The Alpha's Siren Song

Chapter 42

Easton took me back home, wrapping his jacket around my shoulders despite the fact that he was shivering and I was not. Well, at least I wasn't shivering until I put of my rubber boots that had hardened in the cold. There were few words in the world to describe how unpleasant that was. After that, it was a fast race back home, one hand holding onto the other person, the free hand buried deep in a pocket. 

Misty's sedan was no longer in his driveway when we returned and the relief was even more immense when I didn't see her in the kitchen. I felt like I should apologize to her, but I certainly didn't want to right now. There were too many things happening at once, too many confessions, too much pain.

Easton raced to the main bath, claiming that he needed to take a hot bath unless he wanted his bones to shiver and shake all night. I opted for the second bathroom with a small shower, just wanting to get off whatever muck the lake had left on my skin. 

I was clean and warm within twenty minutes and when I heard the bath starting to drain, I swapped my makeup tutorial for a snowboarding edit that I knew he would like and waited on the leather couch. He appeared in the living room, hair still wet and eyes wide. I knew that he had learned a lot about me, but surely, seeing me swaddled up in a blanket wouldn't cause this kind of reaction.

"What's wrong?" I whispered, sitting up. He had just faced me when I had almost gone full demon in front of him, and now he was anxious. 

"Nothing, nothing," he said, but the way he sat on the couch, keeping distance between us so he could watch me, said otherwise. 

I raised an eyebrow. 

"Okay, so the thing is that I'm a werewolf, right?"

"I mean I have see you covered in fur and with a straight up muzzle on more than one occasion," I replied.

"Well, I always knew that I would have a mate. We all do. Guys will tell you that they never wanted a mate to protect their pride or whatever, but I always wanted a mate, even if I never said it. I thought of coming home to some sweet woman or her coming home to me and it just made me really happy that it was a possibility in my future. I never really cared about the details. I was just excited to have someone out there to share my life with, you know?"

My nod was slow and tight.

"What I'm trying to say is that I knew you were coming and I was excited for you." He paused, pressing his tongue into his cheek as he looked for the right words to say. "In a sense, I was ready to love you. It's part of the culture. We do what we need to for our pack, we meet our mates, we live happy little lives. It's also just who my parents raised me to be. I wanted to be a good partner."

"Easton, what are you getting at?" I sighed, using annoyance to cover up the stress his words inflicted. It was such a pretty picture that he was painting. How did an emotional, high strung siren tie into it? Simple answer: I didn't.

"I met you and knew that, one way or another, I was going to love you. I could fight it. I could fall head over heels. I could ignore you. It didn't matter. I was going to fall either way. And I have. But I started with my heart open and knowing what would happen. What I'm trying to get at is that I don't want you to feel pressured to say it back or think that I was just saying it to calm you down while you were threatening to flood my packlands."

"I wasn't threatening anything," I denied. Sure, I had been angry, but at the most, I looked like a crazy person, standing in freezing water and shouting at the top of my lungs but I certainly was not going to hurt anyone. 

Easton jerked back, seeming stunned. "Lass, you were holding up like ten tonnes of water, I didn't think you were doing it to mess around."

I stared at him, not processing what he was saying. Water was liquid, it was impossible to hold without a container. It dripped through the smallest cracks, dribbled to freedom. how could I have done any such thing if I never even touched it?

"Did...did you not know that you were doing that? How could you not know that you were literally holding water up, like you created this crazy wave that could never break."

The water receding around my ankles, like it was racing away from me. The roar of water crashing back down. The way Easton kept looking behind me as if a bloodthirsty grizzly bear had been looming. but wasn't a tidal wave just as dangerous as any beast?

"That's not possible," I gasped.

"I don't know what to tell you, lass. I kissed you while you were holding up a god damn tsunami wave," he rumbled with a shrug like it was just a casual Sunday conversation. I suppose, after everything he had learned this past week it may not have come as such a shock. 

But it was a damn shock to me. I had been a siren my whole life. This wasn't something that I learned about a week ago. I had known about my powers for as long as I was able to harness them. I knew how enticing my voice got. I knew that the water warmed to my touch. I knew that it would keep me safe, even when it should have been capable of drowning me. 

But this...this was something else.

Using the water as a power source was nothing new. And, the way sirens may have used it was strange, but dams and waterwheels have been around forever. Water controlling situations, carving canyons, swaying boats, and moving chunks of earth in landslides was natural. Water could be harnessed and used. But water could not be controlled. Or so I thought. 

"How did you not know that you could do that? It looked so natural. And how did you not know you were doing it? It must have taken an impressive amount of energy."

I just stared ahead at the predominantly white screen, a single snowboarder tossing up impressive amounts of powder. 

I spent my early years learning the basics with my mother, doing it all in fun because we were not attempting to lure people into their deaths anymore. She told me to respect my power and never abuse it. Humans were people who thought they had free will all the time and would stare blankly at us after we controlled them, wondering what in the world had possessed them to throw their ice cream on the ground for no good reason or dance in the middle of the street. They had real consequences and were blamed even if it hadn't been their fault. My powers could ruin someone else's life. 

I couldn't be certain that my mother had ever known I possessed this ability, but I had raised water without any exertion on my part. A careless child like myself couldn't understand the damage that thousands of pounds of water could do. I wouldn't have understood that the water might have taken care of me, but wouldn't be so kind to others. 

Then Nero came and I never had a chance to learn. All I cared about was repressing my powers until necessary, trying to stay hidden.

But, as much as I wanted to sit there and ponder the possibilities and test my new abilities, Easton had just stammered out something important. I swallowed and steadied myself. 

"Thank you for being honest with me. I know that you would never say something like that out of emotional manipulation. And, you're right, I'm not ready to say it back. There has been so much going on for both of that it's hard to pull apart my feelings and separate them. But I know that I care about you. Fuck, I care about you more than I thought I could. And I can't leave you alone, no matter how hard I try or how good I think it would be for the both of us."

Easton just smiled at my rambling. "When you're ready, I'll still be here, loving you more and more."

~~~Distraction Section~~~

Hey everyone, hope you are all doing well. How are we feeling about Misty? Are you guys ramping up for Christmas or do you celebrate a different holiday?

Question of the Day: Are you currently in lockdown?