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He shifted his body, no longer using Zosime as a float. Storm’s upper body remained out of the water, with Zosime’s chest held against him. I couldn’t see her tail and worried if he was jostling it beneath the water.
“Storm, listen to me.”
The narrowing of his eyes was the only response I received.
“Zosime is hurt, she isn’t healing properly. We need to get her to safety and let her rest so she can heal.”
He made no move to release her.
“Storm would never hurt her, and we gave her blood to heal them both.” Kye tried to reassure me.
“Well, apparently you three had more severe injuries than we thought, because she used very little to heal herself. I am stunned she’s even conscious; her body should be going into shock. The shark nearly ripped her fluke off.”
Kye moved immediately toward her, only to be stopped short when Storm’s glowing eyes locked on him.
“Mine.” The single word was more of a growl than an actual word, but his meaning was crystal clear.
“Yes, she is yours,” I said firmly. “She is willing to die for you, now is not the time to claim her.” I hoped my words were sinking in.
“Why is he acting like this?” Eason asked. “I know we get a little crazy when she bites us, but this is insane! She didn’t even bite him.” Eason sounded exhausted. His injuries were healed, but his body was still dealing with the blood loss and the toxin.
“It’s my blood.”
At the sound of Zosime’s voice, four sets of eyes snapped to her face.
“Are you okay, Zosi?” Kye was the first to speak.
“Don’t worry, it will be okay,” she said gently. “I wasn’t thinking clearly. I’ve known my blood could boost healing, but I didn’t stop to think about how I had ingested my own toxin while drinking from you two. When I gave Storm my blood, he got the boost from my blood, as well as the toxin that I had ingested. He’s acting like my Siren, the combination must be potent.”
“Your Siren?” I asked.
“What you call a mermaid,” she replied. “Although mermaids seem to be gentle and happy from what I have gathered. I don’t think that fits me at all.”
“We can discuss all this later. Zosi, what do we do now?” Kye asked. He looked ready to pounce on Storm, but with the latter juiced up on Siren’s blood, I doubted that would end well for Kye.
“Let me talk to him.”
Sliding her arms around his neck, she rested her head on his shoulder. They looked like a normal couple sharing a sweet embrace. When she spoke again, her voice was pure velvet, each word brushing against our skin.
“Storm, listen to my voice,” she said. “Focus on it and ignore the whispers from my blood. This isn’t you. Come back to me. I want to be us to be bonded, but I want you to remember it and not have regrets. It is your choice; I will be proud to have you as my mate regardless of how you choose for that to happen.”
Her breathing was rough when she finished speaking. The scientist in me was curious if speaking in the voice of her ‘Siren’ required energy. The man in me worried that she was taking a turn for the worse.
Storm held her against him, not a single muscle twitching. His breathing leveled out, and the color of his eyes flickered several times between the glowing green and his natural grey. We watched warily as his muscles relaxed one by one, and his hold on Zosime changed from crushing to tender. I exhaled in relief; he was back and no longer a risk to our girl. I mean, their girl.
“I believe I have a lot to apologize for later, to all of you,” Storm said. He nodded in our direction, but his focus remained on Zosi.
“Zosime, if you feed from me, would you be able to heal yourself?” I asked. I was the only one that could spare some blood.
A sad smile passed across her face. “It will take several hours, possibly even a day to finish healing myself. Your blood would provide much needed help, but it will not heal me instantly. There is no reason for you to be weakened like the rest of us. It is best we all get to safety first, then you can decide if you are willing to feed me or not.”
The thought of her pain was making me physically ill, but I did understand her logic.
“Darling,” Storm began, “I need you to move onto my back so we can swim to shore.” Storm tried to shift her around to his back.
I knew these men had been trained to swim with large amounts of weight on their backs. Zosime’s body was long with the added length from her tail, but she was lean.
“I can make my own way back,” Zosime said firmly.
“Absolutely not, you will keep that fin still.” Kye’s tone was firm.
“I wasn’t going to swim back. Sheba has been waiting.”
“Who is Sh––”
Eason broke off mid-sentence when the massive fin sliced through the water between us.
