Page 12 of Siren’s Secret

“I can hold it, Wayla,” Irishen assured her.

Wave shook her head. He probably could until her siren side slipped the leash and rendered his mind to pieces. She could already feel it clawing free.

Irishen glowered. “Either you are losing the power yourself or I will pull it out of you, Wayla. You are not going to keep suppressing it like that anymore and hurting yourself.”

“There’s too much,” she whispered.

Irishen’s eyes immediately softened. “I know it feels like that, sweetheart. But it’s your power. You can control it.”

But Wave couldn’t. It was too much, too wild, and it felt angry. She had pushed all of it aside for ten years. It wasn’t going to just quietly slip into place now.

Still, he was right that she couldn’t hold it all in either. Pleadingly, she looked at Salis.

“Can you get out of range? I don’t want to hurt you by accident.”

“I can fly out,” Salis replied solemnly.

That was reassuring enough that a blast of power slipped free. The car swerved before Salis got it under control again. Irishen pulled her tighter against his chest and a layer of frost covered her skin.

“Just hold on five more minutes and we’ll be deep enough in the national park that you should be fine. There’s a lake for you to play with,” Salis replied, eyes locked on the road.

Wave hadn’t been paying attention to where they were going, but the little sports car was practically flying. All around them, tall, dark trees whizzed by. Focusing on controlling her breathing, Wave nodded. She could absolutely hold on for five minutes.

After two minutes, she was shaking and desperately tilted her head back, searching out Risha’s lips. Easily, he met her searching look and leaned down. More icy air filtered into her lungs and slowed her heartbeat.

Together, they kept breathing until Salis slowed the car and parked. She could smell the water in the air and Salis was out of the car in a blink, opening the door for Wave and Risha.

“Okay, your highness. I’m trusting her with you. Don’t let me down, or I will smite you,” Salis growled. White light shone over his shoulder and Wave couldn’t help but look, just in time to see massive silvery wings unfold.

“I’ll take care of her,” Irishen replied. “My blood for that promise.”

The archaic vow seemed to mollify Salis, who gave Wave one last one over. “I’ll wait for you back home and let Di and the rest know you are a bit delayed,” he said.

“Thanks,” Wave murmured, still awestruck.

The grin that spread over Salis’s face at her ogling eased some of her tension. He flapped his wings once, causing Irishen to take a couple of steps back, and jumped. His wings pushed more air at them and then he was airborne and ascending quickly.

“Damn show-off,” Irishen muttered, but he didn’t really sound annoyed.

Wave followed Salis’s flight until he breached the cloud cover. It was like that was the sign her power had needed. As soon as he wasn’t there to hold her attention, it tried to push free. Wave whimpered in pain.

“Okay, Wayla,” Irishen said sternly. “You are going to let go.”

“But—”

“No buts,” he growled. “I will force you if I have to.”

Now it was Wave’s turn to growl. “And how in the hell are you planning to do that?”

Irishen attacked with no warning. One moment, Wave was cradled in his arms and the next, she was splayed on a table of ice with thick bands forcing her in place. The cold felt so incredibly good against her back and neck that she moaned.

“First, let go of your aura,” Irishen demanded, eyes flashing.

“Or what?” Wave challenged him. Stupid. This was so stupid. She was bound to a table by a male she didn’t—well fuck, apparently, she did trust him because her pussy was slowly getting wet and not from fear.

“Or I will strip you naked and cover you in ice.”

Empty threat. Wave could hear the lie easily. “I might like it,” she retorted.