Prologue

Rose

M y body cut through the water of the South Pacific, following blood red threads of power. The Call—the divinely given need for retribution, imparted upon me in exchange for becoming a siren—rode me hard. The compulsion, almost as strong as the need to breathe, pushed me to seek out the ones responsible for my death. Two, I'd already dealt with: the hunters, cousins Perry and Davis Brown, who'd tortured and killed me. The third, Joseph Kelley, was nowhere to be found.

Through seaweed forests, into the deepest of trenches, to the most remote of islands, I searched. But he eluded me, even as he tormented me. His name and face dogged my every thought. This one man was responsible for my ill-fortune. It was his fault all this had happened.

He was the reason I'd not only lost Will but also was separated from Milo.

He was the reason I couldn't go home.

He was the reason the spell to bind the talisman to me had gone awry and ensured I'd lose my humanity.

He was the reason the hunters had come to the islands and killed me, completing my transition into a siren.

My hatred for the man only fueled my Call, fed into and strengthened it until I was mindless to anything but finding him. I did not rest, nor did I sleep. I couldn't, not until I'd succeeded in my quest.

Nor would the Call allow me even a moment to myself. Over and over, it forced up memories of the past, reminding me of why he'd been chosen—as if I needed the reminder. Every waking moment, every thought was Joseph… Joseph… Joseph…

Letters. Letters. So many letters. A million dollars to buy my Aunty Vi's house and shop. To take everything our family owned from us.

"If I find out you are in any way involved with this, I will end your pathetic human life. Then I'll make sure no one ever finds out what happened to you. Your aunt will never know peace once you are gone."

"All that happened because of you, and worse things will happen to them if they defy me again because of you. You, who have been a pain in my ass from the moment you stepped foot onto my island." He snarled, his hand gripping my face that much harder. "You are nothing. You will always be nothing. You will live in fear of me until the day you die."

He forced me to look up at him and into his stormy eyes. There was nothing I could do to stop him from taking my mind as he had his own son's. The pressure alone had me screaming, but terror followed close behind as I lost my will to him. All that was me was shoved deep, deep down as his power overcame me, crowding me out of my own head.

Will stood so still with a bloody red hand outstretched in front of him, and it took me a moment to understand what he held in his hand: a heart. I gasped at first, then looked at the floor.

"No, no, no, no," I whispered, shooting forward to where Eli lay face down and unmoving. The gaping hole in his back was hard to miss even with my broken eyesight, the place where his heart should be void of anything but blood. I looked back up at Will and Joseph, tears running down my face and onto Eli's back as I screamed, "Why did you kill him? Why? He's a father! He has children! Why did you do it?"

"The blood of my family is on your hands, and for that, I condemn you to rot in here," Joseph whispered. Then he bashed my head onto the floor.

The threads of Joseph's power, the remnants of his aura, zig-zagged through the coral beds and wildlife somewhere around what I assumed were the Polynesian islands, based on the few times I'd popped my head above the water in pursuit of my Mark. He'd been circling this area for a while now, his thoughts and actions more and more erratic with each passing day.

His power left an obvious stain wherever he went, a blight of maroon that stood out in stark contrast against the white of the sand like a never-ending trail of blood. My skin crawled every time I neared his trail. Were I to stick my hand into it, I could get a sense of his thoughts and feelings, belying his decaying mental state, as was gifted to me by the Call to better track my prey. As I approached it, I braced myself before plunging my hand into the thread closest to me.

Let me get to them. They have to let me in. I must convince them I can take care of them. Noemie, come back home. I WILL MAKE YOU COME BACK HOME.

His half-crazed thoughts made me flinch away from the thread, shaking my hand to remove any traces of his power. It didn't help that submerging my hand in that filthy slurry felt like submerging my hand in a vat of oil and blood. It clung to my webbing, claws, and fingers like it wanted to sink into me. I kicked into action, following the trail forward to get away from it.

I knew what awaited me at the end of this path, just like every other path I'd taken: nothing but piles of fish bones and the barest traces of my prey's whereabouts. It didn't surprise me that I was all but chasing a ghost—this trail was over a year old at best, but retracing Joseph's steps was all I could do in trying to find where he'd gone.

As I swam, another, brighter path of his aura bisected the one I was tracking. It vibrated with energy, flickering with heightened emotion. I didn't bother putting my hand into it; there was no doubt in my mind that this was the one I needed to follow. The Call guided me to pursue this new path.

Half a mile later was a veritable explosion of Joseph's energy. This was fresher than the other traces I'd seen recently, pulsing with residual power. Cautiously inching forward, I approached the dark red of Joseph's aura. Something in me, deeper than the urgency of the Call, warned me away from it, but my need for vengeance forced me toward it anyway. Unbidden, puppeted by a force greater than myself, my hand reached out and sank into the heart of the mass, submerging me in the imprint of his mind.

Fists pounded against the invisible barrier.

"Let me in! Let me see my family! I won't let you keep them from me!"

He screamed until his voice went hoarse, but no one came. No one listened, and the barrier stood strong in the face of his wrath. With one last guttural howl, he let out a burst of raw power in hopes of shattering that which kept him from his family.

He failed.

Still he was barred.

Sinking to the ground, he sat, defeated, beaten by a fucking magic wall. Hours, he agonized, head in his hands. Why had this happened? How? Why would his own wife and children flee from him? One thought echoed more than the others, ringing loud above the din of his mind.

They didn't feel safe , he thought. They fled to safety .

Of course. There was no other reason they would run from him when he'd insulated them from any and all harm that could befall them. He puzzled over what he could do to bring forth their blind trust in him again. He'd made mistakes, namely not securing the talisman for himself, but he could fix it. He knew he could!

Joseph turned his eyes away from the barrier, and he knew what he had to do… He knew where he had to go…

Back to where they'd fled from him in the first place.

I wrenched myself out of the vision, my heart trying to beat out of my ribcage. As I turned my head, my eyes followed the tracks in growing horror that had me crying out.

Nora.

He'd gone to Nora.