Page 37 of Don't Bait Me (Nora Jacobs 3)

I’m not sure having a powerful fey assassin fascinated with me is a good thing, but I know better than to show him how much he intimidates me. I wait for him to finish looking me over. His deep violet eyes lock onto mine, and I can see the curiosity in them, but there’s something else, too—something intense—that I can’t quite put a name to. It’s as if he’s daring me to do something. I’m not sure what. I ignore the look and his claim that I intrigue him. “I don’t suppose you know how to contact Giselle?”

Never breaking his stare from mine, Illren releases a loud whistle. “She’s been expecting you.”

After only a moment, Giselle pops up out of the water with the same group of selkies that were with her the night before. “Nora! I’m so glad you made it.”

Like last night, she commands the water to lift her up to the railing. I’m a little startled she’s using her powers out in midday like this, but glancing around I see that we’re alone. It’s not like many people come to enjoy the park in the beginning of December. As if she can read my thoughts, she giggles. “I’m glamoured, silly. No one can see me but you guys.”

“Oh.” That would be a convenient trick. “Is that something I can do as well—use a glamour?”

“Of course. All fey can use glamours, and you’re a siren. You’re one of the strongest types of fey. You should be able to work wonders with glamour. It may take a little practice, but I’ll teach you if you keep visiting me.”

A smile creeps over my face. There’s just something about Giselle that I’m drawn to. “I’d like that.”

“Yay!” She squeals, clapping her hands like a bubbly teenager. “We’re going to be great friends. I can tell.” She props her elbows on the railing and lets her chin fall into her hands. “So. You had questions about your allure?”

A thrill surges through me. I’m finally going to get the answers I need. I have to resist the urge to pounce on her. “Yes. Is there any way I can turn it off?”

Giselle’s gaze flits over Illren and Rook, and she gives me a wicked smile. “Why would you want to do that? Don’t you enjoy the attention?” She glances over her shoulder at the group of males waiting for her in the river, and she giggles again. “I know I do.”

Sure, I enjoy the attention of my friends. I’ve never been cared for the way my guys all look after me. It’s an amazing feeling. But it’s sure complicating things on the romance front, and I definitely don’t want the attention of strangers. I shake my head. “I need to turn it off. It makes people crazy,” I admit. “Men can’t seem to help themselves. They grope me or attack me and get completely obsessed.”

Giselle holds her hand up in a stopping motion and shakes her head. “That’s just because it’s too strong right now. The more you build up your harem, the less you’ll call to people.”

“My what?”I shout at the same time as Rook growls,“Her what?”

Giselle gives me a very conspiratorial smile and winks at Rook. Illren, much to my chagrin, doesn’t look the least bit surprised or confused. When he catches me looking his direction, he leans against the railing and gives me a sly smile.

“Your harem of men,” Giselle says, pulling my attention back to her. “It’s what we do.” She waves her hand to the men floating down in the water as if to prove her point. The selkies all smile and wave. Some of their knowing smiles make me blush.

“You can’t be serious,” I say. Because denial is my best friend.

Giselle sighs. “Mermaids and sirens are very similar. That allure you mentioned? It’s your siren’s song. Your song is basically a curse.”

I flinch at the harsh word, but only because it’s so startlingly accurate. I’ve always felt that I’m somehow cursed.

Giselle gives me a sympathetic smile and launches into a story. “Millennia ago, there were three sisters, and they were the most beautiful creatures to ever roam Faerie. The Summer King fell in love with them and tried to keep them all as his consorts. But the sisters were insulted by the offer and refused him. They felt the king was selfish and greedy by thinking he could keep all of them as his lovers. They chose banishment to the human realm over moving into the palace to become his harem.

“When they rejected him, he became angry, and he cursed them to live their lives alone and pining for true love. The women were so sad and lonely that their fey magic transformed into a song that called men to them, and they became the first sirens.

“The women were strong fey, and their magic too powerful. The men that came to them were put under spells so strong they eventually died from them. The sirens’ songs were too powerful for any one man, but the sisters eventually learned that the more men they entered into relationships with, the more their songs calmed. Ironically, in order to have the relationships they were so desperate for, they had to form harems of their own.”

Illren speaks up the moment Giselle finishes her story. “You can always tap into your power and put men under your spell,” he says to me. “As for your natural song…the lonelier your heart is, the stronger you’ll sing. The more you find happiness and love, the less you’ll bewitch the men around you.”

I’m…I’m…well, I’m stunned. Everyone is watching me, waiting for some kind of reaction, but I just don’t know what to do or say. I step backward, and my back hits the side of the lighthouse. I sink my weight against it as if I need it to hold me up. Rook’s just as shocked as me, and there’s a storm brewing in his eyes. He doesnotlike the news I’ve just been delivered.

I feel terrible for Rook because wolves are so possessive that the idea of being part of a harem must seem impossible to him. I know I should be just as horrified as he is, but I can’t help picturing a life where I don’t have to choose between the men I care about. The sisters were right. It seems selfish and greedy. But my heart is pounding in my chest as if it knows the cure to its curse is within its grasp. Something deep inside me responds to the myth. The more I think about it, the more every cell in my body knows this is what I need. I gulp with the realization.

Illren smiles, as if he knows exactly what I’m thinking, and he moves into my personal space again. He pulls my hand from the pocket of my coat and brushes his thumb across the backs of my gloved fingers. “Legend says that the males in a siren’s harem are some of the happiest creatures in existence,” he murmurs, piercing me with his mesmerizing stare. “That the magic of her call connects their hearts to hers, and they share a connection so deep men would kill to be included.”

His intensity is terrifying in the best way possible. My heart pounds in my chest and I begin to feel dizzy, but it’s butterflies more than nerves that are making it hard to keep air in my lungs. He brushes his fingers over my cheek.I would certainly kill for a connection like that.

When I gasp, I’m not sure if it’s because of his thought or because the tips of his fingers brush the corner of my mouth.

Rook breaks up the moment, pushing his way between us and growling at Illren. “Touch her again, and you’ll lose an arm,” he snarls, glaring at the fey with blazing gold eyes. His wolf has taken over.

In a flash, Illren pins Rook against the side of the lighthouse, holding a long knife that looks very silver to his throat. “You’d be dead before you tried it, wolf,” he says coldly, the killer in him surfacing.

Rook pushes Illren back with his werewolf strength, slamming him into the railing, and then shifts right out of his clothes. My heart seizes. They’re going to kill each other. “Stop!” I cry.

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