Twice a Wish (GODDESS ISLES Book 2)

by Pepper Winters

  The skies above, stencilled with palm fronds, were endlessly clear. No rain would fall tonight…not after the storm that’d ended my escape.

  I continued chasing Sully until he turned down a side path, overgrown and not nearly as welcoming. Wariness ghosted down my spine as we entered a clearing within an enclave of thick bushes and silken foliage.

  No Pika flew with him. No Skittles flew with me.

  We were utterly alone as he marched toward the rundown villa sitting squat in the centre of the clearing.

  Waiting for me to catch up, he pinned me to the spot with a sinister stare. “You ran from my generosity. Therefore, you must return to my unkindness.” Turning the door handle, he shoved the entrance open and threw me inside.

  I tripped over the threshold, blinking in the blackness.

  A switch clicked and lights rained from above, spilling into shadows, chasing away obscurity.

  Once again, the villa had sweeping high ceilings, thatched roof, and exposed beams like its other counterparts, but unlike the animal hospital on Serigala, Euphoria and its fancy technology, or my cosy elegant villa, this one held nothing of wealth.

  This one held cages.

  Lots and lots of cages.

  Some small and stacked on top of one another, cob-webbed laced and dust sprinkled. Others had fallen from their tower, laying on top of one another with opened wire doors and bent metal walls.

  And two large ones sat in the middle of the room, large enough for a primate…or person.

  The air smelled metallic and rusty with the faint whiff of cadaver.

  Goosebumps scattered down my spine. I did not want to be here. The memories of these cages. The stories they told. The suffering that’d happened inside them. Some of the bars still held maroon stains of shed blood. Others clutched at tufts of fur like trophies with tight wire hands.

  Where did these awful things come from?

  Sully wrapped possessive fingers around my nape and marched me forward.

  I shuddered from the scalding, sinning electricity that ricocheted from him to me.

  It didn’t matter that we caused a blend of heightened energy whenever we touched. It didn’t matter that my heart went from worried to winging.

  Everything about our connection was chaotic, including the absurdity that my core clenched from being held so primitively.

  I’d read that humans had evolved from animals so long ago that we could no longer be classified as beasts. However, the instinct whenever a male clasped the nape of its lover triggered a feral response. An impulse to cower and obey. To submit entirely.

  I fought against that instinct as Sully pushed me toward one of the large cages. Without a word, he threw me inside and slammed the metal door shut. With a padlock from his pocket, he locked me in.

  My bare feet bruised from the wire beneath them. Claustrophobia rose, seeking desperately for a way out.

  My breathing turned shallow, but I forced myself to stand there. To lock gazes with the man who’d just proven his point extremely eloquently.

  His island might be a trap, but he granted our every whim.

  This was true captivity.

  A cage that I could barely stand up in. A box that wouldn’t allow me to lie down, nor held any comfort or kindness.

  A true emblem of imprisonment.

  For the longest moment, Sully stood on the other side of my cage. His jaw clenched and hands shook. He looked conflicted with regret but also cruel with resignation.

  I wished I knew how to speak to his regret. To know the right things to say—to entreat to the part of him that did care. The man who held an otter with such sweet affection and who kissed a parrot on his head.

  But for all my belief that I’d begun to understand him, I’d only made it worse.

  Please think of me as an animal, so you’ll like me.

  Ugh!

  What a ridiculous thing to say.

  I drowned in embarrassment, flushing with heat.

  Shaking his head, dispelling the same pain I’d seen in him when Skittles had landed on my shoulder, he raked a hand through his hair and straightened his spine.

  Holding out his hand, he ordered, “Give me your robe.”

  I backed up until my shoulder blades clanged against the bars behind me. “Please…can’t I keep it?” I looked around at the bareness. The island temperatures ensured it remained warm, even in this horrific place, but the historic screams of the cage’s prior inhabitants turned the air icy.

  I didn’t know how long he intended to keep me in here, but I didn’t want to be naked. I didn’t want to be so…vulnerable.

  “Robe, Jinx. I won’t ask again.” His hand remained steady by the bars, waiting for me to obey.

  I’d never been very rebellious as a child, but the inner brat inside me wanted to throw a tantrum. To rattle the bars. To bounce in the box. To scream and refuse. To turn as wild as this cage said I was.

  But…decorum was my final threshold. Everything else had been stripped from me.

  With a tattered breath and feeble rise of my chin, I undid the belt and slipped the softness off my shoulders. I winced as the wire beneath my toes hurt, moving toward him to press the only thing I had into his awaiting hand.

  The moment it filled his palm, he yanked it through the bars and tossed it on the floor. Silently, he stalked to the back of the villa where yet more cages rested. Some long, some skinny, some rusted beyond use, and others scarily new.

  He returned with a tray and a stool.

  Every footfall of his expensive shoes echoed in the depressing place, bringing him back to me. I wrapped my arms around my breasts as he slammed the stool in front of my cage then unlocked the door and placed the tray at my feet.

  Stepping out, he slid the padlock back into position before unbuttoning his blazer and sitting majestically on the stool. Legs spread with arrogance. Power dripping from his perfectionism. His beauty once again a monstrous sin.

  He kept revealing parts of himself, keeping me walking a tightrope of hope and despair. One moment, I believed he was redeemable…lovable. The next, I wanted him to die a horrible, miserable death.

  His stare travelled over my body while his voice gravelled with aggression. “This is what’s going to happen. You are going to obey my every request. If you do what I ask, we shall negotiate your length of residence in this cage. If you don’t, then I’ll decide how long you need to be punished.” His ocean gaze darkened. “And believe me, Jinx…you have a lot to be punished for.”

  Twice he’d called me Jinx.

  Not Eleanor.

  Tonight, it seemed he wouldn’t slip between names. He was resolute with his torture, teaching a runaway a lesson.

  Fine.

  I would obey. Purely because I wanted out of this place as soon as possible.

  “That bottle with the cream label.” He arched his chin at the tray. “Apply that to your skin.”

  I cringed at the thought of putting on a show for him. Of dropping my arms from my breasts and revealing everything. I also shivered with the similarities between the horror movie of a psychopath who made women rub lotion into their skin to make a suit out of their stripped carcasses.

  Sully was a man with murky morals, but surely, he wasn’t a psychopath.

  Keeping my eyes from his, I bowed into obedience, regardless of my thoughts.

  Needs versus embarrassment.

  I chose the need for freedom. Just as I had with the kayak and potential death.

  Ducking, I collected the bottle he’d mentioned. The label held scientific mumbo jumbo. A recipe or ingredient list, rather than some fancy stickers of cosmetics. The only thing I recognised was the SSG logo on the bottom corner. A logo that I’d seen on stationery in his office.

  I didn’t know what it stood for, but I popped the lid and squirted a generous amount of clear looking serum onto my palm.

  Not looking at Sully, I liberally applied the ointment. My belly, legs, arms, and face. Every inch covered with odourle
ss, colourless salve. Almost immediately, a cooling sensation overtook my tingling sunburn, actively removing the heat, and soothing my skin from the outside in.

  My eyebrows rose at the seemingly impossible magic.

  “A human tested after sun cream.” He narrowed his gaze, drinking me in. His trousers had tented, revealing he’d grown hard watching me apply it. “Proven to reduce the longevity and pain of sunburn.”

  I swallowed back the stupid wash of desire knowing he was hard. Knowing I’d made him hard. Even in this damn cage, I was still being an idiot with lust.

  I almost wished he’d poured elixir down my throat…then I had a scapegoat for the tiny trickle of wetness that’d gathered.

  “Tomorrow night, you’ll be touched by a man. At least now your skin won’t smart when he puts his hands on you.” His voice had turned black. His face brooded with hate. Hate at me or the guest he’d sold me to?

  Pointing at the tray, he growled, “The tube. Apply the contents to your hands.”

  Doing my best to keep from revealing too much of my nakedness, I deposited the bottle and collected the tube. Again, the packaging wasn’t pretty or marketed with bright labels designed to allure shoppers with a miracle cure. Bare and basic, but if Sully’s scientists had created these products, I had no doubt they were the best available.

  The contents of the tube were thick and gluttonous, refusing to squeeze out until I applied pressure. The small blob sat in my palm as I returned the ointment to the tray and rubbed it thoroughly into the backs of my hands, fingers, and palms. The open sores and still oozing blisters stung a little, but just like the sunburn cream, relief followed almost instantly.

  I looked up, expecting him to tell me how he’d created such things, but he only stared back with fierceness.

  I held his stare even though it cost me. “You knew about my hands.”

  He scowled as if I’d offended him. “Of course. I noticed the second I found you.”

  “And you gave me something to heal them?”

  His throat worked as he swallowed. “You’re not worth much when you’re bleeding.” His tone thickened, making my ears twitch and heart trip. “Roy Slater found you…alluring. He’s paid above and beyond what I usually charge for a night with a goddess. Just as I charged Markus Grammer. I intend to deliver a quality product.”

  I stiffened. “Will you tell me how much I’m worth to them?”

  He crossed his arms, not trying to hide the tightness and impressive bulge in his trousers. “Why? Does it make you feel wanted?”

  I shrugged. “I suppose. In a strange, awful way.”

  He froze, his jaw clenching.

  I threw bravery to the wind. “What would you pay…to fuck me?” My question started strong but faded into a whisper. I shivered as his entire body seemed to grow in stature, command, and threat.

  “I could fuck you for free.”

  “You technically already paid for me.” I gulped. “So…I’m not free.”

  “You’re right.” His head cocked, sending a scattering of bronze-tipped dark hair over his forehead. “But you’re still worth more to my bank balance than my own selfish desires.”

  My fingertips had the insane urge to swipe his hair away. To touch him. To beg him to let me out of this nightmare and try to find somewhere we could co-exist.

  In his bed, perhaps?

  The thought came and went. A flash of fantasy of him between my legs instead of a total stranger. How would he feel inside me? Would he be strict or sensual? Rough or worshipping?

  Once again, chemistry crackled between us as he cleared his throat and commanded, “The vitamins are to be taken tonight and tomorrow morning. They’ll replace whatever you’ve lost in your seemingly delicate system. And the food and water will ensure you don’t starve tonight.”

  A silver-covered lid hid the plate of food he mentioned and the pill bottle that I’d become familiar with since my last fainting episode waited next to a large bottle of water.

  Worry crashed over me with icy slush. “You’re…leaving me here?”

  “I am.”

  “But…this cage isn’t big enough to lie down.”

  He clasped his hands together between his spread thighs. His knuckles turned white with ferocity. “No, it’s not.” He pierced me with a stare, daring me to argue again.

  I looked around at the painful metal wire and then down at my naked skin.

  He’d promised punishment.

  He’d delivered it.

  I tried a different tactic. It wasn’t just about me. These cages hadn’t been designed for human use. Some were mouse size, other rabbit, most big enough for a dog.

  Animals had been trapped inside.

  Animals who now resided on Serigala?

  The truth struck me square in the chest, demanding I suck in a shaky breath. “These cages…they came from your labs…didn’t they?”

  He bared his teeth, taking his time to reply. “Do you know what I am?”

  I wrinkled my nose, doing my best to form conclusions. I’d heard him mention his scientists, his company. I’d experienced his elixir and other medicines. He seemed revered by those who thought he was a genius. I spoke my educated guess. “You’re a scientist.”

  He chuckled once, endlessly dark and threateningly bleak. “I’m much more than just a scientist.”

  “You own the company? You rule many scientists?”

  His brow fell sternly over his blazing eyes. “Clever.” He looked perplexed but also pained. “You keep surprising me. I don’t care for it.”

  More goosebumps peppered my bare flesh. “Don’t like that I’m piecing together your past?”

  He laughed coldly. “Believe me, if you’d figured out my past you would not be conversing with me so easily.” He leaned toward my cage. “You would not let me touch you so willingly. You would not kiss me back.”

  My chest rose and fell as I sipped shallow breaths. “Why?”

  He leaned away, crossing his arms. Ignoring my question, he demanded, “Tell me. Tell me what else you have pieced together.”

  It’s a trap. Don’t answer.

  And I wouldn’t if Sully had always been this nasty and arctic toward me. If he’d been a beast since the moment I’d arrived, I’d ignore him. Endure his torture and flatly refuse to interact with a monster. But he’d been generous. He’d been kind. And in a few fleeting moments, he’d been more than that. We’d been more than that.

  Sliding down the bars, I sat cross-legged by the tray. I kept my hands between my legs for decency.

  His gaze flashed with things I couldn’t decipher. His jaw worked and misery blackened his face for a single second. Wordlessly, he snatched my robe from the ground and stuffed it through the bars.

  I waited as the soft material puddled on the cage floor before reaching across the small space and dragging it over me like a blanket. “Thank you.”

  He snorted as if my thanks was misplaced and unwanted. His teeth flashed as he muttered, “Tell me. Tell me what you think you know about me.”

  Slightly happier with my body covered, I fisted two handfuls of robe for strength. “I think something happened. Something to make you hate humans.”

  He stiffened but didn’t interrupt.

  “You rescued animals from laboratories and brought them to your islands. You brought their cages too…to um, destroy?” I looked around, understanding seeping into me like a steady drip through snow. “No, you brought them to remind yourself. To remember…that…” I struggled to link why he’d keep these terrible traps, hidden in the heart of paradise. The filth hidden beneath beauty, the pain beneath pleasure.

  And it clicked.

  My eyes locked on his; my heart leaped into my mouth. “You keep them to remind yourself that humans made these cages. Humans hurt defenceless creatures. Humans…can never be trusted.”

  Sully swooped to his feet so fast the stool smashed against the floor.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Twenty-Six Years Ago<
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  I LIVED IN A big house.

  My parents had money—according to their boastful toasts at dinner parties with other equally wealthy people—and I’d been lucky to have been born into such an accomplished, loving family—according to my teachers.

  But most days, I didn’t feel very lucky.

  Most days, I was lonely…and those were the good days. The days I was invisible to my older brother, Drake. I’d choose being ignored over being taunted. I willingly hid in the treehouse all day if it meant my parents didn’t force Drake to hang out with his poor baby brother.

  For seven years, I put up with his bruises, punches, and nasty shouts in my ears. One day, he shouted at me so bad, right into my ear canal, my eardrum popped. Blood dribbled and dried on my cheeks until my parents realised I wasn’t answering their questions at the dinner table and rushed me to a doctor.

  They’d asked me how it happened. And like always, I kept my mouth tightly shut.

  I’d learned very early on—in fact, it was probably my first memory—not to tattletale on my brother.

  He was the chosen one.

  I was the runner-up.

  As long as I stayed in his shadow and did what he said, he permitted me to live another day.

  My loneliness faded a little when I found my first stray.

  A skinny mange-riddled poodle in the park where I sometimes snuck to before Drake could find me. It’d curled up under a bush, just waiting to die. It didn’t even open its eyes when I touched it. Didn’t growl when I scooped it up. Didn’t whimper when I carried it all the way to a vet downtown.

  The receptionist tried to call my parents, to alert them that their seven-year-old was unattended, carrying a mangy stray, and begging for medical attention that he couldn’t pay for.

  But the vet—a young woman who hadn’t been jaded by the hopelessness of the world yet—had ushered me into her surgery.

  She’d treated the dog and kept him for a few days to make him better.

  I went everyday to hang out by his cage. I held his paw. I told him stories. I found a friend in that bag of bones, willing the sick mutt to live.