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“That wasn’t a seal. It was sex,” I whispered to Lokene.
Lokene raised a brow. “You have got to be joking.”
“If a woman was riding me and released that sound during orgasm, I would blink up out of there so fast. But only if I didn’t have a heart attack first,” I responded.
“I don’t think that Zosime is even capable of making that sound if she were to try.” A ghost of a smile crossed Lokene’s taut face.
The couple talked, and the woman called several times for the missing man. But instead of being genuinely concerned about the missing guy, both had agitation radiating from them. Lokene leaned forward, trying to get a better look at the Ancients. “They both seem really familiar, especially the woman. There’s something about her…”
I hated to admit it, but Lokene was right. Even without seeing their faces, they were familiar. I growled softly for them to turn so I could see their faces fully. After several minutes, and without showing her face, the woman went back inside, leaving the man outside.
He stared at the cabin door before surveying the clearing and the surrounding area. No doubt he was looking for their dead companion, which meant we needed to be alert in case he moved this way.
And then it happened.
The man turned, giving us a glimpse of his full face. The air was knocked from my body as though someone had punched me in the gut.
“I can’t believe it,” Lokene hissed beside my ear. “I know him.”
“Of course you know him. Everyone knows Raq,” I whispered back.
“But him? I never would have thought he would give in to the Lure. He’s supposed to be one of our ambassadors to other worlds! What if he is already trying to spread it there?” Lokene clenched his hands, knuckles growing white.
I couldn’t blame him for feeling betrayed since I was feeling the same way. This man was one of the oldest among the Ancients. He was supposed to be a leader, guiding us on how to get through this crisis.
“It is a lot worse than we knew,” I mumbled.
The news of Raq’s involvement was going to shake the Ancient communities. He’d been one of the leaders who was most vocal about bringing Zosime here and about confining Lokene in his home here on Iolatara.
Lokene must have been thinking along the same lines. “He didn’t want to bring Zosi here to save the Ancients. It was so they could more easily arrange her death.”
Raq hadn’t been at the meeting Zosi and I had crashed. No wonder he’d skipped attending the last few meetings. He didn’t want to risk Zosime would sense he was tainted by the Lure, and he would be outed to the rest of the Ancients before he was ready.
A new thought sent an arctic chill coursing through my body. A thought that I doubted had occurred to Lokene yet.
If Raq was here, it was likely his latest partner was nearby, too. It didn’t seem possible that she would be involved in this, but they’d become inseparable recently. And if I were right, we were so deep in crap we’d be lucky to ever see a blue sky above our heads again.
I opened my mouth, preparing to drop my bombshell realization on Lokene, but stopped when Raq strode down the grass-lined path toward the glistening water.
Toward Zosime.
He paused, calling out for his companion. Each step brought him nearer and nearer the water’s edge and the waiting predator.
Fear tightened its claws around my heart. This wasn’t just any Ancient. He was one of the most experienced with magik, and Zosime didn’t have a clue about the power of the man she was about to attack.
I could tell the moment something caught Raq’s interest because he stopped, leaning his body out over the water to get a closer look.
Just like a jumpscare in a movie, I knew what was coming, and yet I still jumped in shock.
Zosime’s body torpedoed out of the water, her arms locking around the man’s neck and yanking him into the water with a force that wasn’t dissimilar to a shark leaping from the water to snatch its prey. I was once again reminded that her siren was a predator; wild, untamed, and heartbreakingly beautiful.
Zosime had proven time and time again to be one of the fiercest warriors born on Earth throughout all time. I’d never want to be on Zosime’s list of prey. I might be an Ancient, but without my abilities, I seriously doubted I could protect myself from her.
I’d already lost my heart to her. And now I might have lost my chance to love her.
“Do you think she’ll forgive us?” I asked.
Lokene leaned against the stone, eyes glued to the water’s surface, which was smooth as glass. “We can hope. The one thing we have going for us is our immortality. If we win this war against the Lure, we’ll have a long time to convince her we’re sorry.”
