The water shimmers a clear turquoise, the sun above, brilliant and bright. The sky blue and clear--full of possibilities.

West and I are lounging on the boat deck. I’m still in my nightie, even though it’s past eleven in the morning. We’ve started sleeping in quite a bit since our nights are usually pretty full. Wink, wink.

I’m on a pile of cushions, propped up perfectly in my favorite spot and West’s hands move up and down my still shimmering thighs, his fingers moving higher and higher. I scoot my ass closer to him, wanting him to take everything I have to give.

“You woke up in a good mood, “ I tease as West sinks his fingers inside me. He flicks his fingers against my clit, knowing just how to move to get me going.

“Oh, hell, baby, you woke up in a good mood too,” he says, kissing me hard. “You’re so fucking wet.”

Our mouths are needy--like we didn’t spend last night in an orgy that makes even me blush. At one point I was on my back, thighs spread and coming so hard as Crew fingered me that I should literally be dehydrated right now.

Yet somehow, my body is ready for more.

West slows his hand, and leans over me, pushing up my nightie and planting kisses from my navel to my nipples. His tongue swirls around my areola as his thick cock, so hard and mine, presses against my wet pussy.

“Yes,” I moan as he fills me, so ridiculously ready for his release to shoot inside of me. He wants it too. He pins my wrists, rocking hard against me, and I cry out. Although he presses a hand over my mouth as I do.

“Careful, Siren, we know what your call can do.”

We come together, my body resisting the impulse to moan louder; we’ve gotten ourselves into plenty of trouble the last few months when I don’t. When I come and cry out my pleasure, waves crash against the boat and a torrent of pressure rises in the depths of the sea.

We’ve found it’s best to come in measured bursts, otherwise, the boat gets thrashed.

We catch our breath, incredulous at the beautiful life we’ve somehow found.

Beauty in the wreckage.

Kai walks on deck, an iced-coffee for me, in hand, and I smile at him. He knows what we’ve just been up to because he also hands me a bottle of water.

“You need to hydrate more if you’re gonna start and end your day with those workouts, love.”

We laugh, and I roll my eyes, as I also guzzle the water he proffered.

“This boat is seriously ridiculous, you know that, right?” I say looking out at the gleaming wood of the high-end sailboat that cost nearly a million dollars.

Kai shrugs and then offers me a smooth morning kiss. He’s chiseled and so well defined, and when he leans against me in the middle of the night, his desire sinks against me, bringing me to orgasm so damn fast. I feel my core tense at the idea.

“I know, it’s insane,” Kai says. “Who knew my old man would be so into making deals.”

West laughs, wrapping his arm around my shoulder. I lean into his chest, relishing his clean morning smell of soap and peppermint. “Uh, isn’t he a high-end lawyer in Boston?” West asks. “Wheeling and dealing seem like it comes with the gig.”

“Fair enough,” Kai says. “Still, it’s more perfect than I imagined.”

“What are we talking about?” Crew asks, pulling up to the deck with a yawn, arms stretched over his head. He just woke up, tousled hair and wearing nothing but low-slung sweats. I’m wearing a nightie, but one look at him and I want to be stripped to nothing.

“We’re talking about how Kai’s dad hooked us up,” West tells him.

I twist my lips. “Well, Kai isn’t getting off the hook. There was a catch to the deal. He’s certainly going to pay for this boat with his time next year.”

I reach for Kai’s hand, pulling him to me. We couldn’t be on this adventure without his sacrifice.

“Thank you,” I tell him again. For the thousandth time. My lips press against his, as I drag him closer still. I feel his hardness against me as he leans nearer, hands on either side of my body, pinning me in.

“It will be good to go to law school,” he reminds me. “We can’t live on love alone.” He runs a hand over my belly, the bump showing much more than we expected so early on.

West smirks. “True, this little one is going to need a roof over its head.”

“We’re lazy fuckers, West,” Crew jokes. “We need to get jobs.”

“Well, I need you both to watch the baby while Kai’s in school all day and I’m in the ocean. Being the Siren is a bigger job than we expected.”

“True enough,” West says. “But you’re so good at it, babe.”

I sigh, and Kai rolls off me, the four of us all finding places on the cushions. Over the last few months, my world has exploded. Apparently, when Poseidon ruled-- even if he was a terrible father--he did a lot to make sure the ocean was at bay. He minimized floods and hurricanes and that meant he spent most of his time taming the sea.

Now that I’ve bound Poseidon, I’ve come to realize his duty now rests on my shoulders.

And my shoulders alone.

I haven’t seen or felt Gaia once since the day Eric died.

And I long for her presence to return. To guide me, us, in some way.

“You’re in your head, Harlow,” West says, playing with a strand of my hair. “You okay?”

I take their hands and place them on my belly, knowing that the child growing inside of me is no normal child. It moves already, kicks and twists. We stopped in Los Angeles a few weeks ago, so I could go to a doctor, and had an ultrasound--I was so convinced there was more than one baby inside me.

But there wasn’t.

There was just one boy-- one very big boy. One boy with a five-chambered heart.

And I know why his heart has five chambers.

The doctor wanted to run more tests, to find a conclusion that merged science with the lab results, but I refused.

I have no need for medicine. I am growing a child more powerful than even I am.

This boy has a five-chambered heart because it is splintered off for the five people who gave him life.

Me. West. Crew. Kai.

Eric.

Some people may think it is crazy to believe in such a notion. But I know it in the same way I know I can harness the power of the ocean in my hand. The same way I can summon the sea.

I know what is within me, and this boy is one part of a whole.

I know it and my lovers know it. There’s no doubt in our minds that within my belly grows a demi-god, equal parts the men I love, including the man I lost.

“I miss him,” I whisper, pressing my hands atop of theirs.

“I know, love,” Kai says, sweeping a strand of hair behind my ear. “We all do.”

“Our son will always remind us of him, though,” West says. “That’s something.”

I nod. “Eric would have been such a good dad.”

Crew gives a crooked smile, his eyes soft with memories. “He really would have been. He was the best man I’ve ever known.”

“We’re gonna have to step up our game to make him proud,” West says, lacing my fingers with his, the same way he did the very first night we met.

“Which is why I’m going back to school, and you two chumps,” Kai says, jutting out his chin toward Crew and West, “are gonna be stay at home dads, while Harlow is out saving the ocean, one flood at a time.”

“Not to mention the part where we find her sisters,” West adds.

I scrunch up my nose at the responsibility before us all. “We have so much to figure out,” I groan playfully.

“Hell, yeah, we do,” Crew says, pulling me into his lap, twisting his lips in a sexy smirk. “We still haven’t perfected the art of double penetration.”

I squeeze his cheeks. “You’re so bad, you know that?”

“And you love it,” he says, knowing that I do. So very much.

Crew’s hand moves over my thigh, touching my tattoo that glows. Our eyes meet. We’ve learned that it glows brightly like this when I’m needed in the sea.

“Duty calls,” he says a little wistfully.

“I’ll be back later,” I say, kissing him on the lips, the forehead, the nose. “Promise.”

I walk to the boat’s railing, slip off my nightie, stand bare before my men who watch with worry, but also adoration. They love me in ways I never thought possible. Their belief in me, in the Siren I am, makes me strong.

Their love will carry me through whatever storm might come our way.

Their love calms the wild waters of my heart, and in doing so, my heart harnesses all of that, allowing me to offer a steady calm to the great ocean before us.

“Be safe, little mermaid,” they call as I rise up on the railing, ready to dive into the depths I have come to know so well.

“I love you,” I tell them with a clear and sure voice, knowing it’s the only way the transformation works.

I slip through the surface of the water, hands overhead, unafraid.

I may not know exactly where I’m going yet--but I’m not scared--because I know who I am, at long last.

I am the Siren, the child of Poseidon, a daughter of Olympus.

And I have work to do.