He stared straight at her with sea-colored eyes. “No. I’m not a fan. I don’t like how you use your voice.”
Wow. That was blunt. As her smile fell away, Chloe tried not to let him see how it stung. “What’s the problem? Is my rock music too loud for you, Grandpa?”
His expression took on a dangerous edge as he glanced at his sweating water glass. With a slow stroke, he traced a finger around the rim and a low hum reverberated across the table. “I’m a bit of a musician myself, you know.”
“Yeah? What does a guy like you play? The skin flute?”
He didn’t even smirk. “Let’s just say, you’re not the only one with a killer voice, Ms. Karras.”
Now, how the hell did he know her last name? She never used it in promotions. “It’s Chloe. Just Chloe. Like Shakira or Pink or Madonna. Am I supposed to know you, or something?”
“I’m Captain Alex Shore, a naval historian at the Academy”
Awesome. The only guys more uptight than military officers were academics. Was there anyone less appropriate for her to be attracted to? “Sorry, Captain Alex, but your name doesn’t ring a bell.”
Across the room, beneath the wild murals and brass accents, Chloe saw that Sophia had hooked up with her drummer. They were both now making out in the corner. Well, at least someone was going to get lucky tonight. Meanwhile, Captain Alex reached into his shirt pocket, pulled out two photos, and set them down on the table. “What about these sailors? Seeing them ring any bells?”
Chloe squinted, and made out the faces of two midshipmen in Navy coats and white caps. She recognized them, and not just from the news. “Aren’t those the two dumb-asses who got drunk and decided to take a midnight swim? Way to take yourself out of the gene pool.”
“I expected a little compassion from a former soldier like you, Ms. Karras.”
With some female veterans, you could just look at them and tell. It was in the way they talked, the tilt of their shoulders, or a steely gaze. But Chloe had been so young when she served that she hadn’t kept the military mannerisms and few people ever guessed. She must have looked as startled as she felt because he added, “I know all about you, Chloe. I know why your tour of duty was cut short. The whole decorated veteran thing may not go with your rebellious rock-diva image, but it’s not hard to look you up.”
She wasn’t about to let him rattle her. Not after a set like tonight. She’d been a goddess on stage and she wasn’t ready to come down off that high. “Am I supposed to be impressed that a guy your age knows how to use a search engine? Listen, I’ve mourned soldiers who gave their lives saving people, so I’m not about to shed any tears for these two.” She shoved the photos back toward him. “Might nominate them for the Darwin Awards, though.”
His expression soured and he folded his napkin in a very precise square. “Yet, I hear these boys were big fans of yours….”
Chloe shrugged and took a gulp of beer. Oak barrel stout. Cold, frothy and rich. She let it tingle all the way down before replying. Let him stew. He was pissing her off. “Yeah, well, they were also slobbering losers who didn’t know how to keep their hands to themselves. The last time I saw them at a show, they started a fight and my drummer had to step in. They were pretty much another Navy sex scandal just waiting to happen. So why are you asking me about Tweedle-Dumb and Tweedle-Dumber?”
“Because they were my students,” he said, pinning her in place with those cold, unnerving eyes. “And I know that you killed them.”
CHAPTER TWO
If Alexandros hadn’t known from personal and painful experience how easily a siren could lie, he might’ve been taken in by Chloe’s wide-eyed expression of shock. But as an ancient guardian of the sea, he knew better than to trust any protestation of innocence from a siren.
She was a siren. Every man in the room was mesmerized by her song; even Alexandros had been forced to steel his ancient bones against her enchanting voice. He wasn’t immune to her—much as he would try to convince her otherwise—but he wasn’t about to get taken in. Not again.
“You think I killed them?” Chloe started to laugh, a nervous sound, as if she thought he was deranged. “Dude. If this is some kind of lame pickup line, you’ve really got to step up your game.”
“This isn’t a game.” He grabbed her wrist. He wouldn’t be toyed with.
“Ow! Stop it,” she hissed.
He hadn’t meant to hurt her, but now he couldn’t seem to let go. It’d been so long since he’d touched a woman that his entire body awakened to the sensation. She seemed to feel it, too. Her beautiful sapphire eyes blinked from beneath dark, smudged mascara, too garish for his taste. He didn’t like the punk-rocker pink hair that revealed itself from beneath her dark curls, either. She was a wild child and everything about her screamed of exactly the kind of chaos he could not abide.
Still, she was captivating. He had to shake off the attraction. Sirens were treacherous but tragic creatures, and if he let himself, he could feel sorry for her. He could feel more than sorry. Yet, all he wanted now was to die in peace, and there could be no peace for him so long as a siren was near.
With her wrist still in his grasp, he became acutely aware of the heated, envious glares of all the men in the place. All she had to do was call them over and there’d be violence. They were all under her spell. Especially her drummer, who had disentangled himself from the arms of another woman, and now looked eager for a fight. But then, what man could stay sane listening to a siren sing, night after night?
Chloe’s voice lowered. “If you don’t let go of me by the time I count to three—“
“What are you going to do? Use your powers to make me take a long walk off a short pier?”
That shocked her. Like most sirens, it’d probably never occurred to her that someone might know her secret. In fact, she probably didn’t know there were any mortal men in the world who could resist her. She might not even know there were men who were more than mortal….
“Look, Captain Asshole, if you don’t let go of me, I’m going to have the bouncers throw you out!”
“I bet they’ll come running, won’t they? There’s not a guy in this place that wouldn’t do anything you asked him to. Except for me. I know what you are.”
“I know what you are, too. Crazy! I didn’t do anything to your students. If you think I’m guilty of something, call the cops. Otherwise, leave me alone.”
“The police won’t believe that you can control men by singing. Even if they did believe it, all you’d have to do is hum and they’d be dancing to your tune.”
This time she didn’t deny it. “What do you want from me?”
What did he want from her? In more ancient times, it would’ve been his duty to bring her to justice. But there was no justice in this modern world, which was one of the many reasons he’d chosen not to live in it any longer than necessary. Now, he just wanted her gone. “Get out of Annapolis. If you’re going to prey on sailors, do it in someone else’s town.”
“Prey on sailors?” Oh, she was a fine actress. Those wide sincere eyes. That plucky resolve as she yanked free of his grip. “I told you, I didn’t kill anybody!”
She had spirit, he had to give her that. She seemed so genuinely bewildered that it almost broke his resolve. She was young, after all, and still coming into her powers. Perhaps she was telling the truth….
No. He’d heard a fatal siren song the night those midshipmen died. Hardening his heart, he took the photos and slid out of the booth. “I’m giving you twenty-four hours to pack up your show and take it on the road.”