Page 52 of Siren’s Secret

“Fuck you,” Irishen barked at Jarred, right over Wayla’s enraged shout.

Jarred laughed and kissed the top of Wayla’s head.

“He’ll do, love. Now, let’s get you into a shower and then some food.”

Irishen watched Wayla melt back into Jarred and some of his anger faded away at seeing the happy smile on her face.

“You’re an ass,” he muttered to Jarred. They would need to sort shit out between them, but he couldn’t lie and say it didn’t feel damned good to have his off-handed approval. It helped that Wayla was still holding his hand.

“Duly noted.” The damned jaguar smirked back at him. “Now, lead the way.”

Chapter 27 – Wave

Wave was curled up on a couch, her hair still wet from the shower she had taken alone. She had needed a moment to sort out her thoughts. Hellion and Marc had been digging up things about her. Somehow, she hadn’t been expecting that.

Everyone else, sure. But not them.

Anger tried to worm its way up, but she kept pushing it aside. They didn’t owe her anything, not even being discreet. But if their actions forced her to run, especially now, she would haunt their ghosts forever.

The smells drifting from the kitchen pulled her focus out of the doom and gloom, and she tapped her toes, impatiently waiting for her mate to finish cooking.

Yeah. Not only did she have a Claimed with a solidified bond, but she also had a mate. A mate whose clothes she was currently wearing. What the hell had happened to her life?

And on top of everything, it seemed that her mate liked to cook. He hadn’t been lying about the burgers, except that the stuff he was making was closer to gourmet than a greasy burger. When Wave’s stomach growled for the hundredth time, Irishen’s head moved in her direction and he looked like he wanted to say something but then focused back onto slicing tomatoes.

He had already made her a cheese plate to snack on. She had devoured the thing in minutes. If nothing else, her maybe-mate had good taste in cheese. He had presented Wave with five different cheeses to choose from to go with her burger. He had also almost lost his head when he had capped Wave’s choices down to three. Hence the cheese plate.

Sadly, that plate was gone, and Wave was hungry. She was preparing to riot when Risha finally hummed, satisfied.

“Ready, get your ass to the table, princess.”

“I’m not a princess.” Wave automatically denied the truth. Her mother was the crown princess and technically that made her a princess too, but that was neither here nor there.

“Lady Stormwell, please get your grumpy ass moving so I can feed my mate,” Risha replied, equally snappish.

“Come, love. You are hangry. You’ll feel better once you have some food in you,” Jarred coaxed her.

“I know that.” She stomped to the table. The burger Risha placed in front of her made her mouth water. Not caring about the mess, she picked it up, attacked it with gusto, and almost orgasmed at the taste.

The men stood by the table, staring at her and occasionally sharing glances. When Wave was through the first burger, Risha cleared his throat and nudged the plate he had clearly made for himself in front of her. Jarred gave a forlorn glance at his burger before moving it in front of Wave too.

“You got anything else in this place?” he asked Risha pleadingly.

Wave stared at the two plates in front of her and tried to refuse, but both men growled at her in equal measures.

“You need to eat.”

“Fucking eat, morsel. I’ll make some mac and cheese for us.”

“I like mac and cheese,” she tried to say but gave up when the growling intensified and instead attacked Risha’s burger. She couldn’t quite bite back the moan at the crisp, fresh taste mixed with juicy patty. Who knew veggies could taste so good?

At least Risha was now smiling when he watched her eat. Wave tried to pace herself, but she was done with the second burger before Risha was finished with the mac and cheese.

“Are you sure—”

“Just eat it, love,” Jarred huffed. “You’ve been burning a lot of energy lately and you are still recovering.”

“Fucking hell,” Risha muttered.