Page 103 of Siren’s Secret

“Lalwe root?” Marc asked, getting them back on track.

“It’s a bit worrying.” Wave sighed. “Maybe I’m reading too much into this, but—”

“We should tell the rest—”

“No!”

Marc stiffened at Wave’s outburst. Then he frowned and looked from Jarred to Irishen. “There’s more to this,” he murmured. When Jarred started to speak, he shook his head. “No, she’ll tell me when she’s ready.” He turned his head so he could rest his cheek on top of her head. “I hope,” he added.

Marc couldn’t see the look in Wave’s eyes when he said that, but Irishen had a feeling that they would be adding the mage into their bond sooner rather than later. He was pushing all the right buttons to melt his prickly mate’s defenses.

“So, we don’t have any concrete clues about who was behind the attack, or what they even wanted,” Wave whispered after a moment. It seemed like she was going to cry, but between one breath and another, her face hardened. “Nothing new there. I just need to keep my guard up while sleeping. I guess I’m getting into shielding practices after all.”

Irishen wanted to reassure his mate, but he didn’t know how. What could he say when she was right? They didn’t know who was behind this attack, and she was used to being on her guard at all times. It burned him that he couldn’t swear to her that he would be there to save her.

He hadn’t been this time, or the many times before that she had needed someone, but been left to face the horrors alone.

“As soon as Ilijas gives you the go-ahead, we’ll get back to it,” Marc said, pulling Irishen’s focus back to them.

“What about the party?” she asked him.

“What party?” Jarred asked. Irishen wanted to know that, too.

“Tanner’s eighteenth birthday party,” Marc said.

“Oh, I forgot,” Jarred said. “You’re going?”

“Yes, and I asked Wayla to join me. Tanner actually requested her presence as a birthday present.”

“How are we going to handle security?” Jarred frowned.

Irishen felt a flash of surprise in their bond and focused on his mate.

“You’re not going to argue about me going?”

“Of course not,” Jarred immediately said and Irishen could see her falling head over heels for him again. The path to her heart was through freedom.

“What if we keep it a secret that she’s coming?” Marc murmured. “I haven’t told Tanner yet. It can be a surprise gift and if no one knows she’s going to be there, then—”

“Then she should be safe. Hard to mount an attack with such short notice,” Irishen finished.

“I’m okay with that,” Wave said. “But I think we should let Sinister know—just in case.”

“Yeah,” Jarred said. “Irishen, can you talk to him? We still need to take Wayla to the shower and you are starting to look a bit pale, love.”

“When is the party?”

“Friday, in two weeks,” Marc said. “His birthday is on Wednesday, but the party is held on Friday.”

“Today is—what day is it again?” Wave looked tired.

“Friday, love,” Jarred replied. “You missed class for three days, but so did Ginny, Diana, and Chrissy. Official line is that your dorm got vandalized and you needed a couple of days to sort things out.”

“No one knows it was an attack on me?”

“People always speculate, but all we’ve been talking about is vandalism and trying to find the perpetrators.”

“Thank fuck.” Wave sighed. “That makes it easier.”