Twice a Wish (GODDESS ISLES Book 2)

by Pepper Winters

  That this whole sick charade was over.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  NINE FIFTY-NINE A.M.

  She’s late—

  Calvin’s grunt ripped my head up from studying my watch. Roy Slater practically fell off my couch. And I—

  I fucking ripped out my pumping, spurting heart and laid it bloody and warm at the feet of the most stunning creature I’d ever seen.

  My body malfunctioned.

  My cock hardened to stone; my pulse went haywire; my eyes couldn’t drink her in fast enough.

  Fucking

  wow…

  Eleanor strode from my garden, past the mermaid fountain and bird table where local sparrows ate their fill, and padded barefoot into my office. Her dress trailed after her, gracing a trail of golden sand as if she’d been summoned from the very sea I idolized.

  Skittles sat on her shoulder, making Eleanor more than woman but a nymph who could talk to feathered and furred alike. The gauzy curtains swayed around her with a non-existent breeze, afraid to touch her, swirling like entities drunk on her power.

  My fingers dug into my desk as I struggled to breathe. Her hair. Her eyes. Her body.

  Fuck

  me.

  I wanted to snatch her, savage her. I wanted to rip her from the heavens and bring her firmly into my hell.

  Every time she breathed, her body glittered in jewels, refracting around my villa, blinding me to anything else.

  I couldn’t goddamn move.

  I’d seen the by-product of men meeting my goddesses for the first time. Some lost their minds. Literally lost their fucking minds. They lost language ability, motor skills, and stood there as blank as if they’d been hypnotised by the most powerful witch.

  I’d always pitied such fools, proud I’d never been so weak.

  But now…now I was that motherfucking fool.

  Who was I?

  What was going on?

  But most importantly, who the hell was she?

  I wanted her more than I could breathe. I wanted her so much my stomach ached, and my chest burned, and my cock throbbed with agony.

  I needed her to give me back my soul—to kiss words back into my mouth, to rake her hands through my hair and gift me back my mind. If she could give me back my manhood, then she could take my heart.

  Fuck, she’d already taken it.

  It was right there, slowly pumping and gasping on the floor by her flawless feet.

  Calvin was the first of us to recover. “Jinx…good job. You’re on time.” He cleared his throat, his voice thick with desire.

  My vision went red.

  How dare he desire her? How dare he look at her? How dare anyone see just how fucking resplendent this woman was?

  I shot from my seat, blinking back stars, unable to tear my gaze from the immortal queen who’d entered my office.

  Her crown was no longer invisible. A diamond-frosted mirage that blended fantasy and fact, making me doubt if she’d always been royal. If she’d always been so, so far out of my reach.

  Roy Slater stumbled toward her.

  Skittles took off, zipping out the door.

  I tore from my desk to intercept him, to stand between him and what was mine. Crossing my arms, I snarled, “Deal’s off.”

  “What?” His face contorted. For a second, it looked as if he’d cry with desolation, but then rage painted his true colours. “We had an agreement!”

  “An agreement I’m breaking.”

  “You can’t do that.”

  I leaned toward him, my fists curling tight. “You’re on my island, Slater. Watch your goddamn tongue.”

  Eleanor’s presence itched me from behind. Her heat. Her power. Her proximity. Tiny lightning bolts shot under my black suit, finding the cave where my heart used to reside. I could barely stand upright. Could hardly function as a man. The longer I stood in front her and fought for my right to keep her, the more I slipped into an animal.

  A male at the height of his musk, wanting to mate, ready to destroy any competition by whatever means necessary.

  Calvin joined us, making our standoff a trio. “Sinclair, can I talk to you for a moment?”

  No fucking way was I moving.

  I glowered at my second in command. “We’ve said all we need to. Get the helicopter. Slater is leaving.”

  “Not without her,” Slater snarled.

  “Leave now, you go with your life. Try to argue and you’ll die.” I hadn’t meant to reveal my cold-blooded side. Hadn’t meant for my voice to show that it wasn’t an empty threat.

  I knew what death tasted like.

  I’d delivered it in my past.

  Killing this man would not keep me up at night, but losing Eleanor…I’d never sleep again.

  “You’d throw your life in jail just to back out on a deal?” Slater snapped. “You’d kill me, all for a girl you rent to others?”

  My hand lashed out, finding his throat like a bullet with a laser sight.

  I squeezed.

  Hard.

  Eleanor’s voice slipped over my shoulder, freezing all of us. “How much, Mr. Slater? How much did you offer to pay for me?”

  I ripped my head around to look at her. She’d moved from behind me to beside me, her eyes narrowed on my fingers around my guest’s throat. She didn’t look at me. She acted as if I was inconsequential.

  I’m not fucking inconsequential!

  I squeezed harder, making it impossible for Slater to speak.

  Calvin’s hand landed on mine. “Stop. Let’s talk about this.”

  I don’t know why or how, but I released, uncurling my burning fingers from Slater’s throat and shaking out the urge to kill.

  Slater turned his attention to Eleanor, his gaze turning liquid with lust. “One million. I offered him a million to take you home.”

  If I had a gun, I would’ve shot him in the heart. I would’ve taken sadistic joy in watching his blood stain my tiles.

  Pika flew in from the garden, searching out my shoulder. His little talons barely landed before he squawked and took off again, sensing the animosity in the room.

  Both him and Skittles wanted nothing to do with death teasing in the corners.

  “A million,” Eleanor whispered. “Is that the going rate for a whore?”

  Slater flinched. “A whore? I’m not buying you as a whore. No way.”

  He went to touch her, but I shoved him back with a fist in his solar plexus.

  It took a moment for him to cough and wheeze, sucking in oxygen to continue. “I want you as a wife.” He flatly ignored me, even after my punch, his gaze imploring her, making my head swim with violence.

  Goddammit, I couldn’t do this.

  Calvin wrapped a fist around my arm, keeping me in place when I advanced on him. I could strike him. I could pin my wrath on Calvin and then on Slater—I had more than enough to go around, but Eleanor bypassed me, going to stand in front of Slater.

  I swallowed a groan, drinking in the sight of her back.

  Her long, long hair kissed her ass, falling seamlessly into the jewels of her gown. Flowers decorated randomly, begging me to pluck them out and push her onto all fours.

  “A wife?” Shock echoed in Eleanor’s question. “You’re buying me, not as a whore, but a wife?”

  Slater nodded. “I’ll marry you when we get home. No pre-nup. No restrictions. My wealth is yours. I’ll give a million to this asshole, but the rest will be yours.” He spread his hands in surrender. “Your only rule would be that you’d have to stay with me. Forever. You’d be mine…just as I’d be yours. But you can never divorce me. Never go back to your family. Never tell anyone the truth of our beginning.”

  Eleanor stiffened, her hair twitching down her back. “Don’t you think purchasing a wife is the wrong way to begin a romance? Find someone who you don’t have to pay for.”

  “I’ve found you, and I’ll do whatever I have to do to claim you.”

  Eleanor nodded slowly, then turned to face me.

>   I shook Calvin off but didn’t move. I quaked on the spot and crossed my arms, doing my best to seem as if I had myself under control.

  “How much did you pay for me, Mr. Sinclair?”

  Sinclair.

  Not Sully.

  I snarled inside, fighting so much, battling a part of my nature that was murderous and mayhem, rather than human. “I don’t discuss figures with—”

  “More than a million?” she interrupted. “Less than a million?”

  How could I tell her the truth?

  That the traffickers I used sold her to me for a rock bottom price. I would never admit that her soul was valued to those disgusting men—me included—at five hundred thousand.

  A bargain.

  An insult.

  Half of what Slater was willing to offer.

  I would never admit that.

  Ever.

  But I was also never letting her go.

  Already, she’d almost paid back her initial cost. The profit margin from selling her to Slater would’ve padded my bank account.

  Last night, I’d tried to convince myself that was the only reason I was selling her.

  But I couldn’t swallow my own lie.

  The only reason I’d agreed to this atrocity was to buy back my own sanity. And a million was far too cheap. She was worth so, so much more. She was utterly fucking priceless and it made me sick to my guts that we were two men discussing her ‘bride’ price in front of her.

  This didn’t concern her.

  I shouldn’t have summoned her.

  I should’ve done the deal and never even said goodbye.

  Now, I had to either kill this asshole or lash him to my helicopter. Either way, she wasn’t fucking leaving.

  Stalking to my exit that led to a corridor and another lounge, I snapped my fingers. “Slater, Calvin. Let’s discuss this. Alone.”

  “Alone?” Eleanor’s eyebrows shot up. “Why summon me if you’re just going to—”

  “Enough. Stay there.” I pointed at the floor as if she’d lock herself to the spot.

  Calvin gave me a wary look as he followed me toward the door. Slater didn’t move.

  I would make him move—in every painful way possible—but at the last second, he gave Eleanor a twisted smile and followed me.

  The moment I was away from Eleanor, I sucked in a breath. The first breath in minutes, the first untainted oxygen, free from her magic.

  My heart restarted into a normal beat, my mind dropped its red haze of violence. I returned to myself, fractured and furious. I still wanted to kill Slater, but I could stay in my suit rather than wanting to turn into a wolf and shredding him to pieces.

  How had she affected me so much? Why did my entire body feel bruised?

  Calvin pulled me away from Slater, farther into the other room. “What the fuck happened in there, Sinclair?”

  I glared. “I don’t know what you mean.”

  “You know exactly what I mean. You practically pounced on her the second she arrived.”

  “Are you gonna lie to my face and say you didn’t get hard when she appeared?” Each word came out gnawed by my clenched teeth. “Did you not see how fucking stunning she is?”

  He winced but nodded. “I can appreciate a beautiful woman. And…she is beautiful. I’ll give her that.”

  “And that’s why I’m keeping her. She’s too beautiful and too sought after to get rid of. Guests pay above and—”

  “Stop.” Calvin clucked his tongue, cursing under his breath. “For fuck’s sake, that isn’t why you want to keep her.”

  “Yes, it fucking is.”

  “No, it fucking isn’t.” His temper clashed against mine. “You changed in there, man. You were ready to kill that guy just because he looked at Jinx like any other guest looks at their goddess. It fucked you off that he wants her—wants her for always, instead of just one night.”

  Perhaps I’d have to dig two graves today.

  I spoke with black-edged control. “You are once again overstepping your boundaries—”

  “Look.” He swiped a hand over his face, struggling to figure out what he could and could not say to me in my current fury. “The way I see it, you have two choices. And don’t hurt me for pointing them out.”

  I looked over my shoulder where Slater still stood in the corridor, away from Eleanor and away from hearing distance. Slowly, I crossed my arms and nodded. “Fine. What are my two choices?”

  “You sell her—”

  I growled.

  He held up a hand. “You sell her, and you regret it for a few days…a week. You have blue balls, and you go and fuck a goddess who will willingly spread her legs for you. Jinx goes to a place that ensures she’s out of your life. Your world continues the way it should—the way you fought for it to be. Things don’t get fucked up.”

  I squeezed my arms tighter, trembling with the urge to shut him up. He spoke rationally; he made sense. That was what scared me about hearing his second point.

  I already knew what he’d say.

  I already fucking agreed with him.

  “Or…” Calvin sighed, looking pissed but also regretful, already tasting the change that would happen if I kept Eleanor instead of removing her from my world. “Or you keep her. You fall in love with her—if you’re not already. You fuck her. You adore her. You realise that she’s exactly like all the animals you’ve liberated in the past. That she’s caged here, trapped against her will, and you…you let her go. You let her go, and she either ends up in a worst situation or—”

  “Or I hurt her myself.”

  He nodded. “You don’t exactly have the best track record.”

  “What happened wasn’t intentional.” My voice bled free from rage, leaving only horror behind. Horror of what I’d done when we’d saved so many animals from their nightmarish cages.

  “I know. But…it doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.” Calvin stepped away from me, unable to read if I was about to kill him or accept who I was.

  Eleanor wasn’t safe with me.

  In any capacity.

  Only those I felt contempt for were immune.

  Suddenly, the anger thickening my veins dispersed, leaving me nauseous. I’d agreed to sell Eleanor for my sanity, but sending her away would also guarantee her safety.

  Roy Slater was a bastard, but he wasn’t an evil sonovabitch. He would do what he said. He’d marry her, protect her, and if their marriage didn’t work out, then Eleanor would have the funds to fight him.

  Turning to face Slater, I snapped my fingers. “Come here.”

  I had to do this before I changed my mind. Before I reverted to a love-struck, pathetic fool.

  The man hurried toward me, his face bouncing between hope and hate. “So? Do we still have a deal?”

  I tried to breathe, air whistling through my heart-empty chest, but I nodded. “On one stipulation.”

  His eyes narrowed. “What stipulation?”

  “The price has gone up. A million to take her from my shores and a million to marry her.”

  He opened his mouth to argue, but I finished, “The second million goes directly to her. Cash. She hides it where she wants. She has a bolt fund to leave you if you ever step out of line.”

  Calvin sucked in a breath beside me as I raised my hand.

  Slater paused for a moment, biting his bottom lip as he ran over the consequences and calamities that could possibly come from this transaction.

  Finally, he inserted his hand into mine. “Done.” His fingers pulsed with conviction. “But I want this in writing.”

  “And I need a fucking drink.” Dropping his hold, I stalked back to my office, wishing I had some way to stop my internal bleeding and something to wedge into the emptiness where my heart used to be.

  With my hand on the door, I braced myself to look at Eleanor one last time.

  To escort her from my paradise which had somehow become everlasting hell.

  I went to say goodbye.

  Chapter Thirty-Four />
  THE STOLEN VIAL OF elixir bruised my palm.

  I trembled as the three men returned, striding through the door, all three staring hungrily at me. I tried to give each equal attention, to hide my thievery, but I couldn’t keep my eyes off Sully.

  I’d seen him kingly and imposing, undone and furious, sea-drenched and secretive, tortured and solemn.

  But this was different.

  When I’d arrived in his office, second-guessing my warfare of wearing a ball gown at ten in the morning, he’d frozen the moment he’d seen me. A shroud fell over him, a deep midnight curtain where his morals vanished beneath want.

  His hunger had been palatable. His need for me reached across the room and made me wet. I couldn’t deny that my skin had prickled and my nipples had pebbled and every reaction I wished I didn’t have sprang into an intensity that reeked with damnation.

  I wanted that man.

  I wanted him more than I’d ever wanted anyone.

  And that made guilt braid with desire because I’d never wanted Scott the way I wanted Sully. Never felt a trickle of wetness just from his stare.

  Sully had become my elixir.

  His stare, his voice, his body…all custom-designed to make the animalistic parts of me rise, pushing down my decorum to the depths of my being where it belonged.

  I was free when he stared at me.

  Free in his need, knowing he felt it too.

  Free to admit that there was something horribly wrong between us that had driven us into destruction. Born from hate and transmuted by fate…a conduit from his soul to mine.

  That was why I’d stolen his elixir.

  Why, when the men had vanished from his office, and the low murmur of voices floated back, I’d dashed to the apothecary cabinet and opened hundreds of little drawers, seeking, searching, hoping to find the one thing that might allow me to stay.

  Each drawer I’d ripped open, I’d filled with deeper conviction. I allowed my mind to sample both scenarios. To envision a life being sold to Roy Slater and ultimately ending up his wife. Of sleeping beside him, of sleeping with him, of allowing age to turn a man already my senior into a grandfather before I was in my thirties.

  The money would mean I would never have to work. My future would be paved with wealth and laziness. I might find a semi-decent existence. A marriage with him was no different than a contract with Sully—I would still be cut off from those I knew, still be dead to my family.