Fifth a Fury

I wasn’t opposed for Mother Nature to kill off the parasites of mankind, but I also couldn’t stand by if it was in my power to protect someone’s loved one.

Not now.

After falling for Eleanor, she’d ensured I had a deeper well of empathy. Too fucking much really. I couldn’t stop putting myself in other husband’s shoes, watching their wife succumb to infection and disease, knowing I had the resources to at least give a fighting chance for improving people’s odds.

Two, thanks to Eleanor’s flippant remark about using Goddess Isles for couples with marriage problems, I’d asked Cal and Jess to look into how employing a few psychiatrists and counsellors could work and offer a sexual vacation away from the strain of arguments, domestication, and mistakes. I wasn’t interested in opening my shores just yet but possibly in the future.

Euphoria could once again be used. A program redesigned to provide a safe space for couples to unleash their anger and hopefully remember why they loved each other in a virtual reality program away from any stress of reality.

Three, the destruction of elixir in Geneva meant no more of the overly potent, potentially suicidal drug now existed. However, I had been dabbling with another panacea in a flurry of emails with Peter Beck. I still used the aphrodisiac extract from purple orchids but had requested it be mixed with a different formulation.

Peter had finalised the sample batch and finished the initial round of paid testing. Each person who’d taken it—carefully monitored for heart palpitations or overloading of the nervous system—had categorically claimed it was the best stimuli on the market.

I’d tentatively called it Cinta—Indo word for love. I supposed, in a way, I was still trying to rectify my wrongs. Previously, I’d bottled nafsu (lust), but now, I wanted to do the impossible and see if I could use a less potent drug that had the power to cause happiness instead of pain.

All those things had kept my mind busy while my body healed, but I’d kept them a secret for a reason.

I didn’t want Eleanor to think I hadn’t changed or that I still expected certain things from a wife who was no longer a goddess, but...we’d both enjoyed the fantasies. Taking her in that cave and fucking her as I removed my masks had both been highly memorable events.

I didn’t need VR to keep our marriage bed exciting, but I wouldn’t say no to fucking her with wings or chasing her across a prehistoric plain to pin her on all fours and mount.

Eleanor’s breath caught as she noticed the Euphoria boxes laid neatly on the pressed white sheets of her bed. Giving me a quick glance, she darted into the bedroom and picked up the eye lenses. Spinning in place, she held up the box. “I thought Drake took all your supplies to Geneva?”

“Elixir, yes, but not the sensors. I still have supplies here and on Monyet.”

She cocked her head. “Why are they here?”

Closing the distance between us, I placed my carved cane against the bed and took the box from her hands. “I told you once that I dreamed about you. That I saw you well before you were brought to my shores.”

She bit her lip, her gorgeous wedding gown straining around her chest. The shadows of her nipples were darker, hinting, despite her apprehension, she was intrigued and turned on. “What’s that got to do with Euphoria?”

“I want to show you. I want to take you into that dream. I want you to see just how much I loved you when you were a figment of my imagination and understand how fucking grateful I am that you’re real.”

She picked up another box, this one holding the earbud sensors. They weren’t needed for tonight. In fact, no other sensors were needed apart from the eye lenses. I had everything I could ever want with her and had no desire to distort any of it. I wanted to smell her skin and taste her lips. I wanted to feel her when I touched her, and I wanted her voice in my ears as she moaned.

“What about the inability to escape when we’re done? I know falling asleep frees the mind, but...what if something happens, and we need to end sooner?”

“Wise.” I nodded. “I’ve always loved how quick thinking you are, but I’ve taken care of it.”

“You’re saying you’ve done something to the coding?”

Pulling my phone free from my linen trousers, I pulled up the Euphoria app and showed her the new cypher. Lines of text, symbols, and numbers. It wouldn’t make sense to someone who didn’t know programming, but to me it was a back door that would always be permanently ajar.

“Give me your arm.” I held out my hand.

Hesitantly, she obeyed.

My fingers enclosed around her wrist, once again tingling with awareness and heat. Would that ever go away? Could I ever touch this woman and not feel her magic?

Gritting my teeth from my rapidly hardening cock, I drew a small circle around her barcode tattoo.

She shivered, her lips parting for a feathery breath.

“Touch here if you want to exit the illusion. It works like a safe word. A blind spot within the program where if you pinch your inner wrist for three seconds, Euphoria will shut down, and you’ll be freed from the fantasy.”

She swayed into me as I pulled her closer, cupping her nape and tipping her head back.

“Are you sure it’s safe?” Her gaze turned silver with lust.

I ran my lips over her mouth, tasting the sweetness of her and the sin. “I’ve tested it. Last night. Three second pinch and you’re free.”

Pika and Skittles suddenly darted into the room, their antics bringing life and colour while Eleanor and I drowned within darker and darker desires. They fluttered through Eleanor’s hair and nibbled at my ears.

“Go away,” I groaned, wafting at the fiends.

Eleanor laughed quietly. “I think they want to visit Euphoria.”

“Another time perhaps.” I ran my nose over hers. “I’m finding it harder and harder to share you tonight.”

“They’ll be jealous.”

“They’ll survive.”

Pika chirped and Skittles darted to perch in the mosquito net.

They brought meaning and affection to our life. They were more like family than just pets. But right now, they were a nuisance, and I was done waiting to consummate my marriage.

Gathering Eleanor close, I shivered with sexual thirst. “Fuck, I want you.”

“Then take me. Right now.”

I kissed her.

Hard.

She melted into me, allowing me to dictate the speed and depth of my taking. She was submissive yet wild. Responsive but untamed. I wanted to take my time with her. But violence bled through my veins, blending with our new marriage and the weeks of begging my body to heal so I could take her the way she deserved to be taken.

I adored this woman, but I wanted to slander her too.

I wanted to strip her, punish her, splinter her apart, and then fuck her until she screamed.

I wanted to remind her that I was both man and monster in my heart.

Bending my legs, I continued kissing her as we sat on the bed. Breaking the kiss, I grabbed the eye lenses and unscrewed the container. I caught her heated stare. “Do you consent?”

She ran her hands through her hair, making me wait for her answer. Slowly, she stood and grabbed the neckline of her sleeveless dress. Keeping eye contact with me, she tore the fragile linen, slicing at the tightness and stepping out of the full skirt, naked and fucking beautiful. Her diamond anklet sparkled around her leg, golden sand clung to her toes, and the willowy power of her body scattered my heart with warning that this woman was still my ultimate curse.