Finding you

Chapter 15 - Warmth

Several hours later, after a very heated discussion, their meeting was soon coming to an end.

Just as Alpha Elias was about to sign the contract he stilled and looked at Austin.

"Your father..."

Austin's eyes darkened at the question, his parents were always a sensitive topic for him

"Austin, your father was not a good man. He was cruel." He says without sugar coating his words "At first I hesitated to sign this alliance because I thought that, as his son, you would be like him. The reason I personally came to your lands was to see how you ran pack, and now that I've seen it I know you're nothing like him. Your father ruled with fear and cruelty. You Austin, rule with leadership"

Austin stayed silent, Elias showed a small smile before finally signing his name.

After a moment of silence Austin invited them to stay for a couple more days as he knew that the journey back home was going to be a long one.

He spoke as if Alpha Elias never brung up the topic of his father.

Alpha Elias sighed, his face showed of a fatherly disposition. He understands why he wouldn't want to talk about his parents and since he said what he wanted to say then he'll leave it.

Elias agreed to stay for a couple days, he thought that it was indeed going to be a long journey home and it was better to be rested and prepared well before heading off.

.

.

Meanwhile, Jessie and Amara were busy walking around the mall buying anything that caught their eye, and by 'their eye' it meant more like Jessie's eye.

Before Austin left he gave his card to Jessie to use to buy whatever Amara needed or wanted, this resulted in them having to hold 10 bags worth of items.

The two of them had been on their feet for a while so it wasn't a surprise that it started to ache. Walking around a huge mall with several bags worth of items, who wouldn't get tired? And this was especially true for Amara.

They soon spotted an ice cream store nearby, the weather was very hot today so it was perfect for them to eat ice cream whiling cooling off and to rest.

They found a booth that was beside a window, this led them to be able to see people walking by the store. They set their bags down and finally rested their poor feet.

Amara had never felt a pain like this when she had a tail and so concluded that legs were very troublesome.

While waiting for their ice cream to arrive Jessie decided make some small talk with her which led her to asking numerous questions.

"So... What do you think of Austin? Do you like him? Although he's not much of a talker he's an amazing guy" she rambled on

Like? She found this word unfamiliar.

She cocked her head as she she asked very seriously "What is like?" 

Jessie was taken-aback, both with the question and because this was the first time she's heard her voice. It was very soft and easy on the ears, it was just as beautiful as she had imagined it.

She raised her eyebrows in doubt "You don't know what like is...?"

Amara shook her head.

"Well... liking someone is when you think of them there's this feeling that you get, its hard to explain but... before you know it your already smiling. But of course there are different kinds of people so it's bound to be different for everyone.

she pauses for a moment before continuing to ask another question

"What do you feel when your with Austin?"

Amara lowers her head and goes silent, her mind went back to the times when she was with Austin and remembers a warm sensation that envelopes her.

By nature when Amara looks at people all she sees is food. To her, people are nothing but something to eat and/or reproduce with. This was a common mindset for sirens, it's sad to say but Amara was no different from her brethren. But strangely, when she sees Austin food is not the first thing that comes to mind.

Sirens are isolated from the world, the ocean is the only place that humans do not venture blindly in, in case they get swallowed by it. The ocean was and unforgiving but it was their home and the only world they knew about. But this meant that their knowledge of the outside world was limited but just because it was limited did not mean that they were stupid.

Sirens adapted and learnt quickly, this trait was one of the reasons why they have survived to this day and it wouldn't be untrue to say that they were one of the smartest and adaptable creatures in existence.

A time long ago Sirens were hunted down because they were labelled as dangerous and this forced them to go into hiding. Not only were they hunted down but they found that they were able to use them as tools to showcase and sell, why? Because they were beautiful and other-worldly.

Men were greedy and selfish.

There was a time where there were rumours that said if you were to eat a sirens flesh then their beauty would become yours but if you ate it's heart then you'd become immortal.

This resulted in them being torn apart. Women ate their flesh in hopes that their beauty would be a fraction of theirs and men ripped their hearts out to attain immortality.

This triggered a world wide hunt for them almost wiping out their entire existence. The sirens that were lucky enough to escape their captors never came back the same, they were griddled in scars and missing flesh.

Their stories were passed down to each generation never once forgetting what these humans did to them, and so in retaliation they hunted them as they were hunted, and they ate them as they were eaten. This revenge had been going on for so many years that in the end it became who they are. Killers, cannibals, monsters...

"...Amara?"

"Warm..." she said softly

Unbeknownst to her, her eyes considerably softened and a shadow of a smile could be seen on her face, the people who saw this couldn't help but stop and stare.