By the Enchantment of Moonlight

by Serena Gilley

  The man was momentarily stunned and Dex used that moment to help the succubus up to her feet and steady her as they put some distance between her and the man. Dex could feel his own body react to her immediately. Ah, so this was desire. He remembered it now. He liked it.

  But he had to ignore it. The man was scrambling to his feet, ready to dive at them and take what he wanted. Animal fury and lust were evident in his expression. The succubus was his goal, and this body Dex used was just an obstacle to be thrown out of the way.

  There was only one way to quench the fire that raged inside this man.

  “Look him in the eye and tell him he is done,” Dex ordered the succubus.

  She was blinking in shock, not quite sure what was happening. He shook her slightly to get her attention and repeated himself.

  “Tell him he is done!”

  She shook her head. “But he was going to…I didn’t mean to…”

  “His eyes,” Dex went on as the man poised to lunge at them. “Look into his eyes and tell him what to do.”

  “He won’t listen to me!” she protested.

  “He will. Do it.”

  The man was lost to reason. The body Dex had been in was strong and healthy, but it had been incapacitated for some time. What condition was it in to battle a rutting human? And certainly Dex hadn’t been in a good fight in years. If the succubus didn’t put an end to this soon, things were going to get ugly.

  Finally she seemed to come to her senses and did what needed to be done. She took a deep breath and gazed into the man’s wild eyes.

  “Enough,” she said, breathless. “We’re done now. You were awesome.”

  The man paused. His eyes were captured by hers and finally she was in control of him once again. His tense body slowly relaxed and he seemed to await her next command.

  She watched him warily, but kept her voice calm. “You did great, but we’re done.”

  He frowned with confusion. “Done? But I…Hey, who’s he?”

  She didn’t seem to know how to answer. He could feel her nervousness and for a moment he worried that she would lose her hold over the man. Dex had never encountered a succubus like this before—they always knew exactly what to say. Something was very different about this one.

  “Tell him I’m your brother,” he whispered into her ear. “I’m here to take you home.”

  She nodded and continued gazing into the man’s eyes. “He’s my brother. It’s time for me to go home now.”

  “I’ll go with you,” the captain suggested.

  Her nervousness seemed slightly abated and she shook her head. “No. I’m going with him, and you need to go to your home. To your wife.”

  The lusty fog over the man’s mind must have been slowly lifting. He wrinkled his brow and seemed to consider this. “My wife? Yeah…I have a wife.”

  “And you care for her very much, don’t you?” the succubus said.

  Dex decided this was probably the first time he’d ever heard a succubus direct a man to another woman. Who was this dark-haired beauty and what sort of game was she playing?

  The man nodded, appearing numb and still only half coherent. The succubus also seemed at a loss. She took her eyes off the man and glanced up at Dex.

  “What now?” she questioned.

  “Come with me,” Dex whispered to her. “Tell your man he’s done his duty and he doesn’t need to think about you anymore.”

  “But he brought me out here and…Where did you come from?” she asked him, glancing around and obviously not seeing the other boat.

  With her attention focused on Dex the man was becoming less and less under her sway. He shook his head and mumbled under his breath. It was clear his sexual drive was still highly engaged. If this succubus didn’t take control over him again he’d be right back where he was, driven by instinct and making things difficult.

  “Tell him to go home to his wife and forget all about you,” Dex directed her.

  She sighed, as if she somehow doubted he’d listen, but she did as he instructed. The man’s focus was captured easily as she dutifully met his eyes and encouraged him sweetly to go home. He was helpless under her sway and blithely nodded in agreement.

  “You’ve done your job today,” the woman continued, giving the man a smile it was impossible to ignore. “You can forget all about me.”

  Dex tried to imagine Miranda behaving this way, using her power to gently guide rather than manipulate and control. He finally gave up. Miranda would never relinquish her prey and just send him home. Miranda reveled in her power over men. Even beyond what she could take from them sexually, she enjoyed owning their will.

  This younger succubus was a new sort of creature, indeed. She only now began to relax as it was clear the man was no longer under her command. He gazed sightlessly through her, his expression going blank as the woman’s orders took over his mind. He was forgetting her already, even as she stood right before him.

  That, Dex had to admit, showed a level of power over the man’s mind even he had never seen before. This woman’s control went above and beyond her sexual appeal. This succubus was definitely something out of the ordinary.

  “You’d better go now,” she whispered to Dex as the human male turned to the controls for his boat. “Swim back to the island, or wherever you came from. I think everything is calmed down here again.”

  “You should come with me,” Dex said.

  Her gaze shifted out toward Isla Escalda. “I guess I could swim that far.”

  “You won’t need to swim,” Dex assured her. “I have a boat.”

  She eyed him dubiously. The boat he had come from was still perfectly invisible, hidden by the magical protection over it. He just couldn’t let her float away with this human, though. Despite her amazing powers, he wasn’t convinced she could really handle herself if things got out of control again. Plus, he needed to know more. Who was she and why was she here?

  “I’ll show you,” he said, wondering exactly how he was going to do that.

  A rope was lying coiled up on the deck so he grabbed it and tossed one end overboard. It hit the invisible shield and fell uselessly into the water. The succubus made an audible gasp of confusion, but he gathered up the rope and tried again. He knew the shield was permeable, and he was hoping that when he’d leaped through in this physical body he’d left a temporary gap in it. He tossed the rope again.

  This time he got lucky. It passed through the shield and landed on the deck of the other boat with a thud. From this side all they could see, though, was a rope stretching out over the water and disappearing.

  “What the…?” the succubus said.

  “Come on, before your friend comes fully back to his senses and the gap in the shield over the other boat fills itself in,” Dex said, unhooking the chain that served as a gate across an opening in the railing on their boat.

  He grabbed the succubus by her elbow and jumped, using the rope as his guide. She was forced to follow, tumbling over the railing on the invisible boat and landing in a heap on the polished wood deck. Dex tossed the rope back. It had served its purpose, but he didn’t need anything to give away their position now.

  The succubus’s shocked scream did more than enough of that.

  “Where the hell did this boat come from?” she cried out.

  “I told you it was close,” he replied.

  “Yeah, but…how come I didn’t see it?”

  “Keep your voice down!”

  She glared angrily at him, but complied, rephrasing her question in a whisper. “How did this boat just appear out of thin air?”

  “It’s been here all along. It’s got some sort of shield on it.”

  She glanced over it, clearly not convinced. “You’ve got a stealth yacht?”

  “You can thank me later,” he replied. “Your friend seems to be doing what you told him to and heading out of here.”

  It was true. The man was scratching his head and seemed to be trying to remember what he was doing. Follo
wing the orders she’d given him, he adjusted the controls and throttled the engine. Sure enough, his boat started drifting away as he guided it back out toward open water. It turned away from the cove and began to pick up speed, bouncing over waves as it left them behind.

  Now was the time for Dex to get some answers.

  “So why did you get him all lathered up for you and then brush him off like that?”

  The succubus seemed embarrassed by the question. “I don’t know. I didn’t mean to.”

  “Of course you did. I saw you, unbuttoning your shirt and teasing the man. You had him easy. So why not follow through?”

  “So you were just sitting here on your secret boat spying on me?”

  “No, actually I was floating in the air over your boat spying on you,” Dex replied. “I didn’t even know about this boat until a few minutes ago. That’s when I found this body. Someone left it here.”

  She was staring at him like he was insane. It made him hot, even though he was pretty sure that wasn’t her intent.

  “You found a body on this boat?” she asked.

  “Yeah, this one.”

  Her gaze darted around and she shuddered. “Which one?”

  “This one, the one I’m in,” he said, then realized he needed to explain. “I’m not usually corporeal like this. I’m a wraith, but I found this body on this boat so I borrowed it to help you.”

  She took two steps back until she was pressed against the railing. For a moment Dex was afraid she would go overboard when she turned to stare down into the water. Was he going to have to jump off this boat and save her again? Hopefully this body could swim.

  But she didn’t jump. Instead, she pointed. “What’s that? Is there someone swimming under your boat?”

  Dex went to her side and peered over. Sure enough, someone was swimming down there. Apparently he really had discerned some interesting types of magic on this boat.

  “That’s a mermaid,” he informed her, even as the pale body and beautiful face of a young mermaid popped up through the water to peer at them.

  “I think I need to sit down,” the succubus said.

  She did look a little wobbly. Dex barely had time to catch her before her knees buckled and she crumbled onto the deck. The touch of her skin on his sent thrills up his arms, over his spine, and down into his groin.

  By the Skies, how could he possibly have forgotten the heated thrum in his blood as lust whirled through him? If this succubus was looking for another victim, he’d gladly get in line.

  Apparently he’d have to get rid of the mermaid first, though. She was yelling at them, and she didn’t sound happy. It seemed like somehow she was convinced this was her boat.

  What did a mermaid need with a boat?

  Please turn the page for an excerpt of the first book in Serena Gilley’s Forbidden Realm series

  Kissed by the Wave

  Available now!

  Chapter One

  Aliya flipped her fins and let the cool water of the lake glide over her. The moonlight glittered like tiny stars in the lapping waves. Her pale hair fanned around her, then fell slick against her naked skin as she pushed up through the surface, scanning the skyline and finding the large, familiar shape.

  A boat—a very specific boat. He was here again. She knew he would be. After all, she was a mermaid; her mind sensed things like that. When this human was near, she could feel his presence. Her people generally did not reach their minds out to touch the humans who came onto the lake, but something about this man was different. Aliya had felt his thoughts, the burning pain and aching emptiness deep inside him, and it had triggered something inside her. She’d yearned to know more.

  For nearly two cycles of the moon now she’d watched him, tracked his movements in the evenings when he would leave the safety of the human shore and venture into her world on his big, gleaming boat. Every time, she’d felt his suffering. She could not explain why this man’s emotions should touch her in such a way, but she had come to expect it. He was here now and she had to get closer.

  Yes, she could feel him more strongly now. Strange, it was almost as if this human—this man—were reaching out for her, trying to touch her in some way…but of course he could not be. Everyone knew humans did not possess powers like that. She must be imagining it.

  To make sure she was not, she stilled herself and opened her mind to let his emotion flood her. Yes, she could feel the familiar ache she always sensed from him, knew the emptiness that filled him. He did touch her, but he clearly had no awareness of it. And his touch reached more than just her mind. Her body felt something, too.

  The velvety scales of her lower body tingled…the satin skin of her arms and her breasts pricked with sensation. She went rigid, floating helplessly as her body responded to sensations she could never put into words. They were energizing, delicious…and forbidden. Whatever she felt from this human, whatever he did to her, it was not something she ought to encourage.

  She liked it, though. She wanted more. The Great Code of all creatures in the Forbidden Realm dictated she avoid any sort of interaction like this. It was bad enough that she’d come so near this same human on numerous occasions, but to let his mind and emotions touch her in such a way…she knew it was wrong. Still, it drew her like a moth to an inferno.

  She was near his vessel now. The crystal surface of the water changed and distorted her view, but she could see him. He was tall and broad, standing alone to gaze out over the water. His shirtless form was solid against the night sky and moonlight glowed off his bronze skin. She broke through the thin surface of the water. He would see her.

  The Veil could not protect her tonight, not while the man was so empty and so very lost. Usually she made sure when she needed to approach humans that they were occupied, busy with their mundane concerns that kept the Veil firmly over their eyes. If they caught sight of her they shrugged it off as a shadow, a fish, or a shift in the current. All her life she’d been careful that way; she knew her place.

  But tonight…the feelings were too strong. The man needed her and she needed him. She needed to learn what it was that drew her to him, that made her feel hot and shivery all at the same time. She needed to let him see through the Veil and recognize her for what she was.

  Her movement caught his attention. Her heart pounded as she felt the cool air on her skin, the damp weight of her pale hair lying against her neck. Unfiltered moonlight glittered off the wet droplets at her eyelashes. She blinked, determined to see clearly when finally his eyes met hers.

  And they did. He saw her at last and she gazed steadily at him. It was too dark to know the color of his eyes, but she did not need her telepathy to read the astonishment in them.

  “Where in the world did you come from?” he asked.

  She was suddenly afraid. No human had ever spoken to her before! Instinct told her to get away from this place as quickly as possible. Humans brought danger and destruction; she was in peril right now. Why was she not filled with panic?

  Another instinct—something deeper, ancient, and unfamiliar—told her to stay. She would obey that one. She would remain where she was, allowing the human to gaze at her. And somehow she would find a way to answer in a language he might know. If only she could find her tongue.

  “Are you stranded here?” he asked when she made no reply. “Do you need help?”

  His astonishment was turning to concern. She liked how that felt, the warmth it conveyed and the tremors of care he sent out around him. He needed to be reassured, though, so he did not worry in vain. Despite how pleasant it was to feel those emotions directed toward her, it was not fair to leave him in such uncertainty.

  But her reply was interrupted before it even left her lips. The human was not alone. It appeared he had a companion with him, a partner. A human female moved into view, sliding up beside him as he stood at the railing.

  Aliya’s mind was only vaguely aware of her. The woman transmitted very minimal vibrations of sensation and emotion. It
was obvious enough what she wanted, though. She paid no mind to the water or the mermaid just below her. Instead, her attention was fully on the man as she ran her hands over his body and murmured into his ear.

  Aliya could feel the man’s reaction, visceral and immediate. His eyes left her and he blinked, as if rousing himself from sleep. The woman ran her fingers through his wind-tousled hair and he turned to her. The cold emptiness washed over Aliya once again.

  “Who are you talking to?” the woman cooed at the man.

  He hesitated before answering. “No one. I thought I saw…no, nothing. We’re all alone.”

  The woman murmured some more and the man pulled her tight up against himself. He did not look back over the lake. His pain resonated in the waters around Aliya even as he led the woman out of view, inside the boat’s body. It was not difficult to guess what would happen next. Aliya knew the man’s pattern.

  He came out to the lake to escape whatever it was that plagued him. He brought females with him, women he seemed to know little about and cared little for. He distracted himself with the women, playing at games of human passions that both fascinated and confused Aliya. As the man’s emptiness attracted her, the inevitable passion drew her to stay.

  Just as she did now. She pushed up next to the boat, touching its smooth polished side and waiting for the sensations from inside the boat to travel out to her. Yes, as expected, there they were. The man and his woman were beginning the strange dance of coupling that humans engaged in.

  Aliya shut her eyes, letting vibration surround her, reaching her mind up to connect with the man. She could feel what he felt, the building sense of longing and burning desire. She was rocked by the waves even as the humans rocked up above her.

  Slowly she became aware of something else…someone else. Someone was coming! She could feel the magic coming closer. She pulled away from the boat and blinked up into the sky. There, she was just in time to notice the small, nonhuman form that glittered above. A fairy, her pink glow reflecting off the sides of the craft and her tiny wings humming, was hovering.