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A part of me braces for rejection. Just because the bond exists does not mean we have any obligation to seal it. It would not shock me if he walked away, not when he has such a long and bright future before him.

The past few days with him have been everything to me. Having his friendship, his body, his breathy moans and Daddy, please’s, and his mouth wrapped around my thumb when he falls asleep have given me a glimpse of a life I want. I do not know how I am going to walk away, but I will if he asks me.

I would do anything for him.

In his siren form, a glow of green hovers under his skin. I run a finger over the thin green membrane of his elongated ear, feeling a wave of satisfaction when it trembles under my touch.

I am caught off guard when Aleks initiates the kiss. Relief fills me even as heat and need and something almost animal in nature gathers in my chest.

He breaks away, breath sweet against my lips. “I want you,” he pants.

“You have me.”

“I don’t know what I’m doing,” he says, and there is a flash of uncertainty in his eyes. “But there’s a tug in me, like on some level I know what I’m supposed to do now, to…to claim you.”

I watch his black pupils narrow into slits, and something firm presses against my thigh. Instinctively I push back. When his mouth opens in a breathy gasp, I smile. “Then claim me,” I say as I start to rock my thigh up, and down, up, and down. “But I plan to claim you, in return.”

Aleks’ slippery, webbed hands yank at my clothes. I help him as best as I can, standing up to more easily heed the desperate pull of whatever it is we are moving toward. When I toss my soaked shorts and boxers up onto the shore, I look down at him and groan.

His long body is stretched out, floating on the surface of the water. Pale green scales glitter where they peek through the skin on his hip and at the juncture of his neck and shoulder. My eyes trail down his body, past the place where skin gives way to the scales of his tail.

I have never looked at another siren this way.

My breath goes ragged as I take in the rigid cock jutting out from his slit. There is nothing comparable to human anatomy, not in the pointed tip of the flushed pink cock tapering down to a wide, glistening base.

“Fuck, Aleks,” I rasp. My palms itch at my sides, a burning pressure in my chest telling me I need to touch him. I grab my own hard cock, giving in to my desire. “Do you have any idea how incredible you are?”

Holding my gaze, Aleks lifts his green-tinted hands from the water. Slowly, he trails them down his body, touching himself with the same patience and reverence I plan to devote my life to giving him.

“Good boy,” I praise, watching as he brushes the webbing between his fingers over his hard dick. It twitches at the touch, and I barely bite back my groan. Like he knows he is killing me, Aleks goes lower, sliding his thumb over another hole. It is tight, barely a noticeable divot between green scales. Glancing up, I see his teeth sink into his lower lip. “Is this your hole, sireno? Is this where you want Daddy to fuck you?”

He nods, and even through the shadow of green on his skin I can see the flush spread across his chest.

“You are going to have to help me, sireno,” I admit, wishing there was not an undercurrent of vulnerability in my voice. It is my job to be strong for him. To be steady. Dependable. But right now, standing at the edge of this huge, cosmic thing between us, I do not know what to do next.

He blinks up at me. “Do you trust me?”

“I am in your hands.”

Aleks lifts himself and pushes me into the deeper water. I back up, the stones slippery under my feet as he glides toward me. Staring into his eyes, I know I am exactly where I am supposed to be. Here, in the water, with my heart and life and fate in the hands of my mate.

Aleks pulls us under.

It is a blur, then. A dizzying dance, my arms wrapped around Aleks’ body and his slippery hands tracing over my skin. Anytime I need to breathe, Aleks presses his mouth to mine, giving me the breath from his lungs. There are no words, not here, but somehow he reads me, and, shockingly, I can read him.

Aleks’ tail propels us in wide arching circles, our bodies pressed tightly together. Between our breaths he sings, and nothing has ever sounded more beautiful. I am lost in the song, answering the call. I am here, I want to sing in return. You called me, mate, and I came. I waited all those years. I stayed away. But I am here now. Estoy aqui, contigo. Here I am, with you.

I feel Aleks in my chest. I swear there is a physical presence there, something new and precious that has taken up residence beside my heart.

His heart is mine. His fear is mine. His hunger is mine. Mine to feel, and mine to solve.

His need is mine, too. And right now, my mate needs more. He needs me.

Reaching down between us, my fingers find his hole. It is slick, soft and pliant like it has already been prepped with lube. I slip the tip of one finger in slowly, carefully, listening for his response, but all I get is a reverberating—yes more please Daddy yes.

Who am I to deny my mate what he wants?

By the time I have three fingers in him, he is bucking his hips to meet my touch.