Scales and Legends

  The panther still stared at her.

  Cassie stood up and dusted her hands off on her pants before offering a hand to Whitney. Standing beside her friend, Whitney looked at the large cat that was now pacing a little bit away from them, like he was actually contemplating what Cassie had said.

  “Is he really in there?” Whitney whispered. The cat probably heard, but she still felt like she needed to whisper.

  Whitney knew who the panther was. He was the reason she was still alive and not dead like her mother, father, and stepfather. When an evil witch tried to take away her night human to make himself stronger, Cassie and her two mates stepped in to help Whitney and her brother. Jared, as a person, died that same night, but the cat he once could turn into was still alive. No one understood why the cat part of him lived, but it did.

  “Yes. He’s in there. He still hasn’t spoken to me, but I know he’s there.” Cassie turned back to the panther and gave him a sad smile. Jared wasn’t just one of her mates; he’d been her best childhood friend for many years. Obviously, Jared was still a sensitive subject.

  “Thanks for coming to help me,” Whitney told Cassie as she moved back toward the tree she had come from. It was then, as the moon peeked out of the clouds that Whitney saw it—Cassie sparkled. Honest to goodness sparkled. Her skin had a slight translucent quality that glittered in the moonlight.

  Cassie shrugged at Whitney’s shock.

  “It’s the bit of night human in me. We still don’t know how much or what it means, but yes. Your eyes aren’t playing tricks on you.”

  Whitney nodded, though she had no idea what that meant. No one ever met the sidhe … well, no one accept for Cassie. But she was part sidhe, so that made sense. What sidhe were like, or what they could do, was a mystery to everyone.

  Without saying anything more, Cassie placed her hand on the tree she had come from and disappeared.

  Whitney stared at the tree for a few moments, like she expected something more to happen. It was strange to see her best friend just melt into a tree, but then again, when Whitney finally showed her mer tail, Cassie was bound to think that was strange, too. Life was much simpler when they were together growing up, but now apart they were growing in different directions. At least Cassie was still Cassie, even if she had some new tricks. Whitney hoped she was still herself, too, and maybe she hoped more than a little whoever Cassie was going to talk to would be as understanding about the siren as Cassie had been.

  “The rooms are 104 and 105,” Whitney told the large panther that was still just watching her. How Cassie knew Jared was still inside was beyond Whitney, but she was going to have to go with that. Otherwise, her friend had left behind a pet that could bite a man, or mer for that matter, in two.

  The black cat nodded, like it understood what she was saying. Who knew? Maybe it did.

  Whitney picked up the cooler, and began walking away. The cat followed like a well-trained pet. She just shook her head. This was going to be a fun one to explain to her siren companions. Maybe she’d be lucky, and they’d all be asleep, so they wouldn’t notice the presence of the silent cat. As Whitney reached the door and unlocked it, the panther stopped to give a low growl. Whitney looked back at him. He was still by the stairwell with a view of the cars coming into the parking lot.

  “Night humans?” she whispered, and the cat nodded back. Whitney finished unlocking the door and moved to hide inside. “I’ll stay inside with the siren. Do you want to come in, too?”

  Whitney turned to see his response, but the panther was instantly beside her, pulling on her shirt with his teeth.

  “Okay, not inside. Should I get the siren to come with us, or is this just a mission for the two of us?” It was difficult holding one-way conversations. It would have been easier if Jared had turned into a talking cat, but she wasn’t about to tell him that with his teeth so close.

  The panther let go of her shirt and nodded to the siren. Well, okay then, rest time was up. At least they got a swim in, and the cooler she had brought up with her was filled with blood for everyone.

  “Everyone up,” Whitney said in a loud whisper. “Time to leave and we need to go fast.” She wasn’t sure how much she could tell them, but the panther was getting impatient with the siren as he waited at the doorway, even if it was less than a minute. The siren had been sleeping, but no one seemed to be in a deep sleep. Going inland had put them all on edge.

  Her voice was enough to get everyone up and going, even as they rubbed their eyes, but the sight of the large cat in the doorway made one of the younger female siren in the group look like she was going to faint. Whitney just shook her head. There was no way these siren were going to be any help in a fight. She needed to get them somewhere safe, and it seemed like now was better than later. The panther’s tail hit the door, and everyone but Whitney jumped.

  “I think that means leave now,” Whitney told the group, now huddled in the front room behind the black cat in the doorway.

  Everyone followed Whitney as they made their way out into the exposed hallway. Turning to go to the stairs, Jared padded quickly in front of the group and shook his beautiful shiny black head. With a nod of his chin, he indicated to go to the opposite stairwell. No one questioned, following the cat as they took off the way he indicated while he stayed behind to guard the tail end of the escaping group. Then again, who in their right mind would tell a large cat that almost could look you in the eye that you wanted to do it different? It seemed like panther Jared was more than in charge of the situation, and Whitney knew for sure she should let him be. He seemed to sense was what going on better than her new growing senses.

  Once down the staircase, Whitney made everyone hide against the side of the building. The van was closer to the other staircase, but she trusted Jared, and he said it wasn’t safe. There was no way he’d have saved her years ago just to get her killed on purpose now. Luckily the siren seemed to just follow her lead and trust the cat for the most part, too.

  “The van is behind those trees,” Whitney told the cat. He nodded and began walking away from the building, toward the other end of the woods.

  While she didn’t mind a stroll in the woods, she wasn’t so sure how her siren would take it. They were more water-based animals, but they were going to have to suck it up. Once everyone was inside the trees, the panther paused long enough for Whitney to look back to the motel. There on the second floor were the same two guys that had come to the school to get the siren. How Jared knew they were on the other side of the building was beyond her, but Whitney was grateful that Cassie had left him behind. He’d just saved her from having to try to take on two very large mer.

  CHAPTER 4

  Sam knew before he touched the water that Whitney wasn’t there. He had hoped that he could talk to her even though they still hadn’t come up with a plan for her and the seven siren she was protecting. He just wanted to hear her voice and know she was okay. For now, he was going to just have to trust that she was which was hard to do.

  “You and I both know she’s smart. She’ll be fine. There’s no way the other clans will take her,” Nic said as he sat beside Sam on the dock.

  At least that much was true. She had proven to both of them again and again that she knew how to be a siren and, more importantly, how to be a night human. Of anyone, she probably had the best chance of fitting into the night human world inland.

  “It doesn’t make it any easier,” Sam admitted, staring out at the dark water.

  Nic laughed. “Are mates supposed to be easy?”

  Nic stood up and patted Sam’s shoulder. Without Whitney to communicate with and get updates from, Nic left his younger brother sitting on the dock.

  Sam stared out over the water, willing Whitney to be able to hear him. I miss you. Other types of night humans didn’t need water to communicate with their mates. Why couldn’t he be one of them? Nothing came back. It was the water that connected them when they were far away, and at times like this one, Sam secretly wished th
e whole world was covered with water. Okay, he didn’t really wish that, but it would make talking with Whitney easier. But it definitely wouldn’t make being apart any easier. That, he had a feeling, would never be easy.

  “Do you feel the change in the air?” Sam’s mother was standing behind him now. Her long, dark hair hung past her waist and blew in the slight night breeze.

  “Change?”

  War was hanging over the siren, and that was one big change. Sam wasn’t sure he was ready for the war that was going to happen. He had a feeling that if the mer were eager to attack, that meant they had figured out a way to get around the power of the siren voice. Sure, if they strictly fought underwater the siren couldn’t control them, but the siren were smart enough to not do that. They knew their power was solidified on the surface where sound could be heard better. War was coming, and the siren weren’t ready for it.

  “You brought magic back to the mer world when you made your mate. Your father doesn’t want to admit it, but I will. I might be over twenty years younger than him, but I’m not as young as all of you are. I’ve seen the magic that makes mer tick. I’ve felt the ocean as it brings peace back to our kind. They might have been legends to you guys as kids, but most legends are based on some fact.”

  Sam looked up at his mother. She was standing beside him now, yet her focus was on the horizon. Beautiful pinks and oranges would be filling the sky in hours, but for now, there was darkness. Sam wondered what she saw when she looked over the darkened water. He also wondered what she was talking about.

  “Siren aren’t made. There’s no way to turn someone into a mer of any kind that we know of. Whitney is special, and not just because she was able to win your heart. She’s an impossible wish for you. When looking for answers about the coming fight, you need to realize what that means first.”

  Sam’s mother placed one hand on his head before bending down and kissing his forehead like she used to when he was a child. He turned to look up at her, and she smiled. She was never one to give him answers, but he knew she was trying to lead him to a solution. Sam’s mother had never been accepted by the siren to be queen, as some still whispered that she wasn’t really a siren. He had seen her blue tail with his own eyes, so he didn’t doubt they were lying, but as a child, he never understood why they thought that. Now as an adult, he better saw how much his mother didn’t fit in with the siren. There was something different with her. Now he just needed to figure out what she wanted him to see.

  Whitney stood by herself in the middle of a lush garden. She could hear the water of a fountain tinkling in the distance and voices of people all over as they went about their daily lives. The sun was just beginning to come up, and a lot of the residents in the grand building before her were going to sleep for the day. They were called night humans for a reason. Many night humans couldn’t stand the sun and lived only at night time. And there were night humans all over the place. She couldn’t help her heartbeat picking up.

  Wishing Cassie had come with her, she tried to calm down. Cassie had to stay behind because Whitney didn’t want the other seven siren involved. Cassie and Jared would keep them safe until she returned for them, if she came back at all. The night human council that had declared the siren enemies was not something to take lightly, and it was very possible they wouldn’t even let her defend herself. Her chance of leaving alive was slim, but it was the best option they could come up with.

  A man in a black suit with a crisp white shirt walked down the garden pathway. When he got close enough, Whitney was ready to curse under her breath. Cassie had involved Turner after all.

  Turner grinned as he reached her and swooped her into a hug.

  “So how has my long, lost sister’s bestie been? Last time I saw Cassie she was complaining that you had dropped off the face of the earth.”

  Whitney just smiled and shook her head as he set her back down. After the weekend spent with him in his hometown, Turner was convinced Cassie had to be related to him since they had the same sense of bad luck in love. Actually, Cassie would have loved to have an older brother, and Turner would have been an awesome one if he’d had any younger siblings. They were more than kind of perfect together as siblings should have been.

  “I told her not to get you involved,” Whitney finally added.

  “Involved? She wanted you to go before the night human council, which means I’m automatically involved.”

  Whitney scrunched up her face in confusion. That made no sense whatsoever. Turner wasn’t on the night human council. He wasn’t even a lead for a night human race. His father was the ruler of the werewolf-like clan called the lycan, but Turner was the younger son and not set to inherit his father’s post. Only leaders or their children could be on the council, so that meant there was no way he was.

  Turner didn’t explain as he looped his arm in Whitney’s and pulled her back toward the massive building she had been staring at before.

  “I like having people around that don’t melt in the sun. You can’t believe how boring it gets around here when the sun comes up.” Turner led the way into the building. People continued on their paths without acknowledging them.

  While Cassie seemed to know right away that Whitney was a night human—that was probably due to Jared—no one around them seemed to stop on their way as they passed. Whitney was led to believe, as an outlawed night human, anyone that she met would want to kill her. But Sam was more than right, in that it looked like no one had ever come across a siren before. Now she was beginning to doubt her decision to agree with Cassie and to come before the council.

  When Cassie came back to them, she explained that she had talked it over with her contact, and the best solution was for Whitney to go before the night human council and ask to be reinstated to the night human world. That would not only make it easy for the siren to access blood, but it also meant that all the other mer would be attacking a legitimate night human clan. Maybe that way they could get a little help in their war. Whitney agreed, as it was the best solution she’d heard yet, but now she was regretting not talking it over with Sam first. She was potentially putting them all in danger.

  “So Cas didn’t say much beyond the fact that you needed to talk to the council.” Turner kept talking as they walked down the hallway toward wherever they were going. For not being on the council, he seemed to know his way around.

  “I still don’t get why you’re here. You aren’t on the council.” Now Whitney wasn’t sure, but she was almost positive that there was no way for him to be on the council. If he was, then maybe her job would be easier. Turner seemed to like her enough.

  Turner gave her one of his million-dollar smiles, slight dimple and all. “Oh, I’m not officially on the council, but since I’m a keeper to the head of the council, I basically know everything going on. It’s like being on the council without having to do all the boring stuff.”

  “Wait a second.” Whitney stopped them in the hallway. “You are notoriously single. When the heck did this happen?”

  A keeper in the night human world was like one step away from being a mate. Some people, not Sam and Whitney, took things a bit slower.

  “I’m still single. That much hasn’t change. Arianna has five keepers, and one of them is her mate already. I’m just kept around as a souvenir blood bag.” He grinned as he spoke and then began laughing.

  Whitney wasn’t sure what was funny. Why would charismatic, handsome, night human Turner Winter be the keeper to someone that was taken? And why the heck was it funny?

  “She heard me say that once and hates it when I describe it that way,” Turner explained. “The truth is, Arianna is a really good friend of mine, and I stick around because I want to. She doesn’t make me stay, and sometimes I think her mate would like me to leave, which is more than enough reason to stay.”

  “So you’re not part of the council?” Whitney tried not to sound disappointed, but her chances were much better with him on her side.

  “Hey, don’t swea
t it. I got your back, and since I have a direct link to Arianna, I can make sure she sees the truth. And trust me, Ari is a good person. She would never let something bad happen to someone like you.”

  Whitney nodded as they began walking again. It wasn’t telling the truth that was the problem. It was more like history was the problem, and there was nothing anyone, including Turner, could do to change history. All she could hope was that the council could see that she wasn’t part of that history, just like the mer on the island. Very few there were even alive for the mer wars, and those that were, were now old and senile anyways.

  “You’re lucky Devin told the council to stay longer. Otherwise, they wouldn’t meet for another week,” Turner said.

  Lucky? Maybe, but she still felt a little lost. Cassie never mentioned who she was going to see, but it made a lot more sense now. Devin was the sidhe king and a very good planner. Cassie had explained to her once how he became the king of the sidhe night human clan without actually being a night human. That had to be more than luck.

  Whitney was now wishing no one had told them to stay. Maybe it would be better to come up with another plan. She didn’t need to let everyone know that siren were still out there. For all they knew the siren were dead or there were very few left. If no one in the large house even recognized her, then their chances in the night human world would be good. She could go on hiding with the seven siren she was protecting and wait it out. There had to be another option. Whitney was regretting her decision to say yes to Cassie’s plan.

  They had just arrived at a cracked open door. “Bring her in,” a soft female voice said from inside. And it was now too late to go back. Whitney was stuck.

  Turner pushed the door and held it open for Whitney to pass through. Her feet felt like they were trudging through syrup as she tried to walk forward without falling face first in front of five of the strongest night humans around. Turner motioned to a seat in the middle of the group, and Whitney put on her best brave face as she walked in and pretended like she wasn’t scared to death of what she was doing. Bolting seemed like the best option, but it was too late for that and Cassie had dropped her off through a tree. Hence, she didn’t technically know where she was.