Third a Kiss
She twitched at her real name. She’d have to get used to it again.
“Monsters are the ones who die, not the ones who end up happily ever after.” She crossed her arms. “Stop fooling yourself. We never loved you. We despised you. And now that you’re letting us go…I can be honest with myself about that. Whatever I felt for you. Whatever your bloody elixir made me do…I hate you.”
I bowed, low and mocking. “I don’t care what you think of me, Lucy Hall. Just remember to keep your thoughts hidden from your family. Otherwise, your freedom will be very short-lived.”
I left before I could wrap my fingers around her throat and finish what I started. Maybe Jupiter would be the first to be exterminated after her freedom had been granted. I didn’t trust her. Then again, I didn’t trust any of the girls I released. I kept them under strict surveillance after they went home. Just like I kept surveillance on all the families who adopted the rescued animals I’d nursed back to health.
My mother had taught me that lesson.
Pretend you trust them…but never ever be so fucking stupid.
“Goodbye, Sullivan…and thank you,” Neptune murmured just as the door closed on two girls who were no longer my elixir impassioned goddesses.
Thank you?
What a sad, misplaced phrase.
I didn’t deserve thank you.
I didn’t deserve anything, and that was why it hurt so fucking much wanting Eleanor.
I wanted her…but in my heart, I knew I couldn’t have her.
How could I?
When I revelled in the misery of others.
When I put creatures above humans.
When I refused to change who I was.
* * * * *
To: 89082gmail
From: S.Sinclairgoddessisles
Subject: Three staff required
Hello,
I seem to require more housekeepers due to a restructure in my property portfolio. All I ask is they’re young enough to work hard, diligent, and obedient. At your soonest convenience.
Hitting the enter button, I dug my elbows into the desk. Pinching the bridge of my nose, I tried to squeeze out the headache I’d had since draining my system dry thanks to elixir. My lungs still felt odd from inhaling so much water. I overall needed a reboot from the shit in my system.
I meant to email Peter Beck and his team of scientists to potentially scale back its potency. It was never meant to be a date rape drug on steroids. More like better stimulation than Viagra. To make the user beg to be fucked but not be so out of their mind they’d literally choose death if it meant the nightmare could be over.
I’d almost drowned thanks to its obsession.
If Jinx hadn’t pulled me from the bottom of Nirvana, I would be dead, and she’d be free.
And what had I done?
Stuck my cock inside her the moment I could breathe again.
Goddammit.
Raking both hands through my hair, I peeked at my overcrowded inbox. One a.m. and I’d done my best to clear new bookings for guest stays, read complicated in-depth text on another scientific recipe Beck wanted to try, and go over invoices for the copious amount of animal feed I brought in each week for Serigala.
The words blurred.
I’d done my best to stay busy, so I didn’t find myself at Jinx’s door, ignoring the fact that she was sore, I was sore, and stuffing my body back inside hers before we were fully healed was not recommended.
But I’d gone past sex and become delirious with exhaustion.
Pika zipped into my office, his black eyes beady with temper.
The second he landed on my keyboard, he stomped around like the mini dictator he was, cawing and carrying on like a madman. “Sleep. Tired, Pika!”
I groaned, scratching at my longer chin-stubble from not trimming for a few days. “Came to get me, huh? Don’t like sleeping alone?”
He puffed up, eyeing the letter Z and launching at it with his sharp beak.
“Oh, no you don’t.” Picking him up like a fuzzy tennis ball, I kept him cupped in my hand, letting him grumble and growl. “Fine. I’m tired too. We’ll go.”
With my free hand, I went to turn off my laptop.
A reply arrived from my goddess request.
Huh, that’s strange.
To: S.Sinclairgoddessisles
From: 89082gmail
Subject: Re: Three staff required
Your email has bounced due to an incorrect address.
Please check and try again.
First, they advised their operation was on hold.
Now, their address was no longer operational?
Chills darted down my spine.
Either they’d had a complete change of ethics…or they’d been caught. By the police? By a disgruntled client?
Either way, my encrypted internet would protect my location, but I wouldn’t take any chances.
Doing a search on their email address, I deleted every single trace of communication.
My supermarket of endless goddesses had seemingly shut down.
Now, where would I hunt?
Chapter Fifteen
FOR THE FIRST TIME since arriving, I ate breakfast in a different location to the room-delivered feast on my deck.
As dawn sent eager fingers of light through the sky, I gave up the pretence of sleep and headed for a long shower. I shared the cascading water with two frogs, courting each other on the rocks, catching doomed flies and the odd mosquito with their sticky tongues.
While I shampooed and conditioned, I did my best not to think about Sully. To wonder what he did last night. To try to find him this morning and spend more time with him.
Simple time.
I wanted simple.
I wanted to be two people talking about mundane, normal things…if that’s even possible.
After I rinsed, I stepped from the shower and turned my back on my reflection. I flatly ignored the purple slashes on my throat from a scarf pulled far too tight, and I didn’t bother drying my hair, preferring to leave it loose and long, draped down the back of a simple cotton maxi dress.
No jewellery, no make-up, just me.
Vulnerable but also strong.
Naïve to have fallen for a man I should despise but willing to accept the consequences. Brave enough to embrace the war wounds of disgruntled goddesses to move forward with my life.
The island had a hush about it as I stepped from my villa and padded barefoot toward the Divinity building. The wariness of another attack kept me on my toes as I peered suspiciously into bushes and flinched when Skittles arrived from the golden sky, chirping in welcome and landing weightlessly on my shoulder.
Her presence might be minuscule, but knowing I had a friend who had my back made my steps stride bolder and my skittishness fade. The girls who’d tried to kill me had been released…I hope.
Sully had said he would, and I didn’t see him as a man to break a promise.
I’m safe.
I rolled my eyes as I left the pathway and climbed the decking covered steps of Divinity.
Safe?
How strange that I considered myself safe when women had been kicked off the island—the very same island where men came to fuck drugged goddesses. Not only had my morals leaped off a cliff of comprehension, but it seemed my concept of health and safety had too.
Ah, well.
What difference would it make to my situation if I remained fixated on escape and continued to refuse my feelings toward Sully? It would only make me frustrated, sad, and angry. I couldn’t even lie and say my seduction of Sully was to gain my ultimate release, because the thought of leaving now…that hurt almost as much as the thought of what I’d been bought for.