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I drag my hands down my face. All I want is to sit with Sirena again and learn about her pod and their queen. Ezra’s standing here like he needs a full threat assessment before we go.

But I know my mate. He isn’t budging until someone answers him, and we don’t have time to argue about it. He can interrogate the fish people on the walk for all I care.

27

EZRA

Angie doesn’t bother filling us in on the spicy details. She walks out of the Conjuring Hall, expecting us to follow. I’m not dumb enough to make her wait. Josiah falls in beside her. Aya and I trail behind them through the library and down the stairs, then out the side exit of the university building.

As we round the backside of the dormitories, I can’t take my eyes off Aya’s face. She keeps glancing back toward the main campus.

“The Mer need significantly more water than the typical shifter,” Angie says over her shoulder without slowing down. “They can hold their human form on land, but they dry out fast. Skin cracks, gills seize. It’s painful for them if they’re too far from a water source for too long. We keep them near the lake.”

That explains the housing situation, at least. I frown down at Aya. She’s practically vibrating beside me. With her fingers locked around mine, she keeps tugging me down the path faster than I want to go. She’s hardly been anywhere outside of Wintermoon, and if I’m honest, I haven’t either. We grew up inside this protective bubble where nothing ever changes. It’s still too dangerous for shifters to explore beyond the borders, or supernaturals wouldn’t keep showing up here.

“Josiah.” I catch up to his side, even though Aya’s going to hear every word of this. “Things aren’t getting any better in human territory?”

He gives me a sidelong glance. “No. And I don’t think they will. Humans have never been good at accepting what they can’t control. It’s not a matter of if they’ll come around, Ezra. It’s a matter of learning to coexist with the fact that they won’t.”

I smile when Aya huffs. She still believes people can change. I love that about her, even if it worries the hell out of me.

From the top of the hill behind the dormitories, the dark lake opens up below us. The path narrows on the way down to the shore. I spot the Mer at the bottom with the water at their backs. My dragon shoves up and drags the electrical charge with him. It prickles down my arms into my fingertips, and I warn him to keep it away from my mate. At my side, Aya rises onto her toes to see past my shoulder. Her scent spikes bright.

I tighten my grip on her hand. When she turns to me, I shake my head.

“Aya.” I lean in until my mouth is at her ear. “Baby, do not make me lose control again. I will run them off over you.”

She gasps with a finger pressed to her lips and nods. But I need more than a nod. I cup her face and tilt it up until she has to meet my gaze. Her heartbeat jumps under my hands. Her silver eyes narrow even while she’s trying to cooperate. She has owned me since I caught her scent across a crowded Academy hallway as a hatchling. We wear each other’s claim marks now, and she still wants to fight me on this.

“My little strong wild wolf.” I run my thumbs along her cheeks. “Listen to me, baby. Trust that I can take care of you. I just want to make sure you’re safe. Can you do that for me? Trust me and let me protect you?”

She swallows hard. Her wolf backs down first and turns her scent sweet while Aya’s still frowning. Submission doesn’t come easy for a daughter of Levi. When she dips her chin, my dragon eases off and pulls the charge back with him. I can breathe again.

I lean down and kiss her slow. She clutches my shirt and opens her mouth under mine. Wild berries are all I can smell. When I break away, she chases me with her lips still parted. My dragon snarls for more, but I keep her at arm’s length.

Aya groans. “I hate it when you do that. You have this ability to make me do whatever you want.”

“You own me just as much as I own you.” I put her hand over my heart. “You have the ability to destroy me if you want.” I press a long kiss to her forehead. “Remember that.”

I set off down the path and reach for her. Instead of lacing her fingers through mine, she steps behind me and grabs a fistful of my shirt. My dragon damn near purrs. My mate is tucked against my back while I walk her into unknown territory. Every tug goes straight to my gut. I keep my scent neutral. If she figures out how much I love this, she’ll let go out of spite.

I’m tempted to scoop her up and fly her home to the cabin, where she’s all mine for the rest of the day. But after the Conjuring Hall, I need to see the Mer for myself. I want to know what Stormscale was to them and what I’m supposed to be now.

Angie has stopped off to the side, short of the shoreline. She and Josiah grin at each other as soon as they spot Aya latched onto my back. He gives me an approving look I pretend not to notice.

The Mer wait where the rock drops off into the lake. Their scent is all deep, cold water. With their scales and fins gone, their skin carries a faint blue undertone that’s easy to miss. They’ve kept their pointed ears and their long nails curved into talons. When the taller male shifts his weight, I catch a glimpse of small, sharp teeth his lips don’t quite close over. But it’s the gills that give them away. I can’t stop watching the slits along their necks open and shut in a steady rhythm.

The female stands in front with the males a step behind, close enough to guard her. She’s wearing a soft sleeveless dress that falls to her thighs. Lake water still drips from her hair onto the rock. Her bare feet are longer and broader than ours, with webbing between the toes.

She cocks her head at me and fixes her black eyes on mine. My dragon takes her for a predator and wants my wings out. I keep them in while they itch at the healing roots. Angie and Josiah step aside. I stop a pace from Sirena and bow with my fist to my chest.

When I straighten, she bares her teeth. I’m almost sure she means it friendly. “Hello, Stormscale.” Her voice is deeper than I expected, with a buzz under it that rattles through me. She presses a hand over her heart in return. “You must forgive our intrusion. We believed all of Stormscale to be dead.”

My dragon goes quiet at that. I think of my father and keep my voice level. “It’s just me and my father,” I tell her. “No other Stormscale lives.”

She peers past me at Aya. My mate twists her fist tighter in my shirt while her heart kicks hard. Sirena’s gills stop moving when she notices the claim mark on my neck.

“You have completed the claiming process with your mate,” she tells me. “This is… congratulations.” She pauses. “House of Zorah is a noble pack. We have known of them since the beginning, though we did not hold true respect for them until after the Great War. Your pairing with the daughter of Zorah is a blessing from Mother Fate.”