A Siren's Calling

Chapter 1

*** 17 years later ***

- Aurora’s POV -

The party is a blur of heat, lights, and pulsing music. Bodies packed into the beach house, all golden skin and sweaty. The ocean roars quietly in the distance, just behind the massive glass doors, like a second soundtrack that only I can hear.

Grace grins beside me, her curls bouncing as she nudges my arm toward the bar. "Come on, Rory. Loosen up. You need this."

I give her a small smile, and gratefully accept the drink she hands me. The warmth immediately helps to settle the nerves fluttering in my chest, and I turn back towards the bar to see what drink it is.

"Ahh!" I gasp, dropping my cup to the floor. I had bumped into the back of a boy, and he quickly turned around to steady me. "Are you okay?" he says, as we both stumble, laughing.

"I'm so sorry, I wasn't watching where I was going." I reply, looking down at my now crushed solo cup. "No worries, you want another?" He says, eyeing the drinks behind him. I nod and eagerly accept it from him. "Thank you." I say, smiling. I take the moment to look at him, noticing how handsome he is, with dusty blonde hair and a sweet face with a kind smile.

"What's your name?" He asks, taking a sip of his own drink. "Aurora, but Rory is fine." I offer, grateful to be in conversation with someone rather than standing alone somewhere in the corner. I don't know anyone other than Grace at the party, and she seems to be happily mingling with some others across the room. "What's yours?" I ask, turning my attention back towards him.

"Aiden." He says, reaching over to shake my hand. "Are you new around here?"

"Yes, is it that obvious?" I shyly reply, suddenly self-conscious. He chuckles at my reaction, shaking his head. "No, not obvious. It's just that everyone around here tends to know each other. It's not every day that someone new comes around." Aiden assures me, and I nod to his explanation. "Oh, really?"

"Mhm. So, did you come here with your boyfriend?" He asks, and from the glint in his eye it's obvious his curiosity is backed by the intent of finding out if I'm single or not. I feel myself flush at his forwardness, but I simply smile in response.

"No, I'm here with my friend. You might actually know her, Grace?" I point towards her, and he chuckles after seeing who I'm talking about.

"Oh, I know Grace alright, she's a feisty one." Aiden says, and I laugh along with him in agreement. As if she can sense someone is talking about her, she looks my way and grins, waving me over to join her.

"I should probably go over..." I say, nodding her way.

"It was nice to meet you, Rory." He smiles, before turning back to his friends who were very obviously watching our conversation.

I make my way over to Grace, and she pulls me through the party towards another part of the house where a crowd had gathered.

People were lounging around on sofas, chatting away and animatedly watching the TV where a few people were battling each other in a game of 'Mortal Combat.' Walking closer, I spot a girl with perfectly styled waves and a venomous smile clinging to a boy like he belongs to her, though he's acting incredibly unaffected for someone being admired. When I glanced up, his eyes caught mine.

Blue. Deep, stormy blue. I quickly look away, my heart skipping a beat for some odd reason that I can't explain. I quickly find a seat beside Grace, watching the TV. Soon enough, one of them loses and dramatically rage-quits, storming off to another room.

"Guess I need a new victim." the victor announces, looking around with a grin. He's trying to pass off the available controller to his friends, but no one seems too excited to join him. "I’ll play." I offer, reaching out to take it from him. All of a sudden, all eyes turn my way, and Grace chuckles beside me.

His brows rise is surprise. "Go on then. But I’m not going easy on you." He says, patting the spot next to him on the sofa. I laugh and move to sit beside him, trying to hold back my grin over how easy this is about to be. Within minutes, I am absolutely crushing him, and everyone is cheering me on.

“Wait, what? How are you so good at this?” he asks, eyeing me in disbelief.

“I don’t know… I’ve never played it before.” Giggling, I hand the control back to him, happy with his defeat.

Laughter explodes behind us as his friends mock his loss. It wasn't a lie. I have never played it before, but I have always been good at games like this, so I'm not surprised to win.

I feel someone's eyes on me, making a strange pleasurable thrill run through my body. Looking around, I find the boy from earlier -the one with the deep blue piercing gaze - smirking at me from across the room. My cheeks burn instantly at his attention, and I find myself unable to look away, weirdly enjoying this little staring contest.

Yet my attention is stolen from him when my mind is suddenly filled with the sound of waves crashing back and forth. I look towards the sliding glass doors. Beyond them, the beach stretched wide and dark, the moon glinting off the gentle ripples of the tide. The water is far, but its pull was closer than breath. I rub my ear gently, helplessly attempting to rid myself of the noise which no one else seems to be affected by.

"Are you okay, Rory?" Grace says, pulling my focus to her. I nod at her, and try to ignore the noise and go back to the party. However, the moment I look away from the sea, I can't help but release a gasp as the waves crash louder and more violently, feeling forceful, almost. The harsh clashing is soothed by an ethereal humming in the back of my mind, and I find myself walking towards the glass door subconsciously.

"Aurora!" Grace shouts, snapping me out of it, and my hand freezes on the door handle. I look at her, seeing the concern on her face.

"I called you a hundred times, what are you doing ?" She says, walking over to me. She continues to talk but I don't hear her, deafened by the humming which has grown in volume. I grip tightly on the door handle to keep myself steady, disorientated by the strange experience. "I'm fine, I just need some air." I rush out, before quickly disappearing out into the night, closing the door behind me.

The crisp air bites my skin, and I let out a breath of relief, immediately feeling the effects work their way through me. The fresh and salty aroma from the sea silences the humming down to a low whisper, and the relief urges me to move closer to the water.

I go to step closer, but I'm prevented from moving when a rough, calloused hand on my wrist holds me in place. My skin burns at the contact, and I look up from the stranger's hand to see none other than the attractive boy from the sofa - the storm-eyed stranger. He is staring back at me with such an intensity that I quickly feel shy at his attention, but for some reason I can't bring myself to look away from his dark cerulean eyes. Everything around us froze - the party, the wind, and the whispering sea.

He has made no move to release me and has not said a word. His jaw noticeably ticks, and I take the opportunity to actually look at him. The moonlight delicately lights up his features, making his intimidating attractiveness seem gentler and more inviting. I allow myself to trail my gaze down to the muscles in his neck, and down to his chest. It becomes obvious that his chest is rising in a quicker fashion than before, or maybe I just hadn't been paying enough attention earlier to notice how out of breath he was.

My eyes continue their quest, until they settle on a light bulge at the front of his pants, making my eyes widen slightly.

The man clears his throat and I gasp looking up at my captor, who still hasn't said a word. He is smirking at me, and I feel myself flush a deep red as heat fills me due to my shameless ogling over him.

"I- ugh... I'm sorry, I-" I tried to form words, embarrassed by how openly I was staring. My voice didn’t sound like mine. It was husky. Breathless almost.

His eyes flicked to my lips, and I feel my entire body heat up. The desire to lean into him is overwhelming, terrifying. Every nerve is on fire. This isn’t me. This isn’t normal. But I didn’t move.

His finger lifts my chin and I look back into those impossible eyes. Everything in the background fades. The music, the people, even the waves. All I feel is him. It must be the alcohol, I told myself. It has to be. Tingles spread fire down my neck, making my mouth fall open in shock at the feeling. What is happening? I wonder, and I notice him smirking over how I am unconsciously enjoying his attention.

I force myself to step back, breaking the moment. His hand falls from my cheek. Cold rushes in where his warmth had been.

Still, neither of us have said a word, and the situation is becoming weirder and weirder to the point where I want to run away, yet when I think of leaving him, something in me feels... wrong? I huff at myself, annoyed with how abnormal my mindset is.

"Are you okay?" he asks, finally. His voice is melodious, sending pleasurable shivers down my spine. "Yeah. I think I’ve just had a little too much to drink," I reply, forcing a smile.

He raises an eyebrow, then slowly rubs his thumb across my hand. I gasped once again. Somehow, I hadn’t even noticed we were still touching. I yank my hand away. What is wrong with me?

"What are you doing out here? Isn’t it a bit cold?" He chuckles, seemingly finding this strange situation amusing.

I nod toward the sea "It just felt… peaceful. Needed some air." But as I watch the water, the strange music begins again, louder now.

Pulling. Inviting. The humming builds within me, luring me towards the ocean.

My feet move on their own again, carrying me towards the edge of the beach.

I blinked. The sea is calm, the waves soft - so why did they sound violent in my mind?