Word Count: 3313

When Adam got to the dock he could see Matt standing at the gang plank of the boat, he looked a lot paler than he had the first time Adam met him, and he was clearly still recovering, but he looked stronger than he should have. His t-shirt covered his chest and shoulders so Adam couldn't see the wounds that had covered him when they'd pulled him out of the water, but he figured they must already be healed, he couldn't imagine Harper letting Matt out of the house if they hadn't been.

"Hey man." Adam greeted him, nervously. He had to admit he was a little intimidated, the creature in front of him was powerful, and like nothing he'd ever known.

"Morning." Matt returned, quirking an eyebrow, and hiding a smirk. He knew he made the wolf nervous, and he was glad. Harper had told him everything they'd talked about, but he couldn't really buy into it. What kind of male stood by and watched females mistreated and did nothing? Matt would admit though, that he had no idea about werewolf culture. Harper had told him the alpha was like the god of the pack, he had absolute control of his pack members, she said they could not refuse his command, no matter how much they wanted to or tried. Matt couldn't imagine such a thing, his kind had nothing resembling that, there were strong and weak sirens. The strong protected the weak when they could, but sirens were solitary creatures, they didn't have packs, or villages. A family would live together in a pod, but that was rarely more than 4 or 5 individuals, when children were old enough to be on their own they usually left the pod. Females were more likely to stay with their family than males, but it was rare that even they stayed with their families long.

"How are you feeling?" Adam asked. "You look good, all healed up?"

"Mostly." Matt answered. "I'll be tired for the rest of today, but otherwise good to go."

"That's amazing. Werewolves heal fast, but being torn up that bad? Losing that much blood?" Adam shook his head. "Would have been in a coma for days, even an alpha would have been in bed at least a week."

"Well, we have to heal fast or we die." Matt shrugged. "You don't last long out in the ocean with open wounds, literally everything out there will try to eat you if you do."

"Starting to appreciate being a werewolf on land." Adam laughed. "Outside of rogues, there isn't much we have to worry about, maybe a grizzly bear or a mountain lion."

"Or people," Matt remarked.

Adam caught a scent on the breeze and turned to see the girls coming up the dock, his eyes immediately locked on Celie and his breath caught in his chest, his wolf whined happily in his head. She was stunning. Her blonde hair was pulled back into a pony tail and she wore a green tank top and a pair of faded cut off shorts, he could see the straps of a bright green bikini under her shirt. He didn't know if he would be able to focus if she was in a bikini all day, not that he would complain.

Then his eyes moved on to Harper and he caught a look of absolute adoration on her face as she looked at Matt, a look Matt retuned. Adam could clearly see the love on both their faces, it was obvious to him that they were mates, and that they were bonded, their anniversary must not be far off. He thought of Harper saying she was scared of it and he couldn't help feeling kinda sad at that, she shouldn't fear bonding to her mate, it was a blessing.

They were busy for several moments, loading and stowing away gear, then they were finally ready to set sail.

Celie was quiet as she sat on her lounge chair on the boat deck, watching the shore flow by as they headed out of the bay and the water faded from pale to dark blue. She tried not to stare at Adam as he stood against the rail staring out over the water. He had the awestruck expression that people who have never been to FL get the first few times they go out onto the water and it made her smile. She remembered how she and Harper had been when they first moved here, the beach, the water, the sun, the heat. It had been a huge transition for them, the North West was a different world from the South East that's for sure. But she loved the tropical climate and culture of south FL, she couldn't imagine living her life anywhere else, especially not in the cold, dark woods of the pack.

That thought sobered her up a little, thinking of her old pack and the life she had there. She was still fighting against the guilt she felt for leaving her father and brothers and letting them think she was dead for all these years.

"Hey Adam." Celie called out to him, and he turned to her with a smile. "Do you...uh, do you know my father?"

"Yeah, I talk to him all the time." Adam said. "He comes over to the pack office to ask about you every week."

Adam regretted saying it as soon as he saw Celie flinch and look down.

"Do you think he'll forgive me?" Celie asked hesitantly after a few minutes. "For pretending to be dead all these years?"

Adam paused for a moment but then went to her, he knelt next to her seat and looked deeply into her eyes.

"He'll get down on his knees and thank the moon goddess that his little girl is still alive." Adam told her earnestly. "He's spent the last seven years praying for this, he'll be grateful."

Tears filled Celie's eyes but fought them back as she nodded, and Adam reached out and took her hands. Sparks played across their skin where his fingers held hers, but she flinched and quickly pulled her hand back, causing his wolf to howl in pain.

"Celie, I'm not going to lie to you and tell you he's not going to be upset, because he has worried about you all this time." Adam told her. "But that's going to be minor compared to the relief he's going to be feeling, knowing that you're alive and well. He understands why you left. He does. We all do. We learned. I'm not going to say there won't be any hurt, but you can handle it."

Then Adam paused and took a deep breath before continuing.

"To be honest with you, he's going to be a hell of a lot more pissed at me than he will be at you. I never admitted to him that I'm the one that rejected you. I never had the balls to own up to it, only a few people know it was me." Adam said slowly. "So if he starts giving you a hard time, just tell him who rejected you, and the blame will fall to the person truly responsible."

Celie's eyes widened and she stared at Adam for a few minutes.

"You never told him?" Celie asked.

"No, no one did." Adam said with a sigh. "I'm not sure why, but the alpha and luna kept it to themselves, even though they knew almost from the beginning. I was devastated when you left, it almost broke me, I think they kept it quiet because they thought facing your family would drive me over the edge. And to be honest, it might have, I was in bad shape for a while, especially after they called off the search and told us you were dead."

"Did you really believe I was dead?" Celie asked, the pain in his eyes was making her chest hurt for him.

"They told us you were, over and over, that's all they said. I honestly think the Alpha and Luna were repeating it as much to convince themselves as everyone else. At first I didn't want to accept it or believe it. My wolf never did. He knew his mate was still alive, he said he would have felt it if you died." Adam replied. "I denied it for years. But, yeah, after a while I thought you were dead, I started thinking he was just refusing to accept the truth. I never stopped looking, but I did lose hope that I would find you alive. The last couple of years, I was mainly just looking for proof, hoping to find out what happened to you, and at least be able to tell your family for sure."

"Then why didn't you stop looking?" Celie asked. "If you really thought I was dead."

"I couldn't." Adam answered simply. "I couldn't let go of you, I still had to find you, I had to bring you home."

"I'm never going back there, Adam." Celie said firmly, putting a stop to that notion.

"I know." Adam said quickly. "I don't want you to, I know you'd be unhappy there. I just meant, I had to bring your body home if I found it."

Celie didn't know what to say to that and she was saved from having to come up with something because Harper slowed the boat and cut the throttle. Celie glanced around, they were a few miles out to sea now and there was no land in sight. She got up and went to help Matt and Harper get ready for their dive.

They had small buoys with cameras and motion sensors attached that they dropped into the water in a large perimeter. Harper and Celie sat at a small desk and scanned the screens for any movement while Matt checked the motion sensors and looked at the fish finder to see if anything came up on the sonar. After a few minutes, Harper got up and started putting on her wetsuit and getting ready.

"I don't think we'll need the cage, I don't see anything down there, and the sonar isn't picking up anything at all." Matt said, after checking all their equipment. "I'll be fast, drop deep enough to send out a good call, then we're out of here. I'm not waiting around to see if I get a response, my call might bring one to us if there are any in the area, and I don't want to run into one while I'm still healing."

"Good." Harper said, relief evident on her face. "I was afraid you were going to insist on hanging out to see who might answer the call."

"No." Matt said with a bit of a grimace. "My ego is still too bruised from getting my ass kicked to take any chances now. I'm not risking encountering one until I'm healed, if anyone hears me they'll come, they can just follow the markers to find the spring."

"What do you mean?" Adam asked.

"If whoever hears the call is someone we don't know, I'll direct them to markers that will guide them to the house so they can find us." Matt explained.

"Is that normal? That strangers come to help?" Adam asked.

"Yes." Matt answered, remembering some of the wolf culture that Harper and Celie had told him. "Sirens stick together, if one of us calls for help, everyone in the area comes, no one gets left alone."

"Yeah, wolves aren't really like that." Adam remarked with a shrug. "We'll come help you if you're an ally, if not...well depends on the situation and if you're in our territory without permission."

"I've heard." Matt said. "Kill or be killed. Only the strong matter. No mercy or sympathy for the weak. No allegiance for anyone but pack. You're nothing if you're not pack. Everyone else can go fuck themselves."

Adam winced, but nodded.

"Not all packs are like that, but a lot are." Adam admitted. "Our pack tries not be, we try to help others, but I know why Harper and Celie think we're one of the bad ones. They experienced the very worst of wolf pack behavior and they have no reason to think well of us. We werewolves are aggressive, territorial, predators with an internal hierarchy based on who is the strongest."

"But you're not really based on who's the strongest," Matt snorted. "You're just telling yourself that."

"What do you mean?" Adam asked, getting a little offended. "The pack hierarchy is based on strength, the alpha is the strongest wolf, then the next strongest wolf fighter, which is the beta, me, then..."

"In theory," Matt interrupted. "That's not in practice though, Harper was the strongest she-wolf in your pack, you admitted it, but she was treated like shit by everyone, even though she fought as one of the strongest warriors."

"We didn't know she was the strongest..." Adam started.

"Why didn't you know?" Matt cut him off.

Adam hesitated, staring out at the water with a frown.

"You weren't acting like wolves; you were acting like humans." Matt informed him. "You let the most popular, and most ruthless lead the pack, then bullied and mistreated the ones she didn't like. The alpha, who you claim to be so high and powerful, wasn't even the one in charge, he was following her lead. Then the rest of you beat the unpopular down by ganging up on them, assuring they'd never grow into a strong pack members. It had nothing to do with who was strong, who was a fighter, or a tactician, or who could contribute the most. It wasn't based on who could best defend the pack, or care for the pack, it wasn't about what was best for the pack as a whole. It was based solely on who was popular and in charge and what they wanted for themselves... and you, since you were one of them. You're no different than the humans you look so far down on. There was no respect for strength, no pack unity, none of the great and wonderful family values you claim as a pack. Because that's what a pack is supposed to be, right? A family, all for one and one for all, right?"

Matt ignored Adam's glare as he turned to the back of the boat, stripping off his shirt as he went. He picked up an air tank that was sitting against the railing and lifted it onto Harper's back, holding it in place while she snapped the belts around her waist.

"Hey Cel," Harper said, as she sat on the edge of the rail getting ready to jump into the water. "You going to be ok up here alone with him?"

"Yeah." Celie said with a wan smile. "Just don't take a leisurely 10 hour dive, ok?"

"No way. Five minutes...tops." Matt said as he turned and dove over the side of the boat and into the water. He surfaced a second later and tossed his wet trunks back up over the side as Harper plunged into the water beside him and they both sank into the depths.

"So..." Adam began, but then he stopped as he heard a sound he could only describe as angels singing under water. "What is..."

"That's Mattie calling to his people." Celie said, smiling softly. "A siren's voice is the most beautiful thing you will ever hear. And Matt's strong so his voice is very powerful, I've never heard him really unleash in his human voice, it would probably be too much for anyone to resist, they can even be strong enough to kill."

"Are the stories true?" Adam asked curiously, his head still cocked to the side listening intently to the haunting melody. "The Greek myths and all that?"

"The myths are accurate, if anything they understate a siren's power." Celie answered. "Siren's calls are impossible to resist, it's almost like an alpha command, only it's...sweeter. You don't obey the command because you have no choice, like with an alpha command, you obey the command because you want to obey it. Whatever they tell you to do, doing it becomes the most important and desirable thing you can imagine. That's their power. You're forced to do what they say, but it doesn't seem like force, it doesn't seem like you're being compelled, it just seems like you want what they want all on your own. Most people being lured by a siren don't even realize they are being compelled; they don't think anything is happening to them at all except that they really want to do whatever they're being told to do."

"Wow, I had no idea." Adam said.

"Of course not." Celie laughed. "You didn't know they existed until two days ago. But think of it like this, if I begged you to do something for me, something simple, like run down to the market and get me some masitas de puerco. As my mate, with the bond pulling you, you'd want to give it to me more than anything, wouldn't you? Not because I'm forcing you to, but because you'd want to make me happy."

"Of course." Adam said quickly.

"So that's what being called by a siren is like, only 1000 times stronger. " Celie explained. "It would just be this urgent desire to do it, but it seems like it's coming from you, not from them. It seems completely your own desire to do what they ask or what they say, without you even realizing it's not really what you want to do. It also comes with a feeling of physical pleasure to give in to the desire to please them, a shivery, tingly feeling."

"Woah." Adam felt slightly nervous hearing that. "And their will affects everyone? Like is anyone immune to it?"

"It affects everyone. There are stories of some people being naturally immune or resistant, but it's rare." Celie told him. "Of course, sirens can't compel other sirens, and mates develop an immunity to the lure. So while a siren could lure me, Harper would be completely unaffected because she's Mattie's mate."

"So Matt could command me to do something, and I would have to do it?" Adam asked, feeling his unease growing.

"Yup." Celie smirked. "And you'd be super thrilled to do whatever he told you to do, and you wouldn't even want to go against him. Scary, huh?"

"Yeah." Adam said grimly. "At least with an alpha command I still have my own thoughts, I might not like obeying it, but my will is my own."

"Exactly." Celie said. "The good thing is that sirens generally don't use their power like that. I mean, of course you have some unscrupulous people in every species who will abuse whatever gift they have. But sirens are solitary, nomadic, creatures for the most part. There aren't that many who live on land, and they rarely have the desire to gain a lot of wealth and power, so they have very little reason to use it on people. Plus, only the most powerful sirens can use it on more than a few people at one time, so it's not like a siren could become president and compel the whole country. So while it's a scary thing, it's also limited in what they can use it for."

"That's a relief, I guess." Adam said, slowly.

"He could still order you around like a servant though, and you'd be all happy like a puppy running to do his bidding." Celie snickered when Adam stared at her with narrowed eyes.

Celie was going to yank his chain a little more, but Harper and Matt surfaced and began to climb back on the boat for the trip back to shore.

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