To Seduce A Siren

12. There was more than one room

Raz had never been more glad of the masking lessons Theron had given him when he first came to Elysium.

At the time Raz had resented him for it. His mother had died, leaving him alone in a strange new world and Raz couldn't even show it.

He hadn't been bawling in his bedroom, in any case. He thought he had kept a stoic face the entire time. Theron thought differently.

The redeemers were acutely tuned in to people's facial expressions. A little twitch, the slight droop of the lips, the dilation of the pupils were all signs easily picked up by them. Theron told him, with Raz's tight mouth and downturned eyes, he might as well have been sobbing in public.

The first few months of divorcing his physical self from his heart had hurt. A lot.

But Raz had gotten better at it and masking had become second nature. He still wasn't like Theron who would have died before betrayed an emotion, his face as serene as a monk. But people of other species couldn't pick apart his face as a Redeemer could.

Selene was rather good at covering up. He would have fallen for it if it weren't for the masking lessons. Her face was rarely in tune with her emotions, always amused and mocking. It was fake. He could tell now because of the one constant.

She had sad eyes.

Raz sat on the edge of the bed and rubbed his eyes. This mission was not going the way he had planned. His soul, which had been teetering on the wrong side of good for a long time, was in danger of falling.

The masking lessons luckily hid that and the fact that he was in a panic and he had been ever since Selene was attacked.

The second occurrence had cemented it. Especially because of the sudden shock of the threat.

He was glad she couldn't see that. Cunning as she was, she would have him reeling before he realised what she was doing to him. Raz turned towards the bathroom door. He would hear the water running.

He tried very hard not to think about her under the thick steam of the running water.

Think different thoughts!

Raz tried to shift his thoughts towards his plans now. Now that they were working together.

He couldn't stop thinking about today. The intensity of his panic caught him by surprise. He could have upturned his guts right then and there at the diner. Only sheer desperation kept him from doing so.

There was no way he could feel so terrified for Selene. For her life, not the fact that he might screw the mission up.

Not unless she was his mate...

Just because people were mates did not mean they were instantly bonded and in love. Like other relationships, it took time. However, the mate bond put that natural progression on steroids. From the moment a redeemer sees his mate, he was drawn to her and compelled to protect her.

Wasn't that what he was doing right now?

Raz buried the thought as soon as it surfaced.

It was impossible.

Sirens couldn't have mates. Everybody knew that. It was the fact that they didn't have a soul. The soul went away when they died.

Then why did the thought of her dying fill him with dread so painful, it was a hot rope twisting his insides?

It must be a siren effect!

Since he wasn't affected by her song, this must be nature balancing itself. He had heard of sirens and vampires being able to mesmerise their prey so that the prey would go to any length to save them.