He would stake his life on the fact that Brenna had once been a woman of passion and vitality. There was a spark in her eyes she just couldn’t hide. Deep inside, no matter how strong her fears, she had to crave that type of life again.
The more time he’d spent with her, the more he’d looked at her, the more he’d scented her, the more he’d wanted her. Today he’d begun to suspect...
She was his mate.
No, impossible. He would have known right away. At a glance. A sniff. Yes? She couldn’t be his.
Unlike other nymphs, he’d never wanted to find his one and only. Relying on a specific person for his strength? Abhorrent! But...he hadn’t realized he would like the idea of the woman being reliant on him, as well. Or that she would be his partner. She would always support him. Would choose him above all others. She would love him even when everyone else hated him.
Suddenly he understood the appeal.
He could win her from Shivawn; he knew he could. She’d looked at Joachim with the first tendrils of passion, and he knew she wouldn’t be happy with anyone else. He just needed time to prove it to her.
When she’d looked at Shivawn, there’d been no passion. Desire, yes, but it hadn’t been sexual. It had been...grateful, like a child with her mother.
She felt safe with the other male—safer than she felt with Joachim.
He wouldn’t be able to claim her until he’d reversed the situation. And he would. Whatever proved necessary, he would do.
More than he wanted his own satisfaction, he wanted hers.
Perhaps she was his mate. But how could he have missed her importance to him, even for a second? Her fear of him?
Yes. Of course. Had he known what she was to him, he would have pounced immediately. She wouldn’t have been ready for him, and he would have frightened her beyond repair. His instincts to protect her had hidden the truth from him.
Strength lies in compassion. Again her words played through his mind. Compassion...something she clearly valued.
Because she herself hadn’t received any?
Once he was healed, there would be no stopping his pursuit of her.
“I will have her, Shivawn,” he said. “It’s me she will always crave in her bed.”
A muscle ticked in Shivawn’s jaw. “You’re wrong. She wants safety. To her, I am calm and you are the storm.”
“A man can change.”
“Not easily.”
No. Not easily.
* * *
POSEIDON HUMMED WITH RELISH. Waves whirled and crashed against him, their cerulean beauty lethal to mere mortals. He tasted salt in his mouth, smelled it in his nose—the scent mixed with terror.
No Atlantean was permitted to enter the surface world. Well, that wasn’t entirely true. A guardian of the portal could enter, but only to kill anyone who’d escaped the underwater city. None of the nymphs were guardians—and they had entered anyway, it seemed.
Now Poseidon would have to punish them.
“Let me get this straight. You saw nymphs steal human women from the surface world and bring them into Atlantis?” he said, his voice booming across the ocean floor. Sand jumped, floating high in the water; pink and white coral vibrated. Colorful fish darted in every direction, desperate to escape his vicinity.
Two mermaids bowed their heads. Both possessed hair as inky black as the night, the tresses blending together, floating around their delicate shoulders.
“Yes,” they said in unison.
“Through the portal?” he insisted. He slammed the end of his trident into the marble base he stood upon, cracking it from one end to the other. This was the most excitement he’d experienced in ages.
“Yes,” both women repeated, now trembling.
Poseidon’s lips lifted slowly as he stepped from the dais, his white robe dancing around his ankles. From where he stood, he could see the huge crystal dome encompassing the cursed city.
He whisked himself to it, far away one moment, in front of it the next. He needed no portal or doorway to let him inside a world he had helped create. He simply walked through the crystal as if it were not there.
He didn’t yet want the citizens to know of his arrival, so he kept himself hidden in a cloak of invisibility. He breathed deeply of the pure, orchid-saturated air. Closed his eyes, enjoyed. Yes, he had turned his back on this land and its people for far too long. A mistake.
Hundreds of years had passed since he’d last entered, and all seemed tranquil. Minotaur children played in mud puddles, centaurs frolicked through thick, dewy grass. Vampires, dragons, griffins, cyclops, Gorgons, harpies and Amazons—they were all present.
How could his brothers think these creatures abominations? Ugly, even. Some of the women of Atlantis were actually quite pretty.
The races even appeared—dare he think it—tamed. And in the taming, stronger. He frowned.
How strong?
Waving his trident, and maintaining his invisibility, Poseidon whisked himself to the palace where Valerian, king of the nymphs, now resided. Within seconds he found himself in a room occupied by three very human women. They were discussing the various positions in which they’d been taken, the various positions in which they wanted to be taken, and how sad they were that Valerian now had a mate and paid them no attention.
Slowly Poseidon allowed his form to appear, though he assumed the guise of a nymph warrior. Dark-haired, vivid blue eyes. Muscled. Tanned. When the women spotted him, they smiled, jumped to their feet and rushed to him.
“Did you come to make love to us?” one asked.
“You’re the most beautiful man I’ve ever seen! More beautiful than Valerian, even.”
“Silence,” he said, his voice booming. Now was not the time for pleasure. Later, though... “Sit down.” He motioned to the mound of pillows behind them.
They sat without question or comment, eyeing him as if he were a delicious platter of chocolate. He settled beside them and allowed them to drape themselves over his legs, stroking him like a prized pet. Hmm. Nice. Very nice.
Nymphs needed sex to survive, the most likely reason they’d stolen the women. Not that it mattered. The law must be obeyed.
Zeus’s oracles claimed the Atlanteans would one day destroy the surface.
“First you will tell me exactly how you came to be here,” he said. He would hear the damning truth firsthand. “Then you’ll tell me all you know about the nymphs.”
One of the women kissed his thigh. Another kissed his shoulder. He closed his eyes, a blissful moan slipping from him. Answers, smanswers.
He cleared his throat. “You will tell me later,” he said and kissed them back.
Already his venture into Atlantis was doing more for his boredom than a thousand tropical storms.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
“LET US BATHE. TOGETHER.”
“Bathe? Together?” Dinner was over, and Valerian expected her to strip down and soak? “No, thank you.” Shaye stood and backed away from him as if he were poison. Because he was.
“If we’re going to date—and I’m not saying we are,” she added in a rush. “But. If we’re going to date, we’ve got to do this the normal way. You know, get the Atlantean version of a cell phone and text each other. From a distance.”
He stood, unfolding his big body inch by agonizing inch. His pants were tight over his muscled legs, but even tighter over his large erection.
“You said every relationship ends.” He stared her down. “Ours won’t. You’re my mate. Therefore your argument is invalid.”
Her eyes widened as he stepped closer to her. She’d wanted him many times since meeting him. Now, faced with the inevitability of having him, she panicked.
“Just...stay where you are, okay. I need time to think about this.”
“You’ve had time. You aren’t fighting me, and you know it. You’re fighting yourself.” His eyelids dipped to half-mast, giving him a slumberous, I-need-a-bed allure. “You’re running from what I make you feel when you should be running to me.”
She inhaled sharply. His scent filled her nose, sexual and fierce. Heat curled from him, wrapping her in sultry coils, squeezing so tightly she had trouble dragging in her next breath. A rush of passion flooded her.
She did want to run to him, to take what he offered. But...what if he realized she wasn’t truly his mate? What if he dismissed her? What if he turned his attentions to another?
What if, afterward, she craved more of him but he craved less of her? What if she fell in love and lost herself? What if she made a fool of herself?
Every question was a product of the very fight he’d mentioned. And really, the answers were irrelevant. In life, there were no guarantees.
She gulped. “I need more time, Valerian.”
His hands fisted at his sides. “How much?”
The wound in his chest had opened, drops of blood on his shirt. He needed sex to heal.
“Never mind,” he said, and scrubbed a hand down his face. “I won’t pressure you.”
“I...” Don’t know what to say. This man unraveled her.
“Would you like to watch me bathe?” he asked, his tone pure silk.
Watch as water droplets trickled down his neck...perhaps catching on his nipples before falling to the ridges of muscle on his stomach. Watch his soap-lathered hands glide over his strength as she’d imagined earlier...
“I...uh...” Should say no. Definitely. But...
He was the kind of man women fantasized about but never actually encountered anywhere but a television screen. And he continually offered himself to her as an all-you-can-eat smorgasbord of erotic delights.
“Maybe?” Her heartbeat drummed in her ears, an eternity passing between each one.
“I can’t make the decision for you, Moon. But if you say yes, I’ll make you glad you did.”
* * *
STRUGGLING WITH THE POWER of his need, Valerian stalked into the bathing area before he did something foolish. He didn’t want to force Shaye to acknowledge her desires. He wanted her to accept them—and him—willingly.
When she’d told him she was virgin, he’d simply reacted. Blood and need had traveled through him at lightning speed. His shaft had hardened painfully. The need to brand her as his woman had sung in his ears like a siren’s song. He’d known, deep down, that Shaye had waited for him. He only wished he had waited for her.
However, he felt like a virgin with her. Unsure, eager and excited by the possibilities. In such a short time, she’d become everything to him.
Want me. Come to me. Please...
* * *
SHAYE’S DESIRES ENGAGED in a knock-down, drag-out battle with her self-preservation.
I like being alone...right?
No. No, she didn’t.
The truth slapped her silly.
She craved companionship. But she wasn’t her mother, and she wouldn’t accept the small scraps of affection some man decided to toss her way.
Nothing Valerian tosses my way is small.
Not yet, anyway.
One day he would grow tired of her, and she would use her desire or even love as an excuse to stay with him despite his roaming eye.
And his eye would roam. Everyone’s did.
Her deepest feminine instincts sensed how dangerous Valerian was to her future. If she gave up her virginity, she’d have to give up her home and job next. Then her identify! No longer would she be Shaye Holling. Instead she would be known as “the companion to the nymph king.”
The curtain blocking her view of the bathing pool rustled as his clothing fell to the floor.
He’s naked.
A splash of water sounded.
He’s naked and wet.
Tremors nearly knocked her off her feet.
Steam probably wafted through the room. His skin was probably glistening with moisture.
White-hot desire consumed her.
One peek at him wouldn’t be so bad, would it?
Her trembling worsened as she moved to the entrance. He couldn’t possibly be as exquisite as she imagined. Could he?
She peeled the curtain to the side—Valerian’s back came into view. Muscles rippled under tawny skin as he cupped and poured water over himself.
The steam was thicker around him, making him appear gossamer, as if he came from a dream, or a fantasy. As if he were a genie intent on granting her every wish.
Beads of water dripped from the ends of his hair and trickled between his shoulder blades, down the ridges of his spine. She bit her lip. Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to be with him once and finally put her body out of its misery. If she guarded her heart, she could use him and be done with him. Right?
He lifted a sapphire glass bottle from the edge of the pool and poured whatever was inside—orchid oil—over his chest. Oh, to be that oil, she thought, mesmerized, her throat constricting as he rubbed the oil all over. The fragrance mixed with the steam, becoming a summoning finger.
“You can still join me, you know,” he said, his voice rough.
She yelped and released the curtain. The material fell back into place, completely blocking him from view. Her cheeks erupted into flames.
“No, thank you,” she called.
“Didn’t like what you saw? Or did you like what you saw a little too much?”
Before she could think up a response, a panting Brenna burst into the room. Her gaze was wild, her dark curls bouncing around her face. She exhaled a huge sigh of relief when she spotted Shaye.
“What’s wrong?” Alarmed, she rushed to the girl’s side. “Did something happen?”
Behind her, water splashed and the pound of footsteps echoed. Valerian shoved the curtain aside. He was mouthwateringly, deliciously naked, and completely unabashed.
“What happened?” he demanded.
Shaye’s mouth fell open at this first, full-frontal glance of him. He was more muscled than she’d realized, and his erection...
Oh. My. Wow!
Longer and harder than she’d imagined, proudly waving between his legs. Water droplets clung to the crown—
Brenna gaped at him.
“Grab a towel!” Shaye shouted. “Right now! And just know that when I—if I—become queen, I’m creating a new law. No twigs and berries on display.”
“Ever?” he asked, unperturbed by her outburst. “Or just in public.”
She uttered a choking sound.
Brenna’s mouth had fallen open, too, and Shaye had to tamp the urge to cover the girl’s eyes.
“We’re fine.” She pointed to a spot over his shoulder. “Go back to your bath. Please! We’re going to have a little girl talk and pretend our retinas aren’t singed.”
He winked at her before disappearing behind the curtain. Only then was Shaye able to breathe again.
“Big,” Brenna said in that broken voice of hers, her eyes still wide.
Mine, Shaye almost snapped. She frowned. She had no right to claim him. She’d just turned him down. Again.
Concentrate. “Did someone hurt you, Brenna? Or threaten you?”
Brenna shook her head. “I have a problem.”
“What kind? With whom?”
“Joachim.”
Her frown deepened. “Is he hurt?”
“No.”
“So he did hurt you?”
“No.”
Oookay. Shaye clasped her friend’s hand.
Was Brenna her friend?
She’d never really had one. Assistants, yes. But had she ever really spent quality personal time with
someone else? As a child, she’d been shy and reserved. As a teen, she’d been distrustful of others. As an adult, she’d been too cranky.
Well, whatever Brenna was, Shaye led her to the couch. “What’s wrong?” she asked again, settling into the cushions. “Tell me, and I’ll do what I can to help.”
“Shivawn,” Brenna said.
Her brows knit together. “Is he hurt?”
“No.”
“So he hurt you?”
“No.”
Okay, they were getting nowhere fast. Shaye exhaled with frustration. “I don’t understand what’s going on. You’re going to have to explain.”
“I...want.” A rosy blush stained Brenna’s cheeks. She bit her bottom lip. “I want them.”
“You want...them?” Shaye blinked. “As in, the two of them...sexually? Together? With you?”
Her blush intensified, and she looked away. “No. But I think I desire one when I should desire the other, the one who makes me feel safe, and I’m scared. I’m also confused.”
“Well, that would scare and confuse me, too.” She could barely handle her desire for Valerian. She didn’t know what she would have done if she’d felt safer with one of his warriors. “Maybe desire will grow with the one who makes you feel safe?”
Brenna gripped her hands, as if she were in danger of falling and desperately needed an anchor. “Maybe. I just don’t know.”
“I wish I had an answer for you. These men...these nymphs, they cast a spell over everything female and screw with our common sense.” Bitterness seeped through her tone. “I don’t like it.”
You once mentioned an escape. Brenna mimed the last so there was no chance Valerian would overhear.
Shaye stilled. Escape. What she’d wanted from the beginning. What she wasn’t sure she wanted right now, but knew was for the best.
I have a home. A job. Employees who count on me.
“We’ll have to make our way to the portal,” she said softly. “I tried to leave bread crumbs, removing dust from sections of the wall, but first we have to get to the dusty part.”
“I think I know the way,” Brenna replied just as softly.
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