Page 18

Evelyn

“ D ru, your brother.” I frown, “Kai, are you alright?” I grip his face in my hands, forcing him to make eye contact. His lids are heavy and hooded with lust, “Focus, Kai.”

“I don’t know who you’re talking about,” he leans in to kiss me, but I push him away.

Just a few moments ago he was tumbling through a tidal wave of emotions during the ceremony. I saw it in his face while he inspected all of the men on the beach. I assumed we wouldn’t be running off to this cave together if he had found his brother.

I know everyone deals with grief in different ways, but this feels different. Wrong somehow.

This island is full of mysteries, one being the Elder flower that allows mere mortals to breathe underwater. But this feels too strange, forgetting an entire person, his brother, nonetheless.

We can’t just stay here exploring each other’s bodies further. I have to figure out what’s going on.

“Kai, you have a brother. His name was Dru, remember? You sailed into the storms looking for him. Your ship wrecked, I saved you. We…had a moment. There was a boulder. And a forest. And another few moments in a bedroom. Does any of this ring a bell?” I look at him for any signs that he might be joking.

A hysterical laugh caught in my throat threatens to escape.

“Oh, I remember the beach. And you. And the forest. And my room.” He says, grinning like a cat who just caught the canary. “But I don’t know anything about this brother you’re talking about.”

“Dru, your brother, the man who’s in line to take over your father's company,” I practically shout, the noise reverberating off the glowing walls. “Yesterday. Do you remember yesterday?”

“Sure, we were on the beach.” He swims closer to me, locking his arms around my waist and pulling me into his chest. “And I remember tasting every ounce of your pleasure.”

The memory of our very public moment on the beach has heat throbbing in my core. My mouth begins to water at the thought of his wicked one and all the things he can do with it. Get an actual grip, Evelyn, this is serious.

“There will be time for more of that later,” I shake off the daydream and any thoughts of letting this man have his way with me on the cave floor. “Do you remember anything before that? The day before? Last week? Last month? Kai, where are you from? Can you at least tell me that?”

A look of curiosity, then arrogance, and confusion crosses his face while he contemplates my barrage of questions. He looks like he can’t quite decide which to answer first, hoping it’s not because he doesn’t have an answer to any of them.

“I am from…somewhere that’s not here. Last week I was…” He frowns, and his eyes are distant, searching.

My heart catches in my throat, and I know my instincts were correct. Something is very wrong. I begin swimming to the edge, needing a moment to stand on solid ground. We need to get back to camp. Someone has to know what’s wrong with Kai.

I lift myself onto the ledge, and my tail glimmers and begins to take the shape of two scaled human legs.

I love my tail and the rush of using it to explore the ocean, but when I’m on land with two legs, I feel more myself—like the real me.

I stare down at the shimmer of my scales while all of my thoughts sort themselves out in my brain.

My first thought of who might know what's happening to Kai is my sister, Katarina. She has to know, and she won’t hold back.

There have been times when I’ve asked the Elders about the magic of the island, our ceremonies, and the storms. They never give me a real answer, calling me a foolish girl with my head stuck in the waves.

But Katarina, she will tell me what is going on, I know it.

“Kai, let’s go back to camp. I think you need some rest.” And I want some answers, I don’t say that bit, knowing he won't care right now.

Kai lazily makes his way to shore, testing his skills at breathing underwater and spiking my irritation with his genuine disinterest. I wait by the edge, one moment away from screaming.

He seems only interested in one thing now—me.

And as much as I am enjoying having his full attention, I have to know what’s going on.

Has this ever happened before? Maybe it has, and I’ve just never paid enough attention.

Thinking back, years and years ago, before we began the Elder flower weekly rituals, the men seemed restless.

They were always pacing the beaches and building boats.

We lost so many men in their attempts to leave the island and outrun the storm.

No one can outrun the storm, not even the ocean’s most powerful beings. Not even me.

I remember feeling their pain and wanting to leave just as deeply as they did.

They had homes to go back to, lives, and families who missed them.

I just longed to leave this prison paradise and see the rest of the world.

Still, I helped them craft ships and stocked their supplies for the long journey home, but none of them made it out alive.

The storm was angry at our defiance. It swept the sailors under massive waves in the blink of an eye, dragging them to a watery grave, and the last thing they heard was our siren’s song trying to save them.

As the years passed and we started sharing more of the island with our shipwrecked sailors, they started to settle in. Fewer and fewer of them wanted to leave. They began enjoying life here, enjoying us and our traditions, especially the pleasurable ones.

My heart broke for each man who was dragged down to the bottom of the sea. For each man who admitted defeat and gave into his new life here. For each man who would look upon us with lust and love in his eyes, all the while knowing he would never be able to go home.

Take away all the trappings and dressings, and this place is nothing more than a cell.

My jail cell, and somehow with Kai, I thought it could be different, but maybe he’s just like all of the rest of them. Willing to get swept up in the magic of this place and forget his grief and his responsibilities.

Kai finally gets to the edge of the cave and lifts himself onto the ledge.

I reach for his hand, already feeling more stable and steady with his calloused palm in mine, and help him out of the water.

I gasp as he embraces me, lightly kissing my lips.

As much as I seem to be the only one of us who wants to find the answers right now, I know deep down, he wants to find them too.

Looking into his eyes, all I see is adoration for me. I let out a small sigh and let the kiss linger, reveling in this feeling. Allowing myself this moment of holding onto this lust, this possession, this caring that I have for him.

Kai deepens the kiss and slides his tongue into my mouth.

He grips the back of my head, exposing my neck, and begins to trail kisses along my neck, nipping my ear, and worshiping me.

I can feel myself melting into his touch and reaching for this insatiable feeling.

His hand slides up my waist and moves to untie my top—I let him.

Feeling so out of control already, our skin presses together, and his chest is wet and cool from the water.

He’s hard in all the right places and I can’t help but tug the buttons at his waistband, allowing his cock to spring free.

I grip it at the base, and he hisses in response.

Pre-cum is already beading at his head, and I swirl my thumb around it, spreading it along his length.

The scent of him fills my nose, and I moan because it smells so good, like earth and honey.

His teeth nip at one of my nipples, and I rasp out as fiery pleasure thrills through me.

He cups my ass, squeezing, urging me closer, until he finally lifts me onto his hips and slides me down onto his waiting length.

“Oh, Gods!” I groan out, and Kai gives a low rumble of approval.

“Always so wet for me, my precious Dahlia.”

His words do something blissful to me, as he pins me against the cave wall and pumps into me. With each glide of his dick into my wet heat my body clenches and the pleasure builds.

“Kai,” I moan out his name, and suddenly he stops. “What? Why did you stop?”

“Beg for me,” his voice is low.

“W–what?” I say breathless.

“Beg for me to fuck you.”

Who is this man? He is so gentle and kind, but the moment we’re alone, his mouth, his demands, the way he owns my pleasure.

“Beg, siren,” he growls, and I can feel the vibration all the way to my sex.

“P–please,” I stammer, desperate for more.

“Say my name.” He holds me perfectly still and I move my hips, needing to ride his cock. “Ah,” he squeezes my hips so I can’t move onto him anymore. “Not until you beg and call out my name.”

I’m swollen and dripping with his cock resting inside of me and I can’t move, can’t do anything to find my climax. But why am I so aroused by this?

“Please, Kai, fuck me.”

He slams into me, and I almost come right there.

He’s crazed, hungry, and I can’t get enough.

Our moans and gasps rise up, echoing around us through the cavern, and I ride the pulsing, tingling, building ecstasy with each wonderful thrust. Waves of pleasure wrack through my body and I can feel Kai begin to tense, and we both find our release.

It is so beautiful, the most wonderful thing I’ve ever experienced.

Resting my forehead against Kai’s, the waves of regret for wasting more time begin to slam into me. I think I’m falling in love with him. I can’t ever admit this to anyone, but I can feel it. What would happen if I did?

With achingly painful slowness, Kai pulls himself out of me and sets me down.

He grins as if he’s not done and wants nothing more than to stay here and fuck me all day, but enough distractions.

It’s time to get answers. We gather our clothes, and he can’t stop stealing glances in my direction, hunger still in his eyes.