More Than a Fantasy

by Bernadette Gardner

  She turned to see Tiran grab his brother by the throat and throw him to the ground.

  The two men wrestled in the dirt while Mara stood, transfixed. She had imagined this very scene only days ago. How could it be happening exactly as she’d fantasized?

  Tiran landed on Poseidon’s chest and levered all his weight on his brother’s windpipe. “How dare you touch her?”

  Poseidon’s eyes bulged in anger. With a bellow that rattled the grove, he threw Tiran aside. “She agreed to it, brother—eagerly agreed to take me on in exchange for her freedom!”

  Tiran’s eyes flickered to Mara, who had bent to retrieve her cover-up. Heat rose to her cheeks. She clutched the thin fabric to her chest, feeling terribly naked.

  “You promised her something you couldn’t give,” Tiran said. He lunged at his brother again.

  Mara sidestepped the pair as they crashed into the nearest tree trunk, grappling with each other. Her eyes locked on Poseidon. He’d lied to her? Why wasn’t she surprised? It seemed to fit his character. That meant there was no escape for her. She had to get back to the house and destroy the letter she’d written to her father.

  While the two Atlanteans fought behind her, she headed for the path that led to the dunes. She’d just passed the tree line when she heard the alarms, distant but audible in the still evening. Her heart plummeted when the shouts of the security guards reached her. Intruders on the island—her dueling Atlanteans had tripped the alarms.

  Mara ran back to the center of the grove and tried to pry the brothers away from one another. “Stop it! Stop! They’re coming! Can’t you hear the alarms? They’ll find you here.”

  To their credit, the men instantly parted. Both stared at her as though they could not fathom what she meant.

  “You have to leave! The guards are armed. They’ll shoot first and ask ques—”

  Poseidon grabbed Mara’s arm and dragged her toward him. “I promised you I would take you away from here, and I will. You will pay me later.”

  Mara struggled against him, certain now that she didn’t want to go anywhere with him. Even as she tried to squirm out of his embrace, her surroundings faded to pearlescent white and a cool breeze seemed to waft through her body.

  Distantly, she heard Tiran cursing his brother. Disoriented and dizzy, Mara rode the tumultuous wave as the battle surged toward the beach.

  When she finally felt solid ground beneath her feet, she flung herself away from Poseidon, landing in the wet sand. Before he could reclaim her, Tiran stepped between them. He shoved his brother backward with enough force to knock him down.

  “I won’t let you take her away, Poseidon. You’ll only abandon her somewhere when you tire of her.”

  “Perhaps, but I’m certain it will be a while before that happens. She’s certainly beginning to amuse me.” Poseidon brushed sand from his hands and regained his feet. His shadow fell on Mara, who glared at him.

  “I won’t go with you. Leave me alone!”

  Poseidon laughed. “Atlantean males don’t take no for an answer, little sand maiden.” He reached for her just as the Zander security force mounted the dunes and cascaded onto the beach.

  Mara took little solace from the knowledge that her two fantasy men were quite real in the eyes of the security guards. The six men took aim at Poseidon and Tiran, barking at them to back away from Mara and lay face down in the sand.

  Poseidon ignored them, but Tiran raised his hands to show he was unarmed. He moved away from Mara, drawing the attention of the armed guards from her.

  She stood. “It’s all right. They’re just leaving. No harm done!” She also put up her hands.

  Zeke took a step toward her. “Miss Zander, stay down until the intruders have been neutralized.”

  “You’re not neutralizing anyone. Leave them alone. They’re leaving peacefully.”

  Poseidon gave her a wicked smile. “This is your last chance. Tiran hasn’t got the courage to defy our laws, but I do. Come with me now and you’ll never have to return here.” He thrust out his hand toward her.

  The lightning-fast movement spooked one of the guards. A shot rang out, and as it did, Poseidon melted into a pillar of clear liquid. Like a performing dolphin, he arced toward the waves and sank into the surf, the bullet passing harmlessly through his liquefied body to embed itself in Mara’s left shoulder.

  * * * *

  Tiran caught Mara as she reeled backward, propelled by the force of the projectile. She collapsed into his arms, her eyes wide and her mouth moving soundlessly. He looked up and saw the human men surging over the dunes, weapons aimed, ready to attack even though it had been one of their own who’d injured Mara.

  Alone he could not fight them all. He had no choice. He scooped her shivering body into his arms and turned, morphing to stone as he moved. Bullets bounced off his broad back as he trudged with her into the sea, shielding her from further injury.

  They submerged completely for a moment, then he morphed their bodies into air. As he did, the bullet dislodged from Mara’s flesh and sank into the sea. They rose together and sailed away, visible to the security guards as nothing more than a whirling patch of fog above the waves.

  * * * *

  Mara felt nothing. She seemed to exist in a dream state, unable to speak or move her body, yet the vista before her eyes changed rapidly as though she were flowing like water over the land.

  She saw the island. It looked so small from above, a crescent-shaped strip of land bordered by pearly stretches of beach on either side. The square buildings of her father’s compound resembled toy building blocks nestled into mounds of green and brown clay. As she drew closer, she saw the dark heads of the security guards. They formed a line, like ants, trudging back to the barracks near the north beach. She followed them, aware that her movements seemed to be controlled by her thoughts alone.

  Inside the security building, her father stood clutching the back of a chair as if to hold himself up. He looked thin and pale, and his hands trembled against the vinyl backing of the seat. His fingers made deep indents in the cushion.

  When the guards had assembled in front of him, their heads bowed, he asked one simple question. His tone was controlled, even, and his voice low. “Where is my daughter?”

  Zeke lifted his head, though he didn’t meet his employer’s gaze. Mara felt as though she was hovering between the two men, and she sensed their emotions. Zeke was angry at the intruders, disappointed in his team and a little bit afraid of Thanatos. Her father was steeped in pure rage; no other emotion clouded his mind except the overwhelming necessity for revenge.

  “She was taken, sir.” Zeke’s emotions weighed heavier on the side of fear now. Mara wondered how she knew that. “She may have been injured.”

  Injured?

  She tried to remember what had happened on the beach. A bullet had hit her, but she felt no pain now. Was she dead? Is that why she was here with her father and yet felt no emotions other than bland curiosity?

  Thanatos sagged. He had never been a tall man, even in his youth, but years of failing health and worry had shrunk his frame. His shoulders bowed. “Injured? Or killed?”

  “Sir, if she were dead, I doubt the intruders would have taken her with them. I’ve got men gearing up one of our boats to search for her, but…”

  Thanatos looked up, but his eyes didn’t seem to focus. “But what?”

  “Whoever they were, they went underwater. They may have had a submersible waiting a few yards off shore.”

  “She could be anywhere by now.”

  “We’re going to monitor all radio bands. We expect a ransom demand.”

  Thanatos sank again. One of the guards helped him to sit in the chair. His greatest fear had come true. Mara hovered near her father, wondering if there was some way she could comfort him and let him know she was all right—yet, she wasn’t sure herself if she was all right.

  Though she felt nothing, she considered how wrong this had turned out. She’d never wanted her father to b
elieve she’d been kidnapped. She’d never wanted him to suffer like this.

  She tried to reach out to him, to reassure him, but at that moment, a cold pressure seemed to flood the empty space where her body should have been. The clarity of the images that surrounded her faded and blurred, and her father’s voice reached her from a great distance.

  “I want her found. No one sleeps until she’s been found.”

  As her father’s voice faded to a distant echo, Mara gasped. Her lungs filled with warm air, lungs that hadn’t existed a moment ago. A searing pain descended with her next ragged inhalation, and she screamed, flailing at the large pair of hands that held her down.

  “You’re all right, Mara! You’re all right now.” Tiran’s face swam into focus above her. He cradled her in his arms, shielding her body from the bright sunlight that beat down on them.

  She struggled to sit up, but he held her against him, rocking her to soothe her fear.

  “What happened? Where are we?” she managed to ask when her breathing returned to normal. She glanced at her left shoulder, where the white-hot pain radiated down into her chest and her arm. She’d been shot!

  “We’re on a neighboring island—a deserted one. We’re alone and you’re safe here. It’s morning.”

  “I’m bleeding—”

  “Not for long. I revived you, now I’m going to heal your wound.”

  Panic gripped her. “Revived me? I died?” The faint memories of her father talking to the security guards seemed like a distant dream. The details that had been so clear slipped away piece by piece. “How?”

  “You drowned. I had to take you below the water to escape the men on the island. It was only for an instant. Then we morphed into the air, and I brought you here. You were dead when we rematerialized.”

  Tiran’s voice was tight, hollow. He’d tried to save her and ended up killing her—if only temporarily. She lifted one hand to caress his face.

  He kissed her palm. “I’m sorry. It should not have happened, but combined with the shock of your wound… Poseidon should have protected you. He knew the bullets would not hurt him.”

  Mara shook her head. Though the pain made her weak, she wanted to reassure Tiran before she passed out. “It’s all right. The guards shouldn’t have fired at him. But Tiran…I have to…I have to…”

  Blackness engulfed her. This time, she felt nothing and saw nothing as she sank into oblivion.

  * * * *

  On the tiny island, Tiran nodded with satisfaction at the shelter he’d constructed. From all angles, it looked like a pile of boulders, windswept and moss-covered. No human would look twice at it, nor would most Atlanteans—those who bothered to venture above the waves. He’d never built a shelter above the sea before, and his greatest concern was not that it wouldn’t stand against the unforgiving elements, but that Poseidon might be led by his curiosity to investigate and find Mara recovering inside.

  Since he’d brought her here to tend her wound, Tiran had not returned to the city. He expected that his brother and father would both know he was with Mara. It didn’t matter, though. He had no intention of leaving her.

  Once he’d placed the final concealing touches on the outside of the shelter, he let himself back inside through a hidden doorway and found his patient asleep, just as he’d left her.

  She stirred as he settled himself next to the soft bed he’d created. Her eyes fluttered open, gray as a stormy sky and suddenly full of fear. He put his hand on her shoulder where her wound had been.

  “You’re safe. But you need to rest.”

  Her gaze fell to his hand, spread on the perfect expanse of skin next to her collarbone. “What happened?”

  “I healed you. My people can rearrange molecules and change their form. I scattered the damaged cells throughout your body and drew healthy ones from other areas. That’s why you must sleep. Your body is repairing those scattered cells.”

  She nodded, though confusion remained in her eyes. “Where are we?”

  “I built a shelter on the island. No one will see us. You can rest here as long as you need to.”

  “I need to get back to my father. He must think I’ve been kidnapped.”

  Tiran sat back and blinked. After all she had gone through to escape her captivity, why would she want to return? “It’s too soon to go anywhere. You need to complete the healing process.”

  “Then I need to get a message to him and let him know I’m all right.”

  “Soon, but not now.”

  “Tiran—”

  He pushed her back down when she tried to rise. A visible wave of fatigue washed over her, and she slumped into the cushions he’d created. “When you’re well enough to stand, we’ll talk more. Sleep now.”

  She obeyed, though Tiran was certain it was only because she didn’t have the strength to do otherwise.

  While she slept, he settled into a chair to watch her and thought of all the evenings he’d observed her on the beach. From the first moment he saw her, flushed with sexual excitement, windblown and wild, he’d been entranced. It amazed him how her beauty now, relaxed and innocent in a dreamless sleep, surpassed his fantasies of her. If she were Atlantean, he would have chosen her as his mate long ago. But he chose her now, and vowed to do whatever was necessary to give her everything she desired.

  * * * *

  The next time Mara awoke, she felt better than she ever had. She barely remembered the pain of her wound, though a stab of guilt attacked her when she thought of her father and how worried he must be about her.

  She sat up and took in her surroundings. The room had sand-colored walls that seemed to shimmer with flecks of mother-of-pearl, as though they’d been fashioned of crushed seashells. The floor looked the same, as did the furniture: a free-form bed that perfectly fit the contours of her body, and a chair, also with only a barely recognizable shape.

  She wore only her cover-up, which skimmed her tingling skin as she rose and tested the stability of her legs.

  A warm hand caressed her shoulder. She backed up into Tiran’s embrace.

  “You’re awake. I hope you’re feeling rested.”

  “I feel fine. Thank you.”

  She turned in his arms, liking the feel of his muscled chest under her hands and his hard thighs pressed against hers. His hand fell to her waist and he pulled her hips against his. With only the thin material of her cover-up between them, she might as well have been naked. Despite her confusion, her body immediately responded to him, and she remembered the needs she’d set aside for so long.

  “Are you hungry? I can prepare some food.”

  She shook her head. She was hungry, but that could wait. At the moment, there was something she wanted more. “Tiran, why did you attack Poseidon?”

  His blue eyes darkened and his chest swelled beneath her hands. “He knew I wanted you. He should not have touched you.”

  “I wanted it to be you. All the while he was…touching me, I wanted it to be you.”

  His lips curved in a grudging grin and his hand slipped down to caress the curve of her bottom. The intimate touch caused another immediate response. She parted her thighs and let his leg slip between them so she could feel the power of his muscular thigh. She squeezed her legs around his and arched up, needing his lips on hers.

  He obliged her wordless request and took her mouth, drawing her tongue against his. He tasted salty and sweet and she drank him in, reveling in his heat. When she sank against him, he held her up. She moaned as he stripped away the cover-up with one hand and pressed herself against him.

  “Is this your fantasy?” he asked when he came up for air.

  She felt his erection pressing into her thigh and nodded. “There’s a lot more to my fantasy than this.”

  “Show me.”

  She pulled him toward the bed and they fell into the soft curves of the unusual mattress. It formed to their bodies, and Mara felt as though she were cradled in air, perfectly protected with Tiran’s powerful form stretched above he
r.

  He kissed her as his hands roamed her body, exploring every inch of exposed skin. With feather-light pressure, his fingertips danced over her breasts, her belly, and the soft hair at the juncture of her thighs, teasing her. He followed the gentle exploration of his hands with his lips, tasting her wherever her flesh ached from his touch.

  When she lay panting, the moisture from his hot kisses evaporating to a tingle on her thighs, he became more demanding with his touch. He pressed his hand between her legs, massaging her pulsing clit in a rhythm that matched the pounding of her heart. At the same time, he lowered his mouth to her aching nipples and sucked one, then the other, until the answering pressure in her sex brought her to a throbbing orgasm. She moaned again as the pulsing of her inner muscles also matched the beat of her heart. Her body tensed, and she held on to the edge for a moment before the wave of incredible sensation washed over her.

  She reached for him as she came, impatient to feel him inside her. Immediately, he obliged, pushing apart her legs and sinking himself into her willing body.

  “He would not have given you this…” Tiran whispered in her ear as he filled her with a thrust that made her cry out for more.

  On a long inward stroke, he seated himself to the hilt and held there, letting her feel the hot length of him. When he began to move with quick, forceful thrusts, she gasped.

  “He would have used you and cast you aside.”

  Mara nodded. She didn’t need Tiran to tell her that Poseidon was a liar. Her own desperate need to get away and have a life that didn’t hinge on her father’s political mistakes had led her to trust Tiran’s brother when she shouldn’t have. “You won’t…you won’t leave me, will you?”

  At that moment, the future didn’t matter to her. All she cared about was the moment that built between them. She clutched his shoulders and brought her hips up to meet his demanding thrusts.

  “I’ll never leave you.”

  She believed him. She came again, shuddering against him and crying out when his cock surged once more. He filled her, pulsing into her and rocking her into the depths of the soft bed.