by Kaye Draper
Grey made a face. “Are you really going to act like any of what you just said is normal? And the ‘sanctity’ of your fucking race is none of my business. It can carry on as it has done for millennia or whatever. Not my problem.”
Charmion stood, pacing to the edge of her dais to glare down at Grey. “Change forms, half-breed.”
Grey lifted one middle finger.
The siren lifted her hand and pulled a vial from somewhere in her diaphanous gown. Uncorking it, she upended the contents on Grey’s head. It smelled like vomit. Grey scowled. “You’re an idiot if you think....” She trailed off as her voice deepened and her body shifted. No fucking way should they be able to do anything to her with Levi’s magic thrumming around her. Unless.... “God magic?”
Why the hell would the gods help the sirens? They seemed to currently be in a little bit of a war over the kleidí and the leviathan.
The siren smiled, slow and cruel. “Surely you aren’t that stupid. The gods are always fighting amongst themselves. There is a faction that wants to control the power you hold. But there is also a faction that wants it destroyed. The world is better off without that evil lurking in the depths, waiting to be turned into a weapon for whoever holds the power.”
Grey wrapped a hand around the kleidí, feeling the sense of Levi’s restless, shifting unease. “The kleidí is mine. It can’t be taken from me, only given. That’s the way the magic works.”
But the siren just smiled harder. “Taken? No. But destroyed? Absolutely. Especially with a little help from the sort of god power that created the beast’s prison in the first place.” She nearly cackled at the stricken look on Grey’s face. “And with the destruction of that ugly little stone—which can only truly be carried out by the sirens who first helped forge the sea geode—we will also destroy the monster attached to it.”
She stepped down off her dais, and Grey took a step back, finally afraid of the idiots for once. “Hand over the stone, half-breed. Service your people, and you’ll be treated like a pampered prince.” She tilted her head. “Or...do you need some incentive?”
Grey could feel Levi’s power building as he no-doubt got ready to make a break for it and murder some bitches. But Charmion lifted a hand, bringing a perfect, shimmering globe of water up in front of Grey. A scene moved on the surface—the ferry still being tossed upon the waves. Pontus would be too late to save the humans on board. The ship was breaking up, and it was headed right for an unseen cluster of rocks off the coast of Etna Island. “Give us the stone and the use of your male form, and the humans live.”
Grey’s body radiated rage, his aura flaring with power. But whatever deal the sirens had worked with the gods, their magic neutralized Grey’s power as soon as it started to build. Warm, violet-tinted magic rippled over him, somehow reminding him of the dark depths of the ocean, of all the hidden places no one else could see. Levi stood before Grey in his mostly humanoid form. His fathomless galaxy eyes glowed with repressed magic, and his ancient face twisted into a look of resignation.
“It seems as if I’ve been outmaneuvered,” he whispered, his deep voice carrying through the high-arched space around them, echoing off the gilded tiles and statues of naked goddesses. “Give them the stone, Grey.”
Grey’s eyes filled with tears as he gripped the kleidí. “What? No. They’ll destroy it—destroy you. There has to be another way. Beat their asses!” He flung his arm out in command. “Unleash ancient fury!”
But Levi only let out a tired sigh. “I cannot. They have personal protections in place to prevent me from harming them. Their new allies are not stronger than me—but I fear they are trickier.” He reached out a four-fingered hand to stroke Grey’s cheek. “I am tired of this battle. Tired of the greed that drives people to try to possess and control me. Let it end. Allow them to destroy the kleidí.”
Grey shook his head, furiously trying to think of a way out of this. Surely Pontus...but if his power was waning, and the sirens had the help of other gods, what could he do? The siren queen clucked at Grey impatiently and gestured at the watery TV show on the globe beside her. The boat listed to the side and hit the rocks. A few more big waves would obliterate the boat. And there was no one coming to help.
Grey swallowed hard, his eyes meeting Levi’s. “You can’t do this to me. I...we...you’re mine.”
He stepped closer, his strange body brushing Grey’s, his head bowed, pressing the flat of his strange, dragon horns to her forehead. “Be strong, master. You are stronger than this.” Then he pressed his perfect, chiseled lips to Grey’, magic arcing between them, lighting him up from within. “A part of me will always be with you,” he whispered. Then he stepped back and nodded. “Allow them to destroy the stone, master. But never let them possess it.”
Grey sniffled and scrubbed at the tears pouring down his cheeks. He understood what Levi was saying. Death, he would face. Belonging to anyone other than Grey? No fucking way. He turned away from Levi, unable to look at him another second longer. Grey’s lovers and the ferry crew were about to die for his hesitation. And Levi was about to die if he stopped hesitating. Holding out the kleidí in one masculine hand, he glared all his hatred at Charmion. “I won’t give it to you. But work your magic. Destroy it. And make sure the others survive your stupid fucking storm.”
The siren nodded and waved a dismissive hand at one of her fellow pod members. “Calm the storm and send an SOS for the ferry. Ensure the cross-breed’s lovers are safe.” She looked down her nose at Grey. “Though why go to all that fuss, when you can just get more humans, I’ll never understand. You’re just as weak as your mother, clinging to human ways.”
Grey sucked in a breath to shriek at her to just get on with it already, but the siren lifted her hand and released a spell from one of the rings she wore. Glowing turquoise magic encompassed the stone in Grey’s hand, the assault against the kleidí like a physical assault against Grey herself. Levi grunted and closed his eyes, his power flaring around him as he whispered to himself in a desperate, broken voice. Gods, what had Grey done?
But it was too late now. Magic ripped away Grey’s connection to the kleidí as it slowly, cruelly, snuffed out whatever innate power made the key. With every tearing jerk of magic from his skin, Grey could feel Levi’s magic swelling, pouring out of him like a bleeding wound to pool about them. Grey wondered if he might drown in it. He half-hoped he would.
Levi threw his head back, his long silvery-blue hair floating on an otherworldly breeze. Then he wavered, going indistinct and see through before bursting into a million shards of dark light.
The explosion hit Grey like a mule-kick to the chest as the kleidí cracked and dropped from his numb hand. He fell to the floor sobbing in a harsh, cracked male voice. The broken magic swirling around him was too much to bear, and he fell into darkness.
Chapter 34
Grey woke slowly, blinking away shimmering blue light that he muzzily recognized as the reflection of water through magical sea glass. Right. Sirens. Levi. He lifted a hand to press it to his still very masculine chest, over the icy numbness that radiated out from his heart. It felt like tearing Levi away had physically damaged something deep inside Grey.
The bed dipped and he turned his head to find a voluptuous goddess of a woman sitting there. She was obviously a siren—perfect from her golden hair to her sun-deprived once-brown skin, and clothed in gauzy fabrics and glittering gems. She gave Grey a sweet, concerned look that he knew full well was complete bullshit. “I’m so glad you’re finally awake,” she said, leaning in to press a hand to Grey’s forehead. Like that would do anything. “Are you feeling well?”
Grey rolled his eyes at the woman’s blatant attempt to find an excuse to sprawl across his lap. He was only clad in a soft sheet. Easier to get on with the seducing and the freaking mating that way. Like he was some sort of loaner stud animal at the zoo. “Get off me, heifer.”
The woman blinked at him and sat back, brushing a hand through his curls. A soft hum drif
ted from her lips, the sound compelling and rich, laced with magic. Grey lifted a brow at her. “Not gonna work, sister. I already told the queen bitch I’m not doing this. Get out.”
The siren huffed, looking absolutely shocked to meet a man her magic didn’t affect. Then she stood and flounced out the door.
Grey stood and wrapped the sheet around his waist and chest before knotting it toga-style. Then he padded to the door of his opulent room and let himself out. His heartbeat sliced through him like a hundred tiny daggers with every step. He stumbled down the hall, past a couple of slack-jawed guards who scrambled to call for help and toward the call of the water that he assumed meant an exit.
He scoffed to himself as he stumbled into a potted plant. He was dizzy from whatever they’d done when they destroyed...the kleidí. His fingers and toes tingled with pins and needles. And the stupid sirens thought he was just going to wake up and fuck whatever woman presented herself.
“Dumbasses,” he muttered, missing a turn and backtracking before finding the hall that led to the exit from the cursed palace.
The siren queen and a couple others were waiting there for him, along with a bunch of male servant-guards and water elementals. Grey scoffed. “Out of my fucking way.”
Charmion held up a hand. “Calm yourself, cross-breed. A loss of power can be disorienting. Let me lead you back to your room.”
Her gaze raked over Grey’s male body and he shuddered. “No fucking thanks. I’m leaving.”
She laughed. “Under what power? Your pet is gone. And you’re only half a siren.”
He made a “suck-it” gesture at his toga-clad hips. “Apparently siren enough for you, fish face. Lucky for me, there’s no way I’m getting it up, and you can’t make me. I’m immune to your mojo bullshit.”
She scowled at him. “There are drugs. Medicinal herbs.”
Grey held up a hand. “Are you deaf? Fuck. Off.”
He strode forward, his ears ringing, consumed by the need to just get out . The siren’s minions closed in on him and he...broke. He had every intention of punching some fuckers int the face, but the magic beat him to it. Unstable energy lashed out, throwing people back, smashing a couple skulls and sending Charmion to her knees with blood dribbling out of her ears.
Levi’s magic. Grey nearly started sobbing all over again. At the end...all that chanting, that bullshit about a part of him always being with Grey. He had somehow torn himself apart and shoved some of his magic inside Grey’s aura. But he wasn’t glad for the way out. He was gutted. He had killed the leviathan to save his lovers. And Levi had made sure Grey was safe as well. Just like he always promised. Grey could almost hear his deep voice whispering about protecting Grey, calling him master.
He sucked in a gasping breath as the pain continued to radiate outward from the burning cold in his chest, out along his extremities. “Out of my way,” he ground out, surprised when everyone just... moved.
Grey had no clue how to operate the magical sea spout, so he just threw himself in and hoped for the best. After all, he could breathe under water. At least...he used to be able to...before the sirens broke his magic.
The touch of the water against Grey’s skin burned. It felt like he was going to come apart, like scales were about to burst out of his human skin. Levi’s magic didn’t belong in a mostly human vessel. Grey’s body just wasn’t strong enough for it.
The sea spout tossed Grey around violently and spit him out somewhere. He had no clue where. For a long time, he simply drifted on the waves, feeling lost and broken, too full and far, far too empty. Eventually, he realized the water striking his face was coming from above, rather than below. The rain was warm and gentle, but it irritated his skin where it bounced off, and made his eyes sting—apparently, fresh water was uncomfortable now. Grey flipped over and slowly, awkwardly paddled to a tiny island in the middle of who-knew-where. Dragging himself up the beach, he took shelter under a moderately large rock outcropping that was sheltered on two sides by lush vegetation. At least the sea spout had spit him out somewhere warm.
He collapsed sideways and cried himself to sleep, remembering the tired, resigned look on Levi’s face and the warm press of his lips before he was torn apart by magic.
He woke suddenly sometime in the evening. Night insects chattered outside his little shelter, their chorus nearly drowning out the rhythmic rush of the waves against the sand. Grey sat up, rubbing a hand over his chest. The pick-axe stab of icy cold had changed to a burning sensation that felt like it would split him open or burn him alive. He felt a sudden, desperate need to touch the water, to feel the ocean on his skin.
Stripping out of his stupid bedsheet, he walked out into the surf. The burning eased the moment the water touched his skin, and he sucked in a deep breath of sea-scented air. Something was still broken inside him, and he thought maybe this was the end, the last painful crack that split him wide open and spilled his guts out.
A brilliant flash of dark violet light spilled from his center, and he fell into the waves, feeling like every bit of energy in his body had just poured out into the ocean. Grey blinked to clear his vision, not understanding what he was seeing in the moonlight on the waves. Then strong arms were wrapping around his waist, lifting him up and pressing him to a solid, warm body that glittered with silver markings in the moonlight.
“Master, don’t cry so. I’m sorry it was painful.” Levi’s deep voice cut through the last of the ruined, foggy scraps of Grey’s brain.
“ Levi !” Grey’s voice cracked as he yelped, words echoing off the dark shoreline.
Levi loosened his hold, but kept Grey close still, bracing him as if he might fall over—which to be fair, was still a strong possibility. “Shh...don’t shout. It won’t do to call attention to our ruse.”
Grey spluttered up at the sparkling, moonlit monster. “Ruse?” Then he planted his hands in the center of that smooth, sculpted, very naked chest and shoved, sending Levi staggering a few steps backward in the surf. “You planned all this?” His voice was rising again, cracking with fury.
Levi tilted his head and quirked a confused brow at Grey. “Yes? I’m sorry if my deception upset you. I couldn’t tell you at the time. And they had to believe I was truly destroyed.”
“Fuck yes, your ‘deception upset me,’” he growled, prowling toward Levi so he could murder the asshole. “I thought I killed you! I thought you were gone .” The sobbing started again, leaving Grey doing less murdering and more leaning against Levi’s warm, living, breathing chest and pounding his fists against his blue skin like a child having a tantrum.
Levi stroked Grey’s wet, tangled curls back from his face and stared down at him, those otherworldly galaxy eyes sparkling with light, wide with wonder. “You...worried for me? Truly? You mourned me when you thought I was gone?”
Grey punched him again for good measure. “Yes, damn it!”
Levi’s confusion and wonder melted into something else as he grasped the point of Grey’s chin and tilted his head back to study his face. “You care for me, master?”
Grey hoped like hell blushing couldn’t be detected in the moonlight. “Shut up.”
But Levi didn’t release him, only lifted his other hand, cupping Grey’s face and staring intently into his eyes. “No one cares for me. I’m a tool. A power source. A monster. And sometimes for amusement—a distracting, temporary sexual deviancy. People don’t care for me.”
Grey huffed in irritation. “Well, I guess I’m not people.”
Levi shook his head. “No, you’re not.” Then he bent and gripped Grey’s ass, hoisting him up so that Grey had to scramble to wrap his legs around Levi’s waist. His mysterious eyes took on a dangerous new glint as he added, “You’re mine.”
Chapter 35
Never in the history of forever has sex in the sand ever been a good idea. But Grey was having trouble caring. Levi moved effortlessly, as if Grey weighed nothing, bending and spreading him out on the packed sand beneath the rock outcropping, mostly
shielded in the darkness from any spying eyes. He propped himself over Grey, keeping just a bit too much space between them, those galaxy eyes shining in the dark as they raked over Grey’s exposed male body. Then the monster bowed his head, a curtain of damp silver hair gliding over Grey’s skin before a warm, forked tongue flicked against one nipple, then the other. Grey gasped and tangled his hands in Levi’s hair. That tongue was going to take some getting used to. And his mind went scampering off to gleefully invent ways to put it to use.
“Oh, how I’ve longed to taste you like this,” the sea serpent breathed, his deep, deep voice a low rumble over Grey’s damp skin. “Your skin bathed in the sea and gilded with moonlight.” Sharp teeth dragged along the skin of Grey’s hip, sending goose bumps racing over his body at the realization the guy could actually decide to eat him for real. But all he got was a chuckle and another flick of that long, thin, oddly strong forked tongue, lapping at the drops of salt water that clung to the place just above Grey’s belly button.
A strong, four-fingered hand wrapped around Grey’s aching cock, dragging the foreskin back so that talented tongue could flick against his slit, teasing. Grey arched his hips and groaned, lost to the lust and the power pulsing in the air between them. “Fuck.”
That long tongue wrapped around Grey’s cock and squeezed. Grey’s breath stuttered and he tried to focus, his hands sliding from Levi’s head to his broad shoulders. The sound that left him as Levi sucked him into a mouth that felt like molten lava was closer to a whimper than a sigh. The heat of the leviathan’s mouth was just shy of too much, enveloping his sensitive dick with a pressure that said this wasn’t going to last long. Grey managed to curl upward and press at those perfect shoulders with more force. “Levi! Stop or I’m gonna come.”
The rich chuckle that vibrated from the monster’s throat through Grey’s shaft was the last straw. Grey dropped his head back and groaned, spilling in hard, pulsing shots that were devoured like Levi was starving for it.