Page 63 of Ensnaring the Siren

A leviathan. A kraken. Something in between.

A true horror of the deep.

“You’re a friend of the ocean.” Rising to her feet, Nireed took his hand again, no doubt sensing his fear. “You need not fear her return.”

He shuddered. “Her return?”

“A creature as old as her must sleep a long, long time between risings.”

“And the next rising is when exactly?”

Nireed just shrugged, completely unperturbed, but his next ten minutes were spent mentally scrubbing that whole conversation from his brain, followed by a giant heap of denial. If he didn’t make peace with the ocean before his next duty period, he could kiss his career as a Coast Guard rescue swimmer goodbye.

Reid helped Nireed down steep slopes and over rock scrambles, offering a hand whenever she needed it. They took regular breaks so she could rest and catch her breath because being in swimming shape wasn’t the same as being in hiking shape. But she quickly adapted. Her situational awareness was great to begin with, but in the space of a single hike, her balance improved, and she held onto him less and less. And while a part of him felt bereft of her touch, he was damn proud.

Spotting a low shrub dotted with light blue, Reid stopped them. He felt Nireed’s eyes on him as he crouched, picking a handful of berries. “All right. This is my redemption.” He stood, a single, fat blueberry pinched between his forefinger and thumb.

Without so much as a command, or moment’s hesitation, Nireed opened her mouth and stuck out her tongue.

A thrill ran up his spine. So eager and willing and trusting.

He dropped it onto her tongue, watching as she chewed thoughtfully. Her brows ticked up in surprise, a smile breaking.

“Good?”

She promptly bent to pick more to eat. “Mhm.”

Human flesh and blueberries. Who could’ve guessed?

At the summit, he led her to his favorite overlook, and they sat down together, their legs dangling over the ledge. It was so quiet up here. Just the wind and creak of trees. Neither of them spoke for a while, some inherent understanding passing between them about the sanctity of this moment.

They stared out over the landscape at the mountains and trees and dark blue bay beyond, enjoying the view and the silence. The world seemed so untouched.

“I didn’t expect it to be so beautiful,” Nireed said after a time.

“Not too smelly?” Reid teased. “Or dry?”

“Oh, it’s far too dry, but the smells here are good. And I like the quiet. It’s strange, but nice.”

One would think the ocean was quiet, but between sound traveling faster in water and all the shipping traffic, there was always ambient noise. Some time ago, he’d read an article about the effects noise pollution had on whales and the constant stress it put on them. That had stuck with him ever since.

It would be Nireed’s reality too.

“This is where I go when I need to think.”

Nireed smiled. “You grew up here?”

He shook his head, pulling out his phone to show her pictures of home and hikes in Michigan’s own brand of wilderness.

“What’s it like to live away from home?”

There was more to the question than surface level curiosity. It was in the halting way she asked the question as well as the hesitance in her eyes. Was she contemplating a life near the shore, a life near him?

Sooner rather than later they’d have to figure out the answers to some big questions. They’d begun something yesterday. It was bright and shiny and new, but it also had the feeling of permanence. He’d no idea how they’d make it work, or whether there was a way to evenly split the time and distance and effort, but goddammit, he wanted to try. Even if they could only take it day by day.

“It’s hard,” he answered truthfully. If he one day captured Nireed’s heart, it wasn’t going to be through half-truths and artifice. “I miss my family. I miss my friends. You meet new people, make new friends, but you still miss the ones you have back home. And you miss the familiar feeling of the place you left behind.” He paused to rub the back of his neck. “It’s not like I don’t go back to visit. I do. Just maybe not as often as I’d like.”

She gently took his hand, threading their fingers together. It was weird seeing them tipped with rounded nails rather than claws or without webbing in between, but he couldn’t deny how good it felt to have their hands fit so snugly together. “Is it only your purpose that keeps you here?”

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