“If they do not?” Bridget asked. “What then? What will happen to me?”
Maia frowned, obviously not liking the question. Insistent, she said through tightened lips, “They will.”
Bridget glanced around the cave. The ‘slaves’ looked at her expectantly. Why did she run away from Caderyn? Forcing a look of indifference, she said to Maia, “I’ve already been pleased several times today before you found me in the forest. I would rather eat.”
Maia grinned, as she waved her hand. The men were led back the way they’d come, deeper into the cave. Maia touched Bridget’s cheek and stared into her eyes. Maia grinned, keeping her sparkling gaze on Bridget’s, as she ordered, “Ambrosia, bring food for our new sister. Let her dine as I look at her and discover her new name, a name fit for a goddess.”
Bridget looked away first. Maia let her go. Neda, from the forest, came forward and reintroduced herself. She led Bridget to a pillow and bid her to sit down on the floor. Maia’s eyed stayed on her, studying her hair, her eyes, her skin, even her breasts, as she seemed to consider what name she would give the newest Olympian.
Bridget tried her best to ignore the queen as she was served her meal on a flat piece of giant shell. It was a leafy seaweed salad smothered in berries and nuts from the forest. Closing her eyes, she tried to pretend it was a cheeseburger. It didn’t work. The odd flavor of the seaweed was so overpowering, she choked, barely able to swallow.
“It takes some getting used to,” Neda whispered kindly as she glanced down at the seaweed. “But it gives us strength and much power. In time you will come to enjoy it.”
“What kind of power?” Bridget asked.
“Neda,” Maia demanded. She gave a short shake of her head. Neda bowed and slowly backed away from Bridget.
The sound of water trickling from the waterfall filled in the silence. Bridget ate, picking off the berries and nuts as she tried not to taste the seaweed flavor on them. Ambrosia took the shell plate still full of seaweed and tossed it into the pool.
“Night divers,” Maia ordered softly. “Go.”
Several of the women wearing loincloths stripped from their clothes and dived into the pool. They didn’t come back up.
“Where did they go?” Bridget asked.
“The ocean,” Maia said. “King Lucius thinks he has the only portal to the outside world, but we found this one.”
“We told you that you would be free here,” Lotis murmured, sitting beside her. She began toying with Bridget’s hair. “Soon we will take you down to the ocean, when you are ready. You can study it all you like. Unlike the Merr, we keep our promises. We will give you such an eternity.”
‘Caderyn,’ Bridget thought, desperately wanting him. She felt herself being pulled under the mermaid’s spell and she didn’t like it. Why had she run away? Why hadn’t she just stayed put and dealt with her problems? If she had been stronger, she would be with him.
“Don’t think about him,” Lotis whispered. “We are your family now, Bridget. The lords of Atlas will never respect you. They will try to imprison you to their laws, their ways. Do you wish to live under tyranny? Or would you rather be free to live an eternity in power, in control of your life, doing as you please when you please to do it? Consider what we offer you—the whole ocean as your playground, men to give you pleasure, sisters to protect and fight for you.”
“We’ll teach you all you need to know, more than the Merr ever could,” Styx added, sitting by Bridget’s feet. The mermaid laid her head gently against Bridget’s leg, rubbing her cheek affectionately back and forth. “We will be your family. We will be your sisters. We’ll take care of you.”
“We will love you,” Lotis said, her voice soft. “Please, let us love you, Bridget.”
Chapter 24
Bridget was gone. She had left him.
Caderyn couldn’t believe that she’d actually left him, as he stared at the empty bed. He’d waited in the garden with Sirius and Afra, catching up on his estate and telling them stories from the hunt. They were most curious to learn about how he’d found Bridget, and how the others were brought down as well.
With his wife’s changing, he would soon be able to communicate telepathically with her. He would also be able to feel what she felt. That was, if she truly accepted him as her husband. Obviously, she had yet to accept their life together, for he hadn’t felt her leave him.
Running to the front door, his heart stuck in his throat, he pulled it open and ran outside. Sirius and Afra were right behind him.
“My lord?” Sirius asked.
“What’s happened?” Afra added.
“She’s gone. She’s left.” Caderyn glanced at them and ordered, “Afra, check the house to make sure she’s not here. Sirius, head south to the borderlands. I’ll check the forest. She couldn’t have gone too far on foot and in her weakened condition.”
Caderyn didn’t wait for an answer as he ran toward the forest, knowing his friends would help him. As he neared the tree line, he detected the light imprint of her bare feet in the path as he searched for her. The toes of the print pressed deep, signifying that she ran from him. His stomach tightened as he raced down the path, searching for her along the forest.
Why had she left him? Without word. Without reason.
Well, perhaps she had her reasons. Maybe she’d taken the discovery of her new self harder than he thought she would. Was what they were so repulsive? Was being Merr, his mate, his wife, his love, so horrible of a fate? Why was she resisting it?
Discovering her red cloak lying on the ground, he ran faster, stopping as he got to it. He grabbed it, crushing it in his fist as he looked around. The path was littered with footprints. Seeing a shell necklace, which had been hidden beneath the cloak, he held his breath.
Olympians.
“No,” he gasped, his worst fear realized. “By all the gods! No. Please, no!”
There was no telling what the crazy women would do with Bridget now that they had her. He had no doubt that they’d left the necklace behind on purpose.
His wife was now Merr, one of them, but she was also recently human. Would the Olympians try to kill her? Would they ask her to join them? Would Bridget join them? Would they torture her? Trick her up to the mortal surface to die a cruel death? There was only one opening out to the ocean, but what if they’d found another way? Though unlikely, the fear gripped him. There was no way of knowing.
‘Caderyn’
Bridget’s voice was faint, but he heard it. She was alive. For now, she was alive. The pain in his chest eased and he took a deep breath. He had to find her. Without her, he wasn’t whole. She had become his whole life.
“Bridget…”
Caderyn dropped the cloak on the ground and threw the shell necklace on top of it. If Sirius and Afra came looking for him, they would see it and know what had happened. Going in the direction that his instincts told him her voice had come from, Caderyn took to the forest. No one knew for sure where the Olympian’s lived, but he was determined to find out.
Caderyn cursed himself for a fool. He should have stayed by his wife’s side. He should have been able to protect her. Knowing that he’d failed her nearly caused his heart to stop beating in his chest. He loved her, had loved her since he first saw her wide blue eyes staring out at him as her ship sank all around them. The gods had blessed him that night, after all these years, and he’d failed.
“Bridget,” he whispered, over and over, willing her to hear him. “Bridget, please. Talk to me. Tell me where to find you.”
Everything that happened between them flashed though his mind—the shipwreck, the declaration of marriage, her wound and the glorious week spent healing her. She had been under a euphoric state, but she had still acted as she would act later, without inhibitions. She had wanted him that week and he was almost convinced she loved him. Her words echoed in his head.
‘I think it’s a little early in our relationship to have gotten married. It’s not the way things are done where
I come from. But, if I had to be married to anyone, I’m glad it’s you. And, if I have to stay married to anyone, I’d choose to stay married to you.’
They were not the words he had wanted to hear, but they had given him hope for the future. When the gods sent her to him, and let her survive in the ocean, he’d accepted that they knew what they were doing. He’d been attracted to her from the beginning, but had waited for the right sign to know for sure that she was meant for him. It had nearly killed him to think she might have belonged to the king. But, by the will of the gods, Bridget had chosen him.
She was beautiful, his wife. Even now, through all his fear, he felt desire for her. Merr were passionate people and all his passion was for her. He wanted to spend the rest of his days making love to her, hunting the seas to make her proud of being his wife. He wanted to honor her with each action, treasure her with each kiss.
Just thinking of her soft lips, kissing his stomach, sucking on his cock, made him hard. Her lust matched his and he reveled in the fact that she could meet his passionate desires fully. But now was not the time for such things. He ignored his arousal, endlessly searching the forest to find her, running harder until his lungs nearly exploded.
Caderyn wished Bridget could accept the gods’ will as easily as he, but he was willing to give her time, to let her adjust slowly. They had forever and he could be patient. It was one of the reasons they had all decided not to tell her of her fate, to let her grow accustomed to being a human in their world, before knowing she was actually a ‘mermaid’ in their world.
It had been hard not to tell her that he’d planned on taking her out into the Abyss to show her all she longed to see. But to do so, would be to reveal what she would become. She needed to accept Ataran first. She needed to accept him. But, for all his caution with her, perhaps he had still failed. Even now it might be too late.
‘Bridget!’ he thought, calling out to her with his entire being. He prayed she would hear his call, that she could accept him as her husband and answer through their link. ‘Bridget!’
Bridget heard her name whispered softly in her head like a conscious thought, only it wasn’t produced by her own brain. She stiffened, listening closely, keeping her mind blank. It sounded like Caderyn, but the noise was so faint it was hard to be sure. Her body tingled and it was almost as if she could feel him searching for her.
Sitting up from the long pillow, she glanced around. Many of the Olympians slept around the cave floor on similar pillows. Some, like Maia and Lotis, had gone back to where the slaves were. By the looks on the women’s faces, it was all too clear what they went for. Whatever happened, she would never give herself to the handsome men. Her body was for Caderyn and Caderyn alone. As she looked at the sexy loinclothed men, she’d known it deep in her heart. She wanted Caderyn.
She also realized that she could never spend an eternity at Mt. Olympus surrounded by the bitterness and anger of the Olympian women. The mermaids spoke beautiful words of freedom, but Bridget detected the truth they tried to hide. They were all unhappy and cynical creatures, wanting to bring her into their self-imposed misery. There was something dark just beneath the glittering surface of Mt. Olympus. It was a moroseness the Olympians tried too hard to hide. Bridget didn’t know how she detected it, but she did. The Olympians could tempt her with adventure, the chance to study the sea freely, with sexual pleasures aplenty and servants to wait on her hand and foot. But there was something they couldn’t tempt her with and that was love.
Bridget slowly stood from her bed pillow, trying not to wake the others. She listened with all her heart, trying to hear Caderyn call to her. Looking around, she paused, seeing if anyone moved.
‘Caderyn, I’m here. I need you. I hear you. Please talk to me.’
It was so simple, so clear to her now as she faced forever being without him. She loved Caderyn and she missed him. It had been difficult to admit to it completely. Maybe that’s why she had run away from him. She had been too afraid to love him, to accept a new life and a new world so quickly after her shipwreck. It wasn’t logical to fall in love so fast, to trust the feelings of the heart.
“But, love isn’t reasonable. It doesn’t always make sense,” she whispered softly to herself. A mermaid turned and Bridget quickly covered her mouth. She’d have to be a little more careful lest she ruin her only opportunity to escape.
If she would’ve just listened to her heart and not her head, she would be with Caderyn now. Her body had known him from that first moment. It recognized him as her soul mate. Strange as those words sounded to her, it was what it was. He was her mate, her husband, her other half. And she was a fool for not realizing it and accepting it.
She held her gown tightly to her body. The transparent material offered her little warmth, but Bridget found she adjusted more easily to the cold since her transformation into a mermaid.
Mermaid. It was so surreal, even now. Out of all the years she’d dreamed of the ocean, merfolk was never something she’d expected to discover.
Someone moaned softly and Bridget froze in mid-step, glancing frantically around. She bit her lip, fearfully. They couldn’t catch her getting away. Neda sat up and looked curiously at her. Bridget waited, her body tense and ready to make a run for it, as she was sure the woman would wake the whole cave. To her surprise, Neda smiled sadly and nodded her head once.
“Thank you,” Bridget mouthed, giving her a small smile of thanks. Neda motioned for Bridget to go toward the entrance of the cave. Bridget obeyed, moving once more around the prone, sleeping mermaids.
As she walked out into the night, her body stiffened as if warning her of danger. Her skin tingled with anticipation, ready to be jumped from behind, waiting for Neda to betray her to the others. The attack never came.
She glanced around. The sea stars swam overhead, gliding in aimless circles in the underwater heavens. Black streaks swam by, scattering the spots of light. Looking down the side of the cliff she froze. Maybe Neda had let her go because the mermaid knew there was no escape.
Closing her eyes tight, she thought, ‘Caderyn, if ever you were planning on rescuing me, now would be a good time to help out.’
She pried open one eye, glancing around the dark forest. Nothing. Swallowing nervously, she took a deep breath and then another.
‘Caderyn!’
Still, there was no sign that he’d heard her.
The rustic lift was tied up tightly and Bridget didn’t dare make the noise necessary to free it. Slowly, she lowered herself over the side of the cliff. Her bare feet attempted to find footing, as she ran her toes over the jagged wall of the cliff. After some struggle, Bridget found a hold and lowered herself over the side. Her stomach knotted in fear and she had to focus to stop her limbs from shaking. It was slow going, but she managed to make it a few feet from the top.
‘Bridget? Bridget!’
Bridget’s whole body jerked in surprise to hear Caderyn’s voice so loud in her head. Her hand slipped from the cliff and she lost her hold. Falling back, she automatically screamed in fright as she plummeted toward the ground.
“I’ve got you,” Caderyn said, right before catching her. Her body slammed into his, knocking him onto the ground. His body padded her fall, but was still as hard as steel and her body jarred at the impact. The breath was knocked from her body and she couldn’t even gasp.
Chaos sounded above them. The Olympians were awakened by her scream. She heard them yelling and scurrying above them.
Bridget looked down at Caderyn, his tight, perfect body pressed into hers. Finally, she was able to pull in a lungful of air. He still wore just a toga and her hand automatically kneaded into his naked chest. Desperate to say the one thought that needed to be said, she blurted, “I love you.”
“I know,” he answered. He kissed her briefly and then glanced over her shoulder to the cave opening. “We need to go now.”
Bridget glanced over her shoulder. The mermaids were pointing at her, screaming in outrage. Maia pushed
through the throng and glared down at them as she yelled, “Bridget, think about what you are doing!”
“Get me out of here,” Bridget whispered. She rolled off Caderyn and he jumped to his feet, pulling her up.
“Get her,” Maia ordered.
“How many are up there?” he asked, eyeing the cave. He looked as if he contemplated fighting them off.
“A whole lot,” Bridget answered. “Too many. We should run.”
“All right, then.” Caderyn held her hand, pulling her behind them as they ran into the forest. Calling over his shoulder he told her, “By the way, I love you, too.”
Bridget felt as if her heart exploded with happiness and joy at his words. They ducked under a tree branch. The Olympians called out in anger, giving chase. Bridget heard their feet crunching the leaves of the forest floor.
“I’m sorry I ran away,” Bridget said, gasping for breath as they ran faster. “I was scared and confused. I just needed some time to think about everything that’s happened. But I went about it all wrong. It was stupid of me to—”
“Bridget,” Maia yelled, interrupting her apology. “You are one of us. You know that you are. We offered you everything you’ve ever wanted. Don’t be a fool, Bridget. Come back to us!”
Caderyn and Bridget ignored the woman as they kept going. She squeezed his hand tighter. “It was stupid of me to leave you, Caderyn. I never should have gone like that.”
“I know all this. I know why you did it.” Caderyn jumped over a log, quickly changing directions. “It’s my fault. I’m sorry. I should have told you of the transformation. I should have been honest with you and told you everything from the very beginning. I just didn’t know how.”
Suddenly, Caderyn stopped, pulling her into the protection of an outcropping. He hugged her to his chest and she felt his heart beating wildly against her cheek. When she looked up, his face was turned to the distance, watching for the Olympians.
My Paranormal Valentine: A Paranormal Romance Box Set Page 16