Seized by Passion

by Donna Grant

  Seized by Passion

  By

  Donna Grant

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Seized by Passion

  ISBN: 978‐0985371340

  Copyright© 2012 Donna Grant

  Cover Artist: Rasit Ra

  Edition, License Notes

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  www.DonnaGrant.com

  Chapter One

  Of all the ways Livia thought she would die, being sacrificed to a god wasn’t one of them. Yet, she wasn’t afraid of dying. She was afraid of the water they planned to toss her in.

  She stood surrounded by the tribe with her hands tied behind her back. Her simple white gown billowed in the breeze and wrapped around her legs. She sought out those she knew, but just as she expected, their eyes were fastened on the ground. The ones who did look at her held contempt and smugness in their gazes.

  How she wanted to slap the looks from their faces.

  The people of Piratira had made sacrifices to the water god once a month, every month, since they first inhabited the island. The sacrifices were supposed to calm the gods and give the island peace and prosperity.

  Livia wanted to plead with them not to go through with it, but she had seen enough sacrifices in her score of years to know that begging would do her no good. Yet from somewhere deep inside herself she mustered her courage and raised her chin at the two men on either side of her.

  They grabbed her arms and yanked her to the edge of the cliff. Livia looked out over the turquoise water to where it met the distant horizon and the clear blue sky. Gulls squawked above her head, seeming to laugh at her predicament as they glided effortlessly on the wind. The only other sounds were the crashing of the waves below and the mumbling of the high priest to her left.

  No matter what, she promised herself, she would die with bravery instead of allowing the tears that pricked the backs of her eyes to flow.

  She squared her shoulders and slowly lowered her gaze to her bare toes, which hung over the rocky edge of the cliff. Her heart raced as she noticed the drop to the water below, where jagged rocks rose out of the white foam like fingers from the gods.

  Her hands clenched into fists behind her back. She longed to move the strand of hair that hung on her eyelashes, but with her wrists bound, she was powerless to do anything. So she jerked her head to try to get the hair out of her face and was rewarded when the strand fell away.

  When two men squatted beside her and tied her feet, Livia had the overwhelming desire to smash her knee into their faces. It was bad enough that she would be tossed onto the rocks where a sure death awaited her, but to tie her hands and feet so she couldn’t swim seemed overly cruel. None of the other sacrificed women had had their feet tied. Why were they doing it to her?

  She wouldn’t miss the rocks. She would land upon them, whether they were under the water or out of it. This she knew in the very depths of her soul.

  For as long as she could remember she had been a slave on the island of Piratira. No one had ever spoken of her family, and if she asked questions about them, her owners had refused to answer.

  The need to learn what had happened to her family was what had kept her going through the years, but now...now she would never learn the answers to the questions that burned in her mind.

  “It’s time,” Seamus whispered into her ear.

  She didn’t bother to look at the man who had been her owner, the man who had offered her up as a sacrifice. The bastard. She had been good to him and his family, never causing any trouble. Why he would suggest her as the sacrifice went beyond anything she could understand.

  Instead of yelling at Seamus as she longed to do, Livia took a deep breath and closed her eyes, her heart pounding and her blood racing in her ears. She didn’t want to die. She hated feeling so helpless. She should have fought them; she should have run. Anything other than simply waiting to be sent to her death.

  A scream lodged in her throat as a hand slammed into the small of her back. She hung suspended for a moment before the air whooshed around her and she plummeted to the water below.

  Chapter Two

  Achates looked up at the cliff as he treaded water and tried to make out the features of the woman the Piratirans were about to sacrifice.

  The only parts of her he could see were the simple white gown that blew around her legs in the fierce winds and her long, dark hair.

  Just thinking that it might be her sent his heart pounding wildly in his chest. Could it be? After all this time, could he have gotten so lucky?

  “Achates!”

  He turned to see Lycus swimming toward him.

  “What have you discovered?” Achates asked his first in command and friend since childhood.

  Lycus’ chest rose and fell rapidly from his quick swim as he treaded the water. “It’s her. We’ve finally found Livia.”

  Achates turned his gaze back to the woman atop the cliff, then to the massive rocks surrounding him. It would be a miracle if she missed the rocks in her fall, but he wasn’t a descendant of Poseidon himself if he couldn’t manage a bit of magic to ensure she landed in the water unharmed.

  Before he could begin to gather his magic, Lycus sucked in a breath. Achates didn’t need to look up to know she’d already been pushed from the edge. He closed his eyes and let the ocean swallow him as he called out to Poseidon.

  Water crashed against the rocks and bubbled around him. He focused on the magic, felt it build and swell inside him as the sea swirled viciously. He lifted his hands, and the water funneled up toward Livia.

  He opened his eyes, and through the funnel that took her, he saw her narrowly miss the rocks and plunge into the dark depths. He released his magic and started swimming with fast, sure strokes toward her. He swam faster when he noticed that her hands and feet were tied.

  She struggled against her bonds, wasting what little air she had. He reached for her hands, but she jerked away and sank lower in the water.

  If he didn’t reach her soon, the swift currents would drag her under and take her from him forever. He wasn’t about to let that happen, not after finally finding her. Not after searching for so long.

  Achates dove deeper and managed to get his hand around her arm. She had stopped moving, bubbles rising from her mouth. She was close to death, but he couldn’t bring her to the surface. Not with the Piratirans looking over the cliff to see if she would float brokenly on the waves.

  Lycus reached him and took hold of Livia’s other arm. Together they swam swiftly away from the cliff to calmer water and jerked Livia to the surface. He held her back against his chest and brushed her dark hair from her face that stuck to her skin like seaweed.

  She was pale. And she wasn’t breathing.

  “She’s dying,” he said as he lifted her in his arms and started toward the secluded beach.

  “Achates.” Lycus stopped him. “You know that to go onto foreign soil means death.”

  With a sigh, Achates stopped and glared at the land. Then he turned his focus to the woman in his arms. If saving her was within his power, he was going to do it.

  Poseidon, hear my call. You named Livia as my betrothed and gave her b
ack to me for safekeeping. Do not take her from me now.

  Achates waited for her to breathe, but she did nothing.

  “I won’t let you die,” he vowed as he opened her mouth and blew air past her lips. When nothing happened, he pushed on her chest to force the water from her lungs. Once. Twice.

  “Breathe, dammit!” he yelled and gave another hard push.

  A smile pulled at his lips when she began to cough. Achates turned her onto her side so she could empty her lungs. As much as he wanted to speak to her, there wasn’t time. After he cut her bonds, he pulled her back into deeper water.

  “Nay,” she said, weakly fighting against him.

  “If you want to live, you’re going to have to trust me, Livia. I have to get you away from Piratira.”

  Her lids slid down over her dark blue eyes as he said her name. Her head fell against his shoulder, and he looked at his betrothed’s heart-shaped face. She had high cheekbones, a stubborn chin, and the most alluring, full lips he had ever seen. He wanted to taste that luscious mouth, to sample the sweet nectar of her lips.

  But now wasn’t the time. She stirred and trembled when he began to swim.

  “I won’t let the water take you,” he promised. He tried to ignore her soft curves pressed against his body, but it was impossible. Her breasts, small and pert, called his gaze again and again. Achates bit back a moan when he saw her dark nipples peeking through the wet material of her gown. The tiny nubs were hard and straining, beckoning.

  If he didn’t do something quickly, he would bend his head and kiss her. He licked his own lips as his body urged him to do just that. But it was too soon. There was too much Livia didn’t know, didn’t understand.

  But soon....

  His anger at the Piratirans grew each time he saved someone from a sacrifice, for it wasn’t Piratirans who were sacrificed. It was his own people.

  Achates glanced down at the woman in his arms. “I’ve got to swim. I’m going to move you to my back so you can hold on. We cannot stay near Piratira and chance them finding you.”

  He could tell by the wild look in her eyes that he asked the impossible, and while he tried to figure out a strategy to swim with her in his arms, she nodded reluctantly, showing the tenacity only someone chosen as his mate would have.

  “Just don’t put me under.” Her voice shook, but she lifted her chin and waited for his assurance.

  He looked into her cautious blue gaze. “I won’t.”

  She moved to his back without difficulty, and Achates wasted little time in swimming away from the hated island of Piratira.

  * * * * *

  Livia had always loved the ocean. The sound of the waves crashing on shore, the constant ebb and flow of the tides, and the mysterious life under the water.

  When she was a child, the water had called to her, begged her to come and play. She had walked into the sea up to her knees before she was yanked out by Seamus, and was punished for breaking a strict law of Piratira. From then on, she wasn’t allowed to even let the waves touch her bare feet.

  Now, she was in the ocean. She vividly remembered her fall from the cliff and the rush of air around her, the way her lungs had locked, refusing to let her breathe with the knowledge that she would die. Somehow she had missed the rocks, and then the water had taken her. No matter how she had fought, the sea had dragged her under. In her sheer panic, she had tried to swim, yet her bound hands and feet hindered every movement she made.

  And then she had seen something come at her. The water god? She hadn’t thought so. It had moved too fast and tried to grab her. It had to be a monster.

  She had fought it as best she could, until she ran out of air. The next thing she knew, she was coughing up water with a gorgeous blond man with startling bright blue eyes leaning over her. His face was all hard angles, with a small cleft in his chin and thick brows that slashed over his eyes, eyes that held her immobile each time he looked at her. His nose was straight and noble, while his lips were thin and wide.

  And his body...she briefly closed her eyes and let the rock hard muscles of his long body sink into her wet gown and into her skin. He was warm where the water was cool. The feel of the thick sinew moving against her caused her mouth to go dry.

  Without knowing what she did, she found her hands splayed against his chest. He swam with power, as if he was as comfortable in the water as he was on land. The sea pushed and pulled against her, causing her to brush against his body again and again. Her already achingly hard nipples tightened even more each time she was dragged across his back.

  Water splashed onto her face, breaking into her thoughts and pulling her from the desire that had quickly overtaken her. The salty texture of the ocean filled her mouth. She envied how easily the man swam with no fear. Maybe one day, if she were lucky, she would swim as he did.

  Suddenly the man ducked under the water, and just when she was about to sink her nails into him she realized he had maneuvered himself so that her head was kept clear of the water. She was amazed by how fast he moved, as if he were a creature of the sea himself.

  Livia turned for one last look at the only home she’d ever known. No one stood on the shore to watch their departure. She was safe.

  And free.

  Then she saw something coming toward them. Fear once more pumped in her veins. She kicked the man to try to get his attention, but he didn’t heed her call. The water parted, and she was able to make out the shape of another man with light brown hair streaked gold by the sun.

  His head broke the water, and he smiled at her with kind green eyes before he disappeared beneath the waves to swim alongside her savior. To where, she didn’t know and didn’t care. Anywhere was better than the place she had been.

  She’d been given a second chance at life, and she was eager to see where it would take her. And this time, she wouldn’t settle for being a slave.

  Chapter Three

  Achates took the woman’s hand and tugged her to the shores of Orinjal. He breathed easier now that they were back on his people’s land, land that used to be a safe haven. Land that he was determined would be safe once more.

  “Where are we?” Her voice was steady, but her gaze moved about warily.

  He stopped and turned to her. “This is Orinjal. My name is Achates, and the man with me is Lycus. We are your friends, Livia.”

  Her blue gaze swung to Lycus before returning to him. “How do you know me?”

  Achates found it difficult not to notice the way her wet gown clung to her delicious curves and outlined the swell of her breasts. He licked his lips, took a deep breath, and forced himself to look at her face. There he saw the doubt and determination in eyes the color of the dark depths of the ocean. Her hair was as black as midnight and hung nearly to her waist in a tangled, wet mass.

  Her tall, lithe body called to him, and he struggled to ignore it, to ignore the melody that was for him alone. But they were part of the ocean, of a race that had begun with time, and Poseidon wanted his line continued.

  “Achates,” Lycus said to get his attention.

  He shook his head to clear it and moved out of the water before he answered Livia.

  “You might have been raised on Piratira, Livia, but you were born here. On Orinjal. For decades, the Piratirans have stolen our infants and kept them as slaves, sacrificing them along the way.”

  Her brow puckered at his words. “But...why?”

  “Because they fear us,” he answered truthfully.

  She swallowed and slowly moved onto the shore to stand beside him. “You are the water god?”

  “No.” He pushed his wet hair from his face and sighed as he thought of the years he had stayed in the water as he watched his people hurled from the cliff. “I’m merely trying to save as many people as I can.”

  “They pushed me off the cliff,” she said as she looked out over the water and wrapped her arms around her middle. She shivered. “They bound my hands and feet.”

  “They wanted to make sure you die
d.”

  “This doesn’t make sense. I didn’t know I wasn’t born there.”

  “It doesn’t matter. They knew what you were, and what you mean to us.” He met her troubled gaze.

  “And what do I mean to you?”

  “More than you can imagine. I have more to tell you, but first, let us get you dry and fed. I’ll answer your questions later.”

  She let him put his hand at the small of her back to guide her into the palm trees ahead. He glanced at Lycus, and his first in command took another route ahead of them to warn the tribe he had brought home their salvation.

  * * * * *

  Livia watched the sun sink into the horizon, turning the water and the surrounding sky a vivid gold safely from shore. It was beautiful, and for just a moment she found she wanted to race out to the water and play in the last rays of the sun.

  Achates had been true to his word. He had answered all of her questions, and her mind was numb with information. Livia sighed as her brain struggled to comprehend everything. All that Achates had told her, all that she was supposed to mean to his people.

  The breeze from the water strengthened, molding the skirts of her new pink gown to her legs. Livia lifted her face and took a deep breath of salty air. The roar of the waves lulled her, calmed her so that she could sort through all she had learned piece by piece.

  Livia looked down at the water that rolled onto the white sand and tickled her toes. She had nearly died in the water that morning, and though she still feared it, the unmistakable need to feel its strength surround her couldn’t be – wouldn’t be – ignored.

  She didn’t bother to lift her long, thin skirt as she moved into the water until the waves touched her calves. Her toes sank into the sand and foam from the waves stuck to her gown.

  And it felt perfect.

  “Still trying to understand it all?”

  Livia glanced over her shoulder at Achates as he came up beside her. He wore loose-fitting white breeches tied at the waist. And nothing else.