Immersion (Apalala Clan Book 1)

by Dzintra Sullivan

  Volos nodded at his brother’s input. “Security is certainly a high priority for this company. As to why...” He shrugged and looked to Wyvern and Ladon. “What did you find, brothers?”

  Ladon looked uninterested and turned his head to indicate that Wyvern would be a better choice to share their findings. Wyvern sat upright and swallowed, he wasn’t used to being called on for information, but felt he was ready for the responsibility.

  “Wyvern?” the king spoke to him.

  “Yes.” He swallowed nervously, looking to Ladon who rolled his eyes and coiled his fingers, telling him to hurry up and get on with it. “Okay…” Wyvern shuffled in his chair, “… what we found was a definite disturbance on the floor of the basin. It was quite a distance from the Oasis, though.” The king nodded to encourage him to continue. “What we found strange was the lack of depth.”

  “Depth?” Volos questioned with a crinkled brow.

  “Correct,” Wyvern replied. “Typically, oil companies will drill small holes deep into the ocean floor, in an effort to locate oil, once located they come back with much larger equipment and they tap the source.” His king and brothers were listening intently, Wyvern puffed his chest with pride at being able to have some valuable input. “Thing that’s confusing is, the disturbance wasn’t holes, it was only surface related. Almost like they were searching for something… not drilling for oil.”

  “Searching for what?” the king asked.

  “That’s what we don’t know,” Wyvern said, sitting back proud of himself. He had spoken and was taken seriously for the first time.

  “Then this is what we need to find out,” the king stated. “Tomorrow morning… back here with a plan, Volos?”

  Volos nodded. I’ll go get answers starting with my spy, he thought to himself.

  The brothers all got up and went to various parts of the Oasis. Volos, however, had only one destination on his mind, and he took off for it with determination and vigor in his step.

  Payton had no idea what she had stumbled into, but her spidey senses were going off like a firecracker on Canada Day. The stranger with the eyes had called her a spy. “A spy for what?” she questioned out loud to herself. It had been hours since she’d seen any movement. Well, it felt like hours to Payton. She was now counting the marks along the wall, wondering if it was a code of rescue from the last poor soul who was held up in this white marble cell of hell. Her watch no longer worked, assuming the reason was from her time in the ocean, she feared her ability to accurately calculate the distance of time was overrated.

  “What on earth could this lunatic think I am a spy for exactly? Or who would I be a spy for?” she grumbled to herself. “I’m just a no-one girl, from a no-where town, in a boring job going nowhere.” Shaking her head as she ran fingers loosely through her hair. “Mr. Sexy Eyes is going to be mighty pissed when he works out his, ‘someone of great importance’ is a ‘no-one.’” She shuddered as his words still echoed in her ears…

  Spies never leave, at least not alive.

  “I’m in deep shit.” Payton’s panic was bubbling just below the surface.

  Scraaape.

  Payton’s eyes shot to the opening of the door as the sound of scraping metal announced she had company.

  “Are you awake?” the gruff voice spoke through the small metal opening.

  “No, I’m asleep on a beach somewhere in Ibiza,” she snapped back. Payton had no intention of letting this man think she was a victim if he was going to end up killing her anyway. she might as well go down fighting with a sassy mouth.

  The metal slot scraped back into place, isolating her again from any contact. Payton almost let out a sigh of relief until she heard the lock of the door click. Her back suddenly became a steel rod that had erected instantly up her spine. Her entire body ignited into a fiery panic, her muscles seizing as her brain imploded with the thought of this stranger coming within grabbing distance of her. The logical thoughts decided at that exact time to pack their bags and move out. This stranger, the holder of the sexiest eyes she’d ever seen, the single person who appeared to have saved her life but was now also calling her a spy and completing the accusation with a threat of death, was not someone she was entirely comfortable being in the same room.

  Don’t be a victim.

  Don’t be a victim.

  Don’t be a…. “Fuck,” she exclaimed as a mountain walked into the room. The door frame was barely wide enough to accommodate the width of his shoulders. The air sucked out of Payton’s lungs as he turned to anchor his eyes on hers. Payton used her tongue to rid the desert that had made a home in her mouth as her eyes took in the full impact of this stranger. He was clad in black leather from head to toe, the vest that struggled to cover his chest was cut very open around the arms. Payton briefly registered the unusual cut before her eyes followed onto his arms that resembled tree branches. Payton swallowed hard as her eyes saw a few bulges that were obviously weapons, and an extra-large bulge that made her eyes widen—she was sure it was a weapon of mass distraction. After a small shake of her head, Payton looked back into his eyes and realized she’d backed herself into the furthest corner of the bed up against the wall.

  The mountain shut the door, looked around and grabbed the chair from the other side of the room. Swinging it through the air, he placed it just in front of the door and sat down with a heavy thud. Payton knew he sat in front of the door to make it clear to her that escape was not on the table.

  The space in the room seemed to shrink with the colossal size of this man. Payton’s eyes were wide as she watched him lower his excessively muscular frame onto the chair.

  “I have questions you will answer, understand?” the man-mountain commanded. When Payton didn’t answer, he spoke with more force in his voice, “I know you speak English, don’t fool me, woman.”

  Payton suddenly smiled so super sweet it made him tilt his head in confusion. “Oh… I do speak English, what I don’t speak is… rude-son-of-a-bitch-on-a-power-trip…” she shrugged, “… sorry.”

  The mountain didn’t react at all as he continued on with the first question, “Who do you work for?”

  “None of your business,” she retorted.

  “What were you doing in my ocean?” he snapped with such sharpness that it could have cut the air.

  “Your ocean?” she snorted. “Who do you think you are? Poseidon?” She laughed nervously. “I mean don’t get me wrong, you’re a massive unit and all, but hardly the size of a Greek god.”

  “What did you see?” he bellowed.

  “Sheesh…” She held up her arms to calm the growing beast in front of her. “I have no fucking idea what you’re talking about. I work for a small law firm and fell into ‘your,’” she used air quotes, “… ocean by accident. I didn’t see shit. But I swallowed a bathtub full of water and have quite the belly ache right now.” She centered her eyes on him. He was totally engrossed in every word she spoke. “If that’s it… then I’d really appreciate a shirt to cover myself and a lift home.”

  “No one is leaving.” His voice had the intensity of a hangman’s noose.

  “Okay, look, don’t worry about the shirt or even the lift for that matter, I’m sure I can make my way home by myself. I used to be a Brownie when I was a kid. I even passed my Orienteering Badge.” Payton was babbling now, she knew she was losing this conversation, and with every second the door stayed closed it was more likely to stay that way.

  “No. One. Is. Leaving,” he repeated in a deadpan tone.

  “Okay, look, how long are we talking here? Five hours? Five days? Mon-ths?” her voice cracked on the last word. Payton’s hand hovered above her internal panic button. If this mountain kept her here for much longer she wasn’t going to be held responsible for the impending mental collapse.

  “You will stay here until—”

  Knock. Knock.

  Both Payton and the mountain’s head snapped toward the door.

  “Hey, V, you in there, bro?” The up
beat voice from behind the door made Payton’s eyebrows raise in interest—so there was more than one of them. She wondered what the letter V stood for, filing it away for a later discussion.

  The mountain’s face lit up with rage as he lifted himself off the chair and flung it to the side. Payton flinched as the chair snapped and broke with the impact of the man’s anger.

  He opened the door only slightly, so only he could be seen. “What the fuck, Attor?”

  Attor laughed. “What are you doing hiding out down here, V?”

  “I am not hiding…” he glanced behind him to the small human female cowering against the wall, “… I am just—”

  “Holy… don’t-be-joking-with-me… Batman! Do you have a woman in there?” If Attor’s eyebrows went any higher they would disappear into his hairline.

  “No… yes… but it’s not what you think,” Volos stumbled across his words.

  “Here comes Jo,” Attor exclaimed as he looked left.

  “Shit, no.” Volos looked left and in the split second his attention was gone, Attor pushed past him and found himself in the middle of the room. Attor looked around expecting to find a sexy orgy going on, but took a step back in shock when he saw a small dark haired woman, sitting on the far corner of the bed, cowering against the wall in what could be only described as utter fear.

  “Volos,” Attor exhaled. “What’s going on here?” He pointed to the terrified woman as he looked back toward Volos, expecting a very good reason as to why he was holding a woman who clearly didn’t want to be there.

  Volos looked up and down the corridor and shut the door, hoping none of the other brothers would come looking for him. He then took in a deep breath and looked at the accusatory eyes of his brother.

  “It’s not what you think,” Volos stated.

  “Oh, thank fuck for that, because it sure looks like you have a terrified young woman down here being held against her will,” Attor stated coldly.

  “Well, that part might be true,” Volos mumbled.

  “Volos…” Attor said with a sharp intake of air.

  “But she’s a human.” Volos spoke to his brother, ignoring the fact the young woman was slowly moving toward the door.

  “V, I don’t care if she’s a fucking moon goddess from your anus. You’re holding a woman captive, and not captive in our proper cells either, you have her hidden way down here. Which tells me shit is going on that isn’t fucking right.” Attor shook his head with a mixture of anger and confusion toward his brother.

  “Attor, let me explain…” Volos said defensively.

  A small click drew both of their attention to the door being opened, and the small, dark-haired woman in question disappearing out the open door and running down the hallway.

  “Fuck,” Volos exclaimed violently as he shoved his brother out of the way and took off after his prisoner. The last thing he needed was her finding out their secrets before he had a chance to fully interrogate her.

  “You said she was coming back to work,” Mr. Embah said quietly as he sat behind a massive cold steel desk. Kylee had been called to the bosses’ office, which immediately struck fear into the most competent of employees.

  “There w-was an accident, S-Sir.” Kylee’s voice quivered with exhaustion. She’d been up all night at the search zone and she’d only come in to tell them she wasn’t coming in before she headed back to the cliff.

  Her best friend fell off the cliff, she wasn’t going to give up looking… ever.

  Mr. Embah leaned forward on his elbows, the dark intensity of his eyes pierced straight into Kylee’s soul. She took a step back to place some space between her and her boss. She hadn’t worked very long for Mr. Embah, maybe six months. It was actually her who’d gotten Payton the job, he was looking for an environmental lawyer, and she happened to be best friends with the youngest and most acclaimed environmental lawyer in Canada.

  “Is she dead?” The coldness in his voice took Kylee by surprise. She was a self-proclaimed total bitch, yet this guy took ‘ice talk’ even too far for her. His navy-blue suit had an orange pinstripe which accentuated the impeccable cut of his shoulders. He obviously took great pride in his appearance—from his expensive suit to his manicured nails. Kylee didn’t class him as a real man, to her a real man had grease under his nails and mud on his shoes. Mechanic’s overalls, not pinstripe suits, that’s what revved Kylee’s engines. However, she had bills to pay just like anyone else, and Mr. Embah paid her very well for the work she was employed to do in the office.

  “She’s not dead, I can feel it.” Kylee struggled to sound confident.

  “Excellent, I’ll expect to see you both at work tomorrow then.” Mr. Embah waved her off in an instant dismissal. The conversation was done and according to the two massive bodyguards that were herding her out the office, her presence was no longer needed.

  Kylee stood outside and lit a cigarette, she’d given up three months ago, but started again last night. “Just ‘til she’s home,” Kylee said to herself as she gazed at the dull gray smoke curling off the tip of her lit cigarette.

  Read your text message, fucker.

  Kylee grabbed her phone at hearing the message chime, she clicked the screen on and saw that something had been found at the cliff. Her heart sank. With a last long drag on her smoke, she stubbed it out and jumped in the car.

  “Didn’t say a body,” she said to herself. “Didn’t say a body.”

  The anxiety took control and her foot laid flat to the floor as she raced to the cliffs.

  “Oomph.” The sound escaped Payton’s mouth as she had turned around a corner and run straight into another man-mountain. She slowly looked up and saw the whitest of eyes and they were sparkling with interest. The heavily tattooed stranger grabbed her for balance so she didn’t fall over then took a step back. The way he tilted his head, Payton felt a great kindness emanating from him.

  Her head flicked back to the thump, thump, thump, of heavy boots coming closer as she jumped behind the inked-up mountain and whispered, “Hide me.” A confused look from her hopeful protector, she followed the whisper with a tear-filled sob, “Please.”

  Jo looked up as Volos and Attor came running toward him. Volos’ eyes flicked between the woman hiding behind his brother and Jo’s eyes.

  “This doesn’t concern you, brother,” Volos stated.

  “Brother?” Jo Laughed. “You haven’t called me your brother in eons. Why now?” Jo looked down at the small woman who was obviously terrified, raising his eyes back to his brother defiantly. “Can’t hold on to your women?”

  “Jo…” Volos started.

  “I’m not his woman! He kidnapped me,” Payton said from behind what she hoped would be a protective mountain.

  “I saved your life!” Volos stated skeptically. “Typical of your kind to be ungrateful and rude.”

  Payton was out from behind Jo and standing toe to toe with the mountain in a split second. She only came up to his nipple but she dug her finger into his rock-hard chest, unable to hold back the rage. “Ungrateful? Are you fucking kidding me? You locked me in a room… no water, no food… and told me the only way I was leaving was in a body bag.” Digging her finger in a little harder to emphasize her point. “You have been rude, egotistical, intimidating and a complete twat waffle.” She turned and huffed her way back to behind Jo. “Ungrateful, my ass… fucking prick.”

  “I think I like this chick.” Jo laughed at the feisty human who wasn’t afraid to tell Volos where to go.

  “You can’t hold her for no reason, V,” Attor said from behind. “Is there a reason? Where did she even come from?”

  Volos shook his head as he ran his fingers through his hair and down over his face, the tension emanating from him was palpable. “I found her.”

  “Found her?” Attor crumpled his brow in confusion. “How do you just find a hu… err, woman?”

  “On our way back from the mission, she was floating… dead for all intents and purposes. I thought she may have b
een a spy, so I brought her down here, gave her the serum. I was hopeful of answers for our clan. How often do we get…” he looked at her then back to Attor, “… visitors?”

  “We never get visitors,” Jo mumbled as he looked down at the woman who raised her chin defiantly at him. “But she doesn’t look like a threat? I mean, she isn’t even capable of wearing a shirt.” He laughed.

  “I took it off in the ocean. I wanted people to be able to find me, I thought it would make a good location beacon.” As the words spewed from her mouth, she immediately realized how incriminating that sounded. The look in the eyes of the mountain they called Volos was extremely accusatory.

  Attor left the room briefly and reappeared a few minutes later, carrying a gray shirt. “Here, sweetheart, compliments of Volos.” He tilted his head to indicate the one who’d kept her captive. Volos, she thought to herself, interesting name.

  Payton took the shirt, one arm at a time she pulled it on. Halfway, she paused slightly and took a deep breath, the smell on this shirt made her body ignite with song. Fuuuck, she thought, he smells like the most delicious brownie with ice-cream and salted caramel shards. Taking another quick addictive intake of his scent infused oxygen she smiled as she smoothed the shirt down her petite frame. The hem touched her knees, it was a massive ocean of material on her, but at least it covered her chest. Looking up at Volos she said, “Thank you.” He nodded abruptly.

  “Does Father know about…” Jo looked at the young woman who had wrapped her arms around herself, obviously just wanting to go home, “… sorry, sweetheart, I don’t know your name.”

  “Payton.” Raising her chin she softly smiled. “At least you know how to ask a lady her name politely, unlike some other more oafish males I’ve met.” She cast an accusatory glance in Volos’ direction.

  “He lacks in manners, doesn’t he?” Jo smirked at his brother.

  “Fuck off, Jo,” Volos dismissed the dig from his brother. “As for father… no, obviously. That’s why—”