Justin leaned over her. His face was grim. “Ralph, she’s awake.”
Ralph touched her face and held up his hand in front of her. “Anna, how many toes am I holding up?”
She snorted. “Very funny.”
Ralph turned to Justin. “She’s fine.”
“Am I…dead?” She scrambled to sit up. Matt helped her. She examined her hand and wriggled her fingers. All seemed intact, including her pinkie that had been broken with a nutcracker. How was this even possible? She should be dead meat. She couldn’t swim. Plus, logically, no one could survive after falling from that cliff. If the ocean hadn’t drowned her, the rocks below would have shredded her body to pieces.
“No, baby, you’re fine. But you gave us quite a fright,” Justin told her.
Anna studied her surroundings. The place didn’t look like the estate, the villa. It was…grander. More opulent. Her gaze drifted up. The bedroom ceiling was so high, one could fit a two-story building in here. The walls were plastered with rare, black granite-like stone. Luxurious draperies adorned every window. All the furniture in the room was carved from an exotic dark wood with intricate patterns. Definitely a room fit for a king.
“Where am I?”
“Azura.” Justin spread his hands. “Our home.”
“Netherworld?”
“Correct.”
“How…?” Anna ran her hands through her hair. “The last thing I remember is that I fell.”
“You did. But Ralph caught you in time. He brought you here and healed you.”
Healed? Ralph? She recalled Ralph saying he was a healer of his people or something. “How long have I been here?”
“About a day and a night. You sustained quite an injury.”
Anna checked her hands again, then turned to Ralph. “How could you possibly fix my broken finger in a day and a night?”
Ralph smiled. “Easy. I just chanted the magic word and ‘bam’! Finger healed.”
“Seriously.”
“I’m serious.” Ralph furrowed his eyebrows and held her gaze evenly. He wasn’t kidding.
All of this just didn’t make sense. “Thank you. But I think I must go.”
Three pair of eyes watched her with intensity.
Panic started to creep in again. Anna guessed this time there was no way around it anymore. She must come clean to the brothers. Her father was in danger and she had to go to the FBI before it was too late.
She took a deep breath. “I have a confession. I’m not the person you all think I am. I’m a thief.”
“Oh?” Justin’s eyebrow arched up. “What did you steal?”
Heat burned her cheeks. She fixed her stare on her lap. “I’m supposed to get Surrender’s secret formula. My father and I were blackmailed by this man, Ivan Koleniskov, and he threatened to hurt my father if I didn’t deliver that formula in three days. I need to go to the Feds. And after I settle my business with the Feds, I’ll take full responsibility for my actions. I’m very sorry for deceiving you. I really am.” Anna didn’t dare to move after she spewed out what had burned her mind and her soul for the past two weeks. An immense relief washed over her, but new dread blossomed. What were Justin and his brothers going to do with her? They were going to be furious. After everything they did for her, she’d been planning to repay them with treachery. She felt ashamed.
Anna lifted her head and saw all three men grinning.
Wait…
“We know who you are, little spy.” Justin laughed. “Though I must say, you give James Bond a bad name.”
Her eyes widened. “You know… How?”
“Do you think we’d hire someone without checking her background first? I saw you in Marian Bancroft’s office. Couldn’t believe myself that I’d finally found you.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Well, we have something to confess to you, too. We’re not really fashion designers. We’re actually Azurian chatharnak on a quest to find our mate. You, Anna.”
“Chat-what?”
“Chatharnak. Warrior nymphs,” Matt clarified.
Anna wanted to clear her ears to see if she had some wax built up and had misheard them. Did Matt just say nymphs?
“I know you won’t believe us. Come.” Justin got up from the bed and offered her a hand. “See for yourself. Our homeland, Azura.”
Anna took his hand as she climbed down from the bed, feeling surreal. She just noticed the strange gown she was wearing. It was pure white, slim-fitted on the top with a long skirt that swept the cold floor. She was bare-footed.
Justin led her to one of the bedroom’s towering windows and pushed aside the sheer drapery. Her mouth fell open when she saw what was beyond the thick glass.
They were completely underwater!
Beyond the window was a jaw-dropping scene of an ancient city at the bottom of the sea. Across her line of sight, towering structures forged in black granite-like stones stretched as far as the eye could see. Colourful reefs formed an enchanting underwater garden. Anna rubbed her eyes to make sure she wasn’t dreaming. She thought she saw mermaids, too, swimming lazily between the coral gardens.
Anna turned around and blinked. “This can’t be real. I must be hallucinating.”
“How many toes am I holding up?” Ralph called cheerily from the bed, wriggling his hand.
“Anna.” Justin held her face and gave her a light kiss. “I know it’s hard for you to accept, but nymphs do exist.”
“And mermaids too…” Anna groped at the windowsill. “I…I need to sit. Hey!”
Justin swept her off her feet and carried her in his arms to the bed. He deposited her in Ralph’s lap.
Ralph felt her forehead. His face looked serious. “Just the shock. She’s fine.”
“I don’t feel fine. Tell me I’m high on PCP.” Anna rubbed her eyes again. She still didn’t want to believe that what she had witnessed was real. “So.” She cleared her throat. “You are all nymphs?”
“Half-nymph. Our mother is human,” Justin explained.
“And your father is a nymph.” She wanted to clarify the facts.
“Full-blooded nymph.”
“And definitely not Dutch.”
Justin laughed.
“And you’re not really fashion designers…”
“I guess we should tell you from the beginning.” Justin waved his hand and a chair zoomed in his direction.
Anna’s mouth fell open again watching him perform the magic trick. “How…?”
Justin sat in one fluid, graceful motion. “In Netherworld, a nymph mates for life, Anna. And since our people believe that one predestined mate is bound to one birth, the three of us are destined to be bound to one woman, our cevborn. We’ve been looking for our mate since we came of age. However, our special lady was nowhere to be found. Then our father arranged a seer to foretell our future. She said our mate wasn’t a nymph, but a human. Seven years ago, we went to the surface world.”
“Surface world?” Anna echoed.
“Miami, to be exact. We’ve been all over the place to look for our mate, and we still couldn’t find you…”
Anna fell silent as Justin continued his story. Everything began to unravel. The hints and riddles she had heard from the brothers started to make sense. About Netherworld. The Claiming. The ménage. And most of all, the secret behind Surrender.
She gripped herself hard. No wonder she couldn’t find that damn formula. She could play a cat and mouse game until she got old and she still wouldn’t be able get that secret from them. Anna felt cheated. But she was also flattered knowing the three of them wanted her as their woman. She’d never been this confused in her life. “I…I don’t know what to say. You’re asking me to stay here and become your wife?”
“Not asking,” Matt answered, slipping into his stern, warrior mode. “This is your fate. You’re our cevborn and Azura is your future. The question is, will you accept it peacefully?”
“You mean I can accept it violently?”
&nb
sp; “That’s what our mother did.” Ralph laughed. “She treated our father as her personal punching bag before she finally conceded to the Claiming.”
“But…” Anna shook her head. “I…could never hurt you…”
“I know that.” Ralph stroked her cheek.
“And I don’t have much option, do I?”
“Between peacefully or violently? No,” Matt stated firmly.
“Don’t you love us?” Ralph asked.
Anna was startled. Love them? She’d never sat down and analysed her true feelings about the Martels. She was enamoured with them. Lusted them like crazy. But she didn’t dare to harbour any deeper feelings than that because she was well aware of who she was. Justin, Matt, and Ralph were out of her league. They were three of the most desirable bachelors out there and she was practically nobody.
Seeing her quiet, Ralph tugged her face to meet his. “Anna, once nymphs find their mate, they desire no one else. And neither will you, since you’ve shared our bed. If you think our claim is frivolous and let’s say, you went to take another lover, you’ll never feel the same way for that man as you feel about us.”
“Like I’d ever let that happen in the first place.” Matt rolled his eyes. “He’d have to answer to my sword first.”
Anna sniffed. She forgot that Matt had a tendency to be so territorial. “I just don’t see how this would work. I can’t leave my father to be with you. He needs me.”
“Ah. That’s a simple arrangement,” Justin explained. “Your father is welcomed in Azura. With his condition, I personally think the change of scenery would benefit his health.”
“It means I can heal your father so he could stay with us for a long, long time,” Ralph added.
Anna couldn’t believe what she heard. “You’d do that for me? But Koleniskov has him. He’s going to hurt my father if I can’t get him the secret formula.”
“Leave that to us,” Justin noted. “We have some unfinished business with him anyway.” He rose from the chair and clapped his hands. The door opened and two women dressed alike came in. “Tell the king and queen that Lady Anna is ready for visitors.”
They bowed and scurried away.
“The king and queen?” Anna just had to ask.
“Our parents. They are most eager to see you,” Justin told her.
Anna blinked. “The king is your father? So, you are all princes?”
“If you put it that way. Titles are only a formality.”
Oh, God. She jumped down from Ralph’s lap, panicking. “What else haven’t you told me?”
“Relax.” Justin calmed her. “Our parents won’t bite you.”
* * * *
Matt climbed out of the car and inhaled the damp evening air with delight. Usually, he loathed the big city’s air. Especially New York. Too polluted to his taste. His sharp sense of smell could pick up thousands of cloying scents of the city that a human couldn’t. And sometimes, it drove him nuts. Tonight was different, though. Since Justin allowed him to reunite with his sword, he was reborn. He felt like he was himself again. The stench and noise of the city didn’t bother him.
He touched the scabbard and the hilt of the sword, itching to unsheathe it and use it to punish the scum who had made Anna’s life miserable for the past couple of weeks. The last time Matt had used Shadow Black, his Azurian blade that was forged solely to punish the wicked, was when the three of them first arrived on the surface world. As soon as they had walked on the beach, a scruffy-looking man tried to mug them. Matt had to cut their robber hands, a fair punishment for a thief. But Justin had got mad and lectured him that Azurian law didn’t apply in the surface world and ordered Ralph to fix the man’s hands like new. Justin then confiscated Shadow Black. Last night, his brother gave it back to Matt since they were soon leaving the surface world forever.
Justin got out of the car and flicked the dust from his jacket lapel. His brother’s expression was serious. Matt knew he was as anxious as he was because today was the deadline for Anna to hand over the secret formula. He hoped they weren’t too late to save Anna’s father from Koleniskov’s devious plan.
Three of Matt’s chatharnaks climbed out of the second SUV. One of them yanked out the gagged, blindfolded, and cuffed Koleniskov’s goons who were sent to St. Croix to scare Anna. The men walked shakily and looked disoriented. Especially the man who’d broken Anna’s finger with the nutcracker.
Matt had found out his name was Yuri during the interrogation. After Ralph had caught Anna from the cliff and put her on safe ground, his brother went back and subdued the three Koleniskov goons. Ralph had decided to bring all of them down to Azura while waiting for Justin and him to arrive in St. Croix. Ralph said he felt safer having Anna and the goons on their own turf since they didn’t know what Koleniskov and the syndicate were up to.
Yuri flinched each time Matt’s chatharnak shoved him to move on. Matt thought he was probably traumatised. After he had learned that Anna was harmed by these goons, he had beaten the crap out them and cut off the finger of the man who injured Anna.
Eye for an eye. Finger for a finger. A fair punishment according to Azurian law.
When Justin found out about it, he had ordered Ralph to patch up the son of a bitch. Matt wasn’t happy. He had cut the man’s finger off again when Justin was occupied with something else. Ralph patched him again and it happened a couple of more times until Matt decided the scum could keep his damn finger. Even though Ralph’s healing magic could fix someone like new, Matt guessed losing a finger in the first place still fucking hurt.
Served the bastard right.
Matt yanked the blindfold on the goon who had dragged Anna from the beach. “Is this the place?”
“Yes, sir,” the man answered in a thick Russian accent, cowering.
“Well, then.” Matt banged the warehouse’s steel doors. “UPS!”
It took several minutes for someone to answer the door. The small slot on the door opened. Someone peeked out, eyes blazing in panic.
“Y-you…” The man’s voice was muffled behind the door.
Justin cleared his throat. “Good evening. We wish to see Mr. Ivan Koleniskov.”
“What d-do you want?”
“Don’t these gentlemen belong to you?” Justin gestured his hand towards the three goons. “We have a few business proposals we’d like to discuss with your boss.”
Silence stretched between them.
“Hey! You dead?” Matt barked and slammed his fist on the door.
“I…I ask first.” The sound of footsteps clattered.
Matt growled. “This is taking too long.”
Justin turned to him, smiling. “Antsy, aren’t you? Do you prefer to come uninvited?”
“We’re not fucking vampires.”
His brother sighed, waving his hand. “Do whatever you must.”
“Finally.” Matt drew Shadow Black from its scabbard. The sound of the unsheathed blade echoed in the dingy, industrial warehouse complex. His chatharnaks drew a sharp breath and stepped back.
“Don’t get yourself carried away, brother of mine. No beheading. No dismemberment. And no life-threatening injury to these humans,” Justin reminded him.
“Yeah, yeah.” Matt lifted the blade high, summoning his powers and making several slashes against the steel warehouse door. He gave it a hard kick and everything fell back with a deafening rumble. “Honey! We’re home.”
“Don’t joke around.” Justin sounded grim. “Finding Joseph Vincent is our priority.”
“I heard you the first hundred times.” Matt stepped over the shards of metal, scanning his surroundings. The gloomy warehouse seemed to be where Koleniskov’s base operation took place.
A huge eighteen-wheeler that must have been used to transport stolen goods the syndicate was trafficking was parked inside. According to the private investigator Justin had hired, Koleniskov also smuggled hi-tech merchandise from the US to Eastern Europe in addition to running a cyber-theft ring. Every available surface in t
he warehouse floor was filled with stacks of crates and boxes. Packing peanuts and sawdust was scattered everywhere.
Matt threaded his way towards the dark passageway. He ordered one of his chatharnaks to stay and guard Yuri and his fellow goons, while the others followed him. During the interrogation, Yuri had confessed that Joseph Vincent was being detained in their main warehouse in Queens. At first, Koleniskov had said Vincent was locked in his mansion, but when Yuri called in that he had had an accident with Anna, Koleniskov said he had moved Vincent to Queens to avoid complications with the law.
Matt stopped and listened. Footsteps and men shouting in Russian echoed from the far side of the warehouse. He looked up. More men ran down from the upper stairs. Matt heard the soft clicks of magazines being loaded into guns. He’d expected that he and his entourage wouldn’t receive a warm welcome. He turned to Darek, the captain of his chatharnaks, to take care of the second floor. He had briefed his chatharnaks that humans had invented clever weapons such as guns and rifles. Still. Humans didn’t have speed and strength like Azurian warrior nymphs.
Darek inclined his head and flashed towards the stairs. His movement was so fast, it looked like a blur in the human’s eyes. A heartbeat later, the sound of dull thuds from bodies falling on the concrete floor could be heard.
Matt heard a faint click. Instinctively, he charged towards the source of the noise. He knocked the gun from the man’s hand and slammed him against the wall. The man shrieked in pain.
Matt grabbed him by the collar. “Joseph Vincent. Where is he?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Matt sighed. Why did the bad guys always come up with such idiotic lines just like in the movies? Matt felt compelled to give the man a little persuasion to spit out the truth. Azurian style. He grabbed his arm and broke a couple of his bones with the hilt of Shadow Black. The man howled.
“Now, let’s try again. Where’s Joseph Vincent?”
“In the corner room. Next to the generator!”
Matt released him. The man slumped on the floor, whimpering in agony about his arm. He looked so pathetic, Matt itched to break his leg so he would have something else to moan about. Matt caught Justin’s eyes. His brother seemed to read his mind.
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