---Orion's POV---

I smiled apologetically at the two Sirens across the table, sighing as Elijah sat in such a way that neither of them could flee from the table unless they vaulted over it.

And considering the fact that the hybrid was smiling sugary sweet at them, he was basically begging them to try it.

The only time he averted his eyes was when Archer cleared his throat pointedly, causing their gazes to clash and hold.

"If I have to take you over my knee to make you behave, I will." Archer growled lowly, causing a wide grin to slowly bloom on Elijah's face as he wiggled a bit closer to the man.

Archer seemed less than impressed, though there was a slight glint in his eyes, as if he was hoping Elijah would call his bluff.

The merman seemed more than eager to test Archer's patience but he simply sighed and leaned away from the two sirens.

"Again, I apologize for anything that idiot-" Archer glared at Elijah pointedly before continuing "Has said to you. We are not here to deceive, intimidate or capture either of you. We are here to ask for your help actually."

Elijah balked at being called an idiot before huffing and muttered "Dick." under his breath.

Without missing a beat or even looking at his partner, Archer replied "You're not getting any."

The poor mer was mid drink when Archer spoke, making him choke mid swallow, the beer shooting up his nose before he spluttered and coughed.

All the while I gave the two sirens my best apologetic smile as I waved my hand towards Elijah. "Never mind him. He's...relatively harmless, now that he's mated."

The man, who had introduced himself as Riley, blinked before pointing a finger between Archer and Elijah. "Those two... mated? And he-" jabbing a finger at Archer with a confused look, "survived?"

"I'll take that as a compliment, I guess." Archer said while slapping Elijah's back. "To be fair, he was the one who insisted on keeping me close." He added with a smirk as Elijah managed to catch his breath and wiped his face.

The two sirens watched with growing shock as Archer easily manhandled Elijah when the hybrid took a swipe at him and proceeded to lock him in a slight chokehold.

"Behave."

Elijah rolled his eyes, miming Archer mockingly before he sighed. "Fine, I'll be a good boy. I'll just sit here and drink some ale... or whatever this brew is. Get some snacks while I'm at it."

Riley shook his head while Cassandra simply smiled as Archer deadpanned "It's a long story. To put it short, he's mine and he'll learn to listen when we talk about something important." He added pointedly as Elijah just yawned and scratched at his jaw.

"We're not here to talk about their depraved sex life." Cain scoffed as Elijah ordered some fruit to eat. "We're here to ask you for a massive favor. Both of you."

Riley and Cassandra both shared a look as Cain steepled his fingers, lowering his voice as to not draw attention from the locals. "I'm not gonna beat around the bush here; we have an island full of liberated people who need to remain hidden."

Riley's eyes widened instantly while Cassandra subtly reached for her own wrist, "You mean?" Cain nodded, noticing the shackle she made with her other hand.

"As you both have guessed, it's extremely difficult to find people who are trustworthy." Cain sighed, "Not to mention we don't want anyone betraying us to gain money."

Pointing at Elijah, who was oblivious to the attention as he received some exotic fruits, Cain added "And on top of that, we have to contend with his kin whenever we try to liberate certain islands."

Everyone besides Elijah grimaced at the implication. "Half kin, to be precise." The mer himself was intrigued, holding up a yellow fruit with a quizzical look. "What's this?"

Riley glanced over but it was Cassandra who hesitantly replied "A banana. It's collected from a few islands, we trade it for our locally grown veggies."

A grin spread over Elijah's face as he peeled the fruit, shooting Archer a smirk. "Quite a peculiar shape, don't you think?" The mer teased, mouthing at the tip of the fruit with a wiggle of his brows. "Interesting taste too."

Cain released another sigh as I barely resisted facepalming, knowing that there were children eating together with their family not a few tables away.

Archer simply raised a brow before reaching out, grabbing a banana of his own. He almost languidly peeled it, locking eyes with Elijah, who focused on the man's mouth as the Quartermaster slowly licked over the tip.

And then bit half of the banana off.

The resulting squeak that Elijah produced made the entire table laugh while Archer simply rolled his eyes and finished his banana before focusing back on the group.

"We can discuss the details of our operation somewhere more discreet." Archer stated with a pointed look to a few nearby tables that were starting to fill up.

Cassandra and Riley nodded in understanding, sharing a long look before they smiled at one another.

"I'd love to help them." Cassandra smiled, eyes flitting over the group before sighing. "And you know as well as I do that we have nothing to fear about the humans."

Riley hummed thoughtfully, not fully convinced as he drummed his fingers on the table. Nodding to himself as he murmured, "Couldn't be a trap, as the mers would've just devoured anyone they've spotted..."

The male siren squinted his eyes for a moment before looking back at Elijah and then at myself. "So, how did he end up here?" Riley tapped a fingernail against the table, indicating the inn before turning to me. "And how did you escape after he marked you? I'm assuming he did it, otherwise you'd be, well..."

He made a motion and shrugged his shoulder to which I sighed. Understandably so, as any siren caught by a full-blooded Merfolk was dead in the water.

Not to mention that up until I had met Elijah, I had never considered the notion of a hybrid that could walk on land. Just imagining the fact that somehow, a pod of merfolk not only impregnated a Siren but then managed to resist killing the Siren's offspring long enough for them to mature...

It suddenly cast Elijah in a different light as it dawned on me. His life must've been beyond difficult, considered to be half Siren. Half food.

How many times did he have to struggle to survive? To fight against those who saw him as nothing more than a tempting snack?

"I-" Elijah interrupted my train of thought by poking me in the cheek, "found his dumbass because he decided to sing within hearing distance of a hunting pod."

The mer threw a few grapes down his gullet, chewing for a moment before smirking. "Marked him because I figured we had more in common than full blooded mers or humans would. Then he-" jabbing a finger at Cain, he scoffed "decided to mark me so he had full control of what I'd do with his lil princess."

"Then, what about-" Cassandra motioned between Archer and Elijah with confusion. The mer's smirk only widened as he turned to the quartermaster with an excited wiggle of his eyes.

Elijah nearly purred as he leaned closer to Archer. "While I didn't count on this happening, it was a very satisfying surprise." He grinned as Archer couldn't hold back a slight smirk of his own before the man sighed and pushed him back.

When the two sirens shot me a confused look, I simply tapped my mark. "Let's just say that there was a process before Elijah could undo the toxins of the mark."

Cassandra frowned, eyes flitting towards the mer who simply raised an eyebrow, a slow smirk crawling over his face.

"...oh." Cassandra squeaked before clearing her throat, averting her gaze from the pair as she flushed. "I uh... glad it worked out?"

Elijah leaned back, eyes hooded as he looked Archer up and down. "Trust me, so am I."

"Alright, can you two stop your insistent flirting?" Cain snapped with a frustrated snarl. Elijah simply raised his hands innocently while Riley awkwardly cleared his throat.

Luckily enough, the two sirens were willing to follow us to the boat so we could talk without fear of being overheard.

And as they pointed out, if we had wanted to do them harm, we wouldn't have announced our presence. All we had needed to do, was either direct a song to them, or unleash Elijah to do his bidding.

Sirens were resistant to another's calling, but there were circumstances where even they could be caught off guard.

Fighting for survival against a Mer hybrid would certainly qualify as a sufficient distraction.

"So," Riley leaned against the banister after eying the ocean distrustfully. "What exactly is it that you want from us?"

"Depends on what you're willing to do." Cain spoke bluntly as he plopped down on a chair. "If I were to personally raid slavers, I would put a massive target on myself and the crew. However Orion already proved that a single siren is more than enough to subdue even the strongest of humans."

The captain sighed, rubbing both hands over his face. Clearly exhausted but equally hopeful to convince these two sirens as he added, "Extra protection at our island would be well appreciated. Each time the crew departs, there's always some risk of being spotted by the wrong people."

He didn't need to add another word, as both Riley and Cassandra's expression turned grim. The second the island was deemed inhabited by slavers, they'd lie in ambush until Cain left.

Not a single soul on the island would be left behind. And after being freed from slavery once, ending up captured once more would be soul crushing.

"But, going out on raids will put you at danger of being detected by a passing pod." I spoke up with a heavy heart. Even if we needed their help desperately, I would not lie to them and give them a sense of false security while we damn well knew things could end up very differently.

Riley's gills flared, eyes widening as he leaned closer to Cassandra. Meanwhile Elijah sighed, scratching at his throat as he pointed out "But three sirens could very easily subdue a medium sized hunting party. Hence why mers will go for ambush tactics, never giving sirens the chance to sing."

Motioning towards myself, Elijah continued "Orion has already seen what I can do when outnumbered three to one." He looked at me pointedly as he finished "That's just what half a Siren can do when prepared."

Oh, I remembered alright. One single scream from Elijah had managed to stun all three mers that had been preparing an ambush and he had wasted no time tearing their throats out before they had a chance to recover.

He made a valid point. With three Sirens and Elijah at our side, we would be more alert of our surroundings, would be capable of stopping larger hunting parties with relative ease.

After all, the mers didn't hunt with their entire pod. The only times we'd be at risk, would be if we were close to the actual pod itself.

Forget just us sirens being at risk; if we were anywhere close to a fully sized pod of merfolk, everyone was doomed.

We had no way of escaping the pod on a boat and we'd be lucky to stun the mer's before they boarded the ship and devoured everyone.

Cassandra and Riley gave each other a long look before Cassandra reached for and grabbed Riley's hand. "We're willing to help out with security and the raids... as long as it's not near actual pods."

"Understandable." Cain nodded, letting out a sigh of relief as I smiled gratefully at the Sirens. "I appreciate you both abandoning the life you created here."

Cassandra smiled at that, shrugging her shoulder as she brushed her dark curls out of her face. "Not much of a life left to abandon really. We hopped from island to island and stayed there for a few weeks."

Shooting me a look, Riley added tiredly "Humans tend to become very inquisitive about strangers among their midst. Especially strangers with no family and no home to return to."

Understanding filled my being, all too aware of what Riley spoke of. People were bound to ask questions when they saw new arrivals and while some didn't pose any difficulty, there were quite a few questions Sirens had difficulty answering.

More than once had I been asked what ship had brought me to an island, or why I came there in the first place. Normal humans didn't just hop from island to island for fun.

"We managed to build a good alibi this time around." Riley amended, motioning his head towards his partner. "Told the locals we were traveling further south but ran out of money to pay the voyage to her family. Townsfolk offered us some jobs and the rest is history."

The woman grinned, turning to us with a warm smile. "To be fair, you've given us a proper excuse to leave the island. With the coin we've earned thus far, we should've considered leaving soon enough."

"Won't be hard convincing them either." Riley chuckled, scratching at his throat as he glanced towards the town in the distance. "Humans tend to believe a Siren, as long as we tell believable lies."

Glancing at me, he smirked slightly "Like how a relative brought news of our family's declining health, pushing us to leave quicker than planned."

I chuckled, more than willing to be their scapegoat if that meant we could keep our people safe. With the knowledge that roaming pods would be less likely to hunt us, it was quite a bit of relief.

Though I also knew we shouldn't get cocky and complacent. One bold pod of mers could mean the end of our lives if we ever became so arrogant to believe we'd never be hunted.