𝔸𝕧𝕒

Zane pulls himself out of the pool, his skin wet and shimmering in the light of the setting sun. My eyes flow from his inked chest down to his chiseled abs and red swim trunks.

Yep. I'm officially perving on my boyfriend.

Does it even count as perving if he's my boyfriend?

He grabs an orange towel and dries his hair before draping it over his shoulders and walking inside. He pauses for a moment as our eyes meet.

"You eyeing me up, love?" he asks with a smirk.

"Wha-, I..." I stammer. "I'm not eyeing... You're eyeing you up."

"That was terribly convincing. Almost believed you." He laughs and raises an eyebrow suggestively, walking toward me.

"Oh shut up," I say, sticking my tongue out at him. "You're like, biologically engineered to be attractive, okay? It's not my fault, it's your darned Siren biology."

"You're immune to my powers now, love." He wraps a hand around my waist and tugs me in against his chest.

That doesn't make me immune to muscles and tattoos, smartass.

He leans in for a kiss, but we're interrupted by the ringing of the doorbell.

"Jen?" he asks with a sigh.

"Yep," I say with a half-smile. "She's supposed to be bringing our 'cure' by."

"I guess I should get dressed then." He plants a kiss on my forehead before reluctantly stepping back and heading toward the bedroom.

I walk over to the door and open it to a smiling Jen with a large paper bag in hand.

"Hey girl!" she says. "I come bearing gifts, and by gifts I mean a probably not-particularly-fun shot for the both of you."

"Aw thanks, you shouldn't have," I tease.

I invite her inside and we both sit at the kitchen counter.

"So what do we do?" I ask.

"Unfortunately, I'm not really trained to give shots, but the easiest place is the butt... Which is a bit awkward for everyone."

"Okay, okay," I say, feeling a bit squeamish. "So we do... that... and then what? Does it work immediately?"

"I'd give it at least twelve hours. We can test it out tomorrow."

"How?"

"I figure we'll just send you into a public place, keep watch, pull you out of there if anything goes wrong."

"What?" Zane's voice shouts from the other room. He quickly appears beside us in a white t-shirt and jeans.

"We have to test it at some point," Jen says.

"Sure, but we test it with me."

"No," she says. "Ava makes more sense as a test subject. She has less Siren blood and the effect is weaker for her, so she's a better first subject. Plus, she has human biology and this antagonist serum is based on human medicine. It could affect you completely differently."

"So we just throw her to the wolves?" he asks.

"It's fine, Zane," I say with a shrug. "If I'm the best first test, then so be it. Worst case, I can just leave and Jen will be nearby to watch out for me."

"At the very least, I'm coming too. I'm not letting you two get into trouble on your own again so you have to call Kieran."

"You can stay in the car with me if you must, caveman," she replies with a teasing eye roll.

"So, we take the stuff, then we test tomorrow?"

"Seems like a plan," she says. "I assume caveman wants to give you the shot himself."

"I think I missed something," Zane says, turning to me.

"It's a shot in the butt," I explain.

"Oh," he says. "Yeah, I'm definitely handling that. I do actually know what I'm doing on that front."

"Eww," Jen says, fake-gagging. "Talk about TMI, there, buddy! I don't need to know whatever freaky butt stuff you guys get up to!"

Honestly, with all the questions Jen has asked about Zane's penis, she can hardly claim innocence. She started it.

"I'm not saying anything dodgy," he says with a glare. "I'm a trained medic."

"You are?" Jen asks. "Is there a Siren training academy or something?"

"He was a soldier," I explain.

"A soldier? Like... in the Middle East or...?"

"Like in World War II," Zane says with a smirk.

Jen's eyes widen and her jaw goes slack.

"I am so dumb," she says, shaking her head. "Of course you're older than you look. It's just like Wolverine, how did I not realize? You don't by any chance have an adamantium skeleton, do you?"

"I didn't understand half of those words," he says, his face contorted and confused.

Before I have a chance to explain, Jen's phone rings and she pulls it out of her pocket to answer.

"Hey, what's up?" she says into the phone, giving us an apologetic expression. "Yeah, I just stopped by Ava's on my way home."

She rolls her eyes.

"No, it's just Zane and Ava," she continues. "Why do you keep asking about her anyway? ... Yeah, she's my friend, and Ava is my bestie and she's with Zane and... wha- why am I justifying this to you? What does it matter?"

She huffs and grumbles to herself before stuffing the phone back in her pocket.

"She freaking hung up on me!" she screeches.

"Who?" I ask.

"Deb," she says, scrunching her face. "Ever since the reunion she's been totally weird to me and keeps asking me why I'm spending so much time over here and about Kami. It's like, Deb if you like Kami fine but you don't get to act all bitchy over it."

Oh.

I was a bit worried when Jen told me she had moved in with Deb. I was afraid old feelings would surface and she'd end up hurt.

What didn't occur to me was that Jen might not be the one who gets hurt.

"And you think she likes Kami?" I ask.

"I mean, why else would she be acting like this?"

Zane smirks as he pulls out a bag of chips and pours some into a bowl.

"Sure, why else?" Zane asks, giving me a knowing look.

"Anyway," she says with a sigh, "I'm gonna go home to my crazy roommate ex-girlfriend. I'll text you to set something up for tomorrow."

With that, we say our goodbyes and she makes her way out the door.

*****

"Why this place, anyway?" Zane asks, nervously kneading at the steering wheel.

"I told Ava to choose someone who had never shown any interest in her," Jen says, "and apparently the people at this coffee shop have never flirted with her before."

"I'm liking this place more, now," he says with a grin. His smile quickly fades and his eyes narrow. "Wait, that's an abnormal thing for you? Are people flirting with you everywhere you go?"

I feel his anxiety rising and I give him a comforting pat on the back.

"She's a woman," Jen says, "and an attractive one. You're basically doomed, buddy. Might as well accept that your lady is in high demand."

"Saying it like that is not really helping," he says with a slight growl.

"Did you just growl at me?" she asks, scrunching her lips.

"No, it wasn't at you in particular."

"How do you even growl? I thought you were part bird. Do birds even growl?"

"You and Ava are quite stuck on this bird thing, aren't you?"

"Onnn that note," I interrupt, trying to get us back on track, "I'm going to head inside."

"Wait," Jen says, pulling out her phone and holding out a Bluetooth headset. "I need to call you on this and you need to put it on."

Jen has insisted on being in my ear for this. She says it's for my own safety, but I'm pretty sure she's just playing out a spy fantasy.

I hand her my phone. While she's setting it up, I turn to Zane, who's doing his best to hide his apprehension.

"While you guys are waiting in the car, why don't you talk to Jen about your wing situation?" I ask. "Maybe she can help."

"I... I don't know..." he mumbles.

"Wing situation? Ooh, ooh! I wanna help!" she says, handing me the Bluetooth headset and my phone.

I jump out of the car, ready to get this over with, and I give them a small wave.

Okay. Let's do this.

ℤ𝕒𝕟𝕖

I watch Ava walk toward the coffee shop.

"So, what wing situation?" Jen asks, getting out of the car and moving into the front seat beside me.

"Oh, I uh..." I say, trying to figure out how I even go about explaining this.

"Great, that's a good sign," Jen says, talking into her phone.

Ava's inside, no issues so far.

We watch through the glass doors and windows out front. I can see Ava walking to the counter as a young man steps up to the register. I concentrate in an attempt to pick up their conversation.

"...get for you?" the man asks as I catch the tail end of his sentence.

"Um... caramel macchiato... and a bagel please," she says.

"She's ordering..." Jen explains.

"Yeah, I can hear them," I say.

She pauses for a moment before nodding and returning to listening on her phone as we watch the interaction.

"Good, now get closer," Jen says.

I feel conflicted at every step. It goes against everything within me to allow Ava to walk directly into danger, especially when I'm right here and can do something about it.

Ava steps closer to the counter until she's leaning on its edge.

The man seems unfazed as he prepares her order.

As much as I'd happily relieve him of his limbs, I'm relieved I won't have to.

"So if this works, you guys are all set to go to London, huh?" Jen asks.

"Ermm... yeah," I say, trying to pull my focus from Ava in the cafe.

"Is it just you and Ava or are all the Super Friends coming along?"

"Well, my mate Finn is coming and Kami too. I haven't told Kieran yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if he invited himself along."

"Oh dang, you haven't told your BFF yet? Not cool, man," she says, shaking her head.

"To be fair, we're currently stuck at home until we solve this."

"True," she says turning her attention back to Ava.

"Okay, final test," Jen says into the phone. "You've gotta touch him."

A growl rumbles through my chest at the thought.

If she has to touch him for this test, can't she just kick him in the shin? That counts as a touch, doesn't it?

"How the heck am I supposed to do that?" Ava mumbles into the phone.

"When he hands you your order, just brush his hand or something."

My hands tighten around the steering wheel until my knuckles turn white.

This is fine. I can handle this. I'm the bloody Iron Siren, aren't I?

I hear a slight crack in the plastic of the steering wheel, so I pull my hands away.

Not looking to buy a third replacement on that.

"So what's going on with the wings, then?" Jen asks. "Talk to me, it's a good distraction."

"I uh," I say with a sigh. "So Ava explained that I cut off my wing to save her and form the bond between us, right?"

"Yep."

"Well, the other day we uh... we were erm... hanging out an-"

"Doing the do, got it," she says with a nod.

Fair dues. So much for my attempt at subtlety.

"Anyway, I spread my wings and they were.... both there."

"You... wait... you had both of them? Your wings?"

"Yeah, the one I cut off is back."

"But you guys heal quickly don't you?"

"True, though... to create a new wing... it would require intense healing and power, far more than any Siren has."

"And don't you have much more power right now? With the enhanced powers and Siren deaths and whatnot?"

"I... I suppose so," I say, pondering for a moment. "'Healing what shouldn't need to be healed.'"

"Huh?" she asks.

"The Anatopath, an Immortal doctor if you will. She told me that Ava's immune system was working in me."

"Ohh interesting. That would make a lot of sense actually."

"So what do I do about it? Is it fine, then?"

"I would guess you're just healing at a much faster rate, with the effects of Ava's autoimmune disease and the Siren power boost. But you might want to avoid getting too excited for a few weeks."

"What's this now?"

"You know, no bang-bang, P-in-V funtime?"

Bloody hell.

"Why's that?" I ask.

"Well, if your wings are weak or still healing, I'd keep them tucked up for now. You don't want to do anything that makes them pop out or stretch or whatever it is they do."

"Fuck that," I say. "You tell Ava that and I'll have to kill you."

She lets out a hearty laugh.

"You've got it bad, man," she says. She pauses to listen to her phone for a moment. "That's great! You can come back to the car when you're done."

"What?" I ask.

"Ava's fine, she did the touch test. The guy didn't react. She's just waiting for her bagel and then she's coming back."

"Thank fuck." I sigh and slump into my seat, watching Ava through the windows.

A man walks up next to her as she leans against a nearby counter waiting for her food.

"I love your hair," the man says, and my blood pressure instantly rises.

"Thanks," she says softly.

I straighten up in my seat with one hand on the door handle, ready to leap out of the car.

"Can I get a little sugar?" the man asks.

Motherfucking...

I burst out of the car and race into the cafe. I hear Jen calling, trying to stop me, but I burst through the door before she can reach me. Ava looks at me shocked as she walks toward me. My eyes scan the room for her pursuer, and I find him at the same counter with a couple of paper packets in his hands.

"Did he hurt you?" I ask, grabbing Ava's shoulders and looking her over.

"Who?" she asks. "The cashier? No, I'm fine."

"No, that twat." I gesture to the man who is now sitting at a small table.

"You dope," Jen says, huffing as she catches up to me. "He wasn't flirting with Ava."

I look back to the man as he pours the sugar packets into his coffee.

Literal fucking sugar.

Well, at least I didn't knock the bloke out.