He moved closer. Was she dead? Cautiously, he moved his ear to its mouth and felt a soft breath against his ear.
Is this my angel? In the darkness, he couldn’t see much.
He scooped the unconscious maid in his arms, noticing how his heart seemed to recognize her.
Like the times you’ve held…
He stopped in his tracks and stared down at the thing, his eyes reaching and pushing through the darkness of night to catch any details. Could it be?
“Liv?” he whispered.
She had been thrown to the maids for food. They would’ve torn her up, wouldn’t they? But his heart still felt their connection. The bond between them wasn’t gone. She’s not dead. So was this Liv? Or was his mind trying to force a hope into being because he couldn’t handle the truth?
The maid gasped in his arms and made an agonized howling sound.
“Hang on. Hang on.” Roen walked at a brisk pace, careful not to make any injuries worse.
Minutes later, Roen entered the great hall, where everyone still worked in small teams, bringing in the maids and giving them water. Other men saw to clothing the women or getting them to cottages where Holden could tend to them properly.
“Someone bring me water,” Roen yelled. With the torchlight inside the hall, he now saw a deep gash on the maid’s thigh and another across her abdomen. No doubt about it, this was his maid, his savior. The one who’d thrown herself at a shark to save him.
“You’re going to be okay,” he whispered.
One of the men brought water. Roen poured a few tiny drops into the creature’s mouth. “Please be okay. Please be okay,” he chanted under his breath while thinking, Please be Liv. Please be Liv.
He poured a little more water and watched it disappear down the creature’s mouth. Nothing seemed to be happening. He held up her head and gave her more. This time she drank a few good gulps.
“That’s right. Drink it down,” he said. With every sip, her wounds closed up a little more and the bleeding stopped. Sadly, while he sat there with the maid’s head in his lap, stroking the tendrils of the long and strange black hair, no transformation occurred.
“Please, tell me how long it’s been taking for the women to change back?” Roen asked the man standing over him who’d brought the water. Roen couldn’t remember his name—Draco or Darrin?
“A few minutes. Why?”
“And how much water did you give them?” Roen stared at the maid in his arms.
“I don’t know. A cup maybe? How much have you given that one?”
“An entire bottle,” Roen replied.
“That’s strange.”
Roen stared down at her face, now seeing those lovely details masked by the skin of a horrid monster. “No,” he said, his voice cracking. “It’s not strange. Liv is resistant to the water.”
Roen now knew that the bite of a merman transformed a woman into these creatures. It might be possible the maids’ bites carried the same venom or substance. Had the maids bitten Liv and not killed her? Or maybe she fought back and got away.
My Liv. My damned fearless Liv. You probably kicked the crap out of one of them.
He stroked her forehead. “We’ll figure out how to bring you back. I promise.”
The maid’s golden yellow eyes slowly opened, and after several moments of staring, the corners of her black lips curled into a content smile.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Roen had the fish tank in the library cleared out for Liv, who now rested peacefully inside. At least, he hoped it was her. Everything in his heart told him so. And because she’d healed from her wounds, but hadn’t transformed back even after two gallons of water, there wasn’t much room left for doubt.
Roen glanced at the tank worriedly. Try to remember, you thought she’d died. At a minimum, this left the door open for hope. Still, I can’t stand seeing her like this. He felt like his beautiful mate and everything she’d once been had vanished. Looking at her, he no longer felt those deep emotions, although he still felt love in his heart. Perhaps her soul, the essence of who she was, had already moved on. It was what many of the men believed, and it would explain why the maids they’d brought back couldn’t remember who they were.
Roen rubbed his face and let out an anguished breath. As much as he wanted to focus on Liv, they’d hit a new wall. No more water. Again.
They’d spilled half their supply while fighting the maids to drink and some of the men had administered more than necessary. By morning, Roen received word the maids were flocking to shore on their own. Why? No one knew, but Roen had to make the call—keep working until they ran out or stop and figure out how to stretch the supply.
“Keep going,” he’d ordered. With so much water wasted, they’d run out anyway and have to face the problem of getting more. “At least a few more men will have their mates back today.” They’d proceeded to catch as many maids as possible until the shores were overrun. The beaches now looked like the mating grounds for sea lions, shiny black bodies with tails on every inch of shoreline. There was no way off the island.
Worse yet, Roen had confirmed hundreds of landlover ships sailing in their direction, looking for the “Fountain of Youth.” Liv’s doctor had sent a water sample to a laboratory in Ketchikan, and an employee leaked the news. With hard data. The part he couldn’t wrap his head around was how the island’s location had gotten out.
So now, the men were no longer being controlled, but they had no means to bring back the rest of the women without that goddamned water. One more goddamned hurdle among an ocean of many.
He’d considered threatening the island with vacating, leaving her to live out her nightmare of being taken over by landlovers, but if anyone found this place and took it over, the mermen’s hopes of rescuing Liv or the remaining maids would be done. The humans would either contaminate the island—like the legends said—or they would destroy everything looking for the water. Either way, the island had once again put them in the position of protecting her. They needed her.
I bet she’s laughing her ass off right now.
Roen picked up his phone from the desk he’d brought into the library to be near Liv and dialed Phil, who picked up on the first ring. “Ro? Where the hell have you been? I’ve left twenty messages.”
Roen groaned. Phil only used his nickname when there was bad news coming.
“I’ve been tied up. What’s the matter?”
“I’ve done everything I can, Roen. I’ve called every senator, judge, I’ve filed petitions, I even tried to get a meeting with the goddamned president. No one will touch this territory thing.”
“Why not? It’s my foking land,” Roen barked.
“The United States can’t go around staking claims on properties in international waters without establishing who occupies it. What if there are bunch of Russians living there? Or French? The U.S. doesn’t want to get into a war over a damned island.”
Foke. At this point, did it matter if he told Phil the location of the island? Within days, they’d be found out anyway. “It’s my island and the people who live here won’t contest that.” Not entirely. “I’ll email you the location.” Roen rubbed his forehead. “But please hurry. We’re about to be overrun by a lot of unwelcomed guests.”
“Roen, by coincidence, is this the same island everyone’s talking about in the news? The place with a Fountain of Youth?”
“Yes.” Roen sighed exasperatedly.
“Holy shit. No wonder you wanted to keep it secret.”
“There is no fountain, Phil. It’s only an island,” he lied. “With some rare species.” The rarest.
“I’ll get to work, but it’ll take time.”
“We’re out of time. Do what you can, please.” Before this turns into a bloodbath.
Roen hung up the phone and a light tapping sound caught his attention. He turned his head toward the tank, where the maid stared at him with her bright golden eyes. She flashed her set of sharp teeth.
Roen’s heart s
ank further into that deep hole. His beautiful Liv had been turned into this creature. If he managed to transform her back, she might not remember him.
He stood and placed his palms flat on the glass, staring longingly at the strange animal with sleek black skin and a long tail. “I miss you, Liv. I miss your smartass mouth. I miss your face. I miss holding you. Please, at least tell me you know who I am.”
She placed her palm against the glass, matching the splay of his fingers with hers. Then she licked her lips, her gaze turning hungry.
“You want to eat me. And not in a good way, I’m guessing,” he said.
She made a sour face and then shook her head.
He stepped back and dropped his hand. “I’ll try to get you some food.” They’d run out of that, too. Everything they had had been used for bait, and the men couldn’t get anywhere near the boats to fish—the shores of the island were completely overrun with hungry, snapping, hissing mermaids. If only he had a plane, but Edward—the pilot—wasn’t answering his cell. Worst of all, the plane carrying Dana never reached the airport in Wrangell. He’d already checked.
Roen ran his hands over his face. Everything was falling apart around him. Why can’t I catch a foking break? A punishment for his human sins, perhaps.
“Brother.” Lyle stood in the doorway of the library, his face void of real emotion.
Roen didn’t have to ask; he knew it meant more bad news. An endless pile of shit.
“We’ve looked everywhere. There are no signs of the elders, so we can only assume they left the island,” Lyle said.
Like rats jumping ship. This place really was about to sink, but at least he had his brother at his side. Without him, he wouldn’t have survived this long.
“Lyle, did you really believe I would kill you?” Roen asked.
Lyle shrugged his husky shoulders. “It was a strong possibility.”
“Why would you think that?”
“I caused you immeasurable suffering.” Lyle’s green eyes focused on the pile of papers sitting on Roen’s desk.
“Yes. You did. Fifteen years of it, to be exact.” Roen sat in his leather chair and leaned back.
“No. I meant failing to get Liv off the island.” His eyes flashed to the watchful mermaid in the tank. “But now that you mention the other point, I suppose that, too, is worthy of a little anger.” Pain and regret flourished in Lyle’s face. He was a large man—seven feet tall with enormous muscles and scar-covered skin—but the man standing before him looked like a child desperate for forgiveness.
“Shane and his men blindsided you, it’s not your fault Liv was taken,” Roen said. “All that other stuff is in the past now. Where it belongs. I’m sorry I brought it up.”
Lyle shook his head. “I owe you the truth.”
“You don’t owe me anything. You’re here by my side now, and that’s all I could ask for.”
“No. You need to know what happened. We may not get another chance.”
Roen released a breath and nodded his consent. He could see in Lyle’s eyes that his brother needed to get this off his chest.
Lyle walked toward the tank and began speaking to Roen, but his eyes were set on the maid, who seemed fixated by her own swishing tail. “When the previous leader died, father came to see me. He told me everything—about the island, about him and Mom, and about our bloodline. He said you were too weak to rule and that you wouldn’t stand a chance, so it was up to me to step in.”
Roen dropped his head. “Honestly, I already guessed it was something like that.”
Lyle’s deep voice quieted. “That wasn’t the part I’m ashamed of. I lied to you, Roen. I didn’t come here to spare you from having to lead. I came here because he told me that one day you might show up on this island, and if you did, I’d get the honor of killing you.”
Lyle’s words deeply wounded him. What man wouldn’t feel hurt knowing his own father thought him weak and his brother wanted to kill him?
Roen leaned forward in his chair, resting his elbows on the desk while the heavy weight of Lyle’s words sank in.
“I agreed, Roen. I hated you for failing to protect me. I hated you since that day those kids put me in the hospital. I hated you for telling me our mother would live. I especially hated you for not protecting me from our father and this place. I felt like every time I needed you, you weren’t there, and I looked forward to the day I’d face you and squeeze the life from your body.”
Roen lifted his brows and blew out a breath. Lyle’s sharp words felt like a hundred little knives being shoved into his gut repeatedly. Only because he felt the same way. “Well, I did fail you. And I can’t go back and undo it, but I’ll never do it again. I promise.”
“No need for an apology, brother. I finally see things differently now that I’ve closed my heart to the island. You’ve made me realize she caused our pain. She told our father what to do.”
“Yes, but he listened,” Roen argued.
“Because he was the weak one, not you. He had the chance to save our mother with the island’s water, and he didn’t do it because the island told him not to. He already had two sons and couldn’t have more, so she was of no use—that’s what the island said to him.”
“How do you know all this?” Roen asked.
“I was there when he died. He killed himself—said the guilt was too much and threw himself to the maids.”
“Like the goddamned coward that he was.” Roen’s anger, resentment, and despair bubbled to the surface. How much more could he endure?
“Yes. He was a coward. And perhaps he feared your strength and what it might do to the way of life here. But the island… I think she was drawn to you. She’s drawn to strength and determination. It’s irresistible to her. Almost like she feeds off of it.”
The maid hit the glass with her knuckles and began swishing frantically back and forth in the tank, pointing to her throat.
“Sorry,” Roen said. “She’s hungry.”
“I know how she feels. I haven’t eaten in two days, but none of that matters now.” Lyle squared his shoulders. “Roen, whatever happens next, I want you to know I’m proud to have been your brother. And now you need to come outside,” he added.
“Why?” Roen asked hesitantly.
“I need to show you something.”
Goddammit, what now? “Just tell me.”
“It’s better if you see for yourself.”
Roen ran his hands through his hair. Whatever it was couldn’t be worse than what they already faced.
“Stay in there.” Roen pointed to the maid. With his luck, he’d come back and find she’d eaten one of his men.
The maid popped her head from the top of the tank. “Eat! Eat! Island eat!” Her voice came out sounding like a cross between a wolf’s howl and seal’s bark.
Roen groaned. One more goddamned thing to worry about. A ravenous mermaid mate.
He followed Lyle out the front door, wondering what more could possibly go wrong.
Once outside, Roen immediately noticed how the late evening sky seemed flat, pale blue on one side and light gray on the other. No orange. No electric blue. Just a plain old sky.
Lyle pointed to the trees. “Look at them. Look at their tops.”
They’d browned, like old dried-out Christmas trees.
“What’s happening to them?” Roen asked.
“I think the island is dying. Now look at your hands, Roen.” Lyle held out his own palm, revealing patches of black skin.
Roen stuck out his right hand and noticed he too had pea-sized spots. When he looked closer, he saw a slight texture to them. “What is it?”
“I guess we’re dying, too.”
“Foking hell.” Roen dropped his hands. “Either that, or we’re changing into bloody mermen.”
~ ~ ~
Shane stared at the dark-haired beauty sleeping on the bed, fantasizing over every inch. Oh, the things he was going to do to that smart mouth and those heart-shaped lips, to that creamy skin and
sweet-smelling body.
And I’m going to enjoy every moment.
He’d sold his goddamned soul and betrayed everyone who trusted him to finally get what he wanted. Fuck them all because his blackened heart wept with joy.
Liv groaned softly in the bed and stretched her arms over her head. “Mmmm…”
“Feeling well rested, landlover?” he said. “I had to give you quite a bit of sedatives while the sacred water healed your many wounds. It took a lot of time, and I’m sorry for that, but the maids had to make it look convincing.”
Liv sat up, her wide brown eyes darting around the room. “Shane? Where am I?”
He leaned forward, planting his elbows on his knees. “You’re in my home. Your home. On my private island.”
Her eyes continued surveying the well-appointed room—only the best of the best for his comfort. Lush, rich upholstery, gas fireplace, balcony overlooking the ocean. Oh, yes. And Liv. She would bring him endless nights of comfort.
“Shane?” she said with a shaky voice. “Where’s Roen?”
He stood and pushed up the sleeves of his thick cream-colored sweater. It felt good to wear clothes again, especially jeans. “Roen? Oh, he’s dead along with the rest of those weak, disloyal traitors.” At least, they would be soon. “But you and I have been given a great honor, Liv, one I think we’ll both enjoy.”
He could hear the frantic pounding of her heart inside her chest, but he’d anticipated this reaction. With time, however, she’d see this was meant to be.
“What are you talking about, Shane?”
“You and I will repopulate my race with men bigger, stronger, and far more loyal than those I left behind.” He sat next to her and ran the tip of his finger across her trembling jaw. “You,” he whispered, “are going to give me many sons. Any more questions?”
“Yeah,” she said, stabbing him with her angry eyes. “What’s the best way to kill a merman?”
TO BE CONTINUED…
NOTE FROM AUTHOR
Hi All!