Page 73 of Ensnaring the Siren

“I need to think about it some more.”

“Okay.”

“I’ll see you soon, Lorelei.”

Lorelei. He knew that name. Had heard it recently, in fact.

Was this the same woman Nireed called from his cellphone several days ago, whose number he looked up online? Racing to the internet app on his phone, he looked up the Haven Cove Museum of Oceanic Discovery’s webpage, beelining to the contact page and the staff directory he’d pulled up before. Emails, phone numbers, just no headshots.

But after a little tapping around, he found a Meet the Staff page he hadn’t noticed before, and there she was, smiling at the very top of the page. Lorelei Roth, Museum Director.

Lorelei Roth.

Not only did she look like his mother’s younger twin, she shared a surname with his maternal grandmother, Greta Roth. How hadn’t he put this together sooner? The past few days had been a whirlwind of opposites, starting with horrifically traumatic and ending on wildly orgasmic, but still. He should’ve thought more of it.

And the Yooper accent she’d slipped into over the phone…

Lorelei hugged his mom one more time, whispering something he couldn’t hear, before leaving. His mom lingered outside the coffee shop, watching her go with a wistful smile.

Fuck. He had a sister. A goddamn sister!

His mother kept it from him his whole life. And what was worse, if that conversation was any indication, she hadn’t ever planned on telling him. Launching off the bench, he approached his mom. Her back was turned to him, so she never saw him coming. “Does Dad know?”

She jumped, whirling around with her eyes as round as saucers. “Reid!”

Before she could even think of making up excuses, he snapped, “Don’t deny it. I heard everything.”

“What? How? Were you…spying on me?” She sounded angry.

“The way we left things at lunch, I thought you were having an episode. I wanted to make sure you were okay.”

“It’s been an hour!”

“Not the most important thing at the moment. I have a sister?”

His mom looked skyward, taking a deep, frustrated breath. “Yes.”

He folded his arms across his chest and repeated. “Does Dad know?”

“Yes. I had her before I met him.”

No cheating then, that was a fucking relief. “Why was she saying, ‘how doesn’t matter?’ And what’s Nireed got to do with any of this?”

“Keep your voice down.” His mom hissed, glancing all around them. People were staring. “Let’s go back to my rental to talk.”

“Fine.” He gestured curtly for her to lead the way and followed her a block up the road. She unlocked an unfamiliar sleek, silver sedan with Maine plates and slipped into the driver’s seat.

Taking the passenger’s side, Reid slammed the door behind him a little more harshly than he should’ve, making his mom jump again, and in that split second, she looked too much like a frightened deer. He hated that he’d done that. The thought that he might scare her, his mom, made him sick to his stomach.

“I’m sorry,” he murmured, forcing calm into his words. It was one thing to be upset about her lies, another to be aggressive.

“I’m only going to say this once, so listen closely.” She’d gone ghostly pale.

The sick feeling in his stomach deepened. Whatever she was about to say was bad, but he nodded to her to continue.

She squeezed the steering wheel in a white-knuckled grip, a hard set to her jaw. “I was assaulted. Here, in Haven Cove.” Each short, clipped sentence was a sucker punch. “Lorelei was the result, and Nireed knows your sister, because she’s not human. Not completely.”

He barely choked the words out. “My sister’s a…mermaid?”

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