Chapter 38 | The Devil of Siren City

Skylar

I thought I’d wake up alone.

I thought I’d roll over and find myself staring at Adrian’s dark ceiling again, momentarily confused about how I got to be here.

Then the voice would chuckle and tease and tell me all about the wonderful time she spent with him while I was unconscious.

But it’s different this morning. As I wake up, I know exactly where I am. I remember… everything. Waking in the middle of the night. Running into Adrian in the hall. Taking his hand when he told me to come to bed. I remember it all; every pleasing urge in my body as he held me protectively against his.

But I didn’t expect him to still be here when I woke up.

His face is the first thing I see. I’d turned in the night to face him, leaving our hands and ankles comfortably twined beneath the covers. I almost don’t breathe, his handsome features taking me by surprise. I definitely don’t move, too scared to rouse him. If I did, would he ask me to leave? Why do I think he would when he’s the one who invited me here in the first place?

Why did he invite me? Because he woke up alone, he said. It felt odd. Did he like waking up with me? Or did he like waking up with her?

The healer or the temptress?

As if he heard my silent, screaming thoughts, Adrian shifts. He moves his arms, his hands sliding along my wrists. When the movements become more deliberate, his hand finds one of mine and his fingers curl around it.

“Skylar,” he says, his voice deep.

“Yes,” I say. “It’s me.”

Adrian opens his eyes. I barely see them in the dark, but I can feel his wandering gaze on me. Ever since the moment they first set on me, I’ve always felt his sky blue eyes under my skin.

He doesn’t move. For what feels like eternity, we lie together, my pulse strumming hard. I almost suspect that he fell back to sleep, but the feel of his eyes is on me the whole time.

“Skylar,” he whispers again.

“Yeah?”

Adrian moves his hand up my arm. His cold fingertips leave a chill on my skin and I tremble as they come to touch my cheek. He draws a line along my chin with his thumb, the pad gently caressing my bottom lip.

He moves closer, impossibly closer, his face tilting to meet mine.

But the echo of a nightmare remains.

“Wait,” I say, our lips almost touching as I turn my head away.

“What is it?” he asks, strong and patient.

My chest shudders. “I don’t want to hurt you,” I whisper.

Adrian smiles in the dark. “I’m not that fragile.”

“No, I don’t mean...” I shake my head, but I can’t shake off the vivid memories in my head. The taste of bile. The scent of blood and soil. “I…” I hesitate, the words locked but eager to spill. “I did something. Before I came to Siren City.”

Adrian’s fingers tease my cheek again before resting on my shoulder. “I know.”

I flinch. “You know?”

“You came here with nothing but the clothes on your back and a gun,” Adrian says softly. “I didn’t think you came here for the weather.”

I shudder from fear, from truth. “I did something.”

“I don’t care.”

“You might.”

“I won’t.” His hand comes to my face again, a single finger curling beneath my chin. “Skylar, everyone knows this city is a place to hide. Why someone comes to Siren City isn’t as important as what they do when they get here. Your reason for it doesn’t matter to me. What matters is that I found you when I did.”

I smile at that. “Who knew finding a job in Siren City was so easy?”

“I didn’t think finding someone I could trust would be so easy, either,” he says. “Let’s call it fate.”

I swallow hard, taken in by the idea. Was it fate that brought me to Siren City? That led me to Adrian’s door? It certainly feels like phantom threads have tugged me for the last while, my fate guided and shifted by something else.

Something good? Or something evil?

In the end, what difference does it make?

Before I can form another thought, Adrian moves toward me again. This time, I don’t turn away as he touches his lips against mine. I do nothing as he curls his arm around my back, pulling me in until our bodies lie flush together.

“Skylar,” Adrian says, a whispering growl. “Stay with me.”