by Ella Miles
He keeps my hands pulled back. My legs are spread for him, and my ass is his for the taking. I feel his cock so hard at my back entrance.
He puts his hand in front of my lips. “Spit.”
I do, watching his eyes eat the sight of me. I hear him coat himself with my saliva.
One of his hands grips my hair, the other my wrists, and his cock pushes against my asshole.
His lips find my ear. “I love you, but I need to punish you. Your lips are mine.”
“You are such a bastard. You’re just trying to find an excuse to fuck my ass,” I say back.
His lips cover mine, but he doesn’t kiss me. “You know I am.” For a second, his face lightens as he winks at me, just for me, not for whoever could be spying on us from the dozens of ships nearby. Kai and Enzo have loyal employees, but I don’t doubt that one of them is working for Julian or Bishop, and they’re taking pictures to report.
When Zeke removes his face from mine, his eyes have darkened again. It looks likes he’s taking from me, raping me, even though he’s giving me everything he has. I know when we get to the privacy of the bedroom, he will kiss me sweetly and make me come with his tongue, but this is what is needed now. A show for Bishop. An angry fuck for us.
And then he pushes inside, squeezing his large cock inside my ass, stretching me so damn wide.
“No!” I scream, because it’s fucking fun to pretend. Thankfully, Julian isn’t in my head. The pain drove him from my mind.
My eyes water for real as he pushes into me, claiming me in a new way. But then one of his hands sneaks between my legs, one finger teasing my clit and another sliding into my pussy. It feels so incredibly delicious. I’ve never felt more connected to him, more like his than I do now.
“You like that, baby?” Zeke growls his voice torn between the truth and the lie.
“No,” I strain back, my teeth tightly grinding together.
There is a flash of worry in Zeke’s eyes, so I make mine extra wild to show I’m acting. We should have come up with a safeword.
His jaw ticks as he studies me, finally realizing the truth.
“I’m going to fuck you so hard you won’t even dare look at another man.”
I nod, and he makes good on his threat.
He fucks and thrusts and pushes so hard that I feel like I’m going to burst.
“I hate these damn names on your neck,” Zeke says after a dozen thrusts.
He grabs a shard of glass and slices through my skin, making it look worse for the cameras, but I love him for crossing out the names, his included.
“You belong to yourself, but I hope you freely give yourself to me over and over.”
“I do,” I say, my finger twisting my wedding ring behind my back so Zeke can see.
And then we both come. His is a ferocious growl of taking what he wants. Mine is a cry of being claimed. Both are an act of love. An act I hope we repeat over and over again.
26
Zeke
I don’t know how to react when I’m done fucking Siren. I want to wrap her in my arms and never let her go. But that isn’t what I should be doing for Bishop’s little bitch of a spy watching us.
For him, I should spank Siren’s ass and drag her kicking and screaming to my room. I don’t want that kiss with Enzo to go to waste. I don’t want anything to get in the way of Bishop fixing Siren. I need her whole. I need her brain clear of his thoughts and commands.
If Siren is going to listen to a man, I want it to be me, not that that is likely either. Siren will always be in control of her own life. I will always be chasing after her, hoping I’m enough for her.
But right now, I have to take the lead. So I grab one of Siren’s wrists and yank her away from the piano. She tries to smooth her dress down, but I pull her tightly to my body until she is no longer thinking about her dress. She’s only thinking about me.
Siren looks at me like I’m her whole world, and I smirk internally. How did she trick me into so many lies for so long? She’s horrible at this acting thing. It’s plain as day that Siren is in love with me, even now.
Then, I’m pulling Siren down the stairs to our bedroom. I yank her inside and throw the door shut before kissing her hard against the door.
She gasps like I’m stealing all of her oxygen.
I moan like she’s stealing all of my everything.
Her tongue slices through my mouth, and I know where this is headed, but we don’t have time. We have to focus on our tasks at hand.
“Siren, baby, we can’t,” I moan, not believing that I’m turning down this woman.
She runs her hand through my hair, stroking my face. “I know.”
But we don’t stop. We kiss and kiss and kiss. I carry her to the shower, turning on the water to clean myself off before I fuck her.
And then, her legs are wrapped around me, my pants are shoved down to my ankles, her dress is hiked up to her waist, and I’m sliding between her wet folds.
“What are you doing to me?” I moan, my brain foggy and unable to remember the important task I should be doing.
“Showing you how good loving me can feel,” she whispers back before grabbing my ass and pushing me all the way in.
Her ass felt nice, and it was a good excuse to fuck her there, but there is nothing like fucking her pussy, where I belong.
I fuck her under the water. There is a nice warm bed three feet away, but we never make it that far. We fuck here, in the shower, water beading down our bodies.
It feels like goodbye.
“This isn’t goodbye,” I grind into her, feeling all of her slickness, all of her tightness, all of her.
“I know,” she whispers sadly. Her lips kiss mine tenderly.
I stop. “I’m not going to keep fucking you until I believe you.”
Her eyes stop as she takes a deep breath. And then they are memorizing every part of my body. Every scar, every mark, every ripple of muscle. She’s watching everything. Her hands move over where her eyes roamed, feeling everything so that if her eyes fail her, her fingers will remember.
I grab her hands. “Siren, stop.”
“No, there is no guarantee of tomorrow. No guarantee of five seconds from now. No guarantee of forever.”
“We promised forever.”
“I know, but we don’t get to decide how long our forever lasts. We don’t get to know.”
I kiss her hand. “That doesn’t mean we should just give up.”
“I’m not giving up; I’m making sure our forever lasts longer by taking it with me. No matter what separates us, this I will remember.”
“Nothing is going to separate us.” But it’s a lie. I feel it to my bones. I know what we are both capable of doing for love. I know what is coming. I know what dangers are lurking just out our window. And I know this could be goodbye for now.
So I soak up everything about Siren too. Every curve, every line, every soft smile. I feel all of her warm skin. I remember every feminine smell.
I start moving, gliding in and out of her, and I memorize all of that too. I don’t need to memorize how she looks or sounds when she comes. I already remember it all. This time will be like all the rest and become a part of me forever.
I try to stall as long as I can. I try to make our orgasms slow and stretch out the release we both want, but it’s wishful thinking. There is no way to hold our orgasms back. Our bodies need them as much as we need our next breath. Our bodies will fall over the cliff whether I help us along or not.
I thrust again and we are both orgasming in a beautiful melody that has become our own song.
Just don’t let our love fall. Those were the words she sang before. I never intend to. But somehow, when we both come down from our high, it feels like our love is falling down too.
“I need to go warn Kai that Bishop and Julian are coming, so we can put our plan into motion,” I say.
“I’ll be here,” Siren responds.
I kiss her on the cheek, set her down, dry off,
and get dressed. Siren heads into the closet with a towel around her body and comes out wearing jeans, a black shirt, and a thick leather jacket. I’m sure she’s covered in knives and guns, ready for them to attack at any minute.
“You think they are going to attack tonight?” I ask. “Or are you planning on sleeping in leather?”
“I don’t know when they are going to attack, but Bishop wants me to meet him at five in the morning.”
I nod. “You aren’t leaving this room, though. I’ll come get you at five to meet Bishop. Promise me you won’t fight unless the battle comes to you. You have our baby to protect.”
“I won’t leave this room until you come for me. I won’t fight unless I have to.”
“Thank you.” I walk over to her, then lean down and kiss her stomach, where I still can’t believe she’s growing our baby.
“Go,” Siren says, basically pushing me out the door to get me to leave.
Once outside the door, I process what just happened. Did I just say goodbye to Siren? Is the battle really starting now?
Fuck, I need to find Kai and get ready.
I don’t know where Kai went. She said she was going to another yacht, but I know her. She didn’t go anywhere. I wander around on the yacht, not finding any sign of her. I know she didn’t go back to bed. And then I spot Enzo, sitting on the edge of one of the decks looking out at the ocean.
I’m not ready to forgive him. I know why Siren seduced him, tricked him, whatever the hell happened. But he let it happen. He didn’t know she was doing it to try and get her life back. He let her kiss him, knowing how deeply that knife would hurt all of us.
But I don’t want him dead. Tomorrow, I can forgive him. Today, I just want him fighting by me, alive.
“They’re coming,” I say, giving him a tight look.
He nods. He doesn’t ask for forgiveness. He just cracks his neck and then reaches for the gun on him, holding it close.
“Where is she?” I ask.
He nods forward. He’s watching Kai from afar, ensuring her safety while giving her the space she needs.
I doubt she’ll want to talk to me either, but she doesn’t have a choice.
I hop down onto the lower deck and find Kai sitting with her feet dangling over the edge as she leans back against the railing. One wrong move could send her into the ocean below. She has a lit cigar in her hand, but she’s not smoking it, just smelling it.
I sigh. Of course, she has to be sitting on the edge of the yacht, where my big ass is going to struggle to sit.
I walk over, and I know she can sense me. “Any chance you want to climb on this side of the railing for this talk, Stingray?”
“No way in hell. Your stupid ass plan is why I’m sitting here in the first place,” Kai says.
I laugh and then take my time climbing over the railing. I grip it as I sink down until I’m sitting next to her. I loop my arms through the railing behind me as my ass doesn’t fit on the tiny lip Kai is sitting on.
“It wasn’t my plan,” I say.
She laughs manically. “Don’t lie to me, Zeke. I know that plan had something to do with helping Siren. It was something Bishop wanted her to do. Something that would save her. I’m not mad at you for doing it, but don’t lie to me and say you didn’t know. That’s why you went with me to prepare all the men for war.”
I sigh. “Yes, I knew Siren was going to do something Bishop wanted. But I didn’t realize it had anything to do with Enzo and definitely didn’t know it involved kissing him.”
She shakes her head. “You would have let them kiss again if it meant saving Siren.”
“I guess.”
She sniffs one of Enzo’s cigars. “I’m not ready to forgive him, or you, or her. I know it was just a kiss, but in this world, we face so many dangers. I just thought I’d never have to worry about Enzo’s loyalty. I never thought I’d be faced with him kissing another woman with her hand in his pants. I never thought that was even a worry I needed to have. I thought our relationship was invincible.”
“It is. You don’t have to worry about Enzo’s loyalties. Siren tricked him. That’s kind of one of her main skill sets,” I say.
“It doesn’t matter. He still kissed her.”
“No, she kissed him against his will. She manipulated us as much as she did Enzo. She made you believe he was willing; he wasn’t.”
Kai looks out at the dark ocean, several yachts visible just as dots in the distance.
“You don’t have to forgive Siren, or me for my part in all of this. But you do need to forgive Enzo, just not until after tomorrow.”
“Why?”
“Because you love him.”
Kai shakes her head. “No, I mean, why not until tomorrow?”
“Because they are coming. The battle is here. In the next couple of hours, for sure by morning. They think we are fighting. They think we are weak. Let them think that.”
I reach over and give her hand a tight squeeze. “Don’t let this affect you, Stingray. The kiss meant nothing.”
“You forgave her already, didn’t you?”
I nod. “Our lives are too short not to forgive. It doesn’t matter what she does. I’m not saying I would stay with her if she changed, if she started abusing me or something. But I will forgive her when she makes a mistake, especially one she did to save my child from herself.”
I climb back over the railing.
“Alaska,” Kai says, giving me a knowing look, telling me where the box is. She trusts me, and now I carry the burden of knowing too. “I don’t forgive you or Siren because there is nothing to forgive. I would kill you all if I had to in order to protect my kids. I don’t fault you for doing the same thing.”
I nod, and start heading back to Siren, for a few last moments together.
I see the shadow before I hear him. He’s here. On the ship. Trying to sneak around in the night.
“We need to talk. We can end this war before it even starts,” Julian says. Don’t talk, kill him.
I turn and fire.
27
Siren
I hear the fire of a gun, and I know Zeke isn’t coming back. The battle has started, and I’m stuck here feeling useless until it ends.
It’s two in the morning, three hours until Bishop told me to meet him to undo what he fucked up in my head. What if he’s killed before then? What if Zeke is?
I can’t think. I need to shut my brain down. I need to disappear inside myself. I need to focus on finding a way to fight Bishop off from within. That’s the way to ensure our victory—by not needing Bishop to fix me in the first place.
But it’s not just Bishop I have to worry about.
It’s Julian.
And Bishop.
And even Zeke.
All three men have tried to control me. All men have the power to manipulate me.
Julian Reed has taken so much from me, but his power is now limited. He’s already used his threat against me, so I know how bad it can get.
Bishop is just getting started, but I have a secret of my own where he is concerned. But that secret will destroy more than just me.
And Zeke Kane is a monster, my monster. He has so much grit and raw manliness inside him. So much darkness that he’s always flittering between right and wrong. So far, he’s always ended up on the side of good, but will that always be the case?
I hear all the men’s voices in my head, and I realize Bishop isn’t the only one who can control me in this way.
“You’re mine,” Julian says.
“You’re mine,” Bishop says.
“You’re mine,” Zeke says.
But I only want to be one man’s.
“Do you? I thought you were a more independent woman than that, Siren? Why should any man own you at all?” Bishop asks in my head.
“No, don’t you start. You don’t care about me, you just want me to be loyal to you,” I say.
“No, I want you to be loyal to yourself. Once you are, the commands I put
in your head you will do willingly,” Bishop continues.
Fuck.
No.
Stop thinking, Siren. Focus on the sounds. The gunfire. The bombs. The muffled sounds from this soundproof room.
Fuck, why did I promise Zeke I would stay in this room?
Why?
Why?
Why?
If Bishop wasn’t already in my head, if Julian wasn’t already haunting my dreams, I would think I’m going crazy. I know what crazy looks like, and fearing for everyone I love isn’t it.
Yet, I feel myself going mad while I wait for Zeke to come to me. Waiting has never been my strong suit, but I made a promise. I grip my shirt over my stomach; it’s not just me I have to worry about anymore.
So I sit on the edge of the bed and stare at the door—praying that it opens to a smiling Zeke.
Instead, I hear multiple men outside. I move to the security camera screen that points out to the door. I watch the men place something against the door, and then step back.
A bomb.
I stare at the camera—a five minute timer starts on the bomb. That’s how long I have left in my prison. It’s how long I have left to live. Zeke could save me—he could save us. But at what cost?
28
Zeke
“You missed. I thought you had better aim than that, boy,” Julian says.
I frown. What is it about this guy that I just can’t kill him?
Something deeper is holding me back. Something deep down is preventing me from killing him. Something…
“Why can’t I kill you?” I ask, not meaning to admit that out loud, but saying it all the same.
Julian snickers. “You haven’t figured it out yet?”
I frown. How should I know? I never miss. When I shoot, I kill. But with Julian, even when I’m aiming, I miss.
“Don’t worry, your wife figured it out,” Julian says.
I freeze. How does he know?
“I spotted your wedding ring. I assume there is a reason you are wearing it,” Julian says.