Page 81 of Anchored to the Storm

Ethan froze. When he finally pulled his head back to look into my eyes, he whispered, “You think you saw what the mermaid was seeing?”

My tears fell to his arm I wouldn’t let go of. “And felt what she felt.” I wept. “Us, I saw us from the water.”

“What?” was said from the doorway.

Ethan and I looked to see Seb, Gage, and Finn gawking at us.

I kept crying. “We were all there.” I struggled to breathe, so I rested my forehead to Ethan’s chest. “Blue. Caleb. Us. Smiling, laughing, playing. She was there.”

The bed dipped when the other boys sat around me, touching my back.

I told them, “Our Blue, so damn happy.”

Seb leaned to me, his body shaking as he cried.

I sobbed, “I wish you all could’ve seen it through her eyes. Caleb was loving the coast.” My body shook. “He had good times before leaving us.”

I’m not sure how that little bed carried the weight of so many broken teenagers, but it did. And all our happy tears.

I hiccupped on so many feelings. “I know his real name now.”

The room fell silent.

“When our mouths hurt, we yelled it. ‘Mad G’. It stands for Maddox Gentry.”

The name Johnny fit the young man who arrived at this house years ago. The name Maddox perfectly suited the unhinged and mad young man who left. There was still a kindness inside him; however, there was a lingering brutality that hungered. I could sense it wanting to be set free. I think that’s why we were so drawn to him, long before the blood oath. His inner fire called to ours, daring us to take a walk on the dark side. Older Maddox was the whistle in the wind, the siren showing us the way to any revenge we earned and craved.

Maybe she craved his menacing ways also. From what I had already witnessed through the dreams or visions, she too had been gravely wronged.

Maybe she was the answer to his wildness. His perfect balance between the carnage he desired to create and the calm he needed to stay grounded.

This is the conclusion I came to after another vision while I slept.

With a green wreath on his head, Maddox walked down a set of pool stairs. He was entranced yet sexier than I had ever imagined he could be. What he did to Saleeni—me—had me in a trance of my own. I don’t recall getting out of bed or walking into Ethan’s room. Only leading him back out by his hand.

Entering my room, he whispered, “You seem different.”

I closed my door, then faced him to kiss him.

He shook his head. “Only to save your life.”

Wrong answer. “What about saving my body?”

His head withdrew. “Are you okay?”

I moaned, “No,” pressing my body flush to his.

Ethan hissed before trying to pull away. “Not when it’s not all you.”

I guess he remembered the bite more than I needed him to. “I ache, Ethan.” I arched my breasts into him again. “I’m coming to you for help.” I sighed when I felt him becoming erect. “Oh, thank God, you do want me.”

“We’ve been over this. You know I want you. Bad. But. Not. Like. This.”

Drug-like, I took a couple steps back. Then I provoked his testosterone to take over. “Maybe I’ll ask my new bestie.”

He growled, “He’s gay, sweetheart.”

I sucked on my finger, backing up toward my bed. “Seb?”