by Starla Night
Enslaved by the Sea Lord
Lords of Atlantis
Starla Night
Copyright © 2017 Starla Night
All rights reserved.
Cover by Earthly Charms.
Created with Vellum
Blurb
Tattooed mer-shifters are climbing out of the secret depths to claim their soul mates and save their race!
Hardened mer warrior Soren is no great catch. Disgraced, battle-scarred, and with a temper as black as the tattoos slashing his skin, the First Lieutenant of rebel city Atlantis prefers to protect the other warriors’ brides rather than seek his own to repopulate their dwindling race.
But he can’t control his cravings for Aya.
Her elegant gaze lights his soul on fire. Her hidden passion tempts him like no other. But she’s destined for a worthier warrior. Claiming her for his own would damn her to a terrible fate.
Aya is the smart, sophisticated vice president who never has time for a relationship. She will save her great-grandmother’s company, even though trading with the recently discovered mermen means working in close proximity to the dark, powerful lieutenant who always gets under her skin. When her masterful plans end in disaster, Soren is the one who’s there to save her life—by reluctantly binding her as his mermaid queen. Now she can’t get away from the massive, hard-bodied warrior. And the more time she spends in his arms, the less she wants to try...
Their enemies will stop at nothing to destroy the mer-human partnerships flourishing in Atlantis. Aya and Soren must work together to unleash the city’s ultimate power or watch everything they’ve built be washed away on the tide.
This is a complete novel with a happy ending! Also, it features steamy mer shifter love scenes, undersea battles, and a crotchety giant cephalopod named Octopus Kong. Fall in love with these warriors of the sea!
Contents
Special Thanks
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Dragon VIP Malachite
Also by Starla Night
About the Author
Special Thanks
to Lauren Roux, Kallysten, Gladys Nason, and Cynthia Sax. Thanks so much!
Chapter One
Soren swam alongside the sphere-shaped submersible.
From a distance, he looked like a human scuba diver. His long legs kicked and two flat, wide scuba fins scooped the water.
But he carried no tank. His lungs pulled in water and released it out the gills in his lower back. He wore no wet suit—or any clothing at all. And his “scuba” fins were actually his feet, accordioned so the skin between the bones stretched thin.
Soren was furious.
A fish eye window curved over the front of the submersible. Small lights flattened the ocean around it. Inside, a black-souled man worked the controls.
This evil male had attacked Soren’s home city, Atlantis, and severed their holy Life Tree. Right now, the Life Tree was scissored in a metal claw attached to the front of the submersible. And worse than the Life Tree, which gave life to his city, was the crushed, injured human female, Aya.
She had swum down hundreds of feet from the surface to warn Soren about this attack. Then, she’d tried to stop the submersible herself. But the submersible hadn’t stopped. She’d been pinched against the Life Tree, causing a mortal injury.
Soren could hear her moans and see her fading soul light. She did not have long. The Life Tree still shimmered pure, white light, spreading its life-giving radiance to all mer warriors of the city. But it would soon die, too. And with it, all Atlantis.
What was this human male’s name? Blake?
Soren pounded on the thick glass.
Blake jumped. His mouth opened in a scream. It barely crossed the glass and penetrated the water.
Soren pounded harder. “Open your metal claw. Release our Life Tree and face my wrath!”
The glass held.
Blake’s shoulders relaxed. He laughed and shouted. His words were muffled but his sneer and gestures passed the barriers just fine.
This invader dared to taunt Soren? First Lieutenant of the renegade city Atlantis, demon warrior without honor?
Soren rested both fists on the glass, summoned his rage, and roared. The thick submersible glass vibrated. Tiny cracks raced from his fists to the edge of the metal frames.
Blake stopped laughing.
Soren scratched at the cracks. He would peel open this metal monster and drag the human out, shake the dark-souled Blake until he realized his mistake, and deter all other invaders.
In the metal claw, Aya whimpered and pitched over.
His heart stopped.
Soren transformed his fins to human feet and pushed off the glass. Flicking back to fins, he kicked over the unbreakable metal joints to the front of the claw. Aya hung limp as a prey being carried in the mouth of a metal predator. Soren gripped the two pincers, gathered his strength, and pulled with all his might.
This machine was stronger.
Aya shifted. Tiny bubbles escaped the hose clenched in her mouth. Behind her glass diving mask, agony pinched her features.
Soren released the claw again. “Aya. You should not have come.”
He spoke in the mer way – as a wordless vibration deep in his chest. Humans couldn’t understand it. But sometimes people with compatible souls could sense the meaning.
Soren and Aya should not have compatible souls.
He had refused to claim Aya at her company’s bride pageant in Miami even though every fiber of his being reached out to her, craving her like sunlight. He would fight his attraction. She deserved a worthier warrior.
Now, it was almost too late. Her inner sun was going out.
“Aya,” he said again, in his chest.
Her long, curved lashes fluttered. “Hnn?”
“Your injuries are too severe. You must transform into a mermaid to survive.”
She shivered.
He searched through the pure, white branches of the severed Life Tree behind her. One blossom would hold the nectar she needed to transform.
Transforming for the first time would heal her critical injuries.
The nectar would zip through her veins, transforming her from human into mer. Gills would form in her lower back, enabling her to take off the cracked, leaking air tanks. She would no longer be cold, and could swim naked like him. Someday, she’d be able to form scuba-like mer fins.
But there was no blossom.
An alarm on her wrist beeped shrilly. What was its meaning? He brought the small machine to his eyes. It flashed unrecognizable symbols.
Aya’s blue eyes clouded with pain. Her chest caved in as though she were gasping.
His belly twisted sickly.
The Life Tree had to produce a blossom. It had to react to t
he presence of a bride with such a bright soul. It had to give him something…
This beautiful, captivating, determined female would not die in front of him. She would live. Somehow.
Curse that Queen Elyssa had broken off a Life Tree blossom weeks ago. Usually blossoms died immediately, but she’d used her queenly powers to bring the blossom back to life several times. She’d worn it in her hair until she’d taken it to the surface and given it to Aya.
There was no way a mere human could keep a Life Tree blossom alive on the surface.
What was that twinkle at Aya’s collar? He pulled open the ripped, black suit.
Around Aya’s neck floated a glimmering glass necklace. He captured it. It was a vial of seawater. Inside, danced a tiny blossom of the Life Tree.
How?
Soren clasped the glass. He would not question this miracle. Mermaid queens had a unique connection to the Life Tree and they gained mystical powers written about in the ancient texts. Back when queens were as common as warriors today. Before the great catastrophe that destroyed the harmony of mer and human, and mer queens died out, and only warriors were born.
“Open?” Aya spoke weakly into the air hose she clenched in her teeth. “Turn clock—”
He clenched his hand. The glass burst. Sharp stings pierced his palm. He opened his hand. The tiny blossom fluttered.
“—wise.” She picked a shard out of his hand. “Soren.”
Forget his bloodied hand.
He ushered the tiny blossom to her mouth. “Drink.”
She picked out another glass sliver.
He tugged the air hose going into her mouth. “Aya.”
She froze. Her brows entwined in worry. “Drink? No.”
“Yes.”
Tears filled her eyes inside the bubble of air pressed tight by the mask against her face. She shook her head. “We tested. I failed. Won’t… work.”
“It will work. Put the blossom in your mouth and swallow.”
Aya lifted one gloved hand to cup his jaw. “Did…best.”
Huh? What was that supposed to mean?
She spit out the air tube and breathed out. Bubbles curled around her open lips. The tiny blossom twisted and gleamed, flaring with the Life Tree’s healing energy. He wafted the bloom into Aya’s open, pink mouth and closed her jaw.
Nothing happened.
“Aya?” He shook her. “Swallow, Aya.”
She looked like she was trying.
But it wasn’t working.
Accepting the elixir was an intimate act. She had not asked for this fate. She had competed at the bride pageant to join with a king, not with Soren. His feelings whirled in chaos. She deserved a better male than Soren. A male with honor. A male with a bright soul to match hers. A male she deserved.
She deserved more.
Aya spasmed. Her arm flailed and knocked off her mask. Her wrist smacked his chin. She opened her mouth and coughed the blossom out. Its life force drained into the water.
No!
He forced the limp, darkening flower back in her mouth. “Aya, swallow!”
She pushed him away.
He fought her. She would live.
Her resistance gave way. She went lax in his arms.
Even though the flower was in her mouth, the nectar wasn’t working.
He would force it to work.
Soren gripped her jaw. “I do not wish to claim you. But I must save your life.” He lowered his mouth to her lips. He covered her mouth with his kiss.
Her lips were soft and cool. Sophisticated, like the rest of her, and pert. He had admired her lips since the first moment, when they were covered in the glossy red paint that accentuated their full, clever, capable shape.
Live. I need you to live. He peeled back her black hood and knotted his fingers in her short, ice-blonde hair. Please.
Nothing.
He stroked her cheeks with his thumbs. It wasn’t enough. His wish to save her wasn’t enough.
Then…
If she lived, he would claim her as his bride. Even though she did not wish it. Even though his soul was so black it would damn her as much as it would damn him. If, someday, she should claim him back, then maybe the darkness poisoning his soul could be removed. If it was her, maybe it was possible.
Powerful commitment blazed in his chest. You are mine, Aya.
A sparkling, golden, warmth tingled in his chest. Her cool skin warmed. Her mouth softened. Her lips moved beneath his.
She was alive.
Thank you.
He nuzzled her, tasting her sweet warmth.
She jerked, startled.
He eased back.
Aya blinked with new eyes. With her mask knocked away, she looked through the ocean directly at him, no longer separated by air and glass. Her hand moved to her bare face and she touched her lips with her gloved hand. She was surprised he had kissed her.
“I had to save your life,” he said.
Her brows drew together. Confusion. “Save…?”
The word vibrated uncertainly in her chest. Her first word spoken as a mermaid, using not her mouth or lips, but her diaphragm inside her chest.
“Now help me.” He manacled the metal claw and flexed with all his might. His arms shook. His grip slipped and caught. The claw shook. He roared. “Now!”
She put her hands on the claw and pushed.
The Life Tree behind her flashed white. She channeled its power and forced the claw open.
One side of the claw popped out of joint and hung in the water. The motor of the submersible changed tenor. It squealed.
Aya and the Life Tree slipped free.
He released the claw and turned back to the dark-souled pilot. Blake must face Soren’s vengeance so he could never attack again.
Aya cried out. She paddled helplessly on her stubby human feet. While he focused on Blake, she and the Life Tree were sucked into a dangerous, fast current.
Chapter Two
Feeling shot into Aya’s limbs like a thousand darts and raked her veins with prickly spines. She folded over with a shriek. It was the worst phantom pins-and-needles of her life.
Soren floated beside her. His wide hand rested on her thick, neoprene-covered back and his face reflected his worry. “Aya?”
His voice sounded funny. Less growly and more rumble-y.
Something had changed.
But she couldn’t focus on what it was. Deep unease filled her.
“Relax. Don’t fight the transformation.”
“Just…give me…a second.”
She had drunk the nectar. Her fins would transform in the future, but she should be able to breathe as a mermaid under water now.
But she couldn’t.
Cold pooled in her lungs, like she’d accidentally swallowed an ice cube and felt it all the way down her throat. Her lungs filled with seawater.
It took iron will not to react in a thrashing panic.
She would not panic. As a company vice president, she was harder and smarter and more disciplined than the average woman. Lucy, the first woman to discover mermen and be transformed, and Aya’s cousin Elyssa, the second modern woman to transform, had panicked. Neither of them knew what to expect. But Aya had researched. She had prepared herself. She could not lose a fight to discipline.
Aya held herself taut as the long second passed and her brain caught up with her body.
Look. She was not suffocating in a world of horrible darkness.
…But she was.
Wasn’t Soren’s kiss enough? Fear zagged in her belly. Maybe it wasn’t possible for Aya to transform. Van Cartier Cosmetics scientists had conducted a hundred tests trying to recreate the magical nectar. She’d drunk gallons as a test guinea pig – and never transformed.
Maybe the missing ingredient wasn’t in the nectar. Maybe it was in her soul. The piece that made others soft, loving, and friendly like Elyssa and Lucy was missing from Aya.
It was too late to go back to breathing from her cracked tanks. Th
e air hoses collapsed and the dive computer beeping on her wrist announced over and over she was out of oxygen.
She gave herself a pep talk. “The first transformation is the hardest.”
Soren rubbed her shoulders. His worry was sweet. Just like his kiss. His presence made her feel safe.
Aya didn’t do “sweet.” She didn’t do helpless, and she definitely didn’t do the welling happiness of remembering how he’s pressed his lips to hers and swept away in his kiss.
“I will never claim you as my bride,” Soren had snarled at her during the company bride pageant she’d organized two months ago. “Not even if you were the last female on the shore.”
Which was saying quite a lot since the recently-discovered mermen were in desperate need of females to repopulate their race.
Aya hadn’t forgotten the hot slice of pain. It wasn’t fair that she was compulsively, almost obsessively drawn to Soren. He made it clear he didn’t like her at all.
And now, of all the mermen in Atlantis, he was the one who had saved her life.
She twitched to get away from him. She didn’t want to face him until she was at her full strength and able to converse like an adult. Under full control.
And right now, it didn’t feel like she would get there. Something was wrong.
He stopped stroking her but he didn’t move away.
The fire-ants-eating-her-limbs sensation changed into a new, desperate, clawing sensation.
She couldn’t breathe.
Aya clawed at her mouth. At her throat. Something awful constricted her. She was trying to breathe through plastic bags. And she was going to panic. In spite of her determination not to.
