Total pages in book: 39
Estimated words: 36931 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 185(@200wpm)___ 148(@250wpm)___ 123(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 36931 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 185(@200wpm)___ 148(@250wpm)___ 123(@300wpm)
Those vampires were nowhere to be seen. Killian wasn’t covered in blood. He’d not killed them, but she had felt the threat. Why hadn’t they attacked? Crouching, she looked across the river.
“What’s the problem?” Killian asked.
“Nothing. Are you sure we need to cross this river?” she asked. It was a fairly long river, and she had a bad feeling about this.
“Yes.”
“What kind of map are you reading from? Is it the whole let’s-make-this-super-secret-mission-as-hard-as-it-can-be map? Why can’t we find someplace with a boat?” she asked.
“Then that would make life easier?”
“Hell, yeah. That’s a lot of water,” she said.
“It doesn’t look too deep.”
“From here, but there is … yeah,” she said, stopping to blow out a breath.
“Are you afraid of the water?” he asked.
“No, I’m not afraid of the water. What I am afraid of are the things that lurk beneath.”
“I don’t think there are any sharks or crocs waiting to eat us,” Killian said. “Besides, I’m a wolf, and I’ll taste all sinewy, and you’re a witch.”
“But I’m more than a mouthful. Trust me, I know my worth.” She shook her head. “I’d rather take on the sharks and crocs than mermaids and sirens.”
“Mermaids and sirens? I think they live out in the ocean, not in a river.”
Leah blew out another breath. “That’s kind of not true.” She pursed her lips. “The ones that aren’t banished live in the ocean as they’re allowed. The ones in rivers and lakes, well, they’re the banished ones for being naughty and tend to feed on human flesh.”
“What?”
“I’ve met a few,” Leah said. “Trust me, they’re vicious.” She had been at a few meetings with Lucinda. The mermaids and sirens were beautiful. No doubt about it. Totally in awe with the perfect body, not to mention the full tits and all of that. But, a banished mermaid and siren, yeah, they kind of, er, turned ugly when they didn’t get what they wanted.
This wasn’t going to be easy. She could already feel the hairs on the back of her neck, and she knew she was being watched. Taking another deep breath, she heard Killian laugh.
“You have watched way too many horror movies, Leah. I’ll take the lead, and that way, you’ll know there’s nothing to worry about.”
Yeah, that wasn’t going to make her happier. She didn’t argue with him, but followed closely behind.
It wasn’t long before the water was up to their waist. “As you were saying?” she asked, “about it not being deep?”
Killian didn’t get a chance to respond as he quickly disappeared beneath the surface, and she panicked.
“Killian!” she screamed his name, cringing as she did. If there were mermaids or sirens in the river, they were fucking awake now.
He broke the surface and chuckled. “Okay, my bad, I fell off the ledge. It’s pretty deep, we’ll have to swim.”
“None of this is funny. Why are you laughing?” she asked.
“Come on.” He held out his hand for her to take. “I’m not going to let anything happen to you. I promised your parents and your coven.”
She took his hand, and they locked their fingers together. Leah hated how her heart raced. They started to move across the river.
“Just how deep do you think it is?” Killian asked.
“Deep.”
She cringed as she was sure she felt someone drag a single finger across her stomach.
“Killian?” she asked.
“Yeah. Something’s in the water.”
“We are.”
She screamed as she was pretty sure someone grabbed her ankle.
“Leah, stop panicking, you’re fine.”
She was about to respond, to tell him to take this seriously, but she didn’t get the chance as she felt herself dragged under. Her scream was swallowed up by the water. She closed her eyes, trying to think about what Lucinda had told her.
Mermaids and sirens had been banished because they broke the sea code. They are not allowed to take human life. If a human dies under their care, they are responsible.
She was a human. They were killers.
She kept her eyes closed and drew upon the elements around her. She still couldn’t breathe, but in putting out the call, she knew something else would listen.
Something grabbed her wrists, and she opened her eyes to see Killian had followed her down.
The hiss behind her told her the mermaid or siren wasn’t happy. Past his shoulder, she saw another one coming toward him. There was more than fucking one. Seriously. She didn’t have time to wait for one of their own to come to their aid.
Instinct took over, and she drew the energy within her palm, a swirling water tornado, and launched it past Killian’s shoulder, blasting the sea creature with the bolt. Next, she took care of the one at her ankle. They were surrounded. She kept doing this, but it didn’t take them out for long.
Leah knew she was fast running out of air. She was growing weaker. And then, she heard it—the magic sound of a true siren.