Asteria POV.
What was I thinking when I kissed him? Gods above. I launch out of the water and sit on my favourite rock. This is such a mess. I should have never agreed to any of this. Look where it got me.
It got me betrayed by the humans, by the shifters. I should have let the military destroy them all.
“Asteria.” I look at the water and see Artemis as she moves closer to me and I burst into tears. She pulls herself up on the rock next to me and we hug each other.
I sob like a baby. A sob of pain and relief. The pain of losing Shanti, the relief of knowing Artemis, was ok. The weight of what I did to save those I thought gave a shit about me. I was wrong, so fucking wrong. I paid the ultimate price, doing what I believed was right.
I gave up my freedom so they could keep theirs, but the price that I paid was losing the girl I raised. I lost my sanity, my home, my people. All for what? So the other shifters could carry on with their lives blissfully unaware of the suffering that I endured at the hands of those that I once was.
“I’ve got you Asteria. I always have. Please, my queen, don’t cry. We can fix this.” I shake my head as I feel the anger rise within me. All those experiments unlocked something deep and feral within me. Watching Shanti die unlocked a monster in me.
“No, we won’t.” I turn my head and look back at the land with a sneer on my face.
“My queen.” She follows my gaze.
“They will all pay for this. They will all pay for her life.” I say and I look back at Artemis. She would have felt her death. Each time a siren dies, the entire colony feels it. No matter where they are in the world.
“History will repeat itself, but this time, we will win. I will not allow the humans and the mutts to rest. They will die in pain. Their blood will wash over the earth.” More of my people appear in the water.
“We will follow your command. What of the sirens on land?” I look back at the glittering lights. A malicious smile spreads on my lips.
I close my eyes and open my mouth to sing a song. A song that is ancient, forbidden and should never be sung again. As the melody echoes and dances on the breeze. I open my eyes and push my power out. Pulsing like a beacon. Calling all the sirens from land back to the water. The call of arms, the call for war.
I push on my mind the link to every siren in the world.
“My people, prepare your hunters and warriors. We will attack the humans and shifters. Their time is over. We will wash over them like a tidal wave of death and destruction. Starting with the fishing towns.” The sound of agreement enters my head.
“What of the settlements?” Artemis asks and I smile at her.
“You shall see Artemis.” I shuffle off the rock and re-enter the water. Swimming back towards a different beach in Moonlight Cove. I shriek loudly into the night air.
Shrieks and screams echo around me as I see the people of the settlement emerge from the treeline and cross the road onto the beach.
They all approach the waterline, and I move closer to them. All but Odessa, Charlie, and Rosa are with them. They have abandoned us for their mates.
“My family, please enter the water.” They all walk closer as I approach a woman in front of me. I close my eyes and kiss her on her gently on the forehead, pushing my power to her. I break the kiss and smile at her when I see her eyes change from blue to silver-violet as she moves further into the water and disappears under. Moments later, she breaches the surface. A tail behind her.
I will activate all their dormant siren DNA they will become what they were denied.
“Thank you, my queen. I have always wanted to be like you all.” She has tears dripping down her chin. I nod at her and repeat the process with all the humans from my settlement, including the children. They will be safe in the underwater hidden kingdom.
All of them shifted for the first time and I smile. They will be unstoppable. I look towards the shore and see the sirens who chose to be on land come running towards the water.
Including the Luna of Moonlight Pack. She is a siren.
“You have called us home. Why?” Luna Perla asks and I look at her.
“You know why. You may be mated to an alpha, but you are still under my rule. I have called you all home, because we are at war.” She gasps and takes a step back.
“Move another muscle. Perla and I will kill you.” She stops and clutches her neck and screams as the bond is severed. The call for war and calling my people home will sever any mate bond. It makes it easier to kill. It makes them feral.
That is why the song I used should have been forgotten, but it never will be. I am a monster. The sooner they realise that, the better.
“Your bond to me is more powerful than of any mate bond. Those connections will have started to be severed the moment I called you home. Where were you, Perla, when our people were starved and slaughtered? You were living your dream with your mate, you turned your back on us. Not anymore. I have a mission for you, Perla.” I chuckle darkly as she straightens up, her true nature taking hold once more. I see it in her eyes.
“We will attack Moonlight Cove and you will kill your mate, ex-mate. We are at war with not only the humans, but every shifter who turned their backs on us when I fucking saved them from extinction.” Murmurs break out at my words.
“Is this why you disappeared for nearly a decade?” I nod my head.
“Yes. You are a siren first, Perla, yet you happily turned your back on your family. Not anymore. If you betray me, or anyone for that matter, I will kill you. Am I clear?” I turn and look at everyone here, and they all bow their heads in submission. I turn back to Perla and she bows to me.
“Good. Time to go home. We have a war to plan. We will attack the trawlers and the fishing companies first, then we will attack the people of Moonlight Cove.” I say as I dive and swim home, my people behind me.
Carter POV.I wake up on a sofa. Fenrir talks to the alpha and his luna. I know them because we have worked together before, but I never thought I would be here because my mate is, one a siren and two a fucking psychopath.“Perla, Perla, where are you going?” Alpha Javier’s voice pulls me back to the present as I watch his luna run outside.“What is happening?” I ask as I watch the luna run faster.“We need to follow her. Something isn’t right. It was like she was in a trance.” Javier runs and shifts into his large black wolf and I stop in my tracks and he looks at me, nods his head and we run. Fenrir’s beast picks me up and throws me and I land on his back on my stomach, winded as I try to catch my breath.“Hang on, Carter, until you shift. You won’t be able to catch up with us.” I hold on to his black fur as we chase after alpha Javier, his pack warriors and beta following behind in their wolf forms. You would think I would be terrified, but it’s not the first time I have seen them
Carter POV.“News just in that sirens are very real and are a threat to everyone. We have reports that sirens have attacked many fishing towns up the east coast. Citizens are reminded to stay away from the areas. No-one knows why these beautiful yet deadly shifters have attacked. But one thing is for sure, they are dangerous. The governments are in talks with the military about the siren threat. We will have more as the story breaks.”I watch the news presenter on the screen as footage is shown of sirens destroying small fishing tows and killing both shifters and human alike. It has been two months since Asteria declared war and she is making good on that threat.“Carter, we need to get your Lycan to come forward. Only you can stop her.” Lycaon says from the chair next to my sofa. I shake my head.“How? She will try to kill me again.” I say as I watch the carnage on the screen. However, Asteria isn’t with them. Where is she?“I think we can use magic to make that happen.” I turn to th
Asteria POV.We emerge from the water. I close my eyes and call my power forward. The skies darken and the wind picks up. I raise my hands into the sky and shriek so loud it sends vibration through the water.My tail swishes back and forth as I look over the water as my people emerge. I point to the trawler not far from us, and people dive under the waves. I watch with pride as my people launch out of the water as I create mist. Screams sound from the trawler. The scent of blood dances in the wind and I breathe it in with a smirk on my face.I dive below and swim forward at speed and launch up and land on the deck of the boat. Men scream as they are cut down and I look around. When I see a woman holding a harpoon gun, frightened by what she is seeing. I move toward her on my tail.She has tears streaming down her face as she points the harpoon gun at me. I raise my hand to strike her. When I stop, my hearing is picking up on another heartbeat. I look at her face, then at her belly.“D
Carter POV.I lift her limp body in my arms and walk with her as the sirens all turn to look at me. They shriek and hiss at the sight of their queen laying limp in my arms.“I have marked your queen. You will all retreat back into the water now!” I boom as they all look at me. When two women move forward, I recognise one as luna Perla. The other looks feral.She throws her spear at me, and I drop Asteria as I stagger back. She attacks, trying to get to Asteria when I kick her, sending her backwards. I growl at her.“She belongs to me. MINE! This madness stops now. The military will not stop until you all are dead. This was the only way.” I say to her as she hisses at me from a crouched position. She chuckles to herself.“You have just doomed us all. When she wakes and she will, she will kill you and all that follows you. You have forced your mate mark on her. That is forbidden. The gods will judge you, and Asteria will be your executioner.” She spits at me she moves closer to me and r
Asteria POV.I wake up surrounded by my females as we all sleep together while the sentinels surround us, protecting us. Things here are different from the surface. The mermen guard the females whilst we sleep. The females are the first to eat, the females rule under the water. We are more feral than the males. This will never change.I wince as I lean up on my elbows, looking at the calm sleeping faces of my females. I bring my hand to my neck and feel the mark. This only angers me. He has broken one of the universal laws, you never, and I mean never, forcibly mark your mate.He will be punished for this, but I know they will let it fucking slide. All because he is a damn Lycan. I bet Fenrir is so fucking happy to have another Lycan. I bet he is jerking off at the thought.“My queen, are you ok?” I look at the sentinel and nod my head as I push up and swim away from my sleeping family. The waters are dark and cold. No more than usual. I swim to the entrance to the hidden kingdom and
Carter POV.It takes everything in me to not touch her, to hold her to me again. But I know she will kill me. She looks defeated, sad even.“Go to her, you moron,” Lykos mumbles in my head with a whimper as he looks at her as she looks out at sea. She turns her head and raises an eyebrow at me. She is beautiful, even if she is deadly.“Well, you called me here, so talk.” She says, but her tone is not the usual snappy, bitchy tone. She is upset. I slowly move closer to her. I sit a few feet away from her as she chuckles at me.“You scared little pup.” She smiles at me and I gulp. Even in her human form, I know she can rip me apart and not feel a damn thing.“No,” I lied, and she laughs as she wraps the towel around her as she crosses her legs and looks at me with a smile on her face.“You are a terrible liar. I would be surprised if you weren’t scared. Mate or not.” She speaks softly at me.“Sorry, I am till trying to get my head around a lot.” I say with a chuckle and she shakes her h
Asteria POV.We keep attacking the fishing ports all over the world. Most are abandoned, but still we sink the trawlers and kill whoever we find. This is just the beginning. We have to be a few steps ahead of General Patterson. I haven’t had anymore contact with Carter or the rest of them. However, I have felt pain and I know what it is.I know they won’t be sitting idle. They will think of a way to stop me. Whatever they try to do, I will destroy them.“Asteria, we need to start moving inland. They are retreating.” Perla says and I look forward up the abandoned streets. She is right. If we want to destroy them all, then we need to move further inland. But we have a problem. My people need the water they can only stay on land for so long without. Perla was able to say away for longer because Moonlight Pack has a salt-water lake. So she could go there when needed to shift. The rest won’t survive.The humans will move away from any salt water, but I don’t need the water to be able to sh
Asteria POV.I wake up with a groan as my eyes adjust to my surroundings and I am in a hut. I move my arms and look down to see shackles around my wrists. I move to sit up and look around.The walls are made with logs, there are woven tapestries hanging in places and a fire crackles in the hearth. I look down and see I am wearing a long shirt and I’m on a bed. The door to the room opens and I hiss at whoever it is that has entered the hut.I don’t take my eyes from the person as snarl and move my arms to break the restraints. They groan under the force when the man tilts his head to the side.“Enough Asteria. You need to rest and regain your strength.” I stop moving and blink to clear my vision and see Lycaon. I growl louder at him as he walks closer to me with a bowl in his hand.“Stay still. You aren’t healing.” He lifts the shirt and I kick my legs to get him away when he straddles my legs and I shriek loudly. I arch my back to get him off me. When he pushes down on my chest to kee
Carter POV.18 Months later.Coming back to the surface after being in my siren form for a few months was strange. Not much had changed, but still it was weird.“It would be the same if you were stuck in Lycan form for that amount of time.” Lykos had said to me when it was taking me a little bit longer to adjust to being back on two legs. But here we are sitting watching the two most important women in our lives.“Lykos, we are truly blessed. Look at them both.” I say with a big smile on my face as we watch Asteria chase after Ione in the palace gardens. Both are wearing matching outfits. Lykos purrs watching our mate and daughter playing.When we came back, everyone was shocked to see not only how much Ione had grew and changed but also the change in myself. I have bulked up in the water. But not overly bulky.I watch as Asteria runs away from Ione, and she chases her mom. With Set beside her, the second we got home, Set pounced on them both. Ione has said she remembers him and so
Asteria POV.“Swim Carter, she is right on your tail.” I shout from the top of the abyss as the meg gains on him. It has been two months since Carter’s and Ione’s training began.I watch as the meg slams her jaws shut as he picks up speed. That was close. The rest of us move along the top, watching the test play out.Carter swims and stops turning. What is he doing? I look at Artemis and she looks at me. When I see him throw the trident towards the meg. She rolls to the side, avoiding it. She gains speed and my eyes widen. When she slams into him and I go to stop it when Artemis holds me back.“Look!” she says and I wait for the sand and debris to settle when I slowly smile, seeing Carter has his hands on her snout. She is wiggling her fin to move forward, but he isn’t budging.Carter has grown in size, strength, and speed. He is a great hunter and fighter.He shoves hard, and she flies back, shaking her head. He moves like a bullet and lands blows to her gills and she roars. Swimming
Asteria POV.It has been a few days since the wedding and the crowning ceremony. The celebration ended yesterday and I’m glad it did.There are only so many times you can shake hands and give kisses before you become tired of it.Selene and Lycaon congratulated us both, and I decided it was high time we drew a line in the sand and move forward without the hostility. Grated the hostility came from me, but still it was time to move forward.Zeus was still a prick and that will never change. Even though it has been just over a week since I gave birth to Ione, she is a lot bigger now and crawling. I wasn’t kidding when I said sirens grow quicker.We think once she hits a few years old in siren time that she will slow her growth down. Last thing we want to come back from her training and her being an adult.Today we start her training, and Fenrir will be in charge alongside Lycaon. Carter enters the bedroom carrying an excited Ione. She has been swimming in her siren form in the bath. We a
Asteria POV.The elders have been on my ass today, and I’m ready to flip out. According to them, it is not traditional for the luna queen to not wear a ballgown! I laughed at the dress.Even Artemis and my mother laughed as I stood there is this dress that looks all puffy and it’s tight around my chest and neck. Gaia counted the layers to this cloud like dress and counted twenty. I look like a fairy. It’s red and gold and really puffy, as Gaia said. I don’t like it.It weighs a tonne too. When I told the elders, I don’t like it that it wasn’t comfortable; they sneered at me, muttering I was a savage, so I did the only thing I could. I tore it to shreds. I couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t sit down, and I couldn’t fit through the damn door. Being called a savage was the final straw. So I showed them how savage I could be.So here I am with my females around me as they get me ready. My long, wavy raven hair is down flowing against my lower back. I have my coral crown on my head adorned with
Carter POV.Watching Asteria assert her dominance is always fun to watch. He did deserve it and she is right. Even I didn’t like the way he was looking at Ione. If Asteria hadn’t stepped in to protect her when she did, I would have killed him. Lykos was on the verge of shifting when she put him and the others in their place.The bedroom we are in is nice. The wealth of the Lycans is evident. However, it is pretentious. Yes, I have mansions and top of the line supercars, but this. There is too much gold and reds. I get it furnishings fit for a king and his queen, but this is not what I’m comfortable with and, by the looks of it, neither is Asteria.I understand the palace is filled with history but I would like to make some adjustments, but I doubt the elders will be too pleased with that. Don’t get me wrong, it’s nice, but it’s too much.Asteria is standing on the balcony that looks out over the kingdom and beyond that, the ocean. Ione is having a nap and so it is just the two of us f
Asteria POV.Walking the path towards the Lycan Palace. It hits me that the palace is shielded from the world using an illusion spell. But this is the royal pack.The palace sits in the middle with houses surrounding it, similar to a packhouse. Wolves and Lycans leave their homes to see what is happening as Carter and I, plus our entourage, walk towards the palace.I keep my head high as Carter carries Ione. The wolves and Lycans bow as we pass, showing their respect to us. My eyes connect with a few and they bow lower. We walk up the steps to the palace and come face to face with what I can only assume are the elders.They bow in respect as Fenrir moves closer to us.“Welcome home your majesty, we’re thrilled that you are here.” One of the dusty old men says not acknowledging me. I ignore the disrespect because if I was to act on it, then he would die.I ignore their conversation as I look around, surveying everything when Carter takes my hand, pulling me out of what I’m doing.“Plea
Asteria POV.There hasn’t been a day of peace since before Ione has been born. Now don’t get me wrong, I love seeing everyone, but is it too much to ask for us just to have time together with just the three of us? The only time we get to ourselves is when it’s bedtime.“Fen, just the man I wanted to see,” Carter says as the wolves take their seats and coo over Ione.“Oh-oh, that sounds ominous. What can I do for you both?” Fen asks with a chuckle and I roll my eyes as I lay Ione on my legs. Her feet against my tummy, as I gently sway my knees from side to side as I make silly faces at her, earning me big giggles from her.“We need your help with running the kingdom, well, looking after the kingdom for a couple of months. Ione will begin her training before the end of next week, and I need to be with both her and Asteria. So, would be the interim ruler while we are away?” Carter asks, and I look up at Fen and smile at him.“I will only do it if I get Ione cuddles.” He says as he stands
Carter POV.Words can’t describe what I had witnessed. The birth of my daughter Ione. Asteria handled it like a pro and I now have more respect for the females in the world. It was scary when she started to death roll, but then she pulled Ione free.I saw her tail before Asteria did; I know she was panicked that Ione may not shift. So she didn’t notice that little detail before she took off like a bat out of hell to get to the surface.But here we are in the living room with a sleeping Ione in my arms. Asteria is back to normal. She appears to be stronger than before. She is breastfeeding her but also supplementing her with blended fish. Gross, I know, but sirens feed their children differently. Hence why they are born with teeth and talons.We have had so many visitors over the past few days and Ione has taken it all in her stride. She is a dream, though. She never cries and Asteria said it’s because siren babies don’t cry. She is content and happy. Lykos is in love with her the same
Asteria POV.I wake up in the night wincing in pain. Trying to get comfortable is a nightmare. Odessa has told me she is low in my pelvis, but I knew that already she has been for a while now.I pull myself up and shuffle to the end of the bed and place my feet on the ground and stand. I’m exhausted, but nature calls. I hold my bump with one hand and the wall with the other as I make my way to the bathroom.I’m out of breath and I feel like I’ve run a damn marathon in flip-flops. I move to the toilet and do my business and wash my hands.A low pain spreads across my belly and I brace my hands on the vanity, my chin tucked as I breathe in through my nose and slowly out of my mouth until it passes. Once it does, I stand up straight. I look at the bath in the mirror.I turn slowly and move towards it and turn the water on. Placing the plug in. I strip down. And climb in as the bath fills.Leaning my head back, I place my hands on my bump that pokes out of the water and I hum, the song wa