was expecting.

“About what?”
“That you saved him but your power

scared him and he left you.” Well, that was
blunt. He must have read the reaction on my
face. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to be insensit-
ive.” His large hand ran over his bald head
and he sighed. “I think that I just wanted to
let you know that you guys can get past this.”

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“How do you know?” Malcolm had never

met Brendan and he certainly didn’t have
any insight to our relationship.

“Because you’re not like the others. You

may have this gift, or curse,” he said with a
wry smirk, “but you are not evil.”

“Gee, thanks.”
He smiled wider and I noticed two identic-

al dimples in his cheeks. “I’m not real good
with words.” Pausing for a moment, he col-
lected himself. “I think what I’m trying to
say is that he would be lucky to have you.”

“That’s probably the nicest thing anyone

has ever said to me.” I swear I saw his dark
skin blush.

“You mean well and you’re obviously in

love with him. If he is smart, he’ll realize
that.” This time I couldn’t hide my smile.

“He said that he’s coming back to me.”
“Really? That’s great.”
“Yeah,” I sighed. It was great. I just

wondered why I was feeling so attracted to

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Graham when I should only be thinking
about Brendan. But what if he changed his
mind again? What if he couldn’t resist the
call? I suddenly had a thought. “You haven’t
felt the call yet?”

All selkies were required to breed with hu-

mans in order to continue their line. Appar-
ently the urge to mate just kicks in one day
and then nothing else in the world matters.
Brendan said that he wasn’t going to do that
to me, but how did he really know if he could
resist. Malcolm was staring at a spot on the
wall beyond my shoulder. “No, not yet.”

“But you will, right? They all do.” He nod-

ded solemnly. “Is it possible to resist?”

“I’ve never known anyone who could.”

Seeing that realization pass over my face he
continued. “But I also haven’t known very
many selkies who had promised their love so
strongly to someone else before feeling the
call. Perhaps it will be different for you.”

195/425

I sighed again. “Perhaps.” Not only was I

tired, but now I felt completely dejected after
having this conversation. I’m sure that
wasn’t Malcolm’s intent, but the thought of
losing Brendan again when I didn’t even
really have him back for sure, just crushed
me.

Excusing myself from the kitchen and our

intense discussion, I walked upstairs to my
room and curled up on the bed. I needed
something else to think about. Grabbing my
phone, I checked in with my sister, Palmer,
and then finally with Kain. Everything was
running smoothly without my presence and
that made me feel even worse. No one
needed me. Although once I stopped feeling
sorry for myself, I realized that they all did
need me. That was why I was here. Lucian
was going to continue killing us until
someone took care of him. And the only way
to him was through his army of zombies. I
wasn’t narcissistic enough to think that I was

196/425

going to have to do this on my own, but I
knew that I would play an important role in
some form or fashion.

Feeling a little bit better, I spent the rest of

the day in the ocean swimming around leis-
urely to let my mind and body relax. Two of
Jeremiah’s protectors accompanied me, but
they stayed far enough away that I had at
least some semblance of privacy. And if I
had really thought things through, I would
have realized that this was probably going to
be the last time that I would have some
peace for quite for a while. Once my training
was over, I would have to jump back into my
leadership role and take us into a war.

Perhaps coming to Jeremiah’s was less like

a chore and more like the calm before the
storm.

197/425

Ten

The next two days were pure torture. Not

only did Jeremiah push me until my brain
couldn’t control a flea, but Graham did not
return when he was supposed to. I didn’t ask
why. Not because I wasn’t curious, but be-
cause I could tell that Jeremiah was waiting
for me to ask. He’d sensed some of the ten-
sion between the two of us and I wasn’t going
to give him the satisfaction of butting into
my love life.

Although, I will give credit where credit is

due. Jeremiah Williams was a master at
controlling his powers. The way that he

could pull on minds and tweak his com-
mands to only a few while controlling the
many was beyond impressive. His simple
tricks and visualization techniques enabled
me to not only take control from Jeremiah,
but also hold that compulsion while he
fought against me. When I earned my first
smile from him, I knew that I was making an
impression. I was proud. Not that I wanted
Jeremiah to take credit for all of it, but he’d
definitely helped.

My phone was ringing when I entered my

room just before sunset on the third night of
my stay. With the way I was progressing,
Jeremiah thought that I would be able to
leave by the end of the week. I felt a small
sense of comradely with the man who had
repulsed me just seventy-two hours ago. He
was an arrogant and obsessive individual,
but he taught me how to be a better leader
and there would always be a part of me that

199/425

was grateful. Even if it was buried very deep
inside.

Almost missing the final ring, I breathed

into the phone. “Hello?”

“Eviana? Oh good, I’m glad I caught you.”

It was Kain and he sounded a little pan-
icked. “Are you still at Jeremiah’s?”

“Yes, where else would I be?”
“Good, that’s good.” Something was going

on with him.

“Kain, what’s happened?” My stomach

twisted in fear at the thought of another one
of us being killed or shot or hurt. I didn’t
think that I could handle it.

“There’s been another attack.”
“What? Where?”
“It was a cruise ship off the coast. Actually

it wasn’t too far away from your area. I think
it was heading to Bermuda. Apparently a
rogue wave capsized the ship and nearly
everyone on board drowned.” That was hor-
rible, but how was this linked to Lucian? I

200/425

asked Kain as much. “He called the Council
after it happened, claiming responsibility
and warning that this was only the begin-
ning. He’s been making demands and one of
them includes speaking with you.”

“Why

me?”

Surely

wasn’t

that

important.

“He’s not being clear. He just keeps de-

manding a face to face sit down with you and
the Council.”

I swallowed hard. “Well are they going to

give him that?”

“They don’t want to negotiate.” As much

as that worried me, I tended to agree with
their sentiments. No one should give Lucian
what he wanted. It would only make him
feel that much more powerful.

“So what do we do?”
“You need to come home and then we’ll

work with Andre and Adele and try to figure
something out. Actually, is Graham still
there with you?”

201/425

“He’s supposed to be,” I grumbled, but

Kain didn’t notice my sarcasm.

“Good. Well, maybe you can also talk to

him and get a better idea about how the
Council usually handles situations like this.”

I had a feeling they haven’t had to deal

with someone like Lucian in their lifetime.
But I agreed to try. We said goodbye with a
promise that I would check in with him in
the morning and hopefully be on a flight by
early afternoon.

Dinner was a little later this evening and

when I walked into the dining room, my
heart fluttered at the sight of Graham sitting
down next to Jeremiah and sipping on his
wine. He caught my eye and winked, forcing
me to look away so that no one would see me
blush. I sat in my usual seat and begin pick-
ing at the cheese. I’d been working so hard
the past few days that my appetite was
ferocious.

202/425

Jeremiah was busy discussing the recent

attack with Graham. His arms were flailing
around dramatically like he was actually up-
set by this.

“That is not the way to get things done,” he

was saying. “A cruise line? How idiotic.
What could he possibly gain by attacking a
ship full of humans?”

Graham cleared his throat. “It wasn’t just

humans.” Both Jeremiah and I stopped
moving.

“What do you mean?” I asked.
“There was a clan gathering on board. I

think it was a family reunion or something.”
My heart plummeted.

“Do you know which clan?” A sinking feel-

ing was growing in the pit of my stomach.
Lucian and his cronies had murdered an en-
tire mermaid family.

“It was the Shannons,” Graham replied

solemnly and I sucked in a breath.

203/425

The Shannons. Lily Shannon. I hadn’t

known her long, but we met at Cotillion and
she’d attended Kain’s inauguration. She was
a fun girl who lived life to its fullest. And
now she’d become another one of Lucian’s
victims. I couldn’t stop the tears from
falling.

Jeremiah was stunned by this information

as well. “He has gone too far.” Shaking his
head, he took a long drink of wine and
seemed to be lost in deep thought.

“Why couldn’t they get away?” I asked,

wondering what would have had to happen
in order for an entire clan of mermaids to
drown. We didn’t breath underwater, so
drowning was always possible, but they
should have been able to save themselves.

“We don’t have all the details yet,” Graham

began. “I would guess that they were
trapped somehow. Either in their rooms or
underwater.”

204/425

“What could possibly be capable of trap-

ping them?” Graham and Jeremiah ex-
changed a look but before they spoke, I’d
answered my own question. “The water
sprites.”

Graham nodded. “That is one possibility.”
“What else could there be?”
It was Jeremiah who answered this time.

“Someone with the ability to control water.”
I instantly looked at Graham. He was prob-
ably the most powerful water user I knew.
His disappearance the last few days was per-
fectly timed with the attack, but he would
never do something like this. It was too ma-
licious and uncharacteristic of the guy I
thought I knew.

“He must have somebody on his payroll

now,” Graham continued. “I will check with
Adele and see who the possible suspects are.”

“You guys keep a record of things like

that?”

“Of course.”

205/425

“Oh.” I guess that made sense. I mean the

Council was our governing body. Why
wouldn’t they keep records of those who had
an insane amount of power ready to be
wielded?

Our dinner was served but I’d completely

lost my appetite. Not wanting to be rude, I
picked at my food until Graham and Jeremi-
ah finished. I wanted to excuse myself right
away; however there was one more topic to
discuss.

“I need to go home tomorrow. Kain,

Andre, and I need to work with the Council
to decide whether or not to speak with
Lucian.”

“They won’t negotiate with him,” Graham

said stiffly.

“Well, we just might have to change the

rules. I am tired of people senselessly dying
because of Lucian’s delusional ideas.” As I
said those words, I realized that I really be-
lieved them.

206/425

Jeremiah smiled. “And there she is.” I

made a face at him. “There is the leader
we’ve been waiting to see.”

“Being brave and defiant does not neces-

sarily make for a good leader,” Graham
scoffed.

“Well, you should know that better than

anyone,” I shot back at him.

Jeremiah laughed. “Looks like she has you

there.”

Graham and I were caught in a staring

match and I wasn’t going to back down. He
may be a Council member, but that didn’t
mean that their minds couldn’t be changed.
I needed to convince them to arrange this
meeting with Lucian.

Graham finally looked away and I sat back

in my chair with satisfaction. He poured
himself another drink and stayed silent the
rest of the time. Jeremiah and I talked about
making arrangements for my flight home
and once that was settled, he excused himself

207/425

with a trail of human females following him
out the door.

I didn’t really want to be in the same room

as Graham for some reason. It was as if our
brief friendly relationship had been replaced
with a clan leader versus Council member
one and I would be lying if said that it wasn’t
disappointing.

“Are you going back to Seattle?” I finally

asked, hating the awkward silence.

He sighed and brushed his hands over his

face and head. “I don’t know. I guess that I
should check in with Adele and see where
she wants me to go.” Something inside of me
crumbled a little bit at the thought that this
may be the last time I see Graham. I can’t
really explain why, other than the physical
attraction, but it was as if I would be losing
another friend.

“Have you been training?” he asked.
“With Jeremiah. I haven’t really had any

time for the combat training.” Plus, I wanted

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to add, it wasn’t any fun if you weren’t doing
it with me.

“Do you really want to talk to Lucian?”

His quick change in topic threw me a little.

“If it will save lives, don’t you think I

should?”

He seemed to ponder that for a few mo-

ments. “I honestly don’t know. I fear that
he’s already made up his mind and by mak-
ing demands he is just stalling until the ulti-
mate attack.”

“What do you think he’ll do?” Although

Lucian’s been threatening us all, he never
once actually spelled out what he was
planning.

“I have no idea,” Graham said with a hint

of fascination. “It seems that the possibilit-
ies are endless when it comes to Lucian
Sutherland and his twisted mind.”

“Well, he shouldn’t be allowed to get away

with all of this.”

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Graham looked at me. It was uncomfort-

able yet exciting at the same time. I watched
as several different expressions passed over
his face, not quite knowing what each of
them was about. When he didn’t say any-
thing, I helped myself to another glass of
wine.

“There is something so innocent yet wise

about you, Eviana.”

“There’s something so annoying yet irres-

istible about you,” I returned. Graham
laughed and leaned back in his chair far
enough to rest his feet on the dining room
table.

“Irresistible?”
“I meant irritable.”
“No you didn’t.”
“Well, I meant annoying.”
He cocked his head to the side. “Truth.”
“I know that I’m telling the truth!” I

paused, suddenly remembering something
that Carissa had said to me on the beach just

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before I ran away from home. She knew
what was going on with me and I had tried to
distract her with partial truths. “Do others
have that ability to sense lies too?”

Graham raised his eyebrows. “Sure. I

don’t think it’s as common as the compulsion
or even the water control, but it’s like being a
natural musician or an artist. It’s a talent we
inherit.”

“I think I may know someone else who can

sense lies.” He raised a brow asking the si-
lent question. “You don’t know her. Or actu-
ally maybe you do. Carissa Nakamo?”

“Ah yes, Master Matthew’s new squeeze.”
“How do you…?” Graham cut me off with a

wave of his hand.

“We know everything about our clan lead-

ers. Every detail is important as it may influ-
ence the way they run their families.” The
corner of his mouth tilted up in a smirk.
“We’ve especially enjoyed the Eviana-Kain
soap opera.” I glared at him. “Leaving the

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poor guy at the altar?” He shook his head be-
fore continuing. “So cruel and heartless. Re-
mind me to never get on your bad side.”

“Too late.”
“Now, now. Don’t be angry, tart. I’m still

convinced that there is more to this story.
He is obviously still in love with you and I
suspect that it certainly hasn’t played itself
out yet.”

“And what would possibly make you say

that?” I really didn’t like the way this con-
versation was going. Kain would barely tol-
erate me some days, and if he still cared for
me in that way it was a different kind of love
now. Our relationship wouldn’t go beyond a
partnership. I’d ruined that for us.

“Well, the return of the selkie for one. And

two…” he dropped his feet, placed his elbows
on the table, and leaned forward to look dir-
ectly into my eyes. “I may just have to throw
myself into the running now.”

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What? Did he just imply what I think he

did? Graham Forrester was interested in
me? “Really?” I asked sarcastically without
allowing my voice to quiver like the rest of
my body.

“You have intrigued me, Eviana.” He res-

ted back in his chair again. “Not many
people intrigue me.”

“Well, I’m so glad that I intrigue you, but

my boyfriend is coming back to me. There is
no soap opera and there never has been.” Al-
though I wondered if I totally believed that.

“He’s coming back now, but what will hap-

pen when he leaves you again?” He rolled
his head against the back of the chair to face
me. “He will leave you. They can’t resist the
call.”

I was really getting sick of people telling

me that. If Brendan wanted to be with me,
he would find a way to make that happen.
End of story.

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“I’m done talking about this with you,” I

snapped. Standing, I walked towards the
hallway acutely aware that Graham was fol-
lowing me.

“You don’t have to leave,” he was saying

with amusement. “How about a night cap?
Or a walk on the beach?”

I was tempted. No doubt. But spending

another minute alone with Graham would
only exacerbate the situation. My heart was
being pulled in several different directions
and it would do me no good to taunt fate
anymore. I continued to walk up the stairs
without acknowledging his presence.

“Come on. I’ll be good. Promise.” If I

turned around I knew that I wouldn’t be able
to say no. So I kept on walking. We’d
reached the top platform and I started to
head towards my room. By the time I
grabbed the door knob, I noticed his foot-
steps had stopped.

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“Well, if you’re not going to entertain me,

then I guess that I’ll have to settle for one of
those human girls. Or maybe two.”

A small wave of jealousy sweep through

my body, but I also knew that if that’s what
he really wanted, then he wouldn’t have
spent the time with me downstairs.

“Knock yourself out,” I said. “I’m going to

pack, take a long shower, and go to bed.”
But just before I disappeared into the room, I
leaned back out into the hallway and gave
him my best flirtatious smile.

“Sweet

dreams.”

He grinned and shook his head. If Gra-

ham really wanted to pursue me, then he was
going to have to try much harder than that.
Then I chastised myself. What was I think-
ing? Brendan. I needed to think about
Brendan.

So for the next hour while I packed and

cleaned up, I thought about how wonderful it
was going to be to hold Brendan again. To

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sleep next to him. Wake up next to him.
Share everything with him. I was hoping
that he would stay with me at my house, now
that I was in charge and no one could deny
him that option. I knew that my sister might
be an issue, but she’d been better since Kain
had started to stay in the guest house. Her
schoolgirl crush had not faded much even
though Carissa was now a serious contender
for Kain’s heart.

And Kain. I didn’t think that he still had

strong feelings for me, but I should probably
let him know that Brendan was going to be a
regular fixture in my life now. Perhaps he
wouldn’t want to stay at my house anymore.
There was a part of me that was saddened by
that thought. However, Kain and I were not
a couple and I needed to approach this issue
like a grownup.

I dreamt about my house and my friends.

It was fun at first, with images of swimming
and cookouts and bonfires. But then that

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atmosphere began to change. We were being
attacked and I couldn’t save anyone.

There were vicious dogs, angry water

sprites, and hoards of humans beating down
the doors and crashing through our win-
dows. I screamed as I watched one of them
assault my sister and pull her through the
front door and off into the darkness. I ran
after her, pounding on the door that sud-
denly wouldn’t open for me. Someone
grabbed me from behind and slammed me to
the ground. When I tried to scream, a large
hand clamped down over my mouth and I
froze in terror. The hand was squeezing so
hard that I could barely breathe. The fear
and panic forced me to open my eyes and
leave this terrible nightmare.

But when I did, I realized that this wasn’t a

dream at all.

217/425

Eleven

Someone was on top of me and they were

crushing my stomach. I clawed frantically at
the hand covering my mouth and tried to
force my lungs to save what little air was left
inside. My room was too dark to make out
specific features, but I knew that it was a
man attacking me now. And with that know-
ledge, I knew where I needed to put my knee.

I kicked up as hard as I could, but the man

jumped to the side, missing the worst of the
impact. The hand fell from my mouth and
just before I screamed, I heard his voice.

“Eviana, stop! It’s me!”

“Graham?” I tried to sit up. “What are

you doing in my room?” Something crashed
through a window downstairs.

“We’re being attacked. I need to get you

out of here. Now!”

“Attacked?” My sleepy brain was not fully

comprehending what the adrenaline in my
body was telling me. Something loud and
big slammed against my bedroom door and I
heard a muffled cry. “Was that a protector?”

“I think so. Come on, we’ll go over the bal-

cony.” Graham yanked me out of the bed so
hard that my knees would surely be bruised
in the morning. If I was alive in the morn-
ing. Another window broke somewhere on
the second floor and the unmistakable cry of
a human in pain sliced through my ears. Yet
when Graham opened the sliding glass doors
to the balcony in my room, we heard another
noise that sent chills through my bones.

“What is that?” I breathed. The sound of

the rolling ocean was muted by the soulful

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cries of hounds. There must have been
dozens of them and they were everywhere. A
few dark shadows darted through the back
yard and from what I could see, these wer-
en’t normal dogs.

He pushed me out into the night. “Come

on. We’re going to have to jump.”

“But we’re on the second floor.” There was

another thump against my bedroom door
followed by the distinctive sound of an anim-
al snarling.

“We have to get to the water. You’ll heal if

you break something.” Graham leaned out
over the edge of the balcony and then quickly
pulled back when he spotted one of the dogs.

“What are they?” I asked again.
“Ratchets.” I had no idea what a ratchet

was but now wasn’t the time to ask. Graham
pulled me to the ledge and pointed below us.
“We need to aim for the bushes.”

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We lifted one leg at a time to climb over

the railing so that our backs were against the
edge and there was nothing in front of us.

“And don’t make any sound,” Graham con-

tinued. “They seem to be focused on the
front of the house and we don’t want to alert
them to our location.”

I nodded and let him grab my hand. He

mouthed

one-two-three

and

then

jumped. The fall probably only lasted a few
seconds but it felt much longer. There was
no graceful or safe way to land in bushes and
that was quite evident when I crashed
through them. The branches stabbed at my
legs and scratched my arms. I took a brief
moment to be thankful that they weren’t rose
bushes with thorns, but I was still injured by
my jump.

We sat still for a few seconds to see if any

of the ratchets heard us. Their incessant
howling and barking surrounded the house
and created a prison. I heard Graham

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shifting in the bush beside me and decided
that it must be safe to emerge. It wasn’t
pretty, but I finally detangled myself from
the woody claws. When I took my first step
forward, I immediately fell back to the
ground. “Ahh!”

Graham ran quickly to me and draped his

arm over my back. “What’s wrong?” he
whispered. A piercing howl echoed off the
walls behind us and made it sound like at
least one ratchet was getting close.

“I think I twisted my ankle.” I tried stand-

ing again and felt the searing pain. Now was
not the time to be injured.

“We need to go,” Graham said urgently.
“Okay. I can do this.” I stood up and bit

my lip hard. The pain was just like going
through a transition, I kept telling myself.
And once we reached the water I would be
able to change and everything would feel
better.

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We ran along the back wall until we

reached the corner.

Unfortunately, the

ocean was across the road in front of the
house, so we needed to get past all of the
activity without being seen. I leaned around
Graham to see for myself what we were get-
ting into. Two protectors were taking on one
ratchet and what I saw frightened me to my
core.

The hound was more akin to a bear than a

dog. It was about five feet tall with thick,
dark fur and a head that must have been at
least the size of a mastiff’s. The large fangs
glistened with drool and its lips were pulled
back in a snarl. The creature’s body was
hunched over and ready to pounce on the
next protector that made a move. And un-
fortunately, it happened.

The merman leapt forward in an attempt

to plunge his knife into the ratchet’s neck.
With unnatural speed, the dog creature twis-
ted to the side and chomped down on the

223/425

man’s arm, eliciting a gut-wrenching shriek
from him. The ratchet shook his head from
side to side, tossing the protector around like
a doll. When the other merman ran forward
to his aid, the dog growled and threw the
first protector from his jaws and into the side
of the house. He hit with a sickening crunch
and fell motionless to the ground. By this
time, the ratchet and the still standing pro-
tector were circling each other like gladiators
in the ring. After what we just witnessed, I
didn’t think the merman had a chance.

“We need to go while it’s distracted,” Gra-

ham whispered and pulled me ahead with
him. I didn’t want to leave our protectors
behind, but we really didn’t have another op-
tion right now. Graham and I ran as fast as
we could into a cluster of shrubs that
bordered the perimeter of the property.
Ducking and twisting through the under-
brush, we’d almost made it to the front of the
house and the open driveway when we

224/425

suddenly heard a low rumble. I froze mid
stride causing Graham to slam into me.

“Did you hear that?” The sound grew

louder.

“Don’t move,” he said through gritted

teeth. Something crunched off to our side
forcing us to turn and face the danger. Four
ratchets were making their way directly to-
wards our hiding spot. The front one raised
his giant head in the air and flared his nos-
trils. It was evident to me when he caught
our scent as he lowered his head and looked
directly through the bushes at us. The night
was suddenly filled with a howl so sharp and
frightening that I could barely breathe. He
was telling the others where we were, and
now we were out of time.

“Run!” I shouted at Graham and we bolted

forward with as much speed as we could
muster. Just as we crashed through the
bushes and into the open road, I heard sever-
al yelps and snarls as the rest of the ratchets

225/425

finally spotted us and began their hunt.
Some slid in the gravel and others snapped
at their companions in order to get ahead.
When I made the mistake of peeking behind
me, I saw that the leader of the group was
only steps behind and he was dripping with
determination and also with something wet.
I hoped that it wasn’t blood.

We sprinted across the road, not even

checking for cars. The site of the sand dunes
gave me hope knowing that the ocean wasn’t
too far away. Surely we would be safe once
we reached the water. When my foot hit the
incline on the first dune, I crumpled to the
ground.

The pain in my ankle worsened as I

scrambled through the sand trying to get my
footing back. The lead ratchet lunged for me
with his giant fangs and expanded jaw but I
was able to roll to the side quick enough to
avoid the bite. His face slammed into the
dune and it took him a few seconds to get

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upright again. In that time, I managed to
roll onto my back and place a devastating
kick to the creature’s ribs. Thinking that I
actually heard bone crunching, I was relieved
to see that it knocked him sideways with a
yelp.

Graham pulled me up under my arms and

yanked me over the rest of the dune. We had
two more to climb over before reaching the
flattened beach and from the noises behind
us, the ratchets were gaining ground. In the
distance, I heard more sounds of glass break-
ing interspersed with gun shots. The pro-
tectors had resorted to firearms. The situ-
ation must be grim.

We reached the beach just as three

ratchets leapt over the final dune and
stumbled to the ground. Their footing
slipped when they landed on the hardened
substrate instead of loose sand. Thankfully,
it gave us the few extra seconds we needed to
get to the water’s edge.

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Without saying a word, Graham and I

hurled ourselves into the water and let
nature take its course. Ever since becoming
a clan leader, my transitions have been
smooth and mostly painless, and tonight was
no exception. It was a little awkward with
clothes on, but they quickly ripped away in
the process.

I turned to see that Graham had already

changed and watched as he tore off the re-
maining remnants of clothing. He then
reached for my hand and began to propel us
deeper and further away from the beach. I
understood that we needed to keep moving,
but it wasn’t like the dogs could come after
us. Pulling away from his grasp, I darted to
the surface to catch a larger breath of air and
to make sure that we weren’t being followed.
Graham popped up beside me.

“We need to keep moving,” he was breath-

ing hard.

228/425

“I needed a better breath. Plus I wanted to

make sure that we were safe.”

He turned to look at the beach and shook

his head. “We’re not.”

I caught the movement as soon as he said

something. The largest ratchet had reached
the shoreline and seemed to be calling for
others. More enormous dogs came barreling
over the dunes and stopped just short of the
water’s edge. Then, as one, they all ran for-
ward into the water and disappeared under
the surface.

“What….?” I tried to ask, but Graham was

already pulling me back under. He pumped
his tail and I followed suit as we tried to put
some distance between us and our attackers.
I had never heard of ratchets before or
creatures that looked like dogs and could
swim underwater. Perhaps they were a type
of sprite and maybe they could change their
shape and size. That thought sent pure fear
and dread through my body. If these were

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water sprites, then we were in serious
trouble.

Graham and I swam hard and fast. Risk-

ing a glance behind me again, I thought that
I saw something in the darkness. When we
heard a shrill scream under the water, I
knew that the ratchets weren’t far behind.
Graham must have come to the same conclu-
sion because he spun around so fast, I sped
right past him. He looked for our attackers
and soon he found them.

A dozen dark shapes jetted out of the sur-

rounding abyss and I nearly swallowed the
water. The doglike head was still present,
but their black bodies had elongated into an
eel shape complete with two tiny front legs
and dorsal and tail fins. They swiveled from
side to side, undulating through the water at
a remarkable speed. As they approached, I
crept closer to Graham who seemed to only
have eyes for them.

230/425

I watched as they surrounding us and

snapped their fangs in our direction. It took
every fiber in my being not to turn and run.
Mermaids were fast, but I wasn’t sure that I
would be able to out swim all of these
creatures.

Graham reached behind and pulled my

body closer to his. I took the hint and
wrapped my arms around his waist, effect-
ively using his body as a shield. The largest
ratchet began to glide closer to us while the
others formed a circular barrier. My gaze
kept moving between each creature that
edged a little too close. What kind of a threat
was I?

What could I possibly do to

counterattack?

It was Graham who came up with a solu-

tion and it was one that I wouldn’t have been
able to perform. I felt his muscles strain as
he lifted his arms to the side and then flipped
them over his head. We spun around in sev-
eral tight circles and even though I didn’t

231/425

know what was going on, I stayed glued to
his back. When we stopped moving, I
peeked over his shoulder only to be amazed
at what I saw.

Graham had created a tornado under wa-

ter. Using his hands to bend the element to
his will, he managed to conjure up a giant
whirlpool of sorts with us in the center and
the ratchets spinning around uncontrollably
on the outside. I watched in fascination as
he wielded the energy from the water and
directed it towards incapacitating our
attackers.

Somehow, the lead ratchet escaped the

currents and barreled straight forward into
both of us. The impact knocked us back and
Graham was forced to drop control over the
water. He needed to maintain the tornado in
order for us to even have some semblance of
a chance. So without thinking, I pushed him
behind me and grabbed the massive dog-eel

232/425

around the body to yank him away from
Graham.

Keep going! I yelled in my mind, not

knowing if Graham would be able to under-
stand. I really didn’t have time to wait and
see because a large set of canines chomped
down on my arm and I screamed in pain.
His grip tightened and I was forced to let go
of his back.

Using my free hand, I pushed my thumb

into the ratchet’s eye until he let go of my
arm. As soon he did, I backed away and
spared a glance towards Graham. The tor-
nado was moving again and this time I saw
him use tendrils of water to grab individual
ratchets and slam their bodies together. It
seemed to be killing them and I quickly felt
reassured. They may be water sprites, but
they can still be killed.

I suddenly remembered something. We

should be able to control water sprites, at
least to a degree. I looked at the ratchet

233/425

swimming straight for me and thought Stop!
in my head as hard as I could. He continued
to come at me, so I held up my hands and
commanded him to stop again.

It was futile. His jaws were opened and fo-

cused on my extended arm. With a rush of
dread, I realized I couldn’t control him.
Then abruptly, he jerked away from me. I
looked at Graham in surprise as he com-
manded a strand of water to grab a hold of
the ratchet and pull it closer to him.

The creature shrieked as the water crushed

his ribs like a constricting snake. Graham’s
eyes were focused on the ratchet but I could
see his body trembling with overexertion.
Belatedly, I also realized that there were no
more ratchets spinning around us. I as-
sumed they were dead, but the water was too
dark to see if their bodies sunk to the bot-
tom. Graham whipped his arms around his
head and I saw another tendril appear out of
nowhere and wrap around the ratchet’s

234/425

snarling head. The water sprite was still
struggling to break free but his movements
were waning. It was only a few seconds
longer before I heard the breaking of bones
as his body was flattened to an unnatural
shape by the force of the water.

His final yelp echoed through our sur-

roundings and something dark began to seep
from his body. I didn’t know if it was blood,
but it was definitely a symbol of his demise.
With a final toss, Graham used his watery
arms to throw the creature down towards the
bottom of the ocean.

Once it was safely out of sight, I rushed

over to him and wrapped my arms tightly
around his chest. He had saved us and I
would forever be grateful.

Graham nodded towards the surface so I

began to move my tail to lift us out of the wa-
ter. We broke through and gasped for a
clean breath of air. Graham was breathing
heavily and he looked tired. I focused on the

235/425

beach that was now at least half a mile away
and tried to see if there were anymore
ratchets waiting for us. In the distance, I no-
ticed an orange glowing light coming from
the area of Jeremiah’s house and my heart
sank when I realized it was fire. Many
people probably died tonight and although I
didn’t know most of them, it still saddened
me.

“Are you okay?” Graham asked with a

raspy voice like he’d just woken up for a nap.

“He got my arm but I’ll heal.” I turned to

look back towards the house. “We need to go
help.”

“Yes, we do.” He dropped his head in

shame. “I just knew that this was the only
place that I could fight them.”

I swam over to him and grabbed his face,

giving his cheek a quick kiss. “I’m not accus-
ing you of running away, Graham. You were
amazing. But now we need to go back.”

236/425

A small grin appeared in the corner of his

mouth. “Amazing, huh?”

I sighed in frustration and pushed away

from him. Now was not the time to flirt. I
dove head first into the dark ocean and
stayed under the surface as I propelled my-
self towards the beach. I didn’t know if Gra-
ham would follow me, but I soon sensed his
presence by my side.

When we got closer to the shore, I com-

manded my body to change so before I
reached the beach, I was walking on two legs
again. Graham changed quickly too and
emerged from the surf like a sea god. The
man was certainly too good looking for any-
one to see and the way he sauntered over to-
wards me let me know that he was anticipat-
ing my reaction.

He grabbed my arm and held it up into the

moonlight to examine the wound. Even
though this wasn’t the time to flirt, I couldn’t
help but feel the electricity shooting through

237/425

my body. His hand rubbed lightly against
the raised gashes that had partially healed
with my transition. And when his lips gently
pressed along my skin it took every ounce of
fiber in my being not to jump into his arms.

“What are you doing,” I whispered.

Without removing his lips from my arm he
lifted his eyes up to meet my gaze.

“I am healing your wounds,” his accented

voice cooed.

“I think I’m healed now.” I didn’t want

him to stop but it was too dangerous for him
to continue. His eyes blazed with desire.

“I’m so glad that you’re okay.” His hands

slid down and grasped my fingers, pulling
me a couple of steps closer. “Isn’t this
exciting?”

Not knowing exactly what he was talking

about I asked, “What? Almost dying or
standing naked on the beach?”

He laughed and pulled me close enough to

wrap his arms around my lower back. I was

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pressed up against his warm body and my
heart was pounding so hard in my chest I
was sure that he could hear it. “Both, luv.”

That snapped me back into my senses.

“People are dying Graham, and you’re ex-
cited about it?”

“Ah, that’s not exactly what I meant and I

think you know that.” He looked down at me
with his trademark intense stare and mo-
mentarily stunned me into silence. “I’m ex-
cited that you are here in my arms when the
odds were against us.”

“And you also enjoy the battle.”
“And I enjoy some aspects of the battle,”

he smiled.

“You’re an adrenaline junkie,” I stated.
“Perhaps.”
“Well, feed your desires at the house. I’m

sure there are a few more ratchets there for
you to squeeze to death.” I had finally found
something I didn’t like about him and I was

239/425

going to use that to keep my hormones in
check from now on.

“If I could truly feed my desires, luv, than I

wouldn’t want to go back to that house.” I
swallowed the lump in my throat and tried to
ignore his implications. Why did he have
this power over me? He leaned forward and
pressed his lips to the top of my head, re-
minding me of how Brendan used to comfort
me.

And that was all it took.
I pushed away from him and began jog-

ging back towards the house. I missed
Brendan and Graham simply didn’t com-
pare. “We need to go help Jeremiah,” I
yelled behind me, not really caring if he fol-
lowed or not. In fact, the further away he
stayed, the better I would probably handle
the situation awaiting us at the house.

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Twelve

The situation was bad. Graham caught up

to me by the time I ran through the gates and
got my first glimpse of the destruction.
Several small fires were burning in various
parts of the property and bodies were strewn
all over the front lawn. The servant quarters,
as Jeremiah called them, were almost com-
pletely destroyed by the fire at this point. I
didn’t know exactly how many humans slept
in there, but I knew it was a lot and I worried
that not a single one of them escaped.

Graham walked past me and through the

front door of the house. I took longer, mak-
ing sure to step over the pieces of body parts

and puddles of blood. There didn’t seem to
be any ratchets left, but they had certainly
caused an immense amount of damage.
Tears poured from my eyes without control
as I walked around at least a dozen humans
and several protectors who died fighting for
us.

When I reached the front door, Graham

nearly ran into me. “Here,” he said while
shoving a robe into my hands. He was
already covered up and the look on his face
told me that I wasn’t going to like what he
had to say next. “I need you to come with
me.”

He turned and I followed him down the

dark hallway and towards the indoor pool at
the rear of the house. People were scattered
all over the other rooms and the grand stair-
case. Many were crying, most were injured,
and I could see that only a few were in good
enough shape to move around and help the
others. Those creatures had caused so much

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death in such a short amount of time. It
made me wonder how we were ever going to
beat Lucian if this was his doing. My emo-
tions were scattered, my vision was blurred
with tears, and I was scared.

I was fairly certain that this attack was

planned. It happened at night when most
would be asleep and there had been water
sprites. Lucian’s go-to assassins of the water
world. I’d tried to control them, and I’d
failed. I’d failed everyone here and everyone
who was still on Lucian’s hit list. When we
walked into the atrium area, all thoughts of
pity and dismay disappeared as I saw what
was lying before me.

The pool was now glowing red and several

body parts were floating around at the sur-
face. Two protectors were leaning against
the wall near the door, one helping to stop
the other from bleeding out of a dangerous
wound on his neck. It seemed to be hopeless
and I watched as the injured merman who’d

243/425

pledged his life to protect others, closed his
eyes for a final time. His friend began to sob
and it was almost too much for me to
handle. Until something else caught my
attention.

Near the wooden table that Jeremiah used

for impromptu meetings, was the merman
and his pet selkie. Malcolm was leaning over
Jeremiah and whispering something to his
master. He gently stoked his head and I no-
ticed that Jeremiah’s hand was clasped
around the selkie’s arm. Graham and I ran
forward.

“Malcolm! How is he?” I fell to my knees,

suddenly afraid of what might happen to the
man who had been teaching me the past few
days.

Malcolm shook his head. “It’s not good.

They got his femoral artery. He’s bleeding
out.”

“Can’t he change and heal himself?” I

asked. But when I looked at Jeremiah’s face

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I knew the answer. His normally tanned
skin was a sickly pale color and his breathing
was barely noticeable. Graham knelt next to
us without saying a word.

“Eviana…” Jeremiah whispered. I moved

so that I could lean down close to his face to
hear him.

“I’m here, Jeremiah.” I nearly choked on

my words. For as much as I loathed the man
just a few days earlier, this was not how he
deserved to die. I couldn’t stop the tears.

“Are you crying for me?” he asked in a

strangled sort of whisper.

“Shh. Don’t talk.” I continued to rub his

head while Malcolm and Graham sat silently
by his side.

“You

need

know….something…”

Jeremiah started to cough and Malcolm sud-
denly cried out. The artery in his leg was
shooting blood with each spasm and even
though Malcolm had his hands pressed to
the wound, it was not enough. There was a

245/425

large pool of blood seeping out around us
now, evidence that Jeremiah didn’t have
much time left. He reached up and grabbed
my hand.

“You….not….safe.”
“It’s okay Jeremiah. They’re all gone.

Graham killed all of the ratchets.” I saw
Malcolm’s head snap up and stare at Gra-
ham. Whether it was because of the ratchets
or the fact that Graham had been able to kill
them, I didn’t know. Now wasn’t the time to
ask. Plus, Jeremiah was still trying to tell me
something.

“Not safe…him…too close...” I had abso-

lutely no idea what he was trying to tell me.
I knew that it wasn’t safe for me to be around
Lucian. My parent’s death had shown me
that. But it seemed as if he was trying to tell
me something else.

“Go…home…and…speak…with…”

coughed again. His eyes rolled back and he

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finally took a deep breath. Only this time
when he let it out, he never moved again.

“Jeremiah!” I yelled out and shook him by

the shoulders. “Jeremiah!”

Malcolm sat back on the ground and

sighed. “He’s gone now.” He ran his hands
over his face and head, and because they
were covered in blood, it made for a grue-
some sight.

“I need to call this in,” Graham announced

as he pushed up to his feet and made his way
out of the room.

I looked down at Jeremiah. Shunned by

his clan, more arrogant than a god, and
killed by a supernatural dog. Using my hand
to close his eyes, I set his head gently on the
ground and turned my back to his lifeless
body. The site in the pool didn’t help to calm
me any, so I just closed my eyes and listened
to the distant background noise of the beat-
ing drum soundtrack Jeremiah liked to play
in here.

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“We need to do a body count,” Malcolm

suddenly said. Looking at the pool again and
remembering the carnage out front, I
wondered how accurate that count might be.

“Start with the live ones,” I said. He nod-

ded and got to work. I watched as he helped
the protector leave his dead friend behind to
assist with the task. Most of the protectors
were usually ex-military so putting their
emotions away to deal with an emergency
situation should be second nature to them.

I, on the other hand, was not getting any

better at handling all of this death and de-
struction. Lucian wanted a meeting with the
Council and with me. They didn’t want to
negotiate, but after witnessing this blood-
bath tonight, I knew that I had to change
their minds. All of these senseless deaths
could have been prevented. Should have
been prevented.

My thoughts then drifted to that over-

turned cruise ship. Thousands of innocent

248/425

people killed in order to make a point. Lu-
cian Sutherland was insane, but the only way
to fight that right now was to hear him out.
He obviously wanted to make some de-
mands, so I needed to convince the Council
that it was worth our time to at least listen to
him. Then we could strategize for the best
way to take him out.

I stood and found a discarded towel with

only a little blood on it and used it to cover
up Jeremiah’s body. Closing my eyes, I
wished for him to have a peaceful afterlife
then walked out of the room.

I continued until I reached the front door

where I saw Graham pacing back and forth
yelling into his cell phone. To my right was
the dining room where the three of us had
recently shared our meals. Now those nights
felt like a lifetime ago.

Everything was changing again. War with

Lucian was inevitable now, and how we
handled ourselves from here was yet to be

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determined. Graham stepped into the house
and let out a long breath.

“What’s the plan?” I asked.
I must have startled him because he

jumped a little to the side when I spoke.
“The Council is sending a clean-up crew
now. They should be here in an hour.” A
clean-up crew? That sounded so horrible.

“Did you tell them about Jeremiah?”
“Yes.” He paced around the room some

more until Malcolm’s appearance stopped
him dead in his tracks.

“There are only ten of us left, Mistress.”
“Ten?” I gasped. There had to have been

at least three times that many living here just
a few hours ago.

“Yes. Ten. Six humans, three protectors,

and me.”

“Jesus,” Graham breathed and ran another

hand through his head. “We need to get out
of here.” He began pressing buttons on his
phone again.

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“Mistress Eviana?” Malcolm had edged

closer to me. “What’s going to happen to us
now?”

The question kind of caught me off guard.

“Wouldn’t you like to live on your own?”

He shook his head. “Maybe the humans

would, but the protectors and I don’t know
what else we would do. This is all we know.”
The sadness in his eyes nearly made me cry
again and before I could stop myself, I had a
solution.

“Then come home with me.”
“Really?”
“Yes. We’re all going to need more protec-

tion and there is no reason for you to stay
here.” He lurched forward and grabbed me
in a hug.

“Thank you.” He squeezed me for a while.

“I’m going to go tell the others.” Before I
could stop him, he was gone. Graham stared
at me from the doorway.

“You invited him to your home?”

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“Yes. He and the protectors still alive.

They have nowhere else to go.”

“Huh,” he grunted while scrutinizing me

with his eyes. “You really are something
else.” I ignored him and asked a more press-
ing question.

“What do we do about the humans?”
“The team will erase their memories and

patch them up.” He gave me a sarcastic
glare. “Unless you invited them to California
too?”

I rolled my eyes. “No.” But maybe I

should.

Would having their memories

erased really be the right thing to do? Al-
though bringing them back with me into
what certainly was going to be a war, really
didn’t seem like the best idea either.

“Our ride will be here in an hour,” Graham

continued. “We should collect what we can
and let the clean-up crew handle the rest.”

I nodded in agreement as he trudged up

the stairs towards his room. I didn’t really

252/425

want to pack when all of these people around
me had just lost their lives. Something about
it seemed wrong. It wasn’t fair that I lived
and they didn’t. It’s wasn’t fair that my
friend Lily had been killed simply because
she was a mermaid. So much death.

I slid to the floor, momentarily frozen with

grief. I thought of my parents, especially my
mother. The way Lucian had snapped her
neck so coldly and methodically…it ripped
my heart out. I began to cry and once the
tears started, I couldn’t stop them if I tried.
Thankfully, everyone left me alone and gave
me the privacy I needed. I cried for my par-
ents, my friend, Jeremiah, and all of the pro-
tectors that lost their lives tonight.

At some point the tears stopped and I

forced myself to collect my belongings for
the trip back home. My cell phone was buzz-
ing with messages, but I didn’t want to talk
to anyone else right now. I just needed a
little more time before I dealt with the world.

253/425

“Are you ready?” Graham’s soft voice

asked from my opened door.

“Almost.”
He stepped inside and sat on my bed,

watching me as I packed up the final pieces
of clothes. “They are going to fly us to the
airport and then we’ll start home.”

“Where are you going?”
“To Seattle for now,” he replied and

something in me felt relieved. I was attrac-
ted to Graham and tonight’s experiences
only made that stronger. But I was glad that
he wasn’t going to California where Brendan
would eventually be. Plus, I needed to stay
away from Graham Forrester.

“For now?”
“Until they decide their next move.” He

sighed and looked out the bedroom door.
“I’m going to tell them that we have to meet
with Lucian.”

I was surprised. “You are?”

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“Yes. I think that you were right before. If

it stops more deaths, then we should at least
meet with him and hear him out.”

I stood there in shock for a little bit.

“Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me yet,” he huffed. “I’m also

going to tell them that you should be there as
well. After all, he’s personally requested your
presence.”

“Do you know why that is?”
He shook his head. “No idea. Perhaps

you’ve intrigued him, too?”

His eyes

sparkled when he looked up at me and I
quickly averted my gaze back to my suitcase.

“I’m really not that special.”
“Some would beg to differ,” he replied

nonchalantly. I had nothing more to say to
that comment and after several moments of
silence, he stood. “They should be here soon,
so I will see you downstairs, okay tart?”

“Yeah.”

Even his nickname for me

couldn’t elicit a reaction. I was numb right

255/425

now and getting out of this house was prob-
ably the best for all of us.

Just before sunrise, a helicopter landed in

the front yard. The clean-up crew had ar-
rived along with our ride to the airport.

When I panicked in a plane, I was being

silly. My fear of airplanes was nothing com-
pared to my newly discovered fear of being
in a helicopter. It felt like a roller coaster,
only we were several thousand feet in the
air. When I saw the skyscrapers and metro-
polis of Washington, D.C. in the distance, my
heart calmed down because I knew that we
were almost there.

Two private jets were waiting for us cour-

tesy of the Council and Graham’s insistence
that we needed privacy in order to conduct
our business. At the hanger, Graham pulled
me aside just as I was about to board.

“Is is alright if I call you?” I arched my

brows at him. “I might need you to help con-
vince the Council that our plan will work.”

256/425

“Our plan?”
“Meeting with Lucian,” he waved his hand

around. “They may not totally believe me
and might want to speak with you to con-
firm.” I nodded in understanding.

“Yes, that will be fine.”
“Good.” He shifted nervously on his feet

and looked at the plane behind me.

“Is there something else?” I asked.
He smiled and I melted again. “No. Just

be safe, okay tart. I will see you again soon.”

He bent down and kissed me full on the

lips before pulling away and jogging towards
his plane on the other side of the hanger. I
stood there following him with my gaze. His
lips were just as soft as I imagined. I sighed
with disappointment. Perhaps in another
life we would be better suited for each other.
But now just wasn’t the time.

I tried to convince myself of that for the

entire five hour plane ride back to my home.
Keeping my mind occupied, I called my

257/425

sister to tell her that I was on my way. She
wasn’t up yet since it was only early dawn on
the east coast. I left her a message and called
our driver so that he would know when to
pick me up.

The night had been so devastating both

physically and mentally, I was surprised
when I fell asleep somewhere over Ohio.
When we landed, I made the introductions to
my new companions and Jeffery, my driver,
smiled and welcomed them to the family. I
was happy to see that they would be all right,
but I really didn’t know if I could say that
about the rest of us. There was so much
work to do when I got to the house. So many
calls to make. So much training to accom-
plish. The thought of it made my mind spin
and I reluctantly tried to enjoy the last few
moments of peace I suspected I would have
for a long time.

258/425

Thirteen

When we arrived, my sister came barreling

out of the house and nearly fell into my
arms. At first I thought that something was
wrong, but then I noticed the smile on her
face.

“Marisol, what’s going on?”
“You have to come and see!” She was so

excited and it was really the first time that I’d
seen her like that since before my parents
died. Well, really, I never saw her happy.
She was such an angry teenager.

She pulled me through the front door, past

the kitchen, and over to the edge of the deck.

Daniel was standing there and greeted me
with a hug and a smile that matched my sis-
ter’s. “Okay you two, what’s going on?”

“Look!” Marisol cried and pointed down

towards the beach. When I followed her
gaze, I was overwhelmed with what I saw.
Our beachfront property had been turned in-
to a training ground. Several dozen protect-
ors were sparring with others dressed in reg-
ular attire. I was about to ask who they were,
when one of them caught my eye.

“Is that Julian?”
Daniel laughed. “Oh yeah. That’s him.” I

turned to look at my friend who seemed to
have gotten over his fear of the selkie.
“What? Sure he captured us, but then he
saved us. Plus, just look at him.” Julian was
sparring with one of the biggest protectors I
had ever seen. And Daniel was totally ogling
him. I elbowed my friend in the side.

260/425

“Close your mouth.” I said and Marisol

giggled. “Geez, Daniel. He’s old enough to
be your father.”

“Or my sugar-daddy.”
“Gross. Enough.” But I couldn’t hide my

smile. I looked at Marisol. “And what’s got
you so happy?”

She grinned and pointed again. “Julian

didn’t come by himself. Look at all of the
selkies he brought.”

“Marisol’s been eyeing that young one

down there. He seems to be equally enam-
ored with her,” Daniel added, but I wasn’t
listening. Because if Julian brought other
selkies, than that would mean…

“Brendan,” I whispered just as I spotted

him flip Palmer over his back and pin him to
the ground. As though he heard me, he
looked up and met my eyes. I couldn’t
breathe. My heart stuttered and I sucked in
a breath. He was shirtless and sweaty. His
dark hair was hanging loose around his face.

261/425

And even from the distance, I could see those
green eyes that meant the world to me. “He
came.”

This time Daniel elbowed me. “He did.

And he’s been waiting for you to get back.” I
looked at my friend with hope.

“He has?”
“Yes,” Marisol cut in and then sighed. “I

didn’t get it before, but now I do.”

“What?” I wrinkled my face. “What are

you talking about?”

“She means love,” Daniel teased and Mar-

isol glared. “Your sister has had a change of
heart since Quinlan appeared. Or maybe I
should say that she finally grew a heart.” He
jumped away just in time to avoid Marisol’s
slap.

“Who’s Quinlan?” I asked.
“The red headed guy. I asked Julian if he

was even allowed to be up past curfew, but
he assured me that he was eighteen and

262/425

quite capable of handling himself,” Daniel
answered.

“Marisol, he’s eighteen! That’s too old for

you.”

“It’s three and a half years. The same as

you and Brendan.” She did have a point.
Who was I to tell her not to follow her heart?

“Just…be careful, okay?” She huffed and

crossed her arms in defiance. I was about to
say more, but then I noticed Brendan walk-
ing towards the stairs that led up to the
deck. He was coming this way.

“Come on, Mars. Let’s go down on the

beach and watch these sweaty boys beat each
other senseless.” Daniel wrapped his arm
around her shoulder and pulled her away,
while she berated him for using that nick-
name. I didn’t know what happened over the
last few days, but I was grateful that Daniel
bonded with her.

263/425

They passed Brendan on the stairs and he

smiled politely. That smile. My entire body
was shaking before he got to me.

“You’re back,” he said.
I nodded, not quite able to say anything.

He took another step towards me and held
out his arms. I rushed to him and wrapped
myself around his body.

“You came,” I whispered and started to

cry.

He kissed the top of my head and squeezed

a little tighter. “I told you I would. When
Julian made the decision to back your clan, I
knew that this had to be it.”

I looked up at him in confusion. “This was

Julian’s doing?”

“Yes. He put a call out to all selkies and

asked for their assistance. It’s not typical
amongst our kind but Julian’s…different.”

“What do you mean?”
“He’s kind of like an alpha of sorts.”
“Like wolves?”

264/425

“Something like that. He’s a good man.

So when he asks for a favor, most are obliged
to give it to him.”

“Hmm.” I rested my head back against his

glistening chest. “And you decided to join us
too?”

“I decided to try and get my life back

here.” He pushed me away slightly so that
he could look into my eyes. “I wasn’t sup-
posed to be in Seattle. I told you that it just
didn’t feel right.”

“And now you’re here.”
“Yes.”
“How does that feel?”
He laughed and kissed me quickly on the

mouth. That brief moment of contact sent a
wave of shivers tingling through to my toes.
“Good, now that you’re home.”

Home. This could be it. I had a second

chance of the life I’d always wanted with
Brendan, here, in my home. Our home.

265/425

“Will you stay here?” I was almost afraid

to ask, but his smile helped me relax.

“I planned on it.” He bent forward and

kissed me again. Only this time it wasn’t so
quick and it wasn’t so chaste. Someone
cleared their throat.

“Eviana, you’re needed inside.” I turned to

see Kain standing in the doorway with his
arms crossed and a strained look on his face.
I swallowed and looked up at Brendan.

“I think that I’m going to be tied up the

rest of the day, but can we talk at dinner?”

His green eyes stared straight into my soul

and if I didn’t know any better, I would have
thought that they held a hint of something
other than excitement.

“Of course. I have much more training

scheduled for today anyway.” With one last
kiss on the forehead, he nodded to Kain and
bounded down the stairs. I watched him the
entire way with so much longing, and happi-
ness, and a thousand other emotions that I

266/425

thought I would explode. Kain made anoth-
er noise.

“I’m coming,” I grumbled. Walking to-

wards him, I noticed that he looked really
bad. “What’s wrong with you?”

He snorted. “Come on. I’ll explain at the

meeting.”

“What meeting?”
“The one with our advisors. You guys wer-

en’t the only ones attacked last night.”

“What?” But he wouldn’t answer me, so

instead I chased after him through the house
and to the conference room where we held
all of the important events and meetings.
Maybe I should have returned some of his
phone calls on the plane. Now I was walking
into something that I was completely unpre-
pared for. Most of these merfolk were just
waiting for a reason to get rid of me, and not
having a plan at a time like this would give
them the excuse they needed.

267/425

Kain pushed through the double door en-

trance and proceeded to walk to the far side
of the room where he picked up his cell
phone and punched in a number. The rest of
the area was filled with a dozen powerful
members of our clans, all of whom were pa-
cing, screaming into their phones, or a com-
bination of both. My top advisor and uncle,
Andre, sauntered up beside me.

“I’m glad to see that you’re okay.” The

look on his face told me that he was actually
being sincere.

“Thank you.” Turning my attention back

to the room, I asked, “Can you please fill me
in? What else happened?”

“It seems as though Lucian coordinated

several attacks last night. First, there was
yours. Then he broke a dam along the Mis-
sissippi and flooded one of the major organic
farms owned by the McCormick clan, and
then early this morning he launched a finan-
cial attack.”

268/425

“A financial attack?”
He nodded. “It started in Europe while

our markets were closed so by the time the
exchange opened this morning, almost half
of our money was gone.” I looked at my
uncle with confusion. “Lucian crashed the
stock market and most of our larger invest-
ments have been reduced to nothing.”

“How is that possible?”
“Apparently, he’s been working on this for

a while. Three major European banks closed
their doors today, causing their American
branches to crumble. All of them are con-
tributors to our fund.” He ran his hands
over his face and through the few pieces of
hair he had left. “This was no coincidence.”

“No, it doesn’t appear to be,” I said.
With so few merfolk left in the world, a

trust fund of sorts was set up in each country
to aid in times of emergencies, like when we
needed to cover up our existence. I remem-
ber hearing a story as a child about an

269/425

aquarium that claimed they’d captured a
mermaid, which of course sent a panic
through all of the clans. Someone had, in
fact, been captured and it took a small for-
tune to straighten out that mess. I’d also
heard that Hollywood made a movie based
on that incident.

As I scanned the room to see those who

were much older and wiser, lose control, I
realized that now was the time for me to
show everyone that I was meant to lead my
clan. Mr. Wallace, Kain’s second-in-com-
mand, walked up to him and started pointing
at a bunch of papers while waving his hands
around. I could see the tension in Kain’s
shoulders, but when he turned to face me, I
noticed that he maintained his composure on
the outside. He waved me over and I ex-
cused myself from Andre’s side.

“What do you think?” I whispered to my

counterpart.

270/425

“It’s a mess. We need to get everyone in

their seats and focused.” He sighed and
rubbed his neck. “Were you able to speak to
Graham?”

At the mention of his name, my heart

squeezed. I was beginning to hate that I re-
acted that way and I hoped that Kain hadn’t
noticed. “Yes, and we’re both in agreement
that we should honor Lucian’s request for a
meeting.”

Kain lifted his eyebrows and looked down

at me. “Really? The Council has agreed to
that?”

“Well no, not yet. But Graham was going

to convince them.” Kain snorted. “And I’m
going to go, too.”

Instead of freaking out like I expected, he

only stared at me some more. He was study-
ing my reaction as I waited for his. Finally,
he took a deep breath. “Okay. Now we just
need to convince them.” He waved his hand

271/425

around the room and I inwardly cringed. It
was time to show what I was worth.

Kain cleared his throat and began to

speak. “Everyone. Please take your seats so
that we can get started. We have much to
discuss.”

Two hours later, we were finally getting

around to the attack at Jeremiah’s house. I
told them what happened and how Graham
had fought off the ratchets with his water
control. They were stunned into silence as I
told my tale. When I finished, I worried that
I may have said too much.

“Master Forrester has that kind of power?”

my uncle asked in awe.

“Didn’t one of Lucian’s followers just sink

a cruise ship?” an older female from Kain’s
clan asked.

“Yes, they did. They killed most of the

Shannon clan,” Mr. Wallace confirmed. My
stomach twisted with pain.

They had

murdered Lily and her family.

272/425

Suddenly, the room went quiet and every-

one turned to stare at me. I didn’t under-
stand why I was a subject of their scrutiny.
“What?” I finally yelled.

“Wasn’t Master Forester on the east coast

with you?”

“Yes.”
Another round of silence. Why were look-

ing at me that way? Finally, it hit me. “No!”
I swallowed hard and forced my body to
calm down and speak like an adult. “No.
Graham would never do something like that.
He couldn’t have. He loathes Lucian. Plus,
he’s a Council member.”

“And apparently a very powerful one,” my

uncle added. I glared at him.

“Was he with you the whole time?” one of

my female advisors asked.

“Yes.” I tried not to blush thinking about

some of the time we spent together. “Well,
most of the time. I didn’t keep tabs on him
when I was working with Jeremiah.” I didn’t

273/425

think it would be a good idea to tell them
about his nights away. No one said any-
thing. “Come on! Graham would not do
that. He’s on our side!” I walked around to
the head of the table and rested my hands on
the back of an empty chair. “In fact, he’s
speaking to the Council on our behalf right
now, trying to convince them that ignoring
Lucian will only mean more murders.”

“They won’t negotiate,” someone said.
“Graham will make them,” I said, so sure

that he was going to come through.

“Even so,” my uncle continued, “you most

certainly will not be meeting with him.”

“Excuse me?” I asked with every bit of atti-

tude that I had. Andre stood.

“We know that he’s asked to speak to you

and the Council. We will not allow you to
meet with him and jeopardize our clan any
further.”

I sucked in a breath. I was in charge here

and right now my uncle was doing nothing

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but belittling my power in front of the very
people who shouldn’t see something like
this. “You do not get to make that decision
for me, Andre.”

“Eviana, please…”
“Mistress Dumahl,” I interrupted and the

entire room stopped breathing. My uncle
stared at me until he finally lowered his
head.

“Mistress Dumahl, I strongly advise you

not to meet with him. It is no doubt some
sort of trap and we simply cannot risk it right
now.”

“Then I will go with her,” Kain said as he

rose.

“What?” Mr. Wallace shouted.
“We rule our clans as one, therefore we

will face Lucian as one.” Kain walked around
to the other side of the table opposite me and
I watched in awe as everyone in the room fo-
cused on him. He’d grabbed their attention
instantly and no one was arguing with him.

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There was a part of me that seethed with an-
ger, but I managed to keep that buried deep
down inside. “He’s asked for a meeting,
most likely to negotiate some terms. I think
that the past twenty-four hours have shown
us that his reach stretches far beyond the few
clans in the United States that support him.
He has a world-wide following and if we
don’t at least hear him out, I am afraid for
what will happen next.”

“But it’s too much of a risk,” my uncle said

lightly. Even he wouldn’t be too argumentat-
ive with Kain.

“It’s one that Eviana and I are willing to

take in order to secure the future of our
clans.”

“Do you know where he wants to meet?”

one of my advisors asked Kain. No one was
looking at me right now and it nearly sent
me over the edge. I’d just spent several days
with the shunned Jeremiah Williams in or-
der to strengthen my power so that I could

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better protect my people and this was how
they treated me? Damn them.

“No, but I’m sure that we will know soon.”
“What if it’s a trap? You certainly can’t

walk in there with an army of protectors and
selkies with you.” There was no hiding the
disgust when my uncle mentioned selkies.
“Besides, that isn’t going to be enough.”

Kain looked up at me and for some reason,

I knew exactly what he was thinking. “We
have the water,” I said quietly.

“What?” Mr. Wallace snapped.
I looked down at him. “We have more

than just those brave soldiers training out-
side right now. We have someone in our clan
who has just as much control over water as
Graham. We also have some friends of the
aqueous persuasion.” I smiled at Kain and
got a wink in return. He was encouraging
me to go on.

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“Evaina…” I glared at my uncle. “I mean,

Mistress Dumahl, can you please enlighten
us?”

I pointed to Kain. “Your own clan leader

has an amazing amount of control over wa-
ter.” Everyone turned to look at him in sur-
prise. “And,” all of the heads whipped back
around to face me, “I think that I can get the
water sprites on our side.” At least I hoped I
could.

“No!” Most of the advisor’s gasped the

same remark.

“Yes. I know one very well and I bet that

he will be able to gather a force much greater
than what Lucian already controls.” I no-
ticed how none of them seemed to be sur-
prised at their existence. Even when I had
mentioned the ratchets earlier. Apparently,
they only told the story about them being ex-
tinct to children.

We spent the rest of the day in that meet-

ing room arguing and discussing potential

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strategies. Kain and I needed most of that
time to convince them to let us go to Lucian’s
meeting. Around four in the afternoon, we
sat in on a conference call to the Council.
Adele was the only one who spoke, but I had
to smile when I heard Graham’s accented
quips in the background. They had agreed to
negotiate. Well, really, they agreed to hear
Lucian’s demands assuming that he would
have nothing to offer them.

Regardless, it was progress. Adele said

that she would contact Kain and me as soon
as the arrangements were made and a loca-
tion was agreed upon. With a few parting
words, I was able to escape but realized that
it was much later than I anticipated. Kain
was staying in the guest house, so I would
catch up with him in the morning once the
rest of our advisors gave us a few minutes
alone.

But for now, I had another date. When I

rounded the corner leading into the kitchen,

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I was relieved to see Brendan waiting there
for me. Tonight, I would no longer think
about Lucian, the Council, or anyone else.
Tonight was reserved for my gorgeous selkie.

280/425

Fourteen

My smile grew the closer I got to him.

“Sorry that took so long,” I sighed.

“Bad day, huh?” He wrapped his arm

around my shoulder and I snuggled closer.
We walked into the kitchen and he escorted
me to a seat at the center island. “Everyone
already ate, but I saved us a plate.”

I watched as he worked his way around,

heating up our food and pouring drinks. It
was just the two of us right now and my
heart ached at the memories of our time liv-
ing together at the beach. “So you’re training
too?”

He smiled and pressed the numbers on the

microwave. “I didn’t really have much of a
choice. Although, it’s actually kind of fun.
Julian really knows what he’s doing and your
cousin is a good sparring partner.”

“I hope that we can convince Lucian to

stop this crazy war.” I sighed and laid my
head down on my arms. “I don’t want to see
any more die.”

“You’re going to talk to him?” Brendan

pushed a plate against my arms forcing me
to sit up. I saw the concerned look on his
face.

“Yes. We finally reached an agreement

that Kain and I would go along with the
Council members.”

He stopped moving for a few seconds but

didn’t say anything at first. “When?”

“I don’t know. They’re going to get back to

us once they speak with Lucian.”

“Why does he want you to be there?”

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I stabbed a piece of meat with my fork. “I

have no idea,” I sighed. “It’s like he’s ob-
sessed with getting me on his side. I’m still
having a hard enough time dealing with my
own clan. I don’t know what difference my
presence on his side would make.”

Brendan sat down next to me and we ate

in silence for a while. My nerves were
tingling like crazy at being so close to him.
He smelled really good and our legs were
touching underneath the counter. It was like
we were on our first date again.

“So how is it being around so many other

selkies?” I asked.

“It’s been interesting. My dad taught me

well, but it’s kind of neat to hear everyone’s
individual stories about their lives.”

“Where are they all staying?”
“Julian rented a house on the beach a few

miles away. I think most of them have gone
there for the evening.” His wry smirk made
me suspicious.

283/425

“What?”
“Well, I think two of them managed to stay

behind with your sister and Daniel.” I al-
most choked on my food.

“What? Where are they?”
He laughed. “Relax. I think they went in-

to town for dinner or something.” Rubbing
his hand on my shoulder he chuckled some
more. “Quinlan is a good guy. He won’t take
advantage of your sister. And I think Aleksey
is just as fascinated with Daniel as Daniel is
with him.”

“Aleksey? That sounds Russian.”
“It is. Julian’s reach is global.” Interest-

ing. I bet Daniel was in heaven.

“My sister’s only fourteen,” I grumbled.
“And if she’s anything like you, she will

have that guy wrapped around her finger by
the end of the night.” I looked up at him and
blushed. His sparkling smile and bright
green eyes caused my heart to flutter. I

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simply loved him more than anyone could
ever understand.

“I’m glad you’re here,” I whispered. He

leaned over and kissed me on the lips.

“Me too.”
We finished our meals and decided to take

a walk on the beach. I asked him about
Seattle, but he wasn’t real comfortable telling
me his story. Not quite sure what that was
all about, I did my best not to pry. He
wanted to know more about the attack at
Jeremiah’s so I told him. Although the topic
was appalling, I found that it was nice to
have someone to talk to.

He was particularly interested in my train-

ing and Malcolm’s willingness to serve as my
guinea pig. I could see how much this un-
nerved him, but if we were going to have a
relationship, then he needed to accept that I
had the ability to control his mind.

285/425

“You know that I would never do that on

purpose, right?” I asked after a prolonged
silence.

He shoved his hands in his pockets and

shrugged. “Yeah. But it doesn’t mean that I
won’t think about it.” I turned my head so
that he couldn’t see the tears. “Evs, don’t
worry.” He stopped walking and pulled me
against his chest. “It’s just something that I
have to deal with. And I’m working on it.”

I didn’t really have anything to say. My

heart wanted him back with me no matter
what. So I thought it would be best for him
to come to terms with the new power struc-
ture of our relationship on his own. I just
hoped he could do it soon. I shivered with
the thought of him leaving me again.

His hands moved up and down along my

arms. “Evs, you’re freezing. Let’s go back to
the house.”

“No, not yet,” I said and wrapped my arm

around his lower back. His body shook with

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a laugh as we continued our stroll down the
quiet beach.

The breaking waves filled the evening with

sounds of our other life. It was a life that I’d
shared with Brendan for eight years. We
didn’t have to hide our true nature from each
other. Discovering the intricate details of
our world was one of the most memorable
and fulfilling times in my life. We’d shared
everything for so long that I simply didn’t
want to lose that. Right now it felt like we
were the only two in the world, and that was
a sentiment I deeply missed.

“Do you remember that time I tried to

teach you how to fish?” he asked after a long
bout of silence.

I smiled. “Yes, but you didn’t tell me I had

to catch the fish with my mouth. It wasn’t
fair that you were in your seal form at the
time.”

287/425

“I was just teasing you, but you had to

prove that you could do it.” He squeezed me
tighter.

“I couldn’t let you win,” I said and bumped

him with my shoulder. “Besides, I finally
caught that flounder.”

He laughed again. “You sure did. Guts

and all.” We stopped moving when he
turned to face me. “I don’t have memories
like that with anyone else.”

I looked up into his eyes. “That’s because

no one would have accepted your challenge.
It was really disgusting.”

“I’m serious.” He stared at something off

in the distance and gathered his thoughts. “I
don’t have anyone else, Evs. You are my
family.” I saw tears in his eyes and my heart
ached. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you at
the funeral and I’m sorry I took off with
Julian.”

“It’s okay,” I whispered.

288/425

“No, it’s not.” He pulled me into a hug and

rested his chin on my head in a familiar ges-
ture. “You are so strong. Since the first day I
met you, I admired your drive. Even in
Maryland, you never quit fighting for me. I
was the one who ran away like a coward.”

I wrapped my arms tighter around his

waist. “Stop it, Brendan. A lot happened to
us and we all needed some time to process.”

“You didn’t. Not once did you lose con-

trol. Your parents were killed and yet you
got everyone out of there without a second
thought. It was natural for you. You are
destined to be a great leader.”

I had to smile. “Do you know that I always

admired how together you were?” He pulled
away and looked down at me with a crooked
grin.

“Me?”
“Yes. I knew that I could always count on

you to have a plan. I was the one that felt
like the follower.”

289/425

He squeezed me tight again. “You don’t

need to follow anyone, Evs. You’ll always be
fine on your own.”

Not knowing exactly what that meant, my

thoughts travelled in a thousand different
directions. I needed to hear an apology from
Brendan for leaving me like he did. Sure, I
understood what he was going through, but
he’d left me when I needed him most. Yet
something in his tone sent warning chills
down my spine.

“It’s cold. Let’s go back now,” he said. I

didn’t argue and instead enjoyed being next
to the guy I’d waited so long to spend my life
with.

With arms wrapped tightly around each

other, we walked in silence all the way to the
deck. Just as I climbed the first stair, he
stopped and forced me to turn around to face
him. His hands were holding both of mine
and I drowned in his warmth.

290/425

“Evs, I…I don’t know how you feel right

now, but I think…I…” He was fumbling like
a school boy.

“What Brendan?”
He sighed and smiled. “I want to stay with

you tonight. But if you’re not ready for that
again, then I understand and I will go to Juli-
an’s.”

Not ready? It’s what I’ve been waiting for

ever since the day he left me! I could barely
breathe. My pulse pounded and I was sure
that my cheeks were flushed. He wanted to
spend the night with me and it was all I
could do not to jump into his arms right
away.

“Please stay here,” I whispered. His hand-

some face glowed with excitement so I
grabbed his hand and pulled him up the
stairs and into the house.

My sister, Daniel, and their two selkie boys

were back and sitting in the living room
watching a movie. Trying not to be seen, we

291/425

tiptoed past the entrance and towards the
stairs. Even though my parents were gone,
Marisol and I never moved out of our
rooms. It would have been too weird to stay
in their bedroom, so that was where Uncle
Andre slept instead. Apparently he didn’t
have a problem with it.

We crept into my room like we were

sneaking around even though that wasn’t ne-
cessary anymore. Locking the door behind
me, I took a deep breath and tried to calm
my nerves. I loved Brendan with all of my
heart, but something about all of this made
me hesitate. It felt like this was my one and
only chance to prove to him that we were
meant to be together and that we could actu-
ally make this work. It was simply too much
pressure.

Even with people constantly telling me

that he was going to leave again, I still
wanted to believe that we could overcome
the odds.

292/425

“What are you thinking about?” he asked

from his spot next to the bed. I looked up at
him in surprise and he chuckled. “I can see
your pinched brow from here.”

I decided not to ruin this moment. “Noth-

ing really. Just that you’ve never been in my
bedroom before.”

He looked around and then pushed on the

mattress a few times. “It’s nicer than our ef-
ficiency in Maryland.”

“Yeah, but I loved that place.”
“So did I.” He held out his arm and I

walked close enough to lay my hand in his.
“I really think this is where I need to be.”

“What?”
“Seattle never felt right. Being here with

you is better.” Better? That stung a little bit
but I was determined to make the most of to-
night and prove to Brendan that this was our
home now. So I raised my head and gave
him a kiss. He responded quickly and all
feelings

doubt

disappeared.

293/425

remembered every part of him and the way
he moved. Being with him was just plain
right.

He pulled away and licked his lips. “You

taste salty.”

With a sudden pang of embarrassment, I

realized that I hadn’t showered since I left
Jeremiah’s nearly a full day ago. I stepped
away and walked towards my bathroom.
“I’m going to get cleaned up.”

Brendan laughed and shook his head.

“That’s not what I meant.”

“I know, but it’s been a really long day and

I could use a shower.” I made my way into
the bathroom, but before I closed the door I
stuck my head back into the bedroom.
“Don’t go anywhere, okay?”

He was sprawled out across the foot of my

bed. “I won’t. Promise.”

I smiled at that and shut the door. Why

was I so nervous? It’s not like we hadn’t
done this before. I mean we lived together

294/425

for almost a month. It just seemed like
things were different now. More fragile.
Like one wrong move on my part would send
him running again.

Sighing, I turned on the shower and

stripped out of my clothes. Why was I feel-
ing this way? The man I loved more than
anyone else in the world was just beyond
that door, willing to try at our relationship
again. This nagging feeling of dread inside of
me had to go away. I stepped underneath
the hot water and closed my eyes, forcing
myself to breathe deeply and ignore those
negative feelings.

I was just about to grab the shampoo when

I heard the door click open. My breath
caught in my throat and I froze. The shower
curtain rustled as it was pushed to the side
and Brendan stepped into the tub with me.
My back was facing him but I knew what I’d
see if I turned around. And I could barely
stop myself.

295/425

Brendan grabbed the shampoo from my

hands. “Here, let me do it.” The moment he
began to massage the shampoo into my scalp
was the moment the last of the fear slipped
away. Showers together had become an al-
most daily event in Maryland. It was as
though we could never quite get enough of
each other. I closed my eyes in part due to
the bliss of feeling him so close to me and
also to stop the impending tears from spill-
ing over.

When he finished with my hair, he began

to massage my neck and shoulders. It was so
relaxing that I needed to brace myself
against the side of the shower. He laughed
and leaned forward close enough to whisper
in my ear and brush up against me. “Per-
haps we should finish up in here and go to
bed.”

I turned around so that I could see his per-

fect face and beautiful body. Any childish
feelings that I may have had for Graham had

296/425

just been that…childish. This was real.
Brendan was real and he was here.

We stayed in the shower long enough to

use up all of the hot water before moving in-
to the bedroom. Everything was perfect. It
was as though we hadn’t lost all of that time
or that our lives had drastically changed
since that day in the cave. Brendan had
owned my heart for so many years and now I
couldn’t give him enough of me. I closed my
eyes and wished that we could freeze these
moments in time. Like the moment when we
were wrapped around each other so tight
that nothing could ever break us apart
again. Or the one right now, where we were
laying in each other’s arms, content and at
peace.

I rubbed my hand over his chest. “I’m glad

you’re back.” I felt him tense slightly, but
then he chuckled. Reaching up with his left
hand he grabbed mine and pulled it to his
mouth for a kiss.

297/425

“Me too,” he whispered.
“What’s going to happen now?” As much

as I really didn’t want to have this conversa-
tion, I needed to know.

He took a deep breath and tilted his head

down to look into my eyes. “We’ll just take it
one day at a time for now, okay?” I nodded
and smiled up at him, unable to speak.
“Close your eyes and get some sleep.” I
nestled closer against his chest, fearful that if
I wasn’t touching him, he would disappear.

Something in the middle of the night

briefly woke me up. Brendan was fidgeting
beside me and through my sleepy haze, I saw
him staring up at the ceiling. “What’s
wrong?”

“Nothing. Just go back to sleep.” The

gravity of the past few days had weighed me
down and before I could ask any more ques-
tions, I fell back into a deep sleep.

298/425

Rays of sun skittered through my window

and I groaned at the site. I was so tired but
the smell of fresh coffee wafting up from the
kitchen did me in. Opening my eyes, I sud-
denly remembered that last night had not
been a dream and that Brendan really had
been here with me.

I sat up in the bed and turned to look for

him. My heart plummeted when I saw that
he wasn’t lying next to me. The bathroom
door was opened and he wasn’t in there.
Relax

Eviana.

He’s

probably

just

downstairs.

I hurriedly threw on a sundress and

wrapped my hair up into a knot. Finishing
with my teeth, I’d managed to get out of bed
in record time. I bounded down the stairs
and tried to force myself to walk calmly into
the

kitchen.

was

packed

full

people…well, mermaids and selkies anyway.
Looking around, I could see that Jason and
Palmer were busy cooking breakfast while

299/425

one of the visiting selkies poured coffee and
juice for everyone. It was like one giant un-
orthodox family gathering.

“Hey Eviana!” Daniel shouted from his

seat at the counter. Sitting next to him was a
tall but lanky blonde boy with sharp
cheekbones and a chiseled jaw. That must
have been Aleksey. I walked towards them.

“Hi Daniel. Did you sleep well?”
Both of the boys blushed and I almost

died. I didn’t really want to know, it was just
a polite question. “Yes. Thank you.”

My sister suddenly caught my attention.

She was sitting at the table next to the young
man I assumed was Quinlan. His bright red
hair was a sharp contrast to her dark brown
mane, but his cute face and numerous
freckles made him irresistible. I could see
why she was attracted to him. They were
both bending over giggling and I watched
them flirt openly with each other. Even
though I thought that she was too young, I

300/425

had to smile. This was the first time in a
long time I saw her truly enjoying herself.

Daniel cleared his throat. “So how was

your night?” He totally knew.

“Fine.”
“Mmm hmm,” he mumbled in his trade-

mark way. I slapped his arm. “You’re beam-
ing, Eviana.” I guess that I was, although
right now, I just wanted to see Brendan.

“Have you seen him?” I asked. Daniel

shook his head.

“No, but we just got here a few minutes be-

fore you.” He looked around the room and
jerked his chin. “Maybe Julian knows.”

I followed his gaze to see the leader of the

selkies standing with his arms crossed and
leaning up against the doors that led to the
deck. His dark hair and tall, tanned body
was still in impeccable shape even though he
must have been in his mid-forties. He was
staring at me with sad green eyes and
something about his look sent my stomach

301/425

into a downward spiral. When he motioned
for me to join him, I almost collapsed.

“What’s wrong?” Daniel asked.
I shrugged my shoulders and silently fol-

lowed Julian out the sliding glass doors and
towards the farthest corner of the deck. My
body was trembling in anticipation like it
knew something bad was coming. While
everyone had been enjoying their morning,
Julian looked miserable. My heart climbed
into my throat as I forced myself to ask the
question.

“Do you know where Brendan is?” Si-

lence. I almost thought that he wasn’t going
to answer me, but finally he nodded.

“Yes, I do.” More silence followed and I

wanted to shake him.

“Well, will you tell me where? I need to

talk to him.” The sinking feeling in my gut
was growing but I tried to maintain my com-
posure. Julian sighed.

302/425

“He’s gone back to our house,” he turned

and looked down at me, “to pack his bags.” I
immediately let out the breath I’d been
holding.

“Good. So he decided to move in here.” I

smiled and leaned over the railing to glance
down the beach, hoping to see him walk this
way. He was coming back for good.

Julian laid his hand on top of mine. “Evi-

ana…” Suddenly a train slammed into my
chest. I could hear it in his tone before he
spoke the words. “Brendan’s not moving in
with you.”

Yanking my arm away, I stepped back and

nearly tripped over myself. “What do you
mean?”

Julian ran his hands through his dark,

curly hair and looked up at the sky. “He
found me early this morning and we had a
long talk.” When he didn’t continue I raised
my eyebrows telling him to go on. “He’s
been feeling the call for several weeks, but I

303/425

think that he was afraid to admit it to
himself.”

I almost fell to the ground. The call? No, it

couldn’t be. “What are you talking about,
Julian?” I snapped.

“It started in Seattle. Not long after we ar-

rived.” He began to pace along the deck. “At
first I thought he was just missing you. But
then I could see it in his mind.”

“What?” I gasped.
He rolled his head seemingly trying to re-

lease some of the tension. “I’m sort of…tele-
pathically connected to all of these selkies.”
He waited for me to comment and when I
didn’t, he continued. “That’s why I have the
persuasion I do. They kind of see me like an
alpha.”

“Brendan told me about that.”
“Good.

Then you understand.”

stopped walking and stood right in front of
me. “I’ve felt the pull through other selkie’s

304/425

minds. I’ve been there myself so I knew
that’s what Brendan was experiencing.”

The only way for me not to cry was to get

angry. “So why did he come here then? Why
did he spend last night with me?”

Julian winced. “He should not have done

either of those things and I told his as much.
But he wanted you to be enough.” I snorted
and glared at him. “What I mean is that he
wanted his life with you to be enough to
overpower the call. He loves you very much,
Eviana.”

I stepped away from him again. “Well, ob-

viously he doesn’t or he wouldn’t keep hurt-
ing me over and over!” My chest tightened
and my throat clamped shut. I was trying so
hard not to cry.

Julian’s green eyes glistened with tears,

too. “I am sorry that this is happening to the
two of you but…”

“You told me it would,” I snapped. He

nodded and I repressed every urge in my

305/425

body to punch him. This wasn’t Julian’s
fault. He just had the misfortune of being
the messenger. I started to move towards
the deck stairs. “I’m going to go see him.”

Julian grabbed my arm and pulled me

back. “You can’t,”

“Get your hands off of me,” I screamed

through gritted teeth. He obliged, but the
fight was slowly seeping from my body as
despair began to take over.

“You can’t see him because he’s already

gone.”

“What? You said that he was packing?”
“He was. But I’m sure that he’s gone by

now.” Julian looked at me with so much pity
in his eyes. I didn’t need someone feeling
sorry for me. I needed to talk to Brendan. I
turned to walk to their house again.
“Eviana! He left this for you.”

I whipped my body around to see Julian

holding a folded piece of paper in his out-
stretched arm. “What is it?”

306/425

“His goodbye.”
And that was it. I crumpled to the deck

and began to sob. Julian rushed to my side
but instead of grabbing me, he laid the note
down in my lap and gently kissed the top of
my head.

“I am sorry.”

307/425

Fifteen

Brendan was really gone. After collapsing

on the deck and watching Julian disappear
inside the house, I sat there and cried. The
note was burning a hole in my hands but I
couldn’t bring myself to read it. Not yet.

At some point, I gathered myself enough

to leave the deck and hide out in the garage.
The guest house was up above, but the en-
trance was on the outside so no one should
bother me in here. I sat inside my dad’s old
classic MGB and cried until I didn’t have any
tears left.

My heart was breaking into a thousand

shards; slicing every nerve with their sharp
edges. If Brendan was really feeling the call
to mate with a human, then he was lost to
me forever. Last night had been so wonder-
ful, I simply couldn’t understand how my
world could implode in such a short amount
of time.

A part of me was so angry with him. If he

knew that I wasn’t going to be enough, then
why did he come to my bed last night? Why
would he say all of those things to me? Why
did he love me?

But that was it. He loved me and wanted

that to be enough just like I’d always
dreamed. I suppose if I was really honest
with myself, I would admit that somewhere
deep down I knew that this would happen to
us. As much as it hurt right now, perhaps
this was for the best. I wouldn’t have to
worry about accidentally controlling him and
he wouldn’t have to fear his instinctual fate.

309/425

I looked down at the crumpled note in my

hands and took a deep breath. He didn’t
even give this to me himself. That was
something that I may never forgive him for.
Then I thought about the note I’d left on my
bed for Kain the night that Brendan and I
ran away and realized how hypocritical I was
being. Neither of us deserved happiness
with the way that we treated those we loved.
With shaky hands, I opened the note.

Evs-

I will probably never be able to convince

you of how much I wanted this to be
enough. I missed you with every fiber of my
being and I will always cherish our time to-
gether. My father warned me, as did Juli-
an. I refused to accept my fate.

I wish that I could tell you what I’m feel-

ing but it is so overwhelming that I can’t
find the words. Please know that I have not
succumbed completely to the call, but it also

310/425

won’t allow me to love you the way that you
deserve to be loved.

You are special. You are sexy. And you

are a leader. I am so proud of you and
what you’ve become. It saddens me that we
won’t be able to share our lives together, but
know that I will always have a place for you
in my heart.

I am sorry-
Brendan

I must have read it ten times. Getting a

“Dear John” note was not the best way to
breakup, although there was a part of me
that was thankful he said at least something.

The thought of him running off to start a

family was just devastating. Maybe he would
be able to fight it. Maybe he wouldn’t find
anyone. Maybe he would come back to me.
But the odds were stacked against us. Maybe
I should just stick to my own kind.

311/425

At some point I saw light slip inside when

someone opened the door to the garage.
“Eviana? Are you in here?”

Great. It was Kain. Literally the last per-

son that I wanted to see right now. Maybe if
I didn’t say anything, he’d leave. “I know
you’re in here.” Maybe not.

“I’m over here,” I yelled while wiping my

puffy eyes and snotty nose. There was no
mistaking that I’d been crying for the last
hour.

Kain mumbled a curse when he bumped

into something but then emerged and looked
at me. “Why are you sitting in the dark?”

“Why not?”
He snorted. “Mature, Eviana.” I watched

him come closer to the car and I could tell
the moment he saw my face.

“What

happened?”

I waved my hand with the note. “Brendan

happened.” Kain took a deep breath and
pointed to the empty driver’s seat.

312/425

“May I?” I nodded and he climbed inside.

After admiring the car for a moment he shif-
ted in his seat to face me better. “I’m really
sorry, Eviana.”

I slammed my head back against the seat

and closed my eyes. “You shouldn’t be. I de-
serve this.”

“Why would you think that?” He asked

sincerely.

“I’ve done nothing but treat you badly and

now karma has slapped me in the face.”

“Is he really gone this time?” His voice

was light but there was something else hid-
den underneath.

“Yes. He felt the call. There’s no coming

back now.” I hurriedly wiped at the tears on
my cheeks.

“Well then, I really am sorry. I know how

much you cared for him.”

“I love him.”
“I know.” Kain sighed and I remained si-

lent. This would normally be incredibly

313/425

awkward but my nerves were so frazzled I
barely felt anything. “I never told you, but I
saw you leave that night.”

“What? When?”
“The night that you and Brendan left Cali-

fornia.” I cringed and rolled my head to look
the other way. After spending the day as
Kain’s fiancé and sharing our first and only
kiss, I left him just hours before we were to
be married.

“I’m sorry,” I grumbled.
“I’m not telling you this to make you feel

bad. I’m telling you because I want you to
know that I get it. When I saw the look on
your face when he picked you up, I knew that
our marriage would never be what I wanted
it to be.”

“Kain…” He held up his hand to stop me.
“I knew that you cared about me, but it

was obvious how much you loved Brendan. I
can only wish that someday I can experience
a love like that.”

314/425

“Is this supposed to make me feel better?”

He smiled slightly and shook his head.

“No. I just want you to know that I really

am sorry that it didn’t work out with you
two.” There was really nothing for me to say
to that.

“You were so mad at me,” I whispered.
“Yes, I was. Sure I was mad that I’d lost

you, but what hurt worse was the way you
did it.”

I lifted my hand. “You mean like in a

note?”

“Yes. And without any warning. You left

me in a tough position. Everyone wanted me
to join your mother in support of your shun-
ning and everyone expected me to be angry.”
He leaned back in his seat. “And I was
angry. I probably still am. But we’re in a po-
sition where we don’t have time to hold petty
grudges or mourn the loss of something we
never really had. We’re in a position of

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power and those duties and responsibilities
to our people have to come first.”

I looked at him with amazement and not

for the first time. “What happened to you?”

He chuckled. “What do you mean?”
“You’re so…mature and stuff.” I reached

across the seat to grab his hand. “Your clan
is lucky to have you.”

He squeezed back. “So is yours.”
“Yeah, right,” I grunted. “Especially when

I’m covered in snot.” He laughed and
wrapped his arm over my shoulder. I nestled
in against him.

“Well, maybe not looking like you do right

now. But you’re powerful, Eviana. They
know that even if they give you a hard time.”

“They don’t do it to you.”
“I’ve had a few more weeks at this. They’re

coming around. Don’t worry.” I pulled away
from him and sighed.

316/425

“We need to find Abhainn.” It was the last

thing I felt like doing right now, but getting
out of this house was probably for the best.

“Yes, that’s actually why I was looking for

you. Adele called.” I jumped in my seat.
“Lucian’s agreed to a meeting tomorrow
night.”

“Where?”
“Red Lodge, Montana.”
“What?”
“It was the only place they all could agree

upon. Neutral territory so to speak.” Why
Montana was considered neutral, I had no
idea. Maybe because it wasn’t near an ocean.

“So when do we leave?”
“They’re sending a jet for us in the morn-

ing.” He climbed out of the car. “So we need
to get Abhainn on our side today.”

I opened my door and decided not to leave

Brendan’s note behind.

“Okay, let me

change and I’ll meet you downstairs.” Kain
nodded and left me alone. Although I had to

317/425

laugh when he ran into something again and
I heard him swear for the second time today.

Kain and I rode in the back of the car tak-

ing us to Bennett’s Park where we last saw
Abhainn. Daniel wanted to come, but some-
how Kain convinced him that his time would
be better spent practicing his fighting tech-
niques with Aleksey. Daniel couldn’t argue
with that.

“Is Carissa coming again for a visit?” It

probably wasn’t the best topic, but I needed
to fill the silence.

“I’m not sure.”
“Oh.” I wanted to know more, but figured

he would tell me if he wanted. “You know, I
think she can sense when people are lying?”

He glanced in my direction. “Really?”
“Yeah. I didn’t even know that was pos-

sible until I met Graham. He can do it and
he said there are probably others like that
too, although it’s not very common.”

318/425

We pulled into the parking lot. “Huh.

That might explain some things.” He didn’t
elaborate and I didn’t press.

It was still early enough in the morning

that the park wasn’t too crowded. Two pro-
tectors followed us somewhere in the dis-
tance, since no one would allow us to do any-
thing by ourselves. Especially after Lucian’s
attacks the other night.

We trudged up the path and then through

the forest to the pond where Abhainn had
been hanging out. The morning sun was still
behind the trees to the east and steam rose
off the interior of the pond as the air warmed
up. I stood there for a second admiring the
beauty of this place. With so much death
and destruction and heartbreak in my life re-
cently, I needed this moment of serenity.

Unfortunately, that didn’t last very long.

Two figures burst through the trees not more
than fifty feet from us. There was a male and
a female and neither of them were wearing

319/425

any clothes. We watched as the man caught
up to the woman and grabbed her from be-
hind, eliciting a squeal from her perfect lips.
Her long auburn hair flowed effortlessly
down to her waist, covering an ample bosom
and a flat stomach. The man pulled her tight
and kissed her so fiercely and deeply that I
felt like we should avert our eyes.

She complied for a moment and then

slapped him hard across the cheek, laughing
as she did it. He growled at her but then
smiled. This was a game for them. She leapt
away from him and began to run along the
water’s edge and straight towards us.

Kain and I froze as the female got within a

few feet before noticing our presence. With a
hiss she jerked back and dropped to the
ground on all fours. In an instant her human
body shuddered and disappeared as she be-
came a large dog with massive jaws and
sharp teeth. A ratchet.

320/425

I stumbled backwards in fear. I didn’t

want to face one of these creatures ever
again. The ratchet began snarling at us,
drool falling from her mouth and her gaze
locked on Kain. The man running up behind
her suddenly stopped and waved his hands
in relief.

“Oh. It’s just ye syrenkas.” The ratchet

snapped her head around to look at the man,
sending droplets of drool and water flying to
the side. She backed up towards him, not
once dropping her eyes from us.

“Abhainn?” I asked.
He chuckled and had the decency to look

ashamed. “Aye. Wasn’t expecting company
this mornin’.” He reached forward and
began to pet the ratchet on the head. “’Tis
alright, Isabel. They are ma friends.” She
growled and he laughed again. “Isabel is
quite protective of me these days.” He bent
forward so that he was at eye level with her.
“Really, ‘tis okay. Let’s change.”

321/425

Abhainn’s fleshy body shimmered and

clothes suddenly, and thankfully, appeared
on his form. Isabel wasn’t quite so quick, but
once Abhainn reassured her another dozen
times, she stood up on her hind legs and
transformed into the beautiful women. This
time, she created a very small robe to cover
her most intimate parts. It was better than
nothing.

“Mistress Dumahl and Master Matthew,

what a surprise to see ye again so soon,”
Abhainn continued. “Please, let’s ‘ave a
seat.” He pointed to a few boulders that had
been arranged in a circle and provided the
perfect spot for a camp fire. “Tell me, what
brings ye up to these parts?”

Isabel sat on the ground in front of his

legs, barely blocking the view of her parts
just underneath the robe. I elbowed Kain
when I caught him staring. “Have you heard
about the attacks on the east coast?”

322/425

“Aye, you mean the cruise ship ‘n that

retched merman?” I winced at the thought
of all of those dead people, but nodded my
head.

“Yes. Lucian’s using water sprites of all

types now to do his dirty work.” I looked at
Isabel. “You’re a ratchet?”

“Oui,” she replied in a thick French accent.
“And you’re French?”
“Oui.”
“Do you speak English?”
“Oui,” she said but didn’t elaborate so I

looked at Abhainn. He was smiling down at
Isabel with so much love that I felt another
pang of sadness flood through me. “Ratchets
can change forms?”

“Oui,” Isabel snapped. “All of zee water

fairies can.” Her accent was so thick it made
it hard to understand. It sounded like she
was choking on phlegm.

“Why are ye asking, lassie?”

323/425

“I’m just learning so much.” I faced Isa-

bel. “I saw what your kind is capable of.
They killed many humans and mermaids at
Jeremiah’s. They drowned an entire clan on
that cruise ship.”

“It iz my understanding zhat a mermaid

created zhat wave to topple zee ship, non?”
She saw my reaction and smiled. “Oui, it iz
true zen. We are not zee only evil ones.”
This time when she smiled, her mouth was
full of hundreds of sharp pointy teeth.

“Isabel is a little sensitive,” Abhainn said

while resting a hand on her shoulder. “So
what is it that ye seek today?”

This time Kain answered. “We have prom-

ised our clans that we could secure the sup-
port of our own water sprites and we were
hoping that you’d be able to help us with
that.”

“Non,” Isabel snapped before Abhainn

could reply. “I do not like her.”

“Excuse me?” I blurted.

324/425

“Ladies, ladies, relax. There is enough of

me to go around,” Abhainn said with a wry
smile.

“Abhainn,” I sighed but he waved his hand

at me.

“You ‘ave been good to me, ‘n I will see

what I can do to aid yer war.” Isabel growled
at him. “My acquaintance can be quite
feisty.”

“Your acquaintance?” A memory rose to

the surface. “Isabel is the one who helped
you find the selkies, isn’t she?”

“Aye, I told you she could smell them a

mile away.” I suddenly had a new respect for
her.

“Thank you,” I said. “You were very help-

ful.” She turned her nose up to me, but I
could see a hint of pride on her face.

“How many do you think you can get?”

Kain interrupted.

“I don’t know, but I will ask the kelpies ‘n

the nereids. Isabel can work with the

325/425

ratchets.” She snorted again but didn’t ar-
gue. “When do ye need us?”

We spent another hour scheming and

planning. We told him about our trip to
Montana and he agreed that this may be a
trap by Lucian. But he was also familiar with
the area and thought that Lucian picked it
because there weren’t very many lakes
nearby. And those that were, would most
likely still be frozen. So we couldn’t bring
any sprites but neither could he.

“Adele really thinks that he just wants a

meeting.” Kain was explaining.

“What do you think?” I asked.
“I wouldn’t trust him.”
“Oui, Aye,” Isabel and Abhainn said at the

same time.

“Well, we don’t have much of a choice.” I

said with a sigh. With that, we agreed to
meet Abhainn at the house later that even-
ing. He promised there would be a way for
him to find us and I had to trust him to do it.

326/425

It was almost lunch and Kain thought that
someone would be looking for us. Reluct-
antly, we left Abhainn and Isabel and re-
turned the house where Brendan was no
longer waiting for me.

327/425

Sixteen

It was a horrible day. Once Kain and I re-

turned to the house, we were immediately
swept up into a flurry of meetings. Our ad-
visors had a change of heart overnight and
were now insisting that some of them accom-
pany us to Montana. I was too worn out to
argue and let Kain handle it instead. Yes, it
was cowardly, but I would return the favor
someday.

In the end, we agreed to have four protect-

ors travel with us. Selkies had been men-
tioned but we feared that Lucian would be
able to take control if I wasn’t around. So it

was decided that Troy, the leader of our little
army, would designate who was best fit for
the job.

It was just before dinner when the door-

bell rang and I heard a commotion down-
stairs. I had retreated to my room as soon as
possible, mostly to wallow in my sorrows,
but also because of the incorrigible headache
that exploded behind my eyes. A voice called
for me and I groaned. Why couldn’t I just
disappear for a while?

Trudging down the stairs, I heard Kain ar-

guing with someone. He didn’t usually raise
his voice so I picked up my pace to see what
was going on.

“She doesn’t need to see this right now!”
“Yes, she does. She should know what

she’s getting into. What she’s getting all of
us into.” It was my uncle.

“What’s going on here?” I asked trying to

sound stronger than I felt. No one said any-
thing.

Palmer, Jason, and Troy were

329/425

huddled behind Kain, Andre, Marisol, and
Daniel. There was a long box in Kain’s
hands. “What is that?”

“It’s from Lucian,” my uncle said with a

slanted glance towards Kain.

“Eviana, don’t worry about it right now,”

said Kain. He tried to leave the foyer area
but I ran down the stairs and reached to-
wards the box.

“It’s okay, I’m fine.” When he wouldn’t let

go of it, I looked up at him and tried to
smile. “Really.” Plus I needed a distraction.
He opened the lid and inside was a black
orchid. It was just as beautiful as the first
one and it was another gift from Lucian.
“Is…,” I cleared my throat. “Is there a note.”

Kain shook his head. “No, just the flower

this time.”

“Well, that’s creepy,” Daniel vocalized my

thoughts exactly.

“He is unbelievable,” my uncle stomped

away but then quickly turned back towards

330/425

us. “You should not be meeting with that
lunatic!” For the first time in a long time I
noticed that my uncle really seemed to be
concerned for me. And for the first time in a
long time, I was starting to agree with him.

“We’ll have the Council with us, plus the

protectors. We’ll be alright.” I think that I
was trying to convince myself just as much as
everyone else. I looked up at Kain and he
wrapped his arm lightly around my shoulder.

“Yes. They aren’t going to put us in harm’s

way.”

“How do you know that? You don’t have

any control over this!” My uncle was nearly
screaming at us. “He already took your
mother away from me. I couldn’t bear it to
watch him destroy you too.”

His eyes misted with tears and without

thinking, I ran into his arms. He was still
mourning my mother. In all the chaos that
had become my life since returning to Cali-
fornia, I had never really thought about how

331/425

much my uncle was suffering. He was the
only one left in their family now.

His shoulders shuddered with every sob,

making it impossible for me to hold my com-
posure. I felt another pair of small arms
wrap around us just as I began to lose con-
trol. My sister had joined in the hug and
now all three of us were crying like babies.

“We’ll be in the kitchen,” Kain whispered

close to my ear before retreating with the
rest of our audience.

The three of us stood there, crying and

mourning

together

for

several

minutes. We didn’t really speak, just held
each other. There was a part of me that
spent a little bit of my time crying for
Brendan, too. I felt so alone in the world
right now. If I could just go back a few
months, even if it was only for a day, I think
that it would help me get through all of this.

We were called into the kitchen by Palmer

and also by the smell of someone grilling.

332/425

Laughter filled the room where the protect-
ors challenged the selkies to a cook-off. Ap-
parently, the selkies thought that they had
the advantage when it came to preparing
seafood. It had to do with their seal diet or
something. I guess when they catch it and
eat it raw, they knew what was best.

I stood in the background and watched

everyone gathered in the kitchen and dining
room area. Our house had been invaded by
Julian’s selkies just a few days ago, but
already it seemed as though we’d forged our
own family unit. Something eased in my
heart. This house had been the center of
everything since my parent’s death, and for
the first time I realized that this was the way
it was meant to be. It may not be traditional,
but we were a family now.

Several of us set up some tables outside on

the deck while the remaining chefs finished
up their masterpieces. In the end, we had a
smorgasbord of fish, crab, abalone and

333/425

mussels. And although it was a contest, I
certainly couldn’t pick a winner. It was all
good.

I was inside clearing plates when I heard

the doorbell ring again. At once, twenty
heads turned in my direction asking the si-
lent question. I waved my hand, letting the
protectors and selkies know that I didn’t
need them to open the door, but Palmer and
Kain still came inside with me.

“I’ll get it,” Palmer said while Kain and I

followed closely behind. He looked through
the glossy window before unlocking the
deadbolt and pulling the ornate wooden door
open. “Can I help you?”

“Aye. I would like to speak with Mistress

Dumahl,” an accented voice answered.

“Who are you?” Palmer asked just as I

pushed around him.

“Abhainn,” I said and then gasped when I

saw him. He had done it again. His body
was fully formed and completely solid.

334/425

Tonight he was nearly six feet tall with broad
shoulders and a flawless face that any male
model would want. It still looked like
Abhainn, but apparently he’d perfected the
chiseled jaw and high cheekbones that many
would pay good money for. He also dropped
the bowler’s hat this time. The water sprite
was leaning casually against the doorframe
watching my assessment of him. His lips
curled up into a grin then he nodded his
head slightly.

“You know him?” Palmer asked.
“Yes, I do.” Turning to my cousin I said,

“It’s alright. He’s here to help us.” When
Palmer didn’t move, I gave him a little pat on
the shoulder. “Really, it’s okay. He’s here to
see Kain and me. I promise we won’t leave
the front porch.” That last part was meant to
ease Palmer’s apprehension, but I’m not so
sure it did the job. After a glare in Abhainn’s
direction, Palmer retreated and Kain filled
the empty space in the threshold.

335/425

While I continued to be stunned with

Abhainn’s appearance, a thought suddenly
occurred to me. I groaned. “Abhainn, no.”

He smiled and shook his head. “No what,

lassie?”

I sighed and lowered my voice so that no

one else could hear. “You ate another one
didn’t you?” A smile filled with hundreds of
pointy teeth was all the confirmation I
needed. “Where?”

Kain shifted beside me. “Do ye really want

to know that?” Abhainn asked. Did I? Prob-
ably not, so I didn’t respond. “The consump-
tion of humans is a necessity for my kind.”

“I know,” I replied. “But it doesn’t mean

that I have to like it.”

This time, Abhainn laughed. “Well, lassie

‘tis true. But I’m no’ tellin’ ye this for yer
mind. I’m tellin’ ye this because the water
fairies ‘ave agreed to join yer fight.”

336/425

“Really?” Kain and I said in unison, but

Abhainn held up his human-like hand to
stop us.

“Aye, but with some requests.”
“Requests?” Kain asked.
“Aye. Requests.” He began to pace back

and forth on the porch and after several mo-
ments, I got impatient.

“And those requests are…” I urged him to

continue.

“Food.”
I swallowed. “You can’t eat anyone in this

house, Abhainn. They are my family.”

He chuckled and reached out to rub the

top of my head like an annoying big brother.
“Aye, we suspected as much. And donna
worry, no one likes the taste of yer kind.” He
made a face. “Or those dogs.”

“You mean the selkies,” I groaned.
“Same thing.”

337/425

Kain cleared his throat in an attempt to

stop my impending response. “So how are
we supposed to feed you, exactly?”

“Aye, good question.” Abhainn walked

back towards us and straightened the dark
jacket that hung from his impressive frame.
“Here’s the deal. Since we are some-
what…limited with the distance we can travel
from the water, the water fairies ‘ave reques-
ted that ye turn the other way when we need
to feed nearby.”

“You want us to sit back and let you kill

humans?” I asked incredulously. “You have
got to be kidding! The whole point of this
stupid war is to save humanity, not eat
them!”

Kain rested a hand on my shoulder.

“What kind of numbers are you talking
about?”

“Kain!” I yelled.
“Eviana, I’m just trying to understand ex-

actly what their demands are so we can think

338/425

about this rationally.” Sometimes his calm,
cool, and collected persona irked me more
than anything else. But he did have a point
so I crossed my arms and looked at the
sprite.

Abhainn was rubbing the illusion-induced

stubble on his chin. “Well, let’s see. One a
week should do it, I think.”

“For each of you?” I gasped. Kain gave me

a look and I rolled my eyes but closed my
mouth.

“Is that absolutely necessary?” he asked

Abhainn.

“Yes. Otherwise we will only be able to

help ye from the water.” So eating humans
allowed them to assume the solid form we
would need in battle. As much as I hated the
idea, I also hated the fact that we were
severely outnumbered.

“We will think about your terms,” Kain

replied diplomatically.

339/425

Abhainn nodded. “’Tis all that we ask, yet

I should tell ye that they are gettin’ restless.
The sooner you can solidify this agreement,
the better.”

“We understand,” Kain said.
Did we? I’m not so sure that I did. But I

didn’t get a chance to say anything more.
For Abhainn suddenly stiffened and tilted his
head to the side like he was listening to
something. Then, with a curse, he exploded
into a million tiny water droplets and disap-
peared from our sight.

“What just happened?” I shrieked at Kain.
“I don’t know.” He ran to the edge of the

porch and looked all around like he could
find Abhainn. “Where could he possibly go?”

“There’s no water out here. Maybe in the

ground…”

A scream from somewhere nearby closed

off the rest of my thought. It seemed to echo
around the house, making it difficult to

340/425

determine its origin. Kain and I froze, wait-
ing for something else to happen.

The second scream sent us running back

inside and out to the deck. Almost everyone
had dispersed. I saw only a handful of pro-
tectors and selkies guarding my sister, uncle,
and Daniel. The rest were running towards
the beach.

“What’s going on?” I asked anyone who

would answer.

“We’re

being

attacked!”

Marisol

screamed. “Look!” I followed her shaking
arm to see that she was pointing to the edge
of the water line. It was several hundred
yards away but from our view, it was easy to
see a dozen animal forms rising up out of the
water and approaching our army.

“No!” I gasped as the ratchets shook their

body like a wet dog and bared their teeth at
the protectors and selkies who had made
their way down to the beach. “No, this can’t
be happening! Kain!”

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I yelled at my friend as he took off down

the stairs. “What is he doing?” my uncle
asked, but I barely heard him because I was
chasing after Kain. With his long legs and
the near foot of extra height, he bounded
down the stairs and onto the beach way
quicker than I would have expected. There
was no way that I was going to catch him.

“Kain!” I yelled again. My mind suddenly

remembered the night that Graham and I
were running for our lives over the sand
dunes at Jeremiah’s. Panic seared through
my body and almost paralyzed me. I was
afraid of these ratchets and I was probably
one of the only ones to witness the extent of
their destruction up close. The rest of my
army would fight them like any other enemy
but I wasn’t sure that would be enough.

Stumbling along the beach, I heard myself

yelling without really knowing I was doing
it. Perhaps a part of me was in shock. There

342/425

had simply been too many attacks for my
mind to cope.

But something was different this time. I

stopped when I saw that nothing was hap-
pening. No one had moved.

The ratchets were on all fours in an ag-

gressive stance, hunched over and teeth
flashing, but they hadn’t stepped any closer.
Maybe these were friends of Abhainn.

As soon as that thought crossed my mind,

Abhainn appeared twenty feet behind the
ratchets, floating on the surface of the water
in his aqueous form. “Master Matthew, now
would be a good time to show them what ye
can do.”

Three of the ratchets whipped around to

growl at the sprite while the rest remained
transfixed on us. Kain stepped forward in
front of all our protectors and selkies that
were better trained for these kinds of fights.

“Kain!” I yelled again. This time he

stopped, although I knew it was hopeless the

343/425

moment he turned his head and winked at
me.

With a flick of his hands he began to raise

his arms and finally, we weren’t the ones be-
ing hunted anymore.

344/425

Seventeen

Several people gasped at the site in front of

them. A wall of water formed behind the
ratchets, effectively trapping the creatures
and blocking their escape. When one of the
smaller ones tried to flee into the ocean, Kain
flipped his hand and a tendril of water shot
out from the wall to slam the ratchet back
onto the beach. I watched closely, but didn’t
appear to be moving after that.

Abhainn’s face eerily appeared in the li-

quid barrier and I stared in horror as he ex-
tended an inhumanly long arm from the wa-
ter and grabbed a ratchet by the rear legs.

The creature screeched and instantly twisted
its body to reach behind and bite at his
captor. The two rear legs quickly turned into
a serpent tail, just like I’d encountered at
Jeremiah’s. But that didn’t deter Abhainn.

The ratchet was making the most horrible

yelping sound as the water sprite pulled the
animal closer towards his growing head. By
the time the ratchet was hanging in mid-air,
Abhainn’s face consumed the majority of the
watery wall. His sharp teeth were each a foot
in length and I had to turn my head when he
flung the ratchet into his mouth and
chomped down.

A piercing yelp followed by the sound of

crunching bones let me know that we were
now down to ten enemies.

Kain’s arms were shaking but his face was

filled with determination. One by one, Kain
and Abhainn subdued or ate the remaining
ratchets while the rest of us sat back and
watched in awe. No amount of training

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could ever prepare us for something like
this. Although it did appear that Kain had
been practicing his skills. Perhaps the con-
tract with the water fairies could be altered
to include water control sessions for all of
the mermaids.

When the last of the enemies were no

longer a threat, Kain let out a breath and
dropped his arms. The wall of water fell so
suddenly it caused a miniature tidal wave to
wash up on shore. We tried to jump out of
the way, but it was futile. The wave swept up
past our waists and nearly dragged each one
of us back into the sea. I stumbled against
Kain and we both crashed into the water.
His hand wrapped around my upper body,
touching parts it shouldn’t while my knees
came awfully close to hitting areas sensitive
to him. It was one of the most awkward mo-
ments we’d ever shared. My gaze met his
face and I started to giggle. He quickly
joined me and soon we couldn’t stop

347/425

laughing, even after the wave subsided and
we were lying on the beach like two broken
bodies.

“That was pretty awesome,” I said even

though my mouth was pressed against his
chest because of the way we were positioned.

“Huh?” he mumbled while detangling our

limbs and rolling off of me. “The water trick
or the synchronized swimming?”

I blushed a little even though I knew he

was joking. “The water trick,” I groaned.
“Someone’s been practicing.”

“Well, I can’t let you be the all-powerful

one on your own. What kind of co-leader
would I be then?”

“A jealous one?” I teased and that earned

me a poke in the ribs.

“Very funny.” He pushed up to his knees

and reached a hand towards me. “Come on.
It’s getting dark and everyone’s staring at
us.”

348/425

I turned my head to the side to see that

yes, in fact, everyone was staring at us. I
even saw Palmer wink at me. Rolling my
eyes, I allowed Kain to help me up off the
ground. I brushed the sand away the best I
could even though I was soaking wet. Des-
pite the fact that I spent half of my life in the
ocean, I still hated to wear wet clothes.

“He’s gone,” Kain said beside me.
“Who?”
“Abhainn. He’s gone.” I followed his eyes

to look out at the spot where the sprite’s gi-
ant head had managed to consume eight of
the twelve ratchets. Chills swept through me
thinking

about

how

dangerous

those

creatures were. And I wasn’t just referring to
the ratchets.

“Where are the bodies?” I asked.
“Swept away,” Palmer answered. “Almost

like you two.” I glared up at my cousin.

“I think that I can handle a wave, Palmer.”

When he glanced quickly at Kain and back to

349/425

me, I knew that he wasn’t exactly referring to
being swept away by the ocean. He was im-
plying a different kind of danger.

Ignoring him, I stared up at the house. In

the growing darkness, everyone on the porch
looked like a silhouette against the back
lighting of the indoor house lights. I thought
that I saw five or six people standing up
there.

“Who’s guarding them?”
“Troy, Julian, Aleksey, and Quinlan I

think. Julian stayed with the youngest two.”
He was referring to Aleksey and Quinlan al-
though I had a feeling Julian was staying
nearby to discourage any type of relationship
from developing between the selkies and the
two forbidden merfolk.

“So one protector and three selkies,” I

confirmed.

“Yes, why?” Palmer asked hesitantly.
“Just wondering how many came down

here.”

I don’t really know why that

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mattered. It just seemed to be important at
the time. With three selkies up at the house,
it meant most of them had come to the
beach. I think there were a dozen here for
dinner tonight.

“Well, I’m going to go change,” Kain an-

nounced as he began walking towards the
stairs. When he glided past the protectors
and selkies on the beach, they inundated him
with high fives and pats on the back. His
smile stretched from ear to ear. It was nice
to see him get credit for saving the day. He
certainly had.

“So how are you holding up?” Palmer

asked, jerking my attention back to all of the
things I didn’t want to think about. Okay,
the one thing I didn’t want to think about.

“I’ll be all right,” I said perhaps a little too

harshly.

My cousin slipped his arm over my

shoulder and squeezed. “I know you will.
You’re tough.”

351/425

“Thanks,” I mumbled as we began to move

closer to the rest of the crowd.

“Hey! Anyone up for a practice session?”

one of the younger selkies asked. “I am way
too hyped up right now.”

A chorus of “Yeah!” and “Me too!” fol-

lowed and I chuckled. Men. They’re all ad-
renaline junkies.

“I’ll catch up with Kain,” I told my cousin.
“Let Troy and Julian know, will you?” he

called while running away from me towards
the array of men ready to pummel each
other.

“Maids versus selkies,” the young man

yelled.

“We’re not maids,” I heard my cousin ar-

gue just before someone grunted and
thumped into the ground. I shook my head
and jogged up to Kain.

“Why are you all so Neanderthal?” I asked.
“We aren’t all like that,” he said but I could

tell that he was smiling.

352/425

We only made it a few more steps before a

wave of nausea passed over me and I
stumbled. Kain reached out to steady me
and then sucked in a breath.

“What is that?” he asked.
“You felt it too?”
“Yes.”
“I have no idea.” I stood and tried to clear

my head. The headache that had been
haunting me all day appeared again with a
vengeance. I was forced to push the heels of
my hands into my forehead to keep from
screaming.

“Eviana!” It wasn’t Kain. Someone from

the beach was yelling my name. “Eviana!
Agh!”

Kain and I ran back towards the men who

appeared to still be sparring with each other.
Someone called my name again and even
though it was dark, I was able to identify
him. It was Caleb, one of Palmer’s closest
friends. He was fighting with a large selkie

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but regardless of the size difference they
seemed to be evenly matched.

“Eviana! Help us!” Caleb yelled just before

his opponent landed a hard punch to the side
of his head. He fell towards the ground but
caught himself quick enough to roll away and
avoid the kick that had been aimed at his
ribs.

“Hey!” Kain shouted and charged Caleb’s

attacker. I watched him engage the selkie in
a show of hand to hand combat that I didn’t
know he was capable of. He wasn’t winning,
but he seemed to be holding his own.
Someone moaned close by.

I looked around and saw the body again.

Only this time I was able to see exactly who it
was. “Palmer!” I cried and fell to my knees
beside my cousin. He was barely conscious.
“What happened to you?”

Something slammed into my back and

sent me sprawling out over top of my cous-
in. My breath was knocked away and my

354/425

face landed hard in the packed sand.
Muffled sounds of men grunting and punch-
ing were directly over my head. I was
trapped until someone finally removed the
heavy object from on top of me.

Jumping to my feet, I tried to take in the

situation. As far as I could tell, all of the
selkies were fighting the protectors, but there
didn’t seem to be any rules. This wasn’t how
their training sessions usually went and
something inside of me trembled.

Two more bodies slumped to the ground

before I was able to move again. I ran to-
wards Kain, who was still fighting the same
selkie. Both of their faces were bloodied and
they were panting like dogs, but neither of
them would drop focus.

“Kain! Stop this!”
“Take back control, Eviana!” he said as he

ducked and just missed being hit in the nose.

“What?”

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“They’re attacking us.

Someone has

control!”

I froze. This couldn’t be happening. These

were our selkies. Our friends. They wouldn’t
attack us unless…

“Lucian,” I whispered. Whipping my head

around, I looked for the merman, expecting
to see him lurking in the shadows
somewhere.

“Eviana! Umph!” Kain’s plea was cut short

by a foot in the gut that sent him flying to the
ground. I watched in horror as the selkie
stumbled over to him and raised both hands
in the air. He clasped his fists together and
positioned himself above Kain’s head. With
a sickening realization, I knew that he inten-
ded to kill him with his bare hands.

I threw out my powers and sent out a si-

lent command to match the vocal one.
“Stop! Come to me. Now!”

At once, the evening went eerily quiet.

There were no more sounds of fists

356/425

pummeling skin or bones breaking on im-
pact. All I could hear were the shuffling feet
of selkies moving towards my side. They fell
to their knees in front of me and stared up
into my eyes like lost puppies. I noticed that
not all of them were here, and when I looked
around, I also knew why. Palmer wasn’t the
only one in serious condition.

Something crashed through the glass up at

the house and I heard my sister scream. The
sound pierced through my skin and it was all
I could do not to run up there this instant.
But I had to finish what I’d started first.

“You are under my control now. Do you

understand?” A handful of bloody selkies
nodded their heads. It was quite the grue-
some site. “Take your fallen comrades and
bring them up to the house.”

One by one they slowly began to stand and

wander around the impromptu battlefield.

Another scream from the house sent my

nerves over the edge.

357/425

“Move faster!” I winced at treating my

friends like this, but I couldn’t worry about
their feelings right now.

I ran towards the house, afraid at what I

might find. The sound of muffled shouting
carried out over the beach and my stomach
dropped in dread. I took the stairs two at a
time, not really having a plan and not really
looking out for danger. When I got to the top
of the deck, it seemed as if the danger had
already passed and now we were stuck in the
aftermath of its destruction.

My sister and Daniel were crouching down

next to someone who’d apparently been
thrown through the sliding glass doors.
Quinlan and Aleksey seemed to be having an
argument or a serious discussion with Juli-
an. And Troy, one of our eldest protectors,
was lying unconscious on the deck.

I ran over to him just as he started to stir.

“Troy! Don’t move!” Grabbing his head, I
forced him to lay still. His eyes were hazy

358/425

and when he tried to touch his head, he
groaned.

“What happened?” he asked. Before I

could answer my sister yelled for me and I
knew that something was horribly wrong.

“Quinlan, come here and help him.” I

didn’t know if my power was still forcing the
command or if Quinlan just wanted to assist,
but he ran over to us right away and propped
up Troy’s head in his lap. “Don’t let him
move too much until he’s fully awake.”

He nodded and I ran into the kitchen area

where my sister was crying and Daniel was
whispering to the body on the floor.

I stopped breathing for a moment. At

first, I was paralyzed by the sight of blood
and glass and bloody glass shards lying all
over the floor and embedded in the body.
Once I realized who it was, I was stunned in-
to shock. Uncle Andre had been the one
tossed through the door and now he was
dying.

359/425

“Please no,” I cried and slid down to the

floor next to my sister. She held his bloodied
but limp hand in hers. His eyes were closed
and Daniel was running his hand through
my uncle’s hair whispering something over
and over. With a jolt, I realized that my
uncle wasn’t dying; he was already dead.

Tears flooded my eyes and I moved so that

I could be closer to his face. I wanted him to
hear what I had to say, but when I saw the
blood pouring from the gash in his neck, I
stopped myself from getting any closer.

“What happened?” I finally asked.
“It was Julian,” Marisol whispered. “And

Aleksey….and…Quinlan,” she choked out.

“Everything was fine and then all of a sud-

den they turned on us and attacked,” Daniel
finished explaining. His face was covered in
blood, tears, and bruises. He must have
fought back.

360/425

“They took out Troy first,” Marisol

sobbed. “Julian hit him so hard that I swear
he was dead.”

“And then they attacked your uncle,”

Daniel continued. “We tried to fight them
off, but Quinlan and Aleksey came after us
and we had to defend ourselves.” He
reached across my uncle and grabbed my
hand. “Why did they do this?”

I sucked in a deep breath. “I think it was

Lucian.” The look in Marisol’s eyes nearly
caused me to lose my nerve. She was so fear-
ful of that man. It made me wish that we
could be done with this once and for all. “He
forced the selkies to attack us on the beach
just after we got rid of the ratchets.”

Suddenly it all made sense. The ratchets

had been the distraction. They never actu-
ally attacked us. They’d just separated us.
And that meant that Lucian had to be some-
where nearby.

361/425

“How is he?” Julian asked from the hole

in the door.

“He’s dead! You threw him through a

glass door!” Marisol screamed at him.
“What did you think would happen?” That
last question was barely audible over the
sound of her sobs. I wrapped my arms
around her and pulled her back into my lap.
Surprisingly, she didn’t fight me.

“Mistress Dumahl,” Julian whispered. “I

didn’t know what I was doing. I…we...” He
shook his head and began to cry himself. “I
am so sorry.”

“It wasn’t your fault,” I told him just as I

heard a phone ringing in the distance. It
sounded like my ringtone, and in a daze, I
stood to try and track it down. The song got
louder and louder and I soon discovered my
phone sitting on the kitchen counter.
“Hello?”

362/425

“Eviana! Oh good,” the caller breathed.

“I’m glad that I got you.” The accented voice
was easily identifiable.

“Graham? Why are you calling?” I looked

past the kitchen island, over my uncle’s dead
body, and outside to where the wounded
were being carried up from the beach. “Now
is not a good time.”

“Look, I…we think that Lucian is coming

after you tonight. I don’t know what he has
planned but…”

“Too late,” I interrupted.
“What?”
“You’re too late.” My voice cracked and it

was difficult to swallow the tears.

“Dammit!” Graham yelled.

“Are you

okay?”

“I am, but my uncle is dead and several

others are hurt really bad.” I watched as the
selkies carried my cousin up the stairs and
placed him on the deck. “Look, I really need
to go.”

363/425

“Eviana, wait. I don’t think that you

should meet up with him in Montana tomor-
row.” Graham’s words hit me hard enough
that I didn’t feel so sad anymore. Now I was
angry.

“Are you kidding me? This has to stop,

Graham. We are not changing plans now.
He just attacked my home. He killed off an-
other member of my family!” When I looked
out on the deck at my wounded cousin, I felt
like I need to amend that thought. “Maybe a
couple of members…”

“All the more reason for you not to go! He

wants you to suffer and he won’t stop until
he gets what he wants.”

“And what does he want? Why won’t he

tell us what he wants?” I was screaming at
Graham, and although I knew that I might
feel bad about this tomorrow, tonight I
needed to vent my frustrations on someone.

“He wants you.”
“Why?”

364/425

He sighed. “I…we don’t know.”
Suddenly there was a ton of commotion

out on the deck and I walked closer to the
door to get a better view. Someone was
stumbling up the stairs by themselves and I
watched as they collapsed to the floor with
an audible thump.

“Graham, I need to go.”
“Please don’t meet with him tomorrow…”
His words were lost in the background as I

made my way to the pile of people assisting
the injured person. I noticed Daniel and
when he looked up at me with fear in his
eyes, I knew that something was dreadfully
wrong.

They lifted the man and carried him to-

wards me. His limp body hung at an awk-
ward angle as three selkies tried to maneuver
him onto one of the tables where, just a few
hours ago, we’d had a wonderful family din-
ner.

His blond sun-streaked hair was

365/425

unmistakable and I almost collapsed when I
saw who it was.

“Kain!” I yelled, temporarily forgetting

that I was on the phone.

“Eviana? What’s happening?” Graham

was still trying to talk to me.

“I have to go.” I hung up and tossed my

phone on the ground. Lucian had destroyed
so many, and now it looked like he was about
to take one more.

366/425

Eighteen

“What happened?” I asked anyone who

would answer. Kain’s beautiful face was
crumpled with pain as he tried to control his
breathing. My gaze drifted to his side where
I could see dark blood pooling and seeping
out past the hands that were holding his
wound. With a start, I realized that one of
those hands was mine. I must have instantly
put pressure on the injury without even real-
izing it.

Kain was still conscious and he turned his

head to look up at me. “He was waiting in
the water.” His voice was so soft, I needed to

bend over right next to his mouth to hear
him. “He waited until I was alone…” Kain
coughed and winced in pain the instant he
moved. I felt my hand warm as more and
more blood pumped out of his body.

“Shh…don’t talk.”
Besides, I already knew what happened.

Lucian had been behind all of this. When I
took back control over the selkies, he’d
waited until one person was alone. He must
have been just offshore laughing at us all
while we battled the ratchets that never in-
tended to hurt us. And as we fought against
those we called friends. The anger boiled in-
side of me again. I was tired of dealing with
this man. He had hurt his last person.

“Eviana…” Kain whispered but he never

got to finish. After another cough, his eyes
closed and he passed out from either the
pain or the blood loss. Or maybe it was from
both.

368/425

“Please call the doctor!” I yelled and

Daniel slipped in next to my side.

“He’s already on the way and he’s bringing

Dr. Burgess, too.” Dr. Burgess was human,
but he’d worked closely with our clan doctor
for a long time. He knew how to keep our
secret and in exchange he got to learn all that
he could about mermaid and shape-shifter
physiology.

“Okay, that’s good.”

I didn’t really know what else to say. In-

stead, I stared down into Kain’s pale face and
realized that it would literally break apart the
rest of me if I lost him, too. Brendan was
already gone and my uncle was dead. He
had been the only tie left to my mother and
with his death, I felt a huge void in my stom-
ach. If Kain died too, I really didn’t think I
would recover. It was just too much.

The doctor’s came and began to patch up

who and what they could. Palmer’s injuries
were pretty critical and Troy had a

369/425

concussion. I was assured that they both
should recover as soon as they were well
enough to shift. Fortunately, no one else was
killed, although I think that some of the
wounds inflicted would take a long time to
heal.

Julian spent the rest of the evening seclud-

ing himself from us and tending only to his
selkies. Guilt was written all over his face.
He had fallen under Lucian’s spell again al-
though I think what was grating at him more
was the fact that he hurt those he’d sworn to
protect.

Malcolm had been one of the selkies on

the beach and thought he might have been
the one to hurt Palmer. But he didn’t wallow
in his guilt, and instead did everything he
could to assist the doctor’s. Apparently, he
had been a medic during his military stint,
and I was grateful that his training seemed to
trump all other reactions.

370/425

Daniel and Marisol prepared several of the

bedrooms for the wounded. They felt like
this was the best way to help, and I also think
that they were trying to avoid Aleksey and
Quinlan. Their loved ones had viciously at-
tacked them. Even though we now knew
why, I wasn’t sure if their relationships
would be able to move past this.

I felt bad for all four of them. Finding true

love is hard enough. When that person is
someone whom you are not supposed to
love, it makes it even more difficult. Espe-
cially when they do something to betray your
trust.

I shuddered and looked at the clock. It

was nearly dawn. The flight that Kain and I
were supposed to take to Montana was leav-
ing in just a few hours. Exhaustion tried to
pull me under, but one look at Kain was all I
needed to keep me going.

We moved him into a guest bedroom by

himself. The doctors were able to stop the

371/425

bleeding but it would be days before Kain
would walk again. Apparently Lucian liter-
ally skewed him with a sword. In his brief
moments of consciousness, Kain told us how
Lucian appeared behind him and stabbed
him through the back. He didn’t say any-
thing to my friend, just simply tried to kill
him. The doctors seemed to think that the
location of the wound was deliberate. It
wouldn’t kill Kain right away, but was in-
stead intended to cause a slow, agonizing
death.

I stayed by his side until he finally fell

asleep from the concoction the doctors gave
him. They said that it would allow him to re-
main unconscious all day and that they
would try and encourage him to shift later
tonight. That should help with the healing
although it may take several days of shifts
before he would recover completely.

Being asleep allowed Kain’s body to heal,

but it also gave me a reprieve from what I

372/425

knew would have been an argument. I had
every intention of travelling to Montana and
meeting Lucian face to face and I knew that
Kain would have argued against it. In fact,
one of the Council’s own members was dis-
couraging me to go. In thinking about Gra-
ham, I decided to at least return his phone
call to let him know what had happened
here.

I locked myself in my bedroom to make

the call. All of the blood, glass, and broken
bodies downstairs did nothing to calm my
angry and frazzled nerves. I needed a few
moments away.

Graham answered on the first ring.

“Where did you go? I thought Lucian was at-
tacking you again.”

“He was.” I let out a deep breath and told

him everything. I went back to the morning
Brendan left and filled him in from there.
Graham stayed quiet, only adding the

373/425

occasional question or comment. Thank-
fully, he left the whole Brendan situation
alone.

“So you have the sprites on your side?”
“Yes. They helped us last night.” Well,

Abhainn had, but he didn’t need to know
every last detail.

“I really don’t think that you should go to

Montana, Eviana. Lucian wants something
from you and he’s obviously willing to kill
anyone who gets in the way.”

“Have you guys figured out why he wants

me yet?” I was hoping that the Council, in all
of their glory, would be able to provide some
answers. When my question was met with
silence, my heart began to pound in my
chest. “Graham? You know something don’t
you?”

More silence. I was suddenly very uneasy

about this conversation and some gut in-
stinct of mine sent chills down the back of

374/425

my neck. Graham knew and he wasn’t telling
me.

“I can’t talk you out of this can I?” he

asked, instead of answering my question.

“Why?”
“Because it’s not safe. Lucian is…he’s

crazy. He won’t ever stop.”

“Then why won’t you tell me what he

wants?” I yelled into the phone.

“Because I can’t,” he whispered. It was

barely audible and his tone was full of pain.

“What do you mean?”
“Eviana….please.”
“I’m going Graham and if this thing is so

bad, then you should tell me before Lucian
kills me.” I was hoping a guilt trip would
help my cause, but I think it just made him
angry.

“You are the most stubborn woman I have

ever met. When are you leaving?”

“In two hours.”

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He snorted. “Fine. I will see you when

you land.” He hung up the phone before I
could argue. I didn’t want to see him and I
didn’t need Graham fighting my battles for
me.

Or did I? He was a powerful merman,

Council member, and someone who really
did seem to take an honest interest in my
safety. Now that Kain couldn’t be there with
me, I suppose I shouldn’t protest the pres-
ence of someone as strong as Graham by my
side.

I took a quick shower and packed a bag of

warm clothes. Even though it was almost
summer, the Rockies still had snow and ap-
parently we were all staying in the middle of
the mountains.

I had just over an hour before I needed to

be at the airport. With one last check on
Kain, I walked to the kitchen and into the
middle of a cleaning frenzy.

Quinlan,

Aleksey, and Daniel were working with a few

376/425

other selkies at cleaning up the blood and
glass. The smell of bleach overpowered the
room, but they were doing a good job.

The doctors removed my uncle’s body and

I knew that I would have to tend to his ar-
rangements when I got back. The meeting
with Lucian was happening tonight, so I had
every intention of catching the first flight
home tomorrow morning.

“Eviana, please don’t go.” I looked behind

me to see my sister standing in the archway
that led to the living room. Daniel and the
selkies stopped what they were doing to stare
at me as well.

“You’re still going?” Daniel asked.
“I have to.”
“But look at what he’s done,” Marisol

pleaded as she moved closer towards me.
“He’s hurt us all so much. Why would you
want to speak to him?” She was hurting and
her pain was beginning to break through the
wall I’d built up around myself in the last

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hour. I lifted my arms and she ran to me. I
hugged my sister and felt her tiny shaking
body against mine. This stupid war was
killing everything we loved and everything
we were.

“It will be okay, Marisol. The Council will

be there and they’ll have a dozen protectors.”

“I want to go with you,” a deep voice

growled from the other side of the kitchen.
We all looked over to see Julian standing
there with his hands in his pocket and his
head down. “I would like to see Lucian
again.”

“That’s not a good idea,” I said.
“Yeah, she’s right,” Daniel added.
Julian paced around the kitchen while he

fisted his hands at his side. “He needs to be
stopped. This has gone way too far. His stu-
pid reasons for this war are no longer
justifiable.”

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“What are you talking about?” I asked, ab-

ruptly aware that Julian may have more in-
formation about Lucian’s motives.

He stopped moving but never looked up.

“I just mean that whatever his intentions are,
he’s hurt enough people to last a lifetime. He
made me attack your friends and kill your
uncle. I am tired of being controlled like a
puppet and I do not want to live our lives in
fear of that man dictating our behavior any
longer!”

No one said anything because he had a val-

id point. I tried to imagine what it would be
like to have all of my free will taken away
without warning and be forced to do horrible
things to people that I care about. Julian
was the strongest selkie of their kind, and
even he couldn’t resist the wrath of Lucian.

I unwrapped myself from my sisters arms

and walked across the room to grab a hold of
Julian’s hands. “No one blames you. It
wasn’t your fault.”

379/425

He looked down at me with such sad green

eyes that my heart instantly crumbled. I’ve
seen that look before on another selkie’s
face. It was the look of disappointment and
defeat. “Please let me go with you,” he
pleaded.

I shook my head. “No, it’s too risky and

the rest of your group needs for you to stay
here right now. The Council and their
guards will be there. I’ll be fine.”

“But…”
“No. You can’t. I won’t risk it.” I didn’t

need to say it, but we both knew what I was
talking about. If Lucian could control him
again, it would be disastrous when the Coun-
cil’s elite protectors were there. Julian didn’t
stand a chance. There would be no forgive-
ness. “Will you please watch over Kain for
me?”

It was a request that I would trust to few

others and I think Julian realized this. Not
only was Kain an important political figure

380/425

in our world, but he was an important per-
son in my life. The thought of him not being
in it anymore terrified me and I believe Juli-
an understood that better than anyone else.

He nodded and walked towards the bed-

room where Kain was sleeping without say-
ing another word to any of us.

I said my goodbyes and promised to be

back in one day. I hoped that we would have
some type of solution in place when I re-
turned to my clan. It was time to end this.

As I flew on the private jet towards the se-

cluded mountains of Montana, I tried to
come up with a plan. But the only thing I
knew for sure is that I would do my best to
temporarily appease Lucian by giving him
what he wants. We all needed that time to
prepare a final attack on him and his allies
and if I could buy us a few days or even
weeks, then that was what I needed to do.
That’s what was in the best interest of my

381/425

clan and what would hopefully save some
lives.

382/425

Nineteen

The plane landed with gut-wrenching

screech and I sent out a silent thank you for
arriving in one piece. The trip had been un-
eventful as I’d been wrapped up deep in
thought for the past few hours. It was almost
like I had been alone in my mind trying to
fathom what might possible happen later
tonight.

But I wasn’t alone after all. Troy had

woken up long enough to insist that a couple
of protectors travel with me. Since there
were only two of them without arms in slings
or broken bodies, he had picked Caleb and

another young merman, Gregory. Both of
them remained silent the entire time, almost
as if we had all been contemplating the same
scenarios over and over.

I didn’t trust Lucian for one moment. I

knew that he would try something tonight
but it wasn’t doing my nerves any good to
continue to imagine everything that could
possibly go wrong.

The jet pulled up to the small hanger and

the pilots opened the door for us. Graham
wasn’t waiting there, which was actually a
tad disappointing. However, there was a
driver who introduced himself as Randy, and
he ushered us to a Jeep in the parking lot.
We drove through the small, quaint town of
Red Lodge and up into the mountain pass.
Almost an hour later, we arrived at the lodge
that someone at the Council had decided was
a safe place to stay.

There wasn’t one large building, instead, I

counted ten different individual cabins

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nestled amongst the acreage. We had two
cabins, obviously meant for Kain and me, but
since he wasn’t here, the three of us decided
on the larger one with two bedrooms. It
seemed as if no one from the Council was
here yet, so I tried to get some rest. It had
been over twenty-four hours since I last slept
and with everything that had happened, my
body and my brain needed a break.

I didn’t hear it at first, but when the

knocking on my door turned into pounding, I
realized that someone had been trying to
wake me up. I rolled over to see that I’d
slept for nearly six hours. Jumping out of
bed in a state of shock, I ran to the door to
see why they let me sleep so late.

“Caleb,” I said as I jerked open the door

and saw his fist raised up for another knock.
“What’s going on? Why didn’t you wake me
up?”

385/425

He looked down at me with a slight apolo-

getic smile on his face. “You needed to rest
and nothing was happening before.”

“Oh. Okay.” I shifted uncomfortably. My

jeans and sweater were twisted all around
my body because I hadn’t even bothered to
change. I was sure my hair was a mess and
what little makeup I had worn was now
gone. “So why are you pounding on my
door?”

He smiled again and tilted his head to-

wards the little kitchen and living room
area. “Master Forrester is here to see you.”

My heart fluttered a bit before I re-

membered that I was kind of angry with Gra-
ham. He was hiding something and I needed
to figure out what this secret was before we
met with Lucian tonight. “Okay, I’ll be right
there.”

I rushed into the bathroom and brushed

my teeth. Splashing water on my face and
hair, I tried to make myself somewhat

386/425

presentable. After all, I was a clan leader
and Graham was a Council member.

Five minutes later, I opened the door to

see that our cabin was empty. Movement
from the front window caught my attention
and I saw Graham pacing in the yard. Caleb
had decided to wait on the porch, apparently
watching over him. I slipped into my shoes
and made my way outside.

The two men had not been speaking to

each other and when I nodded to Caleb, he
didn’t move. “It’s okay,” I assured him.
“Graham and I just need to talk about a few
things before tonight.”

Caleb

looked

around

the

property

nervously; eyes darting from cabin to cabin
and then to the forest surrounding the peri-
meter. “Where are the other members?”

“What?” I asked.
“The rest of the Council?”
Graham groaned. “I already told you,

bloke that they are on their way.” Graham

387/425

looked at me and smiled slightly. “There was
an emergency meeting about the attack at
your house last night.”

I nodded my head in understanding, but

Caleb kept pushing. “I don’t like it. So-
mething doesn’t feel right.”

Although I was inclined to agree with him,

Graham didn’t seem to pose that much of a
threat. After all, he had saved my life once
already. I doubted that he would do any-
thing to purposely harm me now. “It’s al-
right Caleb.” When he looked at me again, I
added, “I promise.”

I stepped off the porch and joined Gra-

ham’s side. “We need to talk.”

“Yes, we do,” he replied and then spoke to

Caleb. “I’ll bring her back before the
meeting.”

“You better,” Caleb grumbled while send-

ing out a warning with his eyes.

388/425

We turned and walked away from the cab-

in towards the edge of the woods. “Where
are we going?”

“Let’s just take a walk, okay?” I stopped in

my tracks. Something about his tone sent
shivers through my spine.

“What’s going on?”
He reached toward me and wrapped his

arm around my lower back, effectively
pulling me alongside of him. “I just don’t
want an audience.” He jerked his head back
towards my cabin where Caleb and Gregory
were now watching our retreat. I still didn’t
feel completely comfortable, but I knew Gra-
ham wouldn’t hurt me.

We stomped through patches of snow and

wet ground and made our way down a path
cleared for hikers. “Where’s the rest of the
Council?” I asked in an accusatory tone.

He whipped his head towards me and

stopped walking. “I told you. They’re com-
ing later. Don’t you believe me?”

389/425

“I’d like to,” I whispered.
“But?” he prodded.
“But you seem to be hiding something, so

I’m a little suspicious right now.” He turned
his back to me and ran his hands through his
short but messy hair.

Something made a sound deep in the

woods. It was like a stick breaking or a limb
falling, and it caused both of us to jump.
“Let’s go a little further,” Graham said and
grabbed my hand to lead me along the path.

We walked quickly and quietly through the

woods and not once did Graham stop touch-
ing me. My silence seemed to be bothering
him, so I didn’t say a word. He would break
eventually.

We came across a small meadow flanked

by boulders and pine trees. The ground
made sucking noises under our feet where
the permafrost had melted during the day.
The air was cool and crisp and the slight
breeze rustled in the branches.

390/425

Graham dropped my hand and began to

pace at the far end of the meadow. I crossed
my arms over my chest and waited for him to
talk. Although we didn’t know each other
very well, I could still tell that I wasn’t going
to like what he had to say.

Finally, he stopped walking and turned to

face me. The pain in his eyes nearly made
me break, but he needed to come clean on
his own. He smiled.

“I wish that I would have met you sooner.”
Okay. Not really the introduction I was

expecting. “What?” I asked.

He sighed and moved closer to me. I could

feel my heart speed up as he reached down
and picked up my left hand in his. “I need to
tell you some things and you’re not going to
like them.” I swallowed. “But please just
hear me out, okay?”

“Okay.” I really didn’t have a good feeling

about this.

391/425

“Remember how I told you that my par-

ents sent me to Adele?” I nodded, recalling
our conversation at Jeremiah’s.

“Well,

somehow Lucian found out about me and
offered to train me.”

“You mean use you?”
He winced. “Perhaps. Adele wouldn’t let

him visit with me and instead shipped me off
to Jeremiah. He’d just been shunned, but
she still considered him a better mentor than
Lucian.” Not surprisingly, I agreed. “But
when I left Jeremiah’s,” Graham continued,
“I was contacted by Lucian.”

I felt a ball of dread begin to form in my

stomach. “Weren’t you already a part of the
Council?”

“Not yet.” He stepped away from me and

began to pace again. It was making me
nervous. “He got to me before I was appoin-
ted. I don’t think Adele ever knew.”

“What do you mean he got to you?”

392/425

Graham looked at me with his dark eyes

and handsome face and shook his head. I
suddenly felt like I was about to be intro-
duced to a whole new person. “Eviana, the
man really knows what he’s talking about.
His ideas are…,” he flipped his hands in the
air looking for the right word.

“Ludicrous?” I suggested.

“Brilliant.”

I nearly

collapsed

to the ground.

“Graham, no,” I whispered. Please, not him.

“I don’t necessarily agree with all of his

methods, but he is right about The Legacy.
We are stronger and more powerful than hu-
mans and the shifters. It’s the natural order
of things. Why should we let those who are
weak dictate what we do?”

“The Council?”
“Yes, the Council. And the clan leaders

and all of the rest who are beneath us.”

“Us?”

393/425

This time he ran up to me and pulled both

of my hands into his chest. His eyes were
filled with excitement and visions of
grandeur, while all of my faith in him slowly
began to disintegrate inside of me. “You are
one of us. You are so much more powerful
than you realize. That is one of the reasons
Lucian wants you to be by his side.”

“I don’t want this power if it means hurt-

ing people, Graham.” I pulled away from his
grasp. “That is all Lucian does. He is a thug
and he abuses his power to get what he
wants. I am nothing like him.”

That seemed to shake Graham out of his

Lucian admiration trance. His face paled
and he let out a deep breath. “I know.” He
sounded disappointed. “That’s why I needed
to talk to you before the others get here.”

“Can you please just spit it out?” I was

scared which made me angry. Graham was
someone that I had trusted only to find out
that he’s in support of what Lucian has been

394/425

doing. My stomach suddenly dropped as a
dark thought rose to the surface. “Oh, no. It
was you, wasn’t it?”

He looked confused. “I don’t know what

you’re talking about.”

“The cruise ship,” I choked out. Graham

had helped the sprites kill all of those hu-
mans, an entire mermaid clan, and my
friend. His silence was all the answer I
needed. I covered my mouth for fear that the
bile rising in my throat would find its way
out. Turning back towards the cabins, I tried
to run away.

“Shit,” Graham muttered and he grabbed

me from behind quicker than I would have
expected.

I turned and began to punch him in the

chest. “Let go of me you…you murderer!
How could you do that?” I was fighting as
hard as I could, but he wasn’t letting go.
“You are disgusting! What…what is wrong
with you?”

395/425

I stumbled over a rock and fell to the

ground. My knees screamed at me in pain
but I didn’t care. It was taking all of my con-
centration not to throw up right now.

“Eviana, listen to me!” My head suddenly

began to hurt and the nausea increased in in-
tensity. I remembered feeling this way be-
fore and that sent my blood boiling.

“Are you trying to control me?” Kain and I

had felt something similar just before Lucian
turned the selkies on us last night. And now
Graham wanted to take over my mind. I
slapped him in the face as hard as I could
and the headache instantly disappeared.
“Don’t you ever try to do that to me again!”

He had the decency to look ashamed, but

that was before the grin appeared on his
face. “He said you were strong, but I had no
idea.”

I was tired of this conversation. Pushing

to my feet, I tried to leave but Graham still
had a hold of my hand. I glared down at

396/425

him. “Let go of me,” I said through gritted
teeth.

“I can’t. Not yet,” he replied softly.
“Why? Do you have more secrets to

share?” I spat.

“I need to warn you.”
“Ha,” I huffed. “A little late for that, aren’t

we?” I tried to yank my arm away but he
held on with an iron grip. “Let go of me!”

“Will you hear me out?” I didn’t answer.

“Eviana! I need you to listen to me just a few
more minutes.”

He seemed sincere, but then again,

everything I thought I knew about Graham
Forrester was a lie. “Does the Council
know?”

“Know what?”
I snorted. “That you’re a double agent

working for the enemy and infiltrating their
lines?”

He actually had the nerve to laugh and

that sent me over the edge. I kicked him as

397/425

hard as I could in the chest that knocked him
backwards and freed my arm. He rolled over
his shoulders and gracefully pushed to his
feet. Rubbing the spot right between his
ribs, he winced. “You didn’t need to do that,
tart.”

“Don’t…”
“I would have answered your question.”

He took a step towards me and I quickly
moved away.

“Don’t touch me again,” I demanded. He

raised his hands in surrender.

“I won’t. And the answer to your question

is no.”

“Huh?”
“No, the Council doesn’t know about the

relationship I have with Lucian.” He put his
hands in his pockets and his demeanor sud-
denly went from arrogant spy to concerned
big brother. “And they don’t know about
your relationship with Lucian either.”

398/425

“My relationship? With Lucian?” I shook

my head and crossed my arms. “You mean
the one where he continually tries to kill me
and every member of my family? I think
everyone knows about that relationship.”

“They weren’t all family,” Graham said

quietly.

“No, they were also my friends like the one

you killed when you capsized that cruise
ship!” My rage could no longer be con-
tained. “You will pay for that!”

An uneasy smile appeared on Graham’s

face. “I think I already am.”

“Agh! You are so frustrating!” I turned to-

wards the woods and the path that would
take me back to the world I knew. “I’m
leaving!”

“Eviana! You can’t meet with Lucian

tonight.”

That stopped me in my tracks. His voice

had increased an octave he seemed to be
genuinely serious in his request.

399/425

I looked at him. “What do you know?”
“Despite his intentions, I know that he

cannot be trusted.”

“Sounds just like someone else,” I scoffed.
Graham continued without acknowledging

my comment. “He wants you to fight on his
side, Eviana and he’s willing to do anything
to make that happen.”

“Why does he even care about me?” I

questioned for the hundredth time. “What is
so unique about me that he won’t just leave
me alone?” I didn’t know if Graham had the
answers I wanted but I was so tired of this. I
was an eighteen-year-old clan leader without
any of the substantial qualities an evil dictat-
or would be interested in.

“You are more like him than you know,”

Graham replied solemnly and that stopped
me cold.

“What are you talking about?”
He shook his head and moved a step closer

to me. “It’s not my place.” His left arm

400/425

reached out for me but I pushed it away and
backed up closer to the trees. Pain crossed
his face and he hung his head. “You just
have to convince the Council not to meet
with him tonight. He’s planning something
and I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“A little late for that don’t you think?”
“Eviana…” he reached for me again and I

slapped his hand away.

“Stop touching me!” I yelled. “You’re in-

sane, do you know that? First you tell me
what a hero Lucian is and now you’re warn-
ing me to stay away from him?” I took sever-
al steps backwards so that I was almost out
of the meadow. “You really need to make up
your mind and pick a side!”

“Eviana!” I turned to run back through the

woods but instead smacked into something
solid and warm. My nose pinched in pain
and I tried to push against the barrier in
front of me. But the thing grabbed my hands
and jerked them out to my side. I looked up

401/425

at the man holding on to me and gasped. Lu-
cian’s blues eyes were staring down at me
and the look on his face made me tremble.

“Ah, Master Forrester. Thank you for de-

livering my daughter to me.”

402/425

Twenty

Daughter? Was he serious? I looked at his

blue eyes and straight blond hair and nearly
lost control of my legs. My golden hair had
always been different than the rest of my
family. Marisol inherited the black shiny
mane and dark eyes like my parents, but not
me. No, I did look different. And if Lucian
was my father…no, I had to stop thinking
about that.

“No, it can’t be,” I murmured. My legs

gave out and the only thing holding me up
off the ground were Lucian’s hands clamped
around my wrists. In one swift move, he

scooped me up into his arms and set me
down on top of a boulder in the center of the
meadow. The moment I felt solid ground be-
neath, I pulled out of his grasp.

“Get away from me!” I tried to yell, but my

voice was shaky and I felt the tears building
in my throat.

“She seems rather shocked,” Lucian

turned towards Graham. “What did you do
her?”

“What did he do?” I screamed. “He’s just

like you! You both deserve to die!”

Lucian chuckled. “Seems as if that apple

really doesn’t fall too far from the tree after
all. I will admit that I was a little concerned
at first. But now I can see it in you.”

“See what?” I asked.
“Me.”
I shook my head so hard that the headache

came back. “I am nothing like you.”

Lucian arched an eyebrow. “We’ll see.”

404/425

“No! I will never be like you!” He turned

away from me sauntered over to Graham.

“Now what am I going to do with you?”
Graham sucked in a breath and I stopped

moving. Lucian’s tone was so menacing,
even the birds ceased singing.

“Sir?” Graham stuttered.
“I do believe that you were warning our

dear Eviana, were you not?” Graham’s eyes
flitted over to me and then back to Lucian. I
could see him swallow. Lucian tilted his
head to look at me and sighed. “Yes, she is
beautiful.” He faced Graham again. “And to
think that I had such grand plans for the two
of you. Now it seems as if your loyalty is in
question.”

Graham shook his head and cleared his

throat. “No, my loyalty is the same. I was
simply coming clean with Eviana. She
needed to know who I really am.”

“And why is that?”

405/425

Graham’s eyes found mine again and my

stomach twisted. “Because she deserves to
know the truth.”

Lucian huffed. “And how did that work

out for you?” When he saw Graham’s face he
chuckled. “Yes. That’s what I thought.”

“Why are you even here?” I asked, unable

to stop myself from speaking up. Apparently
I was over the initial shock or I was just tired
of playing his games.

“To find you,” he replied matter-of-factly.
“Found me,” I said sarcastically and he

grinned. It sent another round of chills
through my body. “Did you even have any
intention of negotiating tonight?”

He shrugged his shoulders and moved

closer to me. “Perhaps. But only if they gave
me what I wanted.”

“Which was?”
“You.”
I really looked at him this time. He was

totally serious in his declaration. Did he

406/425

really think that the Council would give me
up in return for a peace offering? I may still
have to prove myself to my clan, but I at least
thought I had the Council at my back. Al-
though, one of my biggest supporters turned
out to be working for the wrong side. Maybe
he wouldn’t have been able to convince them
after all.

“Why? What could my presence possibly

mean for you?”

“You are my daughter,” he said as though

stating the obvious.

“No, I’m not. My father was a wonderful

man that you murdered for your own selfish
reasons.” Tears began to blur my vision but I
didn’t wipe them away. Maybe I could elicit
some sort of feeling from this wicked
creature.

“Your father was a piece of arm candy.”

He waved his hand around when I tried to
protest. “Now your mother…she was a real
leader and I can see her strength in you.”

407/425

“But you killed her.” I meant to say that

loudly but I barely choked out the words.

Lucian sighed. “Yes. It was a tragedy. If

only she would have shared you with me.”

“She knew?”
“Of course she knew. We had been prom-

ised to each other. Although I doubt that she
ever told your father. She always did coddle
him.”

I almost lost everything in my stomach. In

just a few short moments, my entire world
changed. Lucian Sutherland, the merman
leading a war amongst his own kind, was my
biological father.

His demented blood

coursed through my veins. I looked at him
in his black leather pants and bright red but-
ton up shirt and wondered if half of me was
like that. Was I really evil deep down in-
side? Would I end up destroying all the
goodness around me?

I sat there in silence for what seemed like

hours, but in reality was probably closer to a

408/425

few seconds. A thousand thoughts ran
through my mind and I felt dizzy and naus-
eous when I began to piece it all together.

“Why did you attack my house?” The ne-

gotiating meeting with Lucian had already
been set, so he knew that I was coming to
Montana.

“Master Matthew had to be stopped. His

powers have grown considerably in the last
few weeks. I couldn’t have him messing up
my plans.” Lucian smiled and my temperat-
ure dropped. “I haven’t used a sword in a
while.” He looked at me. “I hear those can
really hurt.”

It took everything I had not to attack him

right now. “Kain’s going to be okay. You
failed.” Lucian chucked in response.

“No, I don’t think that I did.”
“What are you going to do at the meeting

tonight?” I asked.

Lucian had been sizing up Graham, but he

turned back towards me when I spoke. “Oh,

409/425

Graham saved me all of that trouble by
bringing you here. There will be no meeting
tonight.”

I glared at the man I’d assumed was my

friend. “You brought me here for him?”

“No, Eviana, I swear.”
I jumped off the boulder and marched up

to Graham. His eyes were pleading with me
and if I hadn’t been so angry, I might have
tried to believe him. He had purposely re-
moved me from my protectors and now Lu-
cian had what he’d always wanted. I pulled
back my hand and slammed my fist into his
face like Palmer had taught me.

Lucian laughed as Graham fell to the

ground. I didn’t waste any time and jumped
on top of the deceitful merman, slamming
my forearm into his throat. At this moment,
all I could see was red. I was so angry at
Graham, at Lucian, at Brendan; all of them
had betrayed me in some way and

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unfortunately for Graham, he was the one
taking the beating right now.

I could feel him fighting against me, but it

was as if I had an out of body experience and
no one could stop my rage. All of this energy
came pouring into my body like I had the
strength of three men. Almost every person
in my life had let me down in some way.
Graham used his charm and power to trick
me into a friendship. Lucian killed my par-
ents, my uncle, and my friends. My mother
lied to me my whole life about who my father
was, even when she was facing death by his
own hands.

And Brendan. Brendan, the only one I

loved, left me to surrender to the call. It was
something he promised he’d never do. Juli-
an made it sound like he was miserable, yet
he still managed to spend the night with me
without any hesitation. He didn’t have any
problem reaching in and tearing my heart
out because that was what was best for him.

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I struggled to breathe. I was so angry and so
distraught. Why was this happening now?

“Eviana?” Lucian’s voice broke through

my concentration. “Eviana, you might want
to let go.”

I looked at him and then followed his gaze

down towards Graham. His face was bright
red and it seemed as though I had nearly
chocked the last breath from him. Maybe I
should finish the job.

As if hearing my thoughts, Lucian bent

forward and pulled me off of Graham. I
stumbled backwards and tried to put some
space in between us.

“Get your hands off of me!”
“Eviana…”
“Don’t even speak to me.” I brushed my-

self off and looked down at Graham. He had
rolled to his side and was beginning to push
himself up to his knees.

“I’m sorry, Eviana,” Graham’s strangled

voice whispered to me.

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I pointed my finger at him. “Don’t you talk

to me, either. I don’t want your apologies.”

“Daughter,” Lucian started but changed

his mind after I glared at him. “Eviana, you
must make up with the man, for he is your
betrothed.”

“No, he isn’t.”
“I’m afraid it is true. Your bloodlines will

finally be joined again,” he continued then
sauntered over to Graham and offered him a
hand up off the ground. “Although, he may
need to get back into my good graces before I
offer up my only daughter to him.”

Graham coughed while I stared at the

bizarre situation in front of me. It was like
someone dropped me into a parallel world
and everything was jumbled. This couldn’t
be real. Maybe I was still dreaming.

I pinched my arm and winced. Nope, not

a dream.

But I didn’t need to live this nightmare any

longer. I turned and ran as fast as I could

413/425

back towards the cabin, hoping that I could
make it close enough to yell for Caleb and
Gregory. I leapt over a boulder and ran
around another before I got to the edge of
the forest. Lucian was yelling for me, but I
didn’t dare stop.

I didn’t want to stop but sometimes situ-

ations are out of your control. I felt his body
slam into mine right before I went down.
Lucian jerked my arms behind my back and
lifted me off the ground. I struggled, but my
shoulders hurt and he outweighed me by al-
most a hundred pounds. I screamed.

“Be quiet!” he demanded and I felt the

headache burn through my skull. There was
a sudden urge to relax, and I realized with a
jolt that Lucian had the ability to control oth-
er mermaids. I pushed his presence out of
my head but remained silent. Perhaps I
could trick him.

Lucian laughed and the sound reverber-

ated through my core. “You are strong, but I

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am stronger.” I suddenly felt a pain so sharp
that I collapsed to the ground holding my
head. I thought it was going to explode and I
cried out in pain.

“Stop it!” Graham yelled and I knew when

he crashed into Lucian. My arms were
yanked sharply again, but the pain in my
head trumped the muscles revolting in my
shoulders.

As the two men rolled on the ground, my

headache began to ease. I watched as Gra-
ham fought against Lucian and was amazed
at how futile it was. Lucian was fast and
strong and in less than a minute, he held
Graham up in the air by a hand wrapped
around his neck.

“How dare you?” Lucian asked through

gritted teeth. “After everything I’ve done for
you!” I could see Graham begin to lose con-
sciousness, and whatever hint of sympathy I
may have felt, I pushed that aside and used
the distraction to try and escape again.

415/425

I struggled up to my knees, lifting one foot

at a time. When I was finally on two legs, I
ran. Lucian pushed into my head again and
commanded me to stop, but I tried to feed on
that energy and use it for my own survival. I
heard him growl in a way that reminded me
of the ratchets, just before I watched Gra-
ham’s body fly through the air in front of
me. Lucian had used him as a projectile
aimed at stopping my escape.

Graham’s head slammed into a boulder

and he fell to the ground. I screamed and al-
most ran towards him. He may be a liar but
he had been trying to protect me from Lu-
cian. Only the sound of footsteps running in
my direction kept me moving forward.

“Eviana!” Lucian yelled. “You can’t get

away from me this time.”

As soon he said those words, I couldn’t

move my legs any more. It was as if I was
sinking into the ground and being swallowed
by the earth. When I looked down at my

416/425

feet, I noticed that was exactly what was
happening.

I panicked. Drowning in the sea was one

thing, but being suffocated in the earth was
not a death that I wanted to face. Looking
over at Graham, I tried to force him awake
with my mind. If Lucian had that ability,
and I was his daughter, than I should too.
And if Graham woke up, surely he would
help me, right?

But Graham didn’t respond. In fact, I

wasn’t sure if he was even alive. I struggled
against the water and the ground that I was
now knee deep in. Focus on the element.
My water control was nowhere near Kain’s or
Graham’s but I had to try.

Kain. What would Kain do? He was ra-

tional and calm and always knew what to do
next. He was stable. He was the only stable
part in my life and I suddenly understood
how important that was to me. I didn’t want

417/425

to live a life without him in it. I don’t even
know if I could.

Thinking of my friend helped give me the

strength I needed. I concentrated on the wa-
ter and forced the tendrils to dissipate into
the earth. In another few seconds, I felt my
body rise out of the ground as the water
pushed me towards the surface. I was doing
it!

“Impressive,” Lucian said directly behind

me. I gasped and turned around to see him
standing there with a smug look on his face
and a glimmer of pride in his eyes.

Someone called out my name. Lucian and

I turned towards the path where I could only
assume Caleb and Gregory were coming to
rescue me. For the first time in the last hour,
I finally felt some hope. Lucian wasn’t going
to win.

“I guess that’s our cue,” he said and

grabbed at my arm.

418/425

Jerking away from him, I stepped around

the puddle and moved towards the path.
“I’m not going with you and my protectors
will be here any moment.”

“Come!” The headache was back but I

pushed against it.

Lucian sighed in frustration and threw out

his arm towards me. “Fine. Sleep Eviana!
Sleep now!”

An overwhelming urge to close my eyes

and curl up on the ground flowed through
my body. I could barely keep my eyelids
opened and it was hard to focus on Lucian.
The shouting from the woods got louder. I
just had to hold out a little bit longer. They
were almost here.

“You are as stubborn as your mother,” Lu-

cian snarled and that brought a smile to my
face.

“You can’t have me,” I said. “It’s too late.”
“It’s never too late,” he replied and

barreled towards me. I thought that I saw

419/425

Caleb out of the corner of my eye, but my fo-
cus was on Lucian. He reached behind his
back and pulled out a broad sword that I
couldn’t believe I hadn’t noticed earlier. The
silver metal gleamed in the sunlight and the
look on his face sent a wave of terror through
my bones. He was going to kill me!

“I’m not going to kill you,” he said just as

he slammed the hilt of the sword against the
backside of my skull.

There was a moment of pain, followed by

one of numbness. I began to fall towards the
ground not really capable of moving any oth-
er part of my body. I thought I saw someone
running in slow motion into the meadow
with a gun in his hand. The world looked
hazy for a moment, but as soon as the fog lif-
ted, my vision narrowed and everything went
black.

420/425

About the Author

Amber Garr spends her days conducting

scientific experiments and wondering if her
next door neighbor is secretly a vampire.
Born in Pennsylvania, she lives in Florida
with her husband and their furry kids. Her
childhood imaginary friend was a witch, Hal-
loween is sacred, and she is certain that she
has a supernatural sense of smell. She writes
both adult and young adult urban fantasies
and when not obsessing over the unknown,
she can be found dancing, reading, or enjoy-
ing a good movie.

Other Titles Coming Soon

Book Three of The Syrenka Series

Touching Evil – A Leila Marx Novel

Connect with Amber Garr Online:

www.ambergarr.com

http://ambergarr.blogspot.com

www.facebook.com – Author Page: Amber

Garr

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Chapter 20
About the Author

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