Once a Myth

I shrugged, cursing him for making me responsible for her passing out, all while I wished I could blame someone else. But really, the problem was entirely my fault. She’d arrived, I’d force-fed the elixir so her only concern for the rest of the day had been sexual hunger rather than bodily starvation, and then exhaustion sucked her deep with no reprieve.

I should’ve ensured she’d eaten, or at the very least had something to drink the moment she stepped out of her room. Instead, she’d picked a fight with me, ensured my guests witnessed our unsightly domestic, and then had the audacity to keep standing up to me when all I wanted was some space to think. Some understanding of why I found this woman so goddamn enticing.

She wasn’t special.

Sure, she was gorgeous but so were my other goddesses.

Why did she have the power to make my blood boil and cock pound?

Why did she make me struggle to remain human when all I wanted to do was ravage the fuck out of her?

“She needs nutrition, Sinclair. Urgently.” He moved toward a cupboard holding countless drawers. Each drawer hid something barbaric: needles, scalpels, and other tricks of the medical trade.

Withdrawing a syringe, he said, “I can give her something intravenously. At least it will kick-start her system.” His eyes hardened. “But you need to feed this woman if you want her to be strong enough to serve you.”

Nodding once, I let him busy himself with fluids and medicine. Turning away, I swiped on my phone and called Calvin.

Like always, he answered by the second ring. Punctual, polite, ready to please. “Hey. What do you need?”

“A smoothie. Get the kitchen to make something with as many vitamins and minerals as they can stuff inside a liquid lunch. Bring it to the surgery immediately. Then get them to cook a meal with every vegetable and fruit we have on this damn island. Take it to Jinx’s room in thirty minutes. Got it?”

“Got it.” He hung up.

I swiped a hand through my hair, tucking my phone back into my pocket. My eyes drifted once again to Eleanor, expecting to see her out cold, only to lock eyes with the condemning grey gaze of a woman who survived entirely on hate and fury.

“Ah, you’re awake.” Dr Campbell smiled down at her, the needle he’d been about to puncture her with poised like a tiny harpoon. “How are you feeling?”

Her gaze snapped from mine, to the doctor, around the room, then locked onto the syringe. She jack-knifed up so fast, her forehead hit the doctor’s chin, causing both of them to recoil with a groan.

The gurney creaked, and her hair fell around her face, hiding her from me as she pressed shaking hands to her eyes and weaved weakly on the raised platform.

The doctor recovered before her, ensuring the needle was still sterile and hadn’t touched anything. Placing it delicately into the stainless-steel tray on the bedside table, he waited until she swallowed, shook her head, and dropped her hands before saying gently, “You fainted. You’re okay. I’m Jim Campbell, and I’ve been taking care of you while you were unconscious.” He smiled with his perfect patient manner. “Your blood pressure is very low, but I hope, once you eat, you should feel right as rain.”

Eleanor swallowed again, throwing me a filthy look before looking gratefully at the doctor. “I agree. I know I’m dehydrated and overly hungry. I wanted to eat hours ago, but…” She snorted, glowering at me. “Things delayed me.”

“Yes, well. You can’t be ignoring meals again. It’s a detriment to your health.” He stared pointedly at the syringe. “I can give you something to replace the minerals that you’re lacking, a boost as it were. Would you like it?”

She shook her head so fast, she almost passed out again. “No. No more drugs against my will.”

“It’s not a drug, but I understand.” He moved the needle away. “Are there any underlying conditions you have? Any medicines you should be taking that perhaps you don’t have access to in your new…eh, employment?”

She once again glared at me, the grey of her gaze crackling with lightning in raging storm clouds. “No. I’m fine. I’m normally perfectly healthy.” She turned to look at the doctor again, saying harshly, “However, being stolen, sold, and then tormented by that man lurking in the corner hasn’t exactly been productive to my mental or physical well-being.”

I hid a cold chuckle behind a cough. “If you think Dr Campbell isn’t aware of what goes on in this place, think again.”

Campbell flushed. “Just because I know doesn’t mean—”

“You’re compensated accordingly.” I pushed off from the cupboards. “Now that Jinx is awake, let’s discuss her health check and birth control.”

“I think the exam can wait, don’t you?” He sniffed with as much attitude he dare give me. “Let the poor girl eat and rest. We can book in the examination in a couple of days.”

A couple of days?

Well, there went the scenario of putting her straight to work.

I could already taste the disappointment of my guests.

“Stop talking about me as if I’m not sitting right here,” Eleanor snapped. “And for your information, I don’t need an exam. I had a sexual health update five months ago before…before I began a relationship with my boyfriend.” Her eyes narrowed to daggers, hiding her grief. “I was clean. And as far as birth control goes, I opted for the IUD that lasts five years. With travelling around the world, I didn’t want to bother with popping pills and struggling to find the same brand in different cities, so don’t you dare get pumping me with things I don’t need. Don’t overdose me when I’ve swallowed my pride and told you everything you need to know. And don’t you dare stick anything inside me. I’ve already been subjected to that by the traffickers who sent me to you.”

My hands balled at the thought of her treatment before becoming mine. I never asked what the men did to the women I purchased, and hearing it from Eleanor, I didn’t like it. I didn’t like knowing she’d been violated.

You violated her, you bastard.

Yeah, but that was different. I might torment her, but I had boundaries…even if they were flexible and threatening to break around her.

At least, she was clean and immune to the nasty disease of pregnancy. Once she fortified her system with food, she could be capable of working tonight.

No reason I should delay cashing in on her bottomless value.

But did I trust her word? Should I rent her out tonight? Or should I allow her at least a few days to acclimatise before giving her to someone else?

A stab of white-hot jealousy caught me completely unaware.

That emotion was foreign to me. I hadn’t felt the thorns of green-eyed covetousness since I was a fucking teenager losing my virginity to my older brother’s ex. Even as I’d filled her, I’d been jealous knowing other men had fucked her.

The envy had only lasted two weeks before I’d realised that there was nothing to be jealous of. That girls weren’t important enough to pine over. That I had much better things to concern myself with.

I scowled and killed any shred of possessiveness I felt toward this inconvenience and highly fucking dangerous goddess. Just because of my reaction to her, I would make her work. Shit, I’d work her harder than any of my other girls.