Reg took a few steps into deeper water. Above her ankles. Partway up her calves. Corvin resisted.
“Let’s just walk at the edge.”
“No.” Reg’s voice was firm. “I want to be in the water.”
“Well, no farther,” Corvin negotiated. “I’m not up for a midnight swim.”
“You chose the place. Don’t I get to choose what we do here?” She took another step deeper.
Corvin pulled away from her, staying where he was. “Regina.”
“No.” Reg used her index finger to hook Corvin’s belt and tried to pull him deeper into the water. “Come with me.”
“Reg.” Corvin pulled back harder. His eyes were getting big and round. Reg’s eyes had adjusted to the dark and she could see every detail. “Reg, no.”
She pulled harder, forcing him to take a small step farther into the water, even though he didn’t want to.
“Regina.”
She wrapped her arms around his neck and went in for a kiss. Corvin was startled for a minute, still trying to pull back, but not wanting to pull away from the embrace or her inviting lips. Reg held herself to him. “Come,” she murmured. She pulled him toward her. Another step or two into the water. She was up to her knees. Corvin pulled back from the kiss. His expression was alarmed.
“No. Reg. Release me. No!”
He had shared his hunger with her once. A deep well of need, a gaping hole that had to be filled. Hunger so deep that it hurt. What Reg was feeling was hunger of a different sort. Not one that would be sated by taking Corvin’s powers, but by taking him. She wanted him with her, deep in the water, filling all of her needs. She tightened her arms around his neck, even though he was fighting back in earnest. He pushed and twisted and tried to pull away.
“Don’t,” Reg ordered. “Just come! I’m not going to hurt you.”
But even though she told him that, she was aware that she was squeezing his neck more tightly, looking for the warm pulse point. If she squeezed that then, in a few seconds, he would be out like a light, and she could take him with her into the water.
Corvin writhed. Reg used her connection with him to drain his strength. His physical strength was greater than hers, but she knew how to pull it from him for her own use. Just as she had done before when she needed his power.
Corvin swore. He tried to shove her away. He put up psychic blocks, but Reg’s psychic gift was her strongest, and she knocked down his barriers as fast as he could put them up. Reg laughed.
“Quit playing games! You brought me here!”
“Regina!” His voice was desperate. “Think about what you are doing! This isn’t you. This isn’t what you are like. You don’t want this.”
“Yes. I do.”
“You want to be like your mother? You want to give in to Norma Jean’s nature?”
The name cut Reg like a knife. She snapped her teeth at him, furious that Corvin would say the siren’s name. Norma Jean had no place in Reg’s territory. She had no business laying claim to Reg’s chosen one.
The physical contact between them was broken. Reg advanced on Corvin, trying to touch him again.
She would force him into the water.
That was where they both belonged.