The Alpha's Temptation

Tania felt strongly attracted to the song. It sounded as if someone was pouring their heart into it, someone had opened their soul for her. And it was so beautiful... Unable to restrain herself, she got up. She tapped the clam twice, but the shell didn't open. The music picked up and so did her curiosity. She was enticed by it. She tapped the clam again, this time harshly, and it groaned open reluctantly. She swept her feet off the bed and onto the ground.

The notes of the melody built a path for her. She followed it, walking out of her room, into a tunnel that was surrounded by water on all sides, through a spiral of stairs, up and up--until she reached the end of a precipice that faced the ocean. She could feel the tug of the song, like hands that pulled her towards it. The notes rose and the waves peaked, breaking through the gloom that her soul experienced throughout her life.

The song was so melodious that she thought that she would become a note of it. With her lips quivering, she stepped over the precipice and suddenly tumbled into the deep waters. A scream muffled by water, tore through her throat as she started sinking down. Her trance broke. Taiyi had warned her that those were sirens, that she should have stayed away from them, but she didn't know that their song was so alluring. What did the sirens want from her? She frantically moved her hands and legs in an effort to go back to the palace, to the tunnel where she had come from, but it seemed so far away. Her lungs were congested from the lack of air.

All of a sudden, a pair of strong hands grabbed her from behind and started pulling her away from the palace into the darkness. She tried to break free, but she couldn't. Last bit of air whooshed out from her lungs and soon her eyes stared into a blank space as she was being pulled somewhere. Tania lost consciousness. Perhaps she was dead.

---

Turning a bend into the cave's river, the siren oared the boat to enter a cavern through an entrance that was lit by two giant torches on either side. She looked at the girl she had abducted and sneered. As she moved ahead, the air became more fragrant, as flowers that draped the wall of the cavern glowed and swayed with the light breeze that entered from outside. The glowing flowers lit the path of the boat as she rowed it further inside. She stopped rowing as soon as she heard the sound of slithering bodies of her fellow sirens. She looked past the surface of the water and smiled as blue bodies swam past her every now and then. Two of them pushed the boat to the far corner where Nerina was resting with her friends.

"What would you want us to do with her, Princess Nerina?" asked the siren, looking at Tania.

Nerina got up from the mossy boulder she was sitting on. She ambled to the boat while plucking a blue-green glowing flower and smelling it. She chuckled at one of her friends who was lounging on a silken hammock just a few steps ahead. Nerina caught the flower she threw at her and tossed it at Tania. She came to a stop next to the boat and tilted her head. "You are so naïve, Lusitania. Did you think that in the world of mermaids, you had a chance?"

"Do you want me to kill her?" hissed the siren as she flashed her pointy teeth at Tania.

"Hell, no!" Nerina chuckled. "That would be my doom. Tomorrow, Taiyi will be taking them for their marriage ceremony at the temple of Fury. Instead of her, I will be present, in the bridal suit. Once I am married to Eltanin, the law states that I will be his queen in the Jade Sea. I will release her. She can remain his wife on the lands of Araniea, but in Stourin, I will be his queen." She recalled how stubborn Eltanin had been to accept her, but she had her ways of forcing him. After all, who would want their mate to die?

Her friend turned to her side on the hammock and said, "Won't they find out about her absence?"

"Of course, they will. I will tell him, but not now. Later..." She giggled and shook her head. "Stupid fae. They don't know anything about us." Nerina turned around and swayed her hips back to where she was sitting--on the mossy boulder. When she sat down, she ordered the siren, "Park the boat in that corner and all of you sing a song for me." She planned on telling them that she had Tania only for an hour before the marriage. Her friends laughed with her as they glanced at the boat.

The siren rowed the boat away and parked it in the far corner. She covered Tania with more flowers that had an intoxicating smell and induced sleep and then jumped into the water to be with her fellow sirens. A few gathered on the stony bank of the river. They placed their hands on the edge and crossed them in the front and started singing. Nerina took a deep breath in and laid down on the boulder with her hands behind her head. It was going to be a beautiful morning. Her world was going to become much better in a few hours.

Nerina was the youngest of her seven siblings. They were all placed in various good positions in the Murel kingdom, but she wasn't. She didn't know why, but King Izo picked her up amongst all the possible suitors to be with Eltanin.

It was not long when Nerina started feeling sleepy. It had been a long night of trying to get Tania here in the cavern. She closed her eyes and went off to sleep. The sirens sang a beautiful lullaby for her. She was sure that they would guard the boat with their lives. After all, they were her slaves and did whatever she wanted.

When she woke up next, it was still dark. "Get up!" she kicked a siren who was sleeping, half in water and half on the stone.

The siren got up and blinked her eyes. "Yes, Princess Nerina?"

Nerina looked at the boat where she saw Tania covered in flowers. "Go and give them this letter!" She handed a thin parchment to her that was wrapped in a broad leaf. "Go quickly!"

The siren nodded and dove into the water, disturbing the serenity of the place. She hastily swam away, swishing her dark blue tail in strong strokes.

"Rest of you!" Nerina ordered. "Come with me and dress me as a bride!" She looked at all the pearls that were stashed in a treasure box.

Her four friends jumped out of their hammocks and started dressing Nerina into her bridal suit. It consisted of intricately woven pearls. Her friends tied the pearls across her bodice and then her hips. Her hands were fully covered with pearl bangles. In the end, they placed a veil over her head, the strings of which fell in front of her face.

"You look beautiful, Nerina," said one of her friends. "And your plan is brilliant!"

She grinned. "I do!" she chuckled as she flicked a strand of her hair over her shoulder.