Page 9 of Siren’s Secret

“And you,” Wave said quietly. “I would have never made it without you.” She had heard his voice. Through all that pain and crushing weight and thunder in her head, she had heard him calling to her. Keeping her tethered in that storm. Not fighting against it, but fighting with her.

Wave carefully, slowly, giving him all the time to pull back, reached out and took his hand. Cold calmness spread over her from the contact, easing the tension that she hadn’t even realized was there. She squeezed his fingers.

“Thank you.”

Chapter 5 – Irishen

Irishen’s insides, maybe his heart, clenched when Wayla let go of his fingers. For a single second, she had done something. She had meant those words and had let him see it. Feel it. Losing that little window into her as she now stepped back made him feel things.

What those things were, he wasn’t quite sure he was ready to face just yet.

Wayla looked sad. That was the only word he could come up with to describe what was lingering in her eyes. The rest of her looked worn down, nothing like the sparkly woman he had become used to. There were lines around her eyes that hadn’t been there before and a paleness to her skin.

“Okay, I think we better move this party to somewhere else,” Salis said, breaking Risha’s observations. Irishen glanced around and noticed all the attention she was garnering. No one was bold enough to approach her—yet, but they would.

“He’s right. Let’s get you home,” he said. Wayla hesitated, and her shoulders tensed up again. “What’s the matter?” he prodded.

“I don’t know if they want me to…” She trailed off. Irishen frowned, looking around. Salis seemed to pick up on her meaning and shook his head.

“You are worrying over nothing, Way. Di, Ginny, and Chrissy wouldn’t throw you out—”

“Of course they wouldn’t,” Irishen cut in. “Don’t be ridiculous.”

“They weren’t here,” Wayla mumbled.

“Because I had to talk them out of it,” Salis said. Wayla’s head snapped around to him. He continued, looking a bit wary. “We had no idea how this would turn out, Way. I didn’t want…”

“No, I get it.” Wayla sighed. “But they wanted to come?”

“I’m sure they did,” Irishen said. If he knew anything about those three after his time with Diana, it was that they didn’t abandon their friends. Still, Wayla looked uncertain, and Irishen could understand that too. She had been keeping a pretty huge secret from them. Something similar had once torn his own friendships apart.

“We’ll take you home and you can talk it over. If they want you out, you can stay at my place. Okay?”

Wayla exhaled hard and nodded. Salis, once again, wrapped his arm around her and guided them down the street. It was only once the bus stop came into view that Irishen snorted.

“I do have a car, you know.”

“I’m sure you do,” Salis said evenly.

“We could take it. Would be faster.”

“Does it fit three?” Salis shot back.

Instead of answering him, Irishen grabbed Wayla’s arm and pulled her to face him. “Stop that,” he snarled as she tried to pull back her aura. He knew how it felt to push all that power away and it drove him crazy knowing that was what she was doing.

“I can’t—”

“Yes, you can.” He gave her a small shake. “Stop denying who you are.”

For a second, Wayla’s eyes flashed and Irishen felt her aura flare out. It hit him hard and then in the next blink, it was all gone. Neatly folded away, like it had never been there in the first place. She shuddered once and took a deep breath.

“There,” she said and pulled free of him. “Now, I’d like to get this over with.”

Irishen wanted to grab her again and demand that she let go, but Wayla’s expression was shuttered. Nothing from the previous glimpse into her mind was left to be seen. He frowned, trying to figure out what her problem was.

Why was she so adamant about hiding her power even now? It wasn’t simply that she was considerate and thinking about others. Her aura let him and Salis near without issues, so this was something else that she was hiding.

“Do you want to take the bus or his car, cupcake?” Salis broke the tense silence. Irishen had heard enough of their ridiculous nicknames that he didn’t bat an eye anymore. Wayla shrugged, frowned, and bit her lower lip.