Once a Myth

More like rotten hate.

Sully had trapped me here; he’d shown me the cosmos and surrounded me with Eden…all for one purpose.

To use, abuse, and ultimately destroy me.

I cried silently for a while.

I let the liquid tracks dry into sticky salt, and then I heard a female laugh.

For the first time since arriving, I was in the presence of women.

Normally, I’d run to them. I’d find solace in my sex and spill my entire tale. I’d ask them to help me escape, to band together and kill the men who thought they were boss, but these weren’t just any women.

They were goddesses.

They were his.

So I’d faded into the undergrowth and waited.

I watched as three stunning girls appeared with a bottle of champagne, cocktails, and the intention of indulging in a private party on the beach.

They moved with grace and freedom, totally content with their place in this strange paradise. They laughed and joked, their voices low and sensual. No shyness or body issues as one danced naked in her see-through dressing gown, and two stood sumptuously in tiny bikinis.

All were about my age or slightly older. One had dark hair, one fair, and the other skin so dark she blended into the night. They might never have met if they didn’t have one thing in common.

Ownership.

To Sully.

As they clinked glasses and swirled in the moonlight, I deliberated on what I should do.

Leave?

Stay?

Watch or grant them privacy?

I couldn’t decide, so I inched deeper into the undergrowth, turning into a spy. A spy who hoped by doing something dirty like eavesdropping, she might find a key to escape.

For a while, I couldn’t make out what they said. Their voices pitched low and interspersed with laughter. They seemed so carefree and loose. As if they’d never suffered stress or pain. As if they’d grown so accustomed to this life that they couldn’t imagine anything else remotely acceptable.

Slowly, the alcohol added volume to their conversation, and sex inevitably became a subject. Goosebumps scattered down my arms as the dark one muttered, “I’ve only got six months left. When I first arrived, I would’ve put a bullet in my brain to be free. Now…” She sighed dramatically. “Now, I’d give anything to have that man put something else inside me.”

The two pealed into knowing giggles.

The blonde one fanned her face as if she suffered heatstroke all of a sudden. “When I’m in Euphoria, I pretend it’s him. I mean…it could be. You never know.”

“Oh, yes.” The brunette swooned. “I’ve often pictured him. I don’t want to leave without knowing what it would be like…just once.”

The ebony girl tapped her on the shoulder. “Imagine slipping him elixir.” Her lips spread into a Cheshire cat grin. “All three of us could have him. There’d be more than enough to go around.”

The blonde spun in a circle, sloshing her fourth cocktail onto the sand. “Oh, can you picture it? He’s so suave and cool toward us. So tightly controlled. I bet you that’s not how he’d be with elixir running in his veins.”

“He’d be an animal.”

“Worse,” the brunette said seriously. “He’d be a demon.”

“A demon who can curse me any day.”

The trio laughed again, but their mirth was tinged with want.

Sully told the truth.

He’d been blatantly honest about these women wanting to bed him, all because they flourished in his captivity rather than suffocated.

I didn’t understand.

How did any of this make sense?

Sure, he was good looking, but come on, have some damn respect!

Unable to listen to any more of their nonsense, I looked out to sea once again. I rubbed at my throat when I found it hard to swallow their gossip, then massaged my chest as my heart pounded with fear that one day I might be like them.

I might drink from the poisoned well and somehow have my morals and self-worth stripped, leaving me a horny, helpless woman, who daydreamed about a monster who ought to be shot.

No.

That won’t happen.

I won’t let it.

My gaze danced over the sapphire stars bouncing off the tide. A blot of darkness just out of sight hinted something broke the surface and prevented mirroring galaxies.

A boat perhaps?

No, too small.

A buoy?

What does it matter?

The night had turned late, and no one had commanded I ‘entertain’. I didn’t have to hide anymore. All I wanted to do was return to my villa, lock the door, and hope that sleep could take me far, far away from here.

Closing my eyes, I sent a fervent plea to continue having strength and never forget who I was—so I didn’t turn into a clone of the girls teasing each other on the beach—then searched for a quiet way out of the bushes.

Ferns traced soft fronds along my naked arms as I backtracked. My feet welcomed the cushiony sand as I left the shadows and—

“Hey, Neptune…look.” The quick command of a tipsy goddess wrenched my head up. She sounded so eager, so awed.

“Is that….Ooh, my God. It is.” The brunette who I assumed was called Neptune shuddered dramatically. “Do you think he heard us?”

The dark-skinned girl smirked. “Doubt it. Unless he has sonar like a whale.”

“He spends enough time in the sea, who knows what talents he has.”

Neptune giggled. “With his flair for science, I wouldn’t put it past him to formulate a pill to give him gills or fins or—”

“The ability to fuck one of us on the ocean floor?”

“Calico, seriously.” The blonde flicked her a stern look. “Must you always be so crude?”

I raised an eyebrow at her sudden propriety, only to sigh in disgust as her stern look gave way to a lewd grin. “I bag the first sea sex!” She stabbed her forehead with her thumb, staking her claim. “I’ve never been with a merman.”

“And you won’t…because those don’t exist.” Neptune laughed.

“Hey, Sullivan is a myth all by himself, so he could be. I like mythical creatures.”

“God, you’re so annoying, Jupiter. I bag first with the man-mermaid!” Calico launched at her, spilling a glass of champagne and barely noticing a staff member as she dashed forward to refill.

“You know…if he can breathe underwater and we can’t, he’ll have to keep us alive while fucking us.” Jupiter swooned dramatically, ducking out of Calico’s reach. “His kiss wouldn’t just be erotic…it would be the only thing keeping us from dying.”

“God, you’re such a dreamer.” Calico smirked.

“Hush, both of you. He’s almost onshore.” Neptune pressed her finger to her lips. “Let’s not embarrass ourselves, ladies.”

The harem all nodded importantly.

Their giggles faded, but the lusty glow on their cheeks didn’t. As one, they turned to watch the figure silently prowling from the ocean. If eagerness could claim ownership over another and staring could force someone to do their bidding, Sully Sinclair would’ve been a slave to his very possessions the moment he appeared from his swim.

Lucky for him, the girls had no way of making him follow through with their fantasies and could only watch as water sluiced down a flawlessly masculine body, hunger for the impressive bulge between his legs, hidden demurely in black board-shorts, and lick their lips at the effortless power of flexing muscles, strong sinew, and the impressive aura of a man who knew he was above anyone.