Page 9 of The Wayward Sons & the Seattle Sirens

“Stop throwing your emotions around!”

“Stop telling everyone my feelings!”

“Bless your hearts, you fight like siblin’s.” Gray laughed.

“We are siblings,” Tessa and I said in unison. We stared at one another for a brief moment before she laughed. I just smiled. Apparently, some things never changed. “Do you think they were hunting a siren?”

“That’s the workin’ theory,” Gray replied. “I ain’t goin’ to know for sure til I visit The Cove tomorrow night.”

“Tomorrow night?” She frowned, unhappy with the idea.

“I ain’t goin’ now, darlin’,” he told her. “I know you’re worried about them, but I ain’t goin’ in half-cocked with a fuckin’ siren. They’re nasty bitches. I need sleep, and I need to do some readin’. Fuckin’ hell. Do you hear me? I’m soundin’ like you, baby. What the hell have you done to me?”

“Taught you how to be a more efficient hunter and taught you the importance of taking care of your health,” I said dryly. Those honey-chocolate eyes leveled on me, unimpressed with my response. I just shrugged. I was right. We both knew it.

“So, what’s our plan?” Tessa asked. Crossing my arms and sitting back in my chair, I studied my baby sister. I scrutinized every detail in her disgruntled appearance. She was barely awake with heavy bags under her eyes. I had to imagine even before Jake went missing that she wasn’t sleeping well—babies being fussy-as-fuck sleepers. God bless her but I never understood the appeal of that.

“You’re going home,” I told her. When she started to protest, I said over her, “And you’re going to get some sleep. You’re no good to anyone if you’re barely holding your own, Tess. Gray and I will keep you updated every step of the way. If we need you, I’ll let you know.”

“But—”

“And when we find Mal and Jake, you’ll be the first to know,” I promised. Her face scrunched up with frustration, but I didn’t give a fuck. I wasn’t about to let something happen to her because she couldn’t function.

“I don’t like it,” she replied. “I should help.”

“Do you need to read my emotions to know it comes from a place of love?” I asked the question she’d asked me a lot during some of my hardest years. It was hard to say one thing when you felt another in our family.

“No.” She sighed. I watched her visibly give in, her exhaustion getting the better of her.

“We got this, darlin’,” Gray agreed. “Tonight we’re doin’ a little recon. I want to know what this place looks like on the outside before I go in. It’s goin’ to be a good ol’ fashion stake out.”

I groaned as he grinned happily at me. That was code for: we were about to spend a fuck ton of money on stake-out snacks. Two minutes or two hours, Gray always bought the same amount of obscene snacks.

CHAPTER 07

It’s a strip club,” I said. “I’d bet my left nut on it.”

“I like your nuts exactly where they are,” Ryder muttered under his breath, making me laugh.

The Cove was a giant ass black building with three floors and no windows. It sat in an industrial-sized parking lot with no fucking neighbors and nothing around for a good mile. Talking about one hell of a hunting ground.

Dozens of cars lined the lot, making it easy for Ryder and I to sit at the far end for a stake-out. I chewed on a Twizzler and leaned forward in my seat as I stared at the entrance. Men went in. Only men went in. Two bouncers that made Ryder look short stood at the door, checking IDs and ushering people in.

“I mean,” I clicked my tongue, “ain’t no better place for a siren to hunt down lonely men.”

“Horny men,” Ryder corrected. “Most of them aren’t lonely. They’re just fucking horny.”

I bit back a smart-ass remark at his words. The frustration in his voice was intense. There was only so much he could tune out in a crowd as big as what the building held. From the way he shifted uncomfortably in his seat, the poor fucking man had an involuntary hard-on thanks to a bunch of men looking to get off at the sight of a few strippers.

“Sirens have magic, right?” I asked to distract him. I had a pretty damn good idea about what I had to deal with. Sirens were upper-level demons, meaning they were smart and could pass for humans. Most of the demons we hunters dealt with were lower-level—mindless fucking monsters. They required less tact and more brawn. My specialty.

But a siren? She’d look human. Walk the walk, talk the talk. Normal men wouldn’t know the difference. All I had to look for was the way they fucking flocked to her. The draw of a siren was irresistible—or so I’d read.

Ryder may have said horny men but everything I’d read talked about lonely men. Easy to fucking resist when I wasn’t lonely. I had everything I needed in my passenger seat wearing green flannel and looking goddamn edible. I’d have no problem not falling for a siren’s trick.

“The magic helps them look human,” he said and leaned back in his seat. He crossed his arms, never looking at me. “But you knew that.”

“I knew that. Just lookin’ to distract you.”

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