Siren's Mark

Chapter 44

"I'm not letting you cut off your body parts for me, Zane," I say. "Just so I can live forever? No thanks."

He smiles slightly.

"What are you smiling for?" I ask.

"I'm kind of glad," he says. "I don't want to risk your safety. Even if your concern is for me, I'll take it."

"Oh, thanks," I say sarcastically. "What happened to you being certain I'm your soulmate?"

"Love," he scolds. "You know I don't mean it like that. I would happily give up any body part you happened to need."

He pulls me in for a hug and kisses me on the neck.

"Oh yeah? So you'd sacrifice your penis for me?" I ask with a giggle.

"You want it? Because I'd be happy to give it to you," he says with a devious smirk, grinding his hips into me.

"Pervert," I tease, sticking out my tongue at him.

He opens his mouth to say something but the vibration of my phone interrupts us. He grabs it off the bedside table and hands it to me.

It's Jen.

Oh boy.

"Heeyyy!" I say as I answer the phone.

"Don't 'heeyyy' me, girly," she says. "Where the heck did you disappear to last night?!"

"I told you I was heading home."

"Yeah, but whose home?"

"I, um..."

"Are you at Zane's?" she asks.

"No, I'm at Kami's."

"You bailed on us to go over to Kami's house? Why?"

"I'm sorry," I say. "I didn't mean to bail on you guys but I wasn't feeling... quite myself... and I had to talk to Zane."

"Girl, tell me you didn't."

Yep. I did.

"Um..." I say, having no response other than guilty silence.

"Oh my god, Ava!" she says. "You really are my little whoreball!"

"Shuuttt upppp," I whine.

"Well, this must've been one hell of a talk!"

All I need to do now is manage to explain this without using the word Siren or talking about his dead girlfriend or having to explain why he was alive in the 1800s.

Yeah. Simple.

"I found out about something personal that happened to him and... I can't really talk about it, but it explained some of why he is the way he is. Why he made the choice he did and he thought he was doing the right thing. It's really complicated but I..." I pause, realizing Zane is right behind me listening to me talk about him.

I look over my shoulder to see Zane sitting up on the bed, his shoulders slumped and head hanging low. I mouth the word 'Sorry' and shrug my shoulders, unsure how else to address the situation. He whispers 'It's okay' and gestures for me to continue talking.

"It's really hard to explain," I say with a flustered sigh. "Can you just trust me and not kill Zane the next time you see him?"

"So you're back together?" she asks.

"Yeah. We're back together." I look back to see Zane with a big smile on his face.

"Okay, hon," she says reluctantly. "I guess if it means that much to you, I won't kill him. For now."

"Why thank you," I say with a giggle.

"But I know somebody's gonna be real disappointed."

"Huh?" I ask. "Who?"

"Dreamboat Dave, of course!"

I hear another low growl from Zane. Apparently he can hear both sides of our conversation. I give him a quick glare and he shrugs in response. He walks over to the couch in his boxers, presumably in an attempt to give me more privacy, even though it's just a few more feet away.

"He was definitely smitten with you last night," she says. "He couldn't stop talking about you after you left. I didn't realize things were still possible with you and Zane, so don't be mad but I gave him your number."

A loud crack rings throughout the room and turn to see Kami's marble coffee table split down the middle. My eyes widen at Zane but he won't look at me.

"Uh, that's okay," I say.

Zane turns around and looks at me with his eyes glowing green and one eyebrow raised.

"I'll handle it," I add.

I need to return the poor guy's jacket, anyway.

Zane seems to relax and turns back around, stretching out on the couch.

"Hold on," Jen says. "I'm getting a page from work."

"Okay," I say.

"Oh holy shit," she mumbles under her breath.

"What is it?"

"We're getting some priority samples from a murder scene."

"Well, yeah, Jen," I say. "That's what your company does. Why does that surprise you?"

"The body was found behind Pike's."