“Pippa!” Emmett looked to where Pippa was still feuding. “Get her to stop singing!”
While Emmett dwarfed everyone in size and strength, Theo had been consumed by an unnatural desire to get to the siren by any means possible.
“I’m not exactly at an advantage being in the water, Emmett!” Pippa hissed back, bobbing up and down in the water as she pivoted her head, constantly looking for the siren. Her song permeated both the air and the water, keeping Theo in its thrall.
“Is she gone?” Emmett scanned the shallows as Pippa stabbed fruitlessly at the waves.
“I don’t think so.” Pippa sounded tense. The water had stilled, but the siren song continued as Theo started to sob. He begged Emmett to let him go, and Emmett screwed up his face in pity.
“Oh, prince!” The siren’s voice rang out through the air. “Come to me!”
She poked her head out of the water, only a stone’s throw from Pippa. This time, Pippa was ready, and as Emmett tightened his grip on Theo, she launched a knife in the siren's direction.
“Don't kill her!” Theo wailed, wriggling and throwing his body weight around in Emmett’s arms. “You bitch!”
“Theo,” Emmett started growling, his chest reverberating against Theo’s back, “watch yer fuckin’ mouth.”
“He’s under an enchantment, you protective oaf!” Pippa hissed back. She pivoted in the water as she followed the shining glimpses of scales, the siren’s serpentine tail breaking the surface of the water.
“Behind you!” Emmett shouted.
Pippa turned around and reacted without thinking. She paddled back towards knee-deep water and stood up, anticipating the siren’s next movements. The scales of her tail reflected in the light, and Pippa jumped on top of her. There was a wall of splashing, and the water obscured their view, but through the churning water, Emmett and Theo watched as Pippa wrapped her legs around the siren and began rolling it towards the shore.
“Atta girl!” Emmett cheered excitedly as Theo kept wailing about his discomfort. As Pippa successfully rolled them onto the shore, the siren’s song stopped. She started flailing like—quite literally—a fish out of water. Theo sagged like a puppet with his strings cut in Emmett’s arms as he walked them out of the shallows.
Pippa was straddling the siren’s waist and had a knife to her throat in seconds.
“Can I let you go?” Emmett murmured, and Theo nodded weakly, panting like he had run a marathon. Emmett slowly helped Theo sit down on the ground and made sure he wouldn’t fall over before he made his way towards Pippa and the siren.
“How come you… You weren’t affected?” Theo gasped out, still trying to catch his breath.
Emmett jerked his thumb in Pippa’s direction. “We’re mated, so the siren song does not affect us. You can’t seduce someone who’s already found their fated mate.”
Behind all of the chaos in Emmett’s eyes, there was a hint of something softer. Theo only nodded, feeling a sharp pang in his chest.
“If you start that damn siren song again, I will slice your throat and carve you up with a fucking white wine sauce for dinner. Got it, bitch?” Pippa hissed, pressing the blade to the siren’s throat.
The siren hissed but nodded, refusing to say anything else.
“I love when you start threatening people, baby.” Emmett smiled widely, but his mirth vanished when he looked at the siren. “It doesn’t take a genius to understand that you’re working for Cliodhna, am I correct?”
The siren hissed, but again, she said nothing.
“Answer him when he speaks to you!” Pippa’s lip curled.
The siren looked at Pippa with an expression that could only be described as seething hatred.
“C-can’t talk,” she stuttered the words out. “b-blade!”
“Oh,” Pippa flushed momentarily and slightly eased the pressure on the siren’s throat. “Sorry. Now, answer the question.”
The siren wriggled a little underneath Pippa’s bodyweight, her gaze still livid.
“Yes,” she admitted with vitriol in her eyes. “Cliodhna approached me.”
Her answer was short and sweet. Theo found himself staring at the siren with unabashed curiosity.
It has to be the siren song still fucking with your brain.He tried to remind himself, trying to keep his eyes off the mermaid’s bare chest.Although siren song or not, she is beautiful.
