Bliss (12 page)

“Get your paws off me,” said Kassandra, gritting her teeth, as she tried to calm her breathing.

“Why? What are you going to do about it?” asked the man, pulling her tighter to his chest.

“This,” answered Kassandra, head-butting him for all she was worth. He was so stunned by her move that he let her go, giving her the time she needed to grab the rope to pull her body up out of the water and onto the boat. Her head hurt more than she would have thought possible and her ears rang.
Great, if that creep gives me hearing loss he’s going to pay big time.
She moved to start the boat, only to realize the key wasn’t in the ignition.

“Going somewhere are we?” taunted the man, hanging onto the rope that
, in her stupidity, she’d forgotten to haul back into the boat. “I don’t think so,” he said, rattling the boat keys like they were a toy while his lower body remained submerged in the water.

Not good. This is not a good situation.
Quickly Kassandra took in her options. None. No, that couldn’t be right. Her father said there were always options; it was a matter of how far one would go to make them or find them.

Sighing in frustration she asked, “What do you want?”

“You,” came the man’s husky reply as he made his way up onto the boat’s rail.

“Oh, I don’t think so, Rajheb,” said Darius, giving the rope a good yank causing the man to drop back into the water.

Kassandra stilled herself from doing the happy dance.
About time Mr. He-man returned.
Smiling, she felt instant relief knowing her Greek warrior was back. Then she frowned.
I’m still pissed at you, and I can’t believe you left me in that water, alone, for so long.
She had to hug herself to keep from jumping into his arms.

As if he could read her mind, he whispered, “I’m sorry,” as he leaned further over the boat to speak to the man.

It had been a long time since Kassandra had heard Greek spoken, and even longer since she heard ancient Greek spoken. It was obviously his native tongue, she realized, loving the cantor and roll of his accent that reminded her very much of her father’s. She almost laughed. What language did she expect a Greek warrior to speak? She bit her lip to stop herself from gawking at him.

Naked, he was one fine specimen of a man, as her friend Melissa would joke, while her other friend, Sarah, would chime in with some retort about, “size has nothing to do with it.”

Deep down, Kassandra was starting to doubt that. Size seemed to have a lot to do with Darius. The guy was unusually tall, broad in the shoulders, with a six-packed chest that lead to the most marvelous butt she’d ever seen, and his...she couldn’t even say the word as the picture of his erect state still burned brightly in her mind. Quickly, Kassandra looked the other way, her face heating from her own wicked thoughts.

Even though she had turned in the opposite direction she could make out every word Darius was saying. After all, it wasn’t like he was trying to be quiet. He was shouting and growling all at once to the man in the water. And, while it might have been a long time since she heard ancient Greek, her heart speed up when she realized what he was saying.

“...you take one more look at my woman, and you won’t live to see another high tide. Do I make myself,
clear.” It wasn’t said as a question. It was a statement. No, a command.

Kassandra couldn’t hear what the man said, but she didn’t care. Her heart was fluttering in excitement.
His woman.
Did he say what I thought he said?
And, why does that make me happy? I don’t even know this guy. He just popped into my life, and ever since then my normal life has evaporated.
Why that sounded hollow even to herself gave her pause.

Then she heard one loud splash.

Hopefully, creep-o is gone, and gone for good.

Darius
gathered her into his arms. She realized she should have fought him, but his body felt so damn good. His body heat was like a furnace in overdrive.

“Kassandra, I’m sorry. I had no idea it would take me that long. The good news is that we are done and we can be on our merry way. And trust, me that guy won’t bother you ever again,” he said, tilting her head up to look at him.

Kassandra stilled.
I am not a weak woman and I certainly don’t need a He-man to look after me. Then why do I feel so good? Why am I so pleased he got rid of that creep?
“Where did he go?”

“Don’t worry about him. Kassandra...I,” Darius angled her head, providing her with an out if she wanted it.

Instead she closed her eyes, eager for the feel of his lips on hers. Part of her knew she should shove him away. After all, she was still mad at him. Instead, she gulped as tears from who-knew-where threatened to spill from her eyes.
Damn, damn, damn. I am not about to cry because my prince in shining armor just rescued me.
She gulped, hoping he’d take command of things. Thankfully he did.

The rough, crushing feel of his lips on hers awoke the simmering passion within her. He cupped her bottom closer to his, wedging her body tight into his muscular thighs. One of his hands grabbed her hair, bunching it tight as he applied more pressure to the kiss, forcing her mouth to open wider.

His tongue dueled with hers as she fought to regain the upper hand. It wasn’t going to happen. She realized that the moment he released her hair and grasped both of her butt cheeks to haul her up to his waist. The rock hard feel of his throbbing erection tantalized her. Since he was as naked as a jay bird, and with her only wearing a thong and the diving flippers on her feet, she knew they looked ridiculous, even as she moved her legs to circle his waist.

When he finally did release her lips, he whispered into her ear, “Ahh, sweetlips
, that will never happen again. I would never let anyone harm a hair on your head. It’s okay.”

Okay,
she thought.
It most certainly was not!
Realizing as the cool ocean breeze buffeted her skin what was going on, she immediately chastised herself. “Darius, I…”

That was all she could say before his lips claimed hers again
, gently this time. If it had been another rough, forced kiss, she would have fought back. Instead, he tilted her head, and ever so lightly, his lips grazed hers. Then his tongue licked her lips in what had to be the most erotic sensation she’d ever experienced.

She knew in his own way he was asking permission. And she complied. Opening her mouth she suckled his tongue
, bringing him in. His arms were still holding her body tight to his. But this time, her nipples were standing at attention, begging for him to move his lips lower for a taste. She felt every ridge of his planed muscles, including his impressive member that throbbed against the vee of her secret garden. A garden that was hoping to get weeded any day now.

His hands roamed in small circles over her bottom. For once she wished she was as nude as him, even though she only wore her thong.

“Hey, where did Rajheb go?” asked a scratchy voice, in ancient Greek, to her left.

Thankful that Darius had turned her so that her back was to the strange voice, she had to tilt her head up over his shoulder to find the source of it.
Who is that? And where did he come from?
Kassandra eyed the strange-looking teenager.

“Wow!” said the teenager
, as he stood on the tips of his feet to get a better look at her.

“Turn around, Rylan. Now!” commanded Darius.

“Okay, okay. Look, it’s not like I haven’t seen a woman before, geesh,” replied the voice, in one of the sulkiest tones she’d ever heard.

“I’m only going to tell you once. Look at my woman again, and I’ll tear out your eyes,” said Darius, again speaking in ancient Greek.

This is too much, really.
“That’s enough,” she whispered the words in ancient Greek into Darius’ back.

His entire body went
rigid. The look of pure disbelief on his face made her smile.

“You speak ancient Greek?” asked Darius, giving her a penetrating stare.

“Yup.”

“Since when?” A frown creased
his forehead.

Eyeing the teenager over his broad shoulder, she replied tartly, “Ever.”

“Not many hu...not many people know how to speak ancient Greek anymore. Who taught you?”

“My father.”
Boy, these one word answers are a real treat.
Kassandra enjoyed finally being able to give back to him his one-syllable responses to her. She relished toying with him.

“I’m Rylan
, by the way, your one and only Greek...”

“Teenager,”
Darius cut in, glaring at the gawking teenager.

“Nice to meet you, Rylan. So where did you come from? Oh, let me guess
, you just popped here, didn’t you?” Sarcasm laced her question, but the kid seemed not to get it.

“It’s complicated,” replied Darius. “We need to get back to Saad’s and then be on our way. Rylan
, go below while Kassandra gets dressed,” commanded Darius, in a tone that invited no argument.

“Below
? I think I’ll just...”

“You will
do what I say and go below,” growled Darius.

Kassandra knew he wanted to
physically usher the teenager down below deck, but that would mean releasing her. For once she was grateful his large body was covering hers, protecting her from Rylan’s prying eyes.

The minute the kid was below
, she broke free from Darius’ grip. Letting him hold her almost naked body was too much for her frustrated hormones. As it was, they were screaming at her in complete disbelief.

“So why do
you
speak ancient Greek?” she asked, taking another step away from him.

“Why do you?” he
replied, turning his glower on her.

“Because I can,” she replied, tartly, wondering how long this tête-à-tête was going to last.

“Same here.” He walked away from her to pick up the keys
creepo
had dropped onto the deck and to start the yacht’s engine. Talk about a nice view, she thought, wishing her hormones would shut up for once.

“Come here.” He crooked
a finger at her while at the helm.

Oh no,
thought Kassandra, shaking her head. She knew if she did that, they’d be back to where they had been, not once but twice...with her getting all hot and bothered for nothing.

Mustering as much courage as she could, she grabbed her tank top, yanked it over her head and
shimmied into her shorts. Covered, she tried hard to ignore Darius as she turned to the stern of the boat, hoping the ocean spray would cool her irrational feelings.

Saad leaned back in the large indoor salt pool he had built into his bedroom. In Titan form he enjoyed the cool feel of sea water running over his body. He wanted more than anything to feel the full power of the sea fill his essence, but that would have to wait. He’d promised his father, Retan, he would find the sacred text and hand it over to him. The only problem was that Darius either had the book in his hands or he’d hidden it using some type of Titan spell to make it invisible to his eyes.

Lazily,
Fiona sauntered in dressed au naturelle. In human form she was beautiful. In siren form she was breathtaking.

“Shall I?”
She dipped one of her dainty feet into the pool. Even though it had been a full day without partaking of her pleasure, Saad was not in the mood.

That probably had everything to do with Dr. Lancaster who had dropped in unannounced today. It had been Trevor Lancaster’s famous idea to reprogram the sharks into more controllable, lethal weapons that could be controlled by humans.
As if,
Saad thought, for the hundredth time.

However, the proposition had spiked an inte
rest in him. He’d wanted to see if it was plausible. Saad like the control of science, but he that didn’t mean he wasn’t also keenly aware of the magic that lurked in the ocean, thanks to the gods. Could one actually manipulate genetic behavioral coding? That answer had been a resounding yes.

Well, sort of.
At first it had appeared that they were able to control the sharks that had been released into the ocean, but within a few months, the experiment had gone horribly wrong. Worse, the sharks they had engineered had somehow been able to trigger the aggressive gene in all the other sharks they had encountered. Short of killing every shark that roamed his ocean frontage, Saad was momentarily at a loss to deal with the problem.

Strangely enough, Trevor hadn’t seemed one bit worried about it. In fact, he had seemed euphoric about the possibility of their specialized genetically engineered sharks triggering the aggressive
gene in sharks naturally. He had rambled on about the possibility of what this could mean for the Canadian Navy’s specialized marine service core, but at that point Saad had tuned him out. Now, he wished he’d paid more attention to what he’d said.

Even when Fiona dipped her other foot in the water to entice Saad, he didn’t bat an eye.

“Leave, Fiona,” said the commanding voice of Retan as he materialized in human form to stand by the pool to look down at his son.

“Father,” said Saad, quickly rapturing into human form to slip out of the pool.

“Aja, Master,” said Fiona, meekly, bowing low as she left the room.

“I see you brought some of the Um’elles with you,” his father said, sarcasm lacing his words.

Saad was not in the mood to discuss the Um’elles. He knew from previous frustrating conversations that his father disapproved of his choice of Sirens.

“Where is the book?” his father asked bluntly, turning his back to his son.

Saad took a moment to admire his father’s physique, trying yet again to guess his age. He seemed timeless and immortal all at once but he wasn’t. His father, like him, did not bother with human clothing. They were both comfortable in their own skin.

“Saad, where is the book?” asked his father,
giving him a penetrating stare.

Saad knew it would be useless to
try to stop his father from reading his mind, so he didn’t even bother to shield his thoughts. “I don’t have it.”

“What!” bellowed Retan, his eyes turning a dangerous shade of
dark blue that Saad knew too well.

Saad chose to ignore his father’s rage. Instead, he sat down on the rouge velour settee and grabbed a nearby oyster to eat. “I’ll get it. Don’t worry.”

His father leashed his temper. “You had better. I need that book.”

“What’s so important about
it anyway? It’s not like there’s a cure in there to stop the plague from killing our
mardom
,” he said, watching as his father’s face took on a guarded look. “Is that it?” Saad persisted. “That’s why you need the book, isn’t it? There’s a cure in there for this blasted plague spreading through the seas. By Zeus, tell Darius. I’m sure he’d hand over the book. In fact, I know he would. This plague has killed more of his
mardom
in the north seas than anywhere else,” said Saad.

Then it clicked. His father wanted the first spawn of Oceanus, the rulers of the
north seas to die. That was it. He didn’t want the book to cure them; he wanted it to ensure their extermination.

His
father grinned. It wasn’t a pretty sight.

“Your thoughts are correct. Darius has been sent on a wild goose chase by the Court of Cabiri, when in reality all I need is to get my hands on that book,” said his father.

Reaching for another shucked oyster, Saad asked, “Does Mother know?”

“Your mother is in denial. Her plans are why I’ve been forced to interfere. She is blind to her own plight. Once I get that book, she will come to me,” replied his father smartly.

Saad had never met his mother. All he’d heard growing up were stories of her from his father. At one time, the stories had been tales of a loving, tender Siren, but then, as the years passed and the centuries accumulated, his father’s tales grew more dark and sinister. Gone was the loving mother he’d fantasized about and in her place was a creature so mysterious, so unreal, he knew he never wanted to meet her. He had grown up with the shame of being a
zeta
– a son without a history, a son whose mother had deserted him at the moment of his unique birth.

Growing up with his father had been anything but gentle. Even though his father had taken three other mates
, producing two half-brothers, and one half-sister, he’d always felt like the outsider in the family. And, he’d always felt as if his father was testing him, looking for any type of weakness in him, any excuse to disown him. After all, he knew that every time his father looked at him, he was a reminder of the one and only time in Retan’s life when fate had interfered and he’d lost the thing that had mattered the most to him – his own Sokhan.

Over the years, he’d come to realize why his father’s tales had turned sinister. His father suffered from a broken heart. Getting his father, the famous
Titan that the all-mighty Creator had taken into confidence, the only Titan ever to serve on the Court of Cabiri, to admit that would be a major coup.

“You need to get that book to me. Do I make myself clear?”
snapped his father.

Saad nodded his head in acknowledgement
, only to find himself once again alone as his father vanished from the room. How he was able to do that remained a mystery to him, but then again, most things about his father were mysterious. It was why so many Titans and rulers feared him.

“Your father sent me back to you. Are you in need of service?” asked Fiona, as she walked in
to the room wearing only a pale blue bathrobe.

“Yes,” he replied
. “Take it off.”

The
material slid to the floor. Still sitting on the settee, he had a perfect view as she raptured into her natural form. His breath hitched as the power of the sea claimed her. Not one to waste the moment he walked into the pool and raptured into his Titan form, looking forward to a very physical evening.

Darius was no longer in the mood to talk. More than he cared to think about, it unnerved him that Kassandra could speak ancient Greek. From following the course of human history over the last few centuries, he knew only a handful of people today actually spoke the original language. Many of those were Titans who had given up the sea to live on land.
Could it be? No!
There is no way she’s a siren,
he thought, even as he eyed her graceful form. She stood tall and proud at the tail of the yacht, her long hair streaming behind her from the force of the wind. She looked regal and sexy, and for a moment Darius wondered if the Fates were playing him for a fool. He wouldn’t put it past them. His eyes narrowed in disgust at his current predicament.

Shaking his head, he turned his thought to other more
pressing matters. Getting the blasted ancient relic the Court seemed to think could help cure this plague, for instance. And he had only two days. What could be easier?

He laughed loudly
, pleased after transforming into a Titan he’d been able to telepathically link with his
mardom
. He’d sought out Seth and told his twin what the Court demanded of him.

“You’ve always been up to a challenge,” Seth had replied, and Darius could almost picture his boyish grin. There hadn’t been much Darius could say. He knew his brother was in no condition to help. As it was, it had taken every ounce of his own willpower to force both Seth and his wife, Jamie, from venturing to Saad’s to see their son with their own eyes.

It hadn’t been easy, but he’d allowed them both into his mind to witness what had happened to Reece. He’d heard every pain-filled cry from both Seth and Jamie as they witnessed his memories firsthand to see what had happened to their son. Knowing that the plague had somehow been responsible for forcing Reece to mature into a full-blown Titan scared them.

But it had been Jamie who had quietly informed him that Seth was
also affected by the plague. Not wanting to risk anyone else getting infected, Seth was forced to rely on his younger brother for a change, and Darius could just imagine how much faith he had in him.
I won’t let you down, brother. I will find the relic no matter what I have to do. I will succeed.

Cutting the engine quickly, Darius docked the yacht. He expected to see Saad
—not Rajheb—standing on the dock. His eyes narrowed in disbelief.
Is that
freshling
looking to get killed today?
He couldn’t forget for one minute how scared Kassandra had been. Not that she’d let on, but he’d been able to tell.

He felt Kassandra move to his side. “Is that who I think it is?” she asked, squinting her eyes to make out the shape.

“Yup,” he replied, throwing the rope onto the wharf to fasten the yacht.

“Nice to see you again, Darius. I don’t believe we’ve been formally introduced. I am Rajheb, Saad’s brother, and you are...” said Rajheb, holding out his hand to help Kassandra up to the dock.

“None of your concern, Rajheb,” replied Darius curtly, as he hoisted Kassandra up to the dock by circling his hands possessively around her waist. In one leap, he landed on the dock beside her, enjoying the look of disbelief on Kassandra’s face.

She
composed herself and pulled down her tank top to reply, “It’s Kassandra. So you actually have a name. Tell me, Rajheb, do you make it a habit to harass women on the high seas? Because I have news for you... pirating isn’t a turn on.”

Rajheb bowed gallantly. “You have caught me, Kassandra.
Feisty, I like that, Darius.”

“You can like all you want, Rajheb, but that head-butt you received is nothing
compared to what I will do if you ever lay a hand on me again,” said Kassandra, as she stared down her opponent.

Laughter from both Darius and Rajheb quickly filled the silence and broke the tension.

“You actually head-butted him?” asked Darius.

“It completely caught me off guard. Like I said, she has spunk,” chuckled Rajheb.

“Why do you talk about me in the third person? I’m standing right beside the two of you. And as much as I’d like to be somewhere else, I can’t.”

Darius knew Kassandra wanted to push both of them off the dock
. She was mad as hell, but he wanted to make it plain as day to Rajheb that she was his woman. He pulled her in close to his chest and proceeded to thoroughly kiss her. The last thing he expected was for her to bite his lower lip.

He knew the yelp of surprise wasn’t a very
Titan sound, but no woman, or Siren for that matter had ever bitten him before. Except when he’d wanted them too, of course.

S
he walked away from him and Rajheb without another word.

“Like I said, Darius, I’m thinking she’s more than you can handle,”
smirked Rajheb.

Darius grabbed Rajheb and dangled his body over the wharf
, not caring that his elegant suit was being rumpled. “In case you didn’t understand my earlier message, stay away from her or else.” Using his telepathic abilities he easily pushed past his barriers to inflict what he knew would be a serious migraine on Rajheb. The young Titan’s face contorted with pain, but Darius still didn’t release him.

“I haven’t heard a reply to my statement. And until I get that, well
, let’s just say that what you are experiencing now is just the smallest part of what I can make you feel.”

“Okay, Darius, stop being such a beast. She’s yours. Hands off. I get it. Now, let me go,” replied Rajheb.

“With pleasure,” replied Darius, eyeing the murky water below.

“Darius, can I come up now?” asked the pubescent voice from below, just as he dropped Rajheb into the water.