Chapter One
Serena stood at the cottage's window, gazing forlornly at the blanketing snow.
Banished.
Her sisters had banished her to this cold, dreary human landscape after what she had done. All she had wanted was a babe of her own, and Tohawk had been more than willing to fulfill her need.
"He was Lucinda's mate," her sisters had said.
"But he's alone now." Serena had tried to reason with them that what she'd done was harmless. And really, it was. Nothing had ended up happening. Her sisters had seen to that. "Lucinda has been gone for three months."
"You should know better, Serena!" they said. "Have you no respect for the dead? No compassion?"
"Yes, but-"
"But nothing." Her oldest sister scorned her with a simple look, her eyes blazing purple then red. "You have always been rebellious, Serena. Always challenging that which should not be challenged. In your three hundred years, you've stirred up more trouble than a nest of restless root gnomes." She paused, sighed, firmed her dainty jaw. "It's time to teach you the error of your ways, Serena." A look of pain crossed her face, but she pushed on. "You are forthwith banished from Shimara for the duration of one year. You-"
"No!" Serena's gauzy, jeweled gown tinkled as she spun indignantly toward her sisters.
Her oldest sister charged onward in her sentencing, speaking more forcefully. "You will be stripped of all titles and sent into the human world, where you shall remain until moonrise on the third day of the month of Janus in one year's time."
"But-" Serena stepped forward, but the mist of banishment already rose around her. "No! I beg of you! Please. I did no wrong. Sisters, please!" But the mist thickened. Her sisters faded into soupy fog, and then a moment later the cottage slowly emerged from the ether around her. Cold. Dark.
Human.
Her homeland of Shimara, a providence of Fae, was gone, replaced with this human dwelling among the trees, in the middle of nowhere. Close to nothing and no one. Isolated. She now dwelled in the world of humans for a crime she hadn't committed. Tohawk's mate, Lucinda, had passed into the afterlife months ago. He had mourned. He had been lonely. Serena had only sought to ease his loneliness. Did no one understand her innocence but her? And her sisters had stopped her before she could take his seed into her body, anyway. Nothing but futile kisses and wasted caresses had occurred between them. Her efforts to conceive had been thwarted, so it was all for naught. And yet, she had been punished, anyway. Was there no justice in Shimara? In Fae?
She continued gazing out the window at the falling snow. The robust flakes looked like magical cottonwood, only cottonwood never created such a thick layer as this. And yet it was so beautiful. Peaceful. So very peaceful...but lonely.
She had only been here two days, and already she was beyond miserable with solitude. Or at least she thought it had been two days. Time passed differently in the human world than in Fae, and Serena relied steadfastly on the calendar that hung in the cottage's tidy kitchen to tell her how many days had passed. She glanced at the numbered grid beside what the humans called a refrigerator. Yes, it was the fifth day of Janus. January fifth.
Her mystical, shimmering gowns were gone, replaced by human clothes. Jeans, sweaters, sweatpants. Serena knew what human things were called. She had studied their ways for over a century. Serena enjoyed her studies, learning new things, expanding her knowledge beyond that which was Fae. But even that was gone here. The only books within the cottage were not of the studying kind. They were for entertainment only. Puah! Where were the tomes on philosophy? Geology? Human history?
She eyed the rows of books on the bookcase beside her, lifted one slender finger to the spine of the nearest one, fondled the paper casing, outlined the letters of the title. Well, she did enjoy reading for pleasure on occasion. Perhaps she could-
Serena's ears perked up, and her gaze darted back out the window. A man. She felt the definite imprint of a human male nearby. Although, nearby for a shimaran meant anywhere from a few feet to several miles in the human realm. Her breathing deepened, her heart hammered with excitement, and she pressed her palms against the icy glass. A man. Here. So near.
Her womb stirred, and she smiled and glanced down at her flat belly. This man was good for her. He would succeed where Tohawk had failed. She could sense it. He would bring new life into her body.
Of all her sisters, she remained the only one without a mate. You study too much, they told her. You take too many risks, they said. No male will want such a scholarly female who dirties her hands in the soil. Serena had heard it all, and all her sisters said had come true. She remained untouched. Pure as the snow falling outside the cottage now. And her purity was beyond tiresome. She wanted to feel a masculine body against hers. Wanted to take him inside her. Wanted to experience the intimate pleasure she had heard so many speak of but had never known. But more than anything, Serena wanted a child.
Her eyes darted to the white world outside her cottage once again. To the imprint of the human man within her range. He could give her a child. A half-blood, but that didn't matter. All that mattered was he was potent, and she was wanting. Their union would be good. She had to call to him. No man could resist the call of a shimaran. A siren. This man would be hers by moonfall if she wished it.
Closing her eyes, Serena began to hum. The waves of sound pulled from deep within her belly and vibrated past the chamber of her throat. Her song floated through the air, past the walls of the cottage, into the trees, and farther still. The moment her music touched the human's ears, she knew. His aura connected with hers, his attention diverting and aligning with hers in an instant. Louder she sang, the ethereal notes lifting on her voice, magical and pure and strong.
Come to me, she sang in her native tongue. Love me. Feel me. See me. I am yours, and you are mine. We are one.
Minutes later, her hands still pressed to the glass, her eyelids parted and drifted open. There, less than a mile away, two headlights appeared from the darkness. A moment later, the car began to swerve, then fishtail, and then a plume of snow burst into the air as the vehicle plunged into a drift at the side of the road. It slid into the ditch, where it came to a stop.
He was here. The man who would sire her child was here. Hope sprang eternal in Serena's heart. Her sisters had banished her from Shimara, but that didn't mean she was required to waste the time wallowing. That wasn't how Serena was built. Rebellious to her core, she would make something from nothing. Gold from ashes. Diamonds from dust.
A child from childlessness.
Serena would make the most of her banishment, even if that meant breaking the mandates of Fae. She would mate with this human, and she would bear his child. If her sisters wished her banished, then banished she would remain, for she would never be allowed back into Fae after she did this. Once the human's seed implanted within her, she would forever be lost to her homeland. Lost to her sisters. Lost to her kind. Forever she would remain in the world of humans.
This was her last chance. If she wished one day to return to Shimara, the time was now to release the human and submit to her punishment.
Serena gazed out the window at the milky light infusing with the snow, saw with razor sharp clarity the movements of the man within the car's cavity. Her fingers curled against the cold, breath-fogged glass. He was virile. Rugged. Strong. Even from here, she sensed his potency.
Now or never. Release him or reel him in. Was she ready to live among humans for the rest of her life? To submit to the mortal world?
Resolve stiffened her spine. Her decision was made.
"Come to me," she whispered against the glass. "Come to me now and love me."
Serena's siren call pulsed upon the air, and a moment later, the man inside the car grew still. He had heard her. He was hers.
