Page 8 of Ensnaring Him

“Dunc…” she breathes out, the shortening of my name making my body wake entirely, her body trembling a bit against me, and I hold her even closer, letting her feel how fast my heart’s racing too.

“I fell in love with you the moment we met…maybe even before that. I know I was brought here for this, for you, to find you, hold you, love you this much, honey. I know you said you only had a week here but I’m asking you, begging you, Serenia. Don’t go,” I say softly, her eyes still wide orbs of golden moss sparkling in the sunlight, moisture clinging to it, and it’s something that I know is unique to her and I love it too. “Stay here, with me. Marry me. Be my wife, the mother of our kids—a little girl that’s as beautiful and bright as you.”

“Duncan,” she gasps, her body pressing fully against me, a tremble rushing through her, but I know it’s not fear. I can practically feel it, her need, her utter joy of the idea, and I want it even more now.

“Serenia, will you be mine forever?” I ask, pulling out the ring box, unable to wait. “Will you marry me?”

“Yes, yes, a million times yes. I love you too, so much,” she cries, her jaw dropping when she sees the ring I slip onto her finger. It’s a truly perfect fit. Just like she is with me, and I’ll make certain she always feels like this. Always.

Chapter 5

Serenia

Afull smile slips across my lips as the fading sunshine reflects off the ring on my finger. Duncan’s inside cleaning up after our meal and I’m enjoying the quiet evening. There’s the tiniest hint of water flowing, but it’s so minor compared to when we would surface in the ocean. This is soothing, unlike the roar of the waves out there.

I still can’t quite believe that this worked—at least for me. It seemed almost anticlimactic. I guess I was expecting to feel something…more, deeper, when Duncan said he loved me last night. It was pure perfection in the moment. My heart felt like it could burst with happiness, and I gladly said yes.

It wasn’t until I was almost asleep that it hit me that he’d said it, but I didn’t feel any different. Well, I was even happier, yes. I felt safe and secure enough to fall asleep in his arms without a single worry, but that was it.

When my tail transformed into legs I’d felt it, the tingling sensation that wrapped around me, but it wasn’t there last night. Which now has me a little worried that maybe he didn’t really mean it, but yet, I can’t believe he doesn’t. Not with the way helooks at me, what he’s said about the way he was pulled here. And especially not with him saying he wanted a little girl with me.

Sirens can only have one child and it’s always a girl. Which makes him saying he wants kids with me a little sad because we’ll only ever have the one, but the fact that he wants a girl tells me he won’t be disappointed with that at least. It’s just crazy to think this is it. That we’re really free of the curse—well, at least I am. Hopefully that is.

I can’t hold off another minute now and reach out towards Celestia and Melodia, hoping I’m not interrupting anything with them. I don’t even know if they’ve managed to meet anyone.

We shut out the rest of the Lycophron when we headed to the lagoon, then agreed to give each other space while we were here. To only contact one another if something was wrong, but the week’s almost over and I need to know if the others have experienced anything different if they’ve met someone. Gods, I hope they’ve met someone that is even half as good to them as Duncan is to me, because even that would still be amazing.

Can you talk? I send out to them telepathically, breaking our silence.

‘I can,’ Melodia immediately responds, her tone happier than what’s normal for even her.

‘I can for now,’ Celestia adds calming me.

Checking in to see if everything’s going okay.

‘It’s been great,’ Celestia assures us.

‘It’s so awesome,” Melodia responds, and I can’t stop the grin that hits at the softness of her tone.

Do you want to get together tomorrow to talk more? We only have two days left.

‘Sounds great. I’m good to do the morning,’ Celestia replies surprising me because she’s not usually a morning person.

‘Me too, ooohh…why don’t we meet back at that place where we had breakfast? Their pancakes were sooooooo good,’ Melodia suggests, and I laugh silently, because that is our Melodia through and through.

‘Sounds good,” Celestia agrees.

I’ll see you all there,I add before the turning my attention to Duncan as he comes out the door, his arms wrapping around me, pulling me into his hold, and all I can think about is this right here. The worries over the deadline fade and I snuggle deep into his arms, smiling happily.

It stays throughout the night as Duncan holds me close and I get to the place last, seeing the others in the same booth that we had last time. Duncan was fine with us meeting up, but insisted on driving me here when I told him I could walk here from the greenhouse if he needed to do anything for work. The way he kissed me when he said that wasn’t happening, that he wouldn’t let anything begin to harm me by not taking me, had me more than agreeable to him dropping me off.

“I take it things are going well with the guy from the park?” Celestia asks, as I slip onto the seat across from her.

“Better than that,” I state, unable to keep the smile from my lips. “You found someone?”

“Yeah, he’s great,” she sighs, a little hint of color in her cheeks before I glance at Melodia who is practically glowing.

“You look happier than even normal,” I muse. “I take it you met someone too?”

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