Bacchanal Moonlight Mating Cruises 1
Date Published: November 13, 2026
Publisher: Changeling Press
Cassiopeia Thalassus has a problem. Under a strict injunction not to come home until she’s pregnant, she’s been sent on an eight-day matchmaking cruise by her father, Poseidon. The Bacchanal Moonrise has a reputation as the perfect place for a fling -- casual or otherwise. Cassie’s been sent to meet a prince, and she hopes the guy is someone she can fall in love with. The siren with whom she shares a soul, however, is all too willing to settle for anyone, so this prince had better be worth the potential heartache.
Kenta Ōwatatsumi agreed to this date at the encouragement of his oldest brother. Tired of the usual women who only want him for his selkie magic, Kenta is looking for someone who wants him for more than just sex and selkie parlor tricks. His aniki promised him someone different. His first sight of Cassie Thalassus, however, has him questioning his brother’s good sense. Instead of a simple blind date, Kenta’s been tricked into a stud call for a lusty siren. His brother got one thing right, though. Cassie is certainly different from any woman he's ever known.
Cassiopeia Thalassus stared at the door in front of her, nibbling at her
dry lips through the waxy taste of sour lychee lip balm and trying to decide
if she could actually go through with this. Youngest daughter of Poseidon,
Princess of the Atlantic, Siren-in-Waiting of the Lady of the Atlantic, all
hail the Princess of the Sea, but she couldn’t knock on a stateroom
door.
What a joke.
Cassie shifted her travel bag to a more comfortable position on her shoulder and considered her options.
One. She could turn around and go back to the rock she shared with her sisters.
Two. She had the wrong stateroom. She could just go back home and say she tried.
Three. She could strip and waltz naked all over the damned ship, charming everyone from the captain on down. At least one out of the hundreds of males on this floating bacchanal should be up for the task. Nothing like a never-ending orgy to get the job done, right?
Four. She could tough it out like she’d promised and put her heart out there yet again, on the off chance something might go right for a change.
Keeping option one on hold for the moment, Cassie focused on option two -- the stateroom. She still had her father’s letter in her hand, so she slipped it from the envelope. As she read it again, her gaze skimmed half-memorized lines.
Cassiopeia,
Your mother is worried about your unwillingness to utilize your abilities to their fullest potential. My darling Selene says it is past time for you to carry on your siren lineage, but all I want is for you to be happy. I’m very proud that you’ve finally made the decision to face your inner self and be the siren you’re meant to be.
I have discussed your situation with an old friend, someone you might remember -- Lord Ōwatatsumi, the Ruler of the Sea of Japan.
Cassie stopped at this passage, trying hard to remember which sea god her father was talking about. She’d met so many over the years that she’d begun to wonder if the value of the title carried any merit at all.
After a moment, she gave up with a sigh. All she could remember was a vague, dark blue shape with a serpentine tail and a Chinese-style mustache. A long mustache, one whose ends she had chased with fascination as they bobbed on the surface of the Mediterranean somewhere near Crete. She shook the memory away and continued.
We’ve set up a date for you with his son, a powerful demigod who receives regular offerings from the Emperor of Japan. Considering your circumstances, your mother and I feel you need someone strong, and he seems like a perfect fit. I booked the two of you passage on the Bacchanal Moonrise for their Yule tour of the Arctic. Prince Ōwatatsumi will be waiting in the Royal Suite. Dictys will arrange your transportation to the ship.
Your mother sends her love and says you cannot come home until you are pregnant.
With love,
Daddy
P.S. -- I’m sorry to say this, but refusal is no longer an option. You made a vow to your mother, so please don’t do anything that will make my darling Selene unhappy. And by no means should you wear that ugly blue disaster you use to hide your powers.
Eep. She had missed that last line on her first read through. After a glance at her blue sweatsuit, Cassie shrugged. There wasn’t much she could do about it now. Well, she had been the one to declare her resolution to try, if they would just leave her alone afterward.
So. She licked her lips again, tasting the last of the lychee wax, and looked up.
The porter had looked askance at her when she asked about the Royal Suite but had directed her to this blandly beautiful teak door, numbered just like any other first-class stateroom and festooned with fragrant Yule greenery like the rest of the ship. Cassie stared hard at the curvy brass numbers, hoping she had been directed to the wrong stateroom. Said hope did nothing to change the graceful swirl of the 1201 emblazoned on the door.
Damn. She had the right stateroom, so option two was a no-go.
Option three? The ease of it had its appeal, but… no. Just… no. At least, not yet.
That left option one or option four.
Get on with it, child. The siren’s caustic mental voice urged action, and Cassie’s hand lifted at the siren’s direction. She stopped herself from knocking just before her knuckles touched the polished wood.
Cassie considered letting the siren control their shared body to take over the situation. It would be so much easier just to surrender to her siren the way she always did. After all, their incomplete merge was the whole reason Cassie was in this mess to begin with.
No, this incomplete merge is your mother’s fault, girl. The siren’s aggrieved tone suggested she wasn’t any happier than Cassie with their mutual independence. Selene’s ambition has damaged all of her children this way.
All of us? Cassie swallowed, started to ask, then shook the thought away. Right now, the only thing that mattered was whether or not she could go through with this. She had so much at stake. Getting pregnant would mean more than just a casual encounter. It would mean exposing her heart again, but it would also mean freedom from her mother’s demands. After another eternal moment, Cassie sighed, nibbled at her lips a third time, and gave a quick couple of raps. Silence reigned for a split second, and then the knob turned, the door opened, and her chance to run vanished.
Her blind date stood in the doorway, tall enough for his head to brush the lintel of the door. She’d been sent to meet a prince, and boy, did he look the part.
The siren took a good long look and began to salivate mentally.
“It’s not polite to stare.”
The basso rumble rushed over Cassie like a breaking wave, sending an odd electric tingle running along her skin. The unusual sensation vied with a hot flush of embarrassment as she called her attention back to the issue at hand. She knew better than to let her mind wander. Or to give her siren too much free rein.
Cassie’s pulse beat a little faster as her date returned the stare in good measure. Chocolate-brown eyes evaluated her, reaching no good conclusion to judge by the look on his face.
This is her? His expression practically screamed the words.
Cassie supposed she wasn’t much to look at -- she’d taken care to dress down as much as possible. The forbidden blue fleece sweats had served their purpose as she crossed the docks, covering her more obvious attractions and allowing her to move through the boarding crowd with relative peace. Crossing the docks had been hard enough without calling every drunken Yule reveler in sight.
The siren gave her a mental nudge. Time to get it over with.
“I’m Cassie,” she said with an awkward half smile. Despite her caution with dressing, she couldn’t disguise the sultry tones of her voice or dampen pheromones that were as much a part of her as breathing.
He just looked at her with a steady, unflinching gaze, face closed and unreadable except for his eyes. Those widened oh so slightly at the subsonic vibrations in her voice. Even so, he did nothing except to step back with a tiny bow, holding the door open for her to enter.
“Kenta Ōwatatsumi. Please enter.” The deep voice reflected nothing of the lusty confusion Cassie’s subsonic tones should have elicited.
By now, the man should have been a quivering mess of hormones. Cassie’s siren voice usually shot straight through men in a blaze of lusty pleasure, like a heady liqueur. This prince’s lower half should be on fire. Instead, he seemed unconcerned. Almost unaffected.
His odd lack of response made Cassie hesitate. She stood in the entrance of the stateroom, stalling just the tiniest bit. She clutched at the padded strap of her travel bag like a lifeline, wishing she’d taken option one instead. Then the siren took control, and Cassie crossed the threshold in a single flowing step, continuing through the cabin all the way to the bedroom door on the far side of the suite, as far away as possible from the gorgeous hunk of male currently blocking her escape.
“I assume you are my date for tonight?” Confusion filled the prince’s ocean-dark voice as he picked up a crystal tumbler from a decorative stand at the doorway. He idly swirled the dark amber liquid it held, something smelling of cinnamon, nutmeg, and other unidentifiable spices. Wassail, maybe. Well, it was a Yule cruise.
Cassie dumped her bag on the floor beside a black-lacquered chair before turning back to face him. “I suppose I am.” She took a deep breath, inhaling the tangy aroma of the bayberry and holly displays on the low table and matching black-lacquered stepped chest. The heady fragrance of the greenery steadied her nerves.
Time to unleash her darker side, if only for her own protection. Time to pretend to be what she wasn’t, if only for a while. Time to set the stage for her siren to take the lead. “I just didn’t expect Daddy would set me up with a selkie for the Yule revels.” Even the densest sex-crazed male of his race could not miss the sarcastic emphasis.
Awkward silence bloomed in the aftermath of Cassie’s words.
Kenta shut the stateroom door and leaned against it, his handsome face still politely neutral, though his beautiful eyes narrowed at her snide comment. An impressive reddish-gray fur coat hung neatly on the hook behind his head. Judging by the size of that sealskin, he’d mass nearly fifteen hundred pounds in his animal form, larger than any of the shifter seals Cassie had ever met. The faintest clink of rattled ice from the tumbler suggested her words had stung.
What had possessed her father? A selkie, of all things. Some demigod. If she was going to be sold to the highest bidder, Cassie would rather it be someone with real power. No selkie could fill that bill. From what she had heard, their magic was limited to conjuring pretty trinkets and a little bit of luck -- neither of which would do a damn thing to solve her problem.
Nor would it give her date any clue to Cassie’s peculiar nature.
Those dark eyes assessed her again and still found her wanting. “Look -- Cassie, was it? Do you really understand what you’re doing here?” Or who I am?
About the Author
Autumn grew up loving history, mythology, and all things Japanese, not necessarily in that order. This eclectic love affair has bled over into her writing, and her stories are always well spiced with the taste of Japan, strange mythological beasties, or the lords and ladies of the ton. Sometimes all three, leading to dark desires and forbidden loves.
And after all, dangerous passions should lead to uninhibited love.
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