Page 25 of Siren’s Secret

“Firstly, I love her.”

“She didn’t seem to share the sentiment.” Wave couldn’t help her snark.

Sinister smiled ruefully. “She might want to string my entrails from a flagpole. Doesn’t change how I feel about her. I’m saying this so that you know that I would rather poke my eyes out than sleep with you. No insult intended.”

Now Wave snorted, relaxing a bit. “None taken. What’s the second part?”

Sinister turned somber. “Ro is a pure succubus. Rare. She’s had her share of trouble.” He took a moment to clear his throat. “And I lost my little sister years ago… You remind me of her. Wide eyes, mouthy, and too kind.”

“I’m not too kind,” Wave protested immediately.

“I heard Jarred,” Sinister said. “You stood up for Hellion and Marc when they—” He had to take a deep breath to contain his snarl. “Physically attacked you.” He held up his hand to stop Wave from speaking. “I don’t care about your justifications for their actions.”

“But—”

“The point being, Wayla, is that I won’t share your secret with anyone, ever. So please don’t run? With all the shit going down, I think you are safer in Tracthesian than anywhere else.”

“Maybe…” Wave hesitated.

“If that changes, I will portal you the fuck out of here myself, okay?”

“Fine, okay, I’ll—think about it.”

“That’s all I ask.” Sinister hesitated, then his expression changed to the most vulnerable Wave had ever seen. “If I can get Ro to come to Tracthesian, would you be her friend? Knowing what she is?”

It took a while for Wave to compute what he was asking, but then a warm feeling spread through her heart. It wasn’t like anything she had felt before. She smiled.

“Yeah, Sin, I would.”

“Thank you.” Sinister smiled. “Now, don’t run and stay out of trouble.”

“You say that like it’s simple.”

“Point taken.” Sinister gave a small laugh and turned to walk out. “See you around, shrimp.”

Wave was desperately trying to fall asleep when her phone once again chirped. Since she had spent the last two hours tossing and turning, she picked it up and read the message, well, messages. All from Risha.

Annoyed, she hit the wrong part of the screen and before she could disconnect, Irishen picked up.

“Wayla?”

“Hmpf.”

“Are you there?”

“I didn’t mean to call you.”

“But you did.” He sounded unreasonably happy about that.

“Not on purpose.”

“I’ll take what I can get, Wayla.”

“Sure,” she snorted. “Any slice of Hellion, even secondhand.”

The line fell silent and Wave was tempted to end the call, but something held her back. That something definitely was not his voice.

“It might have started as a way to get under his skin a little bit,” Irishen said quietly.