The Siren's Bride Page 6

Between the fear and isolation, Ellie knew she had to move. Staying in the clearing would drive her batty. She strode toward the cluster of trees and pushed her way through the branches. They caught on her clothes and scratched at her arms and legs. The lightweight sweater she’d been wearing caught on one particular branch, and when she pulled it free, she stumbled backward, hitting another tree before righting herself.

  Laughter rang in the air, and she froze.

  The sleeve she’d pulled free was torn, and now there was a branch in her hair, but all she wanted was to get free of the forest. Ellie moved between the trees at a slower pace, desperate to find her way out, but unwilling to injure herself in the process, since if she twisted an ankle or cut herself badly enough, she’d be in an even worse situation. As she moved, she thought the light looked brighter ahead, and her heart sang with hope.

  Bursting through the line of trees did not yield the answer she was looking for, though, as Ellie found herself in just another clearing of the forest. This one was bigger than the one she’d left; the trees were bigger and spaced further apart. Tentatively, she moved forward, but froze when a creaking sound drew her attention.

  A figure sat on a log just to her left.

  Its body was wrapped in twigs and dried vines, as if everything touching it was on the verge of death. They were covered from their legs and arms up their abdomen and chest to a face that made Ellie turn and run. It looked like wax had been dripped all over their head, covering their eyes, nose, and mouth. It was the slight smile that had spread through the wax that had pushed her over the edge. No one could survive like that, so how were they getting up and coming toward her?

  Her mind replayed the image over and over again in greater detail each time as she plunged through the trees and bushes that surrounded the clearing. Had the branches been coming out of their hands? How could they move with the way the vines and branches were coiled around them? The landscape blurred around her as she ran, her heart galloping in her chest. When the ground suddenly became unstable under her feet, she tried to slow, but ended up just falling on her face.

  Mud.

  Her hands sank into it as she pushed herself up, the thick sticky dirt covering almost up to her armpits as she struggled to extract herself. Everything about this place set her on edge, from the laughter that she occasionally caught in the air to the dirt all over her, even the weird light that felt like it hadn’t changed in hours. But what seemed the strangest to her in that moment was the lack of smell. Nothing smelled. There was no earthy scent of the forest, no rich dirt scent from the mud. Even her sweaty, fear-drenched body didn’t smell. Something was very wrong.

  Once she’d finally clawed her way back to the solid ground, she sat with her back against a tree as she tried in vain to remove some of the mud from her face. Bushes were on each side of the tree, so it was almost like a little hidey-hole she’d found, and it was the first time she’d felt comfortable enough to stop and take a breath since she’d left that first clearing. Pulling her knees up to her chest, she rested her arms over them and allowed herself to relax, just for a moment.

  Ellie didn’t realize she’d fallen asleep until something poked at her. When she went to move, she felt a stiffness in her arms, along with a cracking sensation along her skin, which brought everything that had happened rushing back. The forest, the clearing, the mud. Her eyes tried to open rapidly, but she found it more difficult than she’d expected. The mud had dried while her eyes were closed, practically sealing them shut.

  Something poked her again, like a branch, and her heart raced. Had the creature found her? She rubbed at her eyes with her mud-caked hands and felt the dirt grinding away, slowly unlocking her sight. The grit didn’t get in her eyes, for which she was extremely grateful, but she could feel it everywhere as her hands touched her skin. Finally, when her eyes opened completely, she took in the sight before her.

  The urge to run was as strong as before, but what she’d thought was a good hiding place now trapped her. A scream bubbled out before she could stop it, and she kicked out with her legs, trying to scare the creature away. Its strange bird-like face jumped back into the fur that covered the rest of its body. Big glassy eyes looked at her but didn’t focus on her. The thing was too big to be able to fly, which meant if she could climb the tree, she had a chance at escape.

  While she tried to scramble further back into the tree, the creature’s beak moved, revealing a human mouth underneath. “Hush, child, you’ll bring the tree specters down on us, or worse, the masked nightmares. I’m not here to harm you.”

  She froze. “What are you?” Ellie heard the tremble in her own voice. She could take many things, but this weird many-eyed furry crow head staring at her was just too much.

  A branch-covered hand came up and pushed up the large black bill. A face appeared. It was smudged with dirt and contained eyes that darted all around, but it was human. The woman said, “I’m mostly human, like you.”

  “Where am I?”

  “No idea. I call it Purgatory, because that’s what it feels like, but who knows.” She sighed and pushed the great black beak even higher, revealing matted brown hair. “I’m . . . Shit. What’s my name? What’s my name? Remember, damn it.” She smacked her head with the heel of her hand until her eyes lit up. “I’m Rae.”

  “I’m Ellie.” Questions almost began to spill out of her, but she held her tongue, still unsure about whether she could trust her new friend or not.

  Rae looked Ellie over. “The mud is a good disguise, but the masked nightmares will find you eventually. You have to keep moving.”

  A twig snapped on the other side of the tree, and the bird mask was back in place and Ellie saw the glint of a blade before the woman vanished. A few seconds later, after the sound of a scuffle, she returned, wiping the blood off the blade onto the black pants she wore under her furs. “We have to move. They know where you are. Follow me.”

  Ellie pushed to her feet and began to follow the woman who wore a strange mask and was draped in fur and feathers, along with bark and branches.

  Rae led them to a cave, which, thankfully, was close to a lake, so Ellie could wash some of the mud from her face. When she’d returned to the cave, Rae’s mask and cloak lay over a tree stump and she was squatting near a small fire, roasting something.

  “How long have you been here?”

  “Hard to tell. No night. No day. No seasons. Just this.” She spread her hands, indicating the area around them.

  The answer was the opposite of what Ellie wanted to hear. “What did you kill back there?”

  “Kill? Nothing. Injure? A masked nightmare. She was coming for you.” Her eyes turned sharp as she looked up at Ellie. “Did you disturb her? They generally don’t hunt so far away from their territory.”

  “Maybe? I just appeared here, and the next thing I know, I saw this thing that was all twigs and branches and wax.”

  “Stupid girl.” Rae pointed a large blade at Ellie. “Never go near a nightmare.”

  “You mentioned something else, as well. A tree specter?”

  “Little bastards. They’ll run you to the ground before picking your bones clean, and you’ll never even see them.”

  “Okay, is there anything here that isn’t out to kill you?”

  “Birds, rabbits, squirrels.” On the last one, she nodded at the meat roasting over the small flames.

  Ellie’s stomach twisted. She still couldn’t smell anything, but just looking at the food made her hungry. How long had she been there? She’d fallen asleep and had no way to tell time, but surely someone was looking for her at that point, although if she was in another realm, then it wasn’t going to do her much good.

  “Eat while you can; sleep while you can. I will keep watch. We will move tomorrow.” Rae thrust a drumstick of squirrel at her, and Ellie reluctantly took it. However crazy the woman might be, she didn’t appear to be an immediate threat and her advice was sound.

  “Thank ye.”

  “Do not
thank me yet. You haven’t tasted it.”

  Ellie glanced down at her meat and warily took a bite. The gamy meat was full of flavor and almost smoky, though it stuck in her mouth as she tried to swallow. Rae quickly shoved a wooden cup full of water into her hand, which she gratefully accepted and downed. Once the meat was gone and the cup was empty, Ellie curled up on the floor with an arm under her head for support and prayed to any of the gods who would listen that she made it home.

  Chapter 8

  Alec felt a tap on his arm, and when he turned toward their group, Valentina leaned in and yelled over the music and crowd, “Are you having fun?”

  “Yeah,” he said, hoping his white lie was convincing.

  “You’re a terrible liar.” She grinned before turning back to the stage.

  The truth was this was so far out of his normal life that it was quite startling. Sure, he’d been to concerts before, but nothing like this. He should have known from the moment they got there that he was going to be uncomfortable. The pack had checked their coats, and it revealed the dark clothing the women were wearing.

  Liana, whom Ben was trying to attach himself to, was in some black jeans that were so torn, it looked like a wild animal had attacked them, while her black long-sleeved T-shirt turned out to be backless and have sheer areas that they hadn’t been able to see in the bar because of the tables. The guys were in some black jeans and matching black T-shirts, while Kinsley was in a black lacy dress. He had no idea how she hadn’t frozen her legs off walking over to the venue in that thing, but the young could be foolish in many ways.

  When the band had taken the stage, there had been cheers of excitement throughout the area, which appeared to be standing-room only, with a stage at one end and some tall tables scattered around the opposite side. The setting was more intimate than he’d expected, but still made the band look like a big deal. While the smell of stale cigarettes and beer assailed him, his eyes were glued to the stage. The group had three guitarists and a drummer. He assumed one of the guitarists played bass, but he couldn’t tell which one from where they were. What surprised him was that the band was equally weighted between men and women, with two of the guitarists being women and the drummer and who he’d guess was the lead singer, since he was positioned front and center, being the guys.

  The big surprise had come when one of the women was the co-lead singer. The front man and the front woman traded off verses and phrases, with her voice mixing with his from time to time. The guy was dressed conservatively with his black pants and black long-sleeved T-shirt, while the woman was the complete opposite. Sure, she was in mostly black as well, but her outfit was wildly different. A black and dark green jacquard corset with big silver buckles going down the front hugged her chest, and a tiny skirt covered what needed to be covered, but there was a mesh layer that fell over the sides of the skirt and the back and swayed and bloomed out behind her as she moved. All of that, combined with her knee-high black boots and long pale hair, had quite the effect. She looked almost unearthly.

  The music was hard-hitting rock bordering on metal, which was softened by the woman’s angelic voice. It shook the walls and the floor whenever the guitars all hit a note together or the drummer really started going crazy. The crowd ate up every second of it, each song building the energy higher before taking it down with a ballad, only to build it even higher afterward.

  There was a short break between sets where everyone went to the bar. Alec stayed behind, keeping the small high-top table they had commandeered after its previous occupants decided to move closer to the stage. He’d never felt like such an old man as he did in that moment. It wasn’t that he couldn’t be social or blend with younger generations. That had been a necessary trait all the brothers had developed as they grew and realized they’d stopped aging. This had never been his kind of thing, though. He was more at home in places like the restaurant where they’d had dinner. Though he’d attended plenty of concerts in his time, it was never in such a small enclosed space, or at least, if it was, then there weren’t so many people.

  Valentina and Asher were the first ones he saw on their way back with full cups of beer that sloshed out of the sides as they weaved through the crowd to him. At least he wasn’t awkwardly standing alone anymore.

  “So, which one is Imogen?” he asked as Valentina took a long sip of her drink.

  “Which one do you think?” Asher raised an eyebrow at him. The men had been quiet, not really speaking to him but always watching.

  Alec chuckled. There could only be one answer based on what Valentina had already told him. “The guitarist. The one who doesn’t sing.”

  She nodded and smiled, wiping some of the foam the beer had left behind from her upper lip. “That’s our girl.”

  “She seems pretty strong to me. I don’t think I could get up there and play guitar.” He probably could, but he never would. The brothers knew that no matter what they did, they could never bring that kind of attention on themselves.

  “Bullshit. Seriously, have you spent no time around shifters at all?” Valentina said, cocking her hip to the side with a mischievous smile on her face.

  “Not a lot, to be honest.”

  “We thrive on body language and scent. It gives away more than you think.” Her eyes glittered a bright amber in that moment, instead of the rich brown he’d seen before, and he suddenly got the feeling that more than just Valentina’s human half was looking out at him.

  “I’ve been around a long time and am pretty good at body language myself, but I don’t know how you could smell anything in here. At least, anything other than spilled beer and cigarette smoke.”

  “It’s all layered. I’ll give you an education sometime.”

  Her words were more suggestive than he was comfortable with. “Sure, I bet my fiancée would love to hear about it, as well. She’s never met a shifter before. At least, not knowingly.” He laughed fondly to himself as he imagined Ellie’s reaction. “She’s still pretty new to our world.”

  “Fiancée, huh? She’s a lucky lady. You know . . .” She trailed off, as though deciding whether to continue.

  Alec knew it was just a show; she’d ask her question. Valentina was more relaxed now that they were out of the restaurant and she was having a good time, but she never lost that noble bearing. If she was the leader of the pack, then he was sure that she’d ask whatever she wanted to know when she was ready.

  “Aiden never said what you were. Care to share with the class?”

  “I’m not sure that’s such a good idea.”

  “Oh, come on. It can’t be that—”

  Luckily a shriek of laughter drew their attention away from the awkward question. The rest of the group returned at that moment. Liana, Ben, and Kinsley all had their own plastic cups and were laughing so hard, he wasn’t sure the cups would make it the two feet to the table with any liquid left inside. A bell rang, letting the audience know the band was coming back, and suddenly the room filled faster than the ocean rushing to the shore.

  When the female lead singer came back out on stage, the crowd cheered. She’d changed outfits and was now in some torn mesh leggings and a long-sleeved mesh crop top that was also torn like thin ribbons in multiple places. The pale skin of her belly and the hint of tattoos she showed seemed to drive the crowd wild. It was only the black bra she wore underneath that kept her from being arrested for public indecency. The male lead had also changed into a matching mesh shirt with the same black pants and a pair of black leather fingerless gloves.

  Alec watched Imogen to figure out why Valentina treated her like a fragile flower. As she slipped into the strap of her guitar, he saw the transformation. She was looking out into the crowd boldly instead of being focused on the floor. It was like picking up the guitar had given her a shield, and so long as she was behind it, she could be the confident person the band needed.

  Soon the guitars were rocking once more, and Alec was starting to enjoy himself. When the female lead swung the guit
ar around to her back and picked up a violin, he couldn’t have been more surprised. The sweet and elegant tones of the violin floated over the other guitars, and the drums quieted. When she began to sing at the same time, her voice, paired with the violin, took everything to a whole new level.

  It was also when everything changed.

  Pulses of magic were coming out from the stage. Alec could feel it rubbing over his skin like sandpaper. The only time he ever felt that particular sensation in relation to magic was when his brothers were singing to someone, putting their power into their voices to command or control. Of course, the power had to be directed. They could control a crowd, or they could control one person. It was all in how much power they used and how it was focused. The only time it didn’t work was with their soulmates, which Alec was forever thankful for.

  He pulled out his phone and began recording. There was something weird going on, and he was going to figure out why it felt like a siren’s song was flowing through the music. The singer’s voices blended together in a strange harmony of growl and song, combined with the notes of the guitar and the hymn of the violin, all of which was pushed forward by the drum beat. The effect was almost hypnotic.

  The crowd seemed to agree, as they had all started to drift closer to the stage, even the pack and Ben. Alec stopped the recording and began to make his way to his friend.

  “Ben!” Alec shouted over the music when he neared him.

  The other man didn’t turn to look, his gaze fixed on the stage. Alec grabbed him by the shoulders and turned him so that they could look at each other. “Stop listening to the band,” he said, putting a light touch of his power into his voice. He needed Ben to be functional, and the music was making that impossible. “Stop listening!” he shouted directly in Ben’s ear.

  The last thing he needed was for his voice to affect the people around them, especially the pack. If their friend played in the band, then they had to know what was going on, right?

  Finally, Ben seemed to come out of the trance. “What?” he yelled angrily at Alec.