Page 91 of Ensnaring the Siren

Reid’s eyes had a wild, desperate look to them Nireed didn’t like.

“There’s no blood.” She assured him, sensing his growing panic. “And I don’t smell death.”

“Nautic took them. Nautic fucking took them!” He smacked the surface of the water, but anger quickly turned to fear. “Nireed, I don’t know what to do. It’s going to take the Coast Guard at least thirty minutes to get a helicopter here. If Nautic’s crew finds out Lorelei’s a mermaid, she’s not going to have that long. And who knows what they’ll do to Dr. Branson if they feel like they need to tie up loose ends.”

Dread sank its ugly claws into her gut. He was right.

A grim sort of determination stole over her. “I need to go after them. You’re certain the Coast Warriors will come?”

He nodded. “The boat has an emergency radio beacon that’ll ping its location. As long as I stay with the wreckage, they’ll be able to find me.”

That settled it then.

“I’m going after them.”

“Nireed…” He’d seen the bodies of her kin. He knew the risk, the danger, just as well as she did. A protest was forming, she could see it in his eyes.

But they had no other choice, and she couldn’t just float here and do nothing. Not when she knew she’d a shot at saving them. He knew it, too, even if he didn’t want to admit it. “This is what we do, Reid. We risk our lives to save others.”

“I know.” He caressed her cheek, each word pained and reluctant. “I know.”

“I’m going to get your sister back. Lila too.”

Grim acceptance fell over his features. “If only I’d the strength you do,” he trailed, before pulling her in for a fierce kiss. “I’ll be coming with help, okay? Stay alive, Starfish.”

“They can’t have me.” Her claws framed his face as she pressed another kiss to his lips. “This ends today.”

“Give ‘em hell.”

And then she dove. Tearing through the water at breakneck speeds. Chasing the sound of a rumbling engine and rotating propellers. Chasing The Seriphus’s giant wake. Trusting the Coast Warriors to come for her mate.

The mermaid-killers had Lorelei. She begged the Twenty-Armed Goddess they didn’t find out what she was.

Chapter

Thirty-One

The fog was clearing, but not by much. Reid clung to the orange life ring that had been onboard Dr. Branson’s research vessel, bobbing among its wreckage, conserving his energy, and waiting.

Those mermaid-murdering bastards had his sister and the marine biologist at the forefront of advocating for merfolk rights and protections.

Now the love of his life was hunting them down, and Godspeed to her. Nautic had fucked with the wrong siren, and he didn’t care what she had to do to set things right. If at the end of the day only his Starfish, sister, and Dr. Branson made it off that ship alive, so be it. See if he cared.

One way or another, it would be Nautic’s final mistake. He was sure of that.

The Seriphus crew kidnapped two civilians. No doubt they thought they’d get away with it. That the Coast Guard would arrive to find wreckage, but no bodies, and leave none the wiser, chalking it up to yet another tragedy at sea. Way out here, they didn’t think there’d be witnesses.

But Reid had seen and soon he’d have access to a radio.

There’d be a manhunt for The Seriphus. It wasn’t just the Coast Guard they had to contend with now. The consequence of kidnapping people in federal waters meant the FBI would get involved too.

Beating propellers overhead alerted Reid to an approaching Jayhawk. He activated the strobe light attached to his wetsuit, blinking on and off, and glanced down at his watch. Thirty minutes on the dot, just as he’d predicted.

There was no point in waving down the helicopter. Not in this fog and not when his black scuba gear wasn’t visible on a good day against the ocean’s backdrop. The silver reflective strips he’d tacked on had been for Nireed’s benefit; they wouldn’t be seen from the sky.

The helicopter passed him over but circled back around.

They’d seen the strobe light.

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